Big Stone II selected for midwinter falsehood festival

The Obama accession to presidential office has challenged the petulant and malevolent to put their best efforts forward in a festival of malignity, inanity, and misinformation.

The blogosphere is chock full of mentally and spiritually uplifting efforts this weekend. A couple of professors have decided that those literate enough to read blog posts need to be lectured on the evils of incest. One of those edifying sallies is illustrated with a family portrait of the Obamas.


Another of the great wits, who makes such generous contributions to the excellence of discourse in blogland, announced, under the guise of telling truth to wind power, that the "Obama environmentalists kill SD Energy Project." A string of South Dakota's finest thoughts and expressions follow the post.

However, journalist Bob Mercer takes the wind out of the gaseous assaults on credulity by doing some workmanlike reporting on the EPA's objections to the air quality permit issued to the Big Stone power plant. Here is his report in its entirety:

PIERRE - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants changes in the clean-air permit issued last year for the Big Stone power plant in northeastern South Dakota.

The state Board of Minerals and Environment approved two permits in November. One is the new Title V clean-air operating permit for the existing Big Stone coal-fired electricity plant near Milbank. The other is the PSD clean-air permit for construction and initial operation of the proposed Big Stone II coal-fired plant that will be built next door.

EPA notified the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources by telephone on Wednesday that it had objections to the Title V permit. DENR received a 16-page letter from EPA detailing the objections on Thursday, the final day for EPA to complete its review.

"We're still trying to figure it out," state Environment Secretary Steve Pirner said Friday night. EPA's letter focuses on the Title V permit for Big Stone, not the PSD permit needed for construction of the Big Stone II. But both come into play in EPA's objections.

The Title V permit for Big Stone contains some provisions regarding Big Stone II, because the plants will be operated side by side. Under the clean-air permitting process, Big Stone II would need to apply for its own full Title V permit after it is built and has operated for a few months. One of the changes sought by EPA is amendment of the Title V permit for Big Stone to reflect the PSD permit provisions for Big Stone II.

Opponents to Big Stone II meanwhile have filed a lawsuit in state circuit court challenging the PSD permit for Big Stone II.Otter Tail Power, Montana-Dakota Utilities and three other utilities want to build the Big Stone II to meet an anticipated growing demand for electricity.

A Sierra Club official issued a statement Friday praising the EPA."This is a great day not only for clean energy and people's health, it's a victory for the rule of law," Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal Campaign, said in a release. "EPA is signaling that it is back to enforcing long-standing legal requirements fairly and consistently nationwide."

"The press release was a total mischaracterization," responded Dan Sharp, communications director for the Big Stone II project.Neither Pirner nor Otter Tail's Sharp saw the EPA objections as a death knell for the Big Stone II project."It's a standard procedure for EPA to review Title V permit applications," Sharp said. "This is not unusual."

Pick yourself up: Obama sets the theme from the Great American Song Book

In an inauguration that paid special homage to Abraham Lincoln and his legacy in defining America, Barack Obama also reached into the Great American Song Book for a number from the Great Depression. He outlined the strenuous work, the diligence, and the courage it has taken from the many who built America over the last three centuries, saying it was not a task for the faint-hearted. In facing our current massive problems, he said, “Starting to day, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America.”

He was quoting from a song by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields that was written for 1936 Depression-era film “Swing Time.” The song is a dance number performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers., a song of lilting lyrics and chord changes, a favorite of jazz musicians. It has been recorded by Anita O’Day, Nat King Cole, his daughter Natalie, Diana Krall, to name a few. I especially recall the George Shearing Quintet version that bolstered the spirits and resolve of us students when I was a college undergraduate.

You can go to this YouTube Link and pick from a number of videos to hear and see the song performed, including the original film version.

So, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again. And swing your booty to this tune.

Nothing's impossible, I have found.
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up, dust myself off,
Start all over again.

Don't lose your confidence if you slip.
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up; dust yourself off;
Start all over again.

