A South Dakota Moderate

I wasn’t able to get any usable pictures with my ridiculously horrible camera phone and the driving rain but it seems that the Ron Paul army hasn’t taken the suspension of his campaign too seriously. Driving through Watertown today I noticed a large Ron Paul for President sign on in a parking lot on US212 and an even larger billboard on SD20 just Southeast of the airport labeled as being paid for by “Friends of Ron Paul”.

Paul managed to get 16% of the vote in Pennsylvania and McCain isn’t necessarily wowing GOP voters in the more recent primaries even after getting the required delegates for the nomination. So the question is, will the South Dakota battalion of the Ron Paul army be able to surpass PA’s numbers?

Speaking of numbers like $11.4 million, last night’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana along with Pennsylvania a few weeks ago gave us another interesting number. Even though John McCain has long since wrapped up the GOP nomination, over 435,000 people voted for a Republican other than McCain in the last 3 primaries.

And no, I am not talking about the almost comical Operation Chaos campaign by Rush Limbaugh that sought to get his “ditto heads” to throw the vote Hillary’s way and that Obama is saying at least in some way affected Indiana last night. In the last 3 primaries, almost 25% of the Republican votes cast were for someone else even though McCain has already sewn up the nomination.

Just some food for thought.

If anyone is still wondering why Hillary Clinton is still in the race despite an almost killer blow in last night’s primaries, MSNBC is reporting that after last month, she has 11.4 million reasons to stay in the race to the end.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has lent her presidential campaign $6.4 million over the past month, a campaign aide says.

The money more than doubles Clinton’s personal investment in her bid for the Democratic nomination. She gave her campaign $5 million earlier this year.

So Hillary supporters out there looking forward to her visit to Sioux Falls be advised. Any money donated from now on might just end up in her bank account instead of funding her now almost impossible bid for the nomination. The fat lady isn’t singing for Hillary’s campaign yet but it’s not because Hillary has much of a chance to win, it is more likely that she just can’t afford to pay her.

UPDATE: Our own George McGovern begins what I believe is going to be the inevitable mass migration of Hillary supporters to Barack Obama.

Those that have read this blog for awhile probably know by now my obsession with Apple’s iPhone and news that the newest 3G version could be released as soon as late next month has me salivating.

According to cellpassion, AT&T’s pulling a similar move as Apple did last year, disallowing any employee vacations for a period from June 15 to July 12. If this is true, there’s only one reason why AT&T would do this: the 3G iPhone.

What’s that you say, we can’t get the iPhone in South Dakota? Nevermind…

While some still believe that the Reverend Hagee endorsement sought after and received by John McCain is nowhere near the level that the Reverend Wright scandal has reached with Barack Obama, the McCain camp isn’t as sure anymore.

McCain’s aides have admitted that they should have probably vetted Hagee a bit more thoroughly.

McCain’s aides attribute the Hagee controversy to poor vetting. But even some Republicans (not affiliated with the campaign) privately wonder how the pastor’s extreme views slipped through without notice. McCain personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.

But then again if the media continues to ignore it, it really isn’t that big of a deal is it?

I normally don’t blow my own horn, probably because I never have a horn to blow when compared with the other fine South Dakota Blogs but this caught me a bit off guard last night.

BlogNetNews is a feed aggregator on steroids that also uses some kind of super secret algorithm to rank the “influence” of the various blogs in their respective categories. The rankings are released weekly and you can pretty much count on either the War College, SD Watch, or Madville Times finishing on top for the week in the South Dakota Blog category with me somewhere at the bottom.

Well something must have gone wrong with BlogNetNews’ algorithm this week (man hackers are expensive, thank goodness for that rebate check) as the screenshot below shows.

I have no delusions of grandeur nor does this mean anything in the overall scheme of things but what the heck, it is nice to know that there is a change of seasons in hell from time to time…

If you’ve watched any TV the past few months, you have undoubtedly seen the commercials prodding the last few remaining Americans that don’t have cable or satellite TV that they will need to get a digital converter box prior to the changeover to all digital broadcasts in February of 2009. Our government leaders are even willing to send you a $40 coupon to make sure that your TV viewing doesn’t get interrupted.

While I knew this was coming and can’t wait for as much high def content as possible, what I was amazed to discover is exactly what we are paying to make sure no one misses new episodes of “CSI”.

the government has allocated $1.5 billion to inform 17 million citizens about the digital TV transition

A little perspective:

the total proposed budged for literacy education in 2009 stands at a paltry $574.6 million

Amazing.

Cory over at Madville Times introduces us to a 3rd challenger for the GOP nomination for the U S Senate. Veterinarian Dr. Charles Gonyo joins the race with Sam Kephart and Joel Dykstra whom are looking to challenge Tim Johnson this November. While Cory chooses to focus on Dr Gonyo’s abortion stand, which from what I can tell isn’t much other than he is open to suggestions, a certain theme from his campaign site seemed to stand out.

Myopic or myopia - a lack of foresight or discernment : a narrow view of something

Dr Gonyo at first glance seems to suffer from the above defined affliction which also affects many of our other politicians. But unlike most here in South Dakota whose myopia leans towards the Religious Reich agenda of repressing those that do not conform to their religious views, Dr. Gonyo seems to have a woody for everything immigration.

