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Virginia Continues a GOP Tradition
12/28/2011

The Virginia Republican Party decided to change its ballot access rules last month, and as a result neither Rick Perry nor Newt Gingrich has qualified for the March primary. A friend from Virginia writes in to comment:

OK, lots of schadenfreude here. Lots of windy rhetoric about how elections shouldn't be about technical rules but who gets the most votes. (Unless you're black, Hispanic, a college student or out of a job). Damnit, a freakin' Mormon is going to win Virginia!

We do tend to have a problem in Virginia with the parties monkeying with the rules when no one is looking (you ought to see our gerrymanders) and this one seems to have blown up in the GOP's face. I have no doubt that this was done to knock out the charlatan factor, esp. Cain who, with his unapologetic lack of organization, was probably the one surging when these rules were drawn up. The friendly fire aspect of taking out Perry was likely a surprise to the crafters of the rule change.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/12/va-ballot-madness/

This is a riot. Seriously, I wonder if the Virginia GOP hasn't already responded — Hey, we're Republicans, this is what we do!

The indignation is really something. I know it's not the same thing as de-legitimizing millions of voters through voter ID laws — but it doesn't take much scratching to draw up the comparisons.

Frankly, considering the clown show the GOP has put on so far this year, I'd be sort of disappointed if they hadn't done something like this.

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Wedding Dresses & Women. Or “How women dream of Prince Charming and wakeup in ‘The Hangover.’”
12/27/2011

The wedding industry takes a regular beating for being over the top. But there are also good aspects to it. As a designer of high-end wedding dresses, Justina McCraffrey (full disclosure – a  friend of mine) sees a lot of the inner workings of weddings.  Her work brings her closely in contact with the bride, [...]

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There’s Still Time To Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
12/27/2011

If you’re like me, you were a little confused when you saw candy canes for sale at the same time as the Halloween treats this year. Traditionalists have long marked the start of the Christmas season not so much by the Advent calendar but by that day-after feeling of eating Thanksgiving leftovers, watching football, or [...]

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Firearms deer season in full swing
12/22/2011

As most of you know, rifle season for eastern South Dakota deer opened up last weekend. My father, brother and I did some hunting around Iroquois and found some good success. My dad took a warrior of a buck that was … Continue reading →

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Mountain lion quota increased
12/22/2011

Mountain Lion quotas for the 2012 season have been increased to 70 lions or 50 females after GF&P commissioners voted on the issue last week. Wildlife division recommendations for the season were 60-40. Last years quotas were 45 total and … Continue reading →

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Duck Season Opens
12/22/2011

  One of my favorite times of the year begin tomorrow morning (Sept. 24). Duck season will open up for much of Eastern South Dakota.  Daily limit is six ducks and can be comprised of no more of following. 5 Mallards, … Continue reading →

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Mourning Dove season
12/22/2011

For those hunters wanting a new challenge – try out Mourning Doves.  The season opens tomorrow (September 1st) for this fast acrobatic birds. Most hunting strategies include waiting at a small stock dam at sunrise or dusk and pass shoot … Continue reading →

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August Goose Management Take
12/22/2011

Here is a link to my story about the August Goose Management Take. http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/55843/ There are a few points I really want to drive home about the season. First off, when talked with the GF&P I found it astonishing that there … Continue reading →

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Fishing at Pike Haven on Lake Oahe
12/22/2011

I spent this weekend on Lake Oahe at Pike Haven with my father in law, brother in law, and dog Stella, doing some fishing and having an all around good time. We saw great success catching our limit of walleye on … Continue reading →

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Mt. Lion travels 1,600 miles
12/22/2011

Most of you have more than likely seen the article (http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/apArticle/id/D9ONK6S80/ ) about the Mt. Lion with South Dakota origins making it to Conn. before being run over by a vehicle. It seems to me these large felines are beginning to range farther … Continue reading →

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Fishing report for July 25
12/22/2011

Below is a copy of the fishing report on the Missouri River for July 25 in South Dakota. Lake Oahe  In the Pollock area fishing is going really well and anglers are catching limits.  Many are using crankbaits in 7-15 feet … Continue reading →

