New Podcast: Scott and Scott Rant a Bit

As if producing a music podcast isn't enough to keep a guy busy, Scott Hudson is teaming up with South Dacola's Scott Ehrisman to put together a political podcast, Rant-a-Bit with Scott and Scott. First episode, 62 snarky minutes of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and national politics, is available here.

There are naughty words... but hey! I'm listening after 10 p.m., so it's o.k., right? ;-)

Scott and Scott offer some reasonable political observations, like the suggestion that Kristi Noem's upset of Chris Nelson in the GOP House primary could be the anti-abortion vote rearing its head. But the conversation degenerates into insults to the Dakota Women bloggers and small-town South Dakota. Sure, Kristi Noem may call Castlewood home, but why hold that against Castlewood? Alas.

Climate Science Consensus Strong as Ever

State Representative Don Kopp (R-35/Rapid City) wanted to force South Dakota teachers to teach "the skeptical view of climate change." In this year's Legislative session, he sponsored an embarrassing resolution to that end... a resolution that, to our state's great discredit, passed thanks to the votes of folks like GOP House candidate Kristi Noem and my Democratic neighbor and candidate for re-election Gerry Lange.

If Kopp hasn't completely backpedaled from his absurd Big Brother anti-science position, he'd better write that alternate curriculum fast: he's running out of skeptics to cite. New research from Stanford University finds the consensus on climate change is as strong as ever:

...[T]he vast majority of the world’s active climate scientists accept the evidence for global warming as well as the case that human activities are the principal cause of it.

For example, of the top 50 climate researchers identified by the study (as ranked by the number of papers they had published), only 2 percent fell into the camp of climate dissenters. Of the top 200 researchers, only 2.5 percent fell into the dissenter camp. That is consistent with past work, including opinion polls, suggesting that 97 to 98 percent of working climate scientists accept the evidence for human-induced climate change.

The study demonstrates that most of the scientists who have been publicly identified as climate skeptics are not actively publishing in the field. And the handful who are tend to have a slim track record, with about half as many papers published as the scientists who accept the mainstream view. The skeptics are also less influential, as judged by how often their scientific papers are cited in the work of other climate scientists [Justin Gillis, "Study Affirms Consensus on Climate Change," New York Times: Green, 2010.06.22].

In short: the scientists doing the hardest, most regular and reliable work agree we're changing the planet. The deniers do less science and less good science. Rep. Kopp would have us place our educational bets on scientific third-stringers and retirees who aren't keeping up with reality.

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Update 12:45 CDT: Possibly related—79% of Europeans say they are moderately or very interested in science; 65% express the same interest in sports. In America, more people say they follow sports very closely than say they pay the same attention to science. Plus, the percentage of Americans following science news very closely has dropped by more than half since the 1980s.

More Madison Handouts: Farmers Elevator Gets $100K Free Rail Crossing Upgrade

If we could draw an organizational chart of Madison's power structure, we might find Madison Farmer's Elevator somewhere near the top. Other businesses and organizations, like East River Electric and James River Equipment, have to ask nicely for their subsidies. Madison Farmer's Elevator gets $100,000 of work done on its property for free by the City of Madison without even asking:

Also scheduled in 2011 is the railroad crossing upgrade on Highland Avenue. Comes said this $100,000 project is 90 percent funded through a railroad grant.

Don't forget: vote in the latest Madville Times poll on what great project Madison's taxpayers should subsidize next!

Mayor Gene Hexom asked if the Madison Farmers Elevator would be contributing funding for the project, since that company actually owns the railroad crossing.

Comes said the elevator hasn't been approached about providing cost-share toward the project [Elisa Sand, "City Reviews Five-Year Street Improvement Plan," Madison Daily Leader, 2010.06.22].

Ah, the Madison free market at work. Imagine if the city would just appear on your street one day, fix all the sidewalks, and not even knock on your door to ask you if you want to chip in to cover the cost.

Qwest Rant: Stop Ringing My Phone After Midnight

Do any other Qwest customers get the phantom half-ring between midnight and 1 a.m.? We have had this problem here at Lake Herman for several years. Last night, we were up late chatting when our phone gave one crisp half-ring. No further ring, no one on the line, just a single truncated ring, happening on our old phone and new phone alike.

