These are all relevant to this year's political events here in South Carolina, of course.  And while there were plenty to choose from (let's face it - South Carolina has oodles of oddities when it comes to politics), I just focused on the ones I knew most of or had direct relation to.

The categories include Upsets of the Year to Hero of the Year to Dumbest Quotes, and are available right here on this page of the site.

Read and enjoy - and Happy New Year, too!

Alvin Greene didn’t wait long to re-enter the political arena.  On December 24, only five minutes after the filing period began, Greene registered to run for state representative in an upcoming special election.

Covering Clarendon and Williamsburg counties, the District 64 seat only recently became vacant after its incumbent passed away on December 4. Rep. Cathy Harvin, a Democrat, died of breast cancer complications just one month after being re-elected for a third term. She was unopposed in the race.  

A special election to fill Harvin’s seat is scheduled for April 15, following a February 15 primary if necessary. Interested candidates have until January 3 to file for the race.

Greene declined comment, according to WIS-TV in Columbia, until other candidates entered the race.

Greene took a mysterious Democratic primary win, and even though he was relatively unknown to active Democratic voters before the June election. He became not just well-known but infamous on the very next day, however, when news of his arrest for lewd behavior was released.

Despite requests directly from the state Democratic Party that he step down, Greene remained in the race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Jim DeMint (R).

Greene received 27.65 percent of the vote in November’s General Election.


Read this article on Examiner by clicking here.

Many South Carolinians objected to a recent Civil War memorial celebration, leading to NAACP-sponsored demonstrations at the Charleston site of the Secession Gala and in front of its attendees’ hotels.

But one local African-American official recently defended the secession celebration.

Robert Ford, state senator from Charleston, openly stated his support for celebrations of the sesquicentennial of South Carolina’s secession.

In a December 21 press release, Ford stated “every African American and every White citizen across the United States should celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.”

Read more by clicking here.

An NAACP-sponsored event at an AME church might be the last place you’d expect to see “The Birth of a Nation.”

But the historic-yet-racially inclined film wasn’t shown for entertainment. It only played in clips to set the background of a mass meeting that covered the general topic of discrimination, which was inspired by the specific topic of a sesquicentennial celebration of secession going on only one mile away at Gaillard Auditorium in downtown Charleston.

On Dec. 20, 1860 did South Carolina’s state government issue its Ordinance of Secession, making it not only the first state to secede from the United States prior to Civil War, but the only one to do so by unanimous vote. And while the South Carolina Secession Gala celebrated that 150th anniversary, over 120 gathered outside the auditorium to demonstrate.

“What would happen if Japanese-Americans had a ball to celebrate Pearl Harbor?” demonstrators asked.  “What if German-Americans had a party to celebrate the Holocaust?”

Organized by the Charleston chapter of the NAACP, the “Campaign for Dignity in South Carolina” participants later took an organized march, bearing candles and singing hymns, to the Morris Brown AME Church where they conducted a forum following clips of the film.

Moderated by state NAACP president Dr. Lonnie Randolph Jr., the guest panel consisted of Rev. Brenda Kneece of the South Carolina Christian Action Council, Trident Tech instructor Donald West and Phil Noble, president of the South Carolina New Democrats.

Continue reading this entry by clicking here.

Fifteen different progressive organizations in South Carolina are sponsoring an annual conference to address particular needs in the state.

Called “Ties That Bind,” the conference is scheduled for Saturday, Jan 8 at the South Carolina Education Association (SCEA) building in Columbia. The three-hour event begins at 10 a.m.

A problematic state budget that could underfund particular areas of need is the subject of this second annual event.  South Carolina is projected to have a $1 billion deficit in 2011, which could result in additional layoffs of teachers, firefighters and police officers, as well as underfunding of many needed programs, including health care and transportation.

Read more about the event and how to register for free attendance by clicking here.

Despite Pres. Obama’s promotion of continued tax cuts proposed by congressional Republicans, South Carolina’s Rep.  Jim Clyburn won’t hesitate to state his objection.

In a closed-door session on December 9, the House Democratic Caucus voted against the bill, temporarily blocking it from a floor vote by all representatives.  

Clyburn declares opposition when the bill does get voted on in the House of Representatives, too.  “The Majority Whip is a firm no,” The Hill reports, including Clyburn in a pool of 62 House Democrats opposing the measure and who intend to vote against it.

Six other Democrats are “leaning no,” one is “leaning yes,” and seven House Democrats are “firm yes” in their voting intentions. Only one Republican congressman is against the tax cut reinstatement (a “firm no” from Rep. Jeff Flake of Ariz.).

