South Dakota Survives on Federal Handouts -- Blame the Indians?

...or blame farmers, old folks, and the guy in the passing lane?

Linda McIntyre asked an interesting question a couple weeks ago. In our discussion of fiscal policy, I reminded Linda that South Dakota is a welfare state, and that even if we make the drastic cuts to the federal budget that seem to be her prescription for fixing what ails America, we South Dakotans have an obligation to pay back the government for all the services and subsidies and deficit spending from which we have benefited for the last several decades.

Replied Linda,

How much of that extra money from the feds goes to the reservations? I'd like to see a breakdown in that regard.

That got me thinking and Googling. Linda's question suggests (and the comment section is open for those who will upbraid me for trying to read Linda's mind) that Linda will contend that the amount our Lakota neighbors get shouldn't count against us, since those darned Indians aren't real South Dakotans. They're not representative of us honest white folks who work hard and pay our way and then some for every road and cop and hydroelectric dam.

I'm still looking for a breakdown of federal outlays by race. This Census report doesn't provide those specifics, but it does show how much South Dakota state and local government got in grants and other payments from various federal programs in FY2008. Our total take on this count was $1.47 billion. This does not include regular federal spending like the budget for Ellsworth AFB or administration of the VA hospitals. The big ticket items:

1. Department of Agriculture: $99.8 million. ($70 million of that was food assistance, most of it child nutrition, WIC, and Food Stamps)
2. Department of Commerce: $3.17 million
3. Public Broadcasting: $2.26 million
4. Department of Defense: $322 thousand, mostly for National Guard construction
5. Department of Education: $76 million. Outlays specifically for American Indian education: $2.22 million (about 3% of the federal education outlays to South Dakota)
6. Department of Energy: $2.34 million
7. EPA: $26.4 million
8. Health and Human Services: $700 million. Of that, Medicare and Medicaid make up $458 million (65%). Indian Health Service: $62.2 million (9%).
9. Homeland Security $61.7 million.
   
10. Housing and Urban Development: $107 million. Homeless programs get $1.26 million (1%). The Native American block grant is $23 million (21%).
11. Interior: $63.3 million. Under that, Bureau of Indian Affairs: $19.5 million (31%).
    
12. Justice: $9.24 million
    
13. Labor: $23.2 million
    
14. Transportation: $291 million
15. Veterans Affairs: $2.77 million

FedSpending.org offers some useful data on federal assistance to South Dakota. According to their database, in FY2007 we got $7.4 billion in federal assistance. The program that received the biggest slice of that pie: Crop Insurance, $2.7 billion, over 36% of the dole. The top 25 programs in FY2007:

10.450: Crop Insurance	$2,708,800,440
96.002: Social Security_Retirement Insurance	$1,036,412,087
93.778: Medical Assistance Program	$425,246,043
83.100: FLOOD INSURANCE	$359,618,200
96.004: Social Security_Survivors Insurance	$329,101,036
20.205: Highway Planning and Construction	$312,341,264
96.001: Social Security_Disability Insurance	$215,245,566
10.055: Direct and Counter-cyclical Payments Program	$192,750,497
64.109: Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected Disability	$106,670,281
14.117: Mortgage Insurance_Homes	$106,465,076
10.410: Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans	$100,948,575
10.850: Rural Electrification Loans and Loan Guarantees	$72,658,000
10.551: Food Stamps	$70,615,574
10.069: Conservation Reserve Program	$69,798,978
10.406: Farm Operating Loans	$68,717,041
96.006: Supplemental Security Income	$62,087,296
10.407: Farm Ownership Loans	$49,527,401
84.041: Impact Aid	$48,910,648
84.010: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies	$37,273,903
84.063: Federal Pell Grant Program	$31,515,428
93.600: Head Start	$30,387,746
14.867: Indian Housing Block Grants	$30,017,844
15.048: Bureau of Indian Affairs Facilities_Operations and Maintenance	$29,824,094
84.027: Special Education_Grants to States	$29,744,116
10.073: Crop Disaster Program	$29,398,976

Source: FedSpending.org

Boy, by that list, it looks like that money targets farmers, old folks, and motorists a lot more than it targets our Lakota neighbors.

Nationally, direct payments comprised 45% of federal assistance, while insurance comprised 33%. In South Dakota, we flip those ratios, with insurance comprising 42% of assistance, and direct payments 31%. So it looks to me like all that crop insurance to our farmers is a major curve-breaker behind our high play-to-pay ratio.

