I mark the National Day of Prayer by not praying. Gordon Howie marks the coinciding National Day of Reason by blurting irrationality:

Committed Christians have become targets for media and leftist leaders in America.

Christian holidays are being reduced to shopping days, or eliminated entirely. The President of our nation, who “claims” to be a Christian obviously prefers Muslims and humanists over Christians. His recent cabinet appointment of Anthony Foxx is a clear demonstration that he does not value the Christian faith.

Former US Representative Allen West goes so far as to say “The Obama administration is indeed aiding, enabling, and abetting our enemy, radical Islamic jihadists” [Gordon Howie, "American Leaders Abandon Christianity," News in Faith, 2013.05.02].

Howie is so apoplectic over Mayor Foxx's National Day of Prayer proclamation, which Foxx issued alongside a National Day of Prayer proclamation, that he holds Republican Senator John Thune complicit in the decline and destruction of America for not immediately condemning Foxx's nomination. Howie calls for theocrats to make American "One Nation Under God" again, lest we all die.

I can't make this stuff up. I can only respond with reason:

1. President Barack Obama is Christian.
2. Mayor Anthony Foxx has attended Friendship Missionary Baptist Church for over 30 years. He says he would base the title of his memoirs on the declaration of the power of faith in Hebrews 11:32-34.
3. Senator John Thune is pretty Jesus-y, too.
4. "One Nation Under God" is 1950's anti-Communist propaganda. We've never been one nation under God.
5. Christians, humanists, and anyone else who stands for reason and a separation of church and state actually reinforce both church and state against the destructive power of radical religious fundamentalism.

Happy National Day of Reason, everyone!

The United States Senate today rejected measures to protect Americans from gun violence. South Dakota's Republican Senator John Thune voted against more background checks, stiffer punishments for firearms trafficking, banning assault weapons, and regulating large-capacity ammunition magazines (more than 10 rounds). South Dakota's retiring Democratic Senator Tim Johnson voted against banning assault weapons but for the other three measures listed here.

With that, I yield the floor to the esteemed gentleman from Chicago, who called the NRA liars:

One key passage from President Barack Obama's speech this afternoon:

I've heard some say that blocking this step would be a victory. And my question is, a victory for who? A victory for what? All that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check. That didn't make our kids safer. Victory for not doing something that 90 percent of Americans, 80 percent of Republicans, the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? It begs the question, who are we here to represent?

I've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. "A prop," somebody called them. "Emotional blackmail," some outlet said. Are they serious? Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate?

So all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington [President Barack Obama, White House speech, as transcribed by Steve Benen, 2013.04.17].

Perhaps oddly for a man whose party holds two-thirds of South Dakota's Congressional delegation, South Dakota Senate Majority Leader Russell Olson responds by saying "Why single out just one day?"

President Barack Obama told a group of House Republicans Wednesday that two of their big arguments in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline are baloney:

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Obama appeared "conflicted" on the pipeline, saying that many of the promised jobs would be temporary and that much of the oil produced likely would be exported.

But Terry said Obama also indicated that dire environmental consequences predicted by pipeline opponents were exaggerated.

"He said there were no permanent jobs, and that the oil will be put on ships and exported and that the only ones who are going to get wealthy are the Canadians," Terry said [Matthew Daly, "Keystone Pipeline Jobs Numbers Are Probably Exaggerated, Obama Allegedly Told Republicans," AP via Huffington Post, 2013.03.13].

I'll take the enviro hit. If we aren't getting jobs or oil, what reason is left for the President to approve tearing up land and land rights? Do we really want to raise our gas prices as a favor to the Canadians?

Don't forget the empirical evidence: Keystone 1, TransCanada's big tar sands pipeline across eastern South Dakota, produce no massive jobs bump. Keystone 1 also resulted in no decrease in our gasoline prices. The only reason that pipeline didn't increase our gasoline prices was that it ends in Illinois. Keystone XL will send its oil to the Gulf Coast and the global export market, where China, India, and other foreign buyers can bid it up.

But Rep. Terry responds to that part of the President's negative commentary with a bit of sheer fabrication:

On at least one aspect of the pipeline, Obama is "flat-out-wrong," Terry said. While some oil is likely to be exported, the total is far less than a majority, Terry said. "That was disturbing to me," he said [Daly, 2013.03.13].

What's disturbing is Rep. Terry's inability to understand the fundamental economics driving Keystone XL. U.S. oil demand is down. The Keystone XL business case revolves around exporting the tar sands oil to Asia or maybe Europe. The U.S. will still import as much oil from overseas, and what Keystone XL oil we might get will be dirtier than current sources.

The President's own State Department—or at least the TransCanada contractor whom State hired to write the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement—says Keystone XL will create far fewer jobs than TransCanada has contended and will not significantly change the amount of oil headed for the Gulf refineries. TransCanada itself has said the project is meant to raise our gasoline prices. There just doesn't seem to be much reason left for an American President to give up American land rights and money to support this foreign oil project.

