I'm not a sports guy, so help me find the right sports analogy: Is Kristi Noem playing zone? Is she holding the ball and running down the clock? Or is she just waiting for coach to call in the play?

According to The Hill via David Montgomery, Congresswoman Noem says she's having "conversations with organizations" about running against M. Michael Rounds for the SDGOP nomination for Senate in 2014. However, she says she "probably won't [decide] for several months yet."

Translation: Noem is in the catbird seat. She gets to keep Rounds guessing for months. She puts a brake on donors who would give their money to Mike only if they knew they wouldn't miss the chance to support the more electrifying Kristi in a Senate race.

And perhaps most importantly, she keeps any other Republicans who are thinking about running from making a solid decision. Stace Nelson, Bill Napoli, Steve Kirby, Dusty Johnson, Shantel Krebs... any of those Republicans who might be thinking about throwing in for Congress have to wonder: Do they want to challenge Rounds for Senate? Do they want to get caught in a three-way with Kristi and Mike? Do they want to run for an open House seat? They can't do that calculus until Kristi finishes hers. And as her academic record shows, she likes to take her time finishing her homework. The longer she makes those GOPers wait, the less groundwork they can lay, the less time they can campaign full throttle, and the weaker any of them will be if Kristi has to face them.

And since all that matters in Kristi's world is Kristi, for Kristi, that's nothing but good. Heh heh heh.

Dang: am I going to have admit that Kristi Noem is pretty darn smart?

Thump. Thump. Thump. Rep. Kristi Noem continues to thunk her noggin against the wall of good sense. She will vote for the 37th time to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The vote will have no impact on anyone's well-being except for that of current House freshmen who haven't had a chance to shout "Aye!" for repeal.

But if Noem's vote did have a chance of overturning policy, it would be a vote to increase the national deficit:

Congressional budget analysts said Wednesday that repealing ObamaCare would increase the deficit by scrapping the law's taxes, fees and spending cuts.

The notice from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) came ahead of Thursday's House vote on full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The CBO refused to provide a new cost estimate for repeal, saying there is too little time before the vote. But Director Doug Elmendorf pointed to an estimate from July 2012 that abolishing healthcare reform would raise the deficit by $109 billion over 10 years.

"Although [we] have not updated that estimate to reflect the most recent baseline projections, we anticipate a similar result were we to do so," Elmendorf wrote in a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) [Elise Viebeck, "CBO: Repealing Obama Health Care Law Will Increase Budget Deficit," The Hill: Floor Action Blog, 2013.05.15].

By the way, a big slowdown in the growth of health care costs is cutting the cost of the PPACA and reducing deficit projections by $618 billion through 2023.

The Farm Bill finally hits the fast track this week in Washington. This flurry of action does not come as a result of Congresswoman Kristi Noem's efforts, which consist mostly of fallacious reasoning on global trade and assertions that farm subsidies are a national security issue.

No, Congress is moving the Farm Bill because they think they have more interesting things to work on. Dems want to get to immigration reform:

The reason the bills are moving seems to be that each chamber has gotten tired of the farm bill hanging on and has something more interesting to move on to. Reid has told the Senate that he wants the farm bill passed in May because he wants to devote June to immigration reform. Since exit polls showed that President Obama’s election percentage in rural America went from 50 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in 2012, while Hispanic voters have become the new hope of the Democratic Party, it seems that Reid has a logical reason to get the farm bill done quickly and move on to something that interests more Democratic voters. Agricultural employers will encourage this movement, too, since they are promoting provisions for immigrant farm workers and meat-company employees that are included in the immigration-reform bill [Jerry Hagstrom, "Congress Poised to Move on Farm Bill," National Journal via Yahoo, 2013.05.13].

Meanwhile, Republicans will hurry through the farm bill with some malicious and misdirected mischief so they can get to pleasing their moneyed base:

The House and Senate Agriculture committees wrote the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which so deregulated the futures industry that it played a major role in the 2008 financial crisis. Those committees also wrote Title VII of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which gave the CFTC new regulatory powers and for the first time regulated the high-earning swaps industry. The financial-services industry hates the Dodd-Frank Act and is chomping at the bit to restrict the CFTC’s ability to finalize some of the regulations the agency has proposed.

...Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee seem to love to compete to cut food stamps. Lucas has called for a $20 billion cut over 10 years in the farm bill, while other proposals would cut as much as $36 billion. But it’s really more fun to sit around and help out the well-dressed financial-services executives, especially when they bring along those generous campaign contribution checks [Hagstrom, 2013.05.13].

Maybe Dakota War College should spend less time making stuff up about Democrats and more time asking Kristi Noem how she likes being the less interesting sibling in Congress.

Rep. Kristi Noem showed up to cheer Big Ag in Davison County Friday. The new "Jackrabbit Family Farm" has no rabbits, and it's not a family farm: it's a corporate factory farm that will house 5,000 sows pumping out 125,000 piglets and $200,000 worth of manure each year.

Rep. Noem thinks that's just great:

Congresswoman Kristi Noem, R-S.D., told farm families gathered Friday at a new swine facility south of Mount Vernon that such production units are a shot in the arm for family farming in South Dakota.

