South Dakota legislators tell schools to teach ‘astrological’ explanation for global warming.

Last week, the South Dakota House of Representatives passed a resolution to “urge” public schools to teach astrology. By a 36-30 vote, the legislators passed House Concurrent Resolution 1009, “Calling for balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota.” After repeating long-debunked denier myths and calling carbon dioxide “the gas of life,” the resolution concludes that public schools should teach that “global warming is a scientific theory rather than a proven fact”:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-fifth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature urges that instruction in the public schools relating to global warming include the following:

(1) That global warming is a scientific theory rather than a proven fact;
(2) That there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect [sic] world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative; and
(3) That the debate on global warming has subsumed political and philosophical viewpoints which have complicated and prejudiced the scientific investigation of global warming phenomena; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature urges that all instruction on the theory of global warming be appropriate to the age and academic development of the student and to the prevailing classroom circumstances.

Yesterday, the South Dakota Senate passed by a vote of 18-17 an amended version of the resolution which eliminates most of the anti-science conspiracy theories, but still asserts that the “global warming debate” has “prejudiced the scientific investigation of global climatic change phenomena.” The amended version now “returns to the House for approval.” (HT: Thoughts From Kansas)

This is amazing article about not just the hypocrisy of Rep. Steele, but of the hypocrisy of many Pierre lawmakers. Remember Mr. Klaudt?

Earlier this week, at their weekly Legislative Coffee, Representative Manny Steele (R-SD) compared homosexuals to pedophiles. Steele said this to support his vote for NO on HB 1144-the South Dakota Bill that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. After learning more about Representative Steele, and his family…and his6 sons, we knew the math was on OUR side,he doth protest too much.

On Thursday, we spoke with Rep. Steele regarding his stance for No on HB 1144, we discussed his comment and wanted to give him a chance to apologize and recant this ignorant statement. During our time with the representative, he was given multiple opportunities to recant and apologize for these remarks. No apology was offered. Steele only continued to tow the line of hate and ignorance by saying that being Gay is “a choice.”

“There are people that are beastialogists. There are people who have sex with animals, so do we say that’s ok? Is that ok for society?”  -Rep. Steele

Let the hypocrisy begin. It wasn’t until cornered with his circular and arcane logic broken, that he gave up and admitted that he actually has a homosexual son. He reluctantly admitted, “my 3rd son…is Gay,” and later inquired if we would reach out to him and attempt to try and defend his record. This was his last possible refuge from sounding like a monster.  Fortunately for us, and our community, his own son, Randy Steele admits, “I wouldn’t vote for him.”

Who cares about Ben Franklin, he was a nobody

Good news from Pierre, again. I’m starting to like the 2o10 legislative session more and more everyday.

Maybe they shouldn’t have asked a lawyer that has had trouble in the past interpreting the 1st Amendment to write legislation for them . . . I’m just saying.

A House committee killed a bill that would have required those who operate Internet sites to keep records so they could identify people who anonymously contribute defamatory comments.

One of our greatest founding fathers, Franklin, often railed against England in anonymous letters to newspapers. Just imagine if Franklin feared anon dissent and did nothing? Where would our country be today. Do modern day lawmakers have any clue about history? Apparently not.

UPDATE: More Games

After such a nice victory in Taxation Committee this morning, a move led by Rep.Faehn in the House this afternoon has now sent HB1255 to Appropriations Committee on Monday morning for its next vote, rather than the full House. So here we go. Your contacts were  wonderful to the last committee. Let’s convince this one too! The people need this tax shift.

If you need any further inspiration, read this from Matt Gassen, Director of Community Food Banks of SD (which distributes food to over 500 agencies in SD)
“No other tax so directly takes food off the family table as the current 4% state tax on food items. To shift the tax off food as proposed in HB 1255 could be one of the single most significant pieces of legislation to impact the hungry of South Dakota in a long time. With the continuing increase in the numbers of individuals (78,000 statewide) seeking emergency food assistance a recent study shows that 32% choose between buying groceries and paying for utilities or heating fuel, 29% choose between food and rent/mortgages and 32% choose between food and gas for their cars. The passage of this bill would make the family budget go farther and increase the amount of food that their grocery dollars would buy. It could also help to ease the strain on emergency feeding programs who are struggling to find enough food to help all those in need.”

