Tuesday’s editorial celebrates the
historic accomplishment of Neil Armstrong, through some historic words of our
own:
With the passing of American legend
Neil Armstrong on Saturday, we were inspired to reach back into The Sun News
archives and pull out the newspaper’s editorial written after the astronauts’
historic moon landing 43 years ago. As luck would have it, the mission
coincided with a visit to our area by George Romney, then the U.S. Housing and
Urban Development Secretary, and whose son is now accepting the Republican
nomination for president down in Florida.
The editorial writer of the time was
perhaps even a bit prescient in lauding the profit motive behind the space
program, in light of our nation’s increasing reliance on private industry to
get us into space. Will such a historic moment ever occur once more? Who knows.
But for one night in July 1969, the world stopped and watched as a booted foot
touched the surface of that mysterious orb that hangs in the night sky. It’s a
feat that earned Armstrong a place in history and in the hearts of millions,
and we celebrate and honor his accomplishment, even 43 years after we first
published these words:
Thursday’s editorial comes via The (Columbia) State as I work on some other ones for later this week:
Federal approval of Education Superintendent Mick Zais’ request to be released from the absurd mandates of the meddlesome No Child Left Behind law is unequivocally good news.
News last week that Congress had finally acted to scrap the absurd regulation barring temporary pool enclosures in floodplains was an all too rare example of common sense at last winning out over one-size-fits-all federal regulations. And while the change comes only after some local hotels forked out tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the rules, the belated fix is welcome nonetheless.
Saturday’s editorial comes via The Chicago Tribune and takes a whack at the ongoing debt debacle in Washington:
In the Old Testament version, Joshua’s Israelites marched around and around Jericho, blew their ram’s horns, and shouted their battle cry. The walls of the city crumbled, and Joshua’s army destroyed it.
Something like that has been unfolding in Washington. Decade after decade, lawmakers and presidents of both major parties pushed entitlement, defense and other spending programs beyond what federal tax revenues justified. To defend their profligacy, they surrounded the capital city with walls made of myths:
Friday’s editorial takes to task the state’s outsize reaction to illegal immigration, seen in the bill signed this week by the governor.
Fly buzzing around your picnic this summer? Just pull out the nearest sledgehammer and give it a good whack or two.
That’s the type of measured response shown by the immigration law changes enacted by the legislature this year and signed by the governor on Monday. It’s not that we don’t have illegal immigration or need to address it, but the scope of the problem simply doesn’t justify a new $1.3 million immigration task force with custom uniforms and cars, or some of the other unsettling proposals and poorly thought out ideas in the act.
Thursday’s first editorial urges State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais to pursue federal funding.
It takes guts and a real strength of principle to stand firm in your beliefs when the critics are baying and condemnation pours in. On that score, we have nothing but respect for the resoluteness of S.C. Education Superintendent Mick Zais.
But while we can respect Zais’ steadfast refusal to pursue federal Race to the Top funding, we can’t say that we agree with it. The basic argument is simple enough: We’re sending our tax money to the federal government, which is using some of it to fund this unique education initiative. But instead of seeking to have some of that money returned to our state, Zais – with the support of Gov. Nikki Haley – has refused to take part in the program.
Is government on your side? That’s the big question Friday’s editorial tackles:
The legislature passed its $6 billion budget on Wednesday, sending the spending plan to Gov. Nikki Haley, who now has a few days to decide whether to veto any parts of it. The $6 billion is just part of a larger budget that tops $20 billion after federal funds, agency fees and other revenue sources are added in.
Those numbers cause some to shake their heads at what they see as our government’s excess and complain about the evils of Big Government. We respectfully disagree.
With Gov. Nikki Haley lobbying for the right to create a special, as-yet-undefined S.C. program to replace the federal health reform law, I thought it would be educational to sit in on an expert discussion of “ways in which some states are pursuing waivers in order to create their own alternative programs for delivering health care.”
It was educational, all right. But not in the way I expected.
Sunday’s editorial looks forward to what could be a new spirit of action on solving the health care problem in South Carolina:
The recent meeting in Washington in which incoming Gov. Nikki Haley asked President Obama to repeal his health care bill was notable, not for her boldness in challenging the president, but for her audacity in respecting him afterward.
Sunday’s editorial examines the varying forms of offshore
energy production before South
Carolina.
The best approaches to energy
reforms - the comprehensive packages that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has taken
part in crafting - have viewed opening the Atlantic Ocean
to oil exploration as a temporary trade-off to ease the path to harder tasks,
such as reducing the amount of carbon pollution or increasing our use of
renewable energy sources.
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