How Long Until He’s Fired…Again?

On his show this morning, radio talk show host and long lost Jeffrey Sewell family member Don Imus host made, well, it was more than a slip of the tongue.

In a discussion about Adam “Pacman” Jones dropping his nickname in an effort to reimage himself, the “I Man” asked a series of questions.

I posted a transcript of the exchange and added the YouTube clip.

Here’s the transcript:

Guy 1: “Defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here’s a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club.”

Imus: “Well, stuff happens. You’re in a night club, for God’s sake. What do you think’s gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking and doing drugs, there are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead.”

Guy 1: “He’s also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.”

Imus: “What color is he?”

Guy 1: “He’s African-American.”

Imus: “Well, there you go. Now we know.”

I’m thinking he probably should have left out part of that. On the bright side, it looks like he found a pretty easy way to get out of a contract.

– Alan Wofford

Tell Me Lies. Tell Me Sweet Little Lies.

Maybe it’s me, but it seems like members of South Carolina’s press corps don’t like anyone that disagrees with them.

At least The State newspaper’s contempt for anything conservative is blatant and rests in the pages of the editorial section.

The folks at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal have taken it a step further introducing something I’ve decided to call an editoriport which is defined as “a printed, broadcast, or otherwise published story initially disguised as a factual news report but is mixed with opinions of the story’s author so as to provide a biased, slanted view of the subject material.”

I was originally going to go with reportitorial, but that was already taken.

Anyway, it seems that some of the team in the political department of Spartanburg’s New York Times Company property are playing fast and loose with the facts.

In a post Wednesday the Truthies pointed out that two recent stories in Spartanburg’s major daily newspaper, authored by Trevor Anderson and Robert Dalton wage false accusations about support for Lee Bright in his runoff against Scott Talley.

The Truthies even posted the contents of an e-mail that was sent to Anderson who wrote the first editoriport and copied Talley on it. The e-mail denied support of any candidate in that race, denied putting in any resources “educate” in that race, and denied that the group was in any way involved in the Beaufort County race between Catherine Ceips and Tom Davis. The e-mail then asked for a clarification to the newspaper’s readers.

Well, the Truthies updated their original post. The reporter hasn’t responded to the e-mail, and nobody from the paper offered an explanation to the story or a retraction about the “facts” in the piece.

It’s good to see hack reporting alive and well.

Not that the company that gives America “All The News That’s Fit To Print” should be expected to be completely without bias, but even its South Carolina operation should be more professional that to prop up hacks better suited for one of those free newspapers they hand out at bars.

Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s perfectly happy to allow reporters to forward their own agendas through their editoriports.

These guys are hired to report the news — not the news and how they feel, and it stinks that their corporate bosses allow this kind of editorialized factless reporting to stand as news.

If you want allow these people to continue writing for the newspaper, fine. Just have them do it from an editorial bullpen instead.

You’re lying to your readers if you accept anything less.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, I know I’m a hack banging out this garbage, but I don’t try to pass myself off as a reporter.

– Bo Burdette

NOTE: The term “editoriport” is now officially copyrighted by The Other Brooks Brothers 2008. All rights reserved. First use of “editoriport” on June 20, 2008.

Tiger’s Roar Will Be Quieter But Not Silent.

If you’ve been hiding under a rock, you missed Tiger Woods‘ unbelievable 19th hole sudden death playoff victory over Rocco Mediate at this past weekend’s US Open at Torrey Pines.

Even more impressive was that he played an entire 5th round and won with a left tibia stress fracture and a torn ACL in his left knee.

That’s why he’s the number one golfer in the world.

I used to take issue with his use of “colorful language” on the course. “He has no respect for the game,” I told myself. Luckily, I realized a long time ago that I was wrong, and ever since then I’ve been able to enjoy the amazing shots he’s able to make. More importantly, I’ve been able to see how much he loves the game.

Sure, he gets upset when his shots go errant, but the enjoyment that washes over him when he’s able to do the things that his closest competitors and duffers like me will never me able to imagine make it all worth watching.

We witnessed one of the best played tournaments in US Open history. We saw what should have been Phil Mickelson’s to lose. We watched a marathon fifth round between the man who would would have been the tournament’s oldest winner ever and the guy with the broken leg and torn knee.

Now what happens?

