Madville Times

• "The Age of Stupid" Plays Saturday at Brookings Public Library

  Number of comments: 0
  No, it's not a movie about Finals Week.
  
  Dakota Grassroots Democracy, South Dakota Resources Coalition, and the SDSU Sierra Club are hosting a showing of The Age of Stupid on Saturday, December 12, at 1 p.m. at the Brookings Public Library. Pete [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 9:15pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Live-Blogging Governor Rounds FY2010 Budget Address

  Number of comments: 3
  Live notes (in case you don't have SDPB handy) on the governor's budget address! Hit Refresh for updates!
  
  Governor Mike Rounds calls it a "basic-needs budget" with an "emphasis on taking care of people."
  
  FY2009 required stimulus to balance, allowing us to avoid touching one penny of [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 1:05pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• South Dakota Survives on Federal Handouts -- Blame the Indians?

  Number of comments: 3
  ...or blame farmers, old folks, and the guy in the passing lane?
  
  Linda McIntyre asked an interesting question a couple weeks ago. In our discussion of fiscal policy, I reminded Linda that South Dakota is a welfare state, and that even if we make the drastic cuts [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:55am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Stop Global Warming: Quit Pitching Virgins into Volcanoes

  Number of comments: 3
  Remember the ruckus in October when SuperFreakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt argued that launching a whole lot of sulfur into the stratosphere might be the quickest way to fight global warming?
  
  A South Dakota State University scientist finds more evidence that they may be [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 9:30am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Crow Creek Fights IRS Infringement of Sovereignty

  Number of comments: 2
  Where is the hue and cry from Allen Unruh, Chris Nelson, and the other South Dakota Tea Partiers?
  
  The Crow Creek Reservation just shrank by about 11 square miles, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The IRS auctioned off a portion of the reservation last week to recover $3.1 million [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 7:59am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Enemy Swim Pre-Schoolers Process Deer

  Number of comments: 0
  If the folks at PETA didn't like the name of Spearfish High School, the curriculum at Enemy Swim Day School should send them up a wall. The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate weekly Sota Iya Ye Yapi reports that the Enemy Swim pre-schoolers recently learned how to process a deer.' [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 5:30am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Tree-Sidewalk Update: Trees Pretty Close... Just Like City and Contractors?

  Number of comments: 1
  On my way to class, I swung by 721 N. Catherine, site of six mighty firs threatened by the city's proposed round of sidewalk installation for the coming year. I was curious: just how close are the trees to the proposed walkway?
  
  Darn close.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 5:59pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Video Postcard: Lake Herman in Winter

  Number of comments: 4
  A video postcard from Lake Herman, on perhaps the most perfect winter day conceivable.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 5:58pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Save the Trees! Madison Sidewalk Rule Threatens Catherine Ave. Firs

  Number of comments: 6
  Tucked away in tonight's Madison City Commission agenda packet (page 42 of the PDF), after all the alcohol license requests, a letter from Arthur and June Gwynne of 721 North Catherine Avenue, seeking relief from deforestation:
  
  We recently received notification of Resolution of Necessity #2730. Our [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:35am EST
  by caheidelberger

• H1N1 Vaccine Safer than South Dakota Highways

  Number of comments: 0
  The state of South Dakota has distributed over 165,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine. By next week, we will have had at least one public vaccine clinic in every county of the state. According to the Center for Disease Control's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (it's online! it's' [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• FTC Blog Regs Don't Block Astroturf, Like 2004 Thune Blog

  Number of comments: 0
  So let's see, if I understand the new FTC rules on blog advertising and self-disclosure, campaigns like the 2004 John Thune online astroturf campaign against Tom Daschle are still legal. The FTC rules only cover products, services, companies, and industries. Paid campaign advisors Jon Lauck can still do [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 8:21am EST
  by caheidelberger

• South Dakota's Dunn, Operation Free Vets Invade Copenhagen

  Number of comments: 8
  Want climate change legislation done right? Send in the United States military... or at least the veterans representing Operation Free! USD's Volante reports that South Dakota Army National Guard veteran Leighann Dunn is traveling to the big climate conference in Copenhagen to make the case for stronger action [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 7:42pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• "Let's Fix a Deer": Neighbor Recommends Christmas Light Tool

