On the long-standing pine beetle problem in the Black Hills, Rep. Kristi Noem has sounded a lot like Newt Gingrich's assessment of the Occupy activists who've been harassing him in Iowa: "All noise, no thought." The U.S. Forest Service and…
Posts published in December 2011
South Dakota's right wing apparently believes the way to school the mainstream Republican Party is to put out lots of report cards. Some nameless characters issued the John Birchy "South Dakota Freedom Index" in September. The still anonymous SDRepublican.org issued…
Rep. Frank Kloucek wants to strengthen worker rights by promoting the free market. His House Bill 1004 (the first bill submitted for the 2012 Legislative session on a legislator's own behalf) would amend SDCL 53-9-11 reduce the permissible length of…
Crazy Horse shouted the battle cry, "Hoka hey!" meaning "It's a good day to die!" (Crazy Horse stole that from the Klingons.) Oglala Sioux activist Russell Means need not shout that today... but he can shout whatever he wants, in…
Representative Frank Kloucek is getting out and about to listen to his District 19 constituents before the 2012 Legislature convenes. After eight pre-Christmas meetings around his district, Rep. Kloucek is stepping out next week, January 4, to hear from citizens…
It's one thing for tax cheat and conservative mischief-maker Gordon Howie to use the brewing Legislative ethics controversy to foment primary (or third-party?) challenges to legislators failing his Christian purity test. It's another to try to drag Governor Dennis Daugaard…
The latest Madville Times poll asked you to take a break from required assembly and unwrap your prediction for the winner of next week's Iowa caucuses. Eighty of you responded (thank you, dear readers!) and prognosticated thus: Who's going to…
Our Christmas driving took us across the Pine Ridge Reservation, where we had the chance to listen to KILI Radio, possibly the most interesting and most local radio station in South Dakota. On Friday morning, a lively and occasionally hilarious…