Free Republic

John Thune is likely to run for president in 2012. If he wins the nomination, it will be because he is an exceptionally skilled retail politician who can communicate a kind of midwestern, common sense conservatism that is ascendant in reaction to liberal profligacy. It will be because of skills and values he learned in Murdo.

First, a broad look at America's situation Unemployment Rate: 9.5% The economy: Agriculture (1.2% of GDP), Industry (21.9% of GDP), Services (76.9% of GDP) Education: 27.5% of the adult population has a Bachelor's degree or higher. Now, the Top 10 States For Jobs

San Diego tourism leaders and hoteliers fear they could lose a sizable chunk of business this summer from valued “Zonies” who are so angered by elected leaders’ recent censure of Arizona for its illegal-immigration law that they’re mounting an informal boycott of their own. The San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau and several hotels report receiving e-mails and letters from Arizona visitors saying they intend to change their plans to travel here in light of local outcry over their home state’s anti-illegal-immigration stance.

SIOUX FALLS, SD - She made a name for herself in the courtroom, and now a woman who owned a Sioux Falls law firm and is a current candidate for state house is on the other side of the law. Authorities arrested 50-year Mary Ann Giebink of Sioux Falls around 2 a.m. Friday after leading a sheriff's deputy on a high-speed chase east of the city. She now faces several charges. A Minnehaha County sheriff's deputy first noticed Mary Ann Giebink speeding eastbound on 26th Street early Friday morning. But when the deputy tried to pull her over, she took...

A pizza delivery man was attacked and injured Sunday night by two assailants, but he fought back, firing a pistol at them, according to a news release by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded to a call of shots fired at 1980 Country Road about 10 p.m., where they found Scott Parsons, 28, who reported he had been attacked while making a pizza delivery in the area. Scott's injuries were not life-threatening, and he was taken to Rapid City Regional Hospital. Authorities say they have no confirmation that anyone was hit by Parsons' gunfire. The Pennington County Sheriff's Office...

A man shot at a person breaking into his home in the 500 block of East Highway 1416 near Box Elder on Saturday night, according to Lt. Marty Graves of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office and Box Elder police responded to the homeowner’s call reporting the incident about 10:30 p.m. He told police he fired two shots at someone forcibly entering his home, Graves said. The homeowner also told police he was not trying to hit the intruder but force the person out of his home, Graves said. No items were stolen from the home; but law...

South Dakota --(AmmoLand.com)- The South Dakota Legislature has passed the South Dakota Firearms Freedom Act and that bill is enroute to the Governor’s desk. Governor Michael Rounds has indicated that he’s comfortable with the SDFFA and will sign the bill when it reaches his office. SD will make the fourth state that has enacted a clone of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. Once the Wyoming and South Dakota governors sign their respective bills into law, they will join Montana, Tennessee and Utah with enacted laws.

A top ND Dem has asked MSNBC host Ed Schultz to return to his native state and run for Senate, Schultz said today. In an interview on MSNBC, where he hosts a nightly program, Schultz said he got a call from state Rep. Merle Boucher (D), the House Min. Leader, asking him to consider a bid. Schultz said he had worked hard to get where he was in his career, but he refused to rule out a bid. "I'm flattered. I'm honored. I can't say that I'm even considering it right now," Schultz said. "I'm in a different place right...

Recently Jim Robinson posted two threads declaring Free Republic’s determination to see Conservatives elected and ousting Rino's from government. Jim and a great many Freepers believe that we need to take back control. But the RNC is not hearing us. Activism is called for NOW. 2010 is nearing and we need Conservative candidates to run. The time is ripe and people are ready for another 1994 type election. But we need to make the RNC hear us loud and clear. This is the Rino Free America Project. Get involved. Make them listen. Write a letter and MAIL it. Republican...

Note: The following text is a quote: Former State Department Official and Wife Arrested for Serving as Illegal Agents of Cuba for Nearly 30 Years Couple Allegedly Conspired to Provide Classified Information to Cuban Government A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government. The arrests were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Joseph Persichini, Jr.,...

STURGIS -- The Sturgis Industrial Park is getting a new tenant. Bar-Sto Precision Machine, a firearms company based in Twentynine Palms, Calif., plans to relocate to Sturgis next year. The company, which manufactures replacement pistol barrels, firearms accessories and high-end custom firearms, is building a 6,000-square-foot building and will move in by September 2010.