FedSpending.org also breaks down federal assistance by recipient organization. Over 80% of the money, $6 billion, goes to individuals, who aren't tracked in this data. Of the identifiable recipient organizations, the top recipient in FY 2007 was the South Dakota Department of Transportation, getting $319 million... and no, Linda, I don't think they spent all that paving the road to Kyle.

The top 25 recipient organizations, again, from FY 2007:

SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION	$318,869,614
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES	$128,368,680
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION	$108,427,215
EAST RIVER ELEC POW COOP INC	$64,931,000
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS	$37,535,413
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY	$36,006,922
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF HEALTH	$30,140,703
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA	$26,727,449
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE	$21,389,717
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES	$20,944,459
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF LABOR	$14,375,404
MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS,	$13,407,055
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA	$11,931,536
OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE	$10,851,530
TODD COUNTY SCHOOL DST 66-1	$10,493,540
OGLALA SIOUX HSG AUTH	$10,184,436
LONEMAN SCHOOL CORP	$9,436,403
PLATTE COMMUNITY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, IN	$9,000,000
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES	$8,552,603
DOUGLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT 51-1	$7,614,266
91409335-ROSEBUD HSG AUTHORITY	$7,122,748
COUNTY OF LAWRENCE	$7,068,054
SD DEPARTMENT OF LABOR	$6,925,899
PENNINGTON COUNTY	$6,901,098
SIOUX FALLS	$6,605,811

Source: FedSpending.org

When I go through the top 600 recipients in that list (entities receiving over $100,000 from Uncle Sam in FY 2007) and check off the ones that sound remotely Indian-related, I get a total just under $200 million (and that's not counting a handful of agencies at the bottom of the chart who paid money back to Washington). I'm sure I missed some, so double my estimate: $400 million for Native American organizations. That upward estimate would still be less than a fifth of the money we get over and above what we pay Uncle Sam, and just 5% of our total federal assistance.

Bottom line, Linda (and all of the rest of you loyal readers): you can't blame the Indians for South Dakota's status as a welfare state. The folks responsible for our tax–spend imbalance: farmers, old folks, and drivers on our wide open roads—i.e., you and me.

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Live-Blogging Governor Rounds FY2010 Budget Address

Live notes (in case you don't have SDPB handy) on the governor's budget address! Hit Refresh for updates!

Governor Mike Rounds calls it a "basic-needs budget" with an "emphasis on taking care of people."

FY2009 required stimulus to balance, allowing us to avoid touching one penny of our reserves so far. $105 million in stimulus used.

FY2010, right now, expenses total $1.2335 billion, 0.1% growth over FY 2009 expense levels. $1.1163B + $104M stimulus... still a shortfall of $15.8 million for the rest of FY2010: Rounds proposes using one-time cash instead of reserves, allowing us to finish FY2010 without touching reserves.

Revenues have declined by 3.2%, or $37.1 million, compared to 2009, while expenses have remained level.

FY2011: Rounds proposes expenses $1.2529B, a 1.6% increase over FY2010. Balanced with $70.5 million in stimulus, $31.8 million shortfall. Revenues expected to increase $3.1 million over FY 2010.

Looking ahead to FY2012, for the folks who get elected, the Rounds proposal leaves the state facing a FY2012 shortfall of $107 million. That assumes zero federal stimulus and zero increases in expenditures, zero inflationary increases. Rounds says "that has to drive what we do this year."

Rounds is assuming economic recovery taking hold and bringing increases in sales and use tax, excise tax, insurance tax, and trust fund returns. He does see lower video lottery returns meaning less money for the property tax reduction fund.

The big expense increase for FY2011 is in medical assistance. Rounds is actually proposing modest cuts in state government.

In FY2010, the state has reduced budgeted expenditures by $1.9 million to offset a little of this year's shortfall, but the $17.6M reduction in revenues means we need one-time cash transfers from the Large Project Refund Account, the Tax Relief fund, the Aeronautics fund, the budgetary accounting fund, and a Custer State Park obligation to pay back some interest (that is about $60K more). The Property Tax Reduction Funds and Budget Reserve Balance funds—the "rainy day" funds—remain untouched. Rounds emphasizes that we are riding out the recession and leaving our reserves intact.

FY2010: the top five revenue sources have all dropped more than forecast back in March, including $11.7 million less from sales taxes. We have seen $5.8 million more than forecast from interest earnings, plus $2.1 million more from the Department of Corrections for a cancelled check on a land purchase in Rapid City that we didn't make.

