Here’s where that path leads, Lindsey

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Just to elaborate a bit on that last post, in which I wrote about how once-sensible Republicans are dancing with madness these days…

I’d just like to point out to Sen. Graham where all this “hate Obamacare to the point that we’ll hurt actual South Carolinians by blowing it up” stuff leads.

Continue down that path, and you cease to be that voice of reason you’ve always been in Washington, that Gang of 14 guy, the guy who took a bullet for comprehensive immigration reform, the guy who at least for a time fought for the Energy Party platform at great personal political risk, the guy who could get President Obama to listen to reason on national security. You cease being all that (which is a national tragedy, because the nation NEEDS you to play that role), and you end up being state Sen. Lee Bright. I mean this guy:

Sen. Lee Bright: SC should coin its own money

Continuing a pattern of attempts to assert South Carolina’s independence from the federal government, State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Roebuck, has introduced legislation that backs the creation of a new state currency that could protect the financial stability of the Palmetto State in the event of a breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.

Bright’s joint resolution calls for the creation of an eight-member joint subcommittee to study the proposal and submit a report to the General Assembly by Nov. 1.

The Federal Reserve System has come under ever-increasing strain during the last several years and will be exposed to ever-increasing and predictably debilitating strain in the years to come, according to the legislation.

“If there is an attempt to monetize the Fed we ought to at least have a study on record that could protect South Carolinians,” Bright said in an interview Friday.

“If folks lose faith in the dollar, we need to have some kind of backup.”

The legislation cites the rights reserved to states in the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings in making the case that South Carolina is within its rights to create its own currency…

Thank Bud for bringing that to my attention. I hadn’t seen coverage of it. But the Boston Globe has noted it. And these guys are applauding it. (This really embarrassing stuff tends to come to my attention this way. While SC media is trying to look the other way — or rather spending its time covering legislation that might actually pass, which sounds better — the rest of the country is chortling. When Mike Pitts proposed doing away with the Yankee dollar and replacing it with gold and silver, I first learned about it from Burl Burlingame and The Onion.)

Sen. Bright, by the way, was last seen pushing broader legislation to protect South Carolina’s “rights” (which rights were under siege was unclear, but then it usual is) from encroaching federal power in general. You may or may not recall that I wrote about it in a post headlined “These guys cannot POSSIBLY be serious.” I led with a reference to that scene from “Gettysburg” with the Confederate prisoners speaking nonsensically about fighting for their nonspecific “rats.” You know how I like movie allusions.

Anyway, that’s where you could end up.

You don’t want to go there, do you, Lindsey? I didn’t think so. But that’s where this “seceding from Obamacare” stuff leads…

If SC “opts out” of Obamacare, you will definitely have stepped over the line

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I say that because, between the two of them — him and Nikki Haley — I figure he’s the one more likely to listen to reason. At least, I would normally think that, although his recent behavior on this subject injects a large measure of doubt.

Here’s what I’m on about:

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday opened the S.C. front in the Republican Party’s battle to roll back health care legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama last year.

At a State House news conference, Graham and Haley took turns blasting the law as an expensive federal takeover of the nation’s health care system. Graham said the law, which won 60 votes in the 100-member U.S. Senate, was passed through a “sleazy” process that offered no opportunity for GOP input.

Graham also said he has introduced legislation to allow South Carolina and other states to “opt out” of the law, which is being challenged in federal courts.

“I’m confident that, if given the chance, a large number of states would opt out of the provisions regarding the individual mandate, employer mandate and expansion of Medicaid,” Graham said, referring to requirements in the law that individuals buy insurance, companies offer it and Medicaid be expanded to cover those without insurance. “As more states opt out, it will have the effect of repealing and replacing Obamacare.”

Last time, I was sort of seriocomic in warning Sen. Graham that he was goin’ to messin’, with my “Lindsey, fill yer hands; I’m a callin’ you out” post.

It’s not funny any more.

In fact, this is the one thing that leading Republicans (or anyone else who got such a notion) could do that would be totally beyond the pale, truly unforgivable.

Look, I get it: You don’t like Obama. No, scratch that: What I get is that your constituents don’t like Obama (in some cases for reasons that don’t bear a lot of scrutiny), so you’re playing to that. I doubt Nikki has any strong feelings toward the president one way or the other (she never even had occasion to think about him until she decided to become the Tea Party’s Dream Girl last year) and for his part Lindsey is perfectly happy to work with him in a collegial manner. But they’re trying to stay in the game with Jim “Waterloo” DeMint, and this leads to trying to fake the symptoms of Obama Derangement Syndrome.

I fully get the fact that since the defeat of November 2008 (when, it you’ll recall, I endorsed both John McCain and Lindsey Graham), the Republican Party has gone stark, raving mad, having concluded that its problem in ’08 was that it wasn’t extreme enough, not wacky enough, causing it, as it wandered lost in the post-apocalyptic landscape, to embrace the Tea Party in its lonely desperation. I get all that.

