Toss Them Tuesdays

Here I am explaining to people how much Trump cares about them and how much they'll get from their tax cut! Yes, important economic street action!

We are out there every Tuesday at noon on Main Street in Greenville, SC. We plant ourselves in front of the offices of our senators, Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, as well as our especially-embarrassing congressman, Trey Gowdy. In photos above, there are two candidates running against Gowdy, who is pointedly and surprisingly not running for re-election.

My choice is LEE TURNER, so give generously!

Yall come on out and join us if you are local.

And if you aren't--how about you plan on flying in and joining us anyway? :) We need everybody!!

Anti-Ivanka Trump Protest in Greenville today

Ivanka Trump came to Greenville today to meet with the local Powers That Be (as well as all the little people who make her lovely life possible!) ... and a bunch of us were there to welcome her in our own special way.

The local ad-hoc band known as "The Swampdrainers" sang well-known peace songs as some of us chanted "Trump Go Home." The local news reports 50 protesters, but we now average that every Tuesday; it was at least double that.



Ivanka flew in coach, which is the talk of the town -- as well as obvious proof she is all down with the people.

From the Greenville News:

Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser, arrived on a commercial flight about 10 a.m. Friday at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

"She was always smiling and very pleasant," Angela Martinez said after sitting behind the president's daughter on the flight.

Trump stopped at Coffee Underground, a popular downtown coffee shop, before her speaking engagement.

People swarmed her to take pictures outside of Frank's Gentleman's Salon. Wearing a tan blazer, black pants and black shirt, she posed for pictures before leaving in a limo.

A couple of people waited for her outside of the Westin Poinsett around lunchtime. They were disappointed to learn she entered the hotel through a back entrance. There was a notable police presence in the area, including Police Chief Ken Miller.

Police and Secret Service were stationed at nearly every corner of the lobby and mezzanine levels of the hotel.

An organization protested Ivanka Trump's visit on the plaza outside of the hotel. The protesters voiced their views on a number of issues ranging from tax reform to immigration.

They mean us. Yes, we did.

Above: The pope came out to demonstrate with us today! I guess you’re pretty impressed now, huh?

Yes, that’s me, I asked him what took him so long.

As stated above, they herded the pricey GOP donors in the back doors, of course. My co-activist Elaine Cooper chased both SC Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott down Main Street and got excellent footage of both of them, trying to ignore her. Graham practically broke into a trot.

Below: one sign says “resist” and one says “nepotism!” so when they stood together, it said “resist nepotism!”

I really really wanted a sign that said “WELCOME STORMY!” but didn’t have time to make it. ;)

MORE:

Ivanka Trump in SC to talk taxes with women (The State)

Ivanka Trump, Tim Scott talk tax reform in Greenville (GoUpstate.com)

Ivanka Trump visits Greenville and talks taxes (WSPA)

Primary elections depress me

I started to blog about the South Carolina primary of last Tuesday, but then I thought... WHAT FOR? Everybody was a shoo-in. I needn't have bothered to show up or vote. Senator Tim Scott won his primary bid, while Lindsey Graham was never in any real trouble at all, despite all his okey-doke on TV, designed to scare the hawks into giving him more money.

Depressing as hell.

As regular DEAD AIR readers know, I vote strategically, which means I vote in the Republican primary, since that's where the action is in my decidedly hyper-conservative state. Lindsey Graham fended off SIX (!) Tea Party challengers, with one hand tied behind his back. As Mr Daisy often says, only God knows how much money Lindsey Graham has. He could probably stand at the polling place (beyond the legal 200 yard-perimeter of course!) and hand out twenty-dollar-bills and not be any poorer for it. As it is, he and Tim Scott rate free commercials from Big Oil and Big Plastic, so he can hold onto his twenties. (and his fifties, and his hundreds...)