Rounds projects general fund revenues will increase in FY2011, including $20.7 million more in sales tax. The trust fund transfers are projected to add another $17.7 million. Interest earnings and video lottery receipts are still projected to go down. Rounds proposes that we can recoup another $3.5 million by changing the Large Project Refund program. He also proposes repealing a refund on cigarette stamps. Both actions require legislative approval.

Unemployment has essentially doubled since the national recession began in December 2007, from 11,000 to 22,000. 5% unemployment is the highest SD rate since 1985. Over the same time period, the number of folks eligible for Medicaid, folks who have applied and been accepted, has grown from 102K to 110K (including 500-some folks added just last month). This growth over the last ten months outpaces the growth of the previous four years. 68% of the folks on Medicaid are kids, 11% are disabled adults, folks who "have no place else to go for their health care needs."

Rounds notes these two figures put us in a double bind: fewer people working, less money available to spend, less revenue to support state programs just when we see increased state expenses. This is not an easy problem to solve.

[13:28 CST] Rounds emphasizes that the deficit is not caused "by our spending being out of control." He emphasizes that expenditures from FY2009 to FY2011 are going up less than 1% a year. It's the recession, the decreases in revenues, and the increases in folks needing assistance that are responsible for the structural deficit. Since 2008, revenue has gone up just $2.2M, while expenses for taking care of people have gone up $64M. Add education, and costs have increased $103.1 million. (I didn't catch whether he made eye contact with Dave Knudson or Scott Heidepriem on those lines.)

[13:31] Rounds now turns to spending increases throughout his administration: "taking care of people" has increased by 193M; education by $131 for education; $43M for "protecting people"; the other increases (bureaucracy, gov's office, etc.) up just $10 million over the eight-year period.

Rounds notes that $56.3 million of the increases in the FY2011 budget are mandatory: more people receiving government medical services alone is $24.5 million of the increases. There's another $20.2 million of expiring stimulus funding for the last couple quarters of the fiscal year that we need to pick up. Increases in South Dakota income that have outpaced national rates mean South Dakota has to pay another $7.5 million for its "FMAP state share," funding that supports Medicare (if I heard that right). We also must appropriate $2 million more to support Opportunity Scholarship funds for 3294 eligible students (and Rounds says paying that money is a good thing).

Governor Rounds is asking for a $1 million budget increase to establish South Dakota's first Ph.D in physics, a shared program among SDSU, USD, and Mines. With the Homestake lab getting going, Rounds says we can't be sending our physics grad students elsewhere when we have a great opportunity like this coming our way. Rounds sees this Ph.D. program as "a long term investment in our future" that will have a lasting effect on our economy.

Among big cuts, Rounds proposed freezing State Aid levies to save $4.1 million, instead of offering property tax payers another cut in their rates. Overall, we're cutting under $5 million.

No increase for state aid to education, no raises for state employees (second year in a row—time for me to go into building wind turbines!), no increases for health care providers receiving state payments.

[13:45] Summary of major spending changes:

• Education: down $3.4 million
• "TCoP": up $58.4 million
• Protecting people: up $542K (and Rounds praises the chief justice for volunteering to go back and cut his budget request further)
  
• Rest of gov't: down $573K

More details on education funding:

• tech schools are getting $2.7M more, due to increased enrollment
• consolidation and sparsity are causing a $2.6 increase
• health insurance goes up 6.3%, $729K
• state aid to K-12 goes down $3.8 M
• state aid to special ed goes down $4.1M (now compare this to the $1 million increase to create the physics Ph.D. I like the Ph.D. Rounds is right that it's an investment... but can we justifiably reduce our investment in earlier ed at the same time? Rounds will emphasize that "reduce" is relative: the negative sign on the budget line comes from not increasing the state aid)

We are saving $520K thanks to declining natural gas rates and thus lower utility bills for heating our state facilities. Utility reductions across the board are reeducing FY2010 expenditures by $1.6M.

[13:55] Rounds notes that the bureaucracy consumes only 4 cents of every tax dollar, down from 5 cents on the dollar last year. Rounds is recommending a reduction of 102 full-time equivalents, the second consecutive year of recommended FTE reductions. Rounds notes that most of the cuts over the past year have been done through attrition. So the boss isn't coming with the ax, but he's also not taking apps for new workers.