But that is a disgusting, absurd, inexcusable, disgustingly irresponsible reason to try to prevent the people of South Carolina — who have perhaps more need for health care reform than people in any other state — from deriving any benefit that might accrue from the federal health care legislation.

No, the thing dubbed “Obamacare” doesn’t accomplish much; it’s a bit of a Frankenstein of a bill. But it actually would do SOME people SOME good. And it at least has the one essential element that one would have to have in any attempt to address the crisis in paying for health care in this country, the national mandate — which, absurdly, is the ONE thing you object to most vehemently. (We’ve discussed in the past how there’s no point in talking about “reform” unless you start with the premise that everybody has to be in the game for it to work, so I won’t go on and on about it now.)

Yep, Obamacare is pretty inadequate. But you have NOTHING to replace it with, nothing in the wings (with any chance of passing, or any chance of doing any good if it DID pass) to do what little good Obamacare will do.

So trying to tear it down is nothing but an act of pure destruction. And the thing you’re destroying is the ONE thing that’s been done lately to address the one greatest domestic need in this country.

I expect this kind of nonsense from Nikki Haley (the Tea Party Nikki Haley that is, not the promising young House member I used to know). But Lindsey Graham is fully smart enough to know better.

Fine, have your little press conferences and make your symbolic gestures. But if you actually start to make this “opt-out” thing a reality, that will be unforgivable.

Virtual Front Page, Monday, Feb. 14, 2011

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Happy Valentine’s Day — even though y’all aren’t actually my valentine. Not that I want to hurt y’all’s feelings or anything. I mean, if we were in school, you’d probably get one of those cheap 30-to-a-box valentines (probably with Zorro, or Davy Crockett, on them), but since there’s no teacher making me do that, you’re out of luck. Just the way it is. Sorry. Y’all are still my friends and all. Some of you, that is. It’s complicated.

Anyway, here’s the news:

  1. Protesters in Tehran tear-gassed (BBC) — Here we go. We knew Iran was next. NYT says these are the biggest protests there since 2009. Not that Iran was ALONE in being next…
  2. Clashes Erupt in Bahrain as Tumult Ripples Across Mideast (NYT) — Not a big crowd, but could this be the next domino?
  3. Government Supporters Clash With Protesters in Yemen (NYT) — Are you noticing a pattern here? Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s Abbas starts acting like HE cares about democracy, too, and things are still not quite perfect in the new paradise of Egypt.
  4. Obama Unveils $3.7 Trillion Budget For 2012 (NPR) — Which, to repeat one of my favorite jokes oft-repeated by a newsroom wag I used to work with, is more than I make in a year!
  5. Ecuador Court Orders Chevron to Pay $8.6 Billion (WSJ) — Wow. The Journal’s website is actually leading at the moment (see screenshot below) with a story from the country where I lived for two-and-a-half years when I was a kid. Which doesn’t happen every day, or even every decade.
  6. Nation’s top recruit signs with the Gamecocks (thestate.com) — At Rotary today, everybody was going on and on about how exciting it was that “Clowney’s gonna play at USC!” They wanted me to talk about it during Health and Happiness. I was puzzled. Here’s a picture of my fellow Rotarian, Bill Clowney. He’s a great guy and all, but I think he’s a little long in the tooth to be of much use to the Gamecocks. Seems they’d want to sign someone younger. But what do I know about football? We’ll see, I suppose.

Ought to be the shortest show EVER…

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Had to smile when I saw this Tweet from Teow0nna Clifton:

Teowonna Clifton

@ThatTeowonnaTeowonna Clifton
Diversity in the Governor’s Cabinet Pt.2 on OnPointX will air 02/15.http://tobtr.com/s/1549521#BlogTalkRadio

First thought: Diversity in the governor’s Cabinet? There’s so little of that that I’m surprised you could get one show out of it, much less two…

Script for the show:

— Hi, we’re here to talk about diversity in the Haley administration.

— OK, let’s do. What ABOUT diversity in the Haley administration?

— Well, the governor herself is Indian-American?

— And?

— And she named one black nominee to her Cabinet. But that nominee withdrew. So she named another black nominee to take her place.

— And?

— And that’s the end of our show! Thanks for being with us…

Dang. Wish I’d had that a little earlier, for Health and Happiness…

Thanks for the input; here’s what I said today

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Thanks so much for y’all’s last-minute help with my Health & Happiness routine today. I used a lot of it, as you will see if you peruse my script I threw together… Note that the parts that I struck through were the bits that I cut when President Robin said I needed to keep it short. She’s always telling me to keep it short; don’t know why.

Anyway, here you go:

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS, 2/14/2011

OK, so now it’s time for my prepared material…

I use “prepared” loosely. I’m a last-minute replacement for Ann Marie Stieritz. Yeah, I know, I’m sorry – this is what you get. Not the same, I know.Ann Marie found out over the weekend that she was doing double-duty at Rotary today, and asked if I’d swap with her at the last minute. And I just couldn’t say no to her. Well, INITIALLY I DID say no to her, but then she threatened to beat me up…

What? You don’t think she’d do that? Well, she convinced ME, so here I am…

So I cheated. I appealed to folks on my blog – that’s BRADWARTHEN.COM – begging them for some material. And they came through with stuff like this:

A PORK CHOP goes into a bar. The bartender takes one look and says, “Sorry, we don’t serve food here.”

