KELO Pulls Thune "Gang Rape" Post, Asks for Revision

This morning I posted "Thune Votes for Gang Rape; SF Media Gives Pass," discussing on John Thune's vote on the Franken amendment and the Sioux Falls media's apparent ignorance of the story. I cross-posted on the blogspace KELO grants me. At 13:48 CDT today, I received the following request from KELO-TV:

Cory,

We’d like you to adjust the title of this blog entry: [URL] along with any other instances of this wording within the blog post.

Thanks,

Jonathan García
Web Producer
KELOLAND.com

Notice Mr. Garcia did not specify whether it was "gang rape" or "gives pass" that wasn't sitting well with the newsroom.

Is "alleged" the issue here? Indeed, Jamie Leigh Jones's gang rape allegations are only allegations... in part because Jones has been busy just fighting for the right to take the case to court where she could prove her allegations.

O.K. See revisions below:

Travis at Badlands Blue makes a good point: why is the South Dakota media giving Senator John Thune a pass on his vote against the Franken amendment, a nay vote which some have characterized as a vote that protects malfeasant government defense contractors and makes it harder for women to seek legal recourse for abuse in the workplace. Senator Franken's amendment ot the defense appropriations bill sought to withhold defense contracts from companies "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." When Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones alleged that she was gang raped by coworkers at Halliburton and then locked in a storage container for 24 hours without food, water, or a bed and threatened, Halliburton/KBR tried to force her into binding arbitration instead of being able to take the case to court.

Angie at Dakota Women opened the story for discussion in the South Dakota blogosphere two weeks ago, even beating Jon Stewart to the punch. Yet as far as I know, only one professional reporter in this state has seen fit to ask our Senator why he would vote against Senator Franken's amendment to prohibit federal money from going toward defense contractors who force their employees to give up their civil rights.

(Reminder of the Jon Stewart position: we'll bust ACORN for giving bad advice to a fake pimp, but we keep pumping millions of federal dollars to corporations whose employees commit offenses like those committed by Halliburton/KBR employees in Baghdad, offenses that have been widely referred to in the press as allegedly including gang rape?)

That one bright, shining exception: Kevin Woster (of course!) does good journalism and takes up the issue in a Sunday report in the Rapid City Journal discussing possible Dem challengers to Thune in 2010. (If you've read others, do let me know!)

But Thune's hometown rag, that Sioux Falls paper? Nothing. The Sioux Falls TV "news"? Nope, zip, nada.

Senator Thune puts the profits of Halliburton and other Republican money machines over the protection of women and the prosecution of actual offenses like those committed by Halliburton/KBR employees in Baghdad, offenses that have been widely referred to in the press as allegedly including gang rape, and no one making money for reporting news—at least no one on this side of the river—thinks it might be worth asking the Senator to clarify his position?

As Travis notes, so much for the "Liberal Media." If you want liberal media in South Dakota, you have to do it yourself.

Hmmm... point made?

Senator Franken Schools Apologist for America's Inferior Health Insurance System

Hat tip to Bill Fleming!

Can East River ask to be annexed by Minnesota? I want Al Franken to be my Senator:



The Hudson Institute's Diana Furchtgott-Roth breaks Senate hearing tradition and fires an off-topic comment back at the Senator after he has yielded his time. Senator Franken schools her both ways, for veering off topic and for citing rigged stats. Beautiful.

Boffing and Boffo Ideas at Decorum Forum

The Decorum Forum gets my attention (again) with a post about "Medicare E," the possible darn smart rebranding House Dems are looking at for the public option. The "E" stand for "Everyone," à la George McGovern. Yes!

Then what really gets my attention: the word verification code in DF's comment section:


Tee hee! (Yes, we're all still in junior high.)

Landowner Bashes Bicyclists, Burbles Baloney at Bike Trail Meeting

Madison's recreation trail committee held an open house for residents to learn about the proposed route for a new bicycle trail to Lake Herman. The new trail would run west from Flynn Field along Silver Creek in the south part of Madison. The trail would cross Highland Avenue near Gehl, run south to the old NFO corner, then cross the road and run straight west to the state park entrance. (No formal plans yet to add the full 7.5-mile Lake Herman Loop... but I'm working on that!)

