The Opinion Blog

Back to School?

Thursday's editorial calls attention to a handful of well-qualified Grand Strand students who aren't allowed to go back to college this semester.

Readers of The Sun News surely remember the plight of Dayana Rodrigues, a Myrtle Beach High School graduate whose name last appeared in our pages on the 2008 spring and summer semester President's List at Horry-Georgetown Technical College.

Despite her obvious academic gifts, however, those two semesters were all Dayana could attend before the S.C. legislature passed new laws requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for college admittance. Dayana's mother moved her here from their home in Brazil when she was 14, so the college followed state law and asked Dayana and a dozen others not to return, leading to a profile in The Sun News.

Homeless-feeding law not needed

Thursday's editorial calls on the Myrtle Beach City Council to steer away from a proposed new law limiting the number of times charitable groups can feed the homeless in city parks.

The new limits on feeding the homeless poised for passage by the Myrtle Beach City Council are both unnecessary and unfortunate, as they seek to fix a problem that does not exist by legislating against a basic human kindness.

Horry pockets would be picked for tourism marketing

Here's an advance look at Saturday's editorial, written in a state of high aggravation:

Want a sure-fire sign that our local legislators believe we'll keep re-electing them no matter how often they sell us out? Look no further than their proposal to force local taxpayers to finance tourism marketing -- by raising Horry County's combined sales tax to 9 percent.

Wall Street entitlement menality bites taxpayers again

Ripped from the bizwire ... Bank of America is forced to fire former Merrill-Lynch CEO after word got out that he paid out $15 billion in bonuses after Merrill took $10 billion from the TARP:

By STEPHEN BERNARD and IEVA M. AUGSTUMS

AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) -- Media reports say former Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO John Thain has resigned from Bank of America Corp.

CNBC and The Wall Street Journal's Web site are reporting that Thain resigned after a meeting of Bank of America executives Thursday morning. The reports followed news that Merrill had moved up its year-end bonuses, doling out cash just days before it was officially acquired by Bank of America on Jan. 1.

Christmas greetings from Too Small To Matter

Ripped from the wires ... Florida columnist Robyn Blumner sends this holiday "love note" to the proprietors of the institutions that our wonderful national politicians regard as Too Big To Fail:

By Robyn Blumner

Dear Too Big To Fail,

Happy Holidays to you. I'm guessing your end-of-the-year bonus won't be quite as eye-popping as it was last year -- sorry there. But at least you still have a job. That's not necessarily true for my associates in the world of Too Small To Matter. We're hurting during this economic meltdown. You know, the one that you caused.

Paulson turned TARP into (rhymes with) TRAP

Ripped from the wires ... There follows a Michelle Malkin column that even Prefab Sprout might agree with, on the hash that Hank Paulson has made of the bailout plan:

BY MICHELLE MALKIN

Hank Paulson, Naked Emperor

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson finally confirmed what lonely bailout opponents tried to tell the American public all along: The man doesn't know what the hell he's doing.

Florida to crack down on glandular display?

Ripped from the wires ... Sue Carlton of the St. Petersburg Times comments on a Florida legislative proposal with grave First Amendment implications.

By Sue Carlton

It might have been funny to watch lawmakers seriously consider a ban on a tacky novelty that hangs off a car bumper, to see us once again fight for the title of Silliest State in the Nation, if there wasn't so much actual work to be done in Tallahassee.

In the midst of soaring gas prices, the housing crisis, bloody budget cuts and fears about the economy comes the charge against TruckNutz, one of the more printable names for chrome or assorted-color replicas of what look to be a bull's, well, testicles.

Political maneuver spares race-baiting governor's statue

Ripped from the wires ... The Island Packet of Hilton Head today decries a House subcommittee chairman's refusal to advance a resolution to remove the statue of a racist former governor from the S.C. Statehouse grounds. Readers will note that Myrtle Beach Rep. Thad Viers proposed an unusual way to resolve the issue. Readers who want more background on the proposal to remove the statue can find it here (Download tillman_backgrounder.doc ).

Here's the editorial: One person should not decide whether the statue of avowed racist Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman should stay on the Statehouse grounds.

But that's what has happened. State Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, has effectively killed a resolution that would have removed the statue.

REAL ID an affront to America's core principles

From Gov. Mark Sanford today comes this missive on the weaknesses of the federal REAL ID program.

By Mark Sanford

If I was a betting man, I'd wager that most people haven't followed the debate on REAL ID. If you indeed missed it, I would ask that you take the time to learn about what I consider the most troubling piece of legislation I've seen come from Washington since I've been governor.

REAL ID would surreptitiously require all fifty states to change their driver's licenses to act as de-facto national ID cards. It's outrageous, and not just because it was a backdoor way of doing something proponents in Washington have never been able to pull off in the past. I say outrageous because Real ID was never really debated in Congress; because the cost of its implementation is handed down to states and individuals; and because it is an affront to Americans' privacy concerns.

In punishing Horry, foolish senator also punishes the state

Today's editorial explains how the foolishness of one key senator not only harms tourism marketing but also could further curtail state revenue collections.

"It's a good thing our communities' top tourism leaders were in Columbia on Wednesday to witness a key senator's successful assault on the state's tourism marketing program. Now they understand that the senator in question -- Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee -- will never assist Horry County, even when the clear benefit of such assistance is greater state revenue. By single-handedly refusing to countenance a $10 million renewal of the state's matching grant program for tourism marketing, Leatherman turned Wednesday, which was supposed to be Hospitality Day at the Statehouse, into anti-Hospitality Day.

"As our local tourism leaders looked on, Horry County's four senators - Republicans Ray Cleary and Luke Rankin and Democrats Dick Elliott and Yancey McGill - fought passionately to restore this matching grant appropriation, persuading many inland senators that the program has a statewide benefit. But because they were unable to overcome Leatherman's opposition - and because too many senators are fearful of bucking the wishes of their finance chairman - the four were forced to end their filibuster and accept defeat.