US Senator Mike Rounds’ Weekly Column: Counting our Blessings this Christmas

RoundsPressHeader MikeRounds official SenateCounting our Blessings this Christmas
By Senator Mike Rounds

The Christmas season is a special time that allows us to reflect upon the blessings in our lives and spend quality time with our loved ones. Jean and I are blessed to call South Dakota home, and we are especially grateful for our continued health and the health of our family. This year, we welcomed two new grandchildren – eight in all! We look forward to spending additional time with them and the rest of our family in the coming weeks.

It is well-known that the Rounds extended family is quite large. This year, just like years past, we expect at least 80 family members at our house on Christmas Eve. After attending 5 o’clock church service, we all gather to enjoy a meal of homemade chicken noodle soup and open presents. Grandpa Don reads the young ones the story of Christmas, reminding us all of the birth of our Lord – the greatest gift of all.

Despite the many challenges facing our nation today, all of us have many gifts to be grateful for. We are all fortunate to call ourselves Americans and South Dakotans, living in the greatest country in the world where we are free to celebrate Christmas without fear of persecution. Our God-given freedoms as written in the Constitution must never be taken for granted.

We are also thankful for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America and their families who make incredible sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms. They are the reason we are able to celebrate this season safely here at home with our loved ones. During these uncertain times, they should be enormously proud of their contributions to our national defense and security.

This season, more than 160 South Dakotans are currently deployed. The South Dakota National Guard’s 155th Engineer Company is stationed in Kuwait, and several other South Dakota soldiers are also stationed away from home. We would like to express our gratitude to the men and women who are deployed and their loved ones who are unable to spend the holiday together. The holiday season can be particularly tough for them. May they continue to find the strength to persevere, knowing they will soon be reconnected.

I also want to take this time to express my gratitude for all South Dakotans who took time to write, call or meet with me as I traveled across the state this year. Your views and opinions are important to me as I work to make the best decisions for South Dakota. It is truly an honor to represent you in the United States Senate.

While there are tough challenges ahead, I believe we are strong enough to tackle them head on. I look forward to working with my colleagues in 2016 to address them. Jean and I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thanks for all you do to make South Dakota great.

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Congresswoman Kristi Noem: Anticipation for Tomorrow

noem press header kristi noem headshot May 21 2014Anticipation for Tomorrow
By Rep. Kristi Noem

In our family, Christmas morning begins with the ring of a bell. No one could leave their rooms and see what Santa had delivered until that bell was rung.  I remember our kids waiting in eager anticipation, hoping and trusting that they’d been good enough all year for Santa to leave them the toys they had asked for.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the excitement of those mornings recently – probably because it isn’t quite the same now that the kids have grown up a bit.  But it’s made me think: what would our world be like if we all carried the hope and anticipation of Christmas morning with us every day?

I admit it would be very hard to do.  The world so easily weighs us down. Whether we’re talking about a struggling economy, the threat of terrorism, or challenges at home, it is natural to become cynical, frustrated, and even angry.  I know I’ve felt that way a time or two.  In fact, it’s why I ran for Congress in the first place.  I was so frustrated with all the administration was doing and desperately wanted to change the direction of this country.  I still do and I still believe we can.

We live in the greatest country on earth.  We believe that family is the cornerstone of a society and that freedom is not a privilege, but a right.  We believe opportunity is all that is needed to build a healthy economy.  And we remain committed to the American Dream, doing everything we can so our children and grandchildren can have a better life.  Nowhere else in the world are those beliefs so ingrained into an entire country’s way of life.

When the bell rings at the Noem house this Christmas, I will be saying a prayer of thanks. While America’s anticipation for tomorrow may not be the same as a child’s on Christmas morning, we continue to believe there is hope for a better tomorrow in this country. Of course not everything is happening as we’d like it to in this country, but we fundamentally trust that we are empowered to change it.  I pray we never lose that hope.

From my entire family to yours, I hope you have a very blessed Christmas and I pray that in all the busyness of this day, you take the time to celebrate the root of all hope, Jesus Christ.