Such production facilities, Noem told her audience, will keep families on the state’s farms and will continue providing for the nation’s food supply [Ross Dolan, "5000-Sow Operation Set to Open Soon near Mount Vernon," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2013.05.04].

Help me out, farm economists. How does a factory farm make it easier for smaller independent farms to stay in business? Perhaps piglets are costly to raise, and having one CAFO handle birthing the little squealers makes the whole process more efficient. But if some smaller farm in Davison County is making money raising pigs from birth to bacon, doesn't the economy of scale the Jackrabbit CAFO will introduce force those farmers to either do business with Jackrabbit to stay competitive or go under? How does this concentration of wealth and power in the local market support the independence and viability of small local producers?

Rep. Noem can't answer that; she's too busy saving America with Big Ag:

“For me food has always been a national security issue,” Noem said. “There is a reason we have a farm bill and a reason we have farm policy, and that’s because we decide that it’s important in America that we grow our own food.

“The instant that another country supplies us with our food is the day that they control us” [Dolan, 2013.05.04].

Once again, Rep. Noem invokes national security to make her favored capitalists unassailable. She also speaks from somewhere south of honesty. China, Japan, Mexico, the European Union, and everybody else bought $145 billion in food and agricultural exports from us last year, and I don't think we control any of them.

Plus, we're already well past the instant where another country supplies us with our food. In 2012, the United States imported over 62 million metric tons of food worth a record $105 billion, including $16 billion in seafood, $13 billion in fruit, $11 billion in assorted edibles, and $11 billion in beverages. Noem's assertion that we grow our own food and to avoid international control is economically and geopolitically naïve.

Conceptually it also contradicts her assertion about the good the Jackrabbit CAFO will do for family farms. If getting supplies from another economic entity gives that entity control, then won't the local farms who buy piglets from Jackrabbit be submitting to Jackrabbit's control? Which is it, Kristi?

Dolan concludes his story of Noem's bumbling Big-Ag mouthpiecery with this burst of absurdity:

[Pipestone System CEO Luke] Minion presented Noem with a peace pipe as a memento of her visit. American Indians have traditionally mined pipe materials in the Pipestone area.

Asked if she will take the pipe to Washington, she said, “We’ll see what we can do. We can sure use some peace” [Dolan, 2013.05.04].

Rep. Noem gets a present, and she has to "see what we can do" about bringing it back to her Washington office? What, are peace pipes on the TSA terrorist-weapon list? (No, they're not—just don't try to light the pipe in flight!) Can Rep. Noem not give a straight answer to anything? Or was she just discombobulated by the strangeness of a very white dude co-opting a sacred Indian ceremonial object as a cheap political gift? White industrialists handing out Indian peace pipes makes about as much sense as claiming pig poop doesn't stink.

With her support for more government surveillance, more ag welfare, and more military spending, Rep. Kristi Noem will have as hard a time winning Jim DeMint's seal of approval as M. Michael Rounds.

The far-from-liberal rag Pierre Capital Journal smells Noem's faux-conservatism on disaster assistance for livestock producers. Pierre's editorial board questions whether we can afford to increase disaster assistance when climate change may make disasters a regular experience. And in a provocative statement for scribes surrounded by cattlemen, they ask whether ranchers deserve a special government handout:

The world is full of risk. If Rep. Noem thinks the federal government should step in and protect one industry from disaster, will she be willing to do the same for retailers, or manufacturers, or some other industries? Why does agriculture get special treatment? There are already industries such as insurance and banking that work closely with producers in farm country. We suggest private industry, not the federal government, is the better solution for weathering bad years on the ranch and farm. If the right solution doesn’t exist right now let private industry invent one. Farmers and ranchers got along without these federal programs until 2008 and we believe they can, and should, get along without them still [editorial, "Private Industry Is a Better Option Than Feds for Weathering Disaster," Pierre Capital Journal, 2013.04.28].

Again, that's no liberal rant. That's a straight-up conservative critique of Republicans who claim to be conservative. And that's a call to consistency that entitlement-minded Kristi Noem will not be able to answer coherently.

(Photo from VA Black Hills Health Care System, via Rapid City Journal)

A couple weeks ago, two veterans at the Hot Springs VA noticed two Confederate flags in the hospital's "Freedom Shrine," a display put up by the Rapid City Exchange Club in 1995.  The two veterans complained that the flags sent a racist message and made black vets like themselves feel unwelcome. The VA took down the two offending flags... then encouraged the two offended vets to leave their PTSD treatment program over two weeks early. A couple of hours after the complaining vets left Hot Springs, the VA had put those Confederate flags back up.

Black Hills VA director Steve DiStasio defends displaying the Stars and Bars:

"The original purpose of the VA's Hot Springs facility was for the care of Civil War veterans," he said. "Out of respect for all of our nation's veterans, from every battle in history, we will maintain the historic Freedom Shrine in its entirety" [Kevin Woster, "Confederate Flags Fly Again at Hot Springs VA," Rapid City Journal, 2013.04.24].

(See DiStasio's complete statement justifying the Confederate display here.)

