Come to Where the Fraud is.

With last week’s potential ACORN planting in Spartanburg County, it seems as we prepare for the big day tomorrow there may be cause for concern in other parts of the state as well.

Apparently, even though there were smoke signals from Marlboro County in the June primary, little, if anything, has been done to prevent the problems from rearing their heads again.

According to an e-mail we received from a grassroots activist,

“A big concern in Marlboro County has been the voting machines. The machines used there have been outlawed in 11 other states. At the last election, 1 of the voting machines was given to a poll manager on the Thursday before the election. According to an attorney I spoke with, it would be hard to prove foul play although it seems very suspicious. It seems that these particular machines are easily manipulated.”

Why should we expect better of elected officials when we’re more than willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get them in there?

– Wilson Charles

Is ACORN Sprouting in Spartanburg County?

To try and combat the “Vote early, and vote often” mindset, I was going to write a little reminder on election day.

I was going to say that if you saw something wrong with your polling place and thought there was something funny going on, there are a bunch of folks you can call.

The federal Justice Department has a voting section in its civil rights division and will take calls at (800) 253-3931. They’ll send federal investigators if they think it’s appropriate.

The US Attorney and the FBI will take calls, too. You can get in touch with them by calling (803) 929-3052 for the US Attorney’s Office in Columbia or (803) 551-4200 for Columbia’s FBI office.

It looks like somebody may want to think about using those phone numbers a little earlier than Tuesday, though.

A buddy up in Spartanburg said that van loads of people are showing up today at Spartanburg County’s Office of Registrations and Elections to vote “Absentee,” but that he heard from the inside that the strict requirements to do it weren’t being followed.

Apparently at one point there were some tough words between some of the people driving the vans and one of the county’s political party officials, too.

I wish I had more right now, but if you’ve got pictures or know more about what happened, let me know.

In this election, who knows how far the ACORN fell from the tree?

– Bo Burdette

UPDATE (4:20pm): Spartanburg’s Jason Spencer at the HERALD-JOURNAL wrote a piece today about poll watchers keeping tabs on election day.

I’m Supposed to Vote for Something Other than President?

You probably didn’t get the memo, but there is actually more on this year’s South Carolina election ballot than President. There’s more than congressional elections. There’s more than the Senate’s 46 seats and the House’s 124 seats. There’s even more than local races like county or city council.

We have some weighty constitutional amendments to consider, too.

They aren’t sexy and don’t get media attention like top-tier national campaigns, but they can impact a number of South Carolinians.

We won’t editorialize on these, but we wanted to make sure you knew they were out there. Do some research, and make up your own mind.

Also make sure you know if there are any local questions on ballots in your area. There are a number of them floating around the state, and you need to be prepared to cast your vote on those special questions when you go to the polls on Tuesday, November 4.

2008 Constitutional Amendment Questions

Amendment 1

Must Section 33, Article III of the Constitution of this State be amended so as to delete the provision that no unmarried woman shall legally consent to sexual intercourse who shall not have attained the age of fourteen years?

Yes []

No []

Explanation of Above:

This amendment deletes the section of the Constitution which says an unmarried woman must be fourteen years old or older in order to consent to sexual intercourse. Deleting this section would allow the state legislature to set the age of consent. Currently, the state legislature has the age of consent set at sixteen for most cases.

A “yes” vote would delete the section from the Constitution and let the state legislature set the age of consent.

A “no” vote would leave the section of the Constitution in place.

Amendment 2

Must Section 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement systems be amended so as to provide that the funds of any trust fund established by law for the funding of post-employment benefits for state employees and public school teachers may be invested and reinvested in equity securities subject to the same limitations on such investments applicable for the funds of the various state-operated retirement systems?

Yes []

No []

Explanation of Above:

“Post-employment benefits” are benefits, mainly health insurance, provided to eligible state government and school district retirees.

To comply with a change in accounting standards, the state has created trust funds to pay for these post-employment benefits. This amendment relates to how the money in these trust funds may be invested.

A “yes” vote would give the state government the option to invest these funds in equity securities (stocks).

A “no” vote would mean that state government is not allowed to invest these funds in any kind of equity securities (stocks).

Amendment 3

Must Section 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement systems be amended so as to provide that the funds of any political subdivision of this State that have been set aside for the funding of post-employment benefits for the political subdivision’s employees, including those invested in independent trusts established for that purpose, may be invested or reinvested in equity securities of the type permitted for investment by the various state operated retirement systems, as provided for by the General Assembly?

