The Opinion Blog

Pork and Preens

Thursday's editorial criticizes both the deal that led to the passage of the Senate health care bill and our attorney general's high-profile investigation of it.

Republican critics derisively call the deal that passed health care through the Senate the "Cornhusker kickback," and to be completely honest, it does kind of stink of politics as usual.

Closing out 2009

By Alan Charles

As I sat down to write this piece for the last day of the year, I thought “gee, what can I say that others will not have already said so much more eloquently than I?”  Here is what I chose to say.

A couple of things have been on my mind this past week as I’ve read a lot of comments on a lot of blogs about each poster’s ideas of why everything wrong in America and the world is all the fault of one particular political party or the other or one former president or our current president. Each poster just “knows” that things would be so much better “if only” their party or their president were in power and  they just can’t understand why “those other folks” can’t see why their ideas are so “wrong.”

Barrett campaign: Latest guv poll is "a stretch"

Unsurprisingly, U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett's gubernatorial campaign takes a pretty dim view of the reliability of the poll I wrote about in my column today.

They have a point. Little has happened from the beginning of December, when Barrett was tied for first place with McMaster in two polls, to Dec. 16, when the most recent poll showed weaker numbers for him than McMaster, Bauer or even Nikki Haley, a state representative. 

B.J. Boling, the affable Barrett spokesman whom overattentive readers will remember from John McCain's (successful) S.C. primary campaign, sent a note today explaining the flaws the Barrett camp sees with the Insider Advantage methodology. Definitely worth a read - and remember my column's caveat, that we're so far out from the primary that all this is just idle speculation anyway. The governor's race won't begin in earnest until after the New Year (though I bet it gets real good, real quick).

B.J.'s letter in its entirety appears below the jump.

Early standings in the horse race

My latest column takes a look at the governor’s race through the lens of the first poll to include all 10 candidates.

Common sense would say that any poll for next year's governor's race taken right now – with many voters just now starting to forget the trauma inflicted by last month's city elections, right in the middle of the holidays, with three months before filing and six months before the primaries – would be awfully premature.

And yet, the first poll to include all 10 announced gubernatorial candidates is almost impossible not to chew on. Get your grain of salt, and let's proceed with a look at an Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion poll (PDF) posted earlier this month.

HGTC Building Addition

Wednesday’s editorial praises the expansion of a local health education center, and the benefits it will bring the area.

An important positive note for the new year is the start of an expansion at the Robert E. Speir Healthcare Education Center on the Grand Strand campus of Horry-Georgetown Technical College on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. The $7.4 million addition is a triple play for the area. 

Looking Forward

Tuesday’s secondary editorial praises the apparent recovery in the century-old town of Andrews.

Hard economic times and some recovery are pretty much the story of Andrews, a town incorporated in 1909 by combining the communities of Harpers Crossroads and Rosemary. Walter H. Andrews helped with the incorporation, and the new town bore his name. He was the mayor in the 1920s, his time in office ending just before the old Seaboard Air Line Railroad closed its Andrews shop in 1928 and the town lost about 700 people. That same year, Seaboard Lumber Co. closed its operation in Andrews.

Never More Welcome

Tuesday’s lead editorial highlights the special importance of snowbirds to our local economy this year.

Snowbirds, those reliable winter visitors from the cold, cold North, have been an increasing part of the population here from November through March, and they have never been more welcome.

AN ILLEGAL CONTRACT

By Richard L. Wolfe

Def: Contract whose formation, object, or performance is so iniquitous, against the law of the land, or contrary to public policy, that no court will entertain or enforce it. Technically, it is a 'no contract.' In situations where two wrong doers enter into an illegal contract and one of them takes advantage of the other, law normally will not intercede to rectify the situation.

I will apologize in advance to those who are tired of being saturated with this subject. I am referring of course to the unconstitutional Health Care Reform bill that the Senate recently passed. I would like to discuss only the part of the legislation that makes it unconstitutional which is the individual mandate to carry health insurance.

TUESDAY OPEN FORUM

Here's Tuesday's open forum. Be civil and enjoy.

Musings on Morality

By Sunny Fry

This won't be in any way coherent, because my thoughts on it are not.

But I keep reading the paper -- "conscience" votes bought on sweeping reform, elected officials and judges speeding at will, questionable loopholes regarding campaign contributions, foot tapping and adultery -- you name it, we've seen it.

I'm reminded of George Washington, who absolutely knew he had character flaws, and worked diligently to counter them all his life.

And of Ben Franklin, who thought the noble experiment call the United States would fail if its people weren't self-policing.

And of Harry Truman who adored Bess, chewing out the aide who offered to find him some discreet female companionship, telling him to never make that suggestion again.