Work like a soul inspired
'Til the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you'll be a man, my son.

Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again.
So take a deep breath;
Pick yourself up;
Dust yourself off;
Start all over again.

Woops. Don't put the hollerin' pot away just yet.

While the rest of the world expressed its elation at the intended revival of American democracy, the malign souls on the South Dakota blogosphere went about their usual business, expressing their usual malice, peevishness, and perversion of the facts. From the blog aggregator, here is a sampling of their deconstruction of the inauguration:

Obama vows to execute faithfully

Remake American Into Whose Image?

Looking Back, Looking Up: Reagan’s Inaugural Address, 1981

Liberal Angst in D.C. on Inauguration Day

Inauguration or Coronation?

The dilemma of praying for Obama

Several SD We-Love-Abortion events upcoming

Did ‘the God of Our Many Understandings’ Hear?

Pro-Life Rallies Mobilize as Pro-Abortion President Takes Office

Obama sides with the exterminators of the black race not the liberators

Why it’s ok for Conservatives to enjoy the inauguration - Because it’s Obama’s turn at the dunking booth.

Obama propaganda

The prize for total failure of sentience in contemporary times goes to this entry:

What I’m Confused About: Did that Pastor really say what I thought I heard?

So, during the benediction, that pastor really did say “when white learns what’s right”? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

For the record, such as it may be, here is who the Rev. Lowry is and what the heck he meant, which can be gathered from the full transcript of his benediction.

Transcript of Rev. Lowery's Inaugural Benediction

Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., delivered the benediction at the inaugural ceremony. Below is a transcription of his address, provided by CQ Transcriptwire:

[*] LOWERY: God of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pay now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

LOWERY: For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

LOWERY: And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around...

(LAUGHTER)

... when yellow will be mellow...

(LAUGHTER)

LOWERY: ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen.

LOWERY: Say Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen.

LOWERY: And Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen

You can take your head out of the hollerin' pot, mama

In slavery times, slave holders did not want their slaves going to their own churches. They wanted to control whatever theological ideas were expressed. Their message was that God ordained slavery and any resistance to it was contrary to the will of God. Messages from the New Testament were particularly dangerous, so slaves were encouraged to memorize and recite the genelology sections of the Old Testament. That is where "counting the dozens" originated.

But the message of the New Law was not successfully suppressed, and black churches were formed and found ways to keep alive the messages of hope and freedom, sometimes in codes right in front of the slaveholders, but often in secret. It was common for slaves to hold church services at secret times in secret places. Accounts tell of slaves sneaking off to remote places on the plantations in the dark of night. Part of the service involved the confession of sins, and included the sins committed against the slaves as well as any they might commit. Because such sessions got noisy, it became the custom to make a big, iron pot a part of the service. The people would put their heads in the pot, cover up with a blanket, and pray away to God about how miserable life was. The did a lot of reporting on the sins perpetrated by Ol' Master, his family, and friends. One account records that one woman who worked in the plantation house tended to hog the hollerin' pot so that other people did not get a full turn at unloading their grievances.

When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was shown on video tapes excoriating white society in Obama's former church, he was preaching in the tradition of the hollerin' pot. And in having made his grievances made public, he showed the need for a hollerin' pot. Good, white people don't like to have their transgressions against other people aired in public.

The inauguration of Barack Obama into the office of President has been one that has celebrated all the steps toward freedom for all people that the country has taken since Lincoln. Personally, I was a supporter of Obama when he ran for the U.S, Senate, and I recall being in Winnipeg one February Saturday when he announced his run for the presidency on the steps of the Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. All those messages shouted into the hollerin' pot resonated, and Obama's announcement suggested that the work started by Lincoln could be resumed in earnest. But I had doubts. My mother-in-law said that the people of America would never elect a black man president. As I heard some leaders in the state Democratic Party voice racial attitudes, I thought that her statement might well be true.

The celebration of Barack Obama's inauguration has a sense of liberation, as if we can retire the hollerin' pot. Hope, freedo;m, equality, and justice have once again been put at the fore.