Yes []

No []

Explanation of Above:

This amendment is the same as Amendment 2 except it applies to local governments’ post-employment benefits (instead of the state government’s post-employment benefits).

– The OBB

Sound Off.

Well, we’re no FITSNews, but WYFF in Greenville thinks that we offer something interesting enough that their web team recently added us to their new blog hub Sound Off South.

According to the SOS team:

Sound Off South is your one stop shop for local blogs from Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. You may find some other regional blogs here as well.

There’s a ton of interesting local blogs in the area, but it doesn’t seem like most folks can find an audience, or even know that their neighbors might even be blogging. That’s where we come in. We’re gathering up links and feeds from all the blogs in the area and getting everyone together for a big ol’ blog jamboree.

We appreiate the invitaion to the party and hope that we will have something interesting to read after returning from a neighboring “battleground state” volunteering for a certain campaign.

– The OBB

What’s Good for the Goose is… Well, Not if You’re a Conservative.

I don’t know Howard Rich. I wouldn’t know him if he kicked me in the junk, and frankly I don’t care if he ever comes here. Our Yankee quota is filled with Ohio license plates on the coast.

What bothers me is the constant, “It’s OK if we (liberals) do it, but we can’t let conservatives do it,” mentality.

The hypocrisy makes me nauseous.

There’s a guy named George Soros. He’s a big time liberal donor. He was born in Hungary, moved to England, and he’s now a New Yorker. He funds candidates and organizations that promote liberal agendas. His own bio even says,

“In 2003, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was one of his main priorities. During the 2004 campaign, he donated significant funds to various groups dedicated to defeating the president.”

He’s been involved for years with no criticism until now. No newspapers. No TV. No radio. Not many bloggers. He’s escaped unscathed.

There are two other people. We’ll call them Marion and Herb Sandler because those are their real names. They’re major donors to groups including MoveOn.org, Air America Radio, and ACORN. They also owned a large share of and managed business affairs for Golden West Savings and Loan which did a huge business by pulling in billions of dollars in sub-prime mortgages before selling the bank to Wachovia in 2006 for $24 billion. The Sandlers’ portion of that came out to roughly $2.4 billion, and the sub-prime mortgages then became assets/liabilities of Wachovia which could be argued as a big reason for the bank’s current situation.

They’ve been involved for years with no criticism until now. No newspapers. No TV. No radio. Not many bloggers. They’ve escaped unscathed.

I keep saying “until now” because on October 4, NBC’s Saturday Night Live broadcast a sketch staged like a C-SPAN press conference.

It blasted Republicans and Democrats from George Bush to Nancy Pelosi to Barney Frank, but the show’s writers added a few other characters including Mr. Soros and Mr. and Mrs. Sandler.

Soros was tagged as “Multi-billionaire Hedge Fund Manager” and “Owner, Democratic Party.” The Sandlers’ description beneath their name was “People who should be shot.”

It was funny. At least it was to everyone but Soros and the Sandlers.

After a couple of calls to SNL’s executive producer Lorne Michaels, NBC pulled the video of the sketch from all of its web sites and replaced it with an edited version (but you can still see the original here until somebody’s legal team scares someone else in to pulling it down).

Michaels told the Los Angeles Times that he “in a state of complete ignorance, thought they were characters in the piece” and added, “I did not know they were real, up until somebody called me about it on Monday.”

NBC had a different explanation. “Upon review, we caught certain elements in the sketch that didn’t meet our standards,” according to the network’s statement.

After that slight criticism and following a few phone calls, the Sandlers and Soros escaped unscathed again.

Now, former DNC chair Don Fowler is criticizing the conservatives’ version of Soros, Howard Rich.

If you live in South Carolina, you know who he is by now. You can’t escape this guy’s name if you want to.

After being a scapegoat for media and certain bloggers across the state, Rich is now being whined about to Dan Hoover of The Greenville News because of letters sent by Rich on letterhead of his group Americans for Limited Government to liberal donors across the country.

According to Hoover’s piece, 16 were mailed to South Carolina.

Hoover wrote, “Fowler, a Columbia communications executive and major ally of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, said Rich’s letter and accompanying legal memorandum on federal election laws were ’some kind of attempt to intimidate people.’”

How can anybody give Fowler credibility anymore? He’s the same guy who joked with Congressman John Spratt on the way from the Democratic National Convention, “That just demonstrates God’s on our side,” as a hurricane was projected to hit New Orleans at the same time the Republican convention was scheduled to begin in St. Paul (video below).