And yeah, that is WHAT I SAID: SIX TEA PARTY CHALLENGERS, including famously-wacky Lee Bright (I got a photo of him HERE, which got a new round of look-sees during the campaign) and a pro-lifer who drives an ice-cream truck and likes to call himself a "businessman". (He OWNS the ice cream truck, apparently.)

I voted for the ice cream truck driver, the only one I have met personally. I know ice cream truck drivers ("businessman" or not) will never make it to the Senate.

If these clowns could AGREE WITH EACH OTHER and band together as a unit, then ONE of them could have beaten Senator Graham in the primary. But they are SO specific about every jot and tittle of their conservative principles, it really is People's Front of Judea vs The Judean Peoples Front time. They can't even agree with each other. This is likely due to the fact that there are just SO MANY conservatives here, they can easily splinter over what the rest of us would consider small or inconsequential issues, just as the Left does in places like Berkeley or Boston.

The big news is that Brad Hutto, one of those conservative Democrats that are really Republicans, won the Democratic Senatorial Primary. He thinks he can take Graham, since Eric Cantor was ousted in Virginia. However, take note: Cantor was ousted by the aforementioned TEA PARTY, who managed NOT to have six candidates running at once, but only ONE, and then properly UNITED, they kicked ass. That's how its done; be advised!

Does Hutto think he can take advantage of Tea Party indignation over immigration and endless war? Well, maybe.

Democrat Vincent Sheheen, who already lost a gubernatorial election to (now Governor) Nikki Haley, is running against her AGAIN. As all of you know, I think this is a half-assed idea, and new blood would be far better.

Too bad they can't find any, since they are ineffectual as HELL.

Lindsey Graham has stood up against Tea Party outings, Tea Party attacks, David Brooks almost-naming him as a groper on TV, and countless other sticky situations. He seems bulletproof.

It also matters tremendously, as I have said before, that he is one of the most charming people in the world.

~*~

Stay tuned, sports fans.

Who is the American Chemistry Council?

.... and why are they trying to interfere in South Carolina elections?


The American Chemistry Council has sponsored a snazzy campaign commercial for Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, assuring us that they are CONSERVATIVE LEADERS who will CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

True enough, but what does this have to do with chemistry?

Who are these busybodies?

Curious, I investigated. Which ain't easy. (They don't really want us to know who they are, do they?) The American Chemistry Council web page does not inform us of WHAT they are about, or who they are funded by. They claim to be committed to "sustainability"--which begs the question, why are they endorsing climate-change-deniers like Scott? (Obviously, the word "sustainability" will eventually be as abused as those all-purpose words green and low-fat.)

Okay, so who are the members? Corporations, not people. (Even though Mitt Romney properly schooled us that corporations ARE people, I never believed him.) Hmm, a big-ass alphabetical list. I decided, in light of the sustainability-claim, to look under E, for EXXON.

And bingo, there they are. As is BP, the outfit that blew a hole in the ocean the size of Madagascar.

So. The oil companies, disguised as the pleasantly-neutral sounding AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL want us to vote Republican, presumably since the GOP will keep the oil wars going and vote against all (authentically) green initiatives. I think it is also quite fascinating that a good number of these companies are NOT American.

And it isn't just Big Oil, but Big Plastic.

From Our Oregon, I found the agenda of the American Chemistry Council:

Banning plastic grocery sacks has been on the Oregon Legislature’s docket for several years. Since 2009, proponents have made their case across the state – locally and in the legislature. The issue had its first hearing for this year’s legislative session on Tuesday. [this article was first published January 2011]

Enter the Washington, DC-based American Chemistry Council, which isn’t, we were bummed to discover, an association of high school science teachers, but is, in fact, a lobbying group for the plastics industry.

The American Chemistry Council has spent more than $85,000 on lobbying against the plastic bag ban since 2009 (not including the current session), and as reported by Willamette Week donated $1,000 each to 15 key lawmakers from both parties before last year’s election.

