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Minnesotans See South Dakota as “Black Hole” of Politics and Corruption

Mr. Ehrisman ventures east for the 10th annual AM950 Blue State Ball in Minneapolis, gets some face time with Senator Al Franken, and finds some sympathy from the progressive devils:

The common feedback we received is how South Dakota seems to be the black hole of politics when it comes to Republican corruption and domination. You could sense, a lot of people felt sorry for us, and if the drinks weren’t complimentary that night, I have a feeling we would have still drank for free [Scott Ehrisman, "The Tenth Annual AM950 Blue State Ball," South Dacola, 2014.01.19].

Black hole... there's got to be some marketing potential in that tagline...

The Black Hole, South Dakota cut
Now playing in theaters across South Dakota!

15 Comments

  1. interested party 2014.01.20

    "A group of city-owned utilities in western Minnesota – including Detroit Lakes, Lake Park and Moorhead – is looking at an unusual source of new power: a “pumped storage” hydroelectric project along the Missouri River in south-central South Dakota."

    http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/424156/

  2. Lynn G. 2014.01.20

    I used to listen to AM 950 all the time when I lived in the cities. It was an old Air America station.

  3. Porter Lansing 2014.01.20

    SoDak is Minnesota's "drunk uncle" only seen as an unavoidable embarrassment on the holidays. The progressives are taciturn and allow the Tea-Bullies to spew hate and lies with little confrontation.

  4. Lynn G. 2014.01.20

    I do love the "Black Hole" movie poster! lol

  5. Wayne Pauli 2014.01.20

    No wonder I am always excited when my wife and I get to travel out of state...escaping the black hole if even for a weekend is so mentally stimulating. Likewise, great poster.

  6. Jerry 2014.01.20

    Holy water power Larry, that is incredible. That an the added wind power and we could be involved in some fantastic future events. Now if we only had the encouragement of paying for the education that this will take to keep it running, the state could be an energy giant. It is too bad that legislators do not understand basic arithmetic so they could grasp business futures. But alas, it is just to much work to think outside of the box and much easier to take pennies from the children and working poor.

  7. Deb Geelsdottir/ 2014.01.20

    Yup.

    When Daugaard put on his recruiting show at MOA, local papers reported it. There was even a photo in the Strib. The overall response was that it was an amusing little diversion.

    MN has always treated ND more respectfully and has closer ties with Fargo. Sioux Falls rarely appears in the local press, but Fargo gets a frequent mention.

    I believe that is due to ND being historically more progressive/populist with a more functional economy and government. SD is seen as on par with Mississippi and West Virginia. ND's teabagger turn is not helping their reputation here.

  8. interested party 2014.01.20

    Jerry: Rapid City is sitting on a sea of geothermal potential but Black Hills Power owns the coal and the natural gas so it commands PUC to do its bidding. Expect the worst.

  9. Nichole Colsch 2014.01.20

    We moved from
    Duluth to Sioux Falls seven years ago. I have to admit, our experience here leaves me in full agreement with this assessment of Minnesotan attitudes and South Dakota politics. My husband and I frequently joke that there is a warp in the time-space continuum somewhere west of the Twin Cities and that political philosophies and social attitudes lose 70 years or so of progress once we hit the South Dakota border.

  10. Jerry 2014.01.20

    I checked that out Larry, you are correct. I also found that about the Kennedy Basin around Winner and this company in Rapid City. http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=12797

    Very interesting stuff. We have the energy here, but we also have the corruption to make sure things remain the same. Until voters figure it out, we are screwed.

  11. Donald Pay 2014.01.20

    The Gregory County Pumped Storage Facility has been kicking around since at least the 1980s. It's had both support and opposition in previous incarnations. If I remember correctly, one incarnation had some federal money for studies, but it never got off the ground. My understanding is it would require inundating public and private lands adjacent to the Missouri River. The reservoir had dual use---electrical generation and irrigation. As a result, I had problems with the concept. Another issue is the fact that it didn't compensate Indian tribes for use of admittedly contested Indian treaty water in the Missouri. Without the irrigation and coupled with wind, the project might be more palatable, but it still needs to deal with Indian rights to Missouri River water.

  12. barry freed 2014.01.21

    Pumped Storage is interesting. Storing energy has always been a challenge.
    The Governor loves out of State businesses and workers, paying them to come here, but there are many opportunities, businesses, and hard working people here that could make a go of their endeavors and dreams if they had the same monetary backing as something like the Sewage Ash debacle. In that one, the scheme hinged on there being 1/2 ounce of Gold per ton of ash. Common sense said that Homestake would have been taking the Ash for that much gold per ton. The State Engineer had misplaced a decimal point. It was .05 ounces per ton. It still blows in the wind near Pringle.
    Have there been any GEOD successes? ...and I ask sincerely as the few I know of were failures or appear to be scams to get some free money and leave. Might be perception, might be that secrets make me suspicious. The oldest I remember was a REDI Loan clothes factory from California who built a plant in east Rapid, then were gone. I was working out of State so I didn't hear why they closed shop after a couple years.

  13. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.01.21

    Stan, you put me on TV! You called me a leftist! Thanks! You get a promotion! (But I think you blew your cover on your Chrome incognito tab there.)

    Among the hilarious points, when you say "Black Hole!" you sound like Jack Horkheimer, the Star Hustler. Wow! You're fun to hang out with, too. :-)

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