College Dems attended McGovern Day in Sioux Falls and had the pleasure of hearing Sen. Tim Johnson give an amazing speech that showcased his amazing recovery from emergency brain surgery resulting from bleeding in the brain.

A few thoughts on the War In Iraq at the current moment.

Midnight

CNN has called the Texas primaries for Hillary Clinton. This is unbelievable. I thought Obama had Texas locked up. This race just got really really interesting.

I was reading an opinion piece in the Argus Leader today and my eyes jumped out of my head. The bill to let 10 year old children hunt is on its way to the Senate floor. Here is a link to the story about the legislation that I found. This is absolutely ridiculous, I am skeptical about arming college students, but allowing 10 year olds to hunt...good god. That would mean that the same 10 year old that gets upset and punches or kicks a friend, would be allowed to wield a weapon in the field around numerous others. In America today the gun culture is so out of hand that young children receive toy guns and "shoot" them at each other at young ages, what happens if these children use a real gun and go "bang bang" at their father, and then blow him away. What will the legislature say to that family, "oops, we thought that 10 year old could rationalize that it was a real gun." Seriously, these children cannot understand the magnitude of what they are holding in their hands and that they can take the life of a human with these weapons. I don't care if you like to hunt, but you should be of an age where you can make rational decisions. There is a huge difference between 10 and 12 year old children's behaviors. I don't care if the father is there or not, because no matter how safe he is being there is no judging when that child will accidentally shoot him. It is simply unsafe to allow these kids to hunt. 

I just read some news on Keloland.com that made my day. The campus gun bill, which stated that weapons could be carried without restrictions from universities or colleges, was voted DOWN in the Senate Affairs Committee. The article can be found here. The bill had recently passed the house and was being backed by Governor Rounds. This is a great day for South Dakota Democrats and students alike, I feel as if our campuses are much safer now and that permitting students to carry guns does not make us safer like the bill's sponsor said, but actually made it more dangerous. This was not an invasion on the second amendment like they want you believe, it is the Universities using their discretion to make their campuses safer, which I applaud. Let's give a round of applause to the members of this committee for protecting us as students. Kudos Senate Affairs Committee, Kudos. 

Just a short summary and my feelings of the state of the Union.

I found this on my computer today, I wrote it some time last year, but feel that it is an issue that needs to be the forefront. It is unfair to sit back and watch your loved ones suffer and miserable and painful death. 

As many of you know from either talking to me or reading my past blogs, I am a big time proponent of gun control. But this bill has nothing to do with that type of gun control at all. This bill has to do with protecting college students from being killed. It is ridiculous to think that with the way right to carry laws are set up, if a Virginia Tech style shooting were to happen here it could be carried out legally, with a legal gun and a legal right to carry on campus. That is absurd. There is NO reason for anyone to have a gun on a college campus. College is supposed to be a place where you feel safe and further your education, not to live in fear everyday. To prevent further tragedies I feel this bill must be passed and STRICTLY enforced throughout the state. Just keep this in mind, could the Virginia Tech massacre have happened if he had no guns?

With the way this election "season" is shaping up with close primaries everywhere and a primary day (Feb 5) with primaries on BOTH coasts being held, to make it easier for campaigns and for the ease of the voting process I propose a regional primary election. For instance starting January the 5 or so the upper east coast would vote (ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC?) After that about two weeks later it would be the Ohio River Valley (OH, WV, VA, IN,KY, TN, NC) Following that in roughly two weeks would be the southeast (SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA) Then two weeks later would be the lower midwest (TX, OK, MO, AR, MO, KS) Then two weeks later would be the upper midwest (IL, WI, MI, MN, IA, NE, SD, ND). Then the northwest region (MT, WY, ID, WA, OR, CO). Then the southwest (CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, ) Then finishing in Alaska and Hawaii. Of course every other election it would have to go in reverse order to keep it fair between coasts. I think this would simplify an already complicated process and make our primaries much less confusing. 

The Pentagon Audit by the Inspector General came back and reported we are missing over 1 Billion dollars worth of equipment.