Now the sound of a phone ringing in the middle of the night is fraught with doom. A midnight call means either disaster or prankster; either way, we are conditioned to respond with a surge of fight-or-flee adrenaline.

In our case, we've learned our choice is to fight or flee Qwest. We have called numerous times to ask them to fix the problem. The closest thing to a logical explanation Qwest's operators have offered is that the half-ring is a side effect of the scheduled line tests they automatically conduct in the middle of the night to make sure our phone is working. Evidently the voltage the phone company uses is enough to set off the ringer.

We've asked Qwest to fix it. Their reps have told us they'd fix it. They never have. I've told the Qwest rep they are welcome to not check whether our phone is working, vowing that, really, if our phone isn't working, we'll run over to the neighbors' and let Qwest know we have a problem... in the morning.

We found this noise particularly exasperating when our Divine Miss K was a little baby learning to sleep through the night. Any little midnight noise could rouse her for a gloomy session of crying and rocking. Thank you, Qwest, for testing our parenting ability.

Our little one sleeps more soundly now (last night's thunderstorm didn't even rouse her!). Yet the phantom ring remains a mild annoyance. But even more annoying than the unwanted noise intruding on our house in the middle of the night is the runaround we get from Qwest "customer service" in the morning.

One more time, Qwest: our phone works. You don't need to test it. Hit the little button on your computer that will fix this problem.

New Poll: Following $127K for East River, Who Gets Madison's Next Big Subsidy?

KJAM reports that the City of Madison has agreed to subsidize East River Electric's improvements on South Harth Avenue, a block east of Main Street. From the numbers I read, the city (i.e., you and I) will pay $127K to cover the cost of drainage, parking, and streetscaping. You'll pay the other half in your electric bill. ;-)

The city's largesse toward East River, following similar generosity toward ICAP, Rosebud, and James River Equipment, leads us to this week's Madville Times poll: who's next in line for a City of Madison subsidy? You and I can probably think of dozens of projects we could spend our tax dollars on; alas, there's only so much room in the sidebar. So here are your five choices for this poll:

• Restoring Masonic temple
• Renovating downtown storefronts
• Paving gravel streets
• Building wind turbines
• Reducing utility rates

Click your favorite project in the right sidebar, and let's see what the general sentiment is. And if I've left off your preferred use for our city tax dollars, drop your suggestion here in the comment section.

This is a quick poll: voting is open for just two days, until breakfast Thursday. So spread the word and get your neighbors to vote! Out-of-towners, you pay sales tax and drive our streets, too, so your votes are welcome. Then tune in Thursday for the results!

Democrats Craft Special Exception to Campaign Finance Law for NRA

Can I get a witness? Can I get a Democrat with some guts?

The National Rifle Association sent me a membership card this week (bad data quality management on that mailing list). Just like Wayne LaPierre's lying phone calls, the recruitment letter flings vague and unsupported accusations that hundreds of wild-eyed liberal politicians are coming for my guns.

Reality check: the National Rifle Association is, alas, as powerful as ever. I just learned on NPR's Morning Edition that my dear Congressional Democrats have rewritten a campaign finance bill (the DISCLOSE Act) specifically to exempt the NRA. The Humane Society and AARP also qualify for the exemption, but the AFL-CIO, Chamber of Commerce, and MoveOn.org do not. But the rewrite was intended primarily to keep the NRA from wielding its lobbying clout to block the bill, which responds to this winter's egregious Citizens United Supreme Court ruling by requiring corporations to disclose their funding for political ads.

The DISCLOSE Act isn't even a Second Amendment issue—it's First Amendment!—yet the NRA can wield effective veto power over chicken-hearted Dems, whose Congressional gains have come thanks in large part to recruiting candidates beholden to the gun lobby.

Don't believe the NRA propaganda. Your guns are not in peril. The NRA's DISCLOSE Act exemption shows it can stop legislation at will.

Recovery.org Transforms Government Spending Transparency

You may not like President Obama's economic stimulus package, but you should at least like President Obama's use of the Web to account for that stimulus money. Recovery.gov isn't just another government website. According to Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board chairman and Inspector General Earl Devaney, the stimulus-tracking website has permanently and positively transformed the concept of government transparency:

...it's transformational. I think that the government is going to do business like this in the future. This is probably the biggest experiment going on right now, and they'll take the good and build on it and we will probably learn a lot of lessons as we go along [Earl Devaney, quoted by Chad Vander Veen, "Earl Devaney, Chairman of the Federal Recovery Board, Talks About Building and Running Recovery.gov," Government Technology, 2010.06.15].

But wasn't there some ruckus last fall about recovery money being spent in non-existent Congressional districts? Yes... and that ruckus wouldn't have happened without the transparency of Recovery.org:

...the downside to transparency is often embarrassment. When we went live [with stimulus spending data] in October, there was a lot of outcry about the data. Some of the data was bad. There are 99 data elements that the recipients [of stimulus funds] had to send in to FederalReporting.gov and get right. One of the big snafus was that turns out not many of the recipients knew what congressional district they live in. So they just put in two numbers, they didn't care if they were the right numbers because the system allowed them to move on to the next question. Well, when we had a database full of incorrect congressional districts, that didn't make Congress very happy. There's a technical fix to that; we tied the ZIP codes to the congressional district, and if the ZIP code entered by the user doesn't match the congressional district, the user is told there is a problem. That corrected that problem in the next reporting period, so that data got a lot better [Devaney in Vander Veen, 2010].

Devaney sees himself and a couple dozen other inspectors general now backed up by thousands and thousands of reporters, bloggers, and regular citizens searching Recovery.gov for information on local projects and eager to print critical news stories or hit the "report fraud" button if they see something questionable. He says the stimulus money has as much potential for waste and abuse as past government spending programs. The difference is that it's a lot easier for us to find out about it, alert the overseeing agencies, and stanch that waste and abuse.

All thanks to a website and citizen participation... and an Administration that understands the value of both.

South Dakota Celebrates Ellsworth Pork

State Bravely Accepts Heightened Military Risk for Filthy Federal Lucre

South Dakota Republicans talk a good game on cutting federal spending. But start handing out military pork, and watch the good times roll. Republican Senator John Thune is as eager to take credit for bringing a new drone flight control center to Ellsworth Air Force Base as is Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, who as chairman of the military construction subcommittee and member of the majority party might actually have had something to do with bringing the joystick warroom to Ellsworth.

Senator Thune likes to cite the conservative Heritage Foundation when it suits his agenda (he also mentioned them to justify his vote for the 2008 bailout). Yet Badlands Blue astutely points out that Senator Thune conveniently ignores the Heritage Foundation's position from the Bush era on the benefits of closing military bases. Thune also ignores President Eisenhower's admonition about dependence on the military-industrial complex. But who cares about taking a principled stand against federal spending (not to mention military technology arguably more sneaky than black helicopters) when Uncle Sam's money (a) hires local people, (b) helps politicians get re-elected, and (c) wrecks things and kills people?

By the way, has anyone noticed that by taking these federal jobs and putting ourselves "up front in the War on Terror," we're increasing the risk of a terrorist or military attack on South Dakota soil? But hey, we're all about creating jobs with pipelines that could leak, refineries that could explode, pesticides that cause cancer, and other unnecessary risky projects. Military targets are good for the economy, too.

Brian C. Liss Plays to Inattentive District 13 Voters

Remember, candidates: your junk mail now goes out to bloggers as well, and bloggers respond negatively to bull.

Today's case in point is a campaign letter from District 13 candidate for State House Brian C. Liss. Challenging incumbent Representative Susy Blake, Liss apparently sends out a letter crying about "Socialism!" He apparently tries to make hay out of the fact that Blake voted this year for HCR 1015, which would have declared that the federal stimulus money that saved South Dakota's budget constituted "important, useful, and beneficial investments for our people, economy, and infrastructure." HCR—that stands for House Concurrent Resolution. Resolution—i.e., even had it passed, it would have done nothing.

Liss's real beef should be with SB 196, the FY2011 state budget that actually spends those nasty stimulus dollars. Rep. Blake voted against that spending. GOP nominee for Congress Kristi Noem voted for spending that stimulus money. So who's the socialist now, Mr. Liss?

Liss himself appears to like government spending. On his Issues page, he advocates bringing home all the federal handouts we can for "benefits and services." He also promises to go to Pierre and spend more tax dollars on education. Isn't that socialism, too?

But the blogger who gets first dibs on setting Mr. Liss straight is Corey Vilhauer of Black Marks on Wood Pulp. He makes a rare excursion into politics to chastise "Freedom Fighter" Liss for his blowhardery:

...Despite your letter’s insistence, governmental support for public services is not “socialism.” And the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act isn’t “unprecedented intergenerational theft”....

Those things don’t mean the same thing. They never have. Buy a dictionary. I’m struggling to determine which freedoms you’re fighting for, and why I’m in need of a freedom fighter in the first place. I get it, though. You’re using baited buzz words in order to scare those who aren’t paying attention into backing the standard Conservative Agenda [emphasis mine; insightful observation by Corey Vilhauer, "Dear Brian Liss, Republican," Black Marks on Wood Pulp, 2010.06.21].

Right on the money, C.V. Shouters like Liss turn some cute phrases, but they always fail on the details. Their only hope is that enough busy voters won't have time to pay close attention to what politicians are really saying and will fall for the surface-level rhetoric.

Voters of District 13 (and elsewhere!), pay attention. The only thing you need to "liberate" District 13 from is the sloppy and contradictory rhetoric of Brian C. Liss and similar conservative fakers.

Theocratic Sound and Fury Draws Paltry Rapid City Crowd

Gordon Howie just can't stop making speeches. Howie got 75 people—about 2% of the Black Hills voters who helped him place fourth in the five-man gubernatorial primary—to waste a nice Father's Day afternoon sitting inside the Ramkota listening to Howie, Pastor H. Wayne Williams, and struggling novice talk radio host Shad Olson play more Glenn Beck karaoke.

Now I suppose I can't trust the Rapid City Journal's account of the event, since RCJ is just another tentacle of the godless liberal media. Fortunately, instead of having to go to the trouble of attending one of Gord's self-aggrandizing "On the Right Side" rallies, I can simply download his screeds from his website. The content is predictable:

• Pastor H. Wayne Williams wallows in his persecution complex. He portrays Americans United for Separation of Church and State as an "assault dog" for reporting him to the IRS for endorsing Howie from his church pulpit. Indeed, how vile, that any citizen should report violations of the law to the authorities.... H. Wayne also notes that his church hasn't filed for 501(c)3 status, which I assume means they are thus obliged to pay regular taxes on all income received. Better call the accountant....
  
• Kermit Staggers chimes in with lines weaker than I would expect from a political science professor, rehashing the tired old "Constitution doesn't mention separation of church and state" argument... but ignoring the fact that the whole concept of church-state separation comes from Jesus of Nazareth himself (render unto Caesar... oh, wait, don't remind Gordon of that one).
• Gordon Howie has trouble finding material to fill four pages, so he includes the same Thomas jefferson quote twice. He also includes the Ten Commandments, as if anyone bothering to pick up his little paper doesn't already know them.
  
• Shad Olson uses many big words (and you think I'm bad?).

Kevin Woster wonders if the Howie-Olson-Williams-Staggers show could represent a political force to be reckoned with. If they actually promised to do something for the polis, I might say yes. But Howie and his bloviating pals aren't doing anything. They aren't proposing any practical action. They're just blogging out loud, enjoying the sound of their own voices. They don't say anything about education, the economy, energy, the environment, or any other practical policy issues that South Dakota needs to deal with. Their little puppet shows are all about them, about what wonderful, pious, manly Christian warriors Gord and Shad and H. and Kermit are.

A movement driven by personality and persecution complex is not a sustainable political movement. It's marketing for egomaniacs who can't accept the electoral ruling that they are wrong for South Dakota.