You don’t like that? Well, it could be worse. I did come up with one REALLY SHORT joke on my own. Here goes:

“State Senator Robert Ford…”

… what? Do I need to get a drummer to go BA-DA-BOOMP-CHICK! so you’ll know when the joke’s over?

Did you see that news story? Quoting from The Associated Press:

An African-American lawmaker in South Carolina said Tuesday that stricter illegal immigration laws would hurt the state because blacks and whites don’t work as hard as Hispanics.

State Sen. Robert Ford made his remarks during a Senate committee debate over an Arizona-style immigration law, eliciting a smattering of nervous laughter in the chamber after he said “brothers” don’t work as hard as Mexicans. He continued that his “blue-eyed brothers” don’t either.

Way I look at it, illegal immigrants already have enough political enemies in South Carolina. They really don’t need any friends like Senator Ford.

But enough about Democrats. I want to take a moment to stick up for Sarah Palin.

Do you remember all the trouble she got into when misused the term “blood libel,” a phrase describing one of the nastiest lies invented by antiSemites? The former Alaska governor defended herself by pleading ignorance about the significance of what she said.

Hey, when Sarah Palin pleads ignorance, I believer her. Absolutely.

OK, here’s another one from my blog readers:

What did the cow say to the near-sighted farmer?

You’re pulling my leg.

These, I must attribute to my regular reader Doug, because they do NOT reflect my views. At least, not all of them:

— Well, it’s Valentines Day today and that’s a special day for most couples. But for Nikki and Michael Haley, it’s even more special. It’s the day they pay their income taxes for 2009.

–When Mick Zais took over as Secretary of Education, he called Jim Rex to get some information. “How many people work at the Department of Education, Jim?” Rex thought for a moment and replied, “About half of them.”

–Ken Ard would have liked to have been here this morning but he is busy at his office with a bag full of receipts and a “Dummy’s Guide to Photoshop”.

— What’s the difference between Hosni Mubarek and Mark Sanford? One of them ruled over a bunch of wild eyed zealots who want to tear down the government and the other one was President of Egypt.

OK, that’s meaner than MY political gags. So let me take a moment to say something nice. Really. It’s about Joe Wilson.

There was a movement to get Democrats and Republicans to sit together at the State of the Union. Some members of the SC delegation reacted negatively. Newly minted congressman Mick Mulvaney said: “If you’re looking for empty symbolism, where one sits at the State of the Union (address) might be at the top of the list.”

You know what tops MY list of the most pointless, negative symbolism that Congress engages in, the thing that’s most insulting to the American people? The fact that the REST of the time, they only SIT  with, and TALK to, and LISTEN to, members of their own party. They act like they think they’re there to serve a party instead of this country.

And that’s why I appreciate Joe Wilson for sitting with Democrats Susan Davis from California and Madeleine Bordallo from Guam. Both are HASC members. Yes, it’s a silly little gesture that doesn’t accomplish much by itself. But a few thousand more such little gestures of common courtesy could to a long way toward reducing the pointless nastiness of politics in Washington.

So thank you, Joe Wilson.

I’ll finish up with some stuff from my old friend Burl Burlingame. Burl, I should explain, is a newspaperman out in Hawaii, where he and I graduated from high school together. That helps explain his attitude. Here are Burl’s WORDS TO LIVE BY:

— Eagles may soar high, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

— There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there’s a ‘ME’ if you look hard enough.

— Never do today that which will become someone else’s responsibility tomorrow.

Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency – welcome to a day in the average office.

— If your boss is getting you down, look at him through the prongs of a fork and imagine him in jail.

— If you’re gonna be late, then BE late and not just 2 minutes – make it an hour and enjoy your breakfast.

— If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven’t understood the seriousness of the situation.

I killed — with the stuff y’all contributed. My own stuff I threw in… not so much. I think they liked Doug’s and Burl’s material the best.

Biggest laugh? The one about the Haleys and their taxes. I think the extra laughter was prompted by relief. The setup made a lot of people cringe, expecting an entirely different sort of punchline.

By contrast… I had thrown in the bit about Ann Marie Stieritz (for whom I was substituting) threatening to beat me up because I thought it would be an easy laugh that would get them in the mood to keep laughing. (You see, Ann Marie is a very bright, classy, charming and delightful lady of the sort that no one could possibly imagine uttering harsh words, much less taking a swing at anybody. Also, I’m WAY bigger than she is, so the idea of  my being physically intimidated is totally… oh, never mind.) But it totally failed. Not even a suppressed snort from anybody. At that point, I began to worry that the audience wanted to beat me up.

Then, the “pork chop goes into a bar” gag ALSO failed, to the point that I blamed it on Kathryn Fenner by name, and pointed her out in the crowd.