Well, Woods will go under the knife again and miss the remainder of the 2008 season. He’ll miss the Open Championship (British Open), PGA Championship, Tour Championship, and the Ryder Cup.

That means somebody else will win some majors and this year’s FedEx Cup. That means there will be the potential for new rivalries, renewed careers, and an interesting finish for 2008 before Tiger returns in January.

What will he do between now and January? I’m not sure how much his life will change outside of the healing his leg needs and the rehab on his knee after the new surgery.

He’ll probably spend time working on The Cliffs at High Carolina near Asheville — his first US course design, he’ll probably enjoy time with his wife Elin and their daughter Sam Alexis, and he’ll probably also enjoy a period of what is the closest thing to peace, quiet, and anonymity he can know.

So until he makes his January return, we can enjoy the rest of this year, watch some players we haven’t seen in a while, and fondly remember the 2008 US Open where Tiger Woods again showed why he is the number one golfer in the world.

– Matthew Wills

Chew Your Cud, Not Your Tuhbakee.

I’m not a fan of across-the-board smoking bans.

If a local government wants to prohibit us from lighting up in government buildings, that’s one thing. Elected officials have the authority from voters to make those policies.

Banning smoking in all public places? That’s a different story. Business owners should have the right to control how their businesses operate. If you as a patron don’t want the smoke around you, you have the ultimate power. You have the ability to take your consumer dollars to an establishment more in line with your belief.

It’s like voting. Just as you support candidates because their beliefs are more in line with yours, with your consumer dollars you can support businesses that foster environments more to your liking. In other words, if you don’t like a bar that allows smoking, go to another bar.

Until now, local governments have used the argument that they have a responsibility to protect those who work in businesses that allow smoking.

“Second hand smoke affects everyone,” ban proponents chant proudly. They’re right about that, but I always viewed that as a bogus argument that local political subdivisions used to justify a zero-tolerance policy on tobacco.

It now seems I wasn’t too far off base — at least where the City of Clemson is concerned.

When it takes effect on July 1, Clemson’s smoking ban will encompass more than smoking.

According to WYFF in Greenville, “The ordinance also prohibits the use of chewing tobacco, snuff or dip inside any public building or business in the city limits. Violators could pat a $100 fine.”

Remind me again. Why is it necessary to protect us from second-hand chew?

Municipal governments are encroaching upon individuals and businesses in the name of public health and welfare.

If local governments are honest in their motives, they should at least be honest enough to let the voters have a voice and decide the matter for themselves.

If they have a different motivation than they’re publicly admitting, they should be honest enough about that, too — and face the potential repercussions in the next election.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t dip or chew, and I like going in to restaurants that don’t make me reek of smoke the next day. I like breathing fresh air. It’s just not government’s job to tell our business owners how to operate.

If we’re so concerned about cigarettes and smoking and their effects on public health, let’s prohibit their manufacture and sale. The tobacco lobby might have something to say about that, though.

See how hypocritical it is? We take big tobacco’s money but we won’t let small business operate without interference but we keep tobacco legal but…

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

Anyway, before I ramble more and give myself a permanent migraine trying to figure out the logic, congratulations to the City of Clemson for finally showing through its smokeless tobacco ban that such actions are not about protecting those around us but are instead about local government’s beloved home rule.

Like Senator McConnell so frequently asks, “How much more home rule can we afford?”

– Wilson Charles

It’s Primary Day.

I hope you bought your liquor and lottery tickets yesterday, because today is a statewide election which means the unprepared among us will stay sober and broke.

So, tonight at 7:00 it begins. There will be second guessing and a lot of shoulda-coulda-woulda reflection. There will be others who say, “We did what we needed to do.”

It won’t be over until the end, though. We’re already seeing last minute battles being waged.

The folks who first introduced us to the B. R. Skelton “dumb@$$” video noted a couple of items worth passing along today.

The first came from an e-mail they reportedly received where an unhappy voter wanted them to figuratively pull the covers off of a legislator participating in (wait for the pun) additional “polling.”

We don’t know if this post was referring to a him or a her, but the “Truthies” opted to be the McDLT of political blogging — keeping the hot side hot and the cool side cool to let someone else pick from the number of affairs to expose while they stick with issue and advertising exposure.

Another post from late yesterday highlights an Anderson Independent Mail article claiming that an owner of the Daily Journal and Daily Messenger newspapers in Seneca voted absentee yesterday in Oconee County even though he lives in Pickens County.

