Somebody's Prayers Are Getting Answered

The anti-choicers over at Vote Yes for A Time Machine Back to 2006 will be sorry to hear that despite their prayers that the pro-choice movement will be thrown into confusion, we actually appear to be getting more organized. Huzzah!

Not only is the SD Campaign for Healthy Families kicking of their campaign, long-time pro-choice activist organization NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota just launched a fancy new website with lots of great information and resources.

So sorry, Vote Yes for Iranian Laws, I guess God was a little more receptive to my prayer that you guys while away the months leading up to the election posting prayer blogs while we mount a strategic campaign than to yours.

A New Strategy to Save the Lives of Women & Children

World wide, a woman dies due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth every minute. Tonight on PBS, Wide Angle looked at how Mozambique is improving maternal and infant mortality rates by training nurses and midwives to perform Cesareans and hysterectomies. Amazing stuff. Check out the website.

Alive Day Memories: A Great Reminder

Although it came out last year, I finally just saw the HBO documentary and James Gandolfini brainchild, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq. If you need additional, heart-wrenching evidence of why exactly war is horrible, this is just the thing for you. I was brought to tears time and time again – so poignantly done!

I’d love to see what all you pro-war sons of bitches would have to say if it was you that had a traumatic brain injury that left you in a permanent state of 6th grade or it was your wife who left you during your tour of duty so when you returned, you had your wedding band diamonds fashioned into your new, glass eye. It’s time this war is over.

Silly.

By way of Dakota Voice:

Given the popular perception that Americans have become more liberal, it may be of surprise to hear that most people still embrace traditional family values as the foundation of the American dream.

More than 75 percent of all American adults said their ideal life includes having good physical health (listed by 85 percent), living with a high degree of integrity (85 percent), having one marriage partner for life (80 percent), having a clear purpose for living (77 percent), having a close relationship with God (75 percent), and having close, personal friendships (74 percent), according to a Barna report released Monday.

Ummm, yep, that pretty much applies to myself and about 99% of the liberal people I know. So how does that not jive with the idea that Americans have become more liberal? It seems like we may just be living the 'ideal life' instead of dreaming about it.

Where There's News Media, There's an Unruh

Saturday's KELO featured a piece on buying local produce, so it only makes sense for the story to contain an interview with...what? ALLEN UNRUH?! (See Madville Times for the full scoop.)

So, let's talk about this.

For one, can the SD public please have just one week - only one - where we don't have to deal with an Unruh? Can we? Please? I think the following definition pretty much sums up the condition that Les' and Al' face and although urbandictionary.com hasn't been real popular amongst the feminist community lately, I gotta say this was just too perfect to pass up.

1. Media Whore

1. A person who has a psychological need to get into TV, Film, Radio or Print.
2. A person who becomes aroused almost sexually by seeing or hearing themselves or about themselves in the media.
Most people who audition for reality TV series or write excessive numbers of letters to the editor are nothing more than media whores.

Now let us journey back in time to the Vote Yes petition reveal party of months past. You might recall the post I did about it. Well, I thought that the Unruhs along with the YV Prayer Team had a beef with KELO? Or is this just God's way of answering their prayers?

The REAL Issues of District 15

Why are we talking about something so trivial like a “maybe she sent it, maybe she didn’t” email to a B-list celeb, PP, when there are REAL issues to discuss here? Let’s talk about what should be politically significant here:

1) John Madigan switched from being a life-long Republican to a Democratic CANDIDATE just 5 days before the filing deadline. I think we can all agree that’s shade-o-rama. Not only that, but the it becomes known that he’s the Business Manager/Office Manager of the Catholic Church, which indubitably raises questions about the separation of church and state in South Dakota state government. C’mon. Agenda much? I mean really? I don’t care what your religion or what your political party – something is very wrong with this.

2) There’s a small incestuous group of ‘Democrats’ that have their hands dirty in all of this and guess what, Martha Vanderlinde, isn’t one of ‘em. Recall the post by Kelsey here at DW where the “Elect Your New District 15 Team” mailing was discussed. Speaking of incestuous, has anyone checked out the campaign finance reports on these guys? Jim Miles is the Chair of John Madigan’s Committee and Kathy Miles is the Treasurer. Gil Koetzle is the Chair of Pat Kirschman’s Committee with (guess who?!) Jim Miles again as the Treasurer. Hmmm. I think John Madigan’s email address sums it all up: votehappyclub@q.com.
Which leads me to my next point…

3) Seems to me that there might be a little campaign finance law violation in all of this. On the “Team” mailing of Kirschman, Miles, and Madigan, Deb Koetzle is listed as the Treasurer for all the candidates in a “Paid for by the Candidates, Deb Koetzle, Treasurer” sort of way. Well, two things: 1) that’s not what the campaign finance reports say for either of these two men 2) isn’t it a blatant violation to have a joint account with other candidates? I’m certainly no expert here, but I’m also not seeing any in kind donations to each other to pay for this mailing. I’m aware that you don’t have to list a treasurer at all according to new campaign finance law, but what about if you list someone that isn’t the correct treasurer as according to your statement of organization…or even more – what if you list one person as the treasurer for three campaigns and then the supplementary documents don’t match up? What the hell is going on here? Am I missing something or is Roger Hunt these people’s campaign finance law advisor?

So, let’s stop making this about a candidate who has never tried to hide who she is or what she believes through dissecting a petty message board post, taking it’s writing ridiculously out of context (“What a hardship for young girls in the middle of nowhere SD!!” does in no way imply that this lady hates South Dakota, she’s ashamed of it, or anything else. She’s very clearly talking about pharmacy refusal in rural areas. Grow up or re-learn how to read and comprehend written information, kids. ) And you know what? At least with Vanderlinde you know what you’re going to get. We can’t really say the same about ANY of the other candidates in that district, now can we? I think all this conspiracy stuff is disgusting and it hurts everyone involved: other candidates, the voters, the district, the parties, and the state.

The little blog that...couldn't?

So Anna has decided to take a blogging break, Lucretia has decided to go for insults rather than dialogue, and I'm wondering if we still have a common purpose. Kool-Aid, indeed.