[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzPBUGUM7KQ[/youtube]
WASHINGTON — When asked Sunday whether he would accept an invitation to run as vice president on the ticket with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that “you never rule out opportunities or options” in political life.
In this Sept. 15, 2006, photo, Thomas Kinkade unveils his painting, “Prayer For Peace,” at the opening of the exhibit “From Abraham to Jesus,” in Atlanta. (Gene Blythe – AP)
Oh, those hypocritical Christians get me everytime;
Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light†whose collectible works were beloved by fans and bemoaned by critics, died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. A combination of Valium and alcohol was the cause of the painter’s April 6 death, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.
However, the commercialization and kitsch of his work didn’t win him many fans among the art-world elite, or with critics. As the Style Blog wrote after his death, Kinkade’s legacy was deeply polarizing: For every art critic who called his art saccharine, sentimental or heavy-handed with its Christian imagery, there were a dozen fans who found beauty in his brushstrokes.
Like Redlin, I have often felt that Kinkade was a talented ‘Illustrator’ but not an ‘Artist’ though it seems he liked to drink like one.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7j2_pmlOPU[/youtube]
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;
Noem, 40, dropped out of college when she was 22 to run the family farm after her father died. She took courses here and there but life — marriage, kids, business, politics — kept her from finishing until now.
How? “I did a lot of homework on flights,†she told us Wednesday. The freshman Republican juggled a full course load and her new congressional duties last spring, then finished up her classes this fall. Her staff only scheduled her at must-attend events at night and often heard her protest, “I have to work on this paper! It’s due tomorrow!†Noem was studying the Eastern European financial crisis while debating the U.S. debt ceiling. “I think it really benefited me as a person intellectually.â€
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?
Representative Noem graduated from Hamlin High School in 1990 and has lived in the area her entire life. Kristi began her college education at Northern State, later transferring to SDSU and taking classes at Mount Marty in Watertown as well. The unexpected death of her father required Kristi to return to the family ranch full time. In recent years, Kristi has continued to pursue her degree in Political Science by taking classes at SDSU.
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.
Besides wondering where the money is going to come from to build an indoor pool (some estimates are at $22 Million) I will bring up again, my main reason I am opposed to a public indoor pool; we don’t need it. There are several private indoor pool facilities you can swim at for a membership fee, just like a public indoor pool would charge. Why compete with private industry? The only way I would be for a public indoor pool was if the city contracted the service (like they do with the city’s golf courses). If the ‘need’ is there, the city will make money from the pool.
We have an important election coming up in November. There are two major ballot initiatives, one has to do with raising taxes the other has to do with education. I have concerns about how our elections have been handled over the past couple of years. I have a lot of questions, and not a lot of answers.
Let’s start from the beginning;
• A Sioux Falls mayoral election in which Staggers was victorious in the general and mysteriously 6,000 new voters showed up to the polls a few weeks later in the runoff helping Huether to clinch victory.
• Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz proudly displaying Build It Now signs in his yard until chided by me, an Argus reporter and another concerned citizen to remove the signs, in which he conceded.
• Sioux Falls City Clerk Debra Owen terminated just weeks before the crucial Events Center special election.
• Record turnout for a special election approving the new Events Center.
• Rumors of registered voters living outside of the city limits voting in the Events Center election using old Sioux Falls addresses (I heard of at least two instances where a voter lived in Canton, and one lived in Minnesota – blatant voter fraud).
• Jason Gant getting elected Secretary of State campaigning on a faux issue about the Feds taking over our elections. (This has been proven to be unsubstantiated).
• Secretary of State Gant trying to change rules without the consent of his special committee.
• A move towards e-polling and super precincts in Sioux Falls (I am all for e-polling, but I do not agree with super precincts. We live in a democracy, voting should be as easy as possible and ‘saving money’ should never be used as an excuse to use super precincts).
• Recent municipal election ballots running out. A seemingly dismissive city clerk and a silent School District employee with no real explanation. There wasn’t even an informal investigation by the SOS’s office that I heard of anyway.
• SOS’s operations manager possibly moonlighting as a campaign consultant, and once revealed makes an internet link joke about it.
As you can see, a lot of questions, not a lot of answers. I am only a volunteer blogger, I can’t find the answers to these questions on my own, our MSM needs to start digging.
BANNING TEXTING
I also am suspicious of the recent coalition that is proposing an ordinance change concerning banning texting in Sioux Falls, side stepping the state legislature. Does anyone find it a coincidence that the Mayor is good friends with one of the coalition’s members (Rob Oliver). I speculate this is a move to test the waters of our Home Rule charter by the mayor himself. Why isn’t this powerful group of individuals organizing a petition drive to get it on the November ballot for a statewide ban. And when the group’s leader, Rich Lauer was asked about the state’s involvement during the public services meeting, he was clueless as to why the state has failed to pass a ban (in other words they didn’t even attempt to explore that option).
Chief Barthel had concerns about the ordinance, he also had SFPD Captain Steve Haney, chair of a safe driving task force in Sioux Falls speak about his concerns. Something that stuck out in his testimony was that ‘Distracted Driving’ isn’t recognized by the state when filling out an accident report (I think that is what he was referring to) and says that state law has to change to fix that (as I mentioned above, there needs to be a petition drive to put this on the state ballot).
So why do I think the mayor is testing the waters? This is a perfect issue that could easily pass the council. Everyone agrees texting while driving is idiotic. What the mayor and council need to do though is learn from history. The city has lost 3 cases already in reference to the Home Rule charter and it’s power. It’s not a constitutional document. Daily vs. The City of Sioux Falls, the red light camera case and the city trying to regulate video lottery are prime examples of why the Home Rule charter cannot trump state law. The Public Services committee needs to table this proposal and send a clear message to the mayor’s office that it is not within the city’s power to regulate traffic laws, as Haney pointed out, that should be the state’s objective.
l3wis