About 30 of us (I think Chuck might have included the engineers and local officials in his count) gathered in Madison's fire hall for the meeting to study the maps and ask questions of the patient engineers from Ulteig.

I say patient because the engineers had to stand through a fair amount of old-guy crabbing and small-town politicking. I heard one gentleman reciting his decades-old grievances about selling his land in southwest Madison for dirt cheap so Gehl could get built and then geting surprise bills for curb and gutter. The gentleman's point was a general assertion about not trusting the city on projects like this. The engineers listened politely and nodded as they eagerly awaited some actual engineering questions.

More bothersome to my ear were the protestations of David Pitts, who drives down from Ramona to farm the 150-some acres he owns across the road from Gehl and Madison's southwest corner. The proposed route would slice maybe three acres off that cropland. Pitts was a vocal opponent of a previous push to build a rec trail to Lake Herman, and he's renewing his protests over this effort.

I want to sympathize with Mr. Pitts's concern for his property rights. However, much of what I heard him say Tuesday night was, frankly, bull.

Pitts told the engineers (who again, did a lot of patient listening to matters that aren't their job to deal with) that he can't stop his combine on a dime to avoid a bike trail. His point is that he's going to lose a lot more cropland than the ten-foot ribbon of asphalt will take up. If I recall the map correctly, there would be a ten-foot easement next to the trail.

But if I recall correctly, when my wife and I rode the bicycle trail from the Lewis and Clark campground in to Yankton this summer, we found corn pretty close to the trail. Perhaps Pitts can drive down to Yankton for lessons on precision tractor driving.

Pitts told the engineers that it just doesn't make sense to situate recreation next to industry (industry meaning David Pitts). What Pitts fails to acknowledge is that recreation is also an industry, one on which our Chamber of Commerce stakes pretty big hopes (the town logo features a sailboat, not a combine). A bike trail to Lake Herman State park would be a key part of our local tourism industry, encouraging campers and day-tourists to come to Madison, ride and roller-blade around, and spend money. Infrastructure doesn't have to support big trucks to support business. (Read more on the value of recreation and public facilities in the city's comprehensive plan, Chapter 6.)

Pitts told the engineers that originally the city had proposed laying a bike trail along Highway 34, as evidenced by the little strip of trail out by Prairie Village on the old roadway. He seemed to say the city should go back to that plan. Never mind, of course, that a bike trail along Highway 34 would pass through even more industrial land, crossing driveways and taking up parking and workspace for Lake County International, Twin Lakes Veterinary, East River Electric, Tires Tires Tires, and several other businesses. Pitts doesn't really think it's a bad idea to have recreation next to industry or even a whole bunch of industries; he just doesn't want it near his single industry.

Pitts expressed his general disdain for bicyclists (and, I assume, anyone he might see dawdling about on a recreation trail), saying that "anyone who's got time to sit on a bicycle" has got time to take some longer route—i.e., some route not on his land. There were other implications in his tone of voice, the kind of implication that says, "I'm an important citizen, and you other guys aren't."

It is with difficulty that I restrict myself to noting that Mr. Pitts's characterization of bicyclists misses the point that many such individuals who have time for recreation also have money to spend. They'll buy drinks and ice cream in town. They'll buy gas and tires for their campers. They'll buy bikes and kiddie trailers and rollerblades and windbreakers and other sales-taxable gear. They'll rent campsites and motel rooms to come spend time in a town that offers a wealth of recreation opportunities.

Mr. Pitts also misses the point that even folks without a lot of disposable income can benefit greatly from a free recreational facility like a bike trail. Rich or poor, families can take their kids out for a walk or a tricycle ride on a summer evening, away from the dust and noise of trucks on the highway.

Mr. Pitts clearly thinks recreation doesn't deserve any favors from his industry. Of course, Mr. Pitts's industry benefits from the generosity of a community (and a state) that exempts some of his clearly commercial vehicles from commerical vehicle licensing laws. He might not be in a good position to protest "favoring" one industry over another.

I have deep sympathy for arguments in defense of personal property. If Mr. Pitts wishes to simply say, "It's my land, and I don't want to sell," that's fine. But when he manufactures arguments against public infrastructure couched in selfish, inconsistent, and at least unneighborly if not insulting language, he doesn't help his case.

