The war on pot is costing us

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Not only in tax dollars for prosecution and incarceration, but in lives.

This latest case of just one drug robbery gone bad (over marijuana) has produced this;

  • Prosecution of 3 conspiritors and a murderer
  • One person dead, another injured
  • Probably over a million dollars in prosecution costs and incarceration

This was ONE incident over the greed and hysteria caused by people dealing weed. Heck, we even had a shoot-out in the streets of Sioux Falls over people stealing weed from each other, which could have resulted in more people dead, including police officers. It is going on across the country, and other states are realizing the war just isn’t worth it anymore, and are seizing a tax revenue source in the process instead more costs in prosecution to taxpayers. In fact, one little town in Colorado has experienced a monthly sales tax increase of $44,000 a month and are using the windfall to fix their streets instead of building bigger jails and courtrooms.

While I support medical marijuana legalization in South Dakota, I encourage the petitioners to go whole hog instead, and support a measure that also legalizes recreational usage. I actually believe such a measure would get more support than just medical (it has failed twice on the ballot in SD).

I’ve seen many lives ruined because of marijuana, a (natural) drug that has been proven to be much less harmful then alcohol (a narcotic) and could be sold legally to create a tax revenue source for counties struggling with tight budgets when it comes to legal services.

Lives ruined because of the insatiable desire to make felons out of people who smoke a plant.

There are also other benefits besides medical and homeopathic. It is also an incredible agriculture product that can be grown in its NON-THC form, Hemp, to be used in clothing, essential oils and can even be burned producing as much energy heat as coal. The uses are endless.

I have often believed that cannabis is a true gift from God that we have bastardized because of the greed of our prison systems and the pharmaceutical industry. This pointless greed has hit home, and we must use the Lebeau incident as a lesson in how we can take something bad like botched drug deals, and turn them into a positive, to help the sick, the state coffers and the agriculture industry. Let’s pull our heads out of the sand in this country and state and use this amazing gift to our benefit.

Posted in: Mary Jane

Are We Treading Water?

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Usually I get this crap from different art orgs and don’t care, but enjoyed this message today from the SF Arts Council Interim Chair, Nan Baker;

In Ray Davis’ book “Leading for Growth”, he says “YOU GET BETTER OR YOU GET WORSE.  You can’t stay the same.  Treading water is not sustainable”.

What does that mean for the Art and Culture community in Sioux Falls?  Are we treading water?

Moving to Sioux Falls in 1997, starting a career at Western Surety Company on the corner of 9th and Phillips, I walked to work from my apartment across from Lyons Park.  At that time, few people lived downtown, businesses offered no outside seating, public art was controversial at best and professional artists were few and far.  Having lived all over the world, I knew exactly why I chose Sioux Falls as home.  Today, there are at least a dozen downtown apartments complexes, public art is beginning to take shape, new art venues are surfacing, appreciation for design and culture is bubbling.  Things have changed.  Are we treading water?

In 1999 the City of Sioux Falls approved an Art and Culture Plan.  One of the most visible products of that Plan is SculptureWalk.  From its inception, it was and still is a community effort like the Washington Pavilion, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Sioux Empire Community Theater, State Theater, Municipal Band, Siouxland Heritage Museums to name a few.

It is in a community spirit, that the Arts Council will be working to up-date the 1999 Art and Culture Plan in partnership with the City of Sioux Falls and Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. We will bring citizens together to share ideas, hopes and dreams of how to advance the art and culture of Sioux Falls.

As we begin the planning phase, we hope it will stir citizen participation.  You will be invited to attend community conversations.  We look forward to the up and coming journey and traveling it together.

Nan Baker, Interim Executive Director

Yeah, a lot of the stuff is ‘Pie in the Sky’ but at least someone is looking at this, while I hammer on these folks quite a bit, I do want to be a part of the conversation, because right now, the public is not.

Posted in: Art, Sioux Falls

DEMOCRATS WON’T TAKE ALEC TRIPS: CALL THEM WASTEFUL AND BIASED

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The Republican-controlled legislature hiked its own budget $5,000 per lawmaker last session, and today (Tuesday) they started spending the money by voting themselves more out-of-state travel, including trips to the controversial ALEC conventions where conservative lawmakers mingle with corporate special interests.

Democrats tried to strike the $5,000/legislator funding for the trips on the final day of the legislative session, and they tried again today (Tuesday) when the legislature’s executive committee expanded the travel policy.

“When we can’t afford to fund our schools or cover other basics of government, we can hardly afford to turn legislators into frequent fliers,” said Senator Larry Lucas of Mission, who opposed the measure as a member of the executive board.

Lucas said he and other legislators were blind-sided by the proposal to include ALEC.

“That’s unconscionable, especially this year when we pushed school costs onto property taxpayers. The priorities of our Republican colleagues are hard for me to fathom today.”

Rep. Bernie Hunhoff said the spending priorities of the GOP-dominated legislature are hurting South Dakotans.

“On the last day, the legislature couldn’t even find $25,000 to help fund a van for disabled veterans. We couldn’t find support for scholarship programs or prenatal care to the very poorest young mothers in South Dakota — let alone provide adequate school support. And yet we have the money to fly ourselves all over the country? This is not a proud day for the South Dakota legislature.”

Hunhoff said the 2013 session was remarkable in its lack of partisanship, and substantive reforms were enacted.

“I’m still hopeful we can continue that spirit into 2014, but today’s vote and the way it was conducted is not particularly helpful in that regard.”

