Monthly Archives: April 2011

You’d think Amazon (or rather, its allies) could get the word out a little better

OK, I realize that Amazon itself probably isn’t involved in this. But when Former Cayce Mayor Archie Moore was quoted in the paper as a leader of the pro-Amazon group that has started running radio ads, saying “I’m not sure at this point the extent of what we’re doing,” he wasn’t kidding.

Have you heard the new radio ad? I did this morning, once, before I read the story in the paper about it. And I thought it was interesting, with it sort of halfway registering on me some things I might want to say about it, and I decided I’d listen to it again and write a post about it.

But I haven’t been able to hear it again. And now I don’t remember much about it, since I didn’t know I was supposed to memorize it from one hearing.

First, I tried to Google it, and all I found was the story in The State. Then I checked my e-mail — no releases. THREE releases from the other side, the aforementioned “South Carolina Alliance for Main Street Fairness, but nothing from the pro-Amazon group, whatever it’s called.

I e-mailed a couple of MSM types who might be in the loop more than I am, and no dice. I tried Tim Flach, who wrote the story in The State, and he said he just heard it on the radio. This is not the way it usually goes, folks.

Then, when I went out to get lunch and run some errands, I took along my little digital recorder, turned it on, and put the radio on the station I’d heard it on this morning. Or rather, the station it happened to be on, which I assume was what it was on this morning.

Nope. Although I do have a recording now of “She Blinded Me With Science,” which I hadn’t heard since the 80s.

And I thought it was ironic that an ad campaign undertaken in behalf of such a cutting-edge Web giant as Amazon would be so… technically unsophisticated. Unless this is the plan — unless it’s trying to go subliminal, and fly under media radar. I don’t know.

If I ever get to hear it again, and have notes on hand, I’ll have something to say about it. Maybe YOU have heard it enough that you can offer something in the meantime.

I do have this video from the opposition — but that’s not what this post was supposed to be about…

Your Virtual Front Page, Thursday, April 14, 2011

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What do we have today? I’ll go see what looks good:

Budget deal clears House on bipartisan vote (WashPost) — Whoopee. Now, on to the next partisan argument — on the same subject.
Nato ‘needs more planes’ in Libya (BBC) — Meanwhile, the U.S. resists a larger role. This is interesting, this new “hard-to-get” approach to global leadership. It could end up with us having just as many foreign military entanglements as during the Bush era. Only nobody gets ticked at us because we let France and Britain take the lead and beg us to go along, and we’re like, “Oh, all right, but just this one…”
Official in Charge of U.S. Air Traffic Control Resigns (NYT) — Now, finally, he can get a decent rest.
Providence Hospital cuts 35 jobs in cost-saving efforts (thestate.com) — George Zara says “It is clear that the existing structure and fundamentals of the nation’s health care system are not sustainable.” So who’s to blame? Obama? Haley? I look forward to learning more. I take this more seriously than Amazon’s headline-grabbing “hiring freeze.”
Soapocalypse: ABC Kills ‘Life,’ Abandons ‘Children’ (NPR) — Maybe this means something as social history goes. In any case, folks have really been buzzing about it on Twitter today. When Michael McKean said, “No spoiler alert necessary because all soaps have the same ending,” I responded by saying, “Yeah, 2 characters drink sherry and chat. For a week…”
Do Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer? (NYT) — No, the story doesn’t answer the question. But here’s another question: If they did, and we knew it, would we stop? (I’m not even sure I’d know about it if my iPhone didn’t tell me.)

How much would be enough? (A billion, or would $10 million do you?)

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This Tweet earlier today got me to thinking:

@wis10WIS News 10

Sunday dinner interrupted by $100,000 lottery win http://bit.ly/dYkFUg

This fits firmly into the category of what I think of as lame non-news. I mean, who cares, really? I remember thinking it was pretty cool back in the 60s that time that my grandmother won $300 and they put her picture in the Marlboro Herald Advocate, but the main appeal of the item resulted from the facts that 1) It was my grandmother; 2) The prize was in the form of cash, and they had formed the bills into a sort of lei and hung them around her neck, and 3) I was a kid, and that seemed like a lot of money. Back then, you could get a comic book and a soda and some candy for a quarter, and maybe even have change.

And yes, I think it would be cool if I or someone in my family won a hundred Gs, free and clear. I’d like it. But as news for other people? I don’t see it. Because I put myself in the position of the person winning the 100k, and think, what would I do with it? I could do ONE, but not more, of the following:

Pay off our mortgage. It’s down to below that amount, and that would be helpful. I couldn’t really change my lifestyle or anything, and I’d have to keep working at least as hard as I do now, but it would be nice to have that off my plate.