Fortunately, the line, “State Senator Robert Ford…,” spoken in a tone as though those were the opening lines of a broadcast news report, broke them up so successfully that I got back on track. Thank you, senator…

When people came up to me after, I was fully prepared with an all-purpose response that either deflected criticism (if they DIDN’T like it) or made for a becoming display of false modesty (if they DID): “Hey, I just get up there and use the stuff the writers give me…”

Need some really good (clean) jokes, quick!

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Uh-oh… one of my fellow Rotarians called needing me to do Health & Happiness Monday, and I’ve got NO MATERIAL!

To give you an idea what Health & Happiness is like (in case you’re not in Rotary), here are a couple I did in the past that were relatively successful:

And here’s one that was not successful at all.

But look — anything CLEAN, that appeals to a broad audience, would be helpful. Political and topical would be a bonus (since they tend to expect that from me). So far, all I’ve got is a short bit about Robert Ford, not fully formed in my mind yet.

So help me out. PLEASE…

Virtual Front Page, Friday, Feb. 11, 2011

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Well, we’ve got some grade-A, historic news for you today, but I’m not going to charge you extra. Although I probably should:

  1. MUBARAK STEPS DOWN (NYT) — Plus the versions from BBC, WSJ, Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, Jerusalem Post, Al Jazeera… As I said, he’s stepping down, the military is taking over, and the crowds in the street are jubilant. We’ll figure out the ramifications as we go along.
  2. U.S. looking past Cairo (WashPost) — And with a worried eye, although President Obama, quiet appropriately, said “Today belongs to the people of Egypt.” There’ll be plenty of time to worry what it means to us later. Meanwhile, Arabs are wondering who’s next.
  3. Earle Morris dead at 82 (thestate.com) — Former SC Lt. Gov., former comptroller general, for you newcomers.
  4. Foreclosure rate down in S.C., but distress continues (CRBR) — Like we needed to be told the second part.
  5. Obama Unveils Wireless Expansion Plan (NYT) — OK, this is slightly old, but I missed it when the President went to a “snowbound town in a remote corner of Michigan on Thursday to make the case that expanding wireless access is critical to the nation’s economic recovery.” Anyway, I think it’s way cool. I love Sputnik moments.
  6. Chandra Levy killer gets 60 years (WashPost) — An end, at long last, to the tragic story that once fascinated the nation.

Mubarak Steps Down; Crowd Goes Wild (this is what history looks like)

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Well, the world just changed.

Hey, I told you it would yesterday. Then I told you never mind, it wasn’t changing quite yet.

And now this…

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned his post and turned over all power to the military on Friday, ending his nearly 30 years of autocratic rule and bowing to a historic popular uprising that has transformed politics in Egypt and around the Arab world.

The streets of Cairo exploded in shouts of “God is Great” moments after Mr. Mubarak’s vice president and longtime intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, announced during evening prayers that Mr. Mubarak had passed all authority to a council of military leaders.

“Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state’s affairs,” Mr. Suleiman, grave and ashen, said in a brief televised statement.

Even before he had finished speaking, protesters began hugging and cheering, shouting “Egypt is free!” and “You’re an Egyptian, lift your head.”

“He’s finally off our throats,” said one protester, Muhammad Insheemy. “Soon, we will bring someone good.”…

Here are other versions of the story: BBC, WSJ, Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, Jerusalem Post, Al Jazeera (English version, that is) and more…

There’s a bunch more I could say, and probably should say, but I’ll go ahead and get this up so y’all can discuss it, and maybe I’ll add my thoughts within the comments thread.

Weird as it gets: “Toking” with Lawrence Welk

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This is way out of left field, but I just had to share it. I was being tritely facetious back here, answering bud’s assertion that someone who favored legalizing marijuana would probably have trouble going far with elements of the GOP (except, of course, for the William F. Buckley Memorial Wing), by saying, “Yeah… that’d be one toke over the line…”

Hey, I told you it was trite.

But being one who can’t leave a stupid (and painfully obvious) pun alone, I went looking for a link to the song — you know, for the youngsters who wouldn’t remember the song.

And I found something freaky, which you can view above. Something that, of course, only boomers will fully grok as being as weird as it is. Here, by the way, is what Wikipedia said about it.

Just to remind you how outrageous the benefit for legislators is…

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Back on my last post, I gave you a link to one of Cindi Scoppe’s periodic columns reminding us all just what an appalling boondoggle the retirement benefit for SC legislators is. In case you didn’t follow the link, I’ll make it easier for you by posting this relevant excerpt (note that I’ve boldfaced the best bits):

There are many things that make this pension system extra special, from the fact that such a thing even exists for part-time employees to the fact that former legislators can keep building up credit in it at super-subsidized rates even after we kick them out of office. but the worst thing about it is those super-subsidized rates: For every dollar that state legislators contributed to their pensions last year, state taxpayers contributed $3.33. By contrast, for every dollar regular state employees contributed to their own pensions last year, taxpayers contributed a relatively paltry $1.43.

