Bloggers Killing Trees? Dutch Study Says Wi-Fi Harms Plants

Here's something to drive a stake through a green blogger's heart: researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands have found that wireless Internet signals may harm plants:

The study exposed 20 ash trees to various radiation sources for a period of three months. Trees placed closest to the Wi-Fi radio demonstrated a "lead-like shine" on their leaves that was caused by the dying of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaves. This would eventually result in the death of parts of the leaves. The study also found that Wi-Fi radiation could inhibit the growth of corn cobs [René Schoemaker, "Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick, Study Says," PC World, 2010.11.19].

Corn cobs?! Could we bloggers be reducing crop yields? Oh no!

But hold the iPhone: the media is headlining these results a little more confidently than are the Dutch researchers. Lead researcher Dr. Andre van Lammeren says the results are preliminary:

I think it's too early for alarm about this. The study that we have completed was a pilot study over three to four months, and we want to continue work on the issue now with more controls [Dr. Andre van Lammeren, in Greg Wiser, "Wireless Internet Hubs May Damage Trees, Study Finds," Deutsche Welle, 2010.11.26].

The research summary notes that the leaves manifesting the apparent damage sat 50 cm away from the Wi-Fi source for a few months. So even if this study demonstrates actual harm, it just says don't set your houseplant on the same table as your router.

Deutsche Welle also reports contradictory prior research from a Swiss forestry agency that found wireless Internet signals causing harm to spruce and beech trees only when researchers cranked up the wattage past elgal levels... and even then the harm came from thermal effects, not the signal itself.

Also not addressed in the Dutch research: the comparative harm to trees if we converted all our e-mails and blog posts and research reports back to paper.

Bush Tax Cuts Don't Trickle Down: Who Said That?

The following indictment of trickle-down economics comes from someone of a little higher pay grade your favorite liberal South Dakota blogger:

"The rich are always going to say that, you know, 'Just give us more money, and we'll go out and spend more, and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you.' But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on."

Who said that in a discussion of the need to extend the Bush tax cuts to save boost business and coddle capitalism?

Dennis Kucinich? Well, he has said things like that since the beginning of the Bush tax cuts, but the above quote isn't his.

The Socialist Party of America? No, the quote isn't from them—they have somewhat larger visions of economic reform.

Ariana Huffington? Well, her website republished the quote, and she'd agree, but the words above aren't hers.

Who says trickle-down economics doesn't work? A man in a position to do a lot of trickling: Warren Buffett.

Buffett must be having too many secret meetings with George Soros to plot the downfall of America, right?

Moms Use Web to Share Breast Milk in South Dakota

The dairy industry probably frowns on this: a friend recently sent me a link to the South Dakota chapter of a relatively new organization, Eats on Feets. The group started just last summer in Arizona to facilitate the sharing of human breast milk. Eats on Feets does not collect or sell breast milk; they simply provide a forum where moms can make connections and arrange their own deals to share the best food for babies.

Eats for Feets also provides all sorts of information on a topic that makes some people unreasonably queasy. Today's fun facts:

1. If you bottle breast milk, don't shake it! If you do, you'll mess up the molecules. Really!
2. There is no documented case of HIV transmission from a single shot of breast milk. Chemicals in breast milk work with time and cold to destroy HIV in expressed breast milk. But if you're sharing breast milk, you should still ask suppliers about their health background.
   
3. Various studies find that if we humans behaved more like our primate relatives, we would wean our offspring from breast milk at age 5 or later.
   

The Eats for Feets SD page links to ladies offering milk in Vermillion, Sioux Falls, and the Black Hills. Remember, moms, that milk has good bacteria eager to colonize your babies' tummies and keep them healthy!

But be careful, ladies: the dairy industry hates competition.

Federal Grant Boosts Beginning Farmers

Here's more federal money for John Thune and Kristi Noem to send back to Washington: my friends at Dakota Rural Action just won a $132,200 two-year grant to give new farmers a leg up:

The Farm Beginnings program provides participants the opportunity to learn from local farmers about farm management issues like Whole Farm Planning, Financial Planning, Marketing, Business Planning, and Connecting with Resources. Beyond the formal classes, the course also provides opportunities for networking between beginning and established farmers, the chance to engage in mentorship or apprenticeships if desired, and the chance see sustainable practices being implemented on local farms during the course's farm tours and skills sessions.

...DRA's Farm Beginnings program is funded by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #2010-03066 ["DRA Gets Grant from Farm Beginnings," Madison Daily Leader, 2010.11.23].

Oh, that darn federal government, spending money to help small farmers and preserve South Dakota's way of life....

South Dakota GDP up in 2009; Outperforming US Economy Since 1992

This week Governor Rounds cheered our solid GDP showing for 2009. South Dakota's economy grew 2.2% in a nationally dismal economic year. 38 states saw GDP decline in 2009; nationally, GDP declined 2.1%.

The growing GDP did not correspond with increases in sales tax revenue: Fiscal Year 2010, which ran from July 1, 2009, to June 30 of this year, saw South Dakota's taxable sales drop 1.5%.

Hmm: more GDP, more income per person, but less sales to tax. Could it be that an income tax would more accurately reflect the growing wealth and growing service needs of our state?

Expanding the historical perspective, South Dakota's economy has done fairly well over the last couple decades. Crunching numbers from the Census Bureau and from USGovernmentSpending.com, I find that since 1992, our state GDP per capita—i.e., the amount of economic activity divided by the number of people around to enjoy it—has grown at an annual rate of 4.8%. Compare that with our neighboring states:

GDP per capita:	SD	ND	MN	IA	NE	WY	MT	US
1992	21,005	20,295	25,611	22,042	23,848	28,434	18,162	24,869
1993	22,485	20,478	26,085	22,473	24,410	29,403	19,115	25,864
1994	23,968	22,358	28,070	24,797	26,829	29,622	19,957	27,217
1995	24,791	23,135	29,340	25,745	27,588	30,532	20,171	28,214
1996	26,576	25,653	31,387	27,671	29,743	32,811	20,668	29,554
1997	26,943	25,341	33,111	28,888	30,515	31,911	21,700	31,116
1998	28,706	26,742	34,691	29,289	31,219	30,591	22,852	32,539
1999	30,293	27,194	36,393	30,424	32,351	32,781	23,517	34,301
2000	31,771	28,462	38,194	31,858	33,404	34,511	23,945	35,268
2001	33,172	30,027	38,847	32,112	34,655	38,016	25,516	36,082
2002	36,184	32,228	40,111	33,639	35,504	38,737	26,128	36,978
2003	37,666	35,254	42,074	35,641	38,200	42,267	28,015	38,378
2004	39,505	36,673	44,754	39,435	39,958	46,315	30,093	40,498
2005	40,561	38,831	46,679	40,773	41,390	51,829	32,187	42,733
2006	41,154	40,938	47,785	41,937	43,482	59,906	34,089	44,873
2007	44,388	44,547	49,186	45,204	46,612	63,565	36,709	46,680
2008	46,970	48,714	50,573	47,456	48,317	72,383	37,057	47,446
2009	47,155	49,273	49,503	47,303	48,112	68,980	36,876	46,443
%incr	124%	143%	93%	115%	102%	143%	103%	87%
avg ann. incr	4.8%	5.2%	3.9%	4.5%	4.1%	5.2%	4.2%	3.7%

Annual State Gross Domestic Product per Capita, 1992–2009

In our neighborhood, only Wyoming and North Dakota have outperformed us in annual GDP per capita increase, and those two states have benefited from oil and coal. By this metric, all of us up here in the Northern Plains have outperformed the national average, with all but Minnesota more than doubling our wealth per capita since 1992. Nationally, per capita GDP has increased just 87%. Only in five years of the last 17—1995, 1997, and 2004 through 2006—has South Dakota's per capita GDP grown more slowly than the national average.

Thanks! Shorter Sentences, No Earthquakes, Generous Democrats

Some dressing for your turkey:

• Thankful cons: Governor M. Michael Rounds has brought 270 state prison inmates a few months closer to saying goodbye to creamed turkey on toast. The governor issued a batch of sentence reductions yesterday. Lake County's only winner: our own Stephanie Schumacher, who gets 90 days off her sentence. These commutations weren't free passes; inmates had to do 320 hours of community service, earn GEDs or firefighter certifications, or assist with special projects.
• Thankful for solid ground: We don't have much in the way of earthquakes in South Dakota. With the Keystone pipeline running underneath us and Keystone XL maybe joining it, Plains Justice reminds us we'd better hope it stays that way. Let's not go fault-finding....
• Thankful for Democrats: the new Congressional Republicans eager to activate their government health insurance face some calls to reject their own federal health coverage before they repeal Obamacare. A Public Policy Polling survey finds 53% of Americans think incoming freshpeople like Rep.-Elect Kristi Noem who campaigned against health care reform ought to reject their Congressional health coverage. 33% think they should take the Congressional benefit. Republicans and Independents are much harder on their freshpeople; Dems make the Reject! call by only a 40–46 margin. (I'm not so generous, Kristi: as insurance agents, you and Bryon can surely come up with a better policy on your own, right?)

More Jobs, Even More Job Seekers: Lake County Unemployment 4.6%

The good news on local labor: Lake County put 100 more people to work in October! That's 1.6% more jobs in one month—good thing harvest keeps people busy.

The kinda-bad news: unemployment still went up in Lake County from 4.3% in September to 4.6% in October. 125 more people joined the workforce... which some people argue is a good economic sign. And let's keep in mind that almost anywhere else in America, 4.6% unemployment sounds like Nirvana. (Include that in your grateful commentary over turkey tomorrow.)

Neighboring counties present a similarly mixed October jobs picture: Brookings, Miner, and Moody counties all added jobs but added even more people looking for them. Kingsbury saw its jobs and labor force each grow by 60. McCook lost five jobs but found ten more willing workers. Minnehaha saw declines in both categories, shedding 310 jobs and 240 members of the labor force.

Locally, our noble Lake Area Improvement Corporation has a shot at meeting its Forward Madison job creation goal. We are now just 765 jobs short of meeting the 400-new-jobs goal set by the LAIC back in 2006. Kind of like cramming for exams during finals week....

No Evidence Marking Changed Outcome of Noem-Herseth Sandlin Race

Seth Tupper got me all excited by pointing to this U. of M. Smart Politics headline: "Did an Independent Turn South Dakota's 2010 U.S. House Race?" Finally! I thought we might get an answer to the question that may be keeping Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin tossing at night and shunning the mic.

Alas, Dr. Eric Ostermeier doesn't answer his own headline question. Smart Politics notes what we already know: B. Thomas Marking's 6% finish was huge for a third-party or no-party South Dakotan (though, not noted by Ostermeier, still slightly lower than fringe conspiracy theorist Lori Stacey's finish in this year's Secretary of State race). Marking's take was larger than the 2.2% margin by which Kristi Noem beat the incumbent.

But the SP article presents no new analysis of whether Marking took more votes from Herseth Sandlin or from Noem. Ostermeier interviews Marking, who repeats what he told the Mitchell Daily Republic a couple weeks ago, that he believes he drew equally from each candidate. Marking doesn't even think his 6% finish is that remarkable: he compares his campaign to other third-party efforts across the country and says, "They get a few percent of the vote. Six percent doesn't separate me from them."

So we're still where we've been since Election Night, with lots of speculation but no evidence that Marking's 6% take changed the final outcome of the race.