Next to house floor – needs 2/3 vote

HB1255 is a revenue-neutral tax shift. The state comes out even with the shift from the 4% state portion of food tax to  3/10% on non-food sales. It is revenue-neutral for the state, but middle- and lower-income people will be better able to afford their basic needs. Better than refund programs. The benefit comes right at the grocery store, to reduce hunger, and improve health and family financial stability.

What about the argument that taxing food provides the state a “stable source of revenue”? This is a line of reasoning from a time when the economy was better, and the worry was  that when times get tough, at least there would be revenue coming from grocery purchases. Well, times are tough. This is the down time. Making a revenue-neutral tax shift when the economy is down would take the worry out of taking tax off food. This is the time to make the shift. The issue will continue until the tax comes off food, so legislators would be wise to do it now. (Does this make sense? There should be a more concise way to explain it.)

While I support this measure;

State Senator Frank Klocek says he’s not backing down in what he calls the Kolache war. The Scotland Democrat failed to convince a legislative committee to pass a bill that would designate the kolache as the state’s official pastry. Some committee members say the bagel or the cannoli are good candidates too. Klocek says he’ll try to get the kolache bill considered on the senate floor, even though it was defeated 4 to 2 in committee.

The German in me also loves Kuchen. I’m torn.

I couldn’t have said it better myself;

Even without the fact that it’s not possible to gather the required information, the benign nature of the majority of local blogs renders this bill unnecessary. Blog-owners routinely remove offensive comments; too many don’t allow comments at all. Even those that have an “anything goes” mantra have little to worry, as Dakota Today owner Douglas Wiken points out. “The best weapon against anonymous, fallacious comments is criticism of those anonymous posts and providing truth as an antidote, (along with) a healthy skepticism with regard to the validity of information in posts by those unwilling to include their actual names.”

Advocates, We learned something since yesterday, namely that HB1198 (to allow more sales tax for new city projects) comes up on Thursday. So contacts are needed to the committee members who will vote on Thursday. Urge them to oppose this bill.

The news of the hearing comes from the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, a big supporter of HB1198. They want 1% more sales tax for an event center. (Other cities might want to raise sales tax for their new projects.) They put out legi contact info (copied below) to their members.

Please urge Rep’s to OPPOSE HB1198, because it would be problematic for the cost of living to go up, which would happen if cities raise sales tax. I personally think it would be morally wrong to charge the poor and middle class for large portions of the cost of a place of entertainment.

HB1198 says the tax hike would be temporary. But it does not prevent a city from thinking of one project after another.
It requires a local vote for the project and accompanying tax hike. But we know low- and middle-income people would not be able to mount the kind of advertising campaign that project enthusiasts could. And low-and middle-income people have a harder time getting information except from advertising and getting to the polls.
It says cities could have a refund program, if they choose. We know about refund programs! No matter how generous and simple, refund programs miss people, often lots of them. If the idea is that basic necessities should not be taxed, then let’s not tax them in the first place.
Cities do not often admit it, but there are other ways to raise funds. In the case of the event center, the city could be asking for a higher allowable bed-board-booze tax (BBB). If not such a hurry to pay off the building (3-4 years), they could build an event center mostly with 2% more on BBB, supplemented with some private fundraising (donations, naming rights, ticket fees, luxury suite fees, etc).

Here is nifty Legi Contact info (from the Sioux Falls Chamber):
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
On Thursday, Feb. 11, the House Local Government Committee will take up the Local Option Sales and Use Tax increase - HB 1198. Here is your chance to be part of the process. We have included a list of those who are on the committee. It is usually most effective to contact your local representative or senator; however, if you personally know others on the committee your contact to them can be very powerful.

Here is a listing of all those who are on this particular committee (just click on their names to send them an email):
Mark Kirkeby (Chair, represents Pennington County)
Val Rausch (Vice Chair, represents Brookings, Deuel, Grant and Moody counties)

**Sioux Falls area legislators**:
•  Jim Bolin lives in Canton and represents Lincoln and Union counties. His phone number is 987-2630.
•  Blake Curd lives in Sioux Falls and represents Lincoln and Minnehaha counties. His phone number is 321-0121 while in Pierre and 339-8918 in Sioux Falls.
•  Dan Lederman lives in Dakota Dunes and represents Lincoln and Union counties. His phone number is 712-251-1992.
•  Darrell Solberg lives in Sioux Falls and represents Lincoln and Minnehaha counties. His phone number is 361-2475.
•  Martha Vanderlinde lives in Sioux Falls and represents Minnehaha County. Her phone number is 201-7427.

