2/25/14

Dump the Leadership: Thune targeted by conservatives

South Dakota's vulnerable junior senator commiserated with donors over Ellsworth Air Force Base's likely loss of B-1B bombers and believes that expanding the Powder River Training Complex would help secure the future of the base. As their party collapses around them, Thune (earth hater-SD) and his fellatos are becoming quite shrill. He voted to expedite confirmation of Chuck Hagel for DoD.
REPUBLICAN VOTERS fall into four rough camps. They are: moderate or liberal voters; somewhat conservative voters; very conservative, evangelical voters; and very conservative, secular voters. Each of these groups supports extremely different types of candidates. In sum, a Tea Party candidate either needs to clearly deny any breathing space to a more evangelical candidate or he must emulate George W. Bush in 2000 in having enough appeal to other factions to gain enough strength to survive the early states. The likelier outcome will be a repeat of the traditional GOP three-way war between its somewhat conservative center and the two large ideological wings: the moderate secularists and conservative evangelicals. [Henry Olson, The Four Faces of the Republican Party]

A Washington DC based conservative group, “For America” has begun a campaign called “Dump the Leadership” aimed at the republican leaders in the House and Senate. The group says [R]epublicans have not lived up to the promises made in the “Pledge to America”. South Dakota Senator John Thune, one of those targeted, says it’s kind of a rift in the family… [WNAX]
Uhhh: and Mike Rounds wasn't there either.
I was generally aware of the EB-5 program as lieutenant governor, to the same degree that any interested observer might have been. I don’t remember ever talking with Gov. Rounds or any of the Rounds-era Tourism and State Development secretaries about EB-5 while I was lieutenant governor. I have not discussed the program with Gov. Rounds or any of those Tourism and State Development secretaries since I took office in 2011. [Governor Denny]
Tim Giago at HuffPost:
Native American journalist Jodi Lee Rave of Lee Enterprise Newspapers was recently lambasted in a letter to the editor to our local daily for having the temerity to laud the donation of funds for heating fuel for the very poor Indian nations of the Northern Plains. 
The criticism was initiated by the fact that the donor was the Citgo Petroleum Corporation based in Houston, Texas and headed by the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the man reviled by many Americans for referring to President George W. Bush on the floor of the United Nations as the "Devil."
There is a lot of respect for President Chavez among the Indian nations of this country. He didn't make promises that he couldn't or wouldn't keep, but instead put his money where his mouth is. American Indians appreciate that form of directness.
A caller into Diane Rehm's discussion stated with some authority that Hugo Chavez practiced Liberation Theology, hated the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers, but aligned with Cardinal Romeo.
A program designed to support Lakota families and individuals received $75,000 on Tuesday. First Interstate Bank presented the Lakota Tiwahe Family Asset Building Project the check in Kyle. The program works when low income participants open a matched savings account to be used specifically for building assets which help individuals and families move toward home ownership, business development, or post–secondary education. [KOTA teevee]

During South Dakota’s 2014 legislative session, HCR 1017 — a resolution urging the federal government to reconsider hemp’s status as a controlled substance and recognize its viability in agriculture — was introduced. District 19 Rep. Stace Nelson (R) co-authored the resolution along with primary sponsor Elizabeth May (R-27) and told the Press & Dakotan hemp is deeply rooted in American history. Despite the setback, Nelson said he believes the Farm Bill provision, plus time and increased education on the subject, could make it easier to enact legislation aimed at easing hemp restrictions in the coming years. “Next year, we’ll probably see another bill come forward,” he said. “As people get educated on it and understand more, I see it not being a problem in the future.” [Rob Nielsen, Yankton Press and Dakotan]
Of course, Deadwood's traffic is down.
Data from the state Gaming Commission show that gambling revenues in the city in January were down 3.8 percent over the year, to about $7.5 million. When Deadwood casino revenue drops, so does the state's take in taxes. The state netted about $665,000 in January, a drop of about 3 percent. [AP, KDLT teevee]
Rich women have full reproductive freedom while women at middle and lower income levels experience chilling effects on their rights. South Dakota's repeated attempts to restrict access to medical care is not only mean-spirited, it's discriminatory anti-choice extremism.
South Dakota already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. But last week, Republican legislators there moved to make it even harder for women to have abortions—with a law they argue is necessary to stop an influx of Asian immigrants from aborting their female children. On Wednesday, by a vote of 60 to 10, the South Dakota House passed a bill that would ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus, or "sex-selective" abortions. Peggy Gibson, a Democratic state representative who voted against the South Dakota bill, said the right-to-lifers are pushing a phony issue. "I did not hear the sponsor of the bill give one iota of evidence that a [sex-selective] abortion has taken place in South Dakota. This bill…is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist." [Molly Redden, GOP Lawmaker: We Need to Ban Sex-Based Abortions Because of Asian Immigrants, Mother Jones]
Obama can and should ask for conditions in return for his approval of the pipeline. The EPA has already proposed seeking a commitment from Canada to do more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Increased pollution from the tar sands has already caused Canada to miss its own climate change targets. Another idea offered by environmentalists is that Obama could approve the pipeline on the condition that oil companies agree to sell the refined products that result in the United States instead of exporting them. That could have the effect of reducing the amount of oil shipped via Keystone — and also of calling the oil industry’s bluff: TransCanada, the pipeline’s builder, has said that its customers intend to sell their products in the United States, but environmentalists, noting that exported fuel is more profitable, are skeptical. Most important, Obama can take other actions to offset the additional Keystone emissions. Indeed, he already intends to. By June 1, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose a federal regulation to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s 1,500 existing power plants, the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gases. If the rules are tough enough, they could eventually result in the shuttering of all the 600 remaining coal-fired power plants in the country. Doing so would reduce emissions by an amount many times greater than what the Keystone pipeline would add. [Doyle McManus, Obama may put conditions on Keystone XL]
Joe Romm of Climate Progress says that Secretary of State John Kerry sounds like he will recommend to President Barack Obama that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline be rejected.
"We share nothing so completely as our planet." That was a key message in John Kerry's first major address as secretary of state in Charlottesville, Virginia.










The Peoples Republic of Brookings is not just home to South Dakota's most obese GOP blogger.
Political scientist Gary Aguiar will discuss political polling at the Brookings County Democrats’ meeting Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Brookings Public Library. Aguiar, professor of political science at South Dakota State University, will give an overview of polling techniques, talk about their effectiveness, and explain how political organizations use the results. [Brookings Register]
South Dakota's tourism industry is bracing for the crush of bad press being generated by the state's red state legislature and the effects of climate change on its DC-dependent tax structure.
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2 comments:

PrairieLady said...

Peggy Gibson, a Democratic state representative who voted against the South Dakota bill, said the right-to-lifers are pushing a phony issue. "I did not hear the sponsor of the bill give one iota of evidence that a [sex-selective] abortion has taken place in South Dakota. This bill…is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist."
Interesting comment considering I have not heard any sponsors giving evidence for most of the crap the Rethugs have put forth. A good example is the phony religious freedoms with the very discriminatory anti gay bill for one. And how many other?

February 25, 2014 at 12:40 PM
larry kurtz said...

Oh, Miss Gayle: they are operating directly from the ALEC handbook and driving such an extreme agenda that it distracts from the crimes against children, American Indians and women.

That Noem is looking for donations from those pressing her on what Brendan Johnson has been saying about the state's sex trade for years means the Bendagate noose is beginning to tighten.

Thanks for coming by!

February 25, 2014 at 1:25 PM

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