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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Dakota War College: All "War", No "College"...

...and not much defense of "Dakota"...

Some days Pat Powers is just so full of bull, I don't know where to start. Fortunately, others do. Here are today's big three proofs that Dakota War College will say anything, regardless of the truth, just to cheer the right-wing rah-rah section and avoid discussing actual issues:

1. Where Pat Powers manufactures mewling over Democrats having the integrity to question business dealing involving another Democrat and then resorts to the usual mindless ad hominem, David Newquist tears into the real reasons for the controversy surrounding SDSU President David Chicoine's appointment to the Monsanto corporate board:

The professors who work under President Chicoine must abide by a policy in regard to their outside work and consultation. It is:

Professional employees should avoid entering into outside employments, occupations or endeavors for profit of any kind that may reasonably be thought to influence the decisions that they make in their capacity as Board employees, the degree of thought and effort that they devote to their responsibilities as Board employees or, in any other manner, the loyalty and diligence with which they pursue the best interests of the Board and of the students and citizens who rely upon the Board and its employees. [South Dakota Board of Regents Policy 4:35.B]

State Representative Bernie Hunhof and State Senator Frank Kloucek have raised the issue stated in this policy in regard to President Chicoine. The policy is based upon the fact that academic work and corporate interests are often in conflict. The conflict is that academic research and teaching when conducted with full academic freedom and integrity does not always produce results that will serve corporate interests [David Newquist, "Monsanto State University and the Sacrosanct State of Sanford," Northern Valley Beacon, 2009.10.26].

Dr. Newquist asks honest questions here, as do legislators Hunhoff and Kloucek, about the consistent application of Regental policy and the academic integrity of South Dakota's biggest university. Mr. Powers spreads political gossip.

2. Mr. Powers doesn't mind corporations eroding SDSU's academic autonomy, but boy, let a SDSU president and some Democrats meander onto the campus green to call for a little social justice, and he's ready to call out the shock troops (all three who showed up, with signs). Mr. Powers manufactured all manner of sturm und drang over the mostly Democrat-organized health care rally on SDSU's Sylvan Green last week. Badlands Blue dissects Dakota War College's selective memory and backpedaling sophistry... not to mention narcissism, as the moral of the story in DWC's world is that he's a special little blogger for obviously getting under the Dems' skin. Never mind that he wins this glorious victory by getting the story wrong.

3. I'll tackle today's pièce de resistance: Mr. Powers joins purported journalist Bob Mercer in misrepresenting the legal efforts of Dakota Rural Action to challenge TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline before the PUC next week. Mr. Mercer continues to portray Dakota Rural Action as failing to meet deadlines and, today, refusing to answer official questions. Mr. Powers happily piles on, spinning a fantastic yarn (more like a meager thread) about Dakota Rural Action running away from answering questions under oath. (Let's not forget, it's TransCanada that has questions to answer, as it's TransCanada that wants to dig another giant trench across our state, wreck more farmland and roads, and create another giant environmental hazard that they will make us pay to clean up someday.)

Messrs. Mercer and Powers both ignore the unconstitutional nature of the fishing-expedition questions with which the PUC attempted to sandbag DRA. Funny that neither professional journalist Mercer nor defender of liberty Powers have taken the time to address those questions. Must not fit with the narrative they want to peddle.

Mercer and Powers also ignore the dilatory tactics adopted by TransCanada to make discovery an enormous challenge for Dakota Rural Action's lawyers. Instead, Mr. Powers invests his sizable journalistic talent in throwing out a couple cheap, unsubstantiated ha-ha lines about DRA somehow rejecting science. Funny: on the Keystone XL docket, the only folks who appear to be rejecting science are TransCanada, who say the state's own experts on pipelines, wildlife, soil, and water quality are wrong.

I know, the above two links come from Plains Justice, where DRA's lawyer Paul Blackburn works, but that is an important side of the story. And heaven knows you won't hear it from Mr. Powers.

Mr. Powers ends with this claim about a reality of his own making, saying Dakota Rural Action is "more than happy to show up to complain, but they won’t go under oath. Amazing."

Mr. Powers characterizes Dakota Rural Action as cowardly complainers. Dakota Rural Action has stood up to defend South Dakotans' property rights and ag productivity from the predations of a foreign corporation. Even Steve Sibson could drop his partisanship and find common cause with Frank Kloucek and the South Dakota Democrats in standing for South Dakota property rights and environmental concerns over corporate profits. Mr. Powers and his Republican party have lifted one finger to those landowners... and it wasn't a helpful finger.