Other legislators on the committee include (we’ve linked their names to their email addresses):
•  Justin Cronin lives in Gettysburg and represents seven area counties.
•  Dennis Feickert represents Brown and McPherson counties
•  Justin Frerichs represents Day, Marshall and Roberts counties
•  Betty Olson represents Butte, Corson, Harding, Meade and Perkins counties
•  Fred Romkema represents Lawrence County
•  Tim Rounds represents Hughes, Stanley and Sully counties

Image; Pat Powers, Dakota War College

I have stayed pretty quiet on this issue over the last couple of days (because the legislation would be impossible to enforce and quite frankly, it is unconstitutional), but I think it’s time I said something. I have often told politicians that I use sarcasm on my blog to ‘make observations’ in an attempt that someone can produce the facts, hopefully the party I am skewering. I will give any politician an opportunity to set the record straight, libel and slander isn’t a good thing, and if I wronged you, prove it. But that defense usually never happens. Why? Maybe because it is true? Maybe because they think they are above me? Maybe they don’t know how to work their email? Who knows, who cares. When someone tries to slander me, I defend myself. What I can’t understand is why politicians don’t do the same? The Gargoyle Leader tried to paint me as the ‘anti-pavilion’ a few years back because I opposed some policies of the Arts Center and I went after them tooth and nail. That is what I don’t understand? If you are a politician and you think someone is spreading lies about you on the internet, why not use your First Amendment rights to defend yourself, instead of writing pitiful legislation that only helps lawyers make money. I’m not even going to go into detail about the author of this legislation, all I am going to say is that I am very disappointed in him, but not surprised. He has done silly stuff like this in the past. But what can I say, lawyers truly are ‘birds of a feather.’

I often wonder if Benjamin Franklin (my American hero) would have gotten discouraged or worried about slandering the King? Would the Revolution ever have happened? Challenging and dissenting government takes balls. It can also be messy and mean. I thank God everyday that I live in a country that put the most important amendment first – free speech. Now STFU SD Legislators and go work on something more important, LIKE HOW YOU ARE GOING TO BALANCE THE BUDGET.

I’m still wondering where legislators think the money is going to come from to repair roads? Obamacare? Gotta love the excuses to;

Opponents said even a modest increase in the tax on gasoline and diesel fuel could cause people to buy fuel across the border in other states, particularly Wyoming, which has a much lower tax.

Yeah, I’m going to drive to Wyoming to fill up my car . . .

Sen. Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City, who is running for governor, said the bill should be defeated because South Dakotans do not want to be hit with a large tax increase. He said a better option would be to reduce government red tape to encourage more industrial development, which in turn would lead to increased state sales tax receipts.

Huh. Gordon, please stop talking and go teabag someone on your own time, stop wasting South Dakotan’s time with your ridiculous comments. While I think industrial development is a good idea, what does it have to do with roads and sales tax receipts? We shouldn’t be fixing roads from taxing food and utilities. When are you dillweeds gonna figure that out?

The Legislature has always resisted using general tax revenue for roads, and has instead used fuel taxes, vehicle excise taxes and registration fees to pay for highways. The South Dakota Constitution requires that gas tax revenue be used for roads and bridges.

Gee, what a concept!

I still laugh in amazement that this dill weed is running for governor;

By 2012, the state would gain an extra $54 million a year in revenue from the gas tax and excise tax on vehicle sales, while local governments would get an additional $30 million a year from the boost in registration fees.

The main opposition to the measure at Wednesday’s hearing came from Sen. Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City, a committee member who is running for governor.

“This $84 million will come straight out of the pockets of the taxpayers of this state,” Howie said.

Get outta here! You mean taxpayers pay taxes! Where did you hear such nonsense Gordo? At a tea party?

Sen. Mike Vehle, chairman of the committee, said the measure is needed to prevent South Dakota’s roads from deteriorating. He said the taxes and fees are really user fees imposed on those who use the roads.

“If you don’t want to use the roads, you don’t have to pay the fee,” Vehle said.

Exactly. While I think this is a horrible time to raise taxes I do think the gas tax, excise tax and registration fee increases are the best ways to pay for roads. Tax the people who are using the roads. Maybe Howie has a better idea? Maybe we should increase taxes on food, cut education spending in half and use that money on roads?