Sen. Jason Frerichs, the Democrats’ senate leader, said spending state tax dollars on ALEC dues and trips is shocking.

“This is an organization that has raised more than $20 million over the last several years from the biggest corporate special interest groups in the world. They take great pride in promoting legislation that benefits the coffers of these large corporations, often at the expense of the average American taxpayer.”

Frerichs and Hunhoff said they intend to demand that no dues monies be paid for Democratic legislators.

“We won’t attend the ALEC conferences and we do not want a dime of the taxpayer’s money to be used for this biased, extremist lobbying organization.”

They said they’ll also try to correct the executive board’s decision in the 2014 legislative session.

Detroit’s NOTE’s; It amazes me the very organization that is meant to screw over the middle-class, is getting funded by us, thru taxpayer funds, to bend us over the barrel. I will do my best to get photos and deets on the legislators who attended this convention, on our dime.

Posted in: ALEC, State Funding, State Legislature

Sister Aimee is that Kristi Noem waggin’ her tongues? (Guest Poster)

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This older story from the Mitchell Daily Republic has been bugging us and it reminds us of a little South Dakota country church.

Noem reports a combined total of $15,833 in “salary” from 3 different sources – $6,000 from her SD legislative gig, $8,833 from something called Family Worship Center and $1,000 from Noem Family Insurance in Bryant.

There once was a little country church near Hub City called the Garfield Gospel Tabernacle.  Ever hear of it?  Probably not, the holy rovers were an interesting bunch where the locals said “If the coyotes didn’t yell they did.” Why does this little rural Vermillion church matter and what does it have to do with Noem?  Recently it began to appear Kristi is an “owner” of it present incarnation.

During the 1920’s a of Los Angeles charismatic preacher, Aimee Semple McPherson started a church called the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel broadcasting over the new-fangled radio bringing the Gospel to the isolated Dakota farmers.  This was a lively group.  It was said when they had a funeral, they had to hold on to the casket so it wouldn’t roll out of the church.  Well by the 1970’s the attending families had dwindled in number and the church was closed.  Shortly thereafter the building was moved to Beresford and reopened to serve the worship needs of the locals eventually with a preacher, Raymond Peterson.

The little country church was for many years associated with the First Assembly organization out of Mitchell.  In the late 1980’s the preacher, Raymond Peterson tried to take over the leadership of the state organization as many back to God preachers began doing at the time.  When he lost the election he convinced the member / owners of the church to sign over the property to him so he could ‘grow’ their mission.  Upon the turnover of the property to Peterson, the Gospel Tabernacle / First Assembly church members were ‘kicked out’ for not agreeing to the new ownership.  You see Raymond decided to make it a privately owned for personal gain church

“Living Word Fellowship” under South Dakota’s corporate laws.  With this building “given to him” for free (he won the lawsuits), Raymond moved to Sioux Falls using the Beresford building as collateral for a ‘church’ building in Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls FWC 1).


Raymond has tried for years to build his version of a media empire with radio broadcasting and other outreaches.  His current privately owned church in Sioux Falls is now called Family Worship Center Mount of Olives Ministries.


This has created a bit of confusion with several who have confused the two churches with Raymond encouraging publicly with his adherence to Foursquare principles.  She is not a part of the Sioux Falls story but the Watertown version.  Noem’s part-time job was teaching young people how to roll around in the aisles like the old Garfield Gospel Tabernacle or as the attached link will demonstrate.

A few years ago we had a TeaBagger Alaskan Vice Presidential candidate who was a tongue ‘wagger’ who like to roll around in the aisles.  So we South Dakotans are proud to have our own, Kristi Noem is apparently a part-time employee / owner of the Watertown Foursquare Church also known as Family Worship Center. The Watertown ‘church’ is officially a Foursquare church. Our understanding is Noem has given up her seat on the board to her sister Cindy.

We non-Foursquares find their adherence to Sister Aimee’s Southern Pentecostal beliefs humorous, yet disturbing.  Sister Aimee started a church to expand her beliefs based in the post reconstruction American south where the frustrations of the poor whites needed to keep the people of other colors down.  Her fear based teachings of the church meeting broadcasts out of Los Angeles met the emotional need to blame the strife of Midwestern farm life of the 1920’s on someone.  Those who lived near the Garfield Gospel Tabernacle always found it interesting after some of the local revivals you would see the KKK cross burnings, being held in the middle of the night, atop nearby Spirit Mound. Nobody ever claimed the activity but it was interesting.

Is this what we are heading back to?  The type of ministries we are highlighting here are not limited to them.  As we learned with the half termed governor of Alaska, the churches encourage government involvement to spread their “word”.  Kristi is doing her only job.  Her only job is to operate in the official capacity she is elected to in order to push the “mission’ of her church.  Be as likeable and charismatic as necessary to get and retain power.  Their belief system requires them to force the rest of us to do as they say, but you know the rest (“not as they do”).  Privately owned officially nonprofit organizations actually being used to spread their Gospel mission of far right agenda beliefs.  These for-profit nonprofits are destroying the Constitution the rest of us rely on to survive,  Each time we vote for these aisle rollers, we are setting the bar of sanity further from our reach.

(YouTube this or this)

(here is a selection of Noem / Foursquare Ministries youth outreach for you to choose from if you wish to have a chuckle)

Megachurch pastor uses sermon to ‘endorse Jesus’ but encourages voting for Romney

 

Posted in: Kristi Noem