Rounds Vetoes Unfunded Higher Ed Grants, Christmas Firecrackers

Governor Rounds vetoed two bills yesterday, HB 1240 and HB 1241. Both vetoes sound reasonable.

HB 1240 sought to create a new need-based grant fund to help students pay for university or tech school. Governor Rounds vetoed the bill because he felt the Legislature was creating a "false promise" by not funding the grants and hoping they could find private donors to float the program. The governor took exception as well to the Legislature's creation of this new program at the same time that they are considering cutting the existing Opportunity Scholarship. I agree: let's pay for what we have first. Then if we think a new program is worth creating, let's find the funds to make it happen.

HB 1241 would have allowed South Dakotans to shoot off fireworks from December 23 to January 2. Governor Rounds said he's cool with explosives on New Year's but not on Christmas. The governor's fellow Catholic Republican Pat Powers goes out with a whimper on this veto. But Powers can sometimes be more Roman candle than Roman Catholic sometimes. then fireworks have always been a hot-button issue for Powers. The atheist in the room understands and respects the governor's decision: explosives don't seem to fit with "Silent Night, Holy Night."

Rockets! Freedom! We the People!

When I was a kid, there could be no greater summer disappointment than a cloudy, drizzly 4th of July. How can you enjoy a cool dip in Lake Herman when you're already wet? But hey, at least the fireworks won't set the drfits of cottonwood seeds on fire.

While I wait for the sun to break through for my Fourth of July bike tour of the local land of the free, here are some notes on rockets and freedom:

• North Korea is getting into the Independence Day spirit, firing rockets off its east coast. I'm thinking that's great: the more they test, the fewer rockets they have left in their stockpile for genuine mischief. Meanwhile, some North Koreans are making a run for real independence, with the help of a few brave Americans.
• Sarah Palin's Google juice is surely rocketing skyward this weekend. The only way I can make sense of her declaration of independence from political responsibility yesterday: she's getting ready to serve all Americans ("...and I don’t care what party they’re in or no party at all") by starting her own talk radio program. Or she's going to start a blog.
  
• Another reasons rockets are cool: they take us to space, where we can get amazing views like these of the Sarychev Volcano eruption (June 12). Watching Earth's fireworks from orbit: ooooh! aaaah!
• I still think shooting off bottle rockets in a target-rich environment (like downtown Brookings) is unwise, but the Moonies at the Washington Times say fire away! They note that states that ban fireworks see a higher rate of death-by-firecracker than states with free-fire(cracker) zones. Firecracker-lover Dick Cavett reminds as that his beloved ordnance "can be hellishly, horribly dangerous." But as the WashTimes Moonies insist, what good is freedom if you can't blow stuff up?
  
• Or, as John Adams put it, we ought to celebrate America's independence "by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Hey! The clouds are breaking on Lake Herman! Rain or no, celebrate the best holiday of all... and remember what Captain Kirk says about We the People: "These words and the words that follow were not written only for the Yangs, but for the Kohms as well. They must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing!"