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Governor Daugaard’s Weekly Column: Taking Time This Christmas

daugaardheader DaugaardTaking Time This Christmas
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

According to a national study, Americans project they will spend an average of $882 on Christmas gifts this year. That’s just gifts. The figure doesn’t include the decorations, the Christmas cards or Christmas dinner. And it’s only an estimate.

A few years ago, Katie Hunhoff wrote a piece in South Dakota Magazine about a Christmas in South Dakota during the Great Depression. Hunhoff told the story of Hilda McKnight and her husband who ran the Home for the Poor in Charles Mix County at the time.

Hilda did all she could to provide clothing for the residents in need. One girl who lived at the home expressed appreciation for the great effort Hilda expended to provide clothes for the children, but then the girl said, “It doesn’t really matter, I guess. I have this lovely skirt and they still call us ‘poor house kids’ at school.”

Hilda turned to a pile of clothes just delivered and said, “Let’s see what treasures we can find.” The two dug through the donations which seemed full of useless items, until the girl found a chiffon scarf which Hilda told her to keep.

That scarf became the girl’s most prized possession. She would sit on her bed and stroke the soft scarf and when she put the scarf away, it was always neatly folded.  It made her feel special and as if, when she wore it, she was somewhere else.

As you can imagine, those who resided at the Home for the Poor didn’t expect to receive much for Christmas. Neither did Hilda. But when Christmas came, the girl insisted that she had a present she wanted to give Hilda. So Hilda opened the box wrapped in paper and found the girl’s chiffon scarf. “It’s all I have, Mrs. Mac,” the girl said.

Today, in a time of greater abundance, when we spend so much on gifts, it might seem odd that something as simple as a scarf could mean so much. But it reminds us that giving is not measured by the size or value of the gift, but by the love with which it is given. Gifts made with a true and sincere heart, to those we love, are tokens of our deeper feelings. Christmas is a time to be thoughtful toward the people in our lives and show our loved ones how much they mean to us. It’s also a time to be charitable toward those in need.

The man who shovels his neighbor’s driveway, the little girl who gives her allowance to the bell ringer and the church that opens its doors to someone without shelter – they’re expressing the true spirit of Christmas.

This Christmas, take time to add sincere appreciation and love to the tangible gifts you give. Find the means, if only in a small way, to be a blessing to someone in need. Don’t underestimate the immense value of your life and the difference you can make in the lives of those you touch.

Merry Christmas.

-30-

SDDP November FEC – $15.8K raised, but National Dems kicked in $8.7 k of that

It’s looking to be leaner times for South Dakota Democrats by the numbers on their November FEC Report.

Because, of the $15.8k they raised for their federal account in November, $8,776 – over half of it – came from the National Democrat Party.

November SDDP 2015 FEC Report

According to the report, this puts the total amount of money that National Dems have transferred in to keep the State Dems afloat this year at $78,145.

Otherwise, in November, State Democrats spent $22.8k, leaving them with $10.1k cash on hand in their federal account moving into December.

And by the way? It’s now two weeks until petitions can be circulated, and they still don’t have an opponent lined up for the US Senate Race.

Noem Seeks Information on Critical Conditions within Indian Health Service Facilities

noem press header kristi noem headshot May 21 2014Noem Seeks Information on Critical Conditions within Indian Health Service Facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Kristi Noem today sought information about the quality of care provided at Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities in South Dakota.  In a letter to IHS Principal Deputy Director Robert McSwain, Noem discusses documented instances where patients were put in serious danger when receiving care at an IHS service unit and raises concerns about losing accreditation from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Noem also solicits information about what steps are being taken to correct the problems.

This letter comes in the wake of IHS service units in Rosebud and Pine Ridge being notified that they are at risk of losing CMS accreditation, which would force many tribal members to find help miles and miles away from their homes.

“Safe and efficient Indian Health Service medical facilities are critical to the well-being of the more than 100,000 Native Americans in the Great Plains Area. For Tribal members who live in rural areas, IHS hospitals are the only health care facilities within a hundred miles or more. Sadly, the experiences of my constituents in South Dakota indicate that IHS Great Plains Area facilities are failing to provide quality care, and Tribal members are paying the price,” wrote Noem.

