The Fives: Herseth Sandlin for president, bad Gateways get the boot and Lakota language lessons

By Todd Williams, Journal staff | Thursday, August 28, 2008

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It's rare that wisdom comes shining through Rapid Reply, but I recall one comment of the tens of thousands that sticks with me today.

Someone had been hacking on the Journal's Web site and it's design, and a defender said that one of the key elements of news Web sites is that it was like putting your money into one of those toy gumball machines. You put your time in by going to the Web site, but you never know what you might get.

I like that analogy, because it reflects how I take in the news online. OK, maybe not from traditional news sites, but certainly from the growing mass of bloggers. Sometimes, I have to go to an aggregator a search engine such as Yahoo, but I'm finding that I gravitate toward a number of local blogs on a regular basis.

Here's a sample of a few recent blog posts of note from a recent run of the ol' gumball machine.

Next up, Brats and a walk-a-thon ... to sue taxpayers

Pat Powers puts the entire school districts vs. state lawsuit into perfect perspective at the South Dakota War College.

Highlighting efforts by the South Dakota Coalition of Schools to keep their efforts to sue the state over what the group sees as gross negligence in funding the state's schools, Powers quips in stride with most South Dakotans -- especially those east of the Missouri -- "Yeah, I just bet taxpayers are going to line up so schools can sue them and cause their taxes to go up. Next up, a telethon to raise money to give everyone pink eye."

The truth of the matter is, the schools need to find a strong voice in the legislature or in the governor's chair. Without it, their hopes of finding the funding they say are so badly needed are nearly nil.

The act of suing to overcome legislative and executive actions are regularly reserved for groups such as the American Civils Liberty Union and the Sierra Club, two of the lesser popular groups in South Dakota.

Time: SHS for president?

There's been plenty over the past few weeks about the likelihood (or unlikelihood) of South Dakotans Tom Daschle and John Thune getting vice presidential nods before the upcoming political conventions.

We already know Daschle won't be; and Thune said Monday that he won't be picked.

But what about the surprise pick for a spot on a future ticket: Sephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Blogger and former Journal staffer Denise Ross notes at her Hog House Blog that Herseth Sandlin was chosen as one of five female politicians named in a piece called "Hotshots: Democrats to Watch."

Who'd a thunk?

Not only is Herseth Sandlin named as an up and comer, she is the only one of the five named that is mentioned as a potential future president, according to Ross.

Replacements drummer Steve Foley dead

Scott Hudson has one of my favorite South Dakota based blogs. It's not political, at least not intentionally. 

Instead, it's a music blog that has a South Dakota bent.

Now, the most recent post hits on perhaps my favorite band of all time, The Replacements, and the unfortunate passing of its second drummer, Steve Foley. But what I really like about the current page is the massive poll that asks readers what their favorite South Dakota band is. Hey, it doesn't have the Reddmen, but it does have some great names of the past and present, including Janitor Bob and Ill Bill and the Spinal Chills. Oh, the memories.

Nevermind the inclusion of Zwarte.

Gateway MPC blows DSU tablet deal; University goes Fujitsu

Pointing to the state's disenchantment with the downsizing and sell-off of Gateway, once considered South Dakota's portal to the technology boom, the Madville Times notes Dakota State University's bad buying experience with the new Gateway/MPC for a second consecutive year.

The company, unable to deliver a batch of tablet PCs in time for the start of the school last year, has repeated the trick again this year. According to MT, the school will look elsewhere to get their PCs in the future.

And they're not the only ones.

Apparently the South Dakota Legislature has fallen out of love with Gateway as well.

Four words: Who can blame them.

What is 'wakan'

A bevy of new blogs have sprouted up on www.rapidcityjournal over the past few months, a creation of a community blogging blitz we undertook, thanks in large part to intern Ashley Waltman and her short time cohort Molly Albrecht.

Some are very good. Some are OK. Some are updated a bit too irregularly yet, but there is certainly a breadth of topic to be found.

Although not everyone's cup of tea, the most successful as reaching out to a key readership area we've been lacking for time has been Rosalie Little Thunder's Indigenous P.O.V. blog.

A mismash of links to other sites, letters to the editors, language lessons and key cultural insights, you never know what might be up next, but it's generally enlightening -- at least to this reader.

The latest post is Little Thunder's exploration of the word "wakan" and how she came to understand what it means -- kind of -- in English. Not only do you get a good glimpse of Lakota culture, but it provides that demarkation of cultures through language.

That there isn't a word in English for the idea of something has the power to sway men to the good or the bad is as much an insight about Western culture as it is the Lakota.