Archive for August, 2010

While it is true that Stephanie Herseth Sandlin only has 1 speed tickets on her record(Keep in mind, she rarely drives herself anywhere) and Kristi Noem has had a few what I would call issues on the roadway in South Dakota a big one was dropped by my friend Pat Powers at the Dakota War College has uncovered court documents that shows SHS’s chief of staff was plead guilty to first offense DUI on June 28th after a June 6th traffic stop. Now SHS has gone to the airwaves and personally scolded Noem for her violations (which she should) but my question is why is Teresa Gould still employed with the congresswoman if minor speeding offenses are so terrible?
As Mr. Powers states in his post, over a third of the city, county and state police forces budget are used to stop these types of crimes that kill many South Dakotan’s each year and this government employee still gets to keep her job. And while yes, speeding is also dangerous, so is driving under the influence.
SHS so far has kept quiet on this matter and so has the news outlets. My guess is KELOLAND won’t be reporting on this anytime soon.

She asked you a simple question, and you gave a not so simple answer. This is really a post on why politicians have to be so difficult.

I was catching up on some Daily Show episodes today and stumbled on what was one of the funnier clips in some time. Jon frequently calls Fox News out when they’re being hypocritical, or, in the case of Fox and Friends, dumb (seriously, it’s like their goal is to provide clips for Jon and Stephen). So Fox is now trying to stir up anti-Park51 sentiment, and they do it in this case by saying one of the funders is a radical that funds radical madrassas and is generally a bad guy. They never say his name or show a picture. It turns out he is the second biggest shareholder in News Corp., Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, meaning he is Rupert Murdoch’s partner, meaning he is a partial owner of Fox News, meaning he makes money from them, meaning they are funding Park51 and the madrassas and whatever else they claim he’s into. John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac have a great debate over whether it’s stupidity or evil that caused them to neglect this part of the story.

I’m going with evil (though Oliver makes a convincing stupid argument).

Enjoy continued hate mongering as a distraction.

Adam Feser

Maybe this is something we can agree on here.

Former republican lawmaker Ted Klaudt is in the news yet again.

After being convicted for raping his foster daughters he wanted to be stripped of his citizenship and wanted his conviction thrown out. This guy is a nut job and 44 years behind bars will be good for him. Now he is saying he wants help with his legal troubles or he will expose the state for misuse of funds while he was in office.

This guy is like the ex-girlfriend that doesn’t go away. Playing blackmail with a judge doesn’t seem like the best of ideas, but then again, neither is raping girls either.

Stranger things have happened. I have agreed with Sen. Reid in the last week, Adam and I have agreed on things and now the American News editorial board and I have agreed on something. Has hell truly froze over. Will the Vikings win the Superbowl this year. Will the Minnesota Twins finally be able to beat the Yankees in the playoffs?

He has been sharing his plan all over the country including CNBC and FoxNews.

This is definitely worth a look.

John Thune for president in 2012

I want to try and find something we can all agree on, since I respect those that make comments (and I hope that is reciprocated). Can we all agree that no one in the world should torture anyone else, since we are all human beings?

I don’t even want to get into what is torture. I’m sure we’ll differ on that. But can we agree that torture shouldn’t be a part of any strategy for any country? Can we collectively take it off the board?

I feel like this should be a point of agreement, which would be nice.

Enjoy some like-mindedness, for once.

Adam Feser

“I don’t know what the big deal is,” Cassandra said. “It’s freedom of religion, you know?”

The Wall Street Journal recently talked to some strippers that work at one of the two strip joints within three blocks of Ground Zero – you know, hallowed ground. They also talked to some gamblers at an off-track betting center three blocks from Ground Zero (hallowed ground). One bettor had this to say about the proposed location of Park51:

The bums used to sit right in front of it.

He apparently does not agree that a Burlington Coat Factory constitutes hallowed ground.

The comments of strippers Cassandra and Chris have been some of the best I have heard during this entire debate. Here’s some thoughts from Chris (who volunteered for the Red Cross’s recovery effort):

But Chris, the stripper who volunteered in the Ground Zero recovery, sat on a barstool in a tiny, shiny red dress and defended Park51. “They’re not building a mosque in the World Trade Center,” she pointed out. “It’s all good. You have your synagogues and your churches. And you have a mosque.”

Chris said she lost eight friends on Sept. 11, 2001 — firefighters from the Brooklyn firehouse next to her home at the time. “The people who did it are not going to the mosque,” she said.

The people who did it are not going to the mosque. If only Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin were this logical.

Enjoy a spirited hunt for October.

You may have heard that News Corp., the group that owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post, gave $1 million to the Republican Governor’s Association. It probably seems worse than it is. A lot of groups give money to both parties. It does, however, make for a fun opportunity to parody Glenn Beck’s mission of following the money to whatever communist is trying to destroy the country. Here it is:

Enjoy Husker fever.

Adam Feser

Updated Below

In Middletown, N.J., we do bar mitzvahs, Christmas parties and 9/11 memorials as a community. Am I now the enemy?

Osman Adnan and his brother serve their country with pride. They are Muslims. When people start throwing a fuss over a Muslim center, it stings people like Osman. It also stings his brother, who received a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq. We should consider these people before we pass judgment on an entire religious group. A couple of solid paragraphs from the article:

I believe Rauf’s goal with Park51 is in harmony with the goals of our nation’s founders. George Washington himself once wrote to a Jewish congregation in Rhode Island, reassuring them of our nation’s religious tolerance. “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” I flew halfway around the world to promote that great vision, and my brother came close to giving his life to protect it.

George Washington also reminded us to guard against the “imposters of pretended patriotism.” Mr. Gingrich and Mrs. Palin: Please do not confuse the public and slander all Muslim-Americans as being responsible for 9/11. Please don’t tell my shrapnel-scarred war hero brother that he is no different than the 9/11 hijackers. Sadly, you represent the very spirit of intolerance you attack in others.

Enjoy knowing 70% of Americans are against the mosque, yet claim to love freedom.

Adam Feser

Update:

Salon has a good list of loads of people that have taken some position on the issue. It’s worth a look if you’re at all interested in this and want to see how various politicians decided to respond. (Hint – there are a lot of cowards.)

That having democrats in complete control can’t be all that bad….

The crowd in Mitchell isn’t buying what she is selling.

Enjoy the Twins dominance.