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From Newser:

The World Health Organization delivered bad news to bacon lovers Monday morning, declaring that the breakfast staple causes cancer. In fact, the report by a WHO research arm found that all processed meats, including sausages, ham, and hot dogs, are carcinogens, reports the Guardian. Specifically, the report says that 50 grams a day—about two slices of bacon—raises the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%, reports the BBC.

Read it here.

I’m thinking it’s just a bunch of liberal silliness from people with an agenda of removing red meat from our diets.  But that’s just me.

Your thoughts?

From the Daily Kos Morning Digest, it appears that national Democrats have already written off Paula Hawks as a nonstarter.

• SD-AL: Democrats landed state Rep. Paula Hawks for a longshot bid against Republican Kristi Noem, but we can probably take our eyes off this seat. Hawks raised only $62,000 for the quarter, and she trails Noem $1,345,000 to $65,000 in cash on hand. Noem hasn’t done much to anger her conservative constituents, and it’s very tough to see this district going blue again anytime soon.

Read it here.

On KELOland radio, today we’re apparently being treated to a blast from the past from the sort-of/former Republicans who managed to alienate the rest of the GOP.  Today’s topic? That nobody but ‘them’ are acceptable to ‘them,’ as ‘they’ now think that apparently John Thune isn’t conservative enough:

One likely candidate, arch-conservative Gordon Howie says he’s thought about it, but it would be a “monumental challenge” due to the time and money involved.

Former U.S. Senate Candidate, Stace Nelson, says he hopes someone will take on Thune in a primary next year, but says it won’t be him.

Read it here.

Uh, say what?  John Thune isn’t conservative enough? That would be laughable, if it wasn’t…  No, in any situation it is laughable.   And for a moment, consider the conservative ‘credentials’ of the people making the statement.

This last election, the “Many True Conservatives” PAC exclusively supporting Gordon Howie didn’t really live up to their mantra. Because they weren’t so many, nor true conservatives. Unless you consider soliciting and spending Soros family money, Labor Union Money, and money from a PAC devoted to elect House Democrats as “truly conservative.”

And you would have thought Stace would have learned from his last election that the “Hell no” attitude just doesn’t work among Republicans. In fact, it works about as much as cozying up to Slick Rick Weiland.

If either Howie or Stace ever want to have a future in the GOP, they probably need to work on their people skills, as well as recognizing who is conservative, and who is not. George Soros and Rick Weiland are not conservative. John Thune is.

If they can’t figure that out, maybe it’s a good thing they’re on the outside of the GOP.

Bonus hate from another former Republican:

Jeez. Someone better alert Planters. They’re missing another one of their nuts.

Apparently, Rep. Jason Frerichs doesn’t like it when someone calls into questions legislation he supported to create another level of bureaucracy. And he really doesn’t like it when it’s done with wit:

In his comments last week Schoenbeck said if a committee were trying to create a thoroughbred racehorse this is what the committee would have got and it would look to the rest of the state like  a three-legged, blind, mangy dog and would run as well.

Frerichs says Schoenbeck is playing Washington DC politics using nasty words.  He says the new districts were created under state law in the last legislative session.

Read it here.

Schoenbeck offered his comments on the legislation, but if you listen to Frerich’s comments, they’re not much more than a series of dismissive cliché’s that are a bit more personal. “playing Washington DC politics using nasty words.” “What Schoenbeck is trying to do is to work up some ground after crops have been planted…… the ships is sailing.”

It seems like Lee hit a nerve, and Frerichs didn’t like it.

I’m sure this is only getting started.

So, if you have a twitter account for your campaign, but it shows almost no activity whatsoever, does that mean you don’t have a campaign?

I’m wondering, because so far this month the Hawks for House twitter account has been holding steady at 2 tweets, with one on the 7th, and one on the 14th.

I was thinking it was a weekly thing on days divisible by 7, but gosh darn it, they went and fooled us all by skipping the 21st.

By this post. I’m probably jinxing their natural tendency towards twitter entropy, where they did 4 last month, 2 this month, then 1, and heading towards 0 by January, at which time she would withdraw from the race, citing complete disinterest by a vast majority of South Dakota citizens.

Or I could be wrong, and by next year, she’ll build herself up to an earth shattering (for the Hawks campaign) *5 tweets.*    Holy crap! 5 tweets! She would have to divert her staffer from trying to shake out couch cushions for fundraising over to social media to prove that the campaign possibly has a pulse!

Seriously, the thing with her twitter account seems to be plaguing her entire campaign.  It was amateur hour at her campaign rollout, which was the most botched thing I’ve seen in over 25 years in politics. As a supposed political insider for Democrats, her first quarter fundraising only beat the gal who moved here, and only managed about 2/3 of what a junior staffer for Tim Johnson managed to draw in a comparable time period.