According to his own newspaper today, this was not a mixup. He’s apparently been using his business address as his home address and voting from there for years.

That’s a no-no.

It doesn’t give his newspaper much credibility either.

With an owner who seems to be playing fast and loose with the state’s election laws, why should anyone believe any of his paper’s editorials?

I wonder if the conversations around there go something like this, “Hey. Tell you what. You buy a full page spread so our little paper can generate some ad revenue, and I’ll make sure there are some nice false claims against your opponent. Don’t worry. By the time I publish the endorsements, it’ll be too late for them to to do anything about it.”

The response? “Sure thing. It’s a bargain at twice the price.”

I guess if you’re in Pickens and/or Oconee, and you’re basing your vote off of the paper’s endorsements, know that there’s the distinct possibility that campaigns were greasing those wheels for endorsements.

It’ll all be over at 7:00 — unless there’s a runoff. Then we get to watch this silliness all over again.

– Bo Burdette

The ABCs of Sanitary Dining

I hope Joe doesn’t get mad that I’m hijacking a food post, but I just had to throw this out there.

Baseball is the national past time, but the Sunday past time at the Burdette house involves combing through the newspaper for the restaurant inspection scores.

I started getting in to this several years ago after attending a wedding weekend in Charleston. We were at some brewhouse grabbing a bite when we noticed a couple of “palmetto bugs” walking through the restaurant. Then, I saw IT as we were walking out the door. I don’t know how I missed IT going in, but there was a certificate on the door with a big red “C” that might as well have been in flashing neon surrounded by dancing girls. I wished for the rest of the weekend I hadn’t seen the door like that.

So now, there’s just something satisfying (in a “Let’s watch ‘em clean up the blood off the highway” kind of way) to see what local eatery, shall we say, “underperformed,” at its most recent inspection. It also helps decide where not to go and provides an unexpected conversation starter at parties.

You can go online to DHEC’s web site and look these up for yourself, but the site requires you to be pretty specific. That’s not fun — especially of you just want to see who really messed up in your little corner of the world.

That’s why I’m now actually thanking a newspaper. This doesn’t do me any good because of the coverage area, but the Spartanburg Herald-Journal now has restaurant inspections online. They’re updated monthly from DHEC reports, but unlike the difficult state site the Herald-Journal lets people sort through scores by city.

The site covers Union, Cherokee, Spartanburg, and Greenville Counties and is more fun than poking a beached jellyfish with a stick.

– Bo Burdette

Good Luck, Tim.

We may not always agree with him, and we chuckled when he speculated who we are (inaccurately, we might add), but we liked Tim Cameron.

None of us here ever met him or even talked with him, but we liked him anyway, and we liked his web site — The Shot.

We were a little stunned to read that Tim is moving south of the border (Georgia, not Mexico) to take a job with Newt Gingrich’s “American Solutions.” We aren’t surprised that he’s moving onward and upward, but it was a little unexpected this morning.

It seems to be a good opportunity for him — capitalizing on his strengths in new media to bring the group’s message to the people.

We don’t know if someone else will take over The Shot, but the site will lose some of its flavor without Tim there.

Good luck, Tim.

– The OBB

Working Until the End.

When government works, that’s not always a good thing. That means people are doing things, and when government people do things, it often leads to bad things.

Yesterday was an exception.

Senator Kevin Bryant of Anderson is one of the best the Senate has to offer. We’ve never met, but we’ve seen him in action, and that speaks louder than words (Examples HERE, HERE, HERE).

Even though the legislative year was almost over, he wasn’t going to let it end without continuing to make his promises whole. One promise had to do with a bill he sponsored that would prohibit cities from forcing people outside of the city to agree to annexation in exchange for receiving utilities (S.289). I know it seems like extortion, but it’s a perfectly legal practice in South Carolina.

During yesterday’s session, around mid-afternoon, Senator Bryant offered an amendment to a bill (H.4745) that would add the language from S.289. Senator McConnell was presiding at the time and told Senator Bryant that he would have to rule the amendment out of order because it wasn’t germane to the bill. To fight another day, he withdrew his amendment.

He has his own thoughts on the event HERE, but from my viewpoint it was refreshing to see a legislator working toward his goals until the end.

Now, there’s the more sentimental part of this post.