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Second batch of trail cam photos
12/22/2011

I headed out to my local tree strip last weekend to switch cards on my trail cam and found some good photos. I captured around 20 different deer this time using the “whitetail highway” where our cam was sitting. This included … Continue reading →

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Ending Medicare
12/21/2011

Today's outrage of the day is PolitiFact's announcement that the 2011 Lie of the Year is the Democratic claim that "Republicans voted to end Medicare." This was a reference to GOP support for Paul Ryan's budget plan, which would have changed Medicare from a government-run program to one that provides vouchers for seniors to buy insurance on the private market. Those vouchers would have increased in value very slowly, which means that within a couple of decades seniors would probably have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket in order to purchase Medicare policies.

Does this count as "ending Medicare"? Matt Yglesias, former philosophy major, parses it this way:

Mitt Romney, for example, lauded the plan as reflecting "the need to fundamentally transform Medicare." If friends of the plan describe it as fundamentally transforming the program, can it really be wildly illegitimate for its foes to describe it as ending Medicare? That doesn't make sense to me. According to Mitt Romney, we're fundamentally transforming Medicare. According to the DCCC we're ending Medicare and replacing it with a fundamentally different program. This is a hair-splitting disagreement, not a gaping void of factual error and deliberate deception.

I guess I wish we lived in a world where it was possible to believe multiple things at once about highly charged subjects. Should PolitiFact have chosen this as its Lie of the Year? Not a chance. Ryan's plan was an existential change to the current program, which guarantees essentially unlimited medical coverage to all seniors in return for a nominal annual premium. Ryan's plan doesn't, and describing that as an entirely different kind of program is perfectly legitimate. Hell, even some conservatives agree that PolitiFact made an elephant out of a mouse.

But does that mean Democrats were justified in describing the Ryan plan as "ending" Medicare? I know we all have our tribal loyalties here, but come on. There's no question that this is intended to mislead people into thinking that medical coverage for seniors will literally go away entirely. But it wouldn't. Ryan's intention is that growth caps plus privatization will lower costs so that his vouchers will remain sufficient to purchase coverage similar to today's. Meanwhile, low-income seniors would receive subsidies if they couldn't afford the premiums even with a voucher. It's a terrible plan, with virtually no evidence to support its central idea, and it would turn Medicare into a far stingier program than it is today. You can quite accurately say that the Ryan plan "privatizes" Medicare, that it "eviscerates" Medicare, or that it abolishes Medicare's guaranteed coverage.

But ends Medicare? No. This means that there are two things to say about all this. (1) PolitiFact made a ridiculous choice. They elevated a real but modest rhetorical difference into the biggest lie of the year, and it just isn't. (2) Nonetheless, Democrats shouldn't say that Ryan's plan "ends" Medicare. It doesn't, and there are plenty of short, punchy ways of making the same point more accurately.

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Racism and Tolerance of Racism
12/21/2011

Which is worse?

• Openly espousing viciously racist sentiments.
• Systematically turning a blind eye toward viciously racist sentiments from others for both profit and political advantage.

Genuine question. Which is more repellent? Background here.

UPDATE: In comments, Thersites makes an eloquent argument for Door #2:

Both are repugnant but I'll go with B as being more repugnant.

My wife and I had some ugly experiences in our former home in outer suburbia.

The people who called my wife a n****er pissed me off. But we knew who they were, and where they were coming from.

The "good" people who pretended that the incidents didn't happen, or made excuses for the perpetrators, they pissed me off, broke my goddamned heart and made me deeply ashamed of my community. We finally got the hell out of there but the bitterness will last a lifetime.

So yes, the "good" people who turn a blind eye, for any reason, are far more repugnant.

Turning a blind eye to racist sentiment is, obviously, far more common than overt racism these days. But as Thers says, that very fact can sometimes make it even worse. After all, everyone already knows that the world contains a few virulent assholes. In some cases you can shrug that off. But learning that lots of people who otherwise seem perfectly decent are willing to tolerate it? That can be pretty disheartening.