The reason taxpayers have to contribute so much is that legislators’ pensions are quite generous. Regular state employees who work 30 years can receive a pension equal to 43 percent of their final salary. A legislator (or former legislator) who contributed to the system for 30 years could receive a pension equal to 1.45 times his legislative salary. Yes, you read that right: Legislators can draw pensions that are nearly 50 percent more than their salary.

There is no justification for any sort of legislative pension system, much less one that taxpayers subsidize so much more than the one for the full-time career employees who put the laws the Legislature passes into action, and still less one that allows defeated legislators to get the same benefit as those who actually are serving us. If legislators need to be compensated better — and I think a case can be made that they do — that compensation needs to come while they’re actually serving us, and it needs to be aboveboard where everyone knows about it, in their salary.

Federal pension laws require the state to pay benefits to everyone who already has retired under this system; they might even require the state to pay benefits to everyone who is vested. But there’s nothing — other than the legislators themselves — that requires us to keep giving those super-subsidized rates to current members, or to enroll new ones.

The very next thing that column said was, “You’d think that as tight as the legislative budgets are, someone would at least bring up that topic…”

And the good thing about the bills I wrote about back here is that their sponsors ARE at least bringing it up, even though it’s tucked away in the much-larger issue of retirement for actual state employees. So give them snaps for that.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s a completely separate issue, and one that could be handled much more simply, by eliminating the legislators’ benefit altogether.

Anyone want to close the state retirement system (to new employees)? Discuss.

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Well, now, here’s an interesting bill I haven’t heard about (although Kathryn may point out that everyone else knew about it but me):

S 0531 General Bill, By Campsen, Ryberg, Grooms, Bryant, Rose, Campbell, Shoopman, Davis and Bright Similar(H 3568) A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTIONS 9-1-5, 9-8-5, 9-9-5, 9-11-5, AND 9-20-5 SO AS TO CLOSE THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR JUDGES AND SOLICITORS, THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, THE SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE OFFICERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM, AND THE STATE OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM TO EMPLOYEES HIRED OR OFFICERS TAKING OFFICE AFTER JUNE 30, 2012, AND TO PROVIDE THAT OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES HIRED OR TAKING OFFICE AFTER JUNE 30, 2012 MUST BE ENROLLED IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT INVESTMENT PLAN; BY ADDING CHAPTER 22 TO TITLE 9 SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT INVESTMENT PLAN AS A DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN AND PROVIDE FOR ITS ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATIONS; AND TO REPEAL, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2017, CHAPTER 22, TITLE 9 RELATING TO THE STATE OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM.

02/09/11 Senate Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 7)

02/09/11 Senate Referred to Committee on Finance (Senate Journal-page 7)

The boldfaced parts are my own enhancement. Oh, and here’s the House version:

H 3568 General Bill, By G.M. Smith and Ballentine Similar(S 531) A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTIONS 9-1-5, 9-8-5, 9-9-5, AND 9-20-5 SO AS TO CLOSE THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR JUDGES AND SOLICITORS, THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AND THE STATE OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM TO EMPLOYEES HIRED OR OFFICERS TAKING OFFICE AFTER JUNE 30, 2012, AND TO PROVIDE THAT OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES HIRED OR TAKING OFFICE AFTER JUNE 30, 2012 MUST BE ENROLLED IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT INVESTMENT PLAN; BY ADDING CHAPTER 22 TO TITLE 9 SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT INVESTMENT PLAN AS A DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN AND PROVIDE FOR ITS ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATIONS; AND TO REPEAL, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2017, CHAPTER 22, TITLE 9 RELATING TO THE STATE OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM.

02/02/11 House Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 57)

02/02/11 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means (House Journal-page 57)

02/08/11 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Ballentine

OK, so they were just alike. I just gave you both so you could get the names of the legislators responsible. You’ll note I provided links to each. I live to serve.

And to cause trouble, of course. Hard to imagine anything more likely to stir up one of the largest and most politically alert demographics you’re likely to find, state employees — even though it would not apply to them, but only to new hires.

Of course, there’s one thing that IS politically appealing here: Getting rid of the grossly overgenerous retirement system for legislators. That said, it seems that should be addressed in a separate bill, because the two things should not be mentioned in the same breath: the legislative system is SO much more generous, and offered in return for SO much less service, that the two things are like night and day. The state retirement system is a fiscal challenge. The legislators’ benefit is an outrage (read one of Cindi’s ever-popular columns on the subject, to remind you how outrageous). Changing what retirement looks like for future state employees may or may not be a great idea, or at least something that needs to be done whether its a great idea or not. Eliminating the legislators’ benefit is something that most would think is a great idea on its face.

Here’s how my thoughts went as I read the bill:

  • “Close the South Carolina Retirement System…” Whoa! There’s a bombshell.
  • … to employees hired or officers taking office after June 30, 2012…” Oh, OK. Still, that’s a huge issue that needs infinitely more discussion than it’s gotten.
  • Require new hires to “be enrolled in the South Carolina Retirement Investment Plan.” Huh. Well, I’ve never heard of that. Is it a viable option? How’s it doing? How has it performed? Can we have confidence in it as a viable option to a defined benefit?
  • “…establish the south carolina retirement investment plan…” So it doesn’t exist yet? OK, tell me more. Lots more.