Of course no where in the article does Hoover point out that liberal organizations like Accountable America sent their own letters to conservative activists and that Rich’s letter is just taking a page from the other team’s playbook.

What’s my point?

My point is that I’m sick and tired of hypocrisy coming from these liberal clowns who have no problem with two sets of rules — one for them and one for anybody who isn’t them.

These are the same people who campaigned in the 60s for free speech to protest the government, but only conservative leaders are fair game today. They want freedom of the press, but they get jumpy when conservatives begin blogging and getting out information faster than they can on the mainstream side.

I don’t care if it’s coming from the media, a finance guy who is perceived as buying the Democratic Party years ago, an older couple with alleged business practices make them caricatures for making a fortune off sub-prime mortgages and bringing down one of the country’s biggest banks, or a used-to-be-but-wishes-he-still-was party head who makes jokes about human death and property destruction caused by a hurricane in one of America’s recovering cities.

So, to all of you who bash Rich and his people, either put up or shut up. It’s fine if you keep examining Rich, but at least act like you aren’t completely biased and start examining your own people who use identical tactics.

If you can’t do that and admit to yourself how dishonest you’re being with the people who read, watch, or listen to the one-sided garbage you’re putting out, stuff your hypocrisy in your collective hat.

Something tells me The State still won’t take my advice, though.

– Bo Burdette

Welcome to the Neighborhood.

It’s only been a few months since the primary, but I can’t help wonder if there we’ll see a repeat of Spartanburg’s Lee Bright/Scott Talley Senate primary in June.

In case you don’t remember, Talley who owns multiple ice cream shops, sent a “welcome to the neighborhood” batch of ice cream when Bright’s campaign office opened.

Apparently, it wasn’t received well.

Now, politics is making strange bedfellows in Greenville County.

The Greenville County GOP/Victory 2008 headquarters on Pleasantburg Drive has a new next door neighbor.

Who? It’s none other than Barack Obama.

Imagine the matching glasses pressed against each wall as they try to listen to each other.

– Mary Claire Forrester

We Aren’t Even Adequate?

So much for light posting to ease back in to things.

The South Carolina Department of Education (DOE) released some interesting information today.

According to the press release’s title, “AYP ratings decline as expected; higher PACT scores can’t match moving target.” It’s a piece discussing South Carolina’s educational performance and how it measures against the “Adequate Yearly Progress” or AYP standards set by federal “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) guidelines.

At first glance, this news would seem to indicate that we expected not to adequately progress and that it’s all because acceptable standards are rising. Actually, at second glance, it says the same thing. There are just more excuses and a more positive spin.

It reminded me of the exchange between George McFly and Biff Tannen at the end of Back to the Future (possible spoiler alert).

George: Uh… now Biff, I want make sure that we get two coats of wax this time. Not just one.

Biff: Just finishing up the second coat now.

George McFly: Now Biff, don’t con me!

Biff: I-I’m-I’m sorry, Mr. McFly. I-I meant I was just starting on the second coat.

George: Ahh… Biff. What a character. Always trying to get away with something. I’ve had to stay on top of Biff ever since High School.

I’m not sure what’s more appalling – the fact that we expected to fail or that we have an educational system with “leaders” stuck in a mindset that our failure is based on the fact that standards rose.

Superintendent Jim Rex said in the release, “South Carolina’s targets for ‘Adequate Yearly Progress,’ like those of other states, are rising quickly.”

Making this even harder to stomach is Dr. Rex’s admission that, “Under NCLB, each state gets to set its own definition for proficiency.” That means we set our own standards to make “adequate” progress.

With explanations like that, we can only wonder how long will it be before the department goes to toymaker Mattel and hire Barbie as its spokesperson.

When she told girls in 1992 that “Math class is tough,” dolls flew off the shelves. Maybe she could sell excuses in South Carolina, too.

We’re talking about “adequate” progress here. We aren’t talking about “great” progress. We aren’t talking about “superior” progress. We aren’t asking students to prove “string theory.”

We’re striving for “adequate,” and we can’t even seem to achieve that.

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, Merriam-Webster defines “adequate” as:

1. sufficient for a specific requirement; also : barely sufficient or satisfactory
2. lawfully and reasonably sufficient

Why can’t we achieve a bare minimum of competency?

For 2008 only 18% of South Carolina’s public schools (195 schools) met all of their AYP targets, half of the 37% (399 schools) that met AYP in 2007.

Additionally:

• 880 schools did not meet all of their AYP goals. This compares to 668 in 2007.
• 160 of 875 elementary and middle schools met AYP (18%). This is a decrease from 39% last year.
• 35 of 200 high schools met AYP (215). This is down from 30% last year.
• None of the state’s 85 school districts made AYP. This is equal to last year.