Last month, according to the Oregonian, a “mystery poll” was conducted among Oregon residents, seemingly as an attempt to test negative opinions on the ban. Pollsters asked participants questions clearly slanted against the ban, including whether participants would rather the Legislature protect the economy, build jobs or ban plastic bags. Misconceptions such as the “bag police pursuing Oregonians” and the idea that there are harmful contaminates in reusable bags, were also used.

As Benjamin Braddock was famously told on his graduation day: "PLASTICS!"

Big Oil and Big Plastic, cozily disguised as the friendly-named AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL, are brazenly interfering in our elections.

Now that elections are up for sale, they aren't wasting any time.

~*~

The entire noxious commercial is below.

Odds and Sods -- Duck Derby edition

DEAD AIR participated in the Reedy River Duck Derby this last weekend, to raise money for all kindsa good causes.





Your humble narrator took an unofficial blog break, as our beleaguered Occupy the Microphone crew gets things up and running at WMXP. I don't know if we will ever have the kind of podcast we had before (at WOLI), which was up on the net before we even got home from the radio studio. (sigh) I got spoiled.

I will keep you updated on our talk radio adventures, as usual.

~*~

In my meditation room (which is actually my kid's old bedroom! but "meditation room" sounds so much better!), I have some old movie posters, as I briefly mentioned in my old obit of Charlton Heston. One of the movie posters is Risky Business (in fact, it is the same poster in that link). Remember that one? It was before Tom Cruise became a Scientologist and was still cute, funny and charming.

Believe it or not, Risky Business REALLY happened in Toronto this past weekend, only without the call girls. The kids streamed in and trashed a whole mansion!

They are blaming social media, which is the only way 2000 kids (!) could have found the place so quickly and easily. From the Toronto Sun:

When you throw a “mansion party,” promote it heavily on social media and 2,000 of your closest friends show up, there’s a good chance it won’t end well.

That’s what happened Friday night when a throng of youth were packed like sardines into a partially-built house on upscale Stanley Carberry Dr. — near Goreway Dr. and Mayfield Rd.

Peel Regional Police quickly shut the house party down before anyone got hurt — but not before some $70,000 damage was done.

“I’m shocked,” Nancy Viveiros said Saturday, as she and her husband stopped by to see the aftermath of the house party their daughter briefly attended.

Gazing at the many broken windows, smashed doors and booze bottles strewn around the property and along the street, the Caledon woman explained her 18-year-old daughter and her friends wisely left the bash soon after arriving.

“My daughter walked in, looked around and told her friends don’t go upstairs because the railing was all falling apart,” Viveiros said.

Her daughter often asks her for a drive when she goes out, but on this night she got a ride with a friend to the party that “everyone at school was talking about.”

Had Viveiros provided transportation Friday night, there’s no way she’d have allowed her daughter to stay.

“She wouldn’t have got out of my car,” Viveiros said. “And I may have advised the police because you don’t want something happening to the kids.”

Police said they began receiving calls for noise complaints around 9:50 p.m., less than an hour after the bash began.

But they were already aware of the party thanks to Twitter.

“A couple of officers went to the address and determined relatively quickly that more units were needed to disperse the crowd safely,” Const. Thomas Ruttan said.

Officers from three divisions ultimately responded and co-ordinated the shutdown, directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic as the partygoers left.

Ruttan said numerous people were also arrested for intoxication and assaulting police.

“Social media is probably not the best place to advertise a party,” he said. “People need to realize how far reaching social media is and how quickly things like this can get out of control.”

The bash was so big that its hashtag #MansionParty began trending on Twitter.

“The homeowner’s son had permission to have a party, but not of this magnitude,” Sgt. Darcy North said.

Neighbours said the 5,000 square-foot home was under construction for a long time, but work suddenly stopped and the house has sat abandoned for several years.

Even without the beer bottles and broken windows, the unfinished house on the huge muddy lot is an eyesore on a street lined with pristine homes, one of which is currently selling for $1.45 million.