In a limited time period to try to gain attention, she’s managed to be almost invisible. The past weekend in Brookings was an opportunity to see tens of thousands of people in Brookings… And yet, crickets from the Hawks campaign.

In less than a month, South Dakota will have moved fully into holiday mode, with anything political going into complete shutdown until the week between Christmas and New Years’, because frankly, no one will care.  And that’s all the time left this year for Hawks to try to prove to her party that she’s worthy of carrying their banner.

Although, given their lack of recruiting for any other office, especially in the Thune race, “yeah, I guess I’ll do it” is probably an acceptable level of effort for South Dakota Democrats.

Like I said, 5 tweets.

Dr. (and State Senator) Jeff Monroe had a piece at ArgusLeader.com on the efforts by the left wing environmentalists to try to derail the Dakota Access Pipeline that’s currently undergoing hearings with the Public Utilities Commission:

Environmentalists don’t like this pipeline project, but then again, they don’t like anything that increases America’s energy independence and makes the most of our vast oil and gas resources. Keep in mind these environmentalists won’t be happy until the fossil fuel industry that powers our economy is more or less reduced to a bare minimum. Forget about affordable and abundant energy, especially for our vehicles and homes. Their new motto is “keep it locked in the ground.”

Fortunately for South Dakotans, the state’s permitting process only gives the authorities one year to reach decisions on permit applications. So we won’t see the kind of endless foot dragging and dithering and politicking that was so much in view at the White House and State Department over Keystone XL. Let’s hope we get a better outcome here for DAPL that we got from Washington on Keystone XL.

Read it all here.

Hear, hear!

Noem: Support for South Dakota Rail is Good News for Producers, Shippers, and Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Kristi Noem today applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation for prioritizing investments into South Dakota rail through a partnership between the state and the Rapid City Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCP&E).  After a months-long push by the South Dakota delegation and others, RCP&E earned a $6 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to increase the railroad’s capacity.

“Nearly every commodity we produce in South Dakota is exported and shipped via rail,” said Noem, who joined Senators Thune and Rounds in writing Transportation Secretary Foxx about the grant earlier this year.  “Disruptions or delays in rail service have an immediate impact.  That’s what makes investing in our railways so critical to creating a healthy economy.  The TIGER Grant is one way that our country makes that investment.  I’m grateful the Secretary saw the merit of this project and recognized South Dakota freight rail as a worthy priority.”

In June, Noem, alongside Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds, wrote to Secretary Foxx urging the full and fair consideration of RCP&E’s grant application and stressing the railroad’s importance to South Dakota producers and shippers.  Two months later, the congresswoman visited the RCP&E Yard Office near Rapid City, visiting with a number of the railroad’s 185 employees.

The TIGER grant announced today aims to increase the railroad’s capacity by constructing a siding near Phillip, S.D., and replacing approximately 10 miles of rail near Huron, S.D.

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Obama EPA’s Smog Rule Will Have Widespread Impact on U.S. Economy

“When it comes to the debilitating impact its rules have on jobs, the economy, and hard-working American taxpayers, the Obama EPA never fails to disappoint.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the Obama Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final rule to lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, or smog, was published in the Federal Register. The new standard in an unprecedented 70 parts-per-billion (ppb), down from the 75 ppb standard set in 2008.

“When it comes to the debilitating impact its rules have on jobs, the economy, and hard-working American taxpayers, the Obama EPA never fails to disappoint,” said Thune. “This rule, as I’ve warned since it was first introduced, will have a serious negative impact on energy prices, job growth, and future economic development. That’s why I’ve introduced the Clean Air, Strong Economies Act – or CASE Act – a bill that would prioritize smog reduction where it is most serious.”

Counties that exceed the ground-level ozone standard are considered non-attainment areas and will be subjected to stiff federal penalties, increased business costs, restrictions on infrastructure investment, and lost highway dollars. Areas in marginal attainment will face steep challenges in attracting new economic development.

On March 17, 2015, Thune and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced the bipartisan CASE Act (S. 751), which would stem the economic harm from a lower ozone standard by requiring the EPA to focus on the worst areas for air quality before lowering the ground-level ozone standard. Thune and Manchin’s bill would also require the EPA to consider the costs and feasibility of the lower standard, which the EPA currently does not consider. Finally, the bill would prohibit the EPA from using unreliable modeling to expand non-attainment areas to many rural counties that otherwise would not be impacted by the expensive regulation.

In 2008, the permitted level of ground-level ozone, or smog, was lowered from 84 ppb to the current 75 ppb. Currently, 227 counties in 27 states are considered in non-attainment with the 75 ppb standard. The CASE Act would require 85 percent of areas currently not meeting the 75 ppb standard to meet compliance before the EPA could lower it further.