[13:58] Birth to 3 is safe for now: Rounds says we're keeping it alive with stimulus funds. There's something else he's leaving for his successor to figure out in 2012.

[14:01] Gov. Rounds turns to the Sanford Lab. He mentions the $35 million the Legislature allocated for the Sanford Lab back in 2004 and 2005. The National Science Foundation has pumped $21M into the Sanford lab over the last three years; another $250M is anticipated. More workers and more experiments are coming. Rounds says we are going to be out of money for the lab next December; NSF funding won't kick in until May 2011; Rounds is asking the Legislature to set aside $5 million in one-time funds to bridge that gap and sustain the work of pumping out the water and keeping the lab open. He notes that the Legislature had the foresight to invest in the most lucrative "hole in the ground" in the state a few years ago and urges them to keep the project going with this one-time investment.

[14:07] The big numbers:

• General Fund: $1.182B
• Federal Funds: $1.9B
• [whoops! missed a line!]
  
• Total Budget: $4B

(Hey! There's Russ Olson, sitting in the back!)

Rounds says that 49% of the budget goes to education, 36% for TCoP, 11% for protecting the public, and 4% for all the rest, including the bureaucracy. If you want more cuts, those are the parameters within which you must operate.

Rounds wraps up: no increased tax rates, he says. Then Rounds starts handing out the candy, ending with appeal to patriotism, noting the men and women of the armed services who are fighting for our freedom, calling on vets to stand and take some applause, then Dilges and his budget office (hm... that applause didn't sound nearly as rousing)... and then off we go to keep making South Dakota even better.

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Stop Global Warming: Quit Pitching Virgins into Volcanoes

Remember the ruckus in October when SuperFreakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt argued that launching a whole lot of sulfur into the stratosphere might be the quickest way to fight global warming?

A South Dakota State University scientist finds more evidence that they may be right. An eager reader points out a Science Daily article featuring SDSU chemistry professor Jihong Cole-Dai's work (with SDSU post-doc David Ferris, SDSU grad student Alison Lanciki, and some other smart folks) determining the cause of the big global cold snap back in the 1810's. Their findings: an undocumented volcanic eruption in 1809 set the stage for the coldest decade of the last half-millennium. Dr. Cole-Dai and his colleagues found high amounts of volcanic sulfuric acid in ice samples in 1809 and 1810 snow layers in Antarctica and Greenland. Their argument is that those volcanic emissions reflected sunligh and chilled the earth through mid-decade, just in time for the big Tambora eruption of 1815, which produced the "year without summer" and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

So, we could counteract global warming by pumping a hundred million more tons of sulfur into the atmosphere every year. But remember, sulfur makes acid rain. In the 1970s, when we got worried about acid rain, U.S. annual emissions of sulfur dioxide were 25–30 million tons a year. In 2005, we emitted 15 million tons of SO₂. Current global sulfur emissions are 55–68 million tons a year. And it's not just a matter of firing up more smokestacks and smoking up the neighborhood: the science says that sulfur emissions will only affect the global climate if you give them a volcano-sized blast into the stratosphere. So we might need to anger the volcano gods—whoever's throwing virgins into the volcanoes, knock it off!

Or we could just use less oil and coal. Hmm... could be a tough vote for the damsels in distress....

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Crow Creek Fights IRS Infringement of Sovereignty

Where is the hue and cry from Allen Unruh, Chris Nelson, and the other South Dakota Tea Partiers?

The Crow Creek Reservation just shrank by about 11 square miles, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The IRS auctioned off a portion of the reservation last week to recover $3.1 million in back taxes owed by the tribe. I should have brought my bidding ticket: at auction last Thursday, the land went for not quite $2.6 million, about $370 per acre. That's well below the $4.6 million appraisal cited by the tribe's appraiser, and well below SDSU's 2009 estimate that central South Dakota rangeland is worth $898 an acre. (Dang—the IRS should have hired Wieman Auction to market the sale.)

Judge Roberto Lange declined to block the auction, but he is letting the tribe proceed with a lawsuit to challenge the sale. Lange will hear that trial March 29. The tribe is mustering numerous arguments:

• only an act of Congress can take tribal land
• the Bureau of Indian Affairs gave them bad tax advice (who hasn't been there?)
  
• the land is culturally significant (tribal members are buried there)
• the land is a vital tribal resource for developing wind power
• the IRS failed to study the environmental impact of the sale

That last point may not warm the cockles of the Glenn Beck club's hearts, but on the general point of the IRS taking people's land away, shouldn't the anti-government crowd be joining the Crow Creek Sioux in this fight to restore their sovereignty? I would think this would be a perfect opportunity for the folks in tricornered Whigs to build a functioning political coalition. Challenge the IRS, fight for South Dakotans' sovereignty, and win the allegiance of a key political demographic.

