South Dakota politico's might be interested to know that our very own Tom Daschle was featured as being one of several who unknowingly but very specifically fulfilled an ancient prophecy related to the attacks on September 11 and the economic crash seven years later. Very interesting stuff and if you are now gathering titles for your summer reading list I recommend it to you and welcome your comments.

"Representative Steve Hickey is a thoughtful, grounded legislator who works hard for the people of his district and the people of South Dakota. After only one term in Pierre, Steve has earned my respect and that of his colleagues by listening, considering, and making strong decisions for South Dakota."

Governor Dennis Daugaard

Other endorsements here, here, and Sen. John Thune's statement of endorsement is visible in the upper right corner of this webpage.

Of recent, South Dakota Ron Paul supporters are expressing excitement about "Blue Republicans"—"former non-Republicans who are joining the Republican party for one year to help Ron Paul win."

Fascinating. Yet, if a Democrat in South Dakota changes party affiliation to join the GOP there is great great great distain. Not sure if I should expect consistency but in any case, I thought this was an interesting article on Why I'm Not A Libertarian.

If you think of a good punch line to the joke I started in this post title, drop it in the comment section.

Nationwide more clergy are running for public office. Here in South Dakota, of course I am running for re-election, and this year we also have Lutheran pastor Rev. Karen Soli (D-District 15 House) and now Rev. Scott Craig (R- District 33 House) running for state house seats.  Also, pastor/rancher Bill VanGerpen (R - District 19 Senate) is seeking a comeback. We are losing Rep. Nick Moser to law school - he's presently a youth pastor. When I heard Rep. Moser was not seeking re-election I was worried I'd be the only guy left to call on when the Pastor of the Day is a no-show and the Speaker needs someone for the opening prayer.

With very few exceptions, no one serving in South Dakota politics has a political or government background. We have a citizen legislature, mostly made up of lawyers and farmers. That is changing with a few ministers in the mix now and,,,, what's up with this surge of chiropractors? Maybe they'll get us straightened out!  Quoting Dr. Fred Deutsch's comment over at Mercer's blog… "Did you notice the number of chiropractors running? Munsterman, Monroe, Stotz, Chicoine, and yours truely. Not sure it means anything other than the state might see adjustments coming."

So far only two medical doctors are running, Dr. Scott Ecklund (R-District 25) has been a Sanford doctor for 25 years and still is, and Dr. Frank Alvine (R- District 13) who I'm told is retired.

I'm not sure you can read anything into any of this as there are very few occupations that can become flexible enough to allow a person to campaign for six months, attend candidate forums on the weekends and interest group legislative briefings each evening in November and early December and take off for January, February and part of March. All for $6000. Not to complain because I didn't need nor did I run to seek another job or additional income, but I did notice the open seat here on our city council pays $17,000. Maybe it was the thought of sleeping in my own bed that made me do a double take on it. Not to worry, I'm not going away.

Oh, and I hear we may have more educators seeking open seats. Time will tell.

I'll quote him directly:

At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance.  Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference.

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. (Applause.) And in return, grant schools flexibility:  to teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.  That’s a bargain worth making.  (Applause.)

Obama said, instead of "defending the status quo, let's offer schools a deal"…  1. Incentives to attract and keep good teachers. (Applause.) 2. Reward the best teachers. (Applause.) 3. Grant schools flexibility. (Applause.)  4. Boot the bad teachers. (Applause.)

It's almost spooky how closely those comments parallel HB1234. Furthermore, he acknowledges tight budgets have forced states to cut teacher funding. Yet the narrative here in SD is that the funding was cut because Republicans hate teachers.