Rep. Kristi Noem and Senator John Thune are criticizing President Barack Obama for sounding "combative" and "forceful." Really. Rep. Noem spent all last year sounding combative against Matt Varilek and selling her ability to be tough and stand strong and fight. (I Google her campaign website and find 133 results for the word fight.) I guess if the President would just hop on a horse and take a lap around the rodeo arena, his combative forcefulness would be just fine.

President Obama need not apologize for forcefully combating Medicare fraud. His efforts on that front saved us $4.1 billion in 2011 and $4.2 billion last year. Dang—that'll pay for at least fifty Joint Strike Fighters, or maybe some beefed-up anti-meteor missiles. Over the last four years, the Obama Administration's Medicare enforcement efforts have recovered $14.9 billion from cheaters, compared to the $6.7 billion the Bush Administration recovered in its second term. Those increased savings come from anti-fraud tools built into the Affordable Care Act, against which Rep. Noem and Senator Thune have been persistently combative.

While our Congressional Republicans fight the President's tough tone, the President fights Medicare fraud and other real problems.

Rep. Kristi Noem's press office chants the same tired and hypocritical slogan about President Obama's failure to address out-of-control spending.

Rep. Noem again speaks of fantasy, not reality. Economist Mark Thoma points out that, under President Obama, the amount of money we spend per person on government has actually decreased:

Translation: For the first time in my lifetime, or Kristi's lifetime, the amount each one of us Americans is spending on government is going down. And this is happening under a Democrat President whom some brand a socialist.

Notice the President with the lowest rate of increase in per capita government spending was also a Democrat. Go figure.

Friend and frequent commenter Owen Reitzel submitted the following complaint about local corporate welfare to the Mitchell Daily Republic last month:

Recently at a John Thune town hall meeting Tail King CEO Bruce Yakley said that if Mitt Romney had won the presidential race his company would have hired 150 people. But since Romney didn’t win, Yakley’s not going to. Yakley also said the government should making spending cuts.

In 2009 Trail King laid off 150 people here in Mitchell because the economy was bad and his business was slow. Those layoffs came very early in President Obama’s first term. You could say the economy went south because of President George W. Bush.

Now Trail King's business is booming. In fact it’s so good that they can’t find enough help and the Governor used part of 5 million taxpayer dollars to help Trail King find out-of-state workers.

My question to you Mr. Yakley is what is the problem? Under Obama your business is growing, under Bush you were laying off workers.

Incredible!

If spending cuts are important sir then since your company is not hiring anymore maybe we could save $5 million by cutting the program to bring out-of-state workers here.

Finally somebody brought up that people receiving welfare should be drug tested. O.K. Since the state of South Dakota was giving your company, Mr. Yakley, corporate welfare, would you submit to a drug test?

Owen Reitzel
Alexandria SD

Worth noting: Trail King has further benefited from South Dakota's corporate welfare program via a half-million WINS dollars used to start a welding program at Mitchell Technical to do Trail King's job training.

Trail King CEO Bruce Yakley responds in Monday's paper. He lists six "facts" to rebut Reitzel. He concludes with some vague and unnecessary personal intimindation, saying he "did some research on Mr. Reitzel" and found why he "seemed offended."

* Fact No. 1: 2009 was the worst year in the trailer industry since 1954, the year records started to be kept. The entire trailer market dropped on average 70 percent versus 2008. In the background, the past owner of Trail King was preparing the company to sell, thus cutting very deeply into Trail King’s employment. Was this the result of President Bush or years of fiscal mismanagement by “all” of our elected officials? What part did Barney Frank’s efforts on developing legislation in 1992 forcing mortgage companies to lend to unqualified people play into the housing collapse? [Bruce Yakley, "Facts are clear: Romney was better choice for trailer industry, Trail King," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2013.02.04].

That's not a fact, Mr. Yakley. Those are rhetorical questions stemming from your preferred worldview. And it doesn't refute Reitzel's basic correlative assertion: when someone very much like Romney got done with the country, Trail King was on the ropes. After four years of Obama, Trail King is in good shape.

* Fact No. 2: In 2012, Trail King’s business flourished. The average age of a trailer in the U.S. was approaching nine years old, the oldest in history. The cost to refurbish outweighed the cost of replacement. The economic policies of Obama had nothing to do with the age of trailers in the U.S [Yakley, 2013.02.04].

True: trailers age regardless of who wins elections. But people replace those trailers based on the money in their pockets. And if President Obama hadn't saved us from Depression with the stimulus, you'd still be waiting on the recovery that made many of those purchases possible.

* Fact No. 3: The lack of available skilled workers regionally was a very difficult situation for Trail King. The WIN legislative program helped Trail King hire 32 skilled workers, at a cost to the state of $122,400 and a cost to Trail King of $144,000. Mr. Reitzel, what is the Mitchell regional economic impact of 32 new families earning a compensation total of $2 million annually? [Yakley, 2013.02.04]

CEO Yakley doesn't rebut Reitzel here; he confirms Reitzel's contention that Trail King has profited from the "socialist, entitlement policies" he's about to impugn. Those corporate welfare policies weakly attempt to counteract the problems caused by South Dakota Republicans, not President Obama, that hold back Trail King's hiring: low wages and low union membership.

