A friend I work with through the Hispanic Ministry at my church (I’m involved because I read the gospel in Spanish at Mass) sent me this interesting notice about an upcoming event at the Russell House, hoping for some publicity:

The Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies
invite you for a Q & A session

Trail of Dreams:
Students March from Miami to DC

The four students, who are on a four month, 1500 mile walk from Miami to Washington DC to protest the lack of legislation granting legal status to illegal immigrants.  They are making a stop here on campus at USC.  Come to hear their story and to learn more. The protesters include Carlos Roa, 22, who was 2 years old when his parents brought him here from Venezuela, and Felipe Matos, 23, sent from Brazil by his mother when he was 14. They say they support proposals in overhaul bills that would open a path to citizenship for students who came to this country illegally when they were young.

Russell House Theater,
Monday, March 15 at 6:00 PM

Those are some brave kids, coming to South Carolina with that message. This is not exactly what you’d call fertile ground for the seeds they’re sowing. Of course, it can be hoped that they’ll get a warmer reception here than they did in Nahunta, Ga.

To read more about what they’re up to, go here or here or here, at what appears to be the official site.

Don’t know what I think about their cause. They would appear, at first blush, to be from the end of the political spectrum that is equal and opposite to the one my friend Doug Ross subscribes to. Personally, I’m cheering for Lindsay Graham, who apparently is trying yet again (in spite of the fact that there’s little political reward in it for him) to find a comprehensive, reasonable solution.

No, I am not paranoid. It’s just that I’ve made no secret of my love of Starbucks. I’ve made it clear that my blog is available for advertising Starbucks. I give it free plugs all the time, such as here and here and here and here and here and here and …

I even offer constructive, loving criticism when warranted, when I’m worried that Starbucks is wandering down an unproductive path (which very seldom happens, of course).

Yet today, on the anniversary of my getting laid off (a day on which one might expect me to be a bit fragile), the fancy-schmantzy New York Times is just flaunting its relationship with Starbucks — just strutting up and down the sidewalk along the Information Superhighway, with Starbucks on its arm, saying look who advertises with me… Just look at that huge banner ad promoting Yukon Blend! Why, I happen to have an open pound of Yukon Blend beans at home myself at this very minute (plus a couple of pounds of other varieties in reserve in my pantry), because I have to have Starbucks even when I can’t get to the actual shop. Don’t talk to me about Yukon Blend…

And I’ve gotta say, it hurts.

Why does Starbucks forsake me?

Today’s virtual front page, again on the p.m. cycle (which is my favorite cycle):

E.W. Cromartie to resign in plea agreement — That’s still the most important fact in this second-day story; the fact that he’s going to prison is less important to citizens and voters. You may want to read this impact piece that was in The State today, although it doesn’t tell anything about what happens next that you didn’t already know if you follow these things. (Still don’t know when the special election will be.)

ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan — Our own Lindsey Graham is among those still trying, despite all the setbacks, to pass true, effective, comprehensive immigration reform. And you may not have known that.

Northrop Quits Tanker Bid — Now that Boeing is coming to SC, this is sort of a local business story. This long fight now ends well for Boeing. How good is this news for that company? $40 billion worth of good.

Israel announces East Jerusalem homes as Biden visits — I’ve sort of been watching the buildup to this for a couple of days — Israel moving toward building new settlements, and Palestinian officials being willing to negotiate anyway, which is promising. Biden’s visit is a good opportunity to move this to the front page.

Obama Turns Up the Volume in Health Care Bid — The continuing political saga.

No Dem frontrunner, poll says — I just include this as a make-note-of thing. This Rasmussen Poll doesn’t really tell us anything except that voters aren’t paying attention yet, which we already knew. Truth is, there’s every reason to believe Vincent Sheheen’s the frontrunner, which I think Dwight Drake decided before quitting.

HERE’s something that would have led my front page if it had come in a little sooner. This is HUGE:

COLUMBIA (AP) — The longest-serving city councilman in South Carolina’s capital has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax evasion charges, according to documents filed in federal court last week.

Columbia City Councilman E.W. Cromartie II has agreed to plead guilty to failing to pay more than $25,000 in federal income taxes in 2004, according to a plea agreement filed March 3 in federal court.

The agreement shows Cromartie also admits to making more than $200,000 in cash deposits and withdrawals just below the IRS minimums for transaction reporting requirements.

