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 Reason to Read SD Blogosphere: Northern Profs Discuss Incarceration

Professors David Newquist and Ken Blanchard remind us of the usefulness of the South Dakota blogosphere for sharing intelligent civil discourse. Dr. Newquist's thoughtful Thursday observations on incarceration inspire Dr. Blanchard to respond with a three-part (so far) series on the topic. I recommend reading both authors' works.

We build knowledge in conversation and interaction. The for-profit mainstream media don't (and don't want to?) give us that. When's the last time you saw KELO and KSFY or the Press and Dakotan and Daily Republic develop a story together? In the blogosphere, as Northern Valley Beacon and South Dakota Politics contend and critique, they also collaborate, building knowledge together not as a finished consumer product or platform for advertising, but as an evolving understanding that all South Dakotans can share and contribute to.

Among the key points the good professors bring out:

• NVB notes that South Dakota incarcerates twice as many people as North Dakota. 6.3% of our state workforce and 7% of the state budget go toward prisons.
• SDP points to Census figures that between South and North Dakota, South Dakota has a much higher rate of violent crime while North Dakota has a much higher rate of property crime. "[I]t would appear," observes Dr. Blanchard, "that North Dakotans are both less violent on average and less respectful of their neighbor's property." In his intelligence and restraint, Dr. Blanchard misses the chance to say, "That's what you'd expect from those income-taxing North Dakota socialists."