Some of my favorites from 2008
l3wis 
2008
Who says the hospitals are not into saving money?
In an effort to save money on architectural design expenses it seems Sanford Children’s (Above) reused the plans from the SD State Penitentiary (Below).
Bravo to Sanford for this money saving effort to keep medical expenses low!
Hey Larry, go smoke a joint
Prohibition didn’t work out so well either
From my email box;
Hello everyone,
Â
I hope you all had good holiday celebrations. And even better day-after sale-shopping.
Â
The immediately-following deals with medical cannabis only peripherally. It would not have happened without the current SDSA campaign to get the issue of medical cannabis into the legislative session beginning in January. It also shows that no matter what we do, our opponents will say that what we really want is to give heroin to babies, or some such.
Â
For a couple of years now, Kevin Woster, a writer for the Rapid City (SD) Journal, and one of the moderators for the Mt Blogmore political blog (a Journal property), has periodically, if rather timidly, questioned the efficacy of the War on (Some) Drugs, and has written columns for the Journal in which he has told of people he knows who have used cannabis to fight the effects of illnesses and their treatments.
Â
On Dec. 2, he made the following post to Mt. Blogmore…
Â
Please, somebody explain how were winning the war on drugs
Â
By Kevin Woster
Â
I come to this discussion as one who does not smoke pot.
Â
I dont want to smoke pot. I dont intend to smoke pot.
Â
Whether its legal or not.
Â
Ive smoked it, three or four times, way back when. Got no desire to smoke it again. (Yes, Newland, I might change my mind if I had a medical condition it made better.)
Â
Mostly, I think pot does more harm than good. But mostly, I also think alcohol does more harm than good. All told, I think wed be better off if more people smoked pot and fewer people drank alcohol. But I think wed be a lot better off if more people didnt do much of either.
Â
I have no desire to feel better, as Newland puts it. I like feeling the way I feel.
Â
But thats just me. I dont care if somebody else smokes it, as long as they dont do something while feeling its effects – such as driving a car, most likely well under the speed limit, and threatening my safety.
Â
But I think your average stoned motorist would probably be less of a threat than your average distracted – by cell-phone chatter and even, amazingly enough, texting – motorist.
Â
Or your average fixing-her-lipstick motorist. Or your average reading-his-newspaper motorist. Or your average yelling-at-the-kids-in-the-backseat motorist.
Â
Or the average charged-up-on-caffeine-and-nicotine motorist.
Â
And as one who has spent a good share of time – sober, or straight – with friends and acquaintances who were either drunk or stoned, Ill tell you Ill take stoned every time. No contest.
Â
Beyond all that, how does it benefit anyone in South Dakota to bust those goofy mules from the West Coast driving across South Dakota to deliver a load of pot someplace else? Most appear to be poor, and desperate for dollars.
Â
Why should we celebrate throwing them in prison for many years, especially when state taxpayers pay for their keep?
Â
Isnt it counterproductive to clog our courts and criminal system for pot offenses?
Â
Isnt it a waste of resources? Does it have any real effect on how many people smoke pot?
Â
Are we winning the war on drugs? If so, please tell me how?
Â
(See the comments on this blog post)
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/?p=2940#comments
Â
Read Woster’s response to AG Larry Long; woster-rcj
Competitive Bidding could save SD taxpayers millions, but how could King Rounds pay back his campaign contributors?
Woster writes an article on competitive bids;
South Dakota’s state government has hundreds of active contracts worth millions of dollars for professional services ranging from legal work to health care to advertising, and most are provided by private sector businesses and individuals who are awarded the jobs without going through a competitive bid process.
There are 1,800 of these contracts currently active and on file with the South Dakota auditor. But nobody — including Gov. Mike Rounds, his budget director Jason Dilges or contract manager Rob Swanson in the auditor’s office — knows exactly how many of the 1,800 were awarded without bids or competitive proposal.
Mike just can’t figure out where we could make cuts in the state budget?
“I think it’s very important that we learn the nature of all these contracts,†Senate Democratic leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls said. “The taxpayers have a right to know how their dollars are spent. If there’s a good reason to avoid requests for competitive proposals, then say so. Then the taxpayers will either agree with you, or they won’t.â€
I think it’s time Scott and other Democrats and Republicans who actually care how our tax money is being spent give Mike a good thumping and don’t let him spin them in a corner.
“Look, it’s your money,†said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago-based Better Government Association. “If they don’t know how it’s being spent, does that give you confidence? At a bare minimum, it’s reasonable to expect our public servants to know where the money went.â€
Mike knows exactly where it went – scratching backs.
“Gosh, this is just way too secretive,†Heidepriem said. “It’s clearly simpler for the governor’s office to operate that way, and it allows them to favor who they want with taxpayers’ dollars.â€
I truly believe that Scott wants to fix the system – but we had known for years how Rounds operates his office, in a cloak of secrecy. I think it has gotten so bad that the only solution is impeachment. You can slap his hands with a ruler all you want, but once a spoiled brat – always a spoiled brat.
Woster also touches on the ‘amazing job’ Louser and Shister does for the SD tourism department;
The 32-year-old agency currently holds exclusive contracts with the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development worth more than $7 million. And since Gov. Mike Rounds took office in January of 2003, Lawrence & Schiller has been awarded more than $23 million in state contracts, most with tourism, and virtually all without competitive bids or alternative proposals from other firms.
During that time, Rounds received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Lawrence & Schiller officials, something that critics say poses ethical issues that need to be addressed in state law.
“I would hope pay-to-play is not taking place here,†said state government reform activist Lee Breard of Pierre. “But I will let the taxpayers of South Dakota draw their own conclusions.â€
Nah . . . Mike would never ‘repay’ his campaign contributors, that is above him to use state resources for his own benefit (choke, cough, spit). All aboard Rounds Airlines!