  Number of comments: 2
  Fellow Lake County blogger and DSU guy John Nelson recommends the LightKeeper Pro Christmas light repair tool. It sounds like typical infomercial junk-drawer filler, but John says it works! The coolest selling point for me: the storage compartments in the handle for spare bulbs and fuses. That, and the [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 10:40am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Wind Farms: No Effect on Home Sale Prices

  Number of comments: 0
  A new Department of Energy study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that having a wind farm in the neighborhood doesn't appear to "have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices." Researchers Ben Hoen, Ryan Wiser, Peter Cappers, Mark Thayer, and Gautam' [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 9:15am EST
  by caheidelberger

• SHS, Dems Pass Estate Tax Relief for 99.75% of Americans

  Number of comments: 17
  As Dakota War College continues to regurgitate the press release from GOP Central, let's get a reality check on HR 4154, the estate tax relief bill that the House passed this week. SHS voted aye for once with the Dem majority. DWC's commenters grumble that SHS is voting [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 10:25am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Less Gasoline, Less Oil Flowing, More Demand for Fuel Efficiency: Who Needs Hyperion?

  Number of comments: 1
  Evidence continues to pile up that there is no viable business case for the proposed Hyperion oil refinery near Elk Point. My friends at the SD Tar Sands Pipeline blog note that demand for gasoline is dropping. SDTSP points to a Wall Street Journal report that Valero is [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 9:15am EST
  by caheidelberger

• South Dakota Groups Apply for $250 Million in Broadband Stimulus

  Number of comments: 1
  Among the stimulus dollars still to be pumped into the economy: $4 billion in grants and $3.2 billion in loans to expand broadband Internet access to underserved areas. The feds have received 1130 applications to build "last-mile" services—the projects that lay the cable or erect the towers that get signal [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 8:12am EST
  by caheidelberger

• SHS Triangulation Fails; Nelson Argues Procedural Votes

  Number of comments: 3
  South Dakota Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has pursued a strategy this year of voting against key issues pushed by the Democratic leadership in Washington. Her votes against energy security legislation, credit card reform, student loan reform and Pell Grant expansion, health care reform all appear [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 9:05am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Brookings Debate Alum Building Green Jobs for Veterans

  Number of comments: 0
  A debate pal points me toward Veterans Green Jobs, an organization that helps our military men and women get good jobs in the private sector that will do little things like promote "America’s transition to energy independence, ecological restoration, community renewal, and economic prosperity."
  
  Among their staff: [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 9:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• KJAM Celebrates 50th Anniversary

  Number of comments: 3
  Who is that man with the face too good for radio?
  
  
  
  Guys used to wear neckties on the radio. Really! And they didn't even have webcams back then.
  
  That's original KJAM broadcaster John Goeman, who was on the air on Day [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 7:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Midwest and Plains Better Off Than Other Rural Areas

  Number of comments: 5
  Mke Knutson expresses his sentiment that rural America hasn't enjoyed the same economic propserity as the rest of the country. He also notes some alarm over the possibility that rural America could lose out as states cut budgets for rural-oriented projects like extension programs.
  
  Economically speaking, maybe' [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 6:37am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Lake County Ag Online -- Watch Stip Auction Video from Machinery Pete

  Number of comments: 0
  Farm fans, auction fans, thank goodness for YouTube. Greg Peterson—a.k.a. Machinery Pete—covers farm auctions all over the continent. He came to Lake County Tuesday to watch used equipment sell for six figures. Machinery Pete shot this video of some of the big bidders at the Stip Brothers estate [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 7:45pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Special Interests Spending Public Option off the Table

  Number of comments: 2
  I mentioned last month that there is a pretty clear correlation between how House members voted on health care reform and how much money they've received from health and insurance industry donors.
  
  South Dakota's Blue Dog Congresswoman has previously stated she finds the suggestion that votes are swayed' [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 12:30pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Local Economy: No Madison Momentum into Holiday Season

  Number of comments: 4
  Christmas is coming, so I'd like to give you good news about the local economy. Unfortunately, I'm not finding it.
  
  As the Madison Daily Leader reported last week, unemployment in Lake County jumped from 5.8% to 7.0% in October. According to the state Department of Labor, we [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 9:02am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Speaking of Communism, How Was Your Thanksgiving?

  Number of comments: 2
  The Rooted Pasque of Sioux Falls draws our attention to a fragment of social history with a South Dakota connection on Letters of Note, a fascinating blog that highlights old letters. On August 17, 1939, Robert S. Benson and Clarabelle Voight wrote to the White House to protest [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 8:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Boyden: Raw Milk Sales Good for South Dakota

  Number of comments: 0
  ...just skip the Stalinist pogrom talk.
  