Here are his goals:

* Read each bill completly before voting.
* Vote “No” on any form of immigrant anmesty.
* Maintenance of a consistantly strong and permanent defense capability & military.
* Constitutional rights of American citizens.
* No federal funds to firms involved in the practice of aiding, or abetting foreign illegal aliens.
* Maintain mutual alliance with Israel, the only true ally of USA in the middle eastern area.
* Federal restrictions on any American currency transfer from within the USA by individuals illegally in the USA.
* Bring to task any entities operating on a tax exempt basis while aiding illegal activities within the USA.
* Investigation of T.I.N. frauds against the American taxpayers with full prosecution against the illegal aliens and the tax people who aid them.
* No federal grants, subsidies etc., no farm subsidies, to firms employing foreign workers or subcontractors employing foreign instead of American citizens.
* Require all federal employees to be bona fide American citizens beginning with ICE and the Southern Border Patrol.

Can you see the pattern forming and maybe more importantly, is immigration reform something that is high on the South Dakota radar to the point that his crusade would useful in getting elected? And finally, what’s with his number 1 goal to “Read each bill completly before voting”? Has that been a problem?

It’s looks to be an interesting primary.

It has been 38 years and counting since a family acquaintance, Bill Shroeder, and 3 others were killed at Kent State University just down the road from where I was growing up. Up until then I had been effectively shielded from the Vietnam War but Schroeder’s death from shots fired by the Ohio National Guard while he was walking to class forever changed that.

Over 5 years into our latest unpopular war, the protests haven’t reached the point they did in 1970, probably due to the lack of a draft, but as Bush’s approval ratings show, we aren’t too thrilled with the current conflict either. To commemorate the incident also know as the “Kent State Massacre”, Neil Young wrote Ohio.

2008 is turning into the year of the gun. First the South Dakota legislature tries to allow college students to carry guns on our college campuses. Then some of our more Conservative friends wanted to board up all the Pizza Hut franchises because they had the gall to discipline one of their delivery drivers for carrying and using a gun despite company policies against such actions.

Now President Bush and Co. want to allow us to carry concealed heaters throughout our National Parks system because as we all know, these parks are really dangerous.

The Bush administration on Wednesday announced its intent to shoot down federal rules that prohibit individuals from carrying loaded firearms in U.S. national parks and wildlife refuges. The proposal would permit individuals to carry loaded and concealed weapons if permitted by state laws in the state where the park or refuge is located, a change many current and retired park rangers contend is unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

Where ever you are Yogi, you might have stolen your last picnic basket ’cause we could be packing heat soon. And while we’re talking about it, all of us might want to refrain from chewing that guy out for cutting us off on the highway because he might decide to exercise his 2nd Amendment rights and put us in the hospital or worse.

Hillary announced she had hired a South Dakota campaign director last week and this from the email inbox this afternoon:

Join us for our South Dakota for Hillary Headquarters “Open House” in Sioux Falls!

When
Monday, May 5, 2008 at 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Where
South Dakota for Hillary State Headquarters
2101 W. 41st Street, Suite 30
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
General Area: East Side of Western Mall (Corner of 41st St and Western Ave)
Description

Join us for our South Dakota for Hillary Headquarters Open House in Sioux Falls! Hillary Clinton is ready to lead this nation starting on day one, she is best prepared to beat John McCain in November, and when she is President the voices of South Dakota’s working families will finally be heard. Join us as we open our State Headquarters and find out how you can help us win South Dakota for Hillary.
Host

South Dakota For Hillary

I wonder if she’ll get the crowds that Obama got when his Sioux Falls and Rapid City offices opened?

Updated Below

Even as McCain tries to distance himself from Mr 71% by intimating what many have already known for years, the war in Iraq was more about oil than terrorism, he still cannot get clear of his 100 years in Iraq remark. During a town hall meeting in Denver this morning he spoke on both subjects starting with the dangers of our reliance on foreign oil. He brought up the subject when promoting his upcoming energy policy rollout and while doing so suggested that our Iraqi occupation is, and possible future conflicts could be, caused by that dependence.

“My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East,” McCain said.

But even while saying that, he is still being dogged by his comments suggesting that we could be in Iraq for 100 years which he again tried to explain while dismissing the latest ads from the DNC and MoveOn.org that put those comments front and center.

“You have seen an ad campaign that is mounted against me that says I wanted to stay and fight in Iraq and fight for 100 years,” McCain told about 300 people at the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center.

“My friends, it’s a direct falsification, and I’m sorry that political campaigns have to deteriorate in this fashion,” McCain said. “Because there’s legitimate differences between myself and Senator Obama and Senator Clinton on what we should do in Iraq.”

But now instead of denying he said that, which given the video is pretty much a moot point, he now suggests he was refering not to fighting in Iraq for 100 years, but instead just maintaining a presence there for that long.

He doesn’t deny saying “100 years” in connection with U.S. military operations in Iraq, but says he was clearly referring to a possible peacekeeping force — not a centurylong war, as critics imply.

He says tomato…And that is his problem, his platform in Iraq and the Middle East will keep him forever connected to the most unpopular President in our history and possibly our second most unpopular war.

UPDATE: McCain is again trying to clarify something he said. This time he is now saying that the war that was fought for oil was actually the first gulf war, not the one we started 5 years ago. It seems he spends almost as much time clarifying things he said as he does saying them in the first place.