And indeed, there are details below, although not quite enough — that is, not enough for a nonfinancial guy like me to tell whether the idea is viable.

What this looks like on its face is just what private employers have been doing for about a quarter-century and more: Moving employees out of pension plans, and into investment plans such as 401ks.

It’s worth talking about. A lot. Let’s start.


Who am I? Butch Bowers? You might think so…

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Following up on this bit of silliness last night…

I never did see either of my appearances on WACH last night, but Lora was kind enough to shoot video with her iPhone, which she shared with me. Unfortunately, when I converted it, the sound was gone, so I’m just giving you a screenshot above. You’re seeing that as the announcer says, “His attorney, Butch Bowers, says the letters are routine inquiry, and nothing more than routine paperwork and filing matters.”

Viewers were hearing that, while seeing the above footage from the lieutenant governor debate I moderated back during the fall — leaving them to assume, not without reasons, that I am Butch Bowers.

That’s a hoot. I need to tell Butch about it.

Virtual Front Page, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011

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Just a really quick glance at the headlines tonight:

  1. Egypt’s Mubarak refuses to quit (BBC) — So in other words, forget what I and the Egyptian military told you this morning. For now. He did cede some authority to his veep. Meanwhile, protesters chant “Leave! Leave!”
  2. U.S. Intel Officials On Edge As They Watch Egypt (NPR) — A look at how the spooks are assessing the situation.
  3. Ethics panel cites SC Lt. Gov. on 3 reports (thestate.com) — Which, of course, gave the local TV stations an excuse to show B-roll of ME.
  4. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 web browser goes live (BBC) — And the question techies everywhere ask is, “Will it suck any less than previous versions.” This, by the way, is being typed on Google Chrome, while I’m reading the news and copying over headlines on Mozilla Firefox. ALT+TAB is such an essential feature.
  5. Verizon iPhone Goes On Sale, Still Has “Death Grip” (International Business Times) — So maybe I was right to procrastinate. We’ll see.
  6. Is DeMint running? Support is growing (McClatchy) — This is like watching a bad horror movie, in which the director is taking way too much time building up the suspense. I’m the guy in the audience yelling at the screen, “NO! Don’t open that door!”

Just call me Forrest Gump

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Well, I enjoyed this… I asked y’all to watch me on WACH and tell me how it went, and I ended up having the following text exchange with Lora Prill of ADCO:

LORA: Did you see wach?

ME: Nope. Still at the office.

LORA: They quoted you in the VoiceOver.

LORA: But they didn’t show you saying it, drinking a cup of coffee. An ADCO cup turned the wrong way?

LORA: I mean they just showed you drinking a cup of coffee.

LORA: Not talking. It was bizarre.

LORA: Although they showed your blog and they called you one of s.c.’s most respected journalists.

ME: Sounds kinda Zen…

Then, I was about to get back to finishing up some stuff so I could go home, when the Blackberry rang, and it was Lora, and she was laughing. “They just showed you again!” she cried. Only this was during the NEXT story, about Ken Ard getting fined. Apparently they showed a clip from the lieutenant governor debate I moderated back during the fall, and there I was standing behind Ard.

So the pattern is established: Whenever news — any kind of news — is reported, I will be in the picture, irrelevantly. Like Forrest Gump.

I’ll bet you’re thinking what I’m thinking: How can I monetize this?

Uh-oh — I posted THIS on Facebook. Will I have to resign from the blog now?

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Foster Village, overlooking Pearl Harbor, circa 1970-71

Well, this is ominous:

Rep. Christopher Lee of western New York abruptly resigned with only a vague explanation of regret after a gossip website reported that the married congressman had sent a shirtless photo of himself flexing his muscles to a woman whose Craigslist ad he answered.

“I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents,” Lee posted in a surprise announcement Wednesday night on his congressional website. “I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.”

A woman described as a 34-year-old Maryland resident and government employee provided the Gawker website with e-mails she said were an exchange between her and Lee in response to an ad she placed last month in the “Women Seeking Men” section of Craigslist.

This guy Lee sent a shirtless picture of himself to one woman, and he’s ruined. I posted the picture above on Facebook last night — that’s me with my board in late 1970 or early 1971 (we were vague about time in Hawaii), back when Burl and I were in school together — for that woman and every other woman in the world to see (so far, only one of them has made a saucy remark). Burl, by the way, had nothing to do with this photograph (I can prove it: this was obviously taken on a Kodak Instamatic, and Burl had a way better camera than that). These scandals have a way of pulling people in like black holes, and I don’t want him getting in trouble, too.

Oh, yeah, let me hasten to add: Barack Obama was on the island at the time, too, but he had nothing to do with it, either. I promise. I never even spoke to the guy until 2007.

More encouraging evidence that local leaders GET the need for regional approach

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Mayors Bailey, Benjamin, Halfacre and Partin.