Mr. Powers seems to be sinking ever further into the "help me! my right-wing worldview has fallen and it can't get up!" crowd. His language appears calculated to further fuel the fires of faux patriots wallowing in the delusion that they fighting to "Take this country back!" from those darned Commies and greenies and fellas in old suits and whoever else they're characterizing as the enemy today.

And while Mr. Powers gossips and gripes, fellow citizens like Bernie and Frank, Peggy and Amanda, and Paul and Kelly ignore the insults and focus on the issues, trying to make South Dakota and America a little better.

13 comments:

  1. Steve Sibson10/27/2009 6:06 AM

    Cory, Pat Powers is not a conservative. He promotes a strain of the same Progressive movement that you promote. You need to understand that the Progressive movement has taken over both political parties. This has happened due to the Progressive agenda being indoctrinated in the government schools.

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  2. Reality check: does anyone else here think Dakota War College is promoting the same things I'm promoting?

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  3. Naturally, Mr. Powers finds discussion of real issues boring. You keep yawning and gossiping, Pat; the rest of us will keep working on real solutions.

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  4. "the rest of us will keep working on real solutions."

    Oh.. Is that what you were doing? I thought you and sibby were just being whiny.

    My bad.

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  5. Again, Mr. Powers ignores the issues, offers no responses to the substantive critique, and sticks with the personal. Gossip is easy; talking about real policy is hard. Try it some time, Pat.

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  6. Cory,

    Both you and Pat are for government, but in slightly different ways. When it comes to his needs, Pat is for governemnt, just like your promotion of the welfare state. He does the nanny-state thing just to keep the GOP's conservative base off tract from the truth. Initiated Measure 10 in 2008 proved neither political party was in favor of reforms to reduce the influence of big-government. That is why you saw the NEA join forces with the Chamber of Commerce. Both organizations rely on big-governemnt. The Chamber being a promoter of free-market capitalism is a myth. They too are collectivists, and make-up the blue-blood country club GOPers.

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  7. I get a small amount of perverse glee when you stick it to PhPh, Cory.

    He NEVER answers a question. I wonder if he actually writes the things he posts or who he really pays to write them.

    Yawn.

    Could this be the end of Don Quixote, riding his trusty nag Rocinante? Quixote died of a fever....

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  8. Cory, in order for you to be promoting the things DWC does, or as it does, first of all you have to be ignorantly self righteous about yourself and your ideas, and see the world in no one else's eyes but your own.

    Second, you need to be far less informative and much more authoritative, especially if you're wrong.

    Third, you must steal every one else's posts and claim you already posted about that.

    Fourth, you must troll over to all other blogs, highjack the discussion, add nothing to the conversation, and giggle with glee when you are again the butt of blogging jokes.

    Fifth, you must find an unfortunate candidate that you rarely promote, yet beat the hell out of other candidate's promoters. (It's ALWAYS better to be negative than promote your own guy's positives.)

    Sixth, you must put sincere negative spin on anything you post, and you must be especially good at name calling, distorting names, diminshing people, and diminishing ideas.

    Seventh, you must learn the fine art of using one part of an idea/issue to your advantage and then be able to diminishingly disagree with the same issue when it promotes an issue for "the other side".

    And so on.

    Cory, if you are striving to promote the same things DWC does, or as it does, you suck at it.

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  9. Sibby's second comment isn't actually that far off. I don't know how to feel about that.

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  10. country-club collectivists... indeed, Kelsey, strange as it is for me to say it, Sibby has a point. A few years ago, I realized what he's saying is somewhat accurate. I realized the Republican Party I had supported was really as interested in big government as the Dems. The only difference seemed to me to be that Dems wants big government to help the little guy, while the GOP wanted government to help the big guy. Naturally, I threw in with the little guy...

    ...little guys like the South Dakota landowners pushed around by TransCanada about whom PP and the SDGOP haven't said one word of support.

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  11. Steve Sibson10/28/2009 9:13 AM

    Cory,

    The Demcorats being for the small guy is as much of a myth as the cahmber being for free-markets. The litttle guys are pawns who drink the Progressive's Kool-AId. Big-government will never bring them prosperity. Only through a limited government that allows a free-market to be free can the average guy truly find prosperity.

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  12. Steve Sibson10/28/2009 9:14 AM

    Taunia,

    You embody many of the traits you hate about Pat Powers. Perhaps you need to stop and reflect for a while.

    ReplyDelete

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