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Rep. Betty Olson: Big Ag Caving to “Evil” “Greenies”

In the Hidebound Worldview Department, Queen of Crotchety Commentary Rep. Betty Olson (R-28B/Prairie City) now dismisses the ag-industrial lobby, as well as the state veterinarian and a bunch of other South Dakotans, as dastards and dupes. Rep. Olson is vowing to fight Senate Bill 46, the new and improved bill to make animal cruelty a felony, just like it is everywhere else in America:

"It’s always been against the law," Olson said. "We don’t do any of those things that those evil PETA people think we do. But I don’t like the idea that it’s going to be a felony. We’re caving in to a bunch of greenies from out of state who have no business messing with our agriculture business" [David Montgomery, "Despite Push from Ag, Rural Lawmakers Doubt Animal Cruelty Bill," Political Smokeout, 2014.01.17].

There's just no talking to some people... but let's talk anyway. For the umpteenth time, Betty:

  1. PETA is not evil. Occasionally wrong, occasionally silly, sure, but aren't we all?
  2. PETA is not behind this bill; real South Dakotans just like you are.
  3. Greenies from out of state aren't behind this bill.
  4. Senate Bill 46 is not messing with our agriculture business. Just like last year, this bill specifically exempts standard agricultural activities.

Rep. Olson won't drop her febrile personal attacks to listen to an evil greenie like me. Maybe she'll listen to her colleagues in agriculture:

"They need some additional information and some education on the background and the work that went in to do this, and the reasoning for why some of the sections are written as they are," said Mike Held, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Farm Bureau, of skeptical lawmakers. "We will do that" [Montgomery, 2014.01.17].

Rep. Olson will likely brand Held a coward for caving to animal activists from elsewhere. Maybe Held can explain his way past Olson's paranoid fantasy and get her to see that Senate Bill 46 is just South Dakotans working together to pass decent legislation.

4 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2014.01.18

    If you could convince wingnuts that money is evil,all those greenie dollars from the koch bros seem to buy a lot of influence in South Dakota and should be banned. The evil lads spend greenbacks to make many more greenbacks for their evil bank accounts.

  2. Charlie Johnson 2014.01.18

    It would do well for everyone if Betty Olson got a better grip on reality.

  3. interested party 2014.01.18

    Betty Olson must still be trying to pay off her nut: one would think she could retire by now and move to Texas.

    The war on the West continues: the Anthropocene heralds a trophic cascade where mountaintop-removal mining kills the canary and southern Dakota is being poisoned by upwind coal plants.

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