No date has been set for Cromartie to enter the plea, and neither he nor his attorney immediately returned messages seeking comment. Cromartie could face up to 25 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines, although the agreement shows that both Cromartie and prosecutors agree that a sentence of one year and one day would be appropriate.

As part of his plea agreement, Cromartie agrees to resign from public office and surrender his law license. He also agrees to file amended tax returns, cooperate with prosecutors and take a polygraph test.

Cromartie is not up for re-election this year. He has served on Columbia’s city council for more than 25 years and was elected to his most recent four-year term in 2008.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the case since it has not been assigned to a judge.

Cromartie’s law practice specializes in civil litigation and worker compensation.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Wow. A Columbia city council without E.W. Cromartie. That’s a consummation devoutly to be wished, and here it is…

I’ve wished in writing before that someone would at least emerge to challenge him for re-election. Now the seat’s wide open. Wow.

On Mondays, morning newspapers are pretty useless, for a number of reasons:

• First, nothing happens on Sundays in this country. (Thank goodness for Sunday elections in foreign countries, which occasionally give us something to report on Mondays.) Therefore it’s nothing but canned copy for the most part, written well in advance.
• Worse, it’s the dregs of the canned copy. The best of it is used on Sunday. Why? Because Sunday is the best-read paper of the week (for reasons that have always sort of eluded me, since the last thing I want to do on Sunday is read a newspaper), and Mondays are easily the worst-read. You might think, “If you’d put better copy on Mondays, maybe you’d get more readership,” and occasionally newspapers make a half-hearted stab at that, but in the end they just hate to waste their best effort on a little-read paper.
• Finally, there’s the fact that the people working at a newspaper on Sunday (the day the Monday paper is put together) are pretty much the B team. If you’re going to put top people on the weekend rotation, you’ll have them work Tuesday-Saturday, not the dreaded Sunday-through-Thursday, because you want your best on deck on Fridays and Saturdays, the key days for producing the Sunday paper. The Sunday shift people tend to phone it in.

Got that? OK, so here’s your Monday report, which I’m doing more as an afternoon paper, again:

1. Iraqi Voters Defy Violence, Throng Polls –Unfortunately, there’s little new to tell you beyond what was reported in morning editions, since the results won’t be available for days. But you might want to see what NPR had — Iraq’s Political Parties Vie For Position After Vote — since it did at least try to look ahead.
2. DHEC loosens arsenic limit for SCE&G — This is about water quality on the Wateree River. Your DHEC watchdogs at work. (A couple of years back, DHEC shocked us all by actually putting its foot down for once and saying “no” to Lexington Medical’s request for a duplicative open-heart surgery certificate of need. This shocked LexMed, and everyone else, including us editorial board types, who were used to DHEC being spineless. I proposed a headline for an editorial on the subject, “What DHEC is this?,” but my colleagues talked me down. The nice thing (and possibly also the main drawback) to a blog is that there’s no one to talk you down.
3. Let me show you my gun — Last week, the WSJ had a front-page story about the phenomenon of gun-lovers exposing their favorite appendages in public, apparently just to make other people uncomfortable as all get-out. (You have to wonder just how disturbed a person has to be to want to do that, huh?) Today, the NYT is playing catchup with a similar story on its main Web page. Most disturbingly, these little displays are taking place at Starbucks, among other places. Last thing I need when I’m trying to relax with a coffee is gun-nuts and counterprotesters strutting around hollering at each other…
4. Iran Says It Has New Line of Cruise Missiles — Just to let you know that there are more menacing things in the world that rednecks walking around with pistols on their hips.
5. “Hurt Locker” wins best picture — No, the Oscars are not important, but they did happen Sunday, and a lot of people are interested.
6. American traitor captured in Pakistan? — Murky story at this point, but interesting. About the possible capture of an American-born spokesman for al Qaeda.

That’s it for today. Whew, that was some work coming up with 6 items (and it wouldn’t be a self-respecting front page with fewer).

Hardly had the pixels dried on my last post based on an e-mail by Mayor Bob when I got another one from him, this one in turn based on a poll in The State today:

The State had a poll today about City issues that relate to the race for Mayor. The poll showed remarkable support for Innovista by City residents. On the question of whether Columbia  should provide financial assistance to the University of South Carolina’s Innovista research center, 62.6% support Innovista 19.2% oppose and 18% are undecided. I am attaching parts of the article and poll.