* Fact No. 4: Obama issued an executive order in April 2012 effectively shutting down new oil and gas exploration utilizing hydraulic fracking. There were 80 jobs tied to pneumatic trailer production that Trail King builds for this industry. This executive order by Obama effectively shut down pneumatic trailer production. Mr. Romney had made statements to the effect that the Obama executive orders and regulations tied to the EPA would be reviewed and, most likely, reversed if Romney was elected [Yakley, 2013.02.04].

Shut down new oil and gas exploration? What? My neighbors still head up to the Bakken every other week, and when they come home, all that dark gunk on their coveralls ain't molasses. The President's April 2012 order regarding fracking was actually a measure to coordinate adminstration activities on fracking. The oil and gas industry welcomed this order. And since the April order, domestic oil and gas production are nothing but up.

* Fact No. 5: Trail King solicited its top 95 customers, representing 85 percent of its 2012 revenue, in October to get their 2013 requirements. Ninety percent of these customers stated they had two business plans: one if Obama got elected, one if Romney got elected. Their plans if Romney got elected were, on average, 20 percent higher (plus 70 jobs). Why? Very simple: Romney would have “pro-growth policies” and Obama has “socialist, entitlement policies” [Yakley, 2013.02.04]

Yakley resorts here to unprovable hypotheticals. A lot of the "Four more years will tank our business" moaning was pre-election Romney-boosterism and immediate post-election sour grapes. Recent stock market performance has shown that, once they get over their grief, businesspeople get right back to looking for ways to make their money, as they would have regardless of who won the election. And those ways of money include pressing the case that they are entitled to socialist programs that help them make money.

* Fact No. 6: Mr. Yakley had been part of a drug testing program at his former employer for five years. Mr. Yakley had to take a drug test before he was hired at Trail King  [Yakley, 2013.02.04].

Yakley does not respond to the fundamental contradiction that Reitzel highlights: Many Republicans think the state should force poor people to take drug tests as a condition of receiving social assistance. Trail King receives, what, a hundred times more in handouts from government than any individual poor person? The state fills Trail King's bucket; should not CEO Yakley fill the state's pee cup?

I would say that I've done some research on Bruce Yakley and can understand why he seems offended by Owen Reitzel's questions... but I don't need to work that hard to understand the corporate welfare mentality.

How can you tell Rep. Kristi Noem is lying? When she talks about the Keystone XL pipeline.

South Dakota's lone Congresswoman found just enough time between basketball games and polishing her saddle to repeat her support for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline. Her weekend press release perpetuates the lies that the pipeline will give Americans a reliable supply of "American" energy and create thousands of jobs. All that oil is going straight to China, which will increase our gasoline prices. As for jobs, TransCanada has consistently exaggerated its job-creation claims, as admitted by TransCanada VP Robert Jones himself in 2011.

Even Rep. Noem has had to scale back her jobs claims. Last year, when President Obama very sensibly rejected Noem's effort to push him to make a hasty decision without looking at all the facts, Rep. Noem hollered that Keystone XL would create 130,000 jobs. She has scaled that pipe dream back by a factor of 6.5, to 20,000 jobs, TransCanada's approved propaganda number... which Greenpeace says could get TransCanada prosecuted for lying to shareholders.

And let's not forget: Rep. Noem (like Senator John Thune) is spouting false arguments to put foreign profits and Chinese oil imports above our land rights. Rep. Noem herself hints at that in her press release, noting that 97% of South Dakota landowners along the Keystone XL route have acquiesced to TransCanada's land acquisition tactics... meaning 3% will get hosed by eminent domain wielded not by the government for public purpose but by a private Canadian corporation for oil Americans won't even get to use.

Please explain to me again: in what universe is Rep. Kristi Noem is behaving more patriotically in advocating for this pipeline than President Barack Obama did last year in delaying it?

Friday I mentioned that the Noem-Thune-GOP line that "we have a taxing problem, not a spending problem" is not supported by the fact President Barack Obama has taken less of your paycheck for federal taxes than any President since Eisenhower.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones shares this chart on total government spending that shows once again that, contrary to Republican shouting, government has gotten smaller under President Obama:

Bush 2 made government bigger than Clinton and Obama combined.

If you add up federal, state, and local government spending, you find government is spending less per American now than it did at the beginning of President Barack Obama's first term. We've erased the stimulus, unlike the Bush Administration, which kept ramping up government spending and thus boosting employment and GDP even after the 2001 recession faded.

Kevin Drum sums up the fiscal-policy message Republicans don't want you to hear:

What we have isn't a spending problem. That's under control. What we have is a problem with Republicans not wanting to pay the bills they themselves were largely responsible for running up [Kevin Drum, "Government Spending Is Down in the Obama Era," Mother Jones, 2013.01.22].

Our spending is not out of control. Republican rhetoric and irresponsibility is.

Update 07:19 MST: As Rep. Kristi Noem shouts about the need for Washington (which she keeps referring to as if she were not a part of it) to offer real policy solutions, she dedicates her newest weekly column to urging you to get your flu shot.