South Carolina election commercials

I now present to you some of the worst campaign commercials you will ever see. Get out your barf bag now.

Well, okay, maybe not the worst, but... dreadful, simply dreadful.

First up, Governor Haley shores up her lady-voter base that put her over the top in 2010, by addressing BULLYING.

Say what, you ask? Bullying? We can't drive on our shitty roads; we have kids dying in Protective Services; we are going flat-ass broke... and we suddenly have the Governor playing Big Mother and assuring us that she CARES! (Note: she cares about nice white middle class girls like the one in the commercial; obviously, those dead kids in foster care can suck it.)

This commercial would never be made about a male candidate. That's enough reason to hate it.

Further, do teenagers send suicide notes to the Governor? Seriously? (More on the ad here) And what exactly would a governor do, to stop bullying?

"Nikki Haley Makes a Difference"



I told you it was bad.

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And now from Haley's Republican/Independent challenger on the Right, here is Tom Ervin, who is some kind of relation to Senator Sam Ervin of Watergate committee fame (son or grandson?).... but right now, it is interesting that he seems to be downplaying that connection. (notice their kinship isn't mentioned on either Wikipedia entry) On the Right, Sam Ervin was hated for helping bring down Richard Nixon, while on the Left, he was hated for being a Jim Crow politician. It was the great middle that loved Sam Ervin, who unexpectedly became a star during the televised Watergate proceedings, as he would periodically huff and puff, become amusingly annoyed and pointedly lecture the witnesses on the meaning of the Constitution. He was a huge hit, and I am surprised Ervin isn't reminding voters of his famous TV-star relative.

Maybe Tom Ervin figures its better to leave good ole dad/granddad out of the campaign, especially when you are running against a nonwhite woman, the first nonwhite and the first woman to be elected governor of SC.

Anyway, here is the ad, targeting older voters and veterans.

"That's Tom"



Is that the most sentimental, treacly thing you ever saw? Argh.

As we said on our radio show last week, the idea is that you can call some politician any time you need help, the way Haley famously promised: "If you have trouble voting with the new rules, just call me and I will make sure you can vote!" Politicians want the old-bubba network of making lots of personal friends by getting stuff done for them, as in those old, well-oiled Democratic machines of the North (and the Dixiecrat machines of the South). Notice the ad subtly trashes the VA, yet makes no overt criticism, much less suggest what should be done to make improvements. The overriding concept is that these faceless bureaucracies sure do suck, but a nice guy like Tom can make it alright.

These are the choices on the Right. This means we will probably end up with one of them. Watch em and weep.

What does this bumper sticker mean?

Its our brand new DEAD AIR holiday bumper-sticker-deciphering contest! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?-- please offer your 2 cents.

I haven't thought of any cool prizes yet, but working on it.


I took this photo about two miles from here in a public parking lot in a nice suburb. Not in the backwoods or anything. But of course, this is still the South.



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I understand the basic assertion of the bumper sticker: The Confederacy would never have "left" the POWs and MIAs in Vietnam. (And that's some deliberately-inflammatory rhetoric right there, that they were somehow "left" deliberately. By whom?)

1) Does this mean the Confederacy would have had a Vietnam war too, in some alternative universe that never happened?

2) Does this include the African-American soldiers, too? (Can they be forgiven for thinking that your word ain't much, on this particular score?)

Any other questions, please ask in comments. Play along at home!

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PS: This also gets put in my "You Yankees don't know how easy you've got it!" file.

Patriots Point: A photographic tour

Hey yall, time for your photographic tour of Patriots Point in coastal Mount Pleasant, SC... where my history-buff husband knows more than the plaques on display, and tells me all about war machinery I wish didn't even exist.

I have finally learned, after THIS rather mediocre attempt at historical photography, to take photos of the informational plaques as well... so when it comes time to blog about it, I will at least have some clue of what the photos are.

Admittedly, I am usually rather lukewarm about this kinda stuff, and then I always end up immensely enjoying it and getting into the whole historic vibe, deep in imagination about what it was like to live at sea. My grandfather served on the USS Arkansas (more about which in due course), and he talked about sailing the high seas, although not always in the best of terms.