As the second session of the 117th General Assembly drew to a close yesterday, there was probably no more an emotionally filled room than the Senate chamber as Senator John Drummond of Greenwood exited for retirement at the age of 88.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, he was a grandfatherly figure who is impossible not to like and respect. Even current president pro tempore Glenn McConnell credits the president pro tempore emeritus with teaching him the ropes.

Senator Drummond was the last of the old guard — serving in the legislature from 1965-2008 (House 1965-66, Senate 1966-2008).

With a slight quiver in his voice, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer called upon the senator from Greenwood to gavel the body out of session one last time.

Assuming the chair at 4:58 p. m. before he called the body adjourned, Senator Drummond told his colleagues to watch themselves because he would be watching them and wouldn’t hesitate coming back. He dropped the gavel at 5:00 p. m.

The Senate stood adjourned.

– Mary Claire Forrester

The Truth is Out There.

No, I wasn’t looking for something to show that I’m secretly excited about the new X Files movie opening on July 25. It’s just that the show’s tagline fit here.

SC Hotline brought a new blog to my attention today. It’s called the “Carolina Truth Coalition.” While there’s nothing suspicious (Note: Sarcasm) about a site like this popping up a week before a primary with a bunch of contested races, I kinda like what they’re doing.

Their mission or “About Us” page says:

The Carolina Truth Coalition represents a fresh voice in the hall of political participation.

We believe in free speech. We believe that your right to it means you can speak as loudly or as softly as you want. That’s all a part of what makes speech free.

We also believe that truth isn’t always concrete. In fact, there are other groups out there that CLAIM they advocate truth, when they won’t tell you about the bloggers on their payroll, that they have clients out there who only advocate so-called campaign finance to protect their elected positions.

Their brand of “free speech” isn’t free, and their brand of “truth” isn’t true. We’re watching to provide another side to the story.

We’re tearing down the 4th wall so you can see what’s really happening in South Carolina’s political world.

Now all of us here have thumped our chests in defense of free speech — well everybody except Mary Claire. She’d hurt herself if she did it if you know what I mean, but the free speech idea is important around here. It’s what allows us to write what we want and you to read what we write or go to another blog more along your taste.

Anyway, while their free speech philosophy was one thing I liked about them, the other is that they’re calling Bravo Sierra on claims about various campaigns, third party groups, advertising, and media reports.

Hopefully, the “Carolina Truth Coalition” will stick around for a while and not fizzle out after the primary. I guarantee there will be some garbage pulled during the general election, and there are a bunch of opportunities to call out elected officials in this state on almost a daily basis.

Some of the things this “coalition” reported on in its first week were:

• The B.R. Skelton video calling voters “dumb@$$es” which I thought was especially funny considering some of the things we’ve given him a hard time for here (like increasing the state’s gas tax by a nickel per gallon or introducing a bill to legalize ticket scalping).
• Challenging B.R. Skelton’s mailer claiming that his challenger was controlled by special interest money even though Skelton’s ethics reports show 90% special interest contributions.
• Offering visual proof that a recent article in the Spartanburg newspaper made false claims as an associate justice on the South Carolina Supreme Court said that he was being used in a mailpiece because of his race when the mailer itself has no picture of the justice or mention of the justice’s skin color.
• Questioning one candidate’s endorsement while pulling back the curtain to explain several others.

Good for these guys. They claim that there are other “truth” groups working who are less than truthful and that they plan to call out those groups when they try to pull a fast one.

Like I said, I like what they’re doing, and I hope they stick around for a while.

– Bo Burdette

A Banner Day for Alcohol.

I think it was the great philosopher Homer Simpson who said, “Here’s to alcohol. The cause of, and answer to, all of life’s problems.”

Well, today is a red letter day for the drink.

Breitbart.com is reporting on an article from an exciting British Medical Association journal called Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

According to Breitbart, people with “moderate alcohol consumption were 40 and 45 percent less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis compared with people who did not drink or drank only occasionally.”

In equally happy news, red wine apparently helps slow the heart’s aging process and mimics the effects of lower-calorie diets.

The Washington Post is reporting on a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison indicating that a compound called resveratrol works within the body to imitate a diet that contains 20 to 30 percent fewer calories than an average diet.

Resveratrol is apparently found in raw grapes and pomegranates, but who wants a pomegranate when you can have a nice light Pinot or a more robust Zin?

– Joe Merchant