Thune Selects Family for 2015 Angels in Adoption Award
“The Fite family is more than deserving of this award, and I am honored to select them.”

(Pictured from left to right: Chloe, Tami, Clare, Cody, Cate, and Aaron Fite)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today announced his selection of Aaron and Tami Fite of Platte, S.D., and their family for the 2015 Angels in Adoption Award presented by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, of which Thune is a member. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions of men and women across the country who have opened up their hearts and homes to children in need of a family.

“The Fite family is more than deserving of this award, and I am honored to select them,” said Thune. “Aaron and Tami graciously opened up their home, accepting the medical challenges that would come with Cody’s and Cate’s adoptions. Their selflessness has truly been an inspiration to me as well as to members of their community.”

Aaron and Tami were inspired to start a family of their own through adoption while serving on a short-term mission trip in Central America. When they arrived home to South Dakota, they were told about Cody, an infant with Down syndrome who was in need of a family. Eleven years later, Cody is now an active athlete in the Special Olympics, competing in basketball, track, and softball.

In 2006, the Fites received a call about a baby girl, Cate, who was also in need of a family. Cate suffers from a severe neurological disorder called semi-lobar holoprosencephaly and was adopted by the Fites shortly after she was born. Cate has overcome many medical obstacles during her life. Even though she cannot walk or talk on her own, she can walk in a Mustang walker and talk with her eyes through an Eyegaze communication tool. Recently, at a surprise retirement party for Cate’s personal paraprofessional aide, Cate thanked her teacher via the use of the Eyegaze.

After eight years of marriage, the Fites discovered they were miraculously pregnant in 2009, and Chloe was born in 2010. When Chloe was 10 months old, they became pregnant again, and Clare was born in 2012.

“Families have so much love to give, and when families open their hearts to what God has in store for them, it can bring immeasurable joy and growth to a family in ways they never dreamed possible,” the Fites say. “Our adoption story has inspired us to have a Christ-like love for people who are different, for children who are deemed ‘not worthy of life,’ and we are so grateful for the awareness about individuals with disabilities our children have helped bring to our community, churches, and schools. Cate and Cody have taught us more about Christ’s unconditional love and the spirit of perseverance than we ever thought possible. Cody and Cate prove that every life matters and that there is potential in even the worst of circumstances or when the odds are completely stacked against a child.”

The Fites will be invited to join Angels in Adoption nominees from around the country at an awards banquet sponsored by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in Washington, D.C., in October.

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It’s political button time again, as I just received this rare button in my mailbox today – and I couldn’t be happier with it at $2.50.
This political button commemorates a visit by then First Lady Hillary Clinton to the Great Plains Summit on rural health care, held in Lennox, South Dakota on Feb 18th of that year.

It didn’t mean much then, and has not been a popular pin, but as time and ambition march on, it’s becoming a bit more desire able among collectors of South Dakota political memorabilia, mainly driven by it’s presidential connection.

Among collectors of local items, this pin is now trading in the neighborhood of $20, and should only go higher if Hillary is the nominee for the Democrats as expected.

State items with a presidential nominee connection tend to increase in value over time due to rarity, and I’d guarantee they didn’t make a lot of these.

I’d only look for it to increase in value over the years. Nothing I’d base a retirement on, but give it ten years, and it might be trading at higher level than it is now.

If you look at the map in this story, several South Dakota sites were cited by the NSA as having cyber attacks directed at them by China.

Any thoughts on what secrets the Chinese were after? Because one of them looks to be in the vicinity of Wall Drug. And they may have stolen secrets about Jackalope manufacturing.

Does anyone else believe the “Cecil the Lion” story has reached the “ridiculous” level at this point? In the latest this morning, CNN is reporting that Zimbabwe is now calling on the US to extradite the Minnesota Dentist because, in part, of facebook outrage:

Zimbabwe has started extradition proceedings and hopes the U.S. will cooperate, said Oppah Muchinguri, the African nation’s environment minister.

Walter Palmer “had a well-orchestrated agenda which would tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and further strain the relationship between Zimbabwe and the U.S.A.,” Muchinguri said.

and…

Muchinguri said that there was also much outcry in Zimbabwe and that nearly 500,000 people had called via Facebook for Palmer’s extradition.

“We are taking this issue seriously,” he said, adding that Palmer should be tried in Zimbabwe for his alleged offenses.

Read it here.

They’re calling for his extradition because of a “tarnished image,” and “facebook?” That a government official even cites it is horrific in it’s ridiculousness, and should give any American strong pause in whether or not to consider traveling to that country. Ever.

At this point in time, it appears that if anyone did anything wrong, it might have been the guides/people arranging the hunt, and any role the hunter had in luring the lion, and directing the circumstances of the hunt is still in question.

At least, to the point where far more information and evidence is needed for anyone to pass judgement, unless their intent is to hate big game hunters in general.

And putting it in context; this story came out right about the same time as yet another round of video footage alleging Planned Parenthood is illegally trafficking in human body parts in the United States. Yet, we don’t see Jimmy Kimmel weeping over that one.

I guess I’m feeling as if this story has reached a worldwide social media feeding frenzy at this point, with everyone proclaiming “facts be damned,” at the same time when there are far more important things to get all worked into a lather about.

What’s your opinion?

According to the Mitchell Daily Republic, Elizabeth May’s call for a special session seems to have fallen a bit flat:

May sent out a petition to state legislators to engage in a summer session in Pierre, but received only 13 signatures supported the special session. Of the three legislators from the Mitchell area, all three declined to sign the petition.

Rep. Joshua Klumb and Sen. Mike Vehle, of District 20—which includes Aurora, Davison and Jerauld counties—said the special session to address education is premature.

” … We already have a Blue Ribbon Task Force of legislators and other people to take a look at several of the education issues,” Vehle said. “I think to call a special session before that body is even through with this study, I don’t understand the reasoning.”

and..

“One, you’re probably not going to solve anything, and two, it would be an expensive waste of time,” Vehle said about engaging in a special session before the task force completes its study.

Read it all here.

I’ve heard various anecdotes such as the organizers of the call for the special session were a bit miffed that leadership didn’t pick up envelopes. And one legislator I spoke with was being harangued by a tea partier over her declining to sign on.

But facts are facts. And 13 out out 105 is barely 12%, putting this idea down in the history books as an idea which didn’t work.

Rounds Joins Effort to Give Military Retirees the Honor They Deserve

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs and Armed Services Committees, today signed onto legislation to honor as veterans, National Guard and Reserve retirees who served honorably for a minimum of 20 years but do not meet the active duty service requirement to qualify them as veterans under existing law. The bipartisan, bicameral Honor America’s Guard-Reserve Act of 2015 was introduced earlier this year by Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).

“National Guard and Reserve members who have selflessly served in the defense of our nation deserve to be honored for their service,” said Rounds. “These men and women took an oath to defend our nation at any cost and stood ready to deploy to fulfill that oath at a moment’s notice. Giving them that recognition is the least we can do.”

Current law defines a veteran as servicemen and women who have served on active duty. This legislation would amend this definition and allow these Guard and Reserve retirees to be recognized as a veteran. Some retired National Guard and Reserve members did not serve on active duty and therefore, despite having devoted a portion of their lives to our national defense, are not recognized as veterans. Because no additional benefits beyond the title of veteran are extended to these retirees, there is no cost associated with this legislation

This legislation is supported by the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS). The House of Representatives passed similar legislation last Congress.

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