Don't Vote for Jim Bolin (District 16 House)!

I am not voting for Jim Bolin, District 16's incumbent state House member.

Two years ago, I supported Mr. Bolin for this office (something he apparently noticed). I now regret that vote.

I guess I was nostalgic about high school when he was my history teacher. And I was also a bit naive that the common sense I saw him use on Canton's city commission would carry over into the state legislature. Oh how wrong I was!

As a teacher, I expected him to be friendlier to this state's education system than most Republicans seem to be. But I was wrong. Even though he's on the Education Committee, he's not that friendly to education. He has been helping Governor Rounds to screw over K-12 education in this state. It's really disappointing to see that. Thankfully, the Democrat running for District 16 (Ann Tornberg) is also a teacher and Dems are traditionally friends to education so I'll be voting for her. And notive that Mr. Bolin has nothing about education on his Governing Principles page. Isn't that odd for someone on the Education Committee?

One of the biggest sins Mr. Bolin committed since he was elected was voting for this year's idiotic bill against global warming. Y'know, the one that was so mindnumbingly stupid the entire country made fun of our state over it (*cough*astrological*cough*). He voted for both the original very stupid version and the second version that was slightly less stupid (but still stupid). That's where he really lost me. With those votes, it was clear that he was ignoring the common sense part of himself that he used in Canton. Unfortunately he seemed to be listening to his radical, conservative ideology for the last two years.

So as much as I still respect Mr. Bolin, I will not be voting for him. And I urge other District 16 voters to do the same.

(Dear Conservatives: While I have your attention, I ask that you please stop saying global warming is "just a theory, not a fact." When using those words as scientific terms, they basically mean the same freaking thing. So saying something is "just a theory, not a fact" shows that you conservatives are scientifically illiterate. Thank you for your time. - Love, Haggs)

Haggard News Is Back

Yep, that's right! I'm coming out of blogtirement. There's some interesting things going on in Canton, South Dakota right now and I'm hoping to chronicle them right here.

One interesting thing relates to this story KELO ran on the 6 PM news last night. I'm not going to talk about the police suspension... because I just really don't care. But what piqued my interest was this part:

Heiskell says this is the latest in a list of frustrating actions by the town's government. He's a former member of the city council who's proposing the city return to its previous form of government. That would mean the mayor and council would make decisions, and a city manager would have a more limited roll.

I wrote about Canton's last change of government in 2007 and the firestorm that surrounded it. I admittedly got too hot under the collar about it, but it was an interesting time to live here. So I'm planning to revisit the change of government story again and look at the history of how it all got started. So stay tuned!

We Remember

Sen. Johnson Might Chair Banking Committee And Gets Attacked By Huffington Post

I was reading through Huffington Post, like I do most days, when I see a picture of Senator Tim Johnson. It led to an article that suggests Johnson might become the new chair of the Senate Banking Committee if Sen. Dodd moves over to chair the Health Committee in Sen. Kennedy's place. But then the majority of the article attacks Johnson's record on banking issues.

If Senator Tim Johnson ascends to the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee, the biggest winners will be Wall Street, pay-day lenders and credit card companies. The biggest losers: widows and orphans.

No, really.

In late 2006, the South Dakotan spoke out against an effort by his fellow Democrats to cap the interest rates that members of the military pay for short-term loans. "This time it's military. Who's to say it isn't going to be widows and orphans or other sympathetic groups in the future?" he griped in an interview with the American Banker.

That's the man who's next in line to lead the Banking Committee if the current chair, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), as expected, vacates the position to take the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chair left empty by the death of Ted Kennedy.

Now, I'm a Johnson supporter so my first reaction is to be mad at Huffington Post for attacking my senator. On the other hand, I'm a liberal and I believe regulations are important to make sure big companies are not robbing us all into bankrupcy *cough*insurance companies*cough*, so I'm usually in favor of government regulations. But here in South Dakota we have a lot of banking industry jobs that I don't want to see disappear, and I'm guessing Johnson feels the same way.

The article offers up some other possibilities for what might happen, including Johnson being skipped over or maybe beign chairman would make him rethink his pro-banking industry positions. I don't know. I'd like to see Johnson get the chair because I think it would do good things for South Dakota, but I worry that he'll get a backlash from liberals in other states.

We'll have to see.

Happy Fireworks, Everybody!

"Homestar, that's not what the holiday's called."

Shut up, Marzipan.

A Great Day For America!

After eight long, embarrassing years we're finally getting a president we can be proud of. We're finally going to have a president that respects the constitution and our civil rights. We're finally getting a president who is intelligent and has a good sense of what's going on in the world. We're finally getting a president who can right the wrongs of the current president. We're finally getting a president who can solve the problems this country is facing.

God bless the United States of America! God bless President Barack Obama!

Prayers Needed for Dykstra Family

This is a prayer request for Joel Dykstra and his family. I've heard a rumor around Canton that one of Joel's family members has been seriously ill recently. Now I hear that family member passed away yesterday. So please keep the Dykstras in your prayers while they go through this difficult time.

While I've been hard on Joel in the past, I actually really like his family. I especially like his parents. They're just nice, wonderful people. And this news is tough.

I don't know, it's probably a mistake to post this on the internet. But I just think the Dykstras need some extra prayers right now and I know the SD Blogosphere is great at that.

McCain Used "Lipstick on a Pig" Phrase Too.

A lot of people are talking about Obama's use of the phrase "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" when discussing McCain on change. I think it's a dumb thing to get riled up about, but it seems like a lot of dumb things have taken over the presidential race lately. Anyway, here's a video of McCain using that exact same phrase:



There. That should settle this idiotic discussion. Can we get back to talking about things that actually matter again?