Take a year off from working. Fine, but I just sort of did that, and it wasn’t fun. And you know that when the year was over, you’d have to go back to work. And you’d find that after a year of not working, you’d have trouble getting back into the kind of work you want to do at your previous rate of pay. Believe me, I’ve been there. Not worth it. And yes, you could live for more than a year on 100k, but I would not be tempted to quit working, for any period of time, for less. Anything less, and I’d just add it to the rest of the income I manage to pull in, and keep plugging.

Go to England or somewhere again, and buy a bunch of toys such as accessories for my new iPhone. Which, let’s face it, Mamanem’s not going to let me do if someone interrupts Sunday dinner to give us $100k.

All pretty cool stuff, but not dramatically life-changing. It wouldn’t have enough effect on ME and MY life for other people to find it interesting. So… I’m not interested in the effect on someone else’s life. Certainly not Tweet-me-the-headline interest.

Which raises the question: How much WOULD be enough? How much money would I have to get to think it newsworthy? For that matter, forget newsworthy. I’d just as soon other people didn’t know I had all that money. How much is my fantasy amount that would make me achieve my lifelong goal of never, ever thinking about money again? (Because I really, truly hate thinking about it, on any level.)

I used to have a figure in mind. As I wrote in a column several years ago, “Buddy, can you spare half a billion? And be quick about it?” As I wrote, I had this fantasy in mind in which I saved Bill Gates’ life somehow or other, and he offered to halve his kingdom, and I told him nah, that half a billion would do. Or a round billion, if he didn’t have change.

But that was back in 2006, when my newspaper was up for sale, and I had a particular use for the money in mind. I wanted to buy the paper from the ruins of Knight Ridder. I had a detailed plan for what I wanted to do with it. I had this idea that buying the paper, since it was one of the few really profitable papers KR had, could cost me as much as $400 million. That was probably WAY too much to pay even then, but the paper had been bought by KR in the mid-80s for $300 million, and I didn’t want to be chintzy.

I would have used the rest for capital improvements, and perhaps to allow me to run the company at a loss for a few years while I searched for the right business model. And that’s the thing. The demand for news, particularly political news, is as great as ever (and we’re talking the written word, here). The problem is that the business model has collapsed. I figure a few hundred million extra would allow for almost unlimited experimentation with financial models. And we — and the readers — could have a lot of fun in the meantime. (By the way, some people were displeased by that column at the time. Sort of surprising it took them three more years to can me, huh?)

Now… I don’t know. If I had unlimited funds — or what would do for unlimited funds — would I buy The State? Things have changed. It’s no longer about trying to save “my newspaper.” I’m not sure whether the value of the brand would be worth what I’d have to pay for it. I wonder whether I should just start something from scratch (that might be the best way to start a new business model, assuming I could figure out what sort to go with). I’m pretty sure I could get it for a LOT less than I was guessing in 06. Back then, I bought McClatchy at $39. Today, it’s $3.33. (Yeah, I know. I’m a financial genius.) How that affects individual newspapers’ value I don’t know. Even assuming they were willing to sell.

And there’s always the possibility of traveling the globe and hanging with my grandchildren. I could grow tomatoes, and chase the kids around in the garden… but no, I’ve still got stuff I want to say. And South Carolina NEEDS some good journalism, just as it always did. Dick Harpootlian was mentioning that today. He was mentioning it in a partisan context, but he was on point.

A certain amount of money could pay for some good journalism. AND achieve my lifelong goal of never having to think about money again.

So how much would that be? I tend to look at it in powers of 10:

$100k — I’ve already explained why that won’t do.
$1 million — Much better, but one could neither buy a newspaper of any size nor launch a new operation nor permanently retire on that, even if one were as cheap as Mark Sanford. An awkward amount (not that I’d turn it down, mind you; I’d find something to do with it).
$10 million — Now we’re talking. THIS a guy could retire on, and not feel the need to work to make more. And you might be able to launch an experimental publication of some sort. But you’d have to bet it all, and if the first business model you tried failed, that would be it, and you’d be broke. Or so I’m thinking.
$100 million — This would most likely provide it all — buy a business, revamp it, try a lot of stuff, and never worry about money again. Grow a lot of tomatoes when you felt like it. But you’d have to be careful you don’t blow it all, still. You want to leave something to the kids. I mean, as long as we’re fantasizing here, why don’t we go a bit further…
$1 billion — Done deal. Do it all, make a lot of mistakes along the way, and still be able to install a diving board in your cash vault, like Scrooge McDuck. So for me, this is the ultimate fantasy amount. TWO billion would also be nice — maybe I could get one of those miniature giraffes — but let’s not get greedy.

So, it looks like I’ll be working for a while.

There you have it. A twist on the “Office Space” question of “What would you do if you had a million dollars?”

What’s your answer? How much would it take for you to feel like you had it all?

Quick! You have anything you want to ask Dick Harpootlian?

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He’s going to be here in a few minutes to tape “The Brad Show” (the first one of the new season!). This should be fun. But I’m thinking I should have some questions ready for him. I’ve got at least one ready, from this release he put out yesterday:

Fellow Democrats —

If we want to win elections, we have to fight.