Still and all, lots of us fail to do the right thing sometimes because we lack moral courage. Ron Paul's failings go quite a bit further. He didn't tolerate the racist views in his newsletters merely because he didn't have the gumption to put a stop to it. He actively let it continue because the newsletters made money and because he was hoping to appeal to a paleocon constituency beyond his small libertarian base. That's pretty repellent.

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Defeating the Point of Fact-Checking
12/21/2011

Fact-checking, as a genre, probably shouldn't exist. It does largely because of one of the weirder conventions of mainstream journalism, which is to give equal weight to competing claims regardless of whether or not they actually deserve it. Determining the truth or falsity of a given claim is of a lower priority than actually meeting a deadline.

The purpose of fact-checking websites like PolitiFact, then, is to solve an invented problem by focusing on facts rather than "balance," since a commitment to the latter can be easily manipulated in the service of spreading falsehoods. For the past two years, PolitiFact chose as its "Lie of the Year" two Republican talking points. In 2009 the "Lie of the Year" was Sarah Palin's whopper that the Affordable Care Act contained "death panels" that would decide whether people lived or died based on "levels of productivity." The 2010 "Lie of the Year" was that the ACA constituted a government takeover of health care (it actually preserves the private insurance system).

Continue Reading »

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Fracking and the Feds
12/21/2011

We all know that the federal government was responsible for the development of the internet. But Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus tell another story of government R&D today that's a lot less familiar. It's about the development of fracking technology that's opened up massive amounts of natural gas in shale formations:

The breakthroughs that revolutionized the natural gas industry — massive hydraulic fracturing, new mapping tools and horizontal drilling — were made possible by the government agencies that critics insist are incapable of investing wisely in new technology.

This will surprise those steeped in the hagiography of George Mitchell, the tenacious Texas oil man who proved that gas could be drawn from shale rock at a profit. The popular telling has Mitchell spending 20 lonely years pursuing the breakthroughs to tap the Barnett Shale, an underground expanse.

Read the rest for the whole story. This doesn't really take anything away from Mitchell, who really did spend a tremendous amount of time and effort to develop the technologies that finally cracked the shale code. But as Elizabeth Warren says, people who make a lot of money do it with the help of huge amounts of public infrastructure that make their businesses possible. Likewise, lots of scientific breakthroughs are done with the help of huge amounts of basic research that are funded and/or run by the federal government. Fracking is just the latest example.

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Unusual Marine Mammal Deaths on Four US Coasts
12/21/2011

As of this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared three "unusual mortality events" (UME)—unexplained death clusters—for multiple species of marine mammals on four US coastlines: the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Sea, and the Chukchi Sea.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a UME declaration triggers a scientific investigation into the cause or causes of the die-off. At least two of these UMEs have potential implications for human health.

1) Gulf of Mexico whales and dolphins—ongoing since February 2010. As of Dec. 18, 2011, 611 cetaceans (whales and dolphins) have stranded in the Northern Gulf of Mexico; 5 percent have stranded alive, and 95 percent dead. From the latest NOAA report:

In addition to investigating all other potential causes [including ongoing effects of the Deepwater Horizon debacle], scientists are investigating what role Brucella [a bacterial infection] may have in the UME. Since our original finding of Brucella in 5 stranded dolphins from Louisiana, scientists have been concentrating testing on cases that show pathological changes consistent with the fetal pneumonia or adult meningitis identified in the first 5 cases. Here are our results showing the total number of Brucella cases identified so far. We will update these numbers when new results are available. FAQs on the investigations of the ongoing dolphin die-off and the potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill on marine mammals are available.

2) New England harbor seals—declared on Nov. 3, for Maine, New Hampshire, and northern Massachusetts. Since Sept. 1, 2011, 162 harbor seals have died, most of them under six months old. From the NOAA declaration:

The UME is ongoing and all mortalities are being thoroughly investigated to the extent possible. The majority of cases have involved young of the year and many have similar skin lesions (ulcerative dermatitis). Unlike historical young of the year harbor seal mortalities, which are often attributed to malnutrition, many of these animals are in good body condition. During the UME investigation, Influenza A H3N8 was confirmed in five harbor seals that stranded in New Hampshire in mid-September/early October 2011... This particular virus subtype, while found in horses, birds, seals, and dogs, has not been detected in humans in recent decades. While the risk to humans from this virus is low (according to the Centers for Disease Control and National Wildlife Health Center), we want to remind people to keep a safe distance from seals they encounter on the beach and in the water and to keep their pets away from these animals. If they see an animal that looks sick, please report it to the NOAA stranding hotline or local stranding network member.