Quote of the Week

"She's a Democrat. She must prove she loves America. As opposed to Republicans who everyone knows love America... they just hate half the people living in it."

- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, in response to the discussion of Michelle Obama needing to be patriotic in her speech.

Happy 72nd Birthday John McCain!

I just wanted to wish Senator John McCain a happy 72nd birthday!

Once again, happy 72nd birthday John McCain!

Water 1 - Canton 0

Canton is in the news again. This time, it's because we're underwater. KELO, KSFY and KDLT are in town covering the flood of Christmas Lake and the people who are fighting it.

Y'know, I forget sometimes that Canton is surrounded by water. We have Christmas Lake on the northeast edge, the Big Sioux River running along the south and Beaver Creek going through the western part of town. And right now, they're all exploding with water. Christmas Lake is the new part of town so I think they might have had less time to deal with flooding than the othe parts of Canton.

The whole town is dealing with this. I came home from work today only to find water in my basement. Other people are dealing with water issues. It's a big mess. But I'm glad to see the community coming together to help everyone out. Gotta love that!

*Note: Picture borrowed from Keloland's website.

If Clinton Wins in SD, Will Our Superdelegates Switch?

So a poll came out that shows Hillary Clinton ahead of Barack Obama in South Dakota. Pretty much all of our superdelegates support Obama, but if Clinton wins will they switch to support her? Around the country, many superdelegates are switching (sometimes reluctantly) depending on how their districts and states vote.

That's going to be a tough decision. Either stay a supporter for the Democratic Party's nominee (*cough*Obama*cough*) or switch to the person a majority of South Dakotan Democrats support (no matter if they're wrong).

And what of Daschle? He's co-chair of Obama's campaign. That would be an awkward conversation.

Obama: You're doing what?

Daschle: Y'see, South Dakota voted for Hillary and I don't want to go against the will of my home state.

Obama: But you work for my campaign. You were one of my earliest supporters.

Daschle: Yeah, sorry about that. We still cool?

Obama: ... Security!

Heh. That's not going to happen, but it was fun to think about. And if Clinton does win in SD tomorrow, it's going to be too little too late. All day I've been hearing rumors about her campaign shutting down tomorrow and 34 superdelegates coming out for Obama in the next couple days (putting him over the top).

So we'll see.

Jim Bolin for District 16 House

(Update: For my current views of Mr. Bolin, please check out this new post.)

I support Republican Jim Bolin for the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Why do I support him? Well, Mr. Bolin was one of my favorite teachers in high school. I have fond memories of his classes, including all the times we tried to get him to tell us stories of his time teaching in Africa. It's safe to say Mr. Bolin played a big role in the person I grew up to be.

But beyond all that, I think he'll make a great legislator. I've been watching him during the past year. He served as a city commissioner in Canton for six months. At that time, the community decided to change the form of government and Mr. Bolin was the only commissioner who stayed. And he was even elected mayor of Canton by the other commissioners.

During his time as a commissioner he fought hard for fiscal responsibility. Remember the hard time Canton had with a previous finance officer screwing up Canton's finances? Well I think one of the reasons Mr. Bolin ran for the commission was to help Canton get back to financial responsibility. He did want to cut spending where he could, but he wasn't a radical conservative in that regard (like, say, Rob Paul). He seemed to think that there were some things worth spending money on, but we need to be responsible with how we do it.

Another reason I think Mr. Bolin will make a great legislator is that he'll listen to people. Even if he disagrees with them, he'll respect them enough to give them a chance to voice their opinion. He has a strong sense of fairness and wants to make sure that every aspect of government treats the citizens fairly.

I was very sad when Mr. Bolin decided not to continue as Canton's mayor, but I hope he'll get into the legislature and do some good.

Mr. Bolin is also a teacher, so hopefully he'll care more than other Republicans about making sure SD's teachers are paid a living wage.

Now Mr. Bolin is a conservative and I'm a liberal, so I know he'll do things I disagree with and say things that frustrate me. Just look at his answers to the Family Policy Council's survey (warning: PDF). It's safe to say I disagree with most of his answers. But, if our legislature runs the way it's supposed to, those won't be the only issues that they will deal with. And I know Mr. Bolin will work hard for everyone in this district and this state. That's the kind of guy he is.

Pat Powers for SD State Senate

PP probably doesn't want to be endorsed by a liberal who just registered with the Democratic Party, but I'm going to do it anyway.

As I've been following the South Dakota blogosphere for the last couple years, there have been a couple people who have stuck out to me as representing what South Dakota is all about. Pat Powers is one of those people. I always enjoy reading his views about issues that are important to South Dakota. I don't always agree with Pat, but you can see that he really cares about what goes on in this state.

There are some issues I agree with PP on, like open government and fiscal responsibility. I see that those issues are ones he's focused on in his campaign. Also, and this is most important, he cares. Reading his posts at SDWC, I can see that he cares deeply about helping people. One of the best examples I found was discussing South Dakota's restitution system. He's had personal experience with the problems in that system and wants to fix it so no one else will have those same problems.

Unfortunately, I don't live in his district nor am I a Republican. But I pray that those who can will vote for Pat Powers tomorrow and also in November.

My Democratic Adventure - Day 15

This is my fifteenth day as a member of the Democratic Party. I find that nothing has really changed for me. I still feel like an independent. I've always been pretty liberal, especially about social issues. Though in the last couple years I've started to warm up to a few conservative Republican ideas like local/state control (especially when it comes to education). Does that make me a "Blue Dog"?

I'm still trying to decide, but I still think I'll go back to being an independent after the June 3rd primary. Oh well.