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Enemy Swim Pre-Schoolers Process Deer

If the folks at PETA didn't like the name of Spearfish High School, the curriculum at Enemy Swim Day School should send them up a wall. The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate weekly Sota Iya Ye Yapi reports that the Enemy Swim pre-schoolers recently learned how to process a deer. The pix show the little ones getting up close and personal with Bambi, holding her legs while the older fellas slice her open, and even getting to sample some of the fresh venison.

Show of hands, parents: how many of your kids learned anything that useful—or tasty—in school today?

And I wonder: would processing deer count as part of the "Project-Based Learning" the Sioux Falls School District is spending millions of dollars to implement?

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Tree-Sidewalk Update: Trees Pretty Close... Just Like City and Contractors?

On my way to class, I swung by 721 N. Catherine, site of six mighty firs threatened by the city's proposed round of sidewalk installation for the coming year. I was curious: just how close are the trees to the proposed walkway?

Darn close.

View east, toward intersection of 7th St. and Catherine Ave., Madison, SD (Click photo to enlarge)

I can see the Gwynnes' problem: we'd need to strip a lot of branches just to make room for a paving stone walkway, like what Ms. Schave recommends, right next to the curb.

Big fir trees on north side of 721 N. Catherine, Madison, SD (Click photo to enlarge)

The trees do form a good windbreak, protecting the house from the stiff north winds on the western edge of Madison. Given the electric rate increases in town, I'd want to keep any energy-saving advantage I had.

In other news from the street, I checked out Mr. Gilbert's complaint that a sidewalk on his West Avenue property (which is east of Catherine Ave.) "will lead to a dead end as 7th Street does not continue through." It's not quite a "dead end": to the east, 7th Steeet makes a T with Chicago Ave., which heads straight north to the elementary school.

But here's where I sympathize completely with Mr. Gilbert: He notes that the city ordinance requires "All work to be constructed by licensed contractors in accordance with standard City of Madison specifications..." (clause 8 in each of the City's sidewalk ordinances).

Last year, my brother and his hired man installed a sidewalk all by themselves. Is there any reason the city should prohibit a couple enterprising fellas with a skid steer and some forms from doing their own work? I can understand the requirement to build sidewalks for public safety, but the requirement to hire an expensive contractor when a homeowner is perfectly capable of doing the work himself sounds like more favoritism for the city's chosen business buddies.

Also on tonight's City Commission agenda, on the very last page of the packet: Craig Williams' application for a Sidewalk Builder's license. Fee $20; required bond, $500. Brad, consider submitting your application!

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Video Postcard: Lake Herman in Winter

A video postcard from Lake Herman, on perhaps the most perfect winter day conceivable.

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Save the Trees! Madison Sidewalk Rule Threatens Catherine Ave. Firs

Tucked away in tonight's Madison City Commission agenda packet (page 42 of the PDF), after all the alcohol license requests, a letter from Arthur and June Gwynne of 721 North Catherine Avenue, seeking relief from deforestation:

We recently received notification of Resolution of Necessity #2730. Our main concern is the welfare and preservation of 6 magnificent, 30 ft. plus, fir trees that would perish in accordance with requirements of SDCL 9-46-3.

We have spent over $200.00 per year to have these trees treated to resist damaging diseases and pestilence. Therefore, we are proposing a concession that would satisfy the "Resolution of necessity", and save 4 of the 6 trees in question.

We would appreciate an opportunity to have a City Representative visit us in order for us to present our "Tree Saving Plan." [Arthur and June Gwynne, letter to Madison Sidewalk Committee, 2009.12.02]

The Gwynnes sound pretty level-headed in this letter. They're even willing to compromise, offering a plan that would still sacrifice two trees. But heck, I'd rather keep all six. Catherine Ave. is a nice quiet street. If it keeps that shade and windbreak there, let's run that sidewalk right along the curb, or just skip it all together.

The Gwynnes aren't the only unhappy residents facing sidewalk expense. See complaining missives from Mr. Brad Gilbert of 722 N. West Ave., on page 46 of the agenda packet, as well as K. Hein, Marlene Oldre (who would lose a crab tree and a safety rail), Ed Swanson (who thinks the city should put a sidewalk along the highway east from the Dairy Queen first), Roger Southmayd, Tom Halverson (who expresses the grouchiness of a lot of Madisonites when he says, "I assume this 'discussion & review' process is a mere formality and the decision has already been made"), and Omar El-Gayar.