3) Alaska ringed seals and (soon) walruses—declared Dec. 20, 2011. Since mid-July, more than 60 dead seals and 75 diseased seals (mostly ringed seals) have been reported in Alaska, in the Arctic and Bering Strait regions. From the NOAA declaration:

During their fall survey, scientists with the US Fish and Wildlife Service also identified diseased and dead walruses at the annual mass haul-out at Point Lay... Seals and walruses suffering from this disease have skin sores, usually on the hind flippers or face, and patchy hair loss. Some of the diseased mammals have exhibited labored breathing and appear lethargic. Scientists have not yet identified a single cause for this disease, though tests indicate a virus is not the cause... [N]o similar illnesses in humans have been reported. Still, it is not known whether the disease can be transmitted to humans, pets, or other animals. Native subsistence hunters should use traditional and customary safe handling practices, and the Alaska Division of Public Health recommends fully cooking all meat and thoroughly washing hands and equipment with a water/bleach solution.

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Report: Gingrich Banks $42K Selling Email List to Campaign
12/21/2011

This much we know about Newt Gingrich: he has a long, distinguished history of breaking the rules. For reference, see Tim Murphy's invaluable breakdown of the Republican presidential hopeful's ethically challenged history. The timeline culminates in 1997, when the House ethics committee slapped a $300,000 fine on the former speaker for his "reckless" or "intentional" use of nonprofits for partisan political ends, while misleading the House about his relationship to a political action committee.

But there could soon be an unsavory new bullet to add to the list. On Monday, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Gingrich's campaign bought his highly lucrative mailing list for $42,000 during the third quarter of 2011—from Gingrich himself. And that payment wasn't noted on recent FEC disclosures, the Washington Post reports:

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Minor Charges For Alleged Hezbollah Agent In Iraq
12/21/2011

Last week the Obama administration announced that the Iraqi government would not be handing over Ali Mussa Daqduq—who is accused of masterminding an attack that killed several US servicemembers in Iraq and of being a member of Hezbollah—to the US for trial by a military commission. The attack involved Daqduq and associates allegedly fooling American servicemembers with false uniforms and ID cards, which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Republicans like Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) accused Obama of "once again completely abdicating its responsibility to hold on to deadly terrorists." As with the Iraq withdrawal itself, Obama's Republican critics seem to be operating on the assumption that the US can simply go ahead and violate Iraq's sovereignty without causing any adverse consequences. 

The fear was that Daqduq would be released by the Iraqi government, but it appears he'll instead be charged with a minor offense associated with his passport. At Lawfare, Robert Chesney writes that they're "plenty of blame to go around" for this outcome, but I'd argue that this line in the Associated Press report Chesney links to explains who is really at fault:

Under former President George W. Bush, prosecutors had planned to charge Daqduq in a U.S. criminal court. But those plans were scrapped after President Barack Obama took office and lawmakers began restricting his ability to bring terrorist suspects into the United States for trial.

There's no guarantee that the Iraqi government would have turned him over if he had been promised a federal trial, but National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told the New York Times that "a transfer to Gitmo was a non-starter for the Iraqi government." If Daqduq is indeed guilty, the fact that he will not be punished is in part the result of Republicans' arbitrary politicization of terrorism trials and the Obama administration's meek acquiescence to them doing so. The consequences to individual rights and liberty here in the United States have been terrible, but the same is true of efforts to hold terrorists responsible for their crimes. 

*This post has been edited from its original version.

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I Guess Posting Videos Online Can Make You a Terrorist
12/21/2011

Tarek Mehanna, the Boston native who was accused of material support for terrorism based on what prosecutors said was his online advocacy on behalf of al Qaeda, was found guilty on all counts Monday. 

