Entries Tagged 'Kristi Noem' ↓

So Dreamy . . .

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

Who is Fiegen looking out for?

Notice how Kristi Fiegen and Chris Nelson are never really talking about protecting the citizens? Kristi’s ads focus on protecting business. Does this mentality have something to do with her past positions with ALEC and the money each has received over the years from the energy companies they are to regulate? Read Fiegen’s material and listen to her ads, we’ll give you a moment, or two….  Look for these messages to let you care only about the corporation’s needs.  Nowhere in their collective messages do the say they are protecting us, the citizens, from the abuses levied upon us.  Think about it…

Hurt businesses in South Dakota versus hurt citizens of South Dakota?  Since when is more import to protect business in South Dakota than the people? Is the PUC there to protect the businesses from the wrath of the people for the abuses perpetrated by the businesses?

After Governor Frank Farrar’s disastrous decision to regulate the REA coops in 1969 the people of South Dakota understood the real need for a strong people oriented PUC.  For most of the next 40 years, Democrats had a seat at the table to keep the utilities functioning as they should, protecting the citizens.  In 1973 a young person, a single citizen, from a small South Dakota town actually was able to bring an action before the PUC against Northwestern Bell.  This action brought NW Bell to their knees.  NW Bell was not allowed to have a rate increase for about two years because the PUC agreed with the teenager.  I know this story well.  I was the teenager.  This action forced NW Bell to improve their service.  This action was accomplished because we had a PUC who could not be accused of being tied to the utilities.

Kristi and Chris are tied to the ALEC utility companies they have to regulate.  Who should we trust?

Just watched this debate, Matt crushed Kristi. It’s too bad some of the ‘ignorant’ voters in our state won’t understand the finer points Matt made in this debate.

Not sure how this video will hurt Matt. He thinks global warming is bad (which it is). Likes to drink beer (which is tasty) and thinks the environment needs advocates.

While Noem plays restaurant, cashes checks for farm subsidies, and  pretends to fix fence.

Stay tuned, Guest Poster is working on a multi-post story about Noem and her involvement with . . . well, let’s just say it is a tongue twister.

Hey! Manny! Could you get some more SD Legislative bling!?

Fixin’ Fence and riding horses. What else do you need from our congressperson. (the only thing missing from this shot is the toe truck that pulled that old truck out into the field.)

I wonder where she got the ad idea?

I loved this toon by Cory today;

It reminded my of this toon I did of Noem in 2010;

I have thought about this for awhile. Have Jeff and I had our disagreements? Oh, yeah. But there is one thing I like about Barth, he speaks his mind, and believes what he believes. He is an Old Skool Democrat and liberal.

Someone asked me the other day, “Who has a better chance of beating Noem?” I said, Varilek of course, but let’s face the facts, neither one will be able to beat the Republican money machine and the West River podunks who love a congressperson in tight Wrangler jeans. I don’t want to see either Barth or Varilek in tight jeans, heck, I don’t even want to see them in a Snuggie. But I do want whoever runs against Noem to needle the heck out of her.

So why Jeff Barth?

Because he will truly question her on her record and won’t let her slither away. Varilek, not so much.

“NOT ANOTHER POP QUIZ!”

From Helga;

How did Noem finish four years of college in a little more then a year?

Noem was sworn in January 2011. She says she juggled a full course load last spring (2011) while at the same time finding her way around DC and she finished her classes by the fall of 2011. Earned her degree by December 2011. “Kristi Noem who in December of 2011 received her college diploma while serving her first term in office.” Enquiring minds would like to know how a person earns 2 years of college credit from spring to fall of 2011 (6-7 months)? And at the same time being a full time congress woman (South Dakota’s only congress person) traveling back and forth from DC to SD and around to various states fund raising.

For now the real point is she says she went to college for two years, 1990-1992, so that means she had 2 years left before she could get a degree. Apparently it never dawned on her while she was running the farm, having children, and then getting elected to the SD legislature that she might finish her college degree. (I could be snarky and add racing around the state getting tons of tickets). So 20 years later when she gets elected to the US House she decides she needs that piece of paper? I wonder how the heck she can get 2 years of college credits in less then a year? The last Washington Post story says one way she earned her degree was to “rack up intern credits”.

According to local press, one way the South Dakota Republican earned her degree was to rack up “intern credits.” We’re pretty sure her interning experience was vastly different than that of most fresh-faced college kids — she probably didn’t have to fetch coffee for the boss or subsist on a diet of 25-cent-wing nights and pitchers of beer at the Capitol Lounge.

The Post also points out;

She gets elected as a US Congress woman and she gets credit for that, at least that is the way it looks to me. Too bad everyone else that works one or two jobs and goes to college at the same time doesn’t get credit for their jobs. Everyone else has to actually go to classes, take tests, pay for the classes with loans that she voted NO on because she thinks doubling the interest rate is just fine. It really just boils down to what classes did she take and how many credits did she get from those classes.

She says she went to Northern in Aberdeen, SDSU and Mount Marty in Watertown. Often times schools do not accept all the credits of other schools. So how many credits did she start with?

She is the only congress person of the state and she gets college credit as an intern. So how did she do it as a first term US House Rep and can other college students do that too? Who did she intern for, (certainly not herself), what papers, projects did she have to write for the internship, who graded them and who decided and approved how many credit hours she got for interning. If she got intern credits just because she’s a US House rep then she received selective treatment.