Yankton Businesses Want Heat on Smoking Ban Cheaters

Someone's being naughty in Yankton: several local business owners attended Monday's city commission meeting to urge the city to snuff out cheating on the smoking ban. The business owners allege that somebody in town is letting patrons smoke, in defiance of the clear will of the Legislature and the good voters of South Dakota. The complainants were too polite to name any cheaters, but the Press & Dakotan's Nathan Johnson reports complaints of smoking on the premises at Yankton's Tobacco Road.

The business owners think the $25 fine imposed by the new state smoking ban isn't harsh enough to deter some hardcore devotees of tobacco freedom. They want the city of Yankton to pass an ordinance that would impose additional fines or revoke the offending business's liquor license.

The city declined, saying it already has rules that allow it to deny liquor licenses to folks who engage in naughty behavior, including violation of state law. That makes sense to me: I'm all about not passing additional rules when existing rules can do the job.

I am a little disappointed, though, with Yankton City Attorney Dave Hosmer's lack of enthusiasm for enforcing state law:

City Attorney Dave Hosmer told the commission he has provided some advice to police in regard to enforcing the statute, alluding to the confusion that may exist as to whether such an establishment can allow smoking.

“If they are caught smoking in an establishment, and the officer can establish that the person was actually smoking, they will get a ticket,” he said. “If the person says, ‘I’m standing in an establishment which is exempt because it is a tobacco place or a cigar bar,’ I’ve instructed law enforcement that they should prepare a report and give it to the state’s attorney, who will then decide whether or not to issue a ticket.

“I don’t think that we should take the fault for a poorly drafted statute,” Hosmer added. “I think the State of South Dakota needs some better interpretation” [Nathan Johnson, "Smoking Ban Rules Questioned," Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2010.11.23].

"Poorly drafted"? Actually, SDCL 34-46-13 through 34-46-19 look pretty darn clear to this layperson. No smoking inside public places. Clear definition of exemption for cigar shops and tobacco shops. Attorney Hosmer is welcome to not like the statute, but he's hard-pressed to demonstrate any poor drafting in the text. Instead of pretending the ban is complicated and defanging the local enforcement by providing lawbreaking bar owners with a pre-fab excuse, Attorney Hosmer and the city should provide the Yankton police with a list (surely a brief one) of establishments that meet criteria of the smoking ban exemptions and authorize them to do their duty on the spot.

Survey on Buying Local in Madison -- Click Now!

The shopping madness of Black Friday is almost here—perfect time to take a survey about your local shopping habits!

This "Buy Local" survey comes to us courtesy of a team of Madisonites taking the Madison Chamber of Commerce's leadership training course. They ask some simple questions about where we shop and why we shop there.

The Leadership Madison team also asks what "What type of new business/service/product would you most like to see in Madison?" Perhaps they would like to include in their calculations the results from this January Madville Times survey, which found 38% of you eager readers craving another big grocery store, followed by 26% angling for a Wal-Mart or similar big discounter and 16% looking for a clothing store.

I picked "grocery store" on the Chamber survey, and even recommended three prime locations: right between Lewis and Montgomery's Furniture, between the Bethel home and Doug's auto lot, and that old farm lot across from Pizza Ranch at the 34-81 intersection. Another dream retail development: bring in a Hy-Vee or Wal-Mart to finally come in and get serious about developing the gravel lot where Nicky's, the bowling alley, and the movie theater sit. Those establishments have sat there for over thirty years with no exterior physical improvements. Let's bring in a big retailer, pave the lot, redo those three aging buildings, add a couple new shops, and make a Lousie-Avenue-style commercial complex.

The survey also asks "Why do you enjoy or not enjoy shopping in Madison?" That's an easy one: my enjoyment comes from riding my bike to shop. My disenjoyment comes from the knowledge that my sales tax dollars are funneled to support a Chamber of Commerce and a Lake Area Improvement Corporation that face no public accountability for their use of my tax dollars and which waste my tax dollars on silly things like banners, slogans, and Dwaine Chapel's $100,000 salary.

The survey lists no closing date, so go there now and tell the Chamber and LAIC what you think of shopping in Madison!

Bear Butte Offers Easy Oil?

At the Mitchell McGovern Debate Tournament last weekend, I was chatting with some of my fellow McGovernites about the state of the state. We thought maybe we Dems aren't so bad off being way, way out of power. Governor-Elect Daugaard and the Republican supermajorities in the Legislature will fully own the next two budgets, and those two budgets won't be pretty. The GOP will have to make hard cuts or raise taxes. "What else are they gonna do," one of my interlocutors mused, "strike oil?"

Little did we realize...

Work is under way to develop an oil field near Bear Butte in western South Dakota that could eventually produce 4 million barrels of crude.

The state Board of Minerals and Environment on Thursday approved Nakota Energy LLC's application to establish a 960-acre field for the production of oil and gas, with spacing of no more than one well in each 40-acre tract.

...The oil field, located on private land, is slightly more than a mile from Bear Butte, an important religious site for American Indians that juts above the prairie on the northern edge of the Black Hills. Developers said the oil field should not bother anyone at Bear Butte [Chet Brokaw, "Companies Plan Oil Wells Near SD's Bear Butte," AP via ABC News, 2010.11.19].

Pastor Hickey, you didn't have anything to do with this, did you?

Some local oil exploited by local producers would be better than those darned foreign tar sands. West River oil will likely kill fewer ducks. Just remember, kids, to solve the state budget crunch, you still have to tax that oil.

Chris Nelson Lands PUC Nod

Chris Nelson rides again! Governor-Elect Dennis Daugaard has named him as heir to Dusty Johnson's soon-to-be vacated seat on the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

After being term-limited out as Secretary of State and losing to Kristi Noem in the GOP primary for that U.S. House seat, Nelson has snagged a pretty nice consolation prize that will keep his brains and talent in Pierre serving the people.

But what's this -- no experience necessary?

Daugaard appointed Nelson despite the Secretary of State lacking any experience in the utilities industry, saying Nelson was the right person for the job.

"He's demonstrated time and again that he's willing to fairly interpret and apply our state laws without regard for politics," Daugaard said [David Montgomery, "Secretary of State to fill Johnson's PUC vacancy," Rapid City Journal, 2010.11.23].

No experience in utilities, and he gets the job? That's it—I am totally sending Daugaard a résumé. Make me Secretary of Education! I've at least been in a few classrooms! That's more experience than Nelson has for the job he just got.

The official Dems' line will surely echo what we heard from House Minority Leader Mitch Fargen yesterday on SDPB's Dakota Midday: same old bureaucracy, same old cronies.

But here's a more interesting narrative I see developing. Daugaard moves the chairs to give Dusty Johnson a better position from which to launch a statewide campaign... say, U.S. Senate in 2014. Daugaard finds a way to keep capable and decent public servant Nelson in the game. I see both of these moves as signals from the mainline South Dakota Republicans, the fellas who got a heck of a lot more votes than Rep.-Elect Kristi Noem did on November 2, that they're keeping their best guys in the chute for Tim Johnson's Senate seat. Noem won thanks to lots of outside Tea Party groups (and overheated conservative males searching "Kristi Noem bust" on Google Images) that pose a threat to the proper order of South Dakota Republicanism. The adults in the party aren't going to let that get out of hand.

My, we humans do tend to see patterns where there may be none, don't we?

Update 12:22 CST: The Dems' response, from party exec Erin McCarrick in a press release five minutes ago:

It looks like the Daugaard Administration is the new retirement home for State employees who are term limited or who have paid their dues to the Republican Party. How are we going to fix the huge budget deficit we are facing with the same players?

Just as many businesses are kept out of government contracts in Pierre through the no-bid process, possible qualified persons are being kept out of positions in Pierre. South Dakota should question the hiring process in Republican Administrations—are there no other qualified people in South Dakota, or do they already live in Pierre?