Why did this happen? Remember? Our standards are too high.

What’s the explanation of how last year’s statewide average SAT scores dropped and that just over 50% of our high school freshmen are graduating? While you’re at it, can you also explain how South Carolina spends more per pupil than its neighbors to the north and south and still ranks markedly lower nationally?

Do you still think there’s nothing wrong with our educational system?

It just dawned on me. The Department of Education’s acronym is DOE. In light of today’s news, that sounds like an “adequate” description. After all, its collective view of our educational system seems more like a deer caught in headlights than educators trying to fix a broken system.

– The Midnight Writer

We’re Back.

I doubt you noticed, but we took a couple of weeks off.

It’s not that there wasn’t anything going on, but we had some…let’s just call them “internal issues.”

If you took a look at the “About Us” page, you may have seen a few changes. We’re down a few writers and have one new addition.

Joe Merchant (Food and Travel), Alan Wofford (Entertainment and Pop Culture), Matthew Wills (Sports), and Kevin Lane (Technology and Automotive) stepped down and moved on.

Before you ask, yes. We’re all still friends. We’ve been through too much over the years not to be, but they decided that with the demands of their real jobs they weren’t contributing enough to get any credit. None of them ruled out writing posts in the future, but they’ll contribute as guest columnists from now on.

We did add one new voice, though.

He goes by the name The Midnight Writer. He wants to remain the mysterious and anonymous type, but even as I type this I’m so uncomfortable with the name I almost have to look through my hands with that “Oh, I just can’t watch,” kind of feeling. Anyway, he assured us the handle was a takeoff of a name “that ol’ school rasslin’ fans will get.” OK. For now we’ll buy it. So, welcome Midnight Writer.

I took some well deserved vacation time with Mrs. Charles. Mary Claire has been all over the wedding circuit, and Bo, well, it’s football season. We haven’t seen or heard much from him.

Anyway, we’re back. Posting may be light as we ease in to things again, but we’re glad that you stuck with us.

We’ll miss Joe, Alan, Matt, and Kev, but we hope Midnight Writer’s addition will fill any gaps.

Thanks to you all for sticking around.

– Wilson Charles

Hackey Blog Post: “Celebrity Look-a-Likes”

As everybody talks about the physical similarities between the best looking VP candidate in American history and one of the smartest writers in television, it looks like we overlooked our own batch of look-a-likes in South Carolina.

Take Jimmy Kimmel and Joey Millwood for example.

One is one of late night’s most popular talk show hosts — especially among the younger set who doesn’t care about what animal Joan Embry of the San Diego Zoo is toting around.

The other is a mild-mannered newspaper man who offed a fifteen year House incumbent/committee chairman by 19 votes in the primary and looks to be the next District 38 representative in the South Carolina House.

Except for the “Before” and “After” photo effect, it’s hard to tell who’s who.

If you have a South Carolina look-a-like like we had here or the FITSNews folks did here, drop us a line at otherbrooksbrother@gmail.com to let us know.

– Bo Burdette

Request from a Rock Star

So, everyone is talking about how impressive Governor Palin was last night and how her speech was the convention highlight so far and how fabulous she looked.

All of those things are true, but I decided to go down a different road today.

We got a note last night from one of our favorite legislators, Nathan Ballentine. He asked for a little help, and on this I’m happy to do what I can.

He wrote:

Even though I’m a Gamecock (note: who thoroughly enjoyed Saturday night’s game), the decision to invite Jeff Davis (Clemson) to be this year’s speaker at the Irmo Community Prayer Breakfast was not difficult.

If you’ve ever heard him speak before (”PAW” – Passionate About Winning), you know he will be well received.

If you are able, a mention on your site would greatly help the event as each of you have a wide readership in the Midlands (statewide, national for that matter).

As info, this is NOT a fundraiser. This is not political/partisan. There are no speeches. At most, we recognize local officials.

The event simply pays for itself and any leftover funds are retained for next year’s event and/or distributed to local area churches.

Thanks for any assistance you can give.

As for the details, this year’s Irmo Community Prayer Breakfast will be Thursday, September 25 beginning at 7:30 a. m. at Gateway Baptist Church. The cost is $8.00 per person, and if you’re interested in attending, visit Representative Ballentine’s blog post here.

Of course from what I hear, it may be the Tigers who need a prayer breakfast more. Just kidding:)

– Mary Claire Forrester