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Update 2009.11.02: Count on the blog to spark neighborly conversation: David Pitts called me last week, and we had a good 2+ hour discussion. Read his take on the story, complete with his suggestion that the city has been a less-than-straight shooter.

Thune Votes for Gang Rape; SF Media Gives Pass

Travis at Badlands Blue makes a good point: why is the South Dakota media giving Senator John Thune a pass on his vote for gang rape? Angie at Dakota Women opened the story for discussion in the South Dakota blogosphere two weeks ago, even beating Jon Stewart to the punch. Yet as far as I know, only one professional reporter in this state has seen fit to ask our Senator why he would vote against Senator Franken's amendment to prohibit federal money from going toward defense contractors who force their employees to give up their civil rights.

(Reminder of the Jon Stewart position: we'll bust ACORN for giving bad advice to a fake pimp, but we keep pumping millions of federal dollars to corporations whose employees commit gang rape?)

That one bright, shining exception: Kevin Woster (of course!) does good journalism and takes up the issue in a Sunday report in the Rapid City Journal discussing possible Dem challengers to Thune in 2010. (If you've read others, do let me know!)

But Thune's hometown rag, that Sioux Falls paper? Nothing. The Sioux Falls TV "news"? Nope, zip, nada.

Senator Thune puts the profits of Halliburton and other Republican money machines over the protection of women and the prosecution of gang rape, and no one making money for reporting news—at least no one on this side of the river—thinks it might be worth asking the Senator to clarify his position?

As Travis notes, so much for the "Liberal Media." If you want liberal media in South Dakota, you have to do it yourself.

p.s.: Gee, maybe the new Shawn & Mary Show on KSFY ActionNews will bring a fresh start to the state of serious journalism in South Dakota. Ah, just like the good old days with the Chet and Dave Show—that is what they called it, right?

Rep. Lange Flips... at Kiwanis Pancake Feed!

Mmmm... pancakes! The Madison Kiwanis Club held their annual pancake feed yesterday at the City Armory.

Full house at the armory—it was tough to find a seat! If the picture looks a little hazy, that's not my camera: that's all those yummy pancake and sausage fumes. (Kiwanians get a carbon credit exemption for these greenhouse emissions.)

Pass the bipartisan pancakes: State Representative Gerry Lange (D–8/Madison) wields the spatula while Lake County States Attorney Ken Meyer slides in with another pitcher of batter. Democrats and Republicans, Catholics and Mormons (and don't forget the atheist taking the picture!)—a little more batter, maybe add kosher sausage, and we might have a recipe for world peace.

Gerry mentioned that a fellow Kiwanian beat him to the punch on selling pancake tickets to some of his usual "customers." That got Gerry's competitive dander up: he ended up selling just shy of 300 pancake tickets, a personal record... and a good chunk of money for Kiwanis!

And props to proud papa: Today Gerry can flip for his son Roberto, who just received unanimous confirmation from the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. District Judge.

These pancakes brought to you by Black and Decker. Set that beater on reverse, and you get French toast.

Millner, Dairy Dozen Not Paying Bills; Stiffed Farmers Speak Up

Things keep getting worse for Rick Millner of Veblen and his Dairy Dozen factory feedlot operations. Millner is not only violating federal law; he's also bilking the farmers he does business with. According to a report in AgWeek, since last year, Millner's business has regularly failed to fully pay for livestock feed contracted from farmers around the Five Star Dairy in Milnor, North Dakota. One farmer is selling off equipment to pay the bills that he can't otherwise pay while Dairy Dozen dodges its obligations to him.

“I’m tired of being Five Star’s banker,” says Dan Mund.... As of Oct. 6, Mund says he is owed $80,000 for his 2008 corn crop by Five Star Dairy of Milnor, N.D. Five Star is a 1,600-cow operation that is part of a stable of five larger dairies.

“I just want to be paid and then be left alone,” he says [Mikkel Pates, "Supplier-Farmers Stung by Dairy's Economic Woes," AgWeek, 2009.10.19].

Mund has done business with the nieghboring feedlot since 1997. When Millner bought and expanded the operation in 2006, he told Mund, "I’m the kind of guy you don’t need a contract with... A handshake is good enough.”

Now not even a court order is good enough: a district judge ordered Millner to pay Mund in full back in March; Mund is still waiting for his $80,000.