A mountain lion was killed within the Deadwood city limits Wednesday morning after the big cat, and possibly another, apparently killed a deer in a backyard in town. A South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department trapper killed one lion Wednesday, but the hunt wasn't over, because police reports early in the day indicated that two lions were in the area. GF&P placed four baited live traps in town in hopes that the other cat could be caught overnight Wednesday. "Our trapper did euthanize one lion, and we're trying to determine what else we have out there," said John Kanta,...

BRIDGEWATER, S.D. (AP) -- Behind the freezer doors at a meat plant mysteriously abandoned by its owner, the 44 tons of bison meat managed to hold its own for months, masked by the brutal chill of two South Dakota winters. Once the power was cut and spring thaw arrived, nature took over. And enough rotting meat to fill a high school gym did exactly what you'd expect: It stank. It stank at the bank. It smelled at the law office. It reeked at the cafe. Even the jewelry store wasn't immune. Everyone in this tiny town could smell it, everywhere...

Congress has shortchanged the American public. In their rush to get popular credit card legislation to the president’s desk, they’ve allowed the legislative system to dismantle any chance for an open and public debate about the possibility of allowing of loaded guns in the national parks, three of which are in South Dakota.! Earlier this week, legislation allowing loaded guns into national parks (if allowed by state law), was attached to the Senate version of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights legislation and sent to the House. Because President Obama wanted the credit card legislation on his desk by Memorial...

A bill to remove South Dakota’s restrictions against embryonic stem cell research was introduced yesterday in the state senate. SB 195 would strike from SDCL 34-14 the language prohibiting human embryos from being used for research.  The bill was sponsored by Senators Nesselhuf, Adelstein, Nelson, and Turbak Berry and Representatives Engels, Blake, Cutler, Dreyer, Hoffman, Hunhoff (Bernie), McLaughlin, and Street. We knew this was coming for some time now. Last summer the Argus Leader ran an article about Sanford Health in Sioux Falls under the heading “Sanford eyes stem cell study.”In that article we read A new donation from philanthropist T. Denny...

Republican and Democratic senators on Sunday questioned how former Sen. Tom Daschle could make a $128,203 mistake on his taxes but said they were not prepared to oppose his nomination as health secretary. "You have to be troubled by it," said Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. "We'll have to question former Sen. Daschle and understand his explanation, and then have a conversation about it and see where it goes," Kyl said on "Fox News Sunday." As to how much trouble the tax issue could present for the nomination, he said, "I think it's...

Marcus J. Suhn yelled a stream of profanities beginning with "F*cking cop" on the sidewalk at 2 a.m. after the bars closed on Sept. 2, 2007, as two police officers were riding down the street in their patrol car. One officer heard Suhn, got out of his patrol car, arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct. A lower court said the arrest was OK because Suhn's words were a form of "fighting words." The South Dakota Supremes disagreed:

After deliberating over most of three days -- and at one point saying they couldn't reach a verdict -- jurors acquitted two Hells Angels bikers of attempted murder for a 2006 gunfight that injured rival Outlaws Motorcycle Club members. Prosecutors said they still plan to try Chad Wilson of San Diego and John Midmore of Valparaiso, Ind., on a more serious conspiracy charge for the Aug. 8, 2006, shootout at Custer State Park, though the judge asked for legal briefs on whether that would be double jeopardy. Attorneys for the state said Wilson and Midmore went to Legion Lake Resort,...

A judge has ordered that concealed weapons charges be dismissed against four off-duty Washington police officers who were charged in connection with a shooting during the Sturgis rally. Circuit Judge Warren Johnson ruled Friday that Scott Lazalde, Dennis McCoy, James Rector and Ron Smith are exempt from prosecution under South Dakota state law because of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. However, Johnson ruled that a concealed weapons charge against Erik Pingel, 35, of Aurora, Colo., can proceed.

Sioux Falls, Sep 24, 2008 / 12:47 am (CNA).- Pro-life activists in South Dakota have launched a television ad featuring Dr. Bernard Nathanson, one of the founding members of NARAL, who calls on South Dakotans to vote to ban the use of “abortion as birth control.”   In a TV ad supporting Measure 11 in South Dakota, Dr. Nathanson explains that he and his colleagues who founded NARAL created it to “export our pro-abortion mentality across the land.” He also reveals that, “One of our strategies, in order to mislead the American people, was to deny what we knew to be...