The hollerin' pot can be put in the museum. But it should be carefully kept and maintained in case we might need it again.

A day when everyone did everything right

The crash landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River is an inspiring story of competence, skill, and cool-headedness after a string of disasters in this country when no one seemed to know what or how to do anything.

Capt. Sully demonstrates what training, proficiency, intelligence, and professionalism are supposed to be about. He reminds me of the pilots who flew me and my Army colleagues between the U.S. and Europe a number of times and throughout Europe, and when we took hops on training flights to get free transportation when going on leave. Flight crews had great respect for the pilots who worked to keep up their skills and their mental edge, and they let we passengers know we were in good hands.

But in the stories about the successful ditching of the Airbus ( which also seemed to do what it is supposed to do in such situations), I have found nothing about the boat pilots and rescue crews that were on the scene immediately and took the passengers and crew to land. As an old river rat who has traversed river currents in everything from canoes to houseboats, I can appreciate the job these workers did in completing a successful rescue.

And it feels so good to have everything go right for a change.

Photography: it's back

The personal computer and the Internet have made one major improvement for the news media. It has rediscovered the slide show or photo gallery and the efficacy of written news copy illustrated with carefully composed and selected photographs.

As one who habitually, well, okay, addictively, searches for the most thorough but succinct and clear presentations of news, I find myself relying on the online versions of major newspapers more and more, and a few of the comprehensive online efforts such as The Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post uses an old newspaper device of providing a brief summary of its stories so that a reader can quickly decide whether to read a detailed version or go on to something else. Newspapers used to do this by providing sub-headlines under the major headlines so people could scan the newspaper and select those stories they want to read immediately, note those thely wanted to come back to, and dismiss those they found irrelevant to their needs or interests. The editors understood that most people do not have the luxury of unlimited time to spend on looking for and reading news--or the inclination, for most.

Photojournalism has added a deep dimension to news coverage. The problem with newspapers was that editors had to choose one or just a few photographs to illustrate a story. Even photo magazines, such as the old Life were limited as to the number of photos they could use, and often some very effective and informing photos had to be left out. Television brought the age of the video, and stories were written to explain the visuals rather than visuals being produced to amplify the story. Still photography maintained a place in reporting, but was regarded as a lesser form than motion photography.

The digital age has changed all that. With digital cameras, photo computer programs, and instantaneous transfer of images onto screens and printers, many disadvantages in photography have been surmounted. As a journalist, I could shoot basic pictures, but not with the skill and effect of our best staff photographers. In shooting an assignment, we generally carried three or four types of film so we could adjust to the lighting requirements, the nature of the shoot--action, still, landscape, etc. And then we had to process what we came up with--with factors like the freshness of the chemicals and the water temperature to be accommodated. A routine photo assignment would produce 25 to 75 negatives to examine, select from, and edit. Color photos required much more intensive and extensive labor to produce.

However, the still picture has had recognized advantages. The main one is that a good photograph can be studied and contemplated at length. An effective still photo arrests the senses and conveys quite a different experience than does motion photography.

The Internet has brought a resurgence of still photography. Most news photography on television is marginal in its production. Podcasts tend to be dreadful. Still pictures allow viewers to get into a moment.

Now news organizations put up slide shows or galleries of an event. The above photo of the crashing of the passenger jet into the Hudson River captures the significant emphasis of the survival of the passengers as they wait on the crafts wings for rescue. But a series of photos (click here) show more details of the rescue.

On the local level, this series of a boys basketball game in the Argus leader captures the event in a way that adds a dimension to watching the players in motion.

However, the main diffference is that the photography in these examples supports the writing of the stories and restores good reporting, writing, and editing as the essential basis for effective journalism.

Minneapolis Star Tribune files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Another major newspaper is adding a graph to its obituary. The Minneapolis Star Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last night.

The most comprehensive account is this story by its rival, the St. Paul Pioneer Press.