You provided the response I expected from you. Refuse to answer simple questions and then throw out an allegation and question my motives. You post a politically controversial link (for information only of course)- I responded with questions. Were my questions too hard for you? I think you love being the center of attention on this site. You can't take it when someone has the gall to question you. Sorry for stealing your thunder- thing is I don't think many pay you that much attention.

Would you two knock it off already? Honestly. mouthpiece, stop letting jorge push your buttons! He loves to do it. He obviously despises you personally, and it's his goal to bring you down. He's playing you like a violin. jorge, you pretty much turn my stomach. You remind me of the school bully who taunts some poor kid mercilessly and unendingly on the playground so you can have the crowd in the palm of your hand.
Enough already, jorge. The adults on this forum will have to take steps (requesting that you have your own time out forum room so you can pick things apart to your heart's content without being on center stage) if you don't get off this singular agenda already, and stretch your character and brain to come up with a productive way to participate. As for your taunt that no one pays much attention to mouthpiece anyway -- I don't know if that's true, but .... who the heck cares? Good grief. It's a forum, not a contest for Most Popular Kid in the School.

Great of you to come to mouthpieces defense. So I turn your stomach-that's pretty strong isn't it?? Sorry-don't mean to be offensive. Political controversy isn't always easy to broach nicely. Mouthpiece takes the opportunity to express his political opinions on this forum under the guise of providing the public information. It's all about his version of good government-I would have very willingly dropped this after 1 post if he would have addressed any of the issues that were brought up in the Strib article. He didn't and he won't-he wants a couple of weeks to see if he can then justify the post.

Back to the politics of this discussion-Al Franken probably epitomizes everything that's wrong with todays political system. A big money, media driven system where an inexperienced entertainer can somehow find himself elected to the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate. I view the Senator (I suspect) with the same derision that Mouthpiece does. That said-this sensationalist news story from the Strib had nothing to do with the job the Senator is currently doing to represent us-it was about a employer/employee conflict. I've got nothing against the Mouthpiece personally-just wish he'd take his political stance and not hide behind his claim of "reporting and informing" the voters.

Well written jorge016. "A soft answer turneth away wrath." It is good to know that the issue is in delivery. That's something we can all improve on. Thanks for "reporting" about today's "big money, media driven political system." If you and mouthpiece ever learn to approach each other without the sparks going off I bet it would be fun to listen to. As it is one has to wait for the fur to stop flying before the good stuff comes up.

My understanding is that news media reports stories from everyone else. That is what the AP (Associated Press) is about. Media sharing stories with media. Different papers print stories from other medias. They give credit for it and in the same way here we talk about a story we have read and link it right to the source. It is about people reading something of interest to them and sharing it with their neighbors. Some people are more gifted at describing the story than others. It helps to have a friend who can clear up the details for them.

Is politics your only interest? There is another thread that talks about SD introducing a bill to further restrict the sale of fresh (raw) milk. Do you have an opinion on government restricting farmers from selling their produce? I would be interested to read anything you have to report on the subject.

See Got (Raw) Milk? here.

Ladyhawk, thanks for your response. I don't mean to contradict you but
my "reporting" on today's political situation wasn't reporting-it was
my opinion. It was editorializing.

Mouthpiece may well be trying to be the AP of the Big Stone area-if his
true intent is to inform-that's great. In this case he might have lead
with the link rather than:

"HomeTown Farm Aide had a disagreement with a Washington Bureaucrat"

in my opinion "hometown farm aide" would be us and "Washington
Bureaucrat" would be them. That line informs no one and makes the
entire post an editorial. I would hope that anyone who wants (including
mouthpiece) would state their political opinions on this forum. If and
when they do - be prepared to have them questioned and then defend the
position. Yes I'm guilty of pushing Mouthpieces hot buttons - I'd
simply like him to take responsibility for his posts and defend them
when called out.

I'm not going to beat this dead horse any longer-I'll insert this link
only to blatantly support my position on this issue. Please note that
it is from a blog-just one more opinion.

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2010/01/13/14920/whats_with_the_star_tribunes_overblown_franken_staffing_story

My position on the raw milk issue is simple. I drank raw milk for the
first 20+ years of my life. It came from a dairy with high standards
for sanitation and quality. No one in the family or any visitor ever
got sick from drinking that milk and cream. I hate seeing the gov't
meddle in every decision in our life especially local foods. That said
if I was a dairy farmer in this culture where litigation is threatened
over every little issue, I would gladly sell raw milk to all who
wanted-they would however be required to sign an iron clad waiver of
liability. One unfortunate illness pinned fairly or unfairly on raw
milk could easily cost one the farm.

Good rebuttal article. Thanks for sharing that. It helps to get different perspectives. In my opinion any "reporting" always has the perspective of the writer and therefore can be also considered "editorialized." In this media (as really with any media) it is up to the discretion of the reader to use their judgement. In the two articles sited above you can see different perspectives of the same incident. Would one article be considered "reporting" and the other "editorial?" They were both "reporting" but could also be considered "editorial" in that they were using the writers perspective (opinion?) to guide what they wrote about. To me the two are interchangeable and we should always be on our guard to pay attention to what is "fact" in an story and what is "opinion."

Something you may find of use to you (and actually everyone making a post) is when you are typing your post there are little square boxes above the body of the message you are typing in. One of those boxes contain two links like in a chain. When you click on that button a small window opens up with two lines. In the first line you can paste in the web address of the article you are linking to. In the second line you can type in the title of the article or "Click here to see article" or what ever you want to say to identify the article. When you click the "ok" then it pastes the link into your post. It looks better and works swell.
To read more about it click here.

Thanks for your opinion on the possible restriction on farmers being able to sell their produce. It is an important issue and in my opinion one where everyone has an interest. It does affect us all. One subject that I fully support is farms and farmers who want to sell local. This site is ready to be of assistance, to be of service to keep the public informed to the needs or growth of the local food market. Local foods is one subject that is not "political" and people should set aside their differences in that area and should all work together. It is in the best interest of the whole community to use every resource available to keep the public informed. At one time the leadership in the local food market was actively using this site to inform the public on their activities but for some reason we haven't' heard much from them for awhile. I do hope that it is still an active community and they are moving forward and hope to hear more about it.