Millner's feedlots are the sort of business for which our state government does all sorts of favors, including helping rich foreigners jump the immigration queue. Millner's business takes all this state assistance, then fails to pay its bills and leaves its smaller business partners holding the bag.

Millner has proven once again that he just can't operate as a good neighbor. More farmers need to speak up against his abuse of contracts and environmental laws, and our government officials need to take more action to stop these abuses and compensate the folks who have suffered from Millner's anti-social business practices.

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Update 2010.01.19: Pates reported that as of November 30, 2009, Mund and Martinson were paid in full. The Carver County (MN) sheriff collected the money for them, requiring Bongards' Creameries to issue payment for a delivery from Five-Star to the sheriff rather than the dairy. The sheriff then transferred the money to the aggrieved farmers.

Good News: Madison Arts Surge, Stricherz Supports Troops, SF Rations Flu Meds

Who says I never look at the bright side?

Arts Center to Open in Madison: The Madison Area Arts Council announces that it will open a Community Arts Center on November 1. They'll be at 106 Southeast 2nd Street, south of the Leader building. First they'll seet up an office for the organization and some public meeting space, then by spring get going with some classes and exhibits. Remake the city branding line: "Discover the Arts," indeed!

Stricherz Working Hard with Operation Homefront: Can't keep a good woman down—former legislative candidate Patricia Stricherz from the southern Moody County metroplex is busy running a new chapter of Operation Homefront, a national organization that provides support for families of deployed and wounded soldiers. They do things like help with auto repairs and utility payments, provide backpacks for school for soldiers' kids, and provide holiday meals and gifts. Stricherz says the South Dakota branch is finally moving out of her living room and into real office space—if you have any office equipment or furniture you could donate to help Operation Homefront set up shop, or if you'd like to help out in other ways, give Stricherz a call: 888-293-3775.

Of course, one could argue that the best help we could give Operation Homefront would be to eliminate the need for their services by bringing the troops home....

Free Market Shows Rationale for Rationing Medicine: In a demonstration of why free market principles don't work in health care, Sioux Falls docs say they aren't testing for swine flu. They aren't even handing out Tamiflu to everyone who wants it—also known as rationing. What? Did we turn into Canada?

No: the doctors are just practicing good, efficient medicine, with a dose of socialism:

"We're seeing huge numbers of patients presenting all across the region and it just doesn't make sense to try to test because we know it's there, it's widespread," Sanford Infectious Disease Dr. Wendell Hoffman said.

He says that means if you feel like you have the flu, it's a safe bet it's H1N1, which many can recover from without seeing their physician.

"Unless they're part of those designated groups that are at high risk for the complications of influenza, they also don't need to be treated," Hoffman said.

...Hoffman says there's one more thing the public should know. TamiFlu isn't widely available. And because health officials aren't really sure where this virus is headed and because we're early on in the flu season, giving the medication to only those who need it is crucial [Kelli Grant, "Why... Doctors Aren't Testing for H1N1," KELOLand.com, 2009.10.20].

The free market would lead to overutilization: underinformed citizens flooding clinics and inflating demand for goods and services they don't need. That demand would prevent some people who most need care from getting it, and that would mean more dead people. The free market also apparently can't produce enough of the irrationally desired product, Tamiflu (Gilead Sciences holds an exclusive patent on the drug until 2016). Thus, doctors have to step in and ensure that the drug is distributed on the basis of need rather than ability to pay... a nice little affirmation of socialist principle over free-market fundamentalism.

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Update 09:40 CDT: And some bad news/good news: The bad news is, no South Dakota Online broadcast today. The good news: the delay is because Ben Hanten got new gear! They're putting together new equipment and a new set and are aiming to broadcast tomorrow, Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. (New set? Rumor has it Ben's pals raided KELO's secret warehouse south of Rowena and liberated KELO's 1968 newscast set, complete with Terrace Park signs and the original 50 pieces of Dave Dedrick's ugly necktie collection.)

Death Penalty Expensive: Why Spend More on Scum?

I've mentioned before the fiscal reasons for getting rid of the death penalty. A new study from the Death Penalty Information Center adds support to the argument that capital punishment is money ill spent. The numbers are pretty simple: a death penalty trial costs a million dollars more than a non-death penalty trial. One in three death penalty trials results in an actual death sentence, and maybe one in ten of those sentences actually results in an execution. So out of thirty death penalty trails, $30 million of extra expense, you might get one actual execution. The other 29 put the defendant in jail for a long time or maybe acquit, the same results we would have gotten from much cheaper trials that don't consider capital punishment.