We last visited Patriots Point in 1993 (as I briefly mentioned here, when I stupidly mixed up the cruiser Yorktown and the USS Yorktown), and I can honestly report that my ability to climb steep, skinny steps has most definitely declined in 20 years. In fact, we didn't even notice how steep/skinny the steps were before, and now we are like... yighhhh! In fact, I declined some of the more narrow passages and exited the USS Clamagore submarine altogether after a few photos, as claustrophobia beckoned. (I can't imagine how Jimmy Carter or anybody else ever lived in one of those things!!!)


As always, you can click all photos to enlarge. Hope you find at least something you enjoy!

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First up, you cross the purty and awesome Ravenel bridge, aka the Cooper River bridge... yes, named after THOSE Ravenels. This includes famous ex-SC treasurer/world-class cokehead Thomas Ravenel, who was arrested over the summer for drunken driving up in the Hamptons. Despite this, Ravenel will be the star of a spanking new reality show called SOUTHERN CHARM.

When you're poor, you go to jail, directly to jail, do not pass GO... but when you're rich, you get to be on BRAVO network. Moral of the story: being rich means never having to say you're sorry and having very cool, big-ass bridges named after your family!

First photos, what it looks like when you are ON it, then from afar.



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Welcome to Charleston Harbor and Patriots Point! Meet the star of our tour, the USS YORKTOWN, the aircraft carrier that kicked all kinds of ass during the WWII Battle of Midway. (She was known as "The Fighting Lady"--also the name of the famous propaganda film about her.)

The smaller ship next to it (last photo) is the USS Laffey, a destroyer. The Laffey was known as "The Ship that Would not Die" at the Battle of Okinawa, where she was hit with 4 bombs and 6 kamikazes and stayed afloat.





The Yorktown is stuffed with antique war machinery and military memorabilia. I tried to match up the machinery with the correct plaque. Yes, that poster really does say (at bottom) "Get em up for your navy!" (I knew you'd never believe me unless I had the photo to prove it.)




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Self-explanatory...that last photo is a kamikaze aircraft, which is surprisingly small. I'd be scared to death to fly in that flimsy plane, but I guess by then, fear wasn't exactly an issue, and well beside the point. (And as tiny as it was, you certainly wouldn't want to see one of those things headed straight for you.)




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I was thrilled to see the FRIENDSHIP 7 on display at the Yorktown!

It's SO itty-bitty... again, you just shake your head: seriously?!? David Bowie's famous lyric, "sitting in a tin can/far above the world" comes to mind. I would be utterly terrified! John Glenn probably didn't even break a sweat. (IMPORTANT CINEMATIC NOTE: I highly recommend the excellent and entertaining movie, THE RIGHT STUFF, to any young folks who have never seen it. It deserved much wider fame, but Tom Wolfe's irony probably kept it from becoming an iconic American film. It's long, but well worth your time.)

The first two photos below are the interior of the Friendship 7, which is way smaller than a porta-potty.




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Assorted photos from the Yorktown... Doolittle Raid map, torpedo room... and see those skinny, steep steps? Helm (Sulu), Captain's deck (Kirk), engineering (Scotty) and operating room (Dr McCoy).



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Living arrangements: a bit close for comfort. I think the latrine (boys only!) is aboard the Laffey. And if you weren't Christian, well, tough shit. No other religious symbols displayed anywhere onboard.



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As stated above, my grandfather served aboard the USS Arkansas. Basically, he wanted to get out of West Virginia and lied about his age (16) to enlist, at a time when lying about one's age was relatively easy to do and virtually impossible to check. By my estimation, this was circa 1925. He became extremely seasick, homesick, claustrophobic and all the rest of it... and the first chance he got, off he went. He stayed gone for awhile--I never did find out how long he was AWOL from the Navy.

Upon his return (he DID like the money, after all), they took him to the brig. Accounts vary, but he was there between 3-6 months. So, I took photos of the brig, that nasty place he never talked about.

Looks pretty unpleasant; speaking of claustrophobia, that last one was taken with my lens inside the cell. Not too much room. :(

My poor granddaddy... no wonder he never talked to us about it.



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Assorted stuff, including enlistment posters... and in the last photo, what do you suppose the airplane-art meant? (LOL)




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Here is where I got MY advanced case of claustrophobia, aboard the USS Clamagore submarine... Second photo: they actually slept right under the torpedoes. (I assume they all died of radiation poisoning if they managed to survive the war.)

The passageways were very narrow, and I took photos of all of them.



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I hope you have enjoyed your tour!