Noem further details problems discovered at the IHS Service Unit in Rosebud recently:

  • Staff washed surgical instruments by hand because the sterilization machine had been broken for six months;
  • No infection control measures were taken for a patient with a history of an untreated highly infectious disease. When the patient was transferred, no documentation was created to inform the accepting facility of his history with the disease;
  • Staff left a pregnant patient unattended and she delivered her premature baby on the floor of a hospital bathroom. The baby was initially not breathing. Staff intervened, but when the doctor arrived 20-30 minutes later, staff did not notify the doctor that the baby was premature or that it had been found on the floor. No equipment was available to deal with the situation. While staff obtained equipment, the baby was not placed in a warmer and was not given oxygen.

Noem also outlines problems of Schedule II drug theft that were discovered in a 2010 Senate Indian Affairs Committee report.

In light of this, Noem has requested a robust report from IHS by January 31, 2016, that details:

  • Which IHS facilities are facing CMS termination notices and why;
  • What reforms IHS and the Great Plains Area have taken in response to a 2010 Senate report outlining many underlying problems in the Great Plains Area;
  • Instances of Schedule II drug theft;
  • Instances where a health care provider offered care while under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
  • Instances where a health care provider was practicing with a lapsed license, accreditation, or certification; and
  • The total amount spent in the Great Plains Area on administrative expenses.

A full copy of the letter can be found below.

Mr. Robert G. McSwain
Principal Deputy Director
Indian Health Service
Department of Health and Human Services
The Reyes Building
801 Thompson Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852

Dear Mr. McSwain,

Safe and efficient Indian Health Service (IHS) medical facilities are critical to the well-being of the more than 100,000 Native Americans in the Great Plains Area. For Tribal members who live in rural areas, IHS hospitals are the only health care facilities within a hundred miles or more. Sadly, the experiences of my constituents in South Dakota indicate that IHS Great Plains Area facilities are failing to provide quality care, and Tribal members are paying the price.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently notified the Pine Ridge and Rosebud IHS service units that they did not meet basic CMS guidelines in terms of quality care. If the hospitals do not fix the problems CMS identified in its review, their agreements with CMS will be terminated. Disturbingly, this is not the first time CMS has raised concerns about Great Plains Area hospitals. These notices come on the heels of CMS’ termination of its agreement with the Winnebago IHS service unit in Nebraska, also located in the Great Plains Area.

The CMS termination notices are not the only urgent problems facing my constituents. Just over a week ago, the people of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe were blindsided with the sudden closure of their hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) on the grounds that it was simply too dangerous to treat patients there. It is my understanding that, the weekend the ED closed, three rape patients and one stabbing patient were forced to travel an hour away to Nebraska for care.

The lack of quality health care for Tribal members in the Great Plains Area is not a new problem. As I visit reservations across South Dakota, my constituents share all manner of anecdotes describing negative experiences with IHS facilities. Their stories are backed by congressional oversight work. In September 2010, Byron Dorgan, then-Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, convened a hearing titled, “In Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area,” for which your predecessor, Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, provided testimony.[1] At the hearing, and in the subsequent December 2010 Committee report of the same title (see attached), the Committee depicted the frightening reality that Native Americans in the Great Plains Area face when they rely on IHS for medical care.[2]

The Committee’s work detailed the Aberdeen office’s lack of coherent policies and procedures governing even the simplest activities across the Great Plains Area, resulting in bureaucratic paralysis at best and a physical danger to patients at worst. The report contains a litany of instances in which the Aberdeen office’s lack of guidance and oversight facilitated low standards in facilities across its jurisdiction. According to the report, for example, Great Plains Area facilities failed to secure narcotic drugs, which contributed to employee thefts of pills by the thousands and the dispensing of powerful Schedule II drugs almost indiscriminately. Additionally, the Committee found Great Plains Area facilities engaged in substantial amount of diversions or reduced services, resulting in unnecessary costs and potentially affecting health care access for numerous Native Americans. Most shockingly, the Committee found that employees at Great Plains Area facilities put patients in serious danger by conducting surgical procedures under the influence of controlled substances.

