OK, it’s almost a trend, going by the standard set by my wise long-ago colleague Jerry Ratts, the Sage of Wichita, who often proclaimed from his throne on the metro desk, “That’s twice. Once more and it’s a trend, and we can send it to Lifestyles.” (I assure you that this is wildly funny if you ever worked at the Wichita paper. And if you didn’t, count your blessings.)
Trend or no, it’s disturbing that a fortnight after Joel Lourie announced that he was leaving the S.C. Senate after this term, Paul Thurmond announced the same:
State Sen. Paul Thurmond of Charleston, son of political legend Strom Thurmond, said he won’t run for re-election next year as his family is about to get even larger.
Thurmond said Tuesday that he and his wife are expecting their fifth child in December, meaning the demands of his family are overtaking politics.
“We’re truly blessed,” he said.
He plans to return to Columbia when the Statehouse session kicks up again in January but won’t file for the Republican primary that’s scheduled for June….
The departure of Thurmond may not be quite the blow the loss of Lourie is (especially to us in the Midlands), but the freshman has shown great promise. I refer you to his speech explaining why he would vote to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds — a speech that would have been extraordinary and inspiring even if his name were not Thurmond.
I hope the Senate doesn’t lose any more people. If it does, you won’t read about it here, because I will have turned it over to Lifestyles. Right, Ratts?
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Thinking back — I wonder if Joel’s decision to leave the Senate had anything to do with what he was saying in this video clip, in which I recorded him talking about the “toxic” atmosphere in the Senate.
It was an easily-forgotten clip, being posted just hours before the deaths of his colleague Clementa Pinckney and eight others at Emanuel AME. In fact, my very next post was about that…
Being born with the right name is an admirable trait
That’s Creedence’s best-loved “social commentary” song, but I never liked it that much. My fave in that category is the far-less-known “Don’t Look Now.” But I would, of course, on account of it’s communitarian message…
Although the other song is more appealing musically. It really rocks out. But you know what does that even better? “Traveling Band.”
That IS a great one.I saw them in 1969.
http://georgiamusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/69-ATLANTA.jpg
Probably my favorite-
Five children. Wow, that’s a full house.
Good for him and his family. Children are indeed a blessing.
Aw, I had five kids when I was four years younger than he is. Slacker…
I don’t say this to be mean — as I say, I respect Sen. Thurmond — but I’ve been watching some episodes of “30 Rock” on Netflix lately, and then I saw the above picture, and I couldn’t help thinking, “Kenneth!”
There IS a slight resemblance…
More a matter of coloring than anything else…