That’s particularly interesting in light of the fact that most of what you hear about Innovista — from the highly amplified S.C. Policy Council, from our governor’s few remaining followers and from our own Doug — is extremely negative. It’s good to know that most people still understand that this endeavor was, is, and will be one worthy of continued effort.

But as charmed as Mayor Bob was by that — and I’m with him — I was just as happy to read this part:

Manager or Full-Time Mayor

Well over half (57.7%) say they want a full-time mayor, while just fewer than 20 percent (19.2%) say they prefer a city manager as we have now. Over 20 percent (23.1%) are undecided on this issue, saying they don’t know one way or the other. Question: “Who should run the City of Columbia? Should it be a city manager as it is now, or should there be a full-time mayor?”

Fifty-seven percent — that’s a landslide, people. Yet all we seem to hear whenever this is brought up in the corridors of power is negative. Why? Because the folks in the corridors of power — from City Hall down to neighborhood associations (which have disproportionate power in this system of fragmented accountability, know it, and don’t want to give any up to an empowered executive) — are totally invested in the current system. In a system in which no one has enough power to lead, lots of people have little bits of power, and they don’t want to give it up.

But most folks realize they’d be better off if they had someone to hold accountable.

Well, it had to be gratifying to Mayor Bob Coble to be able to send out this notice, which I just received via e-mail:

I am attaching a copy of the City’s monthly Bank and Investment Reconciliation Statement from Jeff Palen. All City bank accounts and investment accounts are reconciled and current. The current City Financial Statement can be found at http://www.columbiasc.net/finance. Bill Ellis reports that the current budget’s expenses are $6.1 million under budget through March 1^st. Thanks

Attached was this PDF of the treasurer’s report.

These last few years of fiscal turmoil threatened to leave a cloud over Mayor Bob’s departure from office. Voters would rightly remember that he and the other six council members had the watch when the city couldn’t close its books, and was so in the fog that it was paying some bills multiple times.

Congratulations to the mayor, the council and acting City Manager Steve Gantt for getting Columbia back to this point. Now it will be up to the new mayor and council to ensure the financial house stays in order going forward.

One of the saddest extinctions (next to the ongoing slow death of newspapers, period) of the past generation was the passing of afternoon newspapers.

It still sort of floors me that that happened. PM papers were WAY more energetic, immediate and timely than their more staid AM counterparts, which have inexplicably lingered. Also, they were more plugged into their communities because the people who wrote and edited those papers actually got to go home in the evening like normal people, and go to social events and their kids’ PTA meetings, etc. AM paper people can’t do those things, not to the same extent.

But no use crying over spilt newspapers. Here’s today’s virtual afternoon newspaper:

US jobless rate holds steady — This is being interpreted as a sign of recovery. The Dow certainly seemed to think so today.

Dwight Drake drops out — Trailing Vincent Sheheen (but leading Jim Rex) in fundraising, the lobbyist quits the race for the Democratic nomination for governor the day after Sheheen shows surprising strength on Drake’s stomping grounds, the Legislature.

SC House cuts business taxes — Really? As tough as you’re finding it coming up with revenue for essential governmental functions? Normally, a sound idea, but now?

Gordon Brown Says Iraq War Was ‘Right Decision’ — You may not know about this inquiry into Britain’s involvement into the Iraq War, but it’s huge over across the pond. It struck me as interesting that the current PM would stick up for my man Tony to this extent.

Obama advisers set to recommend military tribunals for alleged 9/11 plotters — As I mentioned earlier, very promising indication of continuing national-security pragmatism on the part of this administration.

Pentagon Gunman Dies; Mystery of Assault Deepens — Talk about your Homeland Insecurity. Guy gets off subways, blasts away at the Pentagon itself.

See how much newsier, how much more immediate that feels, than a morning newspaper, in which the very newest news is generally 12 hours old?

PNN’s Happy Hour: Episode 2 from Wesley Donehue on Vimeo.

Here’s video from last night’s session with Wesley Donehue and Phil Bailey — and co-guest Wes Wolfe.

In case the imbed doesn’t work, here’s a link. By the way, the reason my mouth keeps twitching like ruminant chewing its cud is that my throat was going out on me and I had a peppermint in there for its soothing qualities…

I made them promise to have me back on the show when Lent is over, so that I, too, can have a beer. Or two.

This is encouraging news in The Washington Post:

Obama advisers set to recommend military tribunals for alleged 9/11 plotters

By Anne E. Kornblut and Peter Finn

Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 5, 2010 President Obama‘s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.

