I suppose I'm biased because I only read about Kristi Noem in South Dakota's liberal press...
(I'll pause while you recover from rolling on the floor laughing... breathe... breathe...)
...but it seems every public pronouncement from our Congresswoman exposes her ignorance and ineffectiveness. Consider her latest unannounced visit to chat with chosen business leaders in Sturgis. Responding to constituents asking for more federal money for the Sanford lab, Noem prattled thus:
Noem said that while trying to secure funding for the lab has been on the top of the list for awhile, they have only been able to secure enough money for maintenance, "which is frustrating."
"We're very concerned for the underground lab and recognizing the impact that it has and making sure it is moving forward," Noem said [Amanda Friar, "Noem Makes Stop in Sturgis to Discuss Economic Development," Rapid City Journal, 2011.06.21].
It's obviously hard for Kristi to admit that she's fighting for more pork for South Dakota, though apparently not fighting very effectively for it. The above comment also shows how hard it is for Kristi to (a) tell us anything specific and (b) string together coherent sentences.
Asked about improving infrastructure for local economic development, Noem again appeared to wish for pork but not know how to deliver it:
Noem said that is something they are currently working on and that the transportation bill would hopefully be activated again to provide more funding to fix the infrastructure that is deteriorating.
"That is a funding concern and the fact is that it's deteriorating and we can't keep it up and the funding just isn't there," Noem said [Friar, 2011.06.21].
Clearly reporter Amanda Friar is part of the great liberal media conspiracy to only quote Noem's run-on sentences.
Someone appears to have told Kristi that she'll sound smarter if she recites more numbers. In both the Sturgis visit and last Friday's Lincoln Day dinner in Mitchell, Noem claimed that 57 percent of Americans don't realize we have a financial problem. This claim appears to recycle her talking point from a March Tea Party speech in Sioux Falls:
57 percent of Americans still think you can fix the budget by staying away from big issues, you can do it with discretionary spending. We have a big job to do [Kristi Noem, as reported by Peter Harriman, "Kristi Noem Talks about Budget, Debt Ceiling," that Sioux Falls paper, 2011.03.12].
Now who knows where Kristi gets this number from. But if she's been citing it for over three months, she evidently hasn't done her big job of educating the voters about the federal debt problem. Her flaccid promises to keep seeking pork for her Sturgis constituents demonstrate she hasn't even educated herself.
She us very good at obfuscating what the real issues are. The National Science Foundation withdrew its support and funding for the Sanford Lab. when its controlling committee, The National Science Board, said it was not happy with the management model set up by its cooperating agencies, the Department of Energy, and, presumably, the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and the Sanford people. I know that some of the supporting scientists warned that the emphasis on promoting the lab as a vehicle for economic development would cause some alarm and wariness among the scientists who could bring their work there. It would be nice to have someone with some ability to demand full answers to find out what the precise objections are by the NSF. Noem obviously is not that person.
"Is", dammit, "is"! Arthritic fingers and bifocals do not for good posting make.
Her goal is to be a doom and gloomer. She peddles misery and talks a lot about how bad everything is. She never tells us we will get through this. Ronald Reagan she is not.
I still haven't heard what specifically we're cutting in SD with her goals.
That is kind of a backhanded way to compliment her.
Reagan was an unmitigated disaster for the country.
Even Obama wants to be Reagan.
The pork industry defends horrendous cruelty to animals -- factory farmers keep breeding pigs locked in two-foot-wide crates where the pigs can’t even turn around for nearly their entire lives. Eight states have passed laws against this type of animal abuse, yet groups like the National Pork Producers Council still support it.
More info at this link: http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/12/smithfield_pigs_121510.html