Now don't forget the other practical and moral reasons for dropping the death penalty, like the lack of deterrent effect, or mistakes that execute innocent citizens. Even former Texas Governor Mark White, a man who pulled the switch 20 times, is seeing those reasons outweigh the "hang 'em high!" mentality that rules his state.

But with South Dakota facing a $200 million budget shortfall, the fiscal argument alone may motivate our state legislators to revisit our death penalty. Do we really want to let heinous criminals drain even more resources from our state coffers when we need to save every penny we can? Do we really want to spend an extra million dollars to try putting Ethan Johns in the electric chair? Why not simply convict him, throw him in a cell with potatoes for lunch and a new pair of glasses, and use the million we would save to pay our troopers more, or pave roads, or do some other good?

Fiscally and morally, the death penalty costs more than it's worth.

Swine Flu. Yes, I Said Swine Flu. Pass the Bacon

Jon Hunter expresses his deep concern about the darned media that persists in referring to H1N1 as "swine flu." Calling it swine flu, says Hunter, "causes confusion and likely contributes to some people not eating pork products for fear of contracting the virus."

Obviously we need a fine slew of swine flu euphemisms... lest pork producers whine and sue.

It grinds my gourd that we have masses of media muckrakers calling the President of the United States of America all sorts of things he isn't—Communist, socialist, Kenyan—and that's all fine and dandy. But refer to a virus by a name that might threaten the price of bacon, and see the editorials fly!

And the funny thing is, even the CDC calls H1N1 swine flu and says it is "of swine origin."

Swine flu. H1N1. Whatever. You can't catch it from eating pork; you're probably a greater danger to your pigs (and ferrets). Now pass the bacon.

Pine Ridge: Scarier Than Taliban Ambush

Dr. Newquist is right: Aaron Huey's interview and photos of the Pine Ridge Reservation in the New York Times should be required reading for all South Dakotans. A large portion of our state is the Third World. Guns, gangs... and three-year-old girls destined for destruction:

I have been watching several children in a dozen families grow up over the past five years. This is one of the hardest parts for me. When I see their father or mother coming home drunk every day, I know what the future holds for them and it hurts me.

I remember calling home to my wife crying because I had just held a beautiful 3-year-old girl on my knee. She hugged me and called me uncle, and I love her so much. But I know that it is only a matter of time until she is broken. Soon she will be drinking, and pregnant, and abused, and dying. Right now she is still perfect, but no one can last in an environment like that [Aaron Huey, interviewed by James Estrin, "Behind the Scenes: Still Wounded," New York Times: Lens, 2009.10.19].

Aaron Huey has been all over the world. He's dodged the Taliban in Afghanistan. He's hitchhiked Siberia. And he says Pine Ridge is "the scariest place I've ever been."

That place is South Dakota. It is as much South Dakota as our cozy little Chamber of Commerce meetings and pancake feeds.

Candidates—Congress, governor, Legislature—read the interview, view the photos, and tell us what you would do to solve the seemingly unsolvable.

Remember Tony Dean: Act on Climate Change

Badlands Blue provides an appropriate reminder that Tony Dean, South Dakota's sportsman sans pareil, believed climate change was no myth:

Here’s a quote in the book from Tony about how global warming has been affecting waterfowl: “I’ve been hunting the Missouri River for 40 years, and I could always count on birds’ being here by the first week in November. But the migration has been getting later and later. Last year we saw more ducks in the closing days of the season than we’d seen at any other time in the year. Global warming isn’t some kind of nerdy abstraction; it’s what I deal with every time I throw out my decoys.”

It's not just us hippies; even a man who made his living with shotgun and fishing rod knew that we have to take care of the planet. Whether you shoot ducks with camera or 12-gauge, you should support climate-change legislation.

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Related: The National Academy of Scientists calculates that burning fossils fuels costs the United States (just our country!) $120 billion each year in health costs. That includes thousands of premature deaths from air pollution... assuming you're o.k. with putting a dollar value on individual lives.

And some of your want to use even more coal and oil?