This small soapbox rant is in no way an attack on the majority. Its sole purpose is to portray the situation as it exists in our state.

A lot of people like to talk about diversity. They like to assume that because they are intelligent; they can adequately account for the experiences and needs of those unlike them. I am here to say that these people are dellusional. When we celebrate diversity, we do not just celebrate the existance of those unlike us, we celebrate their contributions to our world. We celebrate their unique life stories and, in some cases, their unique struggle just to reach a college campus.

We all like to think that we know what goes on in the house of others, but we do not and often cannot. We might have a loose idea of the alcoholism or the dropout rates on Native American reservations, for example, but unless we live it, our claims of solidarity ring hollow. We can analyze and study as much as we want about the experiences of others, but unless we feel the tribulations of those who are different first-hand, we will only have a peripheral knowledge.

Through experience comes understanding, and it is this experience and understanding forged by the trials of everyday life that is at the center of diversity. When we celebrate diversity, we celebrate a people's history, their heritage, their customs and people themselves. We celebrate and share until we can no longer parition our heritage by ethnic or socioeconomic lines. This is the only way that we give true justice to the history of our university, our state, and our nation.

Tonight, I lobbied for a Resolution to the Student Government Association calling for the replacement of the current USD Alma Mater with one more reflective of this institution's history and the collective history of its students, faculty and staff. It was neutered by the Internal Affairs Committee. What occured today was a disgrace; and for anyone to claim the resolution that passed the SGA was a call for diversity would be a disservice to both the term and the ideas reflected by it. What passed today was an attempt to limp along with a campus-wide initiative to increase the diversity. At best, it was an attempt to say much, but ultimately do nothing. So for every Senator who voted for the resolution and SGA president Ryan Budmayr, I will simply say that I believe the resolution passed by your organisation was akin to all of you enthusiastically waving the vestial remenants of your personal conviction and multiculturalism and hoping beyond hope that it is enough of an effort to excuse you for your ignorance. It is not.

I do not pretend that I have either ability or merit to lecture you about the experiences of those different than myself, but I will say that I try my hardest to allow for the expression and exchange of all our personal and ethnic histories. I believe that this exchange leads to the discourse that begets change. And from where I stand, that effort is either beyond your convictions or beyond your capabilities.

Xiao Xi Zhang

First, for the good news -

As you know, Ben Nesselhuf easily defeated Jerad Higman in his re-election campaign, proving that District 17 is one of the finest and most progressive districts in all of South Dakota. Aside from that, we also picked up 4 house seats overall in the state legislature. I believe this gives us a total of 4.

Unfortunately, it's not all pies and roses as the South Dakota Democrats, during an election cycle where the Republican brand was seemingly damaged everywhere, managed to lose a Senate seat in the state legislature. This seems almost incomprehensible. Yes, I understand that the presence of an abortion initiative (yet again) probably drove more conservatives in the polls, and I understand that the State Dems trail the Republicans in both fundraising and tradition, but that cannot be the sole reason for the continued inability of SD Democrats to mount a significant opposition.

There must be a re-evaluation of how things are done here, because it seems to me that our fund allocation was both poor and short-sighted during the course of thsi election. South Dakota is becoming purple on a national level, there's no reason for the Democrats to fail so consistently and so massively on the State level anymore.

There are two things that stood out to me at the Nesselhuff-Higman debate tonight. The first, is that for all the talk of economic development, neither candidate could name a specific way in which they would help economic development, at least directly. The only one, in fact, that offered anything logical and recommended by the state is Senator Nesselhuff, whose commitment to education should be clear to all who attended the debates tonight. After all, no one talks that much about education and would spend so much time working for his education unless he was devoted to the idea of education.

For all the talk of economic development, the main reason South Dakota struggles to create jobs is the lack of an advanced work force. That means that education, particularly science education, must start at the high school level. As Senator Nesselhuff said, this is something he supports and it was the only tangible plan presented tonight. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Higman brought his construction business to District 17, but at the same time, all the management experience is meaningless if he does not have a good grasp about the functions of government. After the debate tonight I am convinced of two things: Ben Nesselhuff is dedicated to the continued evolution of the South Dakota education system and Jerad Higman, for all his experience in business management, does not have any idea how politics work.

What's more, I think it becomes clear to anyone who attended this debate tonight that the difference between Mr. Higman and Senator Nesselhuff is that Ben could not only tell you what he believes, but also tell you with great accuracy what he will do to solve the problems which we face. His understanding of current state laws and his clear, concise answers to questions of policy showed him to be a better candidate on the issues of most importance.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of time dedicated to anything but policy during this debate. If any of you are put off by personal drama, I ask you to stop reading now.

The second thing, unfortunately, that really stood out about the debate for me is something that we're all too familiar with on the national level. At the risk of sounding demeaning, if some of the folks who asked questions at the debate tonight had a drink of water, I'm positive they would grow roots. I'm not accusing one campaign or one organization.....ah hell. Who am I kidding, I am accusing Matt Hittle and the College Republicans of once again being an enabler of the non-functioning political dialogue that has arrested the national exchange of ideas in this country. This was not an event of gotchas and ambushes, it was supposed to be an exchange of ideas and educations about the issues. The fact that someone feels insecure enough to plant obviously preprepared questions in the audience that was more focused on same old politics rather than the exchange that was supposed to define this debate. This does not help the political situation, this hinders it.