The president’s advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States….

Lindsey Graham certainly thinks so, and in matters of this sort, I generally tend to agree with him:

Graham on Washington Post Report on Detainee Policy

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on reports in today’s Washington Post that Obama Administration advisors are preparing to recommend to the President that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on America, and other 9/11 conspirators be prosecuted by military commission.

Graham, who strongly favors military commission trials for the 9/11 conspirators, said:

“If true, this would be welcome news by most Americans.   The civilian trail of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the 9/11 conspirators in New York City would be a zoo.  In addition, a civilian trial would cost hundreds of millions and would take the war on terror in the wrong direction.

“If the mastermind of 9/11 is not an enemy combatant at war with the United States and worthy of a military commission trial who would be?  So if the Washington Post report turns out to be correct, I think it helps us in getting detainee policy back on track.

“I have always believed that closing Guantanamo Bay safely is in our national security interests.  This is a view shared by former President Bush, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, our military leaders and President Obama.  To accomplish this goal we must have a comprehensive strategy which assures the American people our nation will be safe and create a legal system that is national-security centric.

“There is a place for our civilian courts in the War on Terror.  However, we must recognize as a nation we are not dealing with common criminals, and the law of armed conflict is our central guide.”

####

This continued trend on the part of the president’s national security team (and others who would be involved in such a decision) toward pragmatism is most reassuring.

You know, when you spend the whole day in meetings and don’t even have time to check Twitter, stuff can happen.

Such as Dwight Drake pulling out of the election for governor:

Today I am announcing that I am withdrawing from the campaign for South Carolina Governor.

I got into this race because I believed that South Carolina’s families deserved much more than they were getting from their Governor.  We are facing the toughest times in a generation, and we can only take that on with dedicated, experienced leadership that is focused on putting our people back to work and building a better future for our kids.  I have ambitious ideas for getting our state back on track, and I have the knowledge and experience to put those ideas into action.

But a statewide campaign for office is not just about these things.  It also requires resources – campaign dollars to run in a competitive primary and in a competitive general election.

I am deeply grateful for – and humbled by – the support I have received from my fellow South Carolinians in the seven months since I began my campaign.  As I have put pen to paper in recent days, it’s become clear to me that I am not going to be able to marshal the resources needed to run the competitive, substantive campaign that I set out to run.

I have spent most of my life working to make South Carolina a better place to live, work, and raise a family, and I have done that without ever holding elective office.  So, while I withdraw from this race for Governor, I will not withdraw from my commitment to our state.

I have been blessed and honored by my experience in this campaign – most especially by the good, hard-working people all over our state that I have met and talked with.  Now is the time when South Carolina needs its strongest leaders, both inside and outside of government, to do the hard work of rebuilding our economy and setting things right.  I intend to do just that.

Thank you,

So, what does it all mean, Mr. Natural? Well, I see that Vincent Sheheen — who had been pretty aggressive in defining Dwight as a big-time lobbyist who Was Part Of The Problem — was quick to court the Drake camp’s support, which is the smart thing to do apart from the fact that it’s also the civil thing:

SENATOR SHEHEEN’S STATEMENT ON DWIGHT DRAKE’S DEPARTURE FROM RACE

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, Democratic candidate for governor, released the following statement in response to the news that Dwight Drake would be withdrawing from the gubernatorial primary:

Dwight has been a formidable opponent whose smarts, expertise, and vast knowledge of South Carolina government brought great perspective and ideas to the table in this race.  I respect his service to our country in Vietnam, his service to our state as an advisor to Governor Riley, and I look forward to working with him to tackle the many challenges facing South Carolina right now.

Every day new people across South Carolina are joining our effort to get our state moving in the right direction.  We’re laying the groundwork of a winning campaign, and as your next governor, I will make it my mission to help restore hope for all of the people of South Carolina by recruiting well-paying jobs, improving our schools, and working with you to make South Carolina a better place to live.

# # #

Gut check: At this point, I’m starting to see Vincent as the likely Democratic nominee. Jim Rex will have something to say about that, to the best of his ability, but at the moment Vincent seems to have the Mo. (Note that Dwight had raised more money than Jim, but, savvy guy that he is, apparently decided it wasn’t enough.) We’ll see though, won’t we?

Dwight will be missed because he seemed determined to have fun with this thing. But we’ll just have to have all the fun we can with the candidates that remain.

