And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming....

As everyone but Todd Epp waits with bated breath for the final Madison DQ Blizzard tally, the Madville Times wishes to again extend its thanks to Madison Dairy Queen owner DeLon Mork, manager Lana Zillgitt, the whole DQ crew, and all the folks who stopped by MDQ Blog Central to share their stories (and their Blizzard-count guesses!) online. We are more than happy to put these pages to good use to support good causes around town. As with most media, our attention is usually drawn to the problems, the scandals, the crises. Bloggers and commenters alike are less inclined to take time to write about something that's humming along just fine than about something going off the tracks or getting our goat. Occasionally it is worth our while to participate in and comment on a purely positive event like Dairy Queen's Miracle Treat Day. As DeLon Mork kept saying, this event is a "win-win-win" situation for everyone involved.

But please don't let the generally upbeat, boostery tone of yesterday's 37 Miracle Treat Day posts fool you. The Madville Times will remain the gadfly you know and love (or love to hate). When good things happen in Madison, around Lake County, or in South Dakota, you may read about them here. But when things aren't going well -- when teachers aren't being paid enough, when tax dollars are being wasted, when the free market is grinding working people under its iron heel, or when Governor Rounds is just being full of baloney, the Madville Times will say so.

The Madville Times does not offer criticism out of vindictiveness or a desire to tear anyone down (contrary to the tone of many other blogs -- you can draw your own conclusions as to who they are). While not perfect in magnanimity, the Madville Times criticizes out of genuine patriotism (from the Latin patria, fatherland; thus, the love of one's homeland) -- not "my homeland (here, hometown, homestate) right or wrong," but a love that calls all of us to celebrate our homeland's strengths and achievements and call it to task for and work to correct its weaknesses and failings.

It is in that spirit that the Madville Times enthusiastically promotes DeLon's great work as a model Madison businessman and booster. As for DeLon's Republican politics... well, we'll have many more conversations about that. On with the show!