The Republican-proposed tax bill would maintain the same reduced tax rate on all income levels that was enacted under Pres. George W. Bush, and which is set to expire at the end of this year.

While its aid to lower- and middle-income groups slightly benefitted 98 percent of the population that falls into those economic classes, the same tax cuts substantially contributed to national debt.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Bush Administration tax cuts – totaling approximately $2 trillion between 2001 and 2007 alone – accounted for 48 percent of all national debt accumulated in that period.  

If reinstated following its expiration at the end of 2010, the tax cuts would cost the government over $400 billion in revenue in only two years ($558 billion including debt interest). This would inflate to over $800 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, in a 10-year period.

Clyburn’s official stance supports extension of the tax reductions on middle and lower incomes, but return to the higher rates for incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.

Even those higher income brackets would benefit from that tax break, too, he notes. In a November 21 interview on C-SPAN, Clyburn said “The guy who makes $255,000 will get a tax cut on that first $250,000.”

Clyburn has history of non-partisan stance on tax issues. For example, in 2001 he strongly objected to the tax-cut package proposed by Pres. George W. Bush, but also voted against the alternate proposal submitted by Democrats.  

That non-partisan stance of 2001 had the same goals as Clyburn’s 2010 position: reducing national debt.

In a March 2001 press release detailing his objection to the Bush Administration tax cut proposals, Clyburn stated “It is my belief that reducing the debt is the best tax cut we can give the American people,” listing examples of reduced interest rates charged by creditors as accompanying benefits.

Clyburn stated the same principal basis for rejecting this current tax proposal: “you’ve got a big deficit reduction taking place(.)”

Despite Republican claims that these Bush Administration tax cuts were good for the U.S. economy, the only above-average growth during that same 2001-2007 era was in corporate profits. All other categories – from Gross Domestic Product to employment to net worth – were much lower than average in growth. During that period, median income fell, unemployment grew and the portion of the U.S. population reduced to poverty level increased.

According to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, the average tax savings this Bush Administration policy provided were, per income group:

• Lower 20 Percent - $20
• Middle 20 Percent - $740
• Top 20 Percent - $5,700
• Top 1 Percent - $45,000
• Millionaires - $120,000

The United States has the lowest taxes on wealth of all industrial nations beginning in 1964, when income tax on the highest income bracket was reduced from 90 percent to 77 percent. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson again lowered tax on the upper-income bracket to 70 percent in the next year.

Move over, Superman and Batman. Step aside, Archie and Jughead.

There's a new 'toon in town. And his name is - Bill O'Reilly.

Yup, Bill will now have another avenue aside from FOX (FAUX) News and talk (rant) radio. Bill O'Reilly is now a comic book character, too!

 "The star of the highest rated opinion show on cable television, Bill O'Reilly has overcome humble beginnings to  become a best-selling author and the most famous pundit on TV today and more powerful than the majority of the politicians he covers.

  While his style has become legendary and some of his on-air confrontations have become classics, this is a chance  to learn what 'factors' influenced him at a young age to become the brash, influential, opinionated superstar he is today."

Scheduled for release on January 12, you can place an advance order for the "Political Power: Bill O'Reilly" comic book by clicking here.

This is just the latest in Bluewater Productions' comic book series on politicians and political-wannabes. So far this year, it's released comics on Rush Limbaugh and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a Richard Nixon edition is scheduled for release on December 22. A Glenn Beck version is due in February, as well.

This same publisher once released editions on Obama, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Ted Kennedy, please note, but the recent focus on reichwingers seems to be Bluewater's new swing of things. Maybe that's because Bluewater realized that progressives don't have time for such mundane readings, and that comic books are the only kind of reading done by fans of O'Reilly and the like.

Because of a poorly-worded bill, South Carolina businesses will be blocked from getting temporary beer and wine permits beginning in January.

Instead, only organizations of 501(c)3 nonprofit status will be eligible, while businesses that commonly acquire such permits for promotions and other events will be excluded.

That wasn’t the original intention of the bill, however, according to its original sponsor.

Read more by clicking here.

Social Security has been a hot topic in recent months, increasing in elevation since the November 2 elections gave the Republican Party a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Proposals to limit the retirement benefits program were recently curtailed, however, and to the relief of many South Carolinians.
(snip)


Over 700,000 South Carolinians – 16.1 percent of the state’s population – are over 62, while approximately 525,000 are ages 66 and older.

Seniors in the state have the lowest rate of poverty amongst all South Carolinians, and with Social Security income playing a major factor in that financial stability.

Without Social Security, 50.7 percent of South Carolina seniors would be reduced to poverty, according to studies by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Read the entire article by clicking here.