We know how those guys over at the State House love to cut taxes and fees, but this is going further than even I thought they would:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina lawmakers have given initial approval to repealing a 1951 law requiring any group that wants to overthrow the government to register and pay a $5 fee.

A Senate Judiciary panel Thursday approved repealing the McCarthy-era law adopted during the Cold War communist scare.

Sen. Larry Martin says the archaic measure is pointless. The Pickens Republican says bloggers spread the misconception last month that legislators had recently passed the bill, prompting concern from conservative activists and ridicule from others.

Secretary of State Mark Hammond said no one filed under the law until last month. Nine people and supposed groups have filed in jest. Hammond says one sent in a photocopy of a $5 Confederate bill.

Personally, I think we oughta raise fees on terrorists. I don’t want to be unwelcoming or anything, but if terrorists want to set up shop in South Carolina, there should be a cost of doing business. I don’t care how many people they say they’re going to hire.

And how are we ever going to pay for the essential functions of state government in these tough times if we’re even going to cut — nay, eliminate — the tax on terrorism? You may think I’m being facetious, but based on my personal experience dealing with the Confederate flag issue, there are a LOT of people in this state who think the only mistake the South made between 1860 and 1865 was losing. We could probably finance a modest-sized agency right there.

But this at least solves a dilemma for me. Since I’m on the record as wanting to change SC’s form of government and would like very much to see some key leaders deposed, since I’m fed up with the lack of action in our State House and would like to see a revolution in our political culture, I was sort of thinking maybe I would have to pay this fee. But now I don’t have to worry about it. Or I won’t once they finish passing this…

Jesus was taken to a high mountain and offered all the kingdoms of the world. I get offered a beer. Temptation ain’t what it used to be.

You may have noted that Wesley Donehue, after commenting on a recent post, asked me to join him and his opposite number Phil Bailey on a live video-feed program this evening.

He elaborated upon the invitation in an e-mail this morning:

Hey Brad. Here’s the deal.

We launched a live video series last week called Happy Hour. It’s a little point counterpoint between me and Phil Bailey over some beers from a local bar with wifi. We want to start having guests on today. We’d love for you to be the first one. Also, we always invite people to just show up, drink a beer, and be part of the show at anytime.

The video is broadcast live over Ustream and then starting this episode, we will post a high quality version the following today.

Today’s broadcast starts at 6 pm from Flying Saucer in the Vista.  We’d like you to be there at about 5:45.

Can you do it?

It really is a lot of fun. And I’ll even buy your beer.

Sounds innocent enough, but … I gave up beer for Lent. This, for me, is a sore trial. But I’ve agreed to do the show anyway, and watch Wesley and Phil drink — on the condition that they ask me back again after Easter.

The fun (for them) starts at 6. Here’s the link. That’s a recent show imbedded above. I like it because the quality makes my own videos look very professional.

Kidding aside, I like the sound of this — a Republican and a Democrat actually sitting down and having a rational discussion of politics over a beer. I’ll like it better when the UnParty can have a beer, too. Or two.

Today it actually is March 4 (I accidentally said that was the date yesterday), so we’re off to a good start. Accuracy is very important to us here at bradwarthen.com. You get only the very best news that I can cull from the Web for free.

Here’s today’s virtual front page:

Obama Calls for ‘Up or Down Vote’ on Health Care Bill — The president expects a vote within weeks. That remains to be seen, reconciliation or no. And will what they pass be worth the trouble?

Retailers did better in February — Some good news, perhaps. Maybe this was affected by that external hard drive I bought over the weekend ($89.99 for a 1 terabyte Seagate at Best Buy). Whatever the cause, it wasn’t the only good news. U.S. unemployment claims also dropped.

SC House caps punitive damages — The limit would be $350,000. The theory is that such a cap makes SC more attractive to business.

New Hurdle to Iran Sanctions — China isn’t the only country being a pain in the rear over Iran. Add Turkey, Lebanon and Brazil (Lula flipped off Hillary to her face, which takes nerve) to the list of countries that make it less likely we’ll find a peaceful way to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the IDF are on deck, ready to go to bat.

Early voting begins in Iraq — Several incidents of violence mar the run-up to Sunday’s critical elections.

Smoking bans on the West Bank — Of the Congaree, that is. West Columbia and Cayce pass bans of differing comprehensiveness (is “comprehensiveness” a word?). Finally, I can go hear my son’s band next time it plays at New Brookland Tavern, without a gas mask. Irmo opts out of a ban, but there was nowhere I wanted to go in Irmo anyway. (Not to cast aspersions, I just can’t think of any place.)

That’s kind of hard-news heavy, which is generally satisfying to my tastes, but I would have liked to have found at least one fun story to lighten up the mix. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.

Burl, trying to be helpful, shared this with me from Roger Ebert:

Dear Readers:Most web sites generate less income than they cost to maintain. Mine is no exception. Because I want to preserve free access to the site, I’ve come up with an idea I’d like to run by you. I’m announcing The Ebert Club, which will offer a group of additional attractions and conveniences for members.

Membership in the club will not be expensive. Through March, we’ll have a special introductory rate of $4.99 for a year’s membership. After April 1, the price will shoot up to $5. No, this is not an April Fool’s joke. April 1 is the date I was appointed movie critic of the Sun-Times,
and I plan to live it up.

Your membership benefits will include:

1. The site’s RSS/Newsletter feed, which Includes quick clickable links to all my new reviews and other site content. (Full disclosure: This will also continue to be free).

2. Quick links to my Special Pages for Twitter. These are free-standing web pages I create on the spur of a notion.

3. Quick links to new postings on Roger Ebert’s Journal and Jim Emerson’s Scanners.

4. Selected @ebertchicago, winnowed to improve the signal to noise ratio. All the joys of following my Twitter stream, from the comfort of your inbox.

5. A private discussion thread for Club members. This will resemble one of the comment threads on my Journal, but its URL will be made available to members only.

6. The Web Report: Unexpected and delightful web discoveries. I find links myself. Readers send me amazing pages. As a club member, we will not bother you with anything dumb.

7. Occasional Special Pages for club members only.

8. Advance notice of Ebertfest tickets going on sale. The festival sells out early every year. At Ebertfest, I’ll hold a meet-and-greet for club members.

9. You will be helping enormously to support this web site. Well, that’s worth something, isn’t it?

10. We’re open to your suggestions about live chats for Club members only and things like that.

Click on the link below if you’d like to join us.

Thank you,

Roger

Manohmanohmanohman… Here I am, thinking I can make money from my blog, working on taking ads and such. And then I read this. Here’s a guy who has 91,572 followers on Twitter (to my 447). Here’s a guy who’s actually famous and popular, and has possibly more credibility than anybody in the country writing about one of the country’s most popular topics, among other things. And he has to go to all this trouble to make any money on the Web?

How would I do that? How would I even get it started while earning a living doing other stuff (which I MUST do)? Even if I did nothing else, I don’t think 24 hours is enough time to deliver on all the things he’s promising to paying customers.

This is discouraging.

But I haven’t given up yet.

Wow, I certainly picked a dud of a week in which to start giving y’all news summaries. I’m glad I didn’t get up early to do this virtual front page; it wouldn’t have been worth it. Nevertheless, here are your top stories:

Ways and Means chair steps down — OK, I’m cheating here a little bit. I was initially going to do this like a daily, morning newspaper, and since this happened today, it wasn’t available to any of the dailies. But I might as well embrace, as a positive good, the fact that this medium is not limited that way. Anyway, this is kind of a lame lede story, since it’s from the realm of the Washington spin cycle and I HATE stories like that (more of a lede for The Washington Post than for anyone else). But it actually happened, unlike the ledes of The State and the WSJ, which were “something MIGHT happen” stories, which in my strict interpretation cannot be lede stories — at least, not in MY hard-news virtual newspaper.

GM blames recall on Toyota supplier — I only saw this story in The Financial Times, which surprised me. This one is pretty choice — GM was chortling over Toyota’s recall woes, then had a massive recall (with attendant horror stories) of its own. Now, it blames its troubles on Toyota. Beautiful. I might have led with this, on this weak news day, if the Rangel thing hadn’t come up. By the way, this story should include a refer to the latest shakeup of the company you and I own.

Tort reform — Nothing seems to have actually happened here — thereby disqualifying it as a lede story (even though The State led with it) — but it’s a situationer on an important SC issue.

Postal Service eyes cutbacks — Another contender for lede on this weak news day. The Post Office wants to quit delivering on Saturday, and implement other cutbacks.

Chile quake — Still the biggest story of the week. Hillary Clinton arrived to express U.S. concern and offer support.