The Democratic Party is a “big tent” of people committed to caring for those who are most vulnerable. Our party attracts many kind, compassionate people who are not inclined to “go for the jugular” — and that’s a good thing.

Republicans, on the other hand, are motivated by self-interest and a willingness to do anything to win. They’ll continue to win for years to come if we don’t change our ways.

I have earned a reputation as a tough guy, and while that may be unsettling to some of you, it’s exactly what our party needs right now. We don’t need a nice guy or gal at the helm. We need someone who can and will throw a punch at every opportunity. It’s how we will hold our elected leaders accountable, and it’s how we will allow our candidates to focus on sharing positive plans for the future rather than defending themselves from “mudslinging.”
I’ve included a web video in this message that I think you’ll enjoy. It’s an example of the sort of aggressive accountability that I will bring to the office every day as your next party chair.

I hope you’ll take a moment to watch it and share it with your friends.

If we work together and fight hard we will beat Republicans in South Carolina and usher in a new era of progress in the state we all love.

Dick

Dick Harpootlian

Of course, it’s not much of a question. I’m just going to say, “How’s it going, ‘Tough Guy’?” I’m going to say it all scornful, like one gangster to another.

But that’s not going to fill much airtime. So do you have any ideas for questions? Hurry up. He’ll be here in less than 15 minutes.

Everybody wants to talk about nuclear, but who wants to listen?

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Last night I went for the first time to one of EngenuitySC’s Science Cafe sessions at the Capital City Club. I’d been meaning to go to one for quite some time, and I finally made it to this one.

So did a lot of people. When I called at the last minute to RSVP, the session was full. But I was told to come anyway, as there were usually no-shows.

So I showed up. And while there were a few empty seats as the session was starting, I stood at first in case a latecomer needed one of the seats. Otherwise, SRO.

Neil McLean, Executive Director of EngenuitySC, began the evening with a somewhat wary welcome to the crowd, noting that this was the biggest turnout ever, and that he saw quite a few… new faces… in the audience. He then expressed his hope that the interaction would be civil.

The topic? “Sustainable Nuclear Power: Perspectives on Risk and External Costs.” The speaker was Travis W. Knight, the acting director of USC’s Nuclear Engineering Graduate Program.

He didn’t have an easy night of it. As I tweeted at the time,

Nuclear skeptics in crowd won’t let speaker at Science Cafe get on with his presentation; one keeps interrupting to read from The Economist.

and later…

Neil McLean of EngenuitySC has to change rules — 1 question per person — to let Science Cafe speaker continue with nuclear presentation.

When Mary Pat Baldauf, sustainability facilitator for the city of Columbia, wrote back to say it sounded like she was missing a good one, I told her she was “You’re missing humdinger. Speaker fairly rattled by crowd’s hostile interruptions. No way to have a debate, much less a lecture.”

In retrospect — and things really did settle down after Neil imposed that rule, and the speaker began to hit his stride a bit better — maybe I made it sound more dramatic than it was.

But judge for yourself. Here’s a recording from the first few minutes of the lecture. You’ll note that there are three interruptions during the 3 minutes and 25 seconds on the recording, including one from the Economist reader.

For my part, I found the lecture informative. But I went away thinking, with what is happening in Japan, everybody wants to talk about nuclear power. But how many people want to listen?

Virtual Front Page, Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Which of these best exemplifies the uninhibited nature of the genre?

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Really, really, REALLY have to get a bunch of nonblog stuff done today, and don’t know when I’ll get back to you. So while I’m doing it, ponder the question I just posed on Twitter:

What’s the best full-momentum, unleashed rock ‘n’ roll song: Seger’s “Katmandu,” CCR’s “Travelin’ Band,” or Elvis’ “Hard-Headed Woman”?

Why those three? Well, I was coming back from an errand with a cup of Starbucks, and “Katmandu” came on the radio. And I thought, what’s better — at what it does — than that? And the answer quickly came — “Travelin’ Band” and the best of all, “Hard-Headed Woman.”

Oops. I just gave away the answer. Well, my answer. This is one of these things where opinions are just that, without anyone being right (and despite what some people think, not everything is like that). So I’m really interested in what you think, as your opinions on the matter are just as valid as mine (he said with an air of self-congratulatory generosity and a tone of condescension).

Bonus question: To follow the Hornby orthodoxy, what other two songs sharing those characteristics would fill out the Top Five?