Defense lawyers argued that Mehanna did not provide support to Al Qaeda. They said he was simply expressing his own views in opposition to US foreign policy, particularly to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, activity that was protected by the First Amendment.

They also called Mehanna a budding young scholar committed to his religion, saying he had traveled to Yemen in search of education -- to further his studies on Islamic law and on Arabic.

But a series of Mehanna’s former friends testified against him that he had promoted extreme ideology, endorsed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and once called Osama bin Laden his father. Together, the former friends said, they watched videos glorifying suicide bombings in Iraq.

The verdict could turn out to be significant because Mehanna was not only accused of lying to prosecutors and seeking terrorist training in Yemen—prosecutors also charged that his translating of Al Qaeda documents and posting of extremist Internet videos was meant to sway Westerners to Al Qaeda's cause, and therefore constituted material support for terrorism.

In the indictment, the authorities alleged that Mehanna responded to specific requests from individuals associated with Al Qaeda to translate and post materials. Prosecutors don't seem to have raised that allegation at trial. Instead, they focused on the argument that Mehanna was responding to a general call made by Al Qaeda to spread their ideology. The distinction is important because, as I reported in my piece last week, the Supreme Court recently ruled that even nonviolent activities, if performed at the direction or under the control of a terrorist organization, could be crimes. Before, speech could only be a crime if it is both meant to and could credibly lead to "imminent lawless action."

My personal view is that the prosecution's other charges were strong already and Mehanna was likely guilty of those. However, by convicting Mehanna of material support for terrorism based on his online activities, the prosecution may have established a path through which the government can throw people in prison on terrorism charges for expressing abhorrent opinions, even if the individual in question has no direct ties to a terrorist organization.

For government authorities increasingly worried about the growth of the English-speaking extremist community and the possibility of homegrown terror, the Mehanna conviction may provide what is, in their view, a salutory chilling effect. For civil libertarians concerned about the government being able to prosecute ugly speech as a crime, that chilling effect is anything but salutory, because it could end up curtailing the rights of other critics of the US government, not just those who commit crimes based on their beliefs. It's hard to escape the conclusion that at some level the US government is now in the business of policing which views are appropriate to express. 

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The Secret Lives of Killer American Drones
12/21/2011

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

The drone had been in the air for close to five hours before its mission crew realized that something was wrong. The oil temperature in the plane's turbocharger, they noticed, had risen into the "cautionary" range. An hour later, it was worse, and it just kept rising as the minutes wore on. While the crew desperately ran through its "engine overheat" checklist trying to figure out the problem, the engine oil temperature, too, began skyrocketing.

By now, they had a full-blown in-flight emergency on their hands. "We still have control of the engine, but engine failure is imminent," the pilot announced over the radio.

Almost two hours after the first signs of distress, the engine indeed failed. Traveling at 712 feet per minute, the drone clipped a fence before crashing.

Continue Reading »

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There’s Still Time To Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
12/20/2011

If you’re like me, you were a little confused when you saw candy canes for sale at the same time as the Halloween treats this year. Traditionalists have long marked the start of the Christmas season not so much by the Advent calendar but by that day-after feeling of eating Thanksgiving leftovers, watching football, or [...]

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Wedding Dresses & Women. Or “How women dream of Prince Charming and wakeup in ‘The Hangover.’”
12/20/2011

The wedding industry takes a regular beating for being over the top. But there are also good aspects to it. As a designer of high-end wedding dresses, Justina McCraffrey (full disclosure – a  friend of mine) sees a lot of the inner workings of weddings.  Her work brings her closely in contact with the bride, [...]

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Mountain lion quota increased
12/15/2011

Mountain Lion quotas for the 2012 season have been increased to 70 lions or 50 females after GF&P commissioners voted on the issue last week. Wildlife division recommendations for the season were 60-40. Last years quotas were 45 total and … Continue reading →

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Duck Season Opens
12/15/2011

  One of my favorite times of the year begin tomorrow morning (Sept. 24). Duck season will open up for much of Eastern South Dakota.  Daily limit is six ducks and can be comprised of no more of following. 5 Mallards, … Continue reading →

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