State Legislature

In Beck’s imaginary world citizens support tax increases

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W__qCFWi1KA[/youtube]

I highly suggest that instead of writing columns anymore for the Argus Endorser, Beck just build a bed under his desk and sleep the day away, because his opinion is incredibly off base;

But that openness, it seemed, didn’t extend to any future effort to give cities and counties the authority to ask voters for approval to levy a temporary 1-cent sales tax to pay for certain public works projects – something we’d been trying to pin him down on since the campaign last year.

You might recall such a bill, with the backing of the municipal league and most cities and counties, experienced a brief life in the Legislature last year before being tarred, feathered and run out of Pierre on a rail.

And for good reason, a majority of citizens don’t even want taxpayer money wasted on voting on it, let alone passing it. What world does Beck live in? Why is he under the impression that this would ever pass voters? It would be freaking doomed from the beginning, and the committee overseeing it killed it instead of allowing it to fail in front of voters.

It amazes me that a guy that has a great sense of humor, incredible writing skills and extensive knowledge of open government, sure is naive.

Everyone needs to sacrifice, just not the corporations coming to our state

Representative Hunhoff called Doogard out on his bullshit today;

Democratic legislative leaders on Thursday criticized South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to continue giving refunds on construction taxes to large industrial projects.

House Democratic Leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton said the Republican governor’s proposal could cost $15 million a year at a time when the money should instead be used to soften budget cuts in education and health care for poor people.

What amazes me  is that during these down times we cut education but think it is okay to give refunds to out of state corporations? South Dakota’s motto, “Big business first, citizens last.”

Daugaard and the Democrats have agreed the state should no longer give tax breaks to projects such as the TransCanada Keystone crude oil pipelines that would be built across South Dakota regardless of any tax refund.

Duh! Why did we to begin with? TransCanada HAS NO CHOICE they have to come thru South Dakota, what freaking incentive do they need? North Dakota and Nebraska didn’t give them squat.

Let’s drug test legislators instead

It amazes me that legislators are worried about dirt poor single mothers smoking a little weed.

A South Dakota bill to require drug testing of welfare recipients has been killed in committee this morning.

House Bill 1120 sponsored by Rep. Mark Kirkeby, R-Rapid City, would require testing of those recipients that state employees believe have drugs in their system.

What is the irony of this legislation? It would probably cost more to implement a drug testing program then the amount of money that is being given to welfare drug users. It’s kinda like the capital punishment debate – It’s actually cheaper to put someone away for life then to kill them because of the appeals process.

But I digress.

What bothers me more is the hypocrisy of our lawmakers. Ever notice how many elected officials get caught fucking whores, doing drugs, beating their spouses, molesting kids and drinking and driving? I think a better idea would be to force every new legislator to take an IQ test, be drug tested and have a mental health evaluation.

Of course that wouldn’t leave many people in Pierre.

Another Abortion Bill . . . yawn

Here we go again. Voters in SD have clearly said they are pro-choice, twice, but some of our state legislators still don’t freaking get it;

The Legislature finds that as abortion medicine is now practiced in South Dakota that:

(1)    In the overwhelming majority of cases, abortion surgery and medical abortions are scheduled for a pregnant mother without the mother first meeting and consulting with a physician or establishing a traditional physician-patient relationship;

And that’s just (1) – read the whole thing. I also find it ironic that I could only count two (2) female sponsors. Maybe I’m wrong, I didn’t know all of the names, if someone could clarify, that would be great. They are bolded and italicized.

Introduced by:    Representatives Hunt, Abdallah, Bolin, Brunner, Cronin, Feickert, Gosch, Greenfield, Hansen (Jon), Hickey, Hoffman, Hubbel, Jensen, Kirschman, Kloucek, Kopp, Magstadt, Munsterman, Nelson (Stace), Russell, Steele, Stricherz, Tornow, Tulson, Van Gerpen, Venner, and Wick and Senators Novstrup (Al), Brown, Heineman, Holien, Kraus, Lederman, Maher, Olson (Russell), Rave, Rhoden, and Schlekeway