To me, the most memorable thing about Columbia Regional Business Report’s “Power Breakfast” this morning at Embassy Suites, where a cross-section of the business community heard a panel of Midlands mayors (Columbia’s Steve Benjamin, Lexington’s Randy Halfacre, Cayce’s Elise Partin, and Blythewood’s Keith Bailey) talk about our community’s future, was this tidbit:

Steve Benjamin said a study has determined that the city of Columbia has 400 more employees than it should have for its size and what it does. Maybe this has been widely reported (perhaps while I was in England) and everyone but me knew it. Anyway, the mayor said the city is trying to reduce payroll by carefully examining every open position, and not filling any that it can possibly do without. The exceptions to this reduction strategy are police, fire and economic development, where he envisions the city spending more, not less.

Of course, that wasn’t the only important thing said, by far. A wide range of critical issues were covered. But the one overall impression I came away with was this: Local elected leadership is more committed to regional approaches — to growth, services, and everything else of importance — than ever. I didn’t just gain that impression this morning, of course. It’s been forming for some time, and it’s very encouraging. Its what the actual economic community of Columbia (as opposed to the much smaller political entity of that name) has needed, more than anything else, for at least a generation. As I was telling restaurateur Bill Dukes afterward, that’s why, the whole time I was heading The State‘s editorial board, we always grilled candidates for local office about their commitment to regional cooperation. With the kind of governmental fragmentation that afflicts us, bridge-building is essential to community improvement. So this trend we’re seeing is extremely gratifying, and bodes well.

What reinforced that impression today? Not so much any one thing they said, but the way they said almost everything, combined with their confident ease in each other’s company (a small thing, but something you might not have seen very often in the past).

Now rather than try to tell you everything else that was said, I’m going to share this excerpt from Mike Fitts’ report. Why should I do all the reporting myself? I have a long-established habit of delegating things to Mike, who once served on my quarterdeck as ably as Tom Pullings or anyone else you care to name (and I can’t say fairer than that), and I see no reason to stop now:

… Two other mayors emphasized that handling current growth is among their current concerns. Lexington Mayor Randy Halfacre said the town is launching a major program to deal with “a huge problem with traffic congestion” downtown. Phase 1 of the project will cost $12 million, more than half of which will be spent to buy right of way easements, Halfacre said.

Blythewood has prepared a master plan to handle what looks like major growth in the next 20 years, Mayor Keith Bailey said. That includes beautification of the main exit off Interstate 77, which he called “a front door” for the Midlands.

This kind of growth needs to be planned for, Halfacre said.

“If we don’t get a handle on it now, it’s going to slip away from us,” he said.

Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said her town has a different challenge: getting the word out about the community and its opportunities. Its many longtime residents love it, she said, but others don’t know about amenities such as the riverwalk, she said.

“Pride in our area and our city is strong,” she said.

The loss of Southwest Airlines to two other in-state markets showed the need for regionalism, Halfacre said. At a recent meeting with Southwest, Columbia Metro Airport Executive Director Dan Mann was told, “We did not see your region, your area, working together.”

Two new groups are seeking to remedy that, Halfacre said. He has helped put together an alliance of midstate chambers of commerce, and West Columbia Mayor Bobby Horton is chairman of a new group of Midlands mayors. These groups should help build teamwork and draw legislative attention when necessary, Halfacre said.

Benjamin said the community needs to work on the big picture — a regional master plan. He recounted some of the area’s assets but said that the vision to tie all these things together has been lacking.

“We need to start moving aggressively forward,” Benjamin said.

Overall, it was a good session, like the others I’ve attended under CRBR’s auspices.

What are you trying to say, Wesley?

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The other day I ran into Wesley Donehue at Starbucks (see that, Starbucks? yet another product placement you’re not paying for), and we talked briefly about my appearing on “Pub Politics” again, which would make me a member of the Five-Timer Club. I’m totally up for it, particularly since I’d like to discuss this aptly titled “rant” on Wesley’s blog.

I think I want to argue with him about it, but first I have to get him to explain more clearly what he’s on about.

I say “rant” is apt because it seems to come straight from the gut, without any sorting or organization from the higher parts of his cortex — and Wesley is a smart guy. The problem I have is that his thought, or emotions, or impulses or whatever, don’t add up. They just don’t hang together.

He makes the following unconnected points:

  1. Where does the media get off making like it’s a champion of transparency?
  2. How dare WACH-Fox defend itself from a slur leveled at it by Gov. Nikki Haley on Facebook?
  3. The media are just lashing out, because they are becoming irrelevant in the new media age, when politicos can go straight to the people.
  4. “Transparency” doesn’t mean going through the MSM, so the media have no legitimate excuse to criticize the gov.
  5. Any problems the media have are their own damn’ fault, for failing to be relevant and keep up with the times.

Did that cover everything? I may have missed an unrelated point or two.

Here, respectively, are my problems with his points:

1. Golly, Wesley, the MSM may be guilty of a host of sins, but suggesting they are somehow an illegitimate, insincere, incredible or inappropriate advocate for transparency is most illogical. They’re kinda obsessive about it, and this might be a shock, but they were into it a LONG time before Nikki Haley ever heard of it. Finally, the media are the one industry in society that actually have a vested, selfish interest in transparency (unlike certain politicians who TALK about it, but belie their commitment to it with their actions) — they kinda rely on it in order to do what they do — so I’ve just gotta believe they really mean it.