For Mr. Higman, it is my sincere wish that you would have no part of this mess, it seems rather petty for someone of your economic standing and stature. For Matt Hittle, I would like to once again accuse you of being a tool. No, in fact, I wouldn't even call you a tool. You, sir, are a sub-tool. A person who has so little meaning that his only function is to polish the tools to allow them to function. You contribute so little to a political process that you seem to be such a big fan of, that I am not sure if you're existance is a paradox to me or just a Greek tragedy. You, sir, are a good example of everything wrong with this political process. I have long believed that these ad hominem attacks have little place in dialogue, but I'll allow myself this small allowance of it.

I am offended by your methods, I am offended by your victim complexes and your idiotic insistence on performing every task with seemingly the most contempt possible for the rules established. I can only hope that you and your party and the crazy, contradictory ideology which has become synonymous with it is driven into regional status forever after this election. This is the only thing I can hope for because I have no hope that you will ever change.

And Tim Carr, you're beneath my contempt.

Hey... Everyone remember that tonight is the free concert in Sioux Falls at the KOC Hall (312 N. Summit)

We all have hooks for hands, Body Electric, Oxford Comma, and Boys of the Queen Bee Mill are playing... so come join us for a while or stay the whole night!

 P.S. The Republicans are putting it on with us so everyone is welcome...

 

Another 72.3 million just to keep what we have.

For you, it's the feeling of accomplishment and the knowledge that you keep the world clean for your progeny.

For the city of Sioux Falls, who sells methane from landfills to energy companies, it's about $184,000.

Best of all is this selection:

Sioux Falls should get its carbon offset payment by December. There's no specific plan for the money, but Smith said he hopes it will be added to the public works budget for future sustainability projects.

"We're going to do the right thing with their money, and the citizens should expect that from government," he said. "People should feel comfortable about how these credits are generated, too."

Also, a quick update on the Economist's Global Electoral college. A week of negative ads have really paid dividents for John McCain as he has made up ground on Barack Obama. He currently trails Senator Obama 8,501 to 16.

Including Charlie Battery, based in my home town of Yankton.

It's quite easy to talk of victory and defeat when you're not a participant in the actual conflict so I will simply say this - the fact that we're still calling on National Guardsmen to fight in Iraq in year 5 of the unfortunate invasion is an indictment to our lack of strategic preparation and a tell-tale sign of how thin our forces are stretched.

 Perpetuating lies is bad form, sir.

I usually dislike straight out linking to a story, but Matt Blake's recent rebuttal of Matthew Hittle's attacks on Ben Nesselhuf was too good to go unread and unreported.

A direct link to the column can be found here.

Last week the president of the USD College Republicans, Matt Hittle, attacked our local state senator, Ben Nesselhuf.

Hittle called him out on a number of issues, including Nesselhuf's support for an increase in the minimum wage and his support of pre-K education.

It is true that Nesselhuf supported both of these issues. I, for one, am thankful that he did. The minimum wage hadn't changed in 10 years and it was time that it did. The state gets $16 for every $1 it invests in pre-K programs so in addition to being good for children, it is also a good financial investment.

Hittle wrongly claimed that Nesselhuf was playing politics with the Hyperion oil refinery. This is an interesting argument, considering that Nesselhuf's bill would have merely held Hyperion to the promises they have made to the people of Clay County.

This sounds much more like a senator who is looking out for his constituents then someone who was playing politics.

Matt Hittle is a hard-core partisan that doesn't let the facts get in the way of a good attack piece.

The facts are that in addition to being the senior member of our legislative delegation to Pierre, Nesselhuf is the first senator from Clay County to hold a senate leadership position in 100 years.

During his eight years in the legislature, he has voted 21 times to create or expand scholarship programs. He has voted nine times for a reduction in tuition to various categories of students, including members of the National Guard.

Ben has helped secure $4.3 million in new construction money for the university, including $1.8 million for the new Lee Medical School building.

In just the past session he worked with the Board of Regents so that they could bond for almost $16 million dollars to upgrade the laboratories here at USD.

Nesselhuf understands the needs of USD because he is a graduate of USD. He grew up in Vermillion.

So why does Matt Hittle attack the record of our senator?

It is because Nesselhuf has proven to be an extremely popular senator. In the last election he won 76 percent of the vote in Vermillion. Hittle knows that the only way you can beat a very popular incumbent is to attack early and often. That might work in whatever state Matt is from, but that does not work in South Dakota.



Reach guest columnist Matt Blake at Matt.Blake@usd.edu

Also found this week was a nice response to the Wiki man, Tim Carr's column about the "attacks" on Sarah Palin and a good summation of why we should expect our elected officials to be knowledgable and accountable.

Well, if you're a student, quite a lot.