Your Virtual Front Page, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

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A quick look at the headlines:

Japan raises alert to Chernobyl level (WashPost) — Whoa! THAT got my attention.
France and Britain Urge Stronger NATO Action in Libya (NYT) — I don’t know about you, but I’m picturing France and Britain just strutting up and down the globe with their chests puffed out and their hats pushed down over their foreheads and looking like the toughest kids on the block these days.
Commodities Take Down Stocks (WSJ) — Equities lose about a percent of value.
Haley signs on-the-record voting law (thestate.com) — Congrats to Nikki! Does this mean she’s FOR transparency today? No, seriously, I’m glad her signature issue has now passed. She will henceforth be judged by how she does on stuff she didn’t run on. Which is how governing works.
Sheheen says SC Gov Haley lied on job application (AP) — Speaking of transparency… Interesting timing Vincent chose for saying this — a bit late to help him win the election, though. Oh, and by the way, here’s an example of the gov’s SEMI-transparency on the Amazon issue, just to give you an example from smack in the middle of the spectrum. So take your pick which Haley you believe in.
Hosni Mubarak ‘has heart attack’ (BBC) — This is definitely not his year.

I might have put Obama’s upcoming speech on the budget on the front — except that it hasn’t actually happened yet. In fact, it doesn’t happen until tomorrow, even though everybody’s writing about it.

Smarter than a smart card? Sounds good…

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I liked what I read about the possibility of Columbia getting parking meters that you can feed via mobile phone:

Columbia has 4,700 parking meters that take loose change and about 129,000 people that don’t have any.

But city officials want to add a payment option that seemingly everyone has: cell phones.

Columbia is in the market for pay-by-phone parking, hoping the convenience will entice drivers to pay more often for parking and help offset the city’s dwindling revenue from parking garages….

How it works:

• Step 1: Drivers would dial a phone number listed on the parking meter. First-time users would need to set up an account through a computer

• Step 2: Drivers then tell the computer how long they will be parked. Some spaces won’t allow parking for more than a certain amount of time.

• Step 3: The computer will charge the credit or debit card, plus 35 cents. The city gets the parking fee, the company keeps the 35 cents.

As you may recall, I have in the past complained about my travails with trying, and failing, to keep the meter fed. Acting on advice from a reader, I went and got a Smart Card (pictured above) from the city parking services on Washington Street.

It’s pretty cool. You put a certain amount of money on it (I tend to do $20 at a time), and keep it in your pocket, then you’re always ready. Insert it into one of those slots on the meters, and it first tells you how much money you have left on it. Then it starts counting off how much time you’re paying for … 20 minutes… 40… 60… 80… and you pull it out when you’ve programmed it for however long you expect to be.

It works pretty well. I’ve only gotten a couple of tickets since I got my card. And those tend to happen because you can’t always predict how long that meeting is going to be.

So it is that I’d like something smarter than a smart card. And phone-it-in thing sounds good to me. I’m sure my new iPhone can get an app for that.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how the city will pay for the new meters… hey, if that 35 cents won’t cover it, they’ve probably gotten enough money from me over the years to make up the difference….

Mutt seeks home; will love you forever for food

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My good friend Samuel Tenenbaum has a VERY soft heart for critters, and occasionally sends out pics of strays seeking a home. He and Inez have taken in quite a few themselves over the years, with their menagerie often numbering in the double digits.

Here’s the latest he’s trying to help with, and here’s the original message he passed along from the folks who found him:

Mark and I were walking around a car dealership and found a dog in the parking lot. He looks to be about 5-6 years old, spaniel mix. He’s as sweet as he can be, very gentle and well-tempered. We’re going to keep him in the backyard in the shade for a couple of days but just can’t keep him any longer with the other animals. I have contacted a few shelters and no one seems to have room right now (although I’ll put him on waiting lists). I wondered if you would mind to pass this along to anyone you might think would be interested. Also, I wondered if it might be possible to send this to Sam Tenenbaum to see if there is anything that he could do to help?

I really want to find a home or a no-kill shelter for him, but I’m afraid that if it takes any longer than a few days we’ll have nowhere to go besides the pound. L

Any help would be appreciated – thank you so much and hope you’re having a good weekend!! (Picture attached)

Samuel is one of the founders of the organization FORMERLY known as Project Pet, and now known as Pawmetto Lifeline. It’s the outfit building that state-of-the-art no-kill facility out in the Harbison area.

Some recent media accounts have mistakenly called the group by its former name. But that’s not right, folks. It’s Pawmetto Lifeline. There’s an official website and everything. (I know, because I wrote some of the copy for it.) Got that?

Anyway, if any of y’all are interested in saving this dog, I’ll be glad to pass on your contact info.

Congratulations, Innovista, on landing Ann Marie!

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A little earlier, I sent an e-mail to Ann Marie Stieritz congratulating her on her new job:

Ann Marie Stieritz has been named director of business solutions for Innovista at the University of South Carolina.

Stieritz has worked in the S.C. Technical College System for the past four years, most recently as vice president for economic development and workforce competitiveness.

Her responsibilities will include recruiting high-tech businesses to the Midlands and serving as the liaison between USC’s researchers and the business community.

Don Herriott, director of Innovista partnerships, said, “I have worked with Ann Marie on various boards and projects. She has demonstrated exceptional capability and leadership in her role at the South Carolina Technical College System, especially in her economic development and workforce development programs. I am confident that she will provide the industry connectivity that Innovista needs.”

Stieritz has a background in education, workforce and economic development. At the S.C. Technical College System, she has overseen the system’s two nationally recognized economic and workforce development programs, as well as other statewide initiatives that have enhanced the state’s competitiveness through education and training, USC said.

She is former statewide coordinator for 12 Regional Education Centers, which coordinate education, workforce and economic development with business and industry initiatives to develop education and workforce readiness strategies…

But then I realized that I had it all wrong! Congratulating Ann Marie was as wrong-headed, as déclassé, as congratulating the bride on her engagement.

Actually the congratulations are due to Innovista. So, Innovista, I give you joy of your new hire.

Don Herriott was a good call. He did what he should, immediately shifting the conversation about a couple of buildings to the much, much broader concept about what the juxtaposition of an urban research university and all this undeveloped land overlooking a river can add up to.

So is this. Ann Marie’s intelligence and drive will be just what Innovista needs for this movement to take off. I look forward to watching her make that happen.

Obama’s just looking better and better to me (and the UnParty) all the time

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And no, this isn’t just because the Republicans who would oppose him seem engaged in a contest to see who can be the biggest whack job. It’s more about Obama himself.

Earlier, I indicated that Obama was, after a weak outing in 2008, looking more and more like the Energy Party candidate for 2012.

Well, now… and I’m even more happy about this… he’s looking more and more like he wants the nod of the UnParty.

I saw this most clearly reading a piece in the NYT’s Week In Review from Sunday, “Obama, Searching for a Vision.”

Well, first off, I don’t think Obama’s searching for a vision. I think he’s got one, and it looks clearer, and better, every day. Perhaps he is, as the piece suggests, “being pressed as never before to define what American liberalism means for the 21st century.” At least, pressed by some.

But what I think he’s doing is something much higher and better — defining pragmatism for the 21st century. This is what I’ve always liked about him, but as he comes to embody it more fully, as the right hates him more passionately and the left whines louder about how disappointing he is, I see him more favorably than ever.

Perhaps this can be explained most simply by the fact that he keeps doing stuff I agree with. Take this passage from the piece:

Mr. Obama has always cast himself as a pragmatist and he seems to be feeling his way in the post-midterm election environment. In some areas, he has retreated. The decision announced last week to try the accused Sept. 11 plotters in a military commission at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, represented a 180-degree reversal under pressure from congressional Republicans and some Democrats. His embrace of a free-trade pact with Colombia continued a new emphasis on trade for a Democrat who once vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta.

The war in Libya represents one of the most complicated issues for Mr. Obama as he sets out his own form of modern liberalism. The hero of the anti-war movement in 2008 effectively is adopting Mr. Clinton’s humanitarian interventions in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s as a model, while trying to distinguish his actions from Mr. Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Most of that I knew about, and have applauded. But somehow I missed that he had shaken off the completely irrational, amoral opposition of Big Labor to the Colombia Free Trade pact. Way to go, Mr. President!

Most political commentators, trapped in the extremely limiting notion that the politicians they write and speak about must either be of the left or right, can’t make him out. But he keeps making perfect sense to me. Perhaps I should send a memo out to the MSM letting them know that there’s a third way they can think of a politician (actual, there’s an infinite number of ways, but let’s not blow their little minds; one step at a time). There’s left (as “left” is popularly and imperfectly described) and right (as “right” is popularly and imperfectly described), and then there’s Brad Warthen. As in, “The candidate’s recent statements have been Warthenesque,” or “That was a distinctly Braddish move he made last week.”

It would open up whole new vistas for our national political conversation. Certainly a broader landscape than what we’re used to, with its limited expectations.

I LIKE a guy who at least tries to give us health care reform. I thought he didn’t go nearly far enough on that, but now that I see Republicans’ internal organs have turned inside-out in apoplexy at what little he’s done, I suppose he lowered his sights out of compassion for what REAL reform would have done to them.

I like a guy who realizes that closing Guantánamo (as both he AND McCain wanted to do, and generally for sound reasons) and trying all those guys in civil courts was impractical, and moves on.

And folks, please — he was never the “anti-war” candidate. Come on. He considered Iraq to be the “wrong war” — a respectable position to take — and that the “right war” was Afghanistan. Yeah, I have a beef with his timeline stuff, but at least he’s left a hole in that wide enough to drive a Humvee through. He’s been pragmatic about it. And yeah, maybe he got out-toughed by the French, but that’s a GOOD thing. Let France feel like the knight in shining armor for once. Maybe it will be less surly in the future.

But seriously, the guy just looks better all the time — from an UnParty perspective.

Republicans getting way harsh and heartless now, according to The Onion

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Trust the Onion to get the scoop on just how heartless the GOP can be with their mania for budget-cutting:

WASHINGTON—Leaders from both parties announced Tuesday that Congress has voted to cut funding for its 26-year-old stepson, Jeremy, whose education and living expenses have been federally subsidized since he and his mother moved in with the legislative branch in 1998.

“My colleagues and I realize this decision may not make us very popular,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said of the measure that, effective June 1, will halt the $975 in monthly aid for Jeremy’s apartment in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington. “We have listened to Jeremy’s concerns at length and truly sympathize with him, but with our national debt now exceeding $14 trillion, the American people simply cannot foot the bill for him any longer.”

“There’s no denying it; these cuts are going to be painful,” McConnell continued. “But he’s nearly 30 years old, for Christ’s sake. Enough is enough.”…

National media discover we’re (gasp!) still fighting the Civil War — where have they been?

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The dim, hazy past? Think again...

Certainly not in South Carolina, where a week hardly passes without new Nullification legislation passing through the State House.

A friend brought my attention today to this CNN item, which cites various “ways we’re still fighting the Civil War.” The most pertinent passage:

Nullification, states’ rights and secession. Those terms might sound like they’re lifted from a Civil War history book, but they’re actually making a comeback on the national stage today.

Since the rise of the Tea Party and debate over the new health care law, more Republican lawmakers have brandished those terms. Republican lawmakers in at least 11 states invoked nullification to thwart the new health care law, according to a recent USA Today article.

Well, duh.

Other parts of the piece were less impressive. For instance this standard-issue 2011 take on what a dangerous thing religion is:

If you think the culture wars are heated now, check out mid-19th century America. The Civil War took place during a period of pervasive piety when both North and South demonized one another with self-righteous, biblical language, one historian says.

The war erupted not long after the “Second Great Awakening” sparked a national religious revival. Reform movements spread across the country. Thousands of Americans repented of their sins at frontier campfire meetings and readied themselves for the Second Coming.

They got war instead. Their moral certitude helped make it happen, says David Goldfield, author of “America Aflame,” a new book that examines evangelical Christianity’s impact on the war.

Goldfield says evangelical Christianity “poisoned the political process” because the American system of government depends on compromise and moderation, and evangelical religion abhors both because “how do you compromise with sin.”

Which sort of prompts one to ask, So… what are you saying? That owning other people isn’t a sin? Just curious.

Your Virtual Front Page, Friday, April 8, 2011

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Let’s wrap this week up, shall we?

Parties stand firm as budget deadline nears (WashPost) — Is that what they call it? Standing firm? My wife doesn’t like it when I call people idiots, so I’m at a loss for anything to say. I mean, really — passing a budget is the one thing they’re supposed to get done each year, and they can’t ever even do that.
What to expect in a shutdown (WashPost) — I directed you to a similar story earlier, but this is from another source, and it’s timelier now.
Budget Showdown Redux (WSJ) — A brief recap, as a reminder for grownups, and as a “history” lesson for those who are so ridiculously young that they weren’t following when this happened only 16 years ago.
Syrian city hit by deadly clashes (BBC) — At least 23 demonstrators were killed.
Shooting attack on UK nuclear sub (BBC) — Shades of Hunt for Red October.
New York ‘at risk’ as seas rise (BBC) — An interesting take-note-of thing to know…

I was kind of heavy on BBC today, huh? Well, I didn’t have anything local. Maybe that’s because I saw John O’Connor and Trey Walker enjoying a long lunch at Yesterday’s (note product placement for my advertiser) today. They need to get off their duffs and make and cover some news. Why, in my day, we didn’t eat lunch, and we liked it!

I’m glad I don’t work for Lindsey Graham

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This came in from Lindsey Graham this afternoon:

Graham To Refuse Pay, Close Offices, Furlough Staff During Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this announcement on how his Senate office will function, should the Congress and President fail to come to agreement on the federal budget by midnight. Each Member of Congress is responsible for establishing their procedures for operation during a government shutdown.

Senator Graham will refund his salary to the Federal Treasury for the time the government remains shutdown.

Senator Graham’s offices in Columbia, Florence, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, Pendleton, Rock Hill, and Washington will be closed during the shutdown.

Senator Graham’s staff — both in Washington and South Carolina — will be furloughed and placed on unpaid leave.

“I will refund my salary to the Bureau of the Public Debt within the U.S. Department of Treasury,” said Graham. “Our brave men and women serving in uniform will not get paid during the shutdown. I believe Members of Congress should think twice about putting their way of life before those who fight to protect it.

“I’m disappointed Democrats in Congress and President Obama have not agreed to our very reasonable requests for spending reductions,” said Graham. “What we’re seeking is belt-tightening at the federal level, a practice millions of Americans have already gone through. It’s long past time we get our nation’s fiscal house in order. The essence of our proposal is to take spending back to 2008 levels plus inflation. Our proposal is by no means extreme.

“I’m very proud of my staffers who deliver high-quality constituent services to the people of South Carolina,” said Graham. “It’s a tradition I’ve tried to carry over from Senator Thurmond. However, I cannot justify having the offices open during a government shutdown when the staff will be unable to meaningfully help people.

“Therefore, my staffers will be furloughed without pay,” said Graham. “I truly believe with the government shut down, we can’t deliver services to the people of South Carolina in a way to justify the expense. In light of those facts, closing the office and furloughing the staff is the fiscally-responsible step to take.”

#####

Of course, I went without pay for about nine months not so long ago. I suppose I could tell these folks to buck up, that it’s a character-building experience. But I know better. I know that it’s just a lousy situation. And it’s caused by polticos in Washington acting like children over the budget. (And no, senator; it’s not just the Democrats failing to be “reasonable.”)

I heard some highamuckymuck on the radio today pontificating on the subject, saying that the disagreement came down to one thing: spending.

And I’m like duh, yeah, I guess so — seeing as how it’s the budget we’re talking about here. Congrats on figuring that out, Einstein.

It’s just not as adorable once you’re the governor

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I keep meaning to spend some time …

Do you realize how often I start posts that way — wishing I would find the time for this or that? Well, I assure you that I mean it. There’s just not enough time in the day for all I’d like to get to. Never has been. Even when I was unemployed. Which reminds me of Nick Hornby’s brilliant riff on that point in About A Boy, in which a guy who does not work because he lives off the royalties of a novelty song his father wrote wonders to himself how anyone could possibly find the time in the day to work. Which I would link you to if Google books would let me see that page.

Where was I? Oh, yes…

I keep meaning to spend some time keeping track of other blogs in SC, but almost never do. It’s sort of important to keep up, since there’s just one of me, and other bloggers stay plugged into different things, and reading them would at least keep me up on the buzz. But the practice seems to fall somewhere behind reading The Guardian and The Times each day, which I’d really like to do, but don’t get around to either.

However, today when I woke up my PC, I glanced down at the little alerts in the corner from my feedreader, and clicked on this one before it disappeared forever (the Who-inspired headline, “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.” was what grabbed me), and found myself reading Earl Capps:

Here in the Blogland, we’ve often chuckled at the newcomers to politics who see everything in an extreme either-or context, defining everyone as either “establishment” or “reformer”.

Anyone who can take such a simplistic view of state politics is either very uninformed or intellectually dishonest, as those who’ve been in the state’s political arena for any amount of time (which the “children” call “insider establishment” types) learned a long time ago that it’s never black-and-white. Such types often end up resorting to gutter childish tactics when they find that it’s not enough to think you’re right and that you have to actually inform and persuade people to come around to your point of view (and typically do a lousy job of doing so)….

That Earl. He’s such an experience-stained cynic, isn’t he? But something in that resonated to the point that I posted a comment:

Hey, Earl…

“…the newcomers to politics who see everything in an extreme either-or context, defining everyone as either ‘establishment’ or ‘reformer’…”

A set of people to which our new governor belongs. And of course, no matter what SHE does or does not do, she unfailingly sees herself as a “reformer.”

Which would be amusing if she weren’t, you know, the governor…

And then I thought, Why am I spending time leaving comments on some other blog? Why don’t I say that on my own blog? So I just did.

Larry Koon, back in the day

Nikki’s naiveté (or perhaps I should say, apparent naiveté — although I suspect that what keeps her going is that she really does see herself as a Ms. Smith Goes to Washington sort), linked with her apparently sincere interest in transparency and other things I would put in the “reform” column (things I’ve advocated since practically before she was born), was so appealing when she ran against ol’ Larry Koon — the very caricature of the do-nothing ol’ boy who’s just there because he likes being a big shot — back in the day. But then, as she reached out for greater power, and continued to act like she was the champion of reform while leaving a trail of questionable practices in her wake, it just ceased to be as endearing as it had at first.

Your Virtual Front Page, Thursday, April 7, 2011

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Taking a look around the globe at this hour:

Japan rocked by new earthquake (BBC) — The seismic hits just keep on coming. Fortunately, there was no tsunami with this one, and damage was minimal. But unnerving.
No deal after latest White House budget talks (WashPost) — Want to know what I think? You don’t want to know what I think. But I’ll tell you anyway. As I said on Twitter this morning, “Oh, let them shut down the government; they really want to. We have to have this nonsense every decade or two. Helps get rid of bad blood.” And as I told you yesterday in this space, you know how all this ends, don’t you? With the re-election of the Democratic president. Just like the last time.
SC House kills funding for anti-immigration unit (thestate.com) — If you’ll recall, the last thing I had to say about this new unit was, “S.C. Border Patrol? Can anyone POSSIBLY think of anything more absurd for a state that can’t afford basic services?” Turns out we’re not going to fund it after all. Well, Hallelujah. Common sense triumphs for once.
House also passes Incandescent Light Bulb Freedom Act (AP) — OK, so I spoke too soon about the common sense thing.
Airmen Aid Effort To Avert Afghan Deaths (NPR) — I put this on the page because it’s interesting, of course, and important. But also because of the alliteration.
Libyan Rebels Say Airstrikes Killed 5 (NYT) — Thing is, we don’t HAVE forward air controllers on the ground in Libya.

How many SC lawmakers does it take to screw up light bulbs?

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You thought that SC lawmakers had already done everything they could possibly do to emphasize to the world that, if given the slightest excuse, they would secede all over again? Well, you were wrong.

These boys are creative, and they never miss a new way to celebrate the spirit of Nullification. This just in:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina legislators are throwing a lifeline to traditional incandescent light bulbs as they try to trump federal energy standards.

The House on Thursday approved legislation with a 76-20 vote that would allow companies to manufacture the bulbs in South Carolina and sell them here.

The measure needs routine final approval next week before heading to the Senate.

Federal energy standards have manufacturers turning to compact fluorescent, halogen and LED bulbs. Manufacturers phase out traditional 100-watt incandescent bulbs next year.

Proponents say more efficient bulbs cost too much and they don’t like the light they provide.

The Incandescent Light Bulb Freedom Act allows manufacturers to make the traditional bulbs and stamp them as “Made in South Carolina.” They could only be sold in the Palmetto State.

Someone who doesn’t understand South Carolina — someone who thinks the sesquicentennial of secession is a commemoration of the way we were, rather than a celebration of who we ARE — might think that this is just a particularly moronic way of rejecting any kind of concern for the planet as “liberal,” and therefore beyond the pale.

But if you really do understand South Carolina, you realize that yes, it’s that, but it’s also a chance to relive the heady days of 1860, and cock a snook at the federal gummint. Especially that Obama.

So that’s, what? Three birds with one stone? Environmentalism. The Union. And Obama.

These guys aren’t dummies, no matter what you think. They are geniuses at what they do.

They’re going to keep trying until they provoke that Obama enough that he tries to resupply Fort Sumter. They’ll be ready for him, too.

Ladies, forget Cosmo. We’re just not that complicated

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A colleague shared with me this amusing post about what one can learn from Cosmopolitan about headline writing.

An excerpt:

Do you ask your audience mind-blowing questions?

As a reader, I appreciated how Cosmo asked me some thought-provoking, introspective questions. Do you do this with your readers?

Should You Be Gross Around Him?

What’s Up With Men Cheating Down?

Can Soy Harm your Fertility?

And finally, my favorite question:

Do You Work Too Damn Hard?

Um, not really. I just spent the whole afternoon reading Cosmo. But thanks for asking.

Of course, the only thing I know about Cosmo is the headlines that I see in the checkout line. Well, the headlines, and the come-hither babes on the cover.

And I am mystified that anyone would buy the magazine. Or rather, that anyone would buy one more than once. Because the lede headline is pretty much always about revealing the supposed mysteries of having a sexual relationship with a man. Like we’re complicated or something. Men and sex are about as complicated as a dog and his dinner bowl. Or, as the classic joke would have it:


How to Impress a Woman
  Wine her, Dine her, Call her, Hug her,
Hold her, Surprise her, Compliment her,
Smile at her, Laugh with her,
Cry with her, Cuddle with her,
Shop with her, Give her jewelry,
Buy her flowers, Hold her hand,
Write love letters to her,
Go to the end of the earth and back for her.

  How to Impress a Man
   Show up naked.
Bring beer.

And truth be told, it doesn’t have to be imported, or craft, or anything like that. Pretty much any old beer will do.

bradwarthen.com

All The News That Gives You Fits

Monthly Archives: April 2011

You’d think Amazon (or rather, its allies) could get the word out a little better

Your Virtual Front Page, Thursday, April 14, 2011

Quick! You have anything you want to ask Dick Harpootlian?

Everybody wants to talk about nuclear, but who wants to listen?

Virtual Front Page, Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Which of these best exemplifies the uninhibited nature of the genre?

Your Virtual Front Page, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Smarter than a smart card? Sounds good…

Mutt seeks home; will love you forever for food

Congratulations, Innovista, on landing Ann Marie!

Obama’s just looking better and better to me (and the UnParty) all the time

Republicans getting way harsh and heartless now, according to The Onion

National media discover we’re (gasp!) still fighting the Civil War — where have they been?

Your Virtual Front Page, Friday, April 8, 2011

I’m glad I don’t work for Lindsey Graham

It’s just not as adorable once you’re the governor

Your Virtual Front Page, Thursday, April 7, 2011

How many SC lawmakers does it take to screw up light bulbs?

Ladies, forget Cosmo. We’re just not that complicated