1a. Furthermore, what does this have to do with the ongoing talk about the gov’s failures to be transparent? What did I miss? This seems to me to be about the TV station defending itself from the governor’s insult. The transparency issue — the one that I hear folks in the media talk about, anyway — has to do with everything from Nikki not wanting to disclose questionable sources of income and refusing to release her e-mails back during the campaign, all the way up to meeting with two other Budget and Control Board members while excluding the others. I’m missing the connection in other words, between this incident and your complaint that the media are going on inappropriately about transparency.

2. Well, let’s see. The governor wrote “WACH FOX 57 is a tabloid news station and has no concept of journalism.” Wesley, I don’t care whether the governor said that on Facebook, or through an interview with the MSM, or in a campaign ad or by use of skywriting. The choice of medium does not take away from the fact that that was an extraordinary thing for a governor to PUBLISH (and that’s what she did; if governors and other empowered “ordinary” folks are going to take it upon themselves to communicate directly with the people without the offices of the MSM, perhaps they need to take a little seminar on the difference in significance between merely muttering something to your friends, and publishing it). Next — are you really suggesting that WACH or any other business does not have the right to defend itself when maligned by the governor? I assert that they have that right under the 1st Amendment, whether they are Joe Blow’s Used Cars or the MSM.

3. This one’s really interesting. I’ll grant you, WACH looks pretty lame technologically when it fails to provide a direct link to the FB post with which it is disagreeing. (Here you go, by the way.) But beyond that, let’s talk about the new rules. Here’s the kind of thing that happens in this wonderful, marvelous new world in which anyone can publish their thoughts and don’t have to go through the stuffy ol’ MSM. In the old, benighted days, a former employee of the governor (and of the last governor) might go around muttering about having had an illicit personal relationship with the governor, but he would have been ignored. Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology that you extol, he can publish it himself with practically zero effort or investment. So it’s out there — because, you know, those bad old editors can’t keep it away from the people. And then it starts affecting the political campaign, and therefore becomes news. Now, let me ask you — when that same blogger follows that up by publishing salacious details related to his allegation, having already caused it to be a news story, what are the media supposed to do? Well, I don’t know, and others aren’t sure either. Me? I ignored it. WACH made the call that it made. Did the governor have the right to get ticked and trash WACH because of it? Yes, she did. (Although it was, as I say, pretty extraordinary for a sitting governor to say something like that about a business in her state.) Did WACH — that poor, pathetic institution that’s falling apart as you say, have the right to defend itself? Of course it did.

4. Who said it did? I missed that. Maybe you have a link to it; I’d be interested to read/hear that argument.

5. The problems that the media have result from a massive restructuring of the way businesses — the ones they relied upon for the advertising revenue that underwrote the gathering of the news — market themselves to the public. The long-term trend has been away from mass-media advertising on the local level, and to more targeted approaches. Nothing about what the media have reported or not reported, or positions they have taken, have anything to do with it. The public is lapping up news and commentary more hungrily than ever — from the MSM as well as other sources. But the business model that supported newsgathering — the model that’s falling apart — has nothing to do with that; it’s a whole separate transaction from the one between a medium and its readers/viewers/listeners. So you’re way off base there.

Anyway, have me on the show and we’ll talk further. Keep the beer cold.

Promise to Egypt: All your dreams will come true

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Since it’s way historic and all, I thought I’d put something here about the news that’s been breaking in recent minutes (you’d have seen it earlier if you followed me on Twitter), so y’all can talk about it even though I don’t have time to say much right now:

Military says Mubarak will meet protesters demands

By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — President Hosni Mubarak will meet the demands of protesters, military and ruling party officials said Thursday in the strongest indication yet that Egypt’s longtime president may be about to give up power and that the armed forces were seizing control.

Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square, “All your demands will be met today.” Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.

The military’s supreme council was meeting Thursday, without the commander in chief Mubarak, and announced on state TV its “support of the legitimate demands of the people.” A spokesman read a statement that the council was in permanent session “to explore “what measures and arrangements could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people.”

The statement was labelled “communique number 1,” a phrasing that suggests a military coup…

OK, the military coup part may give us pause — more about that later when we know more — but what a heady moment for all those folks who’ve taken to the streets.

How about that quote?

“All your demands will be met today.”

Reminds me of Pedro’s extreme, over-the-top, meant-to-be-seen-as-ridiculously-hyperbolic campaign pledge (which was recommended to him by campaign consultant Napoleon Dynamite): “Vote for me, and all your wildest dreams will come true.”

Perhaps the general is overselling as well — and again, it remains to be seen how the people would feel about a junta (you might say that, like Pedro, the military is offering Egypt its “protection” — but if Mubarak is stepping down, that’s something Egyptians had hardly dared dream a month ago.

So, wow. This is quite a moment.