The Richland County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, a useless entity created by the county’s legislative delegation for its own perverse, unknowable reasons, should definitely cease to exist. The State made that case fairly thoroughly today. An excerpt: The board has failed repeatedly to act in the public’s best interest. While former director Lillian [...]
Downton Diddy from Sean Combs In providing a sneak preview of his star turn on “Downton (or as he calls it, ‘Downtown’) Abbey,” Sean “P. Diddy” Combs breaks the color barrier, the time barrier, the genre barrier and of course the comedy barrier. PBS denies that Combs has joined the cast of the wildly popular [...]
This headline on thestate.com just cracked me up: Don’t be alarmed by the helicopters, National Guard says You really need to look at the picture with it. I couldn’t help thinking of all the people who would not be reassured by those words. Starting with all those folks who thought Rand Paul’s filibuster about drone [...]
Several weeks ago, my friend Clare Morris said she planned to go down to Charleston and volunteer in Mark Sanford’s campaign sometime before the 1st Congressional District special election was over. Knowing that she went to college with the guy, and worked for him in his congressional office and later in his Commerce Department, I [...]
Yes, the Daily Mail, as in the one in London — the one in “Paperback Writer,” for my fellow Boomers. Imagine my surprise. I just this morning loaded the Daily Mail app onto my iPod, and this was one of the first stories to pop up, right there on the main U.S. news page. And [...]
Kevin Fisher is a thoughtful columnist. He called to leave a message and warn me that I’d be mentioned in his column this week, as follows: I realize that sentiment cuts to the quick of Sanford bashers, including people I like and respect. For example, former editorial page editor of The State and local blogger [...]
It depends on what the definition of “news” is. Here’s mine, at this particular moment: FBI launches criminal probe of IRS conduct (WashPost) — One of two front-page stories out of a Holder presser today. The Post reveals an IG report on the mess as well. Russia to Expel American, Saying He Is a C.I.A. Officer (NYT) [...]
Just wanted to give y’all a heads-up on this event tonight, brought to my attention by my friend and fellow Capital City Club member Clare Morris: MEDIA ADVISORY: Boston Marathon Bombing Fundraiser at the Capital City Club Tonight The public is invited What: The Capital City Club is sponsoring cocktails and fun for charity, featuring Celebrity Bartender Dr. Frank Clark. [...]
The Steve Benjamin campaign sent out this video of his announcement yesterday. I haven’t had time to watch it all myself — quite busy today — but I thought I’d make it available to you. One thing that struck me in the minute or so that I did listen to — Benjamin wasn’t speaking as [...]
There’s a scene in “Bananas” in which Woody Allen’s character is discussing the economy of his new, adopted country, and when he’s told that bananas are its greatest export, he cries, “Bananas, bananas!” in a tone that conveys that he’s heard enough about that particular fruit. (I tried to find a video clip of that, [...]
Bart shares this with me, apparently one of those email things that goes around. As the “why, back in my day” genre goes, this one has a pretty good point: Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to me the other day, that I should bring my own grocery bagsbecause plastic bags weren’t good [...]
Here’s what we have at this hour: Justice Department secretly obtained AP phone records (The Guardian) — AP’s top exec calls it a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.” Technically, the intrusion did not actually have mass and therefore couldn’t be “massive” (I once had an editor for whom this was a pet peeve), but you know what [...]
This passage, in The State‘s advance story about Steve Benjamin’s expected announcement that he will seek re-election as mayor of Columbia, struck me: Benjamin will be a latecomer to the race. Already, city council member Moe Baddourah, a restaurateur, and Larry Sypolt, a former FBI analyst, have announced for mayor… Latecomer? Yeah, technically, others had [...]
Sometimes I get releases that really seem to come out of left field, such as this: Dying Pets Prescribed Marijuana Guest Opportunity: Kim Baker, Animal Whisperer and Expert in Holistic Health for Animals The debate over medical marijuana for pets is continuing to intensify as more veterinarians are speaking out about the pros and [...]
Jim DeMint, former far-right kingmaker, isn’t getting a lot of respect in his new role at the Heritage Foundation — even among conservatives. Earlier this week, he put out a report suggesting that immigration reform as envisioned by the Gang of Eight will cost the country $6.3 trillion. The report is, quite understandably, ridiculed and [...]
When I first saw this headline on my iPad this afternoon… Amazon Is Developing Smartphone With 3-D Screen … I thought, what on Earth would I want something like that for? I’ve seen 3D movies. I’m not impressed. Who needs that kind of cheesy distraction on a phone? Then I thought, now what would be [...]
My initial purpose in writing this is to second what Joan Walsh says on Slate — that despite very bad things in Charles Ramsey’s past, including domestic violence, what he did the other day still makes him a hero: In hindsight, maybe Charles Ramsey was trying to tell us something when he insisted to Anderson [...]
Just some quick headlines: Official recounts frustration at Libya response (WashPost) — According to Jennifer Rubin, it was more dramatic than that headline makes it sound. Bangladesh death toll tops 800 (The Guardian) — It just gets worse and worse. Charges in Cleveland Abduction (WSJ) — What a horrific story. Jenny wins; Sanford admits to being in [...]
Of his divorce decree, that is: By BRUCE SMITH — Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newly elected Congressman Mark Sanford and his ex-wife have settled a complaint that said he was at her home without her permission in violation of their divorce agreement…. Under the settlement, Sanford admits he was in contempt of the divorce [...]
Burl brought this to my attention on a previous thread, and I thought I’d share more widely. What a story. And what an amazing interview. That local TV guy really happened upon some gold. Good job, Charles Ramsey! You deserve to be immortalized. The original video, in case you haven’t seen it multiple times already, [...]