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Thune Statement on U.S. DOT Grant Funding for South Dakota Rail Projects

“I applaud Secretary Foxx’s decision to approve these important rail projects, which will help increase rail network capacity and fluidity across our region.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) released the following statement after Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved $6 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding for two South Dakota rail projects. Thune led the South Dakota congressional delegation in writing to Secretary Foxx in June and Thune followed up last month to underscore the impact that the federal funding would have when it comes to key upgrades to rail infrastructure in South Dakota.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) and Rapid City, Pierre, and Eastern (RCP&E) Railroad partnered together in this joint project by committing $6.4 million in investments. Along with the state and private funding, the TIGER grant will provide for a total of $12.4 million that will be used for a new track siding near Philip, South Dakota, and much-needed track upgrades near Huron, South Dakota.

“I applaud Secretary Foxx’s decision to approve these important rail projects, which will help increase network capacity and fluidity across our region,” said Thune. “This funding, matched with the funds that SDDOT and RCP&E have already committed, will help ensure these important upgrades can begin without delay. These improvements will not only support job creation in the region, but they will attract future business development as well.”

Thune is the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over the DOT and freight railroad matters. Thune also serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. Both committees underscore the critical importance that the agriculture sector has in South Dakota’s economy, and in particular, how vital rail service is when it comes to getting raw goods and commodities to markets across the United States and all over the world.

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I’ve been spending some of my free time lately working on a personal project that has interested me on and off for some time. I’ve always been interested in the family’s genealogy and had been working on it at ancestry.com, but my subscription had ran out, so I left it alone for a while.

More recently, my wife had mentioned it to a couple of her relatives, as I’d found proof for some of the family lore about how township in Minnesota had been named after one of her predecessors who had lost his legs from frostbite, but went on to lead a successful life.

It got me looking again at it, so I renewed my subscription to reactivate my stored information, and put some more work into it.

While the Powers side of the family is tough to research, because apparently the Irish didn’t keep as good as civil records as others, I found that my mothers side has tremendous historic provenance.  So far, I’ve found relatives from the civil war, at least two or more who fought in the revolutionary war, and one who was hacked to death by Indians in Jamestown.

Wait, what?

Yes, apparently I have a direct ancestor who was killed in the Jamestown Massacre of 1622.  John Cordray was born in 1573 in England, and died on March 22, 1622 in when the Powhatan came to settlements in the area under the auspices of trading.

What it ended up being was a coordinated series of surprise attacks by the Powhatan Confederacy that killed 347 people, a quarter of the English population of Jamestown, including men, women and children of all ages. Jamestown itself was spared, but 31 settlements were attacked.

I related it to my daughter who had a thing for the Pocahontas Disney movie when she was a little girl, who found herself horrified at the prospect that our kin was hacked to death by Pocahontas’ tribe. (Sorry. Stuff happens.)

I also found an ancestor – the first from this branch of the family in America – had to come here because he was banished from his native Switzerland in 1731.  That left me thinking “How do you get kicked out of an entire country? And Switzerland of all places. How do you get kicked out of the land of neutrality?”

In researching, according to a book of the Waltz Family History:

“In the seventeenth century the rich and powerful, supported by the crowned heads of Austria, began to usurp authority, and chose for their councils only their friends and relatives. By degrees these families perpetuated their possession of the government: by degrees the council renewed itself annually, until the Sovereign power became exclusively hereditary in the families of the great council.”

“Murmurings against the hereditary power of a few families began to burst forth in open revolts, but the ruling power, supported by decrees from the Pope of Rome and Austrian bayonets, enforced silence. Conspiracies were formed, the prisons, the executioner’s block, and banishment followed.”

“To unmask and expose the hypocrisy of the priest craft, and treachery to the constitutional rights of the people by the ruling families, our patriotic, liberty-loving, and noble great ancestor. Frederick Reinhart Waltz. became a martyr to the cause of civil and religious liberty, for which he was banished from his native Swiss home, in the Alpine range, to the wilds of America, in the year 1731.

“On his arrival in the city of New York, another insult, even worse than banishment, was perpetrated on this noble advocate of the rights of his fellow-men. by the sale of his body into slavery, to pay his passage across the sea, and required to labor eighteen months to redeem himself. To the memory of this man. who suffered banishment from his home and family, and the persecution of enforced slavery for the cause of liberty and justice, the Waltz families of America, especially those of his lineal descendant, owe honor and respect through all ages to come.”

Yeah… no editorial license taken there by the author. But, it does sound like I have a genetic pre-disposition to muckraking.  Although, I only end up getting exiled from Pierre from time to time, and he got kicked out of the entire land of chocolate.

But, the research marches on, and I’m still stumbling across neat things. I believe I found a reference of one of the Waltz family member selling property on Beacon Hill in Boston to John Hancock. And I’ve got a lot more relatives to go.

I’m sure there are many more gems to find. Regardless of banishment, hacking, and other family member misfortune.