Darrel Hinkle was complaining about waiting for his Brother Jerry Hinkle to get done with breakfast so they could feed calves. He said that Jerry should have been done 40 minutes before. "I was in bed 40 minutes ago", Jerry shot back. "You ought to spent a night or two with Grandad, then you'd know what it's like". Darrel said jokingly, "I will if you'll spend the night with Kristi" Jerry then laughed and said, "OK, outside of the improvement, she'll never know the difference". As soon as Kristi gives the green light to this project, the Holabird Advocate just might have some very interesting things to report. Don't hold your breath on that.

Just when I think the last aria has been sung in the ponderous Wagnerian opera that was Campaign 2004 a new one pops up for your friendly Falstaffian baritone. Call this one "Der Blogs." You can hum Ride Of The Valkyrie to set the tone. There are signs that some of South Dakota's Democrats are stirring. I'm told that former state party head Rick Hauffe and others are writing for http://revitalizesddems.blogspot.com/. One of the blog (short for web log) founders tells me it is not an official party effort but a grassroots movement to light some candles rather than curse the dark, to make the Democratic Party more relevant to South Dakotans. As he puts it, "We're going to use a tool the Right has hit us over the head with for our own ends."And hit over the head they were. I've written a couple of columns questioning the origin of some of the anti-Daschle, anti-Argus, and mildly anti-Hemmingsen rants. One of the things the Republicans didn't make loud noises over is that people inside the Thune campaign managed to steer at least 35 thousand dollars to a couple of the bloggers and, in turn, their blogs...Which look like news but are more like campaign literature that comes by email rather than snail mail. Jon Lauck, Assistant Professor of History at SDSU, tells me he is writing a book about the Daschle-Thune race. One has to wonder how objective it can be since he got 27 thousand dollars from the Right to, as he is quoted in other articles, "light a prairie fire of populism" with his blogging http://daschlevthune.typepad.com/. That prairie fire included an effort to unhorse Dave Kranz from the KELOLAND/Argus Leader sponsored debates. Jason Van Beek's blog http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/, also with money from the Thune side of the fence, tried to paint Kranz as a college cohort of Tom Daschle's going back to their student days at SDSU in the late 1960's. Kranz says he barely knew Daschle in those days. And since Kranz and I are old friends going back to the budding of our careers in Austin, Minnesota, I tend to believe him.There's no question that the blogs, which the Democrats wrote off but which are cheap to start, were an adjunct to the Thune victory. It was mostly TV commercials and Bush coattails, but in a close one everything is in play. For their part, the Democrats might try a little honesty with their candidates. Most of them, including Senators Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson, run under a "don't ask, don't tell" banner. You hardly ever hear them mention their party except at party functions. It's probably good politics in an inherently Republican state, but it didn't work this time. At least the bloggers were there to keep reminding us that Daschle is a Democrat. Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth concedes to being a "Blue Dog" Democrat, of which there are only 30 in Congress. They're Democrats who think like Republicans on money matters, supposedly. I'm still not clear on where the name, "Blue Dog," came from. Our picks in Congress are becoming more important as the rest of the country's taxpayers wise up to the politics of the pork barrel. I see that South Dakota now gets only $1.49 back for every dollar we send to Washington. It used to be around three dollars. The jocular reason for sending Democrats to Washington to bring home the bacon so Republicans can spend it wisely is being sliced thinner. Hey, maybe it's not a joking matter anymore.

Medical Marijuana has become the latest buzzword in the media. This issue is nothing new. In fact it's been in the headlines every little once in a while ever since the People's Republic of California made it legal some 8 years ago.

I know very little about the health benefit of cannabis. All I really know is that it is supposedly good for increasing the appetites of Terminal Cancer patients and people with AIDS (Is that what they call "The munchies"?). These people are going to die anyway, so I don't see the harm there. Some worry about getting addicted, so I guess I could go either way there.

"Pot Perscriptions" have been made for all kinds of malady's. Glaucoma, back pain, depression, and even baldness. There are plenty of legal drugs for those ailments. I don't really see the point there. Kinda overkill, isn't it? I can't get over prescribing Mary Jane for baldness. How does it work? Does one smoke a joint until they forget that they have no hair (Ah yes, and thereby hangs the depression cure as well).

If there is any Reader out there who has any first or second hand knowledge about this subject, please feel free to small me. All replies will be kept off the record, unless you request otherwise.