Woster points out that the Hot Springs VA treated only Union veterans. Back in the early 20th century, we didn't honor those saviors of the Republic by flying the flag of their opponents any more than we would now in the 21st century think of honoring the veterans we treat by displaying Hitler's swastika, Ho Chi Minh's red banner, or Saddam's three green stars over their hospital beds.

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson got on the horn pretty quickly and said the VA should take down those Confederate flags. For that, Dakota War College calls Johnson "stupid" for wading into this issue.

The same day DWC called Johnson stupid, Republican Rep. Kristi Noem waded into the issue, saying the Confederate flags "jeopardize" the VA's ability to offer veterans a comfortable and welcoming health care environment. "The flag I support flying is the American flag," said our Congresswoman. Dakota War College has yet to call her stupid. (Kristi Noem is a past proud sponsor of DWC.)

Republican Senator John Thune is the real dope on this issue, remaining silent until Woster's persistent questioning finally resulted in this obtuse dodge:

I think there is merit in providing a sense of our nation’s history and recognizing the progress this country has made.... However, I believe the VA knows how to best provide an environment of care that makes our veterans feel comfortable [Senator John Thune, quoted by Kevin Woster, "Is Thune Worried about South Dakota or South Carolina on Flag Fuss?" Mount Blogmore, 2013.04.29].

The Confederates were traitors. Their traitor flag has now become a rallying banner for smirking sophist racists and their thoughtless followers. Neither traitors nor smirking racists have any business in our government.

Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) supports the "Working Families Flexibility Act" proposed by Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL). This bill would allow employers to offer employees comp time instead of overtime pay for extra hours worked.

In her traditional Newspeak, when Noem and her GOP colleagues promise flexibility for working families, they're really talking about giving bosses the ability to bend workers to their will:

"It should be called the Employer Flexibility Act, because at every turn here, the employer gets to decide," said Judith Lichtman, senior adviser for the National Partnership for Women & Families. "It pretends to provide a set of options to employees. But even if they elect to take the comp time instead of wages, when they can take it is fully at the discretion of the employer. You have no ability to take that leave when you need it. The employer can decide."

I read the bill and agree with this interpretation. Though it calls for an in-writing agreement between the employer and employee, it says the employee can use comp time "within a reasonable period after making the request if the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer."

So if you stockpile some comp time and want to take a half-day to go to your child's T-ball game, it's not simply a matter of saying, "I'm taking that comp time, see ya." It has to be approved — and can easily be denied [Rex Huppke, "Is the Working Families Flexibility Act Really Flexible?" Chicago Tribune, 2013.04.22].

Noem, Roby, and the GOP are advocating more flexibility for employers to exploit employees, to work their employees like dogs during busy times, short them hours and pay when it's convenient, and leave workers with less predictable schedules and increased costs for daycare. Don't be fooled: Rep. Noem isn't fighting for workers; she wants the rich to get richer and the poor to stay poor.

Rep. Kristi Noem is showing her non-conservative stripes again. Ken Santema notes that South Dakota's lone Congresswoman voted for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Thursday:

Looking at today’s vote in the House I can’t help but notice South Dakota’s lone representative voted YEA. With this vote Representative Kristi Noem has shown herself to be against the 14th Amendment. Noem and the 287 others that voted YEA to CISPA chose to put acting tough with regards to cyber-security over the privacy rights of citizens.

All is not lost however. CISPA must still make it past the Senate (which failed to pass it last year) and President Obama. Obama has already threatened to veto CISPA. Hopefully the President will keep his word if the bill reaches his desk [Ken Santema, "SD Representative Noem Votes YEA for CISPA, and Against Your Privacy Online," SoDakLiberty, 2013.04.18].

I love it when Libertarians see more hope in the Democratic Senate and President Barack Obama than in the Republican House.

Rep. Noem also continues to believe in welfare... for people who look like her. She has reintroduced legislation to re-establish corporate welfare payments for ranchers down on their luck:

Noem’s bill would extend the Livestock Indemnity Program, the Livestock Forage Program and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill for five years, as well as retroactive coverage for fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

Noem introduced similar legislation a year ago, which was later merged into the farm bill that stalled in Congress. The disaster assistance measure likely will be included in the farm bill again this year. Noem said a markup on the farm bill is expected in late May.

“Right now we have nothing,” Todd Wilkinson, a vice president with the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, said in an interview after meeting with Noem. “If you have a disaster you have a disaster. You have no way to recover from that” [Christopher Doering, "Kristi Noem Introduces Disaster Assistance Bill for Livestock Owners," that Sioux Falls paper, 2013.04.17].

Mighty generous of Rep. Noem. Liberally generous. Regular working folks have disasters they can't recover from all the time—layoffs, medical emergencies, deaths of breadwinners—but I don't hear her advocating retroactive unemployment assistance or medical bill forgiveness.

And to top off her big-government week, instead of supporting the United States Air Force's plan to save us some money by retiring the C-27J Spartan transport plane, Rep. Noem wants the Forest Service to keep those planes flying... and to base them at Ellsworth Air Force Base. I guess the free market just doesn't produce enough jobs or fire fighters  in South Dakota.