The allegation that a bunch of gangbangers that included four U.S. Marines were planning a rumble at an Irmo High School football game — not knowing that there was no game scheduled — is sufficiently bizarre to spawn bad jokes:
Asked why they thought they would find a game if they invaded Irmo, the Marines said, "President Bush promised us it was based on solid intel."
Hey, I told you it was a bad joke. Chalk it up to my trying too hard to throw a bone to you anti-war types out there.
Here’s another excuse: Though I gave it a shot, there’s just nothing funny about this situation. It’s appalling to think that a corporal and two lance corporals could have made it through boot camp and advanced training, be assigned to a unit, get promoted and still have enough loyalty left to something as worthless as the Crips to soil the honor of the Corps in such a manner.
Allegedly. For the moment, they are innocent. I hope they turn out actually to be so in the end. I know that not everybody who goes through Parris Island is a choir boy, but boots usually learn enough pride and discipline not to be thrown into the brig for something this stupid.
Did they just want to fight that badly? Were they disappointed at being wing wipers instead of serving in a rifle company? I just hope it was the cops who got the bad intel on this one.
But you know what? Even if it were only a matter of being offensive, even if it were nothing more than putting a bad, hazy smell into the air, there would be no excuse for one person imposing it upon even one other person.
Democrats alike. I missed his comment because I don’t read his columns in much depth (as they do not have much depth). But Brad insulted the Democrats more than the Republicans by telling them not to waste their votes in their own primary but to vote in the GOP primary. He called the Dems dead and useless in his Bradley Warthen sort of way. Unbelievable! What arrogance! Management should strongly reconsider who they have writing for them. Here is the link to his article: http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2006/06/steakvssizzle_c.html. The comment is third paragraph from the end. Read 
2:30 p.m. Rep. 
5:30 p.m. Tony Mizzell, Richland County Council Democrat, belabored a horticultural metaphor in explaining why he wants another term. He’s “planted a lot of seeds” and watered and weeded and so forth, “and things are just starting to grow.” He worked the analogy every which way save one: fertilizer. I wondered at that. Other politicians like to lay on lots of fertilizer.
campaign,” said Columbia businessman Bob Staton, seeking the GOP nomination for S.C. schools superintendent. “I think we’ve beat up public education so much in election cycles” that the electorate is sold on the idea that it’s just bad, and not going to get any better. “If you believe you can do something, you’re going to come a lot closer” to getting it done. “You don’t build up by tearing down.”
more eloquent than the incumbent and knows it: “I just believe strongly that the governor is missing some critical leadership skills” — communication, cooperation and common sense. “Our governor has never been CEO of anything before we made him CEO of South Carolina,” said the family doctor who has built a practice with 38 employees and 15,000 patients. “Our governor has never attended a public school in South Carolina…. I can speak from the bully pulpit. Mark Sanford can’t, because he hasn’t had the real-world experiences.”
4:30 p.m. Norman Jackson, challenging Mr. Mizzell, was a longtime member of the Richland County planning commission, and has a structural criticism: “I would not want to see more than two members from any one special interest on a commission,” he says. With “two developers, two real estate developers and a lawyer who deals with real estate,” he counts five. “They do a good enough job,” he admits. “I’m just saying….”
Wednesday, 10 a.m. “I love the detail,” said Jeff Willis, who describes himself as the only one of four Republicans seeking to be state treasurer with financial experience. “We need a more active, engaged treasurer,” he says, but he thinks the treasurer should continue to be an elective post, and he would keep the unconstitutional Budget and Control Board as is. “If I can do one-tenth what Grady Patterson has done, it would be an honor and a privilege.”
can summarize here. The most interesting thing was his emerging advocacy of state funding for education (see editorial above). That came at the very end of the interview, and an aide dragged him away before he could get much into it. More on that later.
education seeking to be education superintendent. After 20 years in the Army (82nd Airborne), he retired as a major. He’s the assistant principal of Wando High School and, unlike many in public education and some in this race, believes in the Education Accountability Act. His is a “no-excuse mentality. Here’s the mission, and how do we get it done?” He corrects those who say we’re just “teaching to the test” with PACT. “We’re teaching to standards, which are on the test.” And in part thanks to those standards, “I honestly believe we’re ready to turn the corner.”
Thursday, 11:30 a.m. Retiree Keith Bush wants to be the Republican to take on Billy Derrick, Lexington County Council’s sole Democrat. Mr. Bush says he’s “a great supporter of user fees,” and he isn’t kidding. No checking out books for free at the public library if he had his way. And that’s just the start. “How are colleges funded? Tuition. How are private schools funded? Tuition. How are public schools funded? Taxes.” That makes no sense to him.
12:30 p.m. Some interviews range beyond local issues. “For years I’ve driven a Suburban,” said Lexington County Councilman John Carrigg. “The other day I went out and bought a little Saturn Vue.” He gets about twice the 14 miles per gallon that was the best he could do before. “We citizens have a responsibility to stop driving those trucks around.”
Anyway, the piece was based on an interview with Mr. Azar in a local bar around midnight. (It said he doesn’t drink, but does shoot pool.) The story related Mr. Azar’s own “personal and strangely intriguing theory” as to why Kevin Fisher got into the race: