Tea Party Shutdown Pols Worsen South Dakota Ag Calamity

The small government Tea Party/Republicans who hold and have intentionally strangled the reins of power in South Dakota are making it harder for ranchers to cope with massive livestock losses inflicted by a recent record-setting early blizzard.

Whether Super Storm Sandy, Oklahoma tornadoes or a killer blizzard - - the last thing you need in the wake of a natural catastrophe are added obstacles thrown up by small minds preaching smaller ineffective government resource distribution:

Ranchers looking for guidance on how to document their losses with the federal Farm Service Agency, whose workers have been furloughed, are, as some here say, “plumb out of luck.” And the stalling of a farm bill in Congress has left many families skeptical about whether disaster relief will ever come.