2009

A contractor in Iraq doesn’t like Obama, the left or Civil Liberties – big surprise!

We may never be safe again

A letter writer has been disapointed with Obama so far. Me to. He still has yet to start on an exit strategy from Iraq. Three of his appointments have had money problems and he just can’t seem to make Republicans happy (go figure). But this guy could care less about those things;

We we’re willing to give Barack Obama a chance, even the military veterans. But on the first day of his presidency, he decided to suspend Guantanamo war crime trials, outraging family members of 9-11 victims and making it difficult to get a conviction on these cases.

Well, Daniel, the prisoners are still there, and until we can transfer them safely to another secure location, they will stay there. We are not releasing them anytime soon.

Unfortunately, this is going to be the new precedent. I’m afraid our country is on a path of weakness, and we will not change our course until another Sept 11. Then we’ll toughen up for two years and then fall again, continuing our cycle of self-destruction and weakness in order to maintain political correctness and keep the American Civil Liberties Union happy.

First off, it was Bush and the right who failed us on 9/11. Bush was warned and did nothing. Secondly the ACLU is an organization that will defend ANYONE’s civil liberties, not just us on the looney left. civil liberties are very American, we continue to remain a FREE country because of them, not because of a lack thereof.

People keep asking why the military and veterans are scared of an Obama presidency and those on the left.

Better check the numbers, Obama received more of the veteran vote than Bush did in 2004. Who do veterans trust to keep us safe?

Obama’s message was clear when closing Gitmo; We don’t torture and we don’t treat our prisoners like the terrorists treat theirs. We are better than that.

So we raise taxes so we can stick the money in reserves?

On Friday, Mayor Munson had an interview with Don Jorgensen in which he bragged about being able to put $5 million dollars in savings from 2008 into the reserves;

Last year, they budgeted $110 million for operating expenses, but spent only $105 million, sending $5 million back into the reserve fund. 

So why did we have to raise taxes to a full 2% to get additional money if it was there, even without cutting one single program from the 2009 budget?

One word; Greed.

Like I have argued with many people, the city has gotten by just fine with 1.92% tax rate for years, as you can see, we had an additional $5 million leftover.

Not only was this tax increase greedy and a handout to special interests that fund some of city leader’s campaigns, it an example of incredibly poor management, but we are starting to get use to that from SD politicians, aren’t we?

HB1127 Testimony

Beginning Tuesday morning at 7:45 a.m. South Dakotans for Safe Access will be testifyin’ in the House Health & Human Services Committee. The subject is HB1127, the 2009 South Dakota Safe Access [to cannabis as recommended by a doctor] Act.

These are the folks who are gonna be tellin’ the SDSA story there (as known at 9 a.m. Sunday).

A former Denver detective who now lives in Sen. Abdallah’s district in Sioux Falls.

A 25-year-old student and champion cowgirl who suffers debilitating migraines.

A 23-year-old student who has lost a leg from cancer.

A 45-ish eastern South Dak. businessman who suffers a degenerative digestive disorder palliated by cannabis.

A rancher with AIDS who has done time for trying to sustain his own life.

The rancher’s doctor.

A former chairman of the MS Society, North Central States Chapter (8000 members).

At least one more member of the MS Society, NC Chapter

A 1990 Gulf War veteran, with nerve damage due to exposure to chemicals

A federally supplied medical marijuana patient, who gets a tin with 300 perfectly-rolled marijuana cigarettes each month. For more information about the program under which she receives her medicine, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassionate_Investigational_New_Drug_program

You can listen live as we speak to the committee.
http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2009/CommitteeMenu.aspx
Scroll down the right column, click on “Health and Human Services
2/3/2009 7:45 AM” (When I do that, I get an error message, but an audio link is downloaded to my desktop, which I have to open to get the audio. Not sure if it works that way for everybody.)

We urge you to contact the members of the committee to which we will testify. The list of House Health and Human Services Committee is below. The best way to get an email to them is to go to this page,
http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx. Once you rmessage is entered in the box, you can serially send to every member of the committee. Do it today; the hearing is Tuesday.

All the message needs to say is “Please support HB1127,” along with your name and city of residence. Anonymous pleas aren’t much good.

House Health and Human Services Committee

Rep. Blake, Susy (Dem.-Dist. 13, Sioux Falls) Rep. Blake has indicated favorability to 1127

Rep. Iron Cloud III, Ed (Dem.-Dist. 27, Bennett, Haakon counties) Probably a yes vote for 1127

Rep. Lucas, Larry (Dem.-Dist. 26A, Mellette, Todd counties) can be convinced on 1127, needs to hear from you.

Rep. Nygaard, Eldon (Dem.-Dist. 17, Clay, Turner counties) not on record on 1127

Rep. Vanderlinde, Martha (Dem.-Dist. 15, Minnehaha county) Is a nurse. Is one of the sponsors of 1127.

Rep. Boomgarden, Jamie (Rep.-Dist. 17, Clay, Turner counties) not on record on 1127. Clay County carried the 2006 medcan vote.

Rep. Curd, R. Blake (Rep.-Dist. 12, Lincoln, Minnehaha counties) not on record on 1127

Rep. Dreyer, Brian (Rep.-Dist. 32, Pennington county) might be able to convince him on 1127

Rep. Jensen, Phil (Rep.-Dist. 33, Meade, Pennington counties) not on record on 1127

Rep. Moser, Nick (Rep.-Dist. 18, Yankton county) not on record on 1127

Rep. Pitts, Carol (Chair) (Rep.-Dist. 7, Brookings county) not on record on 1127. Brookings county carried the 2006 medical cannabis vote.

Rep. Rave, Timothy (Vice Chair) (Rep.-Dist. 25, Hanson, McCook counties) not on record on 1127

Rep. Romkema, Fred (Rep.-Dist. 31, Lawrence county) Has met with medcan patients. Might be convinced to vote for 1127. Lawrence County carried the 2006 medcan vote.