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H1N1 Vaccine Safer than South Dakota Highways

The state of South Dakota has distributed over 165,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine. By next week, we will have had at least one public vaccine clinic in every county of the state. According to the Center for Disease Control's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (it's online! it's searchable! there goes my morning!), as of November 24, it appears 22 South Dakotans have reported non-serious reactions to the H1N1 vaccine. There have been no serious reactions (i.e., death, life-threatening illness, or significant disability). Looking at all vaccines given this year in South Dakota, 92 individuals have experienced non-serious reactions and 3 have experienced serious reactions.

Nationwide, the CDC finds 13 people have died within 19 days after getting swine flu shots. According to the New York Times, nine of those folks had "serious underlying illnesses, and one woman... died in a car crash after leaving the clinic."

Meanwhile, 408 South Dakotans have gone to the hospital with H1N1, and 21 South Dakotans have died of H1N1. And over 4600 people have experienced injury or death on South Dakota's highways so far this year.

The CDC's latest report says that, based on the first couple months of H1N1 vaccine data, the adverse event reporting rate for H1N1 is 82 per million vaccinations, compared 47 per million seasonal flu vaccinations. It would appear your chances of feeling yucky after a swine flu shot are 1 in 12,000, while your chances of feeling yucky after a seasonal flu shot are 1 in 21,000. The report editor notes that those number may not indicate that H1N1 vaccine causes more reactions; the VAERS data is based on voluntary reporting, and the extra attention given to H1N1 may contribute to higher rates of reporting adverse reactions.

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FTC Blog Regs Don't Block Astroturf, Like 2004 Thune Blog

So let's see, if I understand the new FTC rules on blog advertising and self-disclosure, campaigns like the 2004 John Thune online astroturf campaign against Tom Daschle are still legal. The FTC rules only cover products, services, companies, and industries. Paid campaign advisors Jon Lauck can still do the work of their patrons under the guise of "analyzing" the campaign without revealing their financial relationship.

Looks like it's up to us to keep our B.S. detectors tuned and ready.

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South Dakota's Dunn, Operation Free Vets Invade Copenhagen

Want climate change legislation done right? Send in the United States military... or at least the veterans representing Operation Free! USD's Volante reports that South Dakota Army National Guard veteran Leighann Dunn is traveling to the big climate conference in Copenhagen to make the case for stronger action on climate change and energy policy. A press release from Repower South Dakota noets that Dunn will be one of a dozen Operation Free veterans in Copenhagen raising awareness of the national security implications of climate change.

Folks interested in finding out more can put on their press hats and attend a press conference in Sioux Falls Monday, 11 a.m., at 335 N. main, Suite 200 (above Evan Photography).

The press release also includes this useful bio of Leighann Dunn:

Leighann Dunn is a 9-year veteran of the S.D. Army National Guard. She served in Iraq in 2003-2004 as a Bridge Engineer and served in Suriname South America as an electrician in 2008. Dunn has a B.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of South Dakota (USD) and is currently working on her Master's degree in Multicatagorical Special Education with an emphasis in Behavior Disorders and Autism. Dunn is the current President of the Veterans Club at USD, South Dakota team Captain of VoteVets and a disabled Veteran. She was recently named one of ten Outstanding Young South Dakotans in 2009. She also was one of three national recipients of a outstanding female veteran scholarship in 2009.

Communication Disorders... hmmm... maybe she can figure out what's wrong with Sibby and Bob Ellis, who seem to suffer a strange form of Tourette's Syndrome: in the middle of every other sentence, they suddenly blurt out paragraphs from WorldNetDaily.

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"Let's Fix a Deer": Neighbor Recommends Christmas Light Tool

Fellow Lake County blogger and DSU guy John Nelson recommends the LightKeeper Pro Christmas light repair tool. It sounds like typical infomercial junk-drawer filler, but John says it works! The coolest selling point for me: the storage compartments in the handle for spare bulbs and fuses. That, and the found-phrase near-haiku provided by the seven-minute sales video:

Let's fix a deer
—technology can be really neat—
and get on with Christmas.

Screen capture from LightKeeperPro.com promotional video

Armchair electricians, feel free to weigh in with your technical evaluations!

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