South Carolina Republican Primary: Racism and Sexism on parade

At left: Is Nikki Haley our next governor? Photo by Renée Ittner-McManus, for the Haley campaign.




Since Mark Sanford is history, the Republican gubernatorial race has been a total free-for-all. I haven't wanted to write about it because I find it far more unpleasant than usual, knowing that ONE of these clowns WILL be the governor in this reddest of all red states. ((heavy sighs for emphasis))

It all started some time ago, when I was late for work in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and what do I see right in front of me? Andre Bauer's personalized Winnebago (or some enormous vehicle like that), with a gargantuan picture of Himself grinning manically on either side. Well, damn, there is no escape.

He parked, I parked, and I followed him inside. He's a very dapper dresser, like some dude out of GQ magazine. The enormous vehicle took up more than one spot. (As I've mentioned here before, Bauer likes to grab a bite at the cafe in the store where I work.) That's when I realized how much money was behind Bauer, if they could bankroll his daily usage of a gas-guzzling vehicle like that. Who bought it?-- I wondered. Several employees craned their necks from behind the juice bar and asked (voices full of dread) if that was a SCHOOL BUS FULL OF KIDS?!? Is that some daycare expedition? No, it's only Andre Bauer, I answered.

They looked equally nonplussed. He usually drove a black, sporty, GQ-appropriate vehicle, not one the size of Arkansas with his face plastered thereon.

The race is on, I thought, and Andre means to BRING IT.

I got scared, and I've pretty much stayed that way.

~*~

The rise of this Christian fascism, a rise we ignore at our peril, is being fueled by an ineffectual and bankrupt liberal class that has proved to be unable to roll back surging unemployment, protect us from speculators on Wall Street, or save our dispossessed working class from foreclosures, bankruptcies and misery. The liberal class has proved useless in combating the largest environmental disaster in our history, ending costly and futile imperial wars or stopping the corporate plundering of the nation. And the gutlessness of the liberal class has left it, and the values it represents, reviled and hated...

Those who remain in a reality-based world often dismiss these malcontents as buffoons and simpletons. They do not take seriously those, like [Glenn] Beck, who pander to the primitive yearnings for vengeance, new glory and moral renewal. Critics of the movement continue to employ the tools of reason, research and fact to challenge the absurdities propagated by creationists who think they will float naked into the heavens when Jesus returns to Earth. The magical thinking, the flagrant distortion in interpreting the Bible, the contradictions that abound within the movement’s belief system and the laughable pseudoscience, however, are impervious to reason. We cannot convince those in the movement to wake up. It is we who are asleep.

--Chris Hedges, The Christian Fascists Are Growing Stronger


Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, wearing his GQ-duds and burning up more gas than the space shuttle, has already compared poor people to dogs. In his well-worn TV campaign ad featuring a friendly bunch of "just folks" extolling his 'true conservative' virtues, it is notable that the only person of color featured in the ad, claims they like him because he doesn't believe in government handouts.

The Republican race is filled with similar crackpots. Although I was critical of Sanford, we can't doubt that he was intelligent (particularly after reading his well-written love chronicle). Whether Bauer is intelligent or not, he panders to the those who are not, the lowest common denominator.

State Representative Nikki Haley, the conservative woman in the Republican race, appears to have taken the lead. She would be better than Andre, but not by much. The idea of a woman governor appeals to me, despite my common sense. She looks so refreshing, vital, and new, particularly amid the old-bubba's network of South Carolina electioneering. Unfortunately, her politics are more or less identical to the rest of the tea-party fellow-travelers. (Example: She is the only candidate who believes Sanford was correct in refusing the federal economic stimulus package.)

Nonetheless, the attacks on Haley (hyper-conservative or not), have been openly racist and sexist. During the gubernatorial debate (of all places) Bauer accused her of having an extramarital affair, a charge she has vigorously denied. What infuriated me about this charge was the fact that Bauer should know better, since he has been repeatedly gay-baited himself.

South Carolina Lt. Gov Andre Bauer, photo from The Palmetto Scoop.



Bauer even challenged Haley to take a polygraph! (Do you believe?!?!) My initial reaction was that Haley should challenge him right back: "Andre, why haven't you gotten married by age 40?" and make him take one, too. But Haley isn't a guttersnipe (like your humble narrator), and has deliberately taken the high road, and as a result, the charge appears to have backfired. Here in South Carolina, after the nationwide, embarrassing Mark Sanford debacle, even Republicans (maybe especially Republicans) are heartily SICK of hearing about politicians rollicking in the sack. Oh please!--seems to be the collective, eye-rolling response. And this overall disgust with personal attacks has indeed impacted the race. Character counts, and folks seem to prefer a nice conservative to one that peddles sordid adultery-tales to the Columbia State newspaper.

But Daisy remains pissed. The NERVE of that guy. Are we expected to believe that a man who dresses like Andre Bauer is a 40-year-old virgin? Why is HIS sex life off limits for discussion? (Straight or gay, and as I stated in the above-linked post, I have seen him engage in public displays of affection several times, whether "staged" or not.) Oh, right, he's a MAN and it's understood that he will "date"... should we demand a polygraph to test Bauer's virginity? He does know that unmarried men fornicating is considered adultery by his trusty King James Version, doesn't he?!?

I daresay, this might be Bauer's undoing, and it can't come fast enough for me.

From the Washington Post:

Haley leads Republican governor's race in South Carolina despite sex allegations
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 7, 2010

CONWAY, S.C. -- Even in a state that's accustomed to two-fisted politics, this year's Republican race for governor stands out. As the contenders barreled across South Carolina in a mad frenzy before Tuesday's primary, they confronted at every turn the salacious accusations of adultery swirling around Nikki Haley, the woman who has rocketed to the lead.

Lt. Gov. André Bauer, carrying a backpack stuffed with trinkets to give to children, arrived at a diner in rural Union County to offer hope of replacing the shuttered Disney factory down the road. Yet he faced, and deflected, questions about his ex-campaign consultant who alleged an affair with Haley. Then, climbing into an RV shrink-wrapped with his likeness, he was off to the next county and more questions.

Attorney General Henry McMaster, stumping with a former governor at a brunch spot in Greenville, cast himself as the only adult in a field of adolescents. He asked Susan Bailey and her girlfriends for their votes, but moments later they confessed to a reporter that they had recently decided, over prayer, to go with Haley. "Not because she's a she," said Bailey, 55, a homemaker. "She hasn't bowed down. She hasn't gotten angry. She can handle it like a gentleman, but she's a lady."

And when Rep. J. Gresham Barrett strode into Tommy's Country Ham House in Greenville for red-meat politicking, ready to talk about his Arizona-style immigration plan, a man at the first table asked the question that has sucked up so much oxygen here.

"Do you believe she's been, what is it, unfaithful?" he asked.

"No, sir, I don't," Barrett said, shaking the man's hand and quickly moving on.

From the Bible-thumping Upcountry to the breezy beaches, Palmetto State Republicans have become transfixed by allegations in a campaign that has devolved into perhaps the nastiest brawl in a generation. Haley has fended off unsubstantiated claims from two political operatives that she had extramarital affairs with them. She has swatted away remarks from a state senator who called her a "raghead." And Haley, every bit as scrappy as she is steely, has been running circles around her opponents -- all while propped up in stiletto heels.

The other candidates have bigger names and longer résumés, but Haley, the only woman among them, built a sizable lead by making sport of busting the old-boy fraternity that she says dominates, even corrupts, South Carolina politics.

"When you turn around and threaten their power and you threaten their money, they turn around and push back," Haley, a fast-talking and polished campaigner, told a crowd here on Saturday night. "But what they don't understand is I have a strong faith, I have a strong spine, and I have a strong husband that puts on a military uniform every day."

The couple of hundred Republicans huddled outside an old barn along the railroad tracks in downtown Conway erupted, just as her supporters did after she delivered the same line 230 miles west at a hot-wing bar in Greenville the night before, leaving political observers to wonder whether all the mudslinging is only cementing Haley's popularity.

Haley's campaign says internal polls suggest she has maintained, if not widened, her lead. A few weeks ago, languishing in fourth place, she hoped to just make the expected June 22 runoff. But now she is talking about winning outright with more than 50 percent.

And guess who showed up to do ads for Nikki?

Yup.

She was elevated by an endorsement from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Herself no stranger to scandal, Palin -- who has taken to calling herself the "mama grizzly" -- has defended Haley, chalking it all up in robo-calls to "made-up nonsense."

"She is like Sarah Palin," Trudy Martin, 71, a retired nurse, said of Haley. "Sarah told them to take a hike -- the oil companies, the crooked Republicans. Nikki can do the same."

Impressed in spite of myself, at this unexpected show of sisterhood. The Palin-ads are surprisingly plucky, and have an appreciable fuck-you sound to them. (Conservatives love that shit.)

And then, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they called Nikki Haley a RAGHEAD.

Yes, you read that right. RAGHEAD:

Now enter Jake Knotts, a rabble-rousing Republican state senator, who ruminated Thursday on Haley's Indian heritage on a talk show and concluded: "We already got one raghead in the White House. We don't need another in the governor's mansion." He later apologized and said his remark was only in jest.

I'm sure he's telling the truth about that. Such a joke would be Jake Knotts' idea of humor.

This is a spectacle rarely seen in politics -- even here in bare-knuckled South Carolina, where in the 2000 presidential primary John McCain fell victim to a whisper campaign alleging falsely that he had fathered an out-of-wedlock multiracial child.

"Southern politics are always colorful, but I haven't seen in a long time, maybe in my lifetime, it so visceral, so nasty, so embarrassing," said former governor David Beasley.

The other night in Conway, it was lost on few that Haley was speaking from a stage named after the legendary senator Strom Thurmond, a onetime segregationist who might have been shocked to see this daughter of Indian immigrants as the favorite to become South Carolina's first female governor.

When Barrett campaigned at the Ham House, Bill Moore said that he would never consider voting for Haley. "I don't know any woman that I'd vote for governor," Moore, 85, a retired textile worker, said as he cleaned his plate of grits and biscuits.

Haley, asked in an interview whether this state is ready for her kind of change, said: "South Carolina is ready for Nikki Haley. . . . It's not about gender. It's not about ethnicity. It's about wanting somebody that's going to fight for the people, and I'm that person."

A group of upright, conservative suburban soccer moms came into my workplace for a quick dinner, and they were plastered with "Haley for governor" stickers and buttons. That's when I knew. She can win, I thought.

I can't hide the fact that I'd love to see a woman governor, but I also can't hide the fact that she scares me almost as much as Bauer. "Bauer with integrity" might be a far more effective Bauer, if you catch my meaning.

Either way, I know it will be pretty interesting. Let's just hope they don't bankrupt the state and lock up the progressives in Gitmo-style prison camps.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

SC Assistant Attorney General Roland Corning found in cemetery with Viagra, stripper, sex toys

South Carolina deputy assistant attorney general Roland Corning, photo from CBS News.







And a Happy Halloween to all of you, too!

Alan Colmes just posted on the latest South Carolina politician to exhibit Bizarro Universe behavior:

GOP SC Asst AG Caught With Stripper, Sex Toys, Viagra
October 30th, 2009

South Carolina Assistant Attorney General Roland Corning, 65, was seen pulling into a secluded area of a cemetery alongside an 18-year-old stripper, arousing the suspicion of Columbia, SC police officer Michael D. Wines, who eventually searched the car. The woman was an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentlemen’s Club.

[The search] revealed a sex enhancement drug (Viagra) and some sex toys. According to the report, Corning told the police he had a prescription for the medication and the other items were always in the car “just in case”, he needed them anytime he wanted.

The married Corning is a GOP activist in the state and a former legislator best known for his opposition to abortion.

CBS News adds:

Corning was fired, [Attorney General Henry] McMaster said on Wednesday.

"We received credible information about inappropriate behavior Monday afternoon," McMaster said Wednesday. "And by the close of business, he was no longer working here."

Such a trip to the cemetery "would not be appropriate, at any time, for an assistant attorney general," McMaster said.

There was no answer Wednesday at a number listed for Corning, who was a Republican legislator in the late 1980s and early 90s. He was hired in 2000 by the attorney general's office, where he worked on securities cases.

South Carolina has had its share of scandal lately, most notably Gov. Mark Sanford's "disappearance" in June. His office told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was really in Argentina visiting his mistress.

Cemetery fun!

Who says Republicans don't know how to have fun on Halloween?

Mark Sanford, continued, still, again...

Photo of our esteemed governor is from WJBF-TV.


In the continuing (and always entertaining) Governor Mark Sanford saga, Lt. Gov Andre Bauer (who just moved into the Thornblade neighborhood, which is why I've been seeing him everywhere lately) asked him to resign, and he refused. No quitter he! And now, he sets up a podium in an empty field (!), across from the office of his chief critic, state Senator David Thomas (R-Fountain Inn) and commences preaching.

Thomas is running for congress using Sanford as his "let's clean up this joint" object lesson, which totally flips out Sanford.

Gov. Mark Sanford attacks travel probe as 'pure politics'
Sen. David Thomas denies charge, says he wants governor to answer questions

Gov. Mark Sanford went to the doorstep of one of his critics to defend himself Thursday, declaring in Greenville that state Sen. David Thomas is attempting to advance his political career by questioning the governor's travel practices.

“If you look at sort of where people are coming from, some people think it's in their best interest to drum up some of what's been going on because they think it'll help them climb to the next ladder in politics,” Sanford said. “With other folks, they think it's payback time. They didn't particularly like where we've come from on restructuring or spending or some other things.”

Said Sanford: “There's something wrong with selective outrage.”

The state's embattled chief executive chose to make his stand in an empty field across from the Wade Hampton Boulevard law office of Thomas, who is the chairman of a Senate panel examining the Republican governor's travel.

Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, also is running for Congress. He refused to back down from the travel investigation, telling reporters, “I'm not on a witch hunt.”

He said he has asked the governor to appear before his subcommittee after Labor Day to answer its questions, but “there's no response from his attorney to that question.”

“We can, hopefully, get a lot of things answered,” Thomas said. “But there are many things on the table that haven't been answered, and I requested his presence to accomplish that.”

Thomas, who was working in his office as Sanford spoke from a hastily erected podium across the street, said afterward, “I wanted to join the governor, but it seemed such an odd, strange situation.”

“I've been in public office a long time and I've never seen anything like this,” Thomas said.

The governor preaching from a field? You've never seen anything like it? Ah come on, Senator Thomas. How odd can that be?

A field. Set up a podium IN A FIELD.

Sanford's travels and use of state aircraft have been under scrutiny since the governor disappeared from Columbia in June and returned to admit an affair with an Argentine woman.

There have been calls for an ethics investigation and some lawmakers say Sanford could face impeachment proceedings.

Thomas has said he believes some of Sanford's foreign flights violated a state law that requires state employees to choose the least expensive method of travel. He has focused on six overseas flights made by Sanford in which he said the governor flew business class.

[...]

Sanford, who is in his second term and can't run for re-election, told reporters in Greenville that calls for investigations of his actions and related media accounts are “pure politics.”

Usually, that sorta thing comes OUTSIDE of your own party, though, doesn't it?

When your own party is gunning for you, time to leave.

“Let's not make decisions based on hyperbole, on simply media” reports, Sanford said.

“Let's make decisions on facts,” he said. “When one looks at the facts, we have a compelling record in terms of watching out for the taxpayer.”

Some House GOP leaders said even if Sanford's contentions about other governors and officials prove true, it will not impact impeachment talk.

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” said House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham.

House Speaker Pro Tempore Harry Cato of Travelers Rest said Sanford's argument reminds him of the rationale used by his children.

“Everybody else was at the party, why couldn't I?” Cato said. “I don't think the ‘me, too' argument is going to hold much weight.”

Cato said more problematic for the governor is that he has chastised lawmakers and other officials over the years for not being frugal enough in travel.

“Probably the thing this governor is most guilty of is just being a hypocrite,” he said.

Rep. Nathan Ballentine of Irmo, one of Sanford's closest allies in the House, said Sanford laid out his travel arguments and facts when he met with him earlier this week to ask him to resign. He said while Sanford believes his side of the story hasn't gotten out to the public, Ballentine believes the most important question is a larger one.

“The decision shouldn't be about what's best for what individual,” he said. “The decision ought to be about what's best for our state. And I think in order to have our officials refocus on what's important, the story has to change.”

Michael Sponhour, a spokesman for the State Budget and Control Board, said the travel regulations referred to by Thomas were first created in 1981 and then amended in 1992 to change prior approval of foreign travel by the agency to reporting such travel after the fact. He said the regulations are designed to be used in granting employees reimbursement for travel, not prior approval by his agency.

Also Thursday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake told reporters he believes four of the state's constitutional officers should act immediately upon a state constitutional provision for removing the governor by declaring him unable to carry out his duties.

“It's crystal clear,” Drake said. “This fellow is not able to do his job.”

Drake said unless at least three of the four officers — the state attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller general and treasurer — act, the issue will be left to the Legislature and impeachment hearings, which could drag on throughout next year.

But all four constitutional officers said they disagree with Drake's interpretation of the provision, which is referred to under the heading of disability.

“We don't have a matter of physical or mental disability here,” said Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, a Sanford ally. “We have a lot of political hysteria.”

Treasurer Converse Chellis said it would be inappropriate to use the section “without some real documentation of either a mental or physical disability that would hinder Mr. Sanford's ability to govern.”

Secretary of State Mark Hammond said his counsel's advice is that the provision does not apply.

“Being unpopular and ineffective is not necessarily a mental or physical disability,” he said.

Mark Plowden, a spokesman for State Attorney General Henry McMaster, a GOP candidate for governor, said McMaster was asked about the provision earlier this summer and does not believe it applies.

“The attorney general believes it's written quite obviously as if the governor has fallen ill or is somehow incapacitated, not anything else,” he said.

Meanwhile the State Law Enforcement Division announced the arrest of a Hilton Head man on charges of threatening Sanford. According to the warrant, Brian Joseph Macdermant, 39, is accused of telephoning the governor's office and conveying a threat to Sanford through a staff person.

Macdermant is charged with threatening the life of a public official, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Also on Thursday, Sanford continued to his push for public forgiveness with a luncheon stop at the Greenville County Republican Women's Club.

He apologized for his “moral failure” for the extramarital affair, but told the club it's time to move on from the scandal.

Sanford said he has “an incredible opportunity” to make his last 16 months in office the most productive because he has no remaining political ambition.

“This is it,” Sanford said.

Do you believe this?

Why are we stuck with this arrogant dick?

I don't believe he has no remaining political ambition...why else would he be hanging around, unless he thought he could do some powerhouse thing to redeem himself?

Certainly, he has no political power in the state right now, to accomplish anything.

Some folks think he just can't give up the office, he LIKES it too much.

Gonna rock it up, roll it up, do it all, have a ball...

Stealie flag is from Disc-O-Pizza.



Assorted quick notes on this busy and beautiful Saturday morning
--

Our sordid South Carolina stimulus situation never goes away. State Attorney General Henry McMaster filed a motion Friday to return a stimulus case brought by two students to the South Carolina Supreme Court, arguing the issue cannot be tried in federal court.

And so, the endless, interminable legal wrangling over Governor Sanford's determined blockage of the economic stimulus funds maddeningly continues. Funny how he calls himself an economic conservative and yet is spending bushels more in his attempts to BLOCK it, than if he simply took the money, the swine.

At Fetch Me My Axe, two Proposition 8 videos that you simply MUST WATCH.

Phil Spector is sentenced to 19 years-to-life. And it's still too good for him, IMHO:

Phil Spector stared straight ahead. It was the appointed hour for the legendary music producer's six-year murder case to come to a close and the courtroom was packed with reporters, fans and detractors eager to hear his sentence. But he did not look at the judge, take notes or whisper to his lawyer.

For Spector, it seemed, it wasn't worth it. A life sentence is mandatory for second-degree murder and the only decision before the judge Friday was whether Spector, 69, should have his first parole hearing in 2027, 2028 or 2034.

After listening to arguments, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler chose 2028. As the judge told Spector that he would have to serve at least 19 years in prison -- at which time he would be 88 -- he remained stoic.

Spector declined an opportunity to address the court and moments later, surrounded by court officers, he shuffled out a side door.

It was a quiet end to a legal proceeding that has intrigued the public since Feb. 3, 2003, when actress Lana Clarkson was shot to death in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra mansion.

A jury convicted him of Clarkson's murder last month, a year and a half after another panel had deadlocked.

The New York Times reports that texting may be "taking a toll on teenagers":

The rise in texting is too recent to have produced any conclusive data on health effects. But Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who is director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who has studied texting among teenagers in the Boston area for three years, said it might be causing a shift in the way adolescents develop.

“Among the jobs of adolescence are to separate from your parents, and to find the peace and quiet to become the person you decide you want to be,” she said. “Texting hits directly at both those jobs.”

Psychologists expect to see teenagers break free from their parents as they grow into autonomous adults, Professor Turkle went on, “but if technology makes something like staying in touch very, very easy, that’s harder to do; now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers 15 times a day, asking things like, ‘Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?’ ”

As for peace and quiet, she said, “if something next to you is vibrating every couple of minutes, it makes it very difficult to be in that state of mind.

“If you’re being deluged by constant communication, the pressure to answer immediately is quite high,” she added. “So if you’re in the middle of a thought, forget it.”

Michael Hausauer, a psychotherapist in Oakland, Calif., said teenagers had a “terrific interest in knowing what’s going on in the lives of their peers, coupled with a terrific anxiety about being out of the loop.” For that reason, he said, the rapid rise in texting has potential for great benefit and great harm.

“Texting can be an enormous tool,” he said. “It offers companionship and the promise of connectedness. At the same time, texting can make a youngster feel frightened and overly exposed.”

I am more concerned about the fact that the world is going by, and these kids are too busy texting to notice and interact with it.

(OTOH, I often feel this way about adults who can't put the phone down, not just the kids.)

And finally, for your dose of DEAD FROM CUTENESS, Yellowdog Granny provides us with 25 seconds of the most adorable baby-jabber anywhere on Planet Internetz. Be careful! You WILL die from the cute!

~*~

Before you trash the following teenybopper anthem, just remember, it influenced the Ramones. So HAH!

(Decades later, vindicated at last!)

Check out the fascinating disembodied eyeball on the set, above/behind the band. (The 70s were decidedly weird, people.)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT - Bay City Rollers



Have a great Saturday, yall!

Student files lawsuit challenging Sanford's refusal of stimulus

Left: South Carolina state flag.



As you know by now, our Idiot-in-Charge, Governor Sanford, declined a hefty portion of the federal economic stimulus funds, due to some Ayn Randian nonsense he subscribes to. Unfortunately, the "tea party" protest against the economic bailout/stimulus here in upstate SC was nearly 10,000 strong last week, one of the largest in the country. I am sure Sanford perceived this sordid event as a sign of political support, even if the dopey tea parties are basically aimed at the federal government and President Obama. (I told you I lived in possibly the most conservative county in the USA!)

An 18-year-old high school senior, Casey Edwards, filed a lawsuit, which has been thrown out (for now):

State high court declines to hear stimulus suit
Justices rule Legislature must act first before decision can be made

COLUMBIA -- The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a high school senior's legal petition asking the court to decide whether the Legislature can bypass Gov. Mark Sanford to accept $700 million in federal stimulus funds but left the door open to hear the case if the Legislature appropriates the money.

State Attorney General Henry McMaster had argued that the case wasn't yet legally "ripe" for court review because some action had to be taken, either the Legislature appropriating the money or passing a resolution to accept it.

The justices on Wednesday agreed, denying a review "at this time."

"We find this action is not ripe and appropriate for judicial determination unless or until the General Assembly has taken, as it is authorized to do, measures to appropriate the funds at issue," the court said.

"Until that time, there is no real and substantial controversy, as opposed to a contingent, hypothetical or abstract dispute, upon which this court can render a declaratory judgment."

Dwight Drake, one of the student's Columbia lawyers, said he believes the order is "good news."

"The Legislature was going to have to appropriate the funds before they could get to the schools anyway," he said. "Some people in the Legislature had argued the Legislature could not appropriate the funds. The court order says they can appropriate the funds."

McMaster responded by saying the order gives Sanford and the Legislature time to resolve the matter "free of any extraneous complications."

The governor has refused to apply for $700 million of $2.8 billion available to the state over two years unless lawmakers agree to spend an equal amount to reduce state debt.

Joel Sawyer, Sanford's spokesman, said the justice's order Wednesday "confirms what we said all along, that the governor is the one who has the authority to request the money. So there really is no issue for the court to resolve here."

Legislators have predicted for weeks the issue would eventually wind up in the courts. State Attorney General Henry McMaster, in an opinion weeks ago, said he thought Sanford had to apply for the money but said if the Legislature also requested it, the issue would have to be settled by the courts.

The petition that triggered Wednesday's order was filed last week by Casey Edwards, an 18-year-old senior at Chapin High School who said she is concerned about the impact on schools if the state doesn't receive the $700 million in stimulus funds.

The House has included one year's worth of the stimulus funding at issue in its budget plan. A Senate plan now being debated also would use the money.

Nice try! But as stated before, I still think we are fucked.

Lindsey Graham releases White House response to stimulus dilemma

And the conservative wrangling over the stimulus isn't over. Are you kidding?

One doesn't quite know whether to laugh or cry.



Senator Lindsey Graham releases White House response to stimulus dilemma

By Tim Smith • CAPITAL BUREAU
Greenville News • April 1, 2009

COLUMBIA - The White House Office of Management and Budget says that only Gov. Mark Sanford can apply for $700 million in federal stimulus funds, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said this morning.

Graham, who last week called attention to a congressional report raising legal questions about a provision allowing legislatures to bypass governors in claiming the money, had asked for an opinion from the White House.

The White House letter follows release of an opinion on Tuesday by State Attorney Henry McMaster that said the governor would have to approve spending the money, even if the Legislature requested it.

Sanford, who has until Friday to request the money, has said he will only do so if the Legislature agrees to spend it on state debt. Lawmakers have warned that without the stimulus money, thousands of teachers will be fired, tuition at state colleges will increase by double digits and some prisons could be closed or inmates released early.

"Regardless of one’s opinion about the provision’s constitutionality, the Congress will not be able to fix this problem by Friday and allow the state legislature to apply for the funding," Graham said in a statement. "Also, it is unlikely other states would want to pass a legislative fix that would assist South Carolina. By doing nothing, other states increase the chances they will receive a portion of the funding originally directed to our state."

Graham repeated his opinion that Sanford should ask for the money because it is money paid by South Carolinians that could go to other states if he doesn't.. He also said he hopes the governor and lawmakers can strike a compromise.

"It is my hope a win-win solution which addresses our state’s needs today while building a solid foundation for future generations can be achieved,” he said.

The $700 million is part of $2.8 billion in stimulus funds available to the state.

Lindsey's fingers are itching, and he wants the money. This is, as far as I can see, the only way we might actually get it.

Help us Obi Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope!

Sterling guilty: stealing $278 million is only worth 5 years

Jack Sterling, convicted greedhead. Photo from WSPA-TV.


South Carolina Greedhead extraordinaire, Jack Sterling, gets to keep all his stolen booty, while the poor people he defrauded get... what? What do they get?

Some poor trailer park/ghetto kid holds up a liquor store for $200 and gets how many years? And this swine steals the life savings of 12,000 working people, and gets five years and is still free on bond.

God Bless America.

Sterling sentenced to 5 years in securities fraud case
By David Dykes • BUSINESS WRITER
March 6, 2009 • Greenville News

LEXINGTON -- Former HomeGold chairman Jack Sterling was sentenced to five years in prison today after a jury found him guilty on one count of securities fraud, marking the end of the state’s lengthy investigation into a financial collapse that cost 12,000 people, most from the Upstate, an estimated $278 million.

Sterling, 70, was the final defendant among six former HomeGold or Carolina Investors officers who were indicted by a state grand jury and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office. All were either convicted or pleaded guilty.

Sterling will remain free on bond.

Sterling had been charged with two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Attorney General Henry McMaster called the state investigation "the largest and most complex white-collar probe in South Carolina’s history."

McMaster said in a statement: "There were a total of six prosecutions in the Carolina Investors case. All six prosecutions were successful.

"Sadly, even a guilty verdict cannot undo the heartbreaking losses suffered by thousands of investors, many of whom saw their life-savings taken away. It is our hope that the success of these prosecutions and the resulting improvements to our securities laws will dissuade criminals from attempting to deceive the people of South Carolina."

The jury reached its decision after 13 hours of deliberation over three days, and Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham sentenced Sterling less than an hour later.

Sterling had no visible reaction as Cottingham gave the sentence, but a gasp was heard from his group of supporters.

Prosecutors had urged the judge to sentence Sterling to 10 years, the maximum for a count of securities fraud.

After 3 1/2 weeks of testimony, and a review of scores of exhibits, what emerged was a state portrait of Sterling as not only involved in the day-to-day operations of HomeGold after its merger, but involved to the point that he exercised control over the business.

At the same time, Sterling’s defense countered with its view that the longtime Greenville businessman was a chairman who was disengaged from the company’s daily business and others were at fault and to blame for the collapse of Pickens-based Carolina Investors, a HomeGold subsidiary.

Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Evans said in her closing argument that prosecutors worked to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Jack Sterling, is guilty of securities fraud through a scheme to defraud, that he is guilty of giving false information, directly or indirectly, to the (state) securities commission and he is involved in this conspiracy."

"This was a very complex case and lots of documents," Evans said. "But it really isn’t a complex case."

"It is a simple case and a simple answer," she told the jurors.

At issue, she said, "is whether or not the folks up in Pickens, the people at Carolina Investors, understood the whole truth about what was going on at HomeGold," and whether information was filtered through Sterling and others.

"We have not stood here since day one and said everything is on Jack Sterling," Evans said. "We told you at the beginning of this trial that this was a conspiracy case and this was a scheme that involved several different people. But every person played a role in this."

She said it was clear the Carolina Investors securities holders "absolutely" didn’t know about the safety of their investments.

Sterling, she said, played "a very, very important role" as a director of HomeGold and Carolina Investors.

"We’re not here to argue whether or not he’s a good man, whether or not he has a good family, whether or not he has a good heart," Evans said.

In this case, there were "several omissions" of key information to Carolina Investors’ board and the company’s note holders and "an omission is the equivalent of a lie" under securities fraud laws, Evans said.

It was Sterling’s fiduciary duty to give "full and accurate disclosure," Evans said.

Instead, Sterling "purposely" kept information from the Carolina Investors directors to avoid "a run on the bank," Evans said.

Sterling’s fingerprints, Evans said, were "all over everything."

Asked by Evans under cross-examination if he met with Sheppard after the collapse, and told him, "if we just tell everybody it was just business, we’ll all be OK," Sterling testified, "I remember the meeting. I don’t remember that comment."

"You remember the meeting, but you don’t remember saying, ‘if we all stick to this, it’s just business, we’ll all be OK?’" Evans asked.

"No," Sterling testified. "What I do remember mostly about that meeting is Mr. Sheppard telling me how well EMMCO was going, but he was concerned about his lending sources being affected by the collapse of HomeGold. That’s what our primary conversation was."

Asked if he expected other Carolina Investors or HomeGold officials such as Larry and Anne Owen, Lt. Gov. Earle Morris Jr., Karen Miller and Sheppard to plead guilty or be convicted by a jury, and subsequently cooperate with state investigators, Sterling testified, "Not only did I not expect it, but I had no idea that the people you just named were guilty and had been lying to investors."

Sterling testified he was a member of the HomeGold and Carolina Investors boards, and was HomeGold’s chairman until June 2002.

He invested $2 million in HomeGold stock, watched the value increase to more than $16 million, but ultimately lost his investment, he testified.

Sterling testified that in hindsight, he would have done things differently at HomeGold.

He and other company officials made mistakes and the result was "some good people lost their money," Sterling testified.

But he testified that in 1998, when HomeGold’s net worth began evaporating and it started losing money, and in subsequent years, repaying investors was "the constant thing in our minds."

At one point, Sterling’s attorney, Bart Daniel, asked him, "Did you ever, Mr. Sterling, lie, cheat or steal while you were at Carolina Investors or HomeGold?"

"No, sir, I did not," Sterling testified.

Sterling’s attorneys argued that as a member of the boards of HomeGold and Carolina Investors during periods of financial difficulties, Sterling participated with other directors and relied on outside auditors and lawyers, including the Wyche law firm in Greenville, to provide guidance to senior management for the benefit of shareholders and investors.

Several current or former members of the Wyche firm testified as defense witnesses and described their review of regulatory filings, business transactions, investors’ prospectus and press releases.

Defense attorneys alleged it was Sheppard, not Sterling, who was primarily responsible for HomeGold’s collapse since as CEO Sheppard replaced nearly all of Sterling’s management team and took control the company’s operations.

They said others, such as former HomeGold chief financial officer Karen Miller, were part of the conspiracy that led to the collapse of Carolina Investors.

Sheppard is serving a 20-year prison term for his conviction on various charges.

Miller, who testified for three days for the prosecution, is awaiting sentencing for her guilty plea to conspiracy in filing misleading reports with the SEC and withholding key information from Carolina Investors board members.

True justice: when they are forced to PAY PEOPLE BACK WHAT THEY STOLE. WITH INTEREST.

And if they can't? Bankruptcy. No nice cars and vacation homes for Sterling, Miller, Sheppard, the Owenses, etc.

Jail is NOT good enough for these greedy pigs.

Christian license tag backers vow to prevail

Well, I'm certainly happy that Andre Bauer's numerous stunts have all been forgiven by the religious right, now that he has publicly partied with the likes of Mike Huckabee and is now showing up at their goofy-ass rallies.

You too can be held at bay by armed law enforcement officers, but still get rated an okay guy by the religious right--as long as you back the correct Christian license plate!

My question: Why is a license plate necessary? Can't they just buy a bumper sticker like everyone else?

Yeesh.

Christian tag backers vow to prevail

McMaster, Bauer among 350 at rally in wake of ruling on 'I Believe' plate

By Anna Lee • STAFF WRITER • GREENVILLE NEWS
January 7, 2009

It was standing room only at People's Baptist Church in Greer on Tuesday night as more than 350 people from around the Upstate rallied to fight a federal judge's ruling on Dec. 11 that halted the state's sale and production of "I Believe" religious license plates.

U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie issued the injunction on the grounds that the plate violated the U.S. Constitution's establishment clause forbidding government from establishing a religion.

The license plate, which was approved by 78 percent of the Legislature, depicts a stained glass window with a cross on it and the words "I Believe" above the tag number.

The rally was organized by the pastor of People's Baptist, the Rev. Arnold Hiette, who said he is fed up that Christians cannot display anything that symbolizes Jesus Christ or Christianity.

"We've lost so many rights as a Christian over the last few years, the right to prayer in public and call the name of Jesus, the prayer in schools, and this, that and the other. ... The people of South Carolina are really stirred up about this," Hiette said.

One Honea Path resident at the rally, Linda Martin, said she came for that same reason -- to stand up for her rights as a Christian.

"We have every other kind of tag you want in the world supporting sports and whatever else. But as Christians we can't have a tag that says 'I believe,'" Martin said.

Christian note: Did she just compare Jesus Christ, the son of God Almighty, to a sports team?!?

(((reads back)))

Yeah, I guess she did.

Wait, here comes the FUNNY PART! Andre Bauer is on the scene!

Guest speakers Attorney General Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer echoed the crowd's sentiments.

"Total freedom of speech doesn't mean everybody but Christians. When a secular group can get a license plate and nobody challenges it, but Christians can't, there's a problem in the system," Bauer said. "Quite frankly, we're under attack."

Attorney Kevin Hall, who is representing license plate supporters, said the country is being swept by a radical movement where freedom of religion is construed by some to be freedom from religion.

Hall said he, along with McMaster and Bauer, will continue to battle the Dec. 11 ruling and said the case is in limbo as they chart their next steps.

However, Hall does have a plan if the case does not prevail in the courts.

"I will tell you that the name 'I Believe' has been reserved as a corporate name at the Secretary of State's Office in the state of South Carolina," Hall said. "We will take an existing 501(c)(3) corporation, we will change its name to I Believe. We will apply for a license plate at the DMV, and we will dare them to say no."

Can they really do this?

Will I BELIEVE become a CORPORATIZED statement? Does this mean when some poor grandma stitches a sampler with I BELIEVE on it, and then tries to sell it at the county fair, she could be arrested for copyright infringement?

Also, does this mean if Muslims or Hindus try to use I BELIEVE, it will already be patented by Christians, and they can therefore be sued too?

The possibilities are endless.

Play along at home!