Columbia trolleys — A little change-of-pace talker on a weak news day. Might want to refer to Warren Bolton’s column on the bus system, just to bring readers from past to present.

An inside-baseball postscript: Seeing how slim the pickings were, after breakfast this morning, I ran by Publix to check out the front page of The New York Times. Back when I was the front-page editor in Wichita in the mid-80s, the NYT rescued me on many a night. Often, when there was nothing strong local and the WashPost and the L.A. Times and the wires had zip, the NYT would pull a strong lede story out of nowhere, as a virtuoso demonstration of pure enterprise. It was that, more than anything, that caused me to believe that the NYT was more than just a reputation. Unfortunately, those days are past. Today, the NYT led with a New York state story about Gov. Paterson — which was NOT a legitimate lede story for an edition that went out of state. Tsk, tsk.

But there’s a consolation — it was at the little Publix newsstand that I saw the Financial Times story about GM.

Doug and all the rest of you who doubt the wisdom of spending on research at our public universities must forever hold your peace now that some really awesome research has been attributed to our own USC by a respected, I mean, much-read national journal — namely, The Onion:

COLUMBIA, SC—Archaeologists excavating the train tracks out by the quarry announced Tuesday that they have discovered evidence of an epic party dating back to the late- February period of the year 2010.

According to University of South Carolina Archaeology chair Winston Eng, the monumental celebration, once thought to be merely the stuff of local legend, appears to have spanned more than six hours and covered a 2,200-square-foot area at its height.”This is an extremely exciting find,” said Eng, who is heading up the careful documentation and cataloging of what is already being referred to as a total freakin’ blowout. “Nothing in the record indicates a party of such breadth and magnitude ever having occurred in this area, before or since.”

“Judging by the vast array of artifacts these people left behind, this was truly a balls-out rager,” Eng added.

Go read the entire piece, and be impressed, or be judged a total dweeb who would never be invited to such a party…

You’ll note that one of the top stories I chose today was one that said the House budget envisions cuts that would mean the elimination of 1,000 state jobs.

That’s one way to look at it. Describing anything as big and complex as the state budget in a way that is comprehensible demands a certain blind-men-and-the-elephant approach: You stake out a perspective and describe in those terms.

Here’s another way to look at it: You’ll recall that, last spring, I wrote about just how deeply public higher education in South Carolina had already been cut. A sample from that piece, which was inspired by what I’d heard at a budget hearing over at the State House:

• 17 percent – the amount of the University of South Carolina’s funding that now comes from state appropriations. Our state’s major research universities now get less than a fifth of their funding from state appropriations. In recent years, those in the know have stopped calling them “state institutions” and started calling them “state-assisted.” We’ve now reached the point at which even that seems like an overstatement.

• 1^st – South Carolina’s ranking in percentage of higher education funding cut last year. South Carolina, before the December and March reductions, had cut 17.7 percent from higher education budgets. (After those cuts, it has slashed higher ed budgets 24 percent.) The second worst state was Alabama, at 10.5 percent.
• 38^th – Our state’s ranking for higher ed funding before the past year’s nation-leading cuts.
• 1995 – The last year that state appropriations, as a dollar amount, equaled the current level, before adjusting for inflation.
• 1973 – The year that matches the current level of funding, once you adjust for inflation. (Think for a moment what North Carolina and Georgia have done in higher education since 1973, pulling light years ahead of South Carolina.)
• $29 million – The value of one grant (from the National Institutes of Health) brought in by a single one of the 13 endowed chair holders at the Medical University of South Carolina.
• 25 – New technology companies started by USC faculty in the years since the endowed chairs program started, which places the university 19^th among public institutions in the nation in number of start-ups.
• 50,000 – S.C. jobs provided directly or indirectly by USC.
• 11 percent – South Carolina unemployment rate in February.
• 43^rd – South Carolina’s national ranking for percentage of adult population with college educations.

Since then, of course, higher ed has received some stimulus money that our governor did everything but lie down in the road to prevent coming to our state. But that has generally gone to one-time needs — deferred maintenance and such, or one time programs. The institution I’m most familiar with, USC, was very particular about not devoting that temporary boost to recurring needs. So basically, the things that were hurting before the stimulus are still hurting.

Since I wrote those bullets above, there have been further cuts to recurring funding, bringing that nation-leading 24 percent above to 32 percent.

Now I hear USC is bracing for another 21 percent in cuts, which would bring the cuts since July 2008 to 46 percent.