  Boy, if you thought I was cranky about South Dakota's effort to ban raw milk sales, read what journalist, former Marine, and Indian Country activist Richard Boyden has to say on the topic. Boyden offers a great breakdown of the reasons [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 7:11am EST
  by caheidelberger

• 1Sky and South Dakotans Urge Stronger Climate Change Legislation

  Number of comments: 3
  Speakers at 1Sky SD press conference (L–R): Tom Kilian, South Dakota Future Society; Jamie Horter, student, Augustana College; Eric Gage, veteran, Operation Free; Zachary Keith, director 1Sky SD....they disagree with Senator Thune, so it must be an evil fascist conspiracy, right?
  
  Messrs. Price [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 6:14am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Operation Free: Vets Discuss Climate Change and National Security Dec. 9 at USD

  Number of comments: 12
  Failing to act on clean energy policy and climate change makes the world a more dangerous place and threatens America's national security. Just ask some veterans who've had to fight in Iraq for dinosaur energy:
  
  
  
  Maybe Bob Ellis will have the guts to' [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 12:45pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Nothing But Good News on Wind Power

  Number of comments: 0
  Good news on wind power—but wait, there's more!
  Mike Knutson at Reimagine Rural finds (via The Rural Blog and Fortune Magazine) a study showing that the wind power industry employs 85,000 workers... 4,000 more than the coal mining industry! That's also a one-year increase of 70%.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 8:08am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Nothing Runs Like a Deere Wind Turbine!

  Number of comments: 0
  I've previously floated the idea that our newly expanded John Deere dealership in Madison's Earmark Plaza could boost its profile (and Madison's) by erecting some wind turbines along Highway 34.
  
  Some John Deere dealers in less windy states are already jumping on that idea:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 8:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Wind Experts Focus on Solutions, See Better Opportunity Without Big Stone II

  Number of comments: 2
  Badlands Blue does a fine job of dissecting the continuing pro-coal smokescreen at Dakota War College. On a day when the new about wind power is nothing but optimistic, DWC's Pat Powers can only seethe and whine about "enviro-nuts and the Obama administration" killing the coal-fired Big Stone [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 7:43am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Nelson, Munsterman Go Hard Right, Take Stage with Radicals

  Number of comments: 12
  I had hoped Chris Nelson might hold the center and restore a little practical policy sanity to the Republican Party. I had thought Scott Munsterman might be a sensible technocrat who just might concentrate on governing and resist the Wesleyan urge for culture war. Maybe, just maybe...?
  
  Pffft—the cast [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 5:41pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Stip Estate Auction: Photos!

  Number of comments: 2
  I've uploaded my photos from the Stip Brothers' estate auction to Flickr. I had to head in to work before the bidding started at Stip HQ, but I'll bet the auctioneers will still be chanting away through the rows of tires and tanks and trucks and tractors after' [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 11:00am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Stip Auction Draws Huge Attendance

  Number of comments: 0
  The Stip estate auction is off and running. I'm working on some photos of the huge lines of machinery, not to mention the hundreds of trucks and occasional cars filling the fields and roads around the farm headquarters. Stay tuned for a photo update later today.
  
  But for' [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 9:54am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Make University Research Relevant: Blog It!

  Number of comments: 4
  Our man Hunter pines for more applied research from our universities... but he also calls on folks outside academia to pay more attention to the papers our eggheads are currently churning out:
  
  The state of South Dakota has an office whose mission is to help commercialize the research [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 7:47am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Rapid City Hansen-Larsen Park: Best Biking in America?

  Number of comments: 0
  I know some folks think a good bicycle transportation network is just a luxury. But good bike trails can make for some darn good press for your town. Look at the attention Rapid City is getting for its newest bike trails, the Hansen-Larsen Memorial Park. One magazine [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 7:27am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Google Sends Texas Kids to Madville Times... for Algebra Help

  Number of comments: 6
  At 2:19 this afternoon, some poor soul on the Dallas County Schools network Googled this question:
  
  stephanie's phone plan charges her a price that is directly proportional to the number of minutes she talks. one month she talked 2010 minutes and paid $67. if she talks 1400 minutes, how [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 4:12pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Another School Board Blogger -- Great Idea for Madison!

  Number of comments: 0
  When I chatted with her at Prairie Village three months ago, Tammy Jo Zingmark made it sound like it would take an act of Congress to get the Madison Central School Board to start a blog.
  
  Blogging Watertown school board member Fred Deutsch shows that school-board blogging [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 9:00am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Mitchell Paper Misses Big Oil Mouthpiece Fib

  Number of comments: 2
  A couple weeks ago, Badlands Blue ably covered the Mitchell Daily Republic's airing of Big Oil propaganda and failure to talk to in-state experts on what's at stake in surrendering our land rights and environmental security to foreign dinosaur power.
  
  Tonight, as I reread the AP-RCJ reprint, [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 9:02pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Stip Auction Tuesday -- Chance to Boost Small Farms?

  Number of comments: 14
  Advertising hype usually sets off my B.S. meter. When someone tells me a sale will be the "Absolute Auction of the Decade," I'm naturally skeptical.
  
  Wieman Auction of Marion is making this claim straight-faced about the Stip Brothers estate auction Tuesday right here in Lake County. They may' [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:50pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Press Loves Big Oil, Ignores Property Rights

  Number of comments: 6
  Republicans love socialist redistribution... when it serves their big-business sensibilities. In the run-up to Turkey Day, Madison Daily Leader publisher Jon Hunter gave thanks for the TransCanada Keystone pipelines:
  
  There are many challenges with acquiring rights of way, construction and financing to build such a pipeline. But in [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 5:22pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Health Care: Small Business Sees Need for Uncle Sam Insurance

  Number of comments: 2
  The Chamber of Commerce and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin obviously aren't speaking for small business. The Main Street Alliance recognizes that health insurance reform is good for business, not to mention our fellow Americans:
  
  Rick Poore spent $61,000 in health insurance premiums last year for the employees' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 9:43am EST
  by caheidelberger

• My New Holiday Hat?

  Number of comments: 4
  Quick holiday photo puzzle—what is that on my head?
  
  
  

  
  
  New Russian hat?
  
  Head-mounted battering ram for plowing through Black Frdiay shopping crowds?
  
  Franken Mobiel Satellite Uplink 2.0?
  
  Nope. Something even more valuable:
  
  
  
  [...]

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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:28am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Friday Fun Foto: So Simple, So Elegant...

  Number of comments: 0
  The holidays bring out my sense of irony.
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:08am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Brighten Black Friday: Buy Less, Give More!

  Number of comments: 4
  Mr. Gebhart picks up the theme of fighting Black Friday with some great suggestions for local giving. Instead of contributing to the bottom line at the Empire Mall, that Progressive on the Prairie plans to celebrate Reverend Billy's Buy Nothing Day by opening his wallet to the [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 9:25am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Cause for Thanks: Spock Replaces Riley in White House

  Number of comments: 6
  Dithering? No, John, that's called thinking.
  
  Dr. Newquist hit a similar theme at the beginning of the month. Now Ned Hodgman reads Joel Achenbach's Washington Post assessment of President Barack Obama's Spock-like decision-making and leadership and offers this Thanksgiving thought:
  
  The world is too complicated [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 6:15am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Smart Grid Saves You Money with Transparent, Timely Energy Pricing

  Number of comments: 7
  Those darn greenies and their good ideas, saving us money....
  
  I was just reading my Sioux Valley Energy newsletter when I came upon another really good explanation (available here in PDF) of how the smart grid will save you and me money.
  
  Sioux Valley Energy is [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 9:29am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Thank Family Farmers Michelle and Barack for Vegetarian State Dinner

  Number of comments: 4
  As the Thank a Farmer® marketing campaign gets play on the usual industrial ag propaganda sites, I notice no grateful mention of the efforts of new urban farmers Michelle [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 8:51am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Brighten Black Friday: Buy Less, Give More!

  Number of comments: 0
  Mr. Gebhart picks up the theme of fighting Black Friday with some great suggestions for local giving. Instead of contributing to the bottom line at the Empire Mall, that Progressive on the Prairie plans to celebrate Reverend Billy's Buy Nothing Day by opening his wallet to the [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:00am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Save Money, Save Lives: Skip Black Friday for Advent Conspiracy

  Number of comments: 2
  What would Jesus do on Black Friday? I doubt he'd be clipping coupons.
  
  
  
  It's consumer frenzy time again. Gorge yourself at the table Thursday, gorge your shopping cart at the mall Friday. I feel ill already.
  
  KELO runs the usual "buy buy buy!" propaganda under' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 10:40am EST
  by caheidelberger