More KELO Big Oil Bias: Big Pipeline, Thin Steel, No Worries!

KELO kisses Big Oil's backside with more happy coverage of TransCanada's Keystone pipeline. Specifically, they trot out Public Utilities Commissioner Gary Hanson to tell us we don't have to worry about a BP-Gulf-scale oil leak from TransCanada's pipelines. Cherlene Richards' corporate propaganda includes assurances that TransCanada has a good track record, has tested the pipe, and has all sorts of redundant shut-offs and safety measures. Commissioner Hanson assures us the state has plenty of emergency plans in case something bad does happen.

Completely missing from this objective, professional journalism: information or comment from anyone opposing the pipeline. Hanson is the only individual cited. For those who want to learn more, Richards provides a link to the TransCanada website.

Richards could easily have included opposing views like this:

The company has stressed repeatedly that it's committed to the highest safety standards -- that comparisons to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico are "completely unfair."

Yet critics see little distinction. "BP didn't think their well would ever leak," Cindy Kreifels, executive vice president of the Nebraska-based Groundwater Foundation told The Tyee. "They supposedly had disaster plans in place and it has not made a difference" [Geoff Dembicki, "Gulf Disaster Raises Alarms about Alberta to Texas Pipeline," The Tyee, 2010.06.21].

...or this reminder that pipelines inevitably leak... sometimes twice:

As the leak in the Gulf continues, on Tuesday the Trans-Alaska “Alyeska” Pipeline owned by BP and other oil companies, started spewing several thousand barrels of crude oil and was shut down. It’s not clear when the pipeline will reopen. The accident occured about 100 miles south of Fairbanks.

Four years ago 267,000 gallons leaked out of the same pipeline as investigators on the North Slope eventually found what was described as “severe corrosion” requiring the replacement of some 20 miles of pipeline [Joe Jordan, "Nebraska Eyes on Leaky Alaska Pipeline," Nebraska Watchdog, 2010.05.27].

...or this concern about the threat to the Ogallala Aquifer:

The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world’s largest aquifers and covers areas in South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Some portions of the aquifer are so close to the surface that any pipeline leak would almost immediately contaminate a large portion of the water ["Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands Pipelines Are a Bad Bet for the United States," National Wildlife Federation, 2010].

And don't forget the 33,000 gallons of oil that spewed into a Salt Lake City creek after an electric arc made a hole the size of a quarter in a Chevron pipeline.

KELO has been in TransCanada's camp for some time. They gave some coverage to landowner opposition, but then turned to happily running TransCanada's propaganda and ignoring the impact of the Keystone pipeline project on landowners forced to accept it. And I still haven't caught a story on TransCanada's road damage on KELO.

Thank goodness for blogs like Great Plains Tar Sands Pipelines and Dakota Today that bring some balance to the corporate news.

Web Impresario Trask Discusses Sheriff Primary Defeat

For the best first-person post-mortem on electoral defeat this year, we turn to High Plains storyteller extraordinaire Matthew J. Trask, who picks up his Hubba's House hat to discuss the joys of running for sheriff and losing in Meade County. Trask challenged 20-year incumbent sheriff Ron Merwin with little more in his saddlebag than "lofty sentiments" and "five brand new white shirts." He wound up with 32% of the vote... and escaped having to spend weeks cooped up at Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Trask discusses his losing campaign with grace and wit:

On the campaign trail I met lots of people, and lots of dogs. The dogs, I found, are staunch advocates of private property rights. I also met a guinea (Coco is female, and her mistress has had her for two months.) Team Hubba attended the Piedmont Valley Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser, and the Hemp Hoedown, where we encountered enthusiatic but confused youngsters who alas were not from Meade County.

I also was overwhelmed by the support I got. Donations, a sign painting party on Mother’s Day (my own mother attended,) help putting up signs, free meals, places to stay, I lived like a guilty king for two and a half months [Matthew J. Trask, "I Guess You Ain't My Constitchency," Hubba's House, 2010.06.18].

Dear readers, enjoy the full story at Hubba's House. And congrats again, Matt, on politics done well and told well.