Remember that before any of the cuts came, higher ed was already seriously underfunded in this state, which is one of the reasons why our economy lagged behind those of North Carolina and Georgia even in good times. Our governor doesn’t believe public colleges and universities should concern themselves with economic development, but people who actually know something about economic development understand that the connection is inevitable, no matter what administrators and governors choose to concern themselves with. Any state where higher ed is neglected can look for little economic growth today.

We started out behind the rest of the country, and then had cut our investment in higher ed more than any other state had when we had cut 24 percent. At 46 percent, how much farther behind will we fall? Those figures, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for our short-term happiness) are not available yet.

Now, whether we’re talking about higher ed, or corrections, or K-12 education, or mental health, or environmental protection or whatever, it’s understandable that a certain amount of belt-tightening will occur in hard times. No one has to tell me, after a year of unemployment, about the necessity of changing one’s expectations and adjusting spending.

But as we go into our, what, third or fourth year in a row of cuts upon cuts, it would be really nifty if someone in state government would assure us that there is truly a rhyme and reason, a strategy, behind our actions, one arising from a vision that extends beyond the current crisis. I’d like to hear how we’re going to rethink taxing and spending to make sure we fund essential services in a way that positions our state to be ready to take advantage of the economic recovery when it comes, instead of lying prostrate in the ruins — which, unfortunately, seems to be the general outlook at this point.

With apologies to the late Walter Cronkite for the headline, I offer this briefing of today’s news. As I did last summer, I offer it in virtual front-page format, because as a former front-page editor (years before I was editorial page editor), that’s the way I think.

Mind you, this is a sort of fantasy newspaper that is unlimited in its sources of material, since it is a digest of material on the Web.

Here are the stories for today’s front:

1. Chile quake — This would be a small lede (perhaps one column) at this point. Chile has sent troops into Concepcion to curb looting as the official death toll (expected to climb) reaches 723.
2. Budget cuts could cost 1,000 state jobs — That’s if the $5.1 billion budget now before the SC House stays as it is.
3. What happened to the flu? — In a very interesting story, given the way the flu threat was hyped for much of 2009, The Wall Street Journal reports that in February, normally the height of flu season, there were far fewer cases than in a typical year. That’s with H1N1 and ordinary, garden-variety flu counted. Maybe the hype helped, in terms of getting people to wash hands and such, but no one really knows why the incidence is so low.
4. SLED probe of missing money — SLED trying to figure out what happened to $395,000 at the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. Fraud is suspected. My former colleague Peter O’Boyle says the agency was the victim, but SLED isn’t jumping to that conclusion yet.
5. Weather — Farmers are contending with fields too wet to till, and we might have some snow tonight, but it will melt tomorrow at the latest. It should melt pretty early, but if you get up tomorrow before the sun, be very careful. (Note that I link to the National Weather Service, rather than some hyped-up commercial weather site. To the extent that I care about the weather, I get it from an official source without all the melodrama.)
6. The 11-year-old armed robber — This is a talker, placed on the page as leavening. Boy steals food from girl at knifepoint, gets nabbed by Leon Lott.

An also-ran: I almost included this NYT story speculating that US automakers are benefiting, somewhat, from Toyota’s troubles. But then I saw this BBC story about GM recalls, and thought, wait a minute — I’m not sure what’s really happening here. And in a related development, the Obama administration is considering requiring brake overrides. Actually, this story from the WSJ may sum up the situation best — Ford outsold GM for the first time in a decade.

That’s if for today.

So there I was, innocently checking out The Onion to find out what wasn’t going on in the world, when I ran across an ad for something called “The Marriage Ref.”

Near as I can tell, it’s a reality show produced by Jerry Seinfeld, which also stars Mr. Seinfeld as a member of a “celebrity” panel who comments on video from “real” people’s irritating, depressing, inconsequential personal conflicts.

Seeing this, I was reminded of what a character played by Kevin Dillon said in the largely forgotten film “Heaven Help Us” upon seeing “Blue Hawaii:” “… what’d they do to Elvis? Cut his balls off, or something?”

I find myself wondering how a guy responsible for some of the wittiest TV of the past generation could have sunk this low. If Jerry Seinfeld is now doing reality TV, and acting like he enjoys it and finds it amusing (could he really need the money that badly?), then television is officially decadent. Actually, it’s probably past that. It’s over. Aside from PBS and the movie channels, forget about it.

Here, just to remind us of what was: