The Other Brooks Brothers and Their Sister, Too. — “Suddenly-relevant”

Let’s remember what today means.

– The OBB

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

We rarely agreed with her, but we (most of us) respected Laurin Manning and always had an interest in what she had to say.

Oft described as the “Queen of South Carolina’s Blogosphere,” the Hartsville native called things like she saw them, but she did it in a way that illustrated that political discourse could be civil and entertaining at the same time.

When she attacked, she attacked issues, not people. Her problems with conservatives were ideological, not personal.

Her view of Republicans was the mirror image of a philosophy a good friend (of several people associated with this site) had with the other party. He used to say, “You know, I have no problem with Democrats. I go huntin’ with ‘em. I go fishin’ with em’. I just don’t want ‘em runnin’ my government.”

Although none of us here know her personally, we were glad to see that Laurin Manning is back from a long stint on the presidential campaign trail — returning with her own thoughts and feelings on Palmetto Politics.

Our hopes for LaurinLine 2.0 are that 1) her experiences haven’t jaded her too much so she still separates the personal from the ideological and 2) her return will signal that a political debate can be done civilly and without personal attacks just as easily leveled by a fourth-grader.

Welcome back, Laurin.

– The OBB

Here we are with our 100th post, and there’s not a celebratory cake to be found anywhere.

While the Charleston School of Law may have no problem with the huge dip in its most recent Bar exam pass rate as reported by the Post & Courier, illustrator Roger Harvell of The Greenville News apparently understands the situation pretty well.

Last spring’s Bar exam debacle has already been a topic of discussion on this site at least twice (see Here and Here), and other sites gave their opinions over the past few months. Harvell’s recent illustration really captures the essence of the events, though.

Why won’t the state’s judiciary wrap its collective mind around this, too?

– The OBB

Another Cup has come and gone.

Luckily, everybody at The Palmetto Scoop made it home safely (we think, but the pictures make us unsure), and none of us ended up in the Camden PD’s “Cup Jail.”

Mary Claire ripped her skirt, but she somehow made it almost through the entire day before doing it.

Now she, Mrs. Charles, and Mrs. Merchant are planning for 2009. Hopefully they can plan for better weather, too.

By the way, thanks to Zippy the Weather Dink who did the WIS weather on Saturday and told us all that we’d see temps in the mid-60s, and that showers at The Cup would be “few and far between.” Hey, Junior. It “few and far” betweened all over the place before the big race, and everyone pretty well froze thanks to the “mild” winds. Good call all the way around.

– The OBB

Before heading out of town for a few days, we wanted to pop off a few thoughts. If this reads like a disjointed Larry King rant, accept apologies in advance — or don’t.

1. This will be believed as much as Richard Jewell, but there are inaccuracies on another blog about the ownership of this blog. We won’t address the subject any more, and we still like the product that those folks put out.

2. Joshua, dang. We’re sorry about the egging. That wasn’t us either, but the car wash on Gervais should be able to fix you right up.

3. FITS, where did you find that shot of Bo? We blamed it all on the moonshine and thought there weren’t any more copies left.

4. A House subcommittee approved a measure that would create a 6 ft barrier between nice girls working their ways through law school and the generous patrons who want to help them live the dream. Killjoys.

5. TPS points out a geography problem not unlike that circumstance experienced many years ago by a certain Ernest T. Bass. Someone may want to check with an attorney, but with no length of residency requirements establishing legal residency may not be any harder than stating, “This is where I now make my primary home,” after moving in or moving back to the district. Anything else could set up the state for lawsuits. It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out for those races.

6. Representative Nathan Ballentine filed for reelection. Good.

7. South Carolina’s taxpayers saved $58,000 when the House was not in session last week. The irony gets pretty thick here. First, the House took off during what was previously dubbed “Sunshine Week” for state government. Representative Ballentine also noted the humor about that (We want to thank him for his recent mention, too.).

You can almost hear it now. “Sure. C’mon in we have no secrets from you this week. Oh, I’m sorry. We’re taking the week off.”

The other thing to note about this situation is that the reason we didn’t know we saved $58,000 for the House taking its Easter recess was because there was no one there to tell us. To quote Larry the Cable Guy, “Now that’s just funny right there.”

8. Finally, the Senate Judiciary Committee took significant steps to limit state government growth and spending. Hopefully this will go toward solidifying and adding permanence to last year’s property tax reform. It was good to see the Senator McConnell-created “Spending Caps Study Committee” go where municipal, county, and school government dared not tread. Like the song says though, “We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.”

Have a good weekend, y’all.

– The OBB and MCF

It probably means a big pile of squat to everyone except us, but we wanted to take a minute and say, “Thank you,” anyway.

We started this little project to contribute something to South Carolina’s on-line discourse, and some of you actually think we’re making a difference — either that or you just can’t get to sleep, and we’re cheaper than booze and Vicodin.

Either way, thanks for reading.

Out of 2,669,136 WordPress blogs, you made this post number 82 among yesterday’s English language top posts.

Yep. Our post on the Senate 8 race is between post #81 (”Turd on a string”) and post #83 (”Will we bomb Iran, now that Admiral Fallon is Gone?”). Yea for us.

We’ve had some kind promotional words from other bloggers (i.e. in alphabetical order: FITSNews, SC Hotline, and The Shot) and hope that as we continue to grow, you and they will stay with us.

OK, now this sap is getting too creepy even for us.

We’ll shut up before we go too far and have that uncomfortable moment that can’t be undone and just say thank you again for making us #82.

– The OBB

Sometimes the ol’ spam filter gets a little over active and becomes its own eager beaver.

One of MC’s friends tipped us off to a group of House lawmakers who made a serious boo-boo during budget week.

Unfortunately, that vote we were warned about went straight in to the g-mail junk folder before we saw it. We wanted to make good, though.

To see the FITS list, go here.

It’s a good piece with a lot of merit. Some of the folks on the list are well-intentioned who just messed up and need to be reminded of their roots. Others are retiring from the House and may be returning favors in this vote, and at least we won’t have to deal with them any more. Others are liberal Republicans who have no problem spending tax dollars at a faster rate than South Carolinians’ abilities to pay.

That last group needs to know that fiscal irresponsibility is no way to sail toward reelection. Send them a message here.

– The OBB

First Posted — 2:34 p.m. Updated — 4:40 p.m.

Columbia, SC – After having his original sentencing date postponed, former state treasurer Thomas Ravenel appeared in federal court this afternoon and was sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined $250,000 (including $28,000 in restitution to the state for the General Assembly’s special election to replace him as requested by John Crangle and Common Cause) by U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson after pleading guilty in September 2007 to “conspiracy to possess and distribute less than 500 grams of cocaine.”

Also appearing for his part in the investigation was Michael L. Miller who received a sentence of 10 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The sentence could possibly have resembled the reduced time his attorneys requested, but since he was arrested in November for assaulting an officer, Judge Anderson said that such leniency was unreasonable.

Pasquale Pellicoro, an Eye-Tallyun wine dealer who is the third man charged, fled the United States before being arraigned.

– The OBB

A few months ago, the South Carolina Policy Council published an independent study illustrating the need for government spending limits.

The Beacon Hill Institute study contends that without limited spending at the state and local levels, South Carolina will lose significant competitive economic development advantages, and taxpayers will lose most of the benefits they received during the recent property tax reforms.

Now, there is even more impressive research to share as we move toward the weekend.

Though completely unrelated to the SCPC research, the recently published 2008 Astley Study offers valuable insight in an attempt to answer one of the most pressing issues Americans face today.

– The OBB