One area resident, who didn’t want to be named, said a young man came to his home prior to Friday night to notify him he was having a party “and the music might get a little loud.”

He said “kids” began arriving in droves around 9 p.m. and within half an hour it was obvious the party was out of control.

“It was crazy,” the neighbour said, adding he never did hear the music but the people lining the street were quite noisy.

He was relieved when cops arrived.

“I was ready to phone the police myself,” he said.

Video here. Wow.

~*~

I wanted to organize a demonstration against Senator Tim Scott, when he came to speak at Bob Jones University at the end of April... but nobody else wanted to. And then I got depressed over that. It was another reason for my blog break: I hardly knew what to say. We let Tim Scott come to town and we ... DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. Argh, I just can't stand it.

Nikki Haley fucked us good with Tim Scott. She knew exactly what she was doing.

See, white radicals DO NOT want to demonstrate against Scott and "look racist"--even if he is well to the right of Sean Hannity. Blacks do not want to demonstrate because he is black, the ONLY African-American in the Senate right now. THE ONLY ONE... and for that reason, I guess it does look bad to demonstrate against him, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

So is that tantamount to giving him a free pass to be another right wing swine, or are we going to treat him like Lindsay Graham, Jim DeMint and the others?

I find that I am suddenly (and uncomfortably) understanding the dilemma of the Republicans who want to protest Obama but do not want to be called racist. This is the FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT, and we always have to be aware of that. We must always be aware of the racist, colonialist history of the USA. But... but... but... WHAT ABOUT WHEN THEY SCREW UP? WHAT ABOUT THAT?

I have never backed down from my legendary Haleyating, and the fact that she is the first woman (and nonwhite) governor of SC, has never stopped me from trashing Governor Haley. But I know it does keep the national media from scrutinizing her as carefully and as completely as they should. (It drives her ex-boyfriend Will Folks crazy.)

What to do? Ideas?

Here is the video of Senator Scott at BJU, which I did not listen to. Nor will I. But you might be interested.

~*~

At Left: Miss South Carolina dances with children at the Duck Derby. (you can click to enlarge)


Speaking of Charlton Heston: SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE! And do you know, some guy has honest-to-God named his nutritional drink SOYLENT? Seriously, its in the New Yorker, so it must be true.

Check out the story of SOYLENT and Bob Rhinehart, who is readable and interesting. And I actually agree with this:

Soylent has been heralded by the press as “the end of food,” which is a somewhat bleak prospect. It conjures up visions of a world devoid of pizza parlors and taco stands—our kitchens stocked with beige powder instead of banana bread, our spaghetti nights and ice-cream socials replaced by evenings sipping sludge. But, Rhinehart says, that’s not exactly his vision. “Most of people’s meals are forgotten,” he told me. He imagines that, in the future, “we’ll see a separation between our meals for utility and function, and our meals for experience and socialization.” Soylent isn’t coming for our Sunday potlucks. It’s coming for our frozen quesadillas.

He can have mine. I think that is a great idea. It would be a solid blow against obesity and waste, and would make us enjoy the "real" food we DO eat, that much more.

~*~

I did not do my usual commemoration for Kent State yesterday, because I decided to give that a break for awhile.

I usually reblog the same thing every year, but it always seems to start fights on Facebook. I am from Ohio, as are many of my Facebook friends, and it seems the people of Ohio have NEVER stopped arguing over the subject, who did what first, was there a sniper? etc etc... in fact, you can see that the first time I ever posted it, the fascist-apologists came out of the woodwork in short order. That first post earned me a troll that latched on for months.

I want to honor the day, but I don't like the people that show up. I am taking a break from them this year. Forgive me dear Jeffrey, Allison, William and Sandra.

I always remember you on May 4th, and undoubtedly will for the rest of my life.

~*~

Our Beltane celebration was wonderful on Saturday night, right after the Duck Derby. I hope your Beltane went well.

~*~

FLICKR UPDATE.

Bob Jones University cancels sexual abuse investigation--why?

As we reported on Friday's radio show, Bob Jones University has canceled the sexual abuse investigation being conducted by the organization GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment). According to our radio show-guest Christopher Peterman, there have been over 80 interviews conducted by GRACE, and their final report was due next month. BJU decided to cancel at the very last minute, maybe hoping no one would notice?


My deepest apologies for not posting this sooner.... I have been too angry at the ultra-careful, kid-gloves treatment of BJU, to settle down and post properly. (I initially wrote two other posts that degenerated into rather mindless cussing/fussing, so I decided to start over.) I got so upset on Friday, I heard myself YELLING (what? me?!?) on the air... and I didn't even realize I was doing it.

Although Peterman was very supportive and respectful of GRACE (and I am sure they are nice folks and all that), some of us thought this should be a matter for law enforcement, from the git-go.

But of course, BJU-tentacles reach everywhere in upstate South Carolina (actually, all over the state), and I have heard that this includes law enforcement.

So, what next? Do they get a free pass to ignore multiple-sexual-assaults on their campus and at their institution? Apparently, they are counting on just that. There is no other follow-up pending. Like the Catholic Church before 2000, BJU is permitted to do whatever they please and destroying the lives of the youngest, most vulnerable faithful? No biggie. Around here, they ARE as powerful as the Catholic Church is in Boston... and you remember how many years THAT took.

Perhaps it's time for lawsuits. Money talks, bullshit walks.

That's probably the only thing they will truly understand, being hit in the pocketbook.

From their website:

Greenville, S.C. (February 6, 2014) – In the fall of 2011, the national news was filled with a steady stream of heart-breaking revelations of sexual abuse on college campuses. These events prompted Bob Jones University to evaluate its processes and procedures for responding to reports of sexual abuse and specifically to ensure the University maintained best practices for a legally compliant and loving, scripturally based response to such reports.

Let's translate.

In these parts, these 'heartbreaking revelations' came PRIMARILY from BJU, who had the highest number of sexual assaults of any school in the area. As battle-weary Catholics can tell you, this makes sense: these freaks go where they know they can get by with it. THEY HAVE A NETWORK. The more there are, the more there are. They are ATTRACTED to cloistered, safe environments where nobody talks about sex, since it is much easier to get away with.

Obviously, there is even a track record proving it.

Either deal with the freaks, BJU, or accept that you will attract MORE AND MORE of them. You simply can't ignore this now.

But hey, watch em try:

To accomplish this, the Board of Trustees appointed a committee external to BJU to review our policies and procedures. The committee recommended some policy revisions and also that the University appoint an independent ombudsman to review past instances in which it was alleged that the University may have underserved a student who reported they had been abused at some point in their lives.

Sounds like just ONE student, doesn't it? Nice spin. In fact, as stated above, there were over 80 interviews conducted by GRACE.

And finally:

Over the last several months, we grew concerned about how GRACE was pursuing our objectives, and on Jan. 27, 2014, BJU terminated its contract with GRACE. It is BJU’s intention to resolve its differences with GRACE, and we are disappointed a resolution could not be reached before our differences were made public. Both BJU and GRACE desire to raise sexual abuse awareness and minister to victims whose lives have been ravaged by abuse. GRACE has been helpful in assisting us in focusing our efforts in this area.

Did GRACE threaten to go to law enforcement or what? WHAT are these "differences" they are describing here? Hm?

GRACE gives their version HERE (pdf). The investigation started 13 months ago, and GRACE was given no notice or indication of any kind, that BJU was getting ready to terminate their investigation-agreement. They claim not to know why the investigation was terminated, but I bet they do.

Who was named? How far up the organizational-ladder do the perps go? Were personnel shuffled around, school to school, department to department, Catholic church-style, rather than outright fired, defrocked and/or dealt with?

And why?

Does the name CARDINAL LAW mean anything to you?

This story is so hot, even Wonkette and the mainstream big blogs are getting in on the act. AND I AM SO PLEASED that our little corner of the Bible Belt is at last getting some much-needed national attention. (Now, if we can successfully shame Senator Tim Scott for planning to speak at Bob Jones University in April, that will be excellent.)

Please folks, keep the heat on.

~*~

EDIT 2/12/2014: THE NEW YORK TIMES! The freaking NEW. YORK. TIMES. has covered this story. Woo hooo! (high-fives to every lefty in the upstate) And my friend, BJU-survivor and former faculty member Camille Lewis got her photo in the Times!

I hope this means the place is down for the count... but of course, I have believed that many times before. (eternal optimist) Again, we just have to keep the heat on. If you have a blog, consider linking to one of these stories. Spread the word and kill the enrollment.

Tim Scott replacing Jim DeMint in Senate

At left: The man of the hour.









I am off to WOLT-FM to plug our new venture on (yow) live radio. While I'm busy, Vogue model and sometime SC governor Nikki Haley will be appointing our next Senator, filling the empty (but still annoying) shoes of nightmarish Teabagger Jim DeMint.

The Associated Press has confirmed that Congressman Tim Scott is the man, which I already figured. Haley blathered at length about bringing minorities into the GOP at the Republican National Convention this past summer, and if she appointed another white man, she would look like the hypocritical opportunist she really is... and we can't have that. Scott will be the first black Senator in South Carolina's history and Haley will get lots of favorable press as a result, which is crucial for her modeling career.

From USA Today:

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will tap Rep. Tim Scott to replace outgoing GOP Sen. Jim DeMint, making Scott the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction.

The Associated Press has confirmed the Scott appointment, which will be formally announced by Haley at a news conference Monday at the statehouse in South Carolina.

DeMint, an influential conservative and Tea Party favorite, will resign in January to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. His replacement will serve until a special election is held in 2014.

"This is historic for all of the South," said David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University. Tim Scott is "conservative and he's Republican. ... What African Americans need are capitalism and conservative values, and Tim Scott is a great vehicle for that. He represents a generation that is interested in entrepreneurship, conservative principles and volunteerism."

Scott, 47, was elected in 2010 to represent a U.S. House district in the Charleston area. A former member of the South Carolina state Legislature, Scott quickly became a favorite of House Speaker John Boehner and GOP officials in Washington and served in a leadership position for the 2010 freshman class.

He has a compelling life story, according to his biography in the Almanac of American Politics. Scott and his siblings were raised by a single mother who worked as a nurse's assistant. By his own account, Scott was on the brink of flunking out of high school when the owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise took him under his wing. He later earned a partial football scholarship to college, and ran an insurance company and owned part of a real-estate agency before entering politics.

State law gives Haley sole authority to appoint a replacement for DeMint, who was first elected in 2004 and is leaving before his second term ends in 2016. The appointment holds major political weight for Haley, who has low approval ratings and is up for re-election in 2014.

Haley reportedly had been considering five candidates: Congressmen Scott and Trey Gowdy, both elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010; former state first lady Jenny Sanford; former attorney general Henry McMaster; and Catherine Templeton, head of the state Department of Health Environmental Control.

The appointment sets in motion a series of events, which will make 2014 a busy year for Palmetto State politics. Both Haley and Graham, the state's senior U.S. senator, are on the ballot in 2014.

Woodard noted that Scott is popular and well-liked and has the support of his fellow members of Congress from South Carolina, which would give him an edge if he runs statewide for the Senate seat, as expected. The five GOP House members from South Carolina are very close, and they stuck together during a high-profile vote last year against Boehner's bill to reduce the deficit.

There have only been six blacks who have served in the U.S. Senate, according to the Senate website. They are Hiram Revels of Mississippi, who served in 1870, Blanche Bruce of Mississippi from 1875 to 1881, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts from 1967 to 1979, Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois from 1993 to 1999, Barack Obama of Illinois from 2005 until he resigned in 2008 after his presidential election, and Roland Burris, who was appointed to replace Obama and served until November 2010.

At least it wasn't Trey Gowdy! (I try to think positively about these things, you know?)

Stay tuned, sports fans.

DEMINT LEAVES SENATE!

We are finally rid of our nuisance teabagger Senator! YEE HA! (happy dance) As a consequence, I have been singing "Ding Dong, the witch is dead" all day long...

DeMint has 4 years remaining in his Senate term. From the Greenville News:

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint said today he will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation, and leave the Senate in January.

DeMint, a Republican, will leave his post as South Carolina’s junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.

“It’s been an honor to serve the people of South Carolina in United States Senate for the past eight years, but now it’s time for me to pass the torch to someone else and take on a new role in the fight for America’s future,” DeMint said in a statement.

“I’m leaving the Senate now, but I’m not leaving the fight. I’ve decided to join The Heritage Foundation at a time when the conservative movement needs strong leadership in the battle of ideas,” he said. “No organization is better equipped to lead this fight and I believe my experience in public office as well as in the private sector as a business owner will help Heritage become even more effective in the years to come.

“I’m humbled to follow in the footsteps of Ed Feulner, who built the most important conservative institution in the nation. He has been a friend and mentor for years and I am honored to carry on his legacy of fighting for freedom.”

Feulner had total compensation of $1,098,612 in 2010, according to Heritage Foundation’s Form 990. DeMint’s pay as U.S. Senator has been $174,000 since 2009, with Senate pay set at $174,000 for 2013.

DeMint’s departure means that Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor, who will have to run in a special election in 2014. Both DeMint’s replacement and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be running for reelection in South Carolina that year.

Republican insiders were speculating that Haley may look at a handful of names as DeMint’s replacement, including U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, the North Charleston Republican and a favorite of conservatives. Scott is the only black Republican in the U.S. House.

Scott, in a statement this morning, said: “I first want to thank Senator DeMint for the tremendous work he has done on behalf of South Carolina and the nation. His commitment to conservative principles leaves a true legacy, and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know and work with him over the past two years.

“Looking forward, Governor Haley will now appoint a new Senator, and I know she will make the right choice both for South Carolina and the nation.”

Other possible replacements include Rep. Trey Gowdy, Congressman for the 4th District that includes much of Greenville County and Rep. Mick Mulvaney, the Republican Congressman from Indian Land.

All three were elected to Congress in the 2010 election.

Haley could also resign as governor, which would elevate Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell to her post as a deal that would have him appoint her to the Senate. But Haley has consistently said the only job she is interested in is the one she has and has started preparing for re-election in 2014.

Haley said this morning that DeMint “has served South Carolina and the national conservative movement exceptionally well. His voice for freedom and limited government has been a true inspiration. On a personal level, I value Jim’s leadership and friendship. Our state’s loss is the Heritage Foundation’s gain. I wish Jim and Heritage all the best in continuing our shared commitment to America’s greatness.”

DeMint was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 after owning a successful advertising and market research company for 20 years. DeMint left the House after limiting himself to three terms. He then was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and re-elected in 2010.

DeMint has authored legislation to balance the budget, ban earmarks, replace the tax code, and reform the nation’s entitlement programs.

DeMint was also the congressman from this district, so he has been annoying me nonstop since 1998.

Good riddance. I doubt any possible replacement could be as bad.

EDIT 12/7/12: As mentioned above, Rep. Tim Scott, up-and-coming black Republican congressman from Charleston, is being touted as DeMint's replacement in the Senate. If appointed, he would be South Carolina's first black Senator. A website-petition has sprung up to push him as the replacement.

As Matt Drudge would say, developing....