Among the more disturbing South Dakota-based anecdotes listed in the report:

The [Rapid City IHS Hospital] pharmacy submitted a report of theft or loss of controlled substances dated March 19, 2008, which indicates that 5,569 Hydrocodone tablets were missing due to employee pilferage. On that same day, the pharmacy issued an amended report indicating the loss of 5,417 Hydrocodone tablets; 965 Darvocet tablets; and 187 Xanax tablets, totaling 6,569 missing controlled substances in one day. The report identified employee theft as the reason for loss [sic] pills.[3]

The [pregnant] patient arrived at the [Rosebud Hospital] ER with contractions every five minutes and was triaged as urgent. One and a half hours later, she was discharged from the ER. The patient proceeded to the outpatient department due to her continued contractions and was told to walk around and go to the bathroom for a urinalysis. Forty-one minutes after the patient was discharged from the ER, she delivered the baby in the outpatient clinic bathroom.[4]

The following is a summary of the key issues identified [at the Rapid City IHS Hospital]:

  • Two medical doctors with expired state licenses;
  • Six doctors and family nurse practitioners with expired CPR certifications;
  • Eight family nurse practitioners and physicians with lapsed ACLS [Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support] certifications; and
  • One family nurse practitioner with an expired DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] license.[5]

Five years have passed since Sen. Dorgan released his report, more than enough time for the IHS and the Aberdeen office to make the changes that were desperately needed. Nevertheless, my constituents’ experiences and CMS’ recent findings at the Pine Ridge and Rosebud IHS Hospitals suggest little has changed. For example, among the myriad problems discovered at Rosebud in recent weeks:

  • Staff washed surgical instruments by hand because the sterilization machine had been broken for six months;
  • No infection control measures were taken for a patient with a history of an untreated highly infectious disease. When the patient was transferred, no documentation was created to inform the accepting facility of his history with the disease;
  • Staff left a pregnant patient unattended and she delivered her premature baby on the floor of a hospital bathroom. The baby was initially not breathing. Staff intervened, but when the doctor arrived 20-30 minutes later, staff did not notify the doctor that the baby was premature or that it had been found on the floor. No equipment was available to deal with the situation. While staff obtained equipment, the baby was not placed in a warmer and was not given oxygen.

In testimony at the Senate Indian Affairs Committee’s 2010 hearing, Dr. Roubideaux acknowledged the challenges facing the Great Plains Area, and noted that funding levels are not solely to blame. Rather, she said, “we [IHS] can and we must make meaningful progress toward addressing these issues utilizing the resources we currently have.”[6] I agree with her assessment and hope you do too.

In light of the appalling situation in some of South Dakota’s IHS service units and to help me determine what meaningful systematic changes IHS has made since the 2010 report, please provide the following information by January 31, 2016:

  • An exhaustive list of IHS facilities that have been served with CMS termination notices for the time period January 1, 2012 to present. In providing this information, please include:
    1. The facilities whose CMS contracts were terminated and of those, the facilities that are currently in good standing with CMS.
  • Describe in detail the reforms IHS and the Great Plains Area made in response to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee report titled “In Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area,” as well as any supporting documentation;
  • A list of any instances of Schedule II drug theft from any facility in the Great Plains Area for the time period January 1, 2012 to present. In providing this information, please include:
    1. The kind and amount of drug involved;
    2. Whether an IHS employee was found responsible for the theft;
    3. If an employee was responsible for the theft:
      1. List whether the employee was disciplined;
      2. Describe the nature of the discipline;
  • A list of any instances in which any health care provider employed by any facility in the Great Plains Area was found to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the conduct of their job for the time period January 1, 2012 to present. In providing this information, please include:
    1. Whether the employee was disciplined;
    2. Describe the nature of the discipline;
  • A list of any instances in which any health care provider employed by any facility in the Great Plains Area was found to have lapsed in any license, accreditation, or certification for the time period January 1, 2012 to present. In providing this information, please include:
    1. The provider’s job title;
    2. The facility where the provider was posted at the time of the lapse;
    3. The type of license, accreditation, or certification that lapsed;
    4. The amount of time the license, accreditation, or certification had been lapsed before it was reinstated;
  • Provide a full accounting of funding allotted to the Great Plains Area, as well as the total amount spent by the Aberdeen office on administrative expenses (including administrator salaries and bonuses), each year for the time period January 1, 2012 to present.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. If you have questions about my request, please contact my staff at 202-225-2801.

