South Dakota Position Papers or South Dakota Public Propaganda Organization Online.
--------------------- Take your pick "Position Papers" or "Public Propaganda"...may be a mixture of both.

 
PRESSLER'S SAY NO EVIL ABOUT A FELLOW REPUBLICAN POLICY HAS SOME SUBTLE HOLES
Did I see this or not? I saw part of a Pressler TV ad today. He was standing next to an old John Deere tractor...probably something
he drove 30 or 40 years ago before he conned enough people into voting for him that he could beat the pompous ass Frank Denholm...a Democrat
who piously bragged that he was the "only candidate who had systematically prepared himself to be a Congressman". Strangely, being an
auctioneer was part of that preparation...but I digress.

As Pressler stands next to the tractor, he notes something like this as he points to it, "I am not an expert on used vehicle sales and prices, but
I do know something about these." Whatever he said after that, I missed. Was that an oblique shot at the would-be-emperor of SD.. Wild Bill Jeep
Bargain Hunter Janklow? Oh, dear. Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment or whatever was kind of left twisting in the wind on that one. I think it
is sort of clever and I laughed when I saw it. I hope it burns into the subliminal minds of the GOP primary voters.

Otherwise, Pressler's ads have been downright silly. He wants us to be reminded of his seniority. What he did in regard to communication policy and
his attacks on public broadcasting as he accumulated that dubious seniority are what lost him an election. He now wants us to remember something
that happened many years ago when the FBI apparently considered him meat for their Ab-Scam politician grinder-upper. He did escape that bit of entrapment.
Wonder what Plastic Pressler thinks about Aschcroft abridging a lot of regulations on the FBI?

In another ad, we have his somewhat bloated face in a closeup that looks like he is partway pushed through the TV screen. He very sincerely
assures us that "He wants to be a Congressman again."... Gee whiz. I am amazed. But, which version of the Plastic Pressler will we get
if he should happen to become congressman again? Inquiring minds...well, that is an illusion or oxymoron if it is "Republican Inquiring minds" and
I guess that is who will vote in the GOP primary...but anyway... Will he be the "Farmer boy" congressman? Would he be the "Big Media" Congresman?,
Would he be the blundering Congressman? Will he be the "Whatever you want to hear me say today" congressman? Will he be the Gov't 101 Congresman?

But, alas. My guess is that the stinking, stinging, mean, in your face, bayonet in your guts, always hyper defensive, always needlessly aggressive, always
full of himself Bill Janklow will stomp Plastic Larry. But, every 50 years or so, the GOP primary surprises somebody. Not long to wait now.--------
(c) 2002 Douglas Wiken for SDPP-ORG..

posted by Douglas at 4:15 PM

 
COMMENT: CAN SOFTWARE USED EVERY DAY BY MILLIONS SOLVE THE FBI DATA PROBLEM?
A forum poster in Salon Table talk suggested that the one major reform the FBI needs to make is put the reports
into formats that can be loaded onto a secure intranet and then buy Google to index/search it all.

The same kind of search any of us might do on the open internet for something like "terror suspect aircraft flight training" would
quickly pick up links suggesting a potential for really big problems.

I read the idea last night, this morning, the Sioux Falls ARGUS LEADER has an article on a Sioux Falls firm that is putting South Dakota state government publications into a database searchable by their "BrightPlanet" search engine...apparently. The story is a business news story and a tad bit short on just what BrightPlanet is really doing as part of their contract.

However, my guess is that it is much like the previous suggestion. BrightPlanet claims to have a "deep search" system. Whatever...it does appear that there is not a whole lot of reason for FBI regional reports from Minneapolis and Phoenix passing like ships in the night heading for the Bermuda Triangle. The FBI probably does not need rocket science nor a huge incursion into the Bill of Rights in order to do a much better
job of handling the information they already get.

Somebody yesterday said that so much information is now coming into intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies that it is like
trying to "drink from a firehose". My guess is most internet regulars have the same feeling about information on the internet. Without
search engines like Google and BrightPlanet, most of the information would only be available to a few people and if only sorted by
careful readers, it would be useful to many fewer people.

Think about that in the context of adding more FBI bureaucrats and Ashcroft deciding that restraints on FBI procedures are somehow
aiding and abetting terrorists. Part of the solution to their problem may be right in front of nearly eveybody who ever sits down at their
computer with an internet connection and uses a search engine. (c)2002 Douglas Wiken for SDPP-ORG.

posted by Douglas at 8:57 AM

 
The Thune Family Orchestration of Political Ads just so fam damn family-ish

It seems like only a few days ago, but I suppose it was a month or two ago. John Thune dumped a TV ad all across SD.
It dribbled out the syrupy GOP crap on "SD Values, etc." and with kind of a jarring thud dumped in the phrase something
like "And my hero, My Dad...who was in WW!!, etc. etc.". Now, we have his Dad and Mom....both nice people of course, but
don't dig too deeply into the sale of their old hardware store years ago, who endorse...believe it or not...their son John Thune.
Astonishing of course. I guess his old man has repaid the favor of being called a hero by his son, the Susan Mollieri? calendar
hunk. Astonishing too that a successful Thune family with a son in Congress needs to have their social security and medicare
protected by a "lock box" or any other rhetorical sham..

And, ever notice that wheat stem and head of wheat in his ads? Do you think John Thune has ever worked on a wheat farm?
Do you think he has ever shoveled even a bushel of grain of any kind? I don't think he has ever worked at any job in his life that didn't involve direct or indirect sucking of a federal or state government teat. Watch the GOP ads carefully, almost always they stress the candidate's weakest points and stress eternal virtues that are almost always almost completely irrelevant to the world of politics and government.

Stay tuned for some comments on Larry Pressler's campaign for Congress; but remember, no matter how terrible, he could
not be worse than Bill Janklow.

posted by Douglas at 11:04 PM