A South Dakota Moderate

Federal drought relief money is slow in coming and the long range forecast is for less than average rain. Candidate for governor Jack Billion is calling for tax relief for affected landowners to try and help offset their losses while Governor Rounds’ relief plan consists of praying for rain.
And State Representative Ryan Olson calls Jack [...]

A scientific poll released today by KELO TV shows that the referendum against South Dakota’s abortion ban might be successful in overturning the legislation.
We surveyed 800 registered voters July 24-26 and asked how they would vote on the referred law.
If today were Election Day, 47 percent of people in our scientific poll say they would [...]

Webster’s defines diplomacy as: the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations.
Our chief diplomat in the latest conflict in the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice, is on her way back to the US bypassing the remaining stops on her diplomatic mission in the region after an Israeli airstrike in Qana, Lebanon killed over 60 people. [...]

If anything is coming out of the current conflict in the Middle East, it’s shown the US military that they are not prepared to fight a group like Hezbollah. When Israel first fought back against the terrorist group 3 weeks ago, most in the Pentagon figured that the massive might of the Israeli military would [...]

PP over at South Dakota War College posted a snippet today from an email he received from state representative Ryan Olson challenging democratic candidate for governor Jack Billion to a debate on drought relief and school funding.

I have challenged Jack Billion to a debate on drought relief and school funding. As a member of the [...]

The Washington Post has an interesting profile on Kevin Schieffer, the president and CEO of DM&E and his vision for the 1000 mile railroad that has been in the news lately because of the Mayo Clinic controversy and the involvement of prominent former South Dakota politicians, Bill Janklow and Tom Daschle and current Senator John [...]

Late Friday night the House overwhelmingly passed the pension reform bill 279-131 in a rare showing of bipartisan support. The bill is Congress’s attempt to stop the horrible trend by companies to under fund or completely fold their pension plans at the expense of the companies employees and the taxpayers.
Part of this bill is written [...]

No overseas conflict in US history has been more unpopular with the populous than the Vietnam war, That is until now. The most recent Gallup poll shows that 52 percent of American adults want to see the US out of Iraq within the next 12 months. A similar poll done by Gallup in the summer [...]

Last year Democrat Harry Reid shut down the Senate in protest over the snails pace of the prewar intelligence investigation in Iraq. GOP Congressman Pat Roberts’ response was don’t worry it’s almost done.
I guess the GOP’s idea of almost done differs from everybody else because it’s nine months later and the report has yet to [...]

Chad over at Clean Cut Kid has dug up the links here and here to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) documents given to the IRS in their complaint against Leslee Unruh and her “non-profit” organizations. On the surface it looks like more than just a minor nuisance is in the future [...]

Tom Gerber, the Libertarian candidate for governor is speaking out in yesterdays Argus regarding the fact that he is being snubbed by the Mitchell Daily Republic sponsored debate at the South Dakota State Fair.
Is it in the public interest to prevent the voters from hearing from all candidates? I think not,” Gerber said. “Is it [...]

I had always despised the tactics used by many lobbying groups like the NRA that would argue against a certain proposed legislation because they believed that it was one step closer to a more restrictive policy that could infringe on their rights. How could banning assault rifles lead to a complete ban on gun ownership? [...]