Sincerely,
KRISTI NOEM
Member of Congress

CC:       The Honorable Sylvia Burwell, Secretary, HHS

Mr. Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator, CMS

Mr. Ron Cornelius, Great Plains Area Director, IHS
Mr. Gary Cantrell, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, HHS OIG

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[1] U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. In Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area. S. Hrg. 111-873 (September 28, 2010).
[2] U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. In Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area, Report of Chairman Byron L. Dorgan. 111th Congress (December 28, 2010).
[3] Report at 18.
[4] Id. at 24.
[5]Id. at 28.
[6]Hearing at 9.

South Dakota Projects Get Bump in Year-End Funding Bill, Says Noem

noem press header kristi noem headshot May 21 2014South Dakota Projects Get Bump in
Year-End Funding Bill, Says Noem

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Kristi Noem today supported a bipartisan year-end funding bill that strengthens our national defense, provides more support for South Dakota rural water projects, and offers additional support for school districts that rely on the Impact Aid program, among other things.  The legislation passed with broad support, 316-113.

“This package is far from perfect, but I’m confident it’s the best deal we could get given the hand we were dealt,” said Noem.  “We fought hard to make sure our national security and defense systems were properly funded and upgraded the Visa Waiver Program to better ensure terrorists couldn’t exploit security gaps.  And I’m happy with the outcome we earned on the security front.  I’m also pleased that we were able to successfully make the case that several South Dakota priorities were worth a national investment.  From support for the Impact Aid program to funding for rural water, this legislation will have a direct impact on many South Dakotans.”

The bipartisan legislation included support for a number of South Dakota priorities, including:

  • Greater support for Rural Water. The Lewis & Clark Rural Water System was appropriated the full budget request of $2.77 million.  Additionally, the fund for ongoing rural water projects, which Lewis & Clark and a handful of other projects are eligible to draw from, was funded at $47 million, a nearly $20 million increase over previously passed levels. The rural water fund was originally created in 2013 as the result of an amendment offered by Rep. Noem to the FY2014 Energy and Water appropriations bill as a way to make the Lewis & Clark project eligible for additional resources.
  • Continued support for research at the Sanford Lab. The legislation offers added support for the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility, which will be conducted at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, S.D., and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.
  • Added support for Impact Aid.  Through the bill, additional support is offered to the federal Impact Aid program, which provides payments from the federal government to local school districts to make up for lost local taxes.
  • Flexible funding for IHS facilities that have lost, or are at risk of losing, CMS accreditation. In recent weeks, IHS facilities in Rosebud and Pine Ridge have been notified that they are at risk of losing CMS accreditation, which would force many tribal members to find help miles and miles away from their homes.  This legislation includes $2 million in new, flexible funding so the IHS Director can take the actions necessary to ensure CMS accreditation status is reinstated and retained, and, once accreditation has been reinstated, to restore third-party insurance reimbursement shortfalls.
  • Puts new limits on the EPA.  This legislation rejects funding for new or expanded EPA programs that let top-down bureaucrats pick winners and losers.  It also holds the agency to the lowest spending levels since 2008.

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AFP Thanks Thune for Work on Internet Tax Freedom Act

AFP_SD-logoAFP Thanks Thune for Work on Internet Tax Freedom Act
“Repealing Internet Tax Should Be A Top Priority For Lawmakers,” says State Director Ben Lee

SIOUX FALLS – Americans for Prosperity applauds Senator Thune for leading efforts to pass the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would prohibit states from collecting taxes on Internet access.

State Director Ben Lee released the following statement:

“Repealing the tax on internet access would be a huge boon to consumers and small businesses across the state. The tax costs South Dakotans $15 million a year and it should be a top-priority for our lawmakers. We applaud Senator Thune for his continued commitment to protecting South Dakota taxpayers and for making South Dakota a better place to do business. Fiscally responsible policies like these have enabled South Dakota to keep taxes low and it’s part what has made our state so attractive to new businesses. We thank Senator Thune for his efforts and look forward to working together in the future.”

Hawks’ website host who leaked announcement now blamed for Clinton/Sanders data breach

From FOX News, a software vendor is being blamed for a recent data breach that allowed the Bernie Sanders Campaign to access and potentially download Hillary Clinton voter research data:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign reportedly has been punished by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for improperly accessing voter data compiled by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

and…

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs placed the blame for the incident in large part on the vendor, NGP VAN.

“Sadly, the vendor who runs the DNC’s voter file program continues to make serious errors. On more than one occasion, the vendor has dropped the firewall between the data of different Democratic campaigns,” he said in a statement to Fox News. While saying it was “unacceptable” for a campaign staffer to access “some modeling data from another campaign,” he also said they want to work with the DNC and vendor to fix the “software flaws” that could make Sanders’ records vulnerable as well.

Another campaign official told the Post that the Clinton data was never downloaded or printed.

NGP VAN describes itself on its website as “the leading technology provider to Democratic and progressive campaigns.”

Read that here.

NGP VAN?  We’ve all heard of that company before! Because that’s the company hosting the website for the South Dakota sacrificial lamb Democrat challenger to Congresswoman Kristi Noem, Paula Hawks. And through their generosity, we all knew she was running long before she was prepared to make an announcement:

It looks like the months-late announcement of Paula Hawks being Democrats’ sacrificial lamb candidate to run against Congresswoman Kristi Noem is nigh.

Tonight I was able to grab these screen captures of her campaign web site (with logo) from http://www.hawksforhouse.com, which much like Hawks herself, is severely in need of substance to go along with her ambition..

and…

Read the entire bio here, before they go back to the drawing board.

Read that here.

My post was dated July 26th, and if you look at the “read the entire bio” link above, you’ll see it was being developed and is still hosted on NGP VAN servers.

How did my “team of hackers” divine this super-secret information?  Seriously, I just did a google search on Paula Hawks, and there the links for the development site were there for God and the world to see. NGP VAN’s sloppy posting of the the information, and the information which came out had the Argus Leader editorial staff defining the Hawks campaign roll out as “Amateur Hour,”  and gave the impression that her campaign is inept.

And given her performance in fundraising, publicity, and even putting out a message on social media, the label is going to be hard for her to shake.   (She’s only had 1 tweet so far for this month, BTW.)

I would not be shocked to hear that the “low level staffer” for Sanders who took the fall for this, didn’t do anything more nefarious than substitute “Clinton” for “Sanders” in some directory listing or website URL, or something as basic as that, and had all their data pop up on the screen.

Interesting stuff.

Scott, You’re a wonderful person, and true statesman. But seriously, you’re killing me here.

Sometimes people of good conscience have to agree that they’re going to disagree.  This is one of those times:

At least 42 states regulate indoor tanning for minors. Thirteen states, including Minnesota, ban the use of ultraviolet tanning devices by anyone under age 18.

If one lawmaker has his way, South Dakota will be the 14th state to ban indoor tanning for anyone under 18.

Representative Scott Munsterman of Brookings says he is bringing a bill to Pierre in January that would add South Dakota to the list of states that ban tanning to anyone under the age of 18…

Read it here.

Scott, you’re a wonderful person, and true statesman. But seriously, you’re killing me here.

The ‘tan ban’ is a misguided, nanny-state measure that has no place in a free society. Because there comes a point where rules become so draconian and overly altruistic where we’re no longer a free society, but an artificially engineered one designed by liberals who want to dictate every single aspect of our lives.

It is so overly intrusive in a free society that we have to be offended by it. If we’re not, then we need to examine what we believe our definition of freedom is.

Because there will come a point in our future where we’re going to go into our front yards for our government mandated calisthenics (for the sake of our health, of course) and wonder “What in the heck happened?”