NOT ONLY IS Columbia rushing headlong to create two ill-timed special tax districts that would siphon off money for needed services, including schools and fire and police personnel, but to make matters worse all three local elected bodies involved have inappropriately discussed the matter in secret.
A year after Barack Obama's election stirred broad hopes for change among American voters, persistent high unemployment and the spectacle of continued gridlock in Washington threaten Democratic dominance of the political landscape.
Does the U.S. Constitution stand for anything in an era of government excess? Can that founding document, which is supposed to restrain the power and reach of a centralized federal government, slow down the juggernaut of czars, health insurance overhaul and anything else this administration and Congress wish to do that is not in the Constitution?
I'm excited. The Boeing announcement is one of the best events I've seen happen during my nearly 30 years in the S.C. Senate. It proves how far we can take South Carolina when strong leaders work together to push conservative reforms. The nation's hardest-working taxpayers, efficient government, low taxes and a high quality of life have given us a study advantage in our goal to rebuild South Carolina's economy and create new jobs for our working families across the entire state. But that's not all.
MOST MONDAY evenings, a group of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, treatment specialists and a few others teams up in an effort to produce a small miracle - help an alcohol- or drug-dependent youth who's committed a crime turn his life around and stay out of prison.
Tuesday's elections say a lot about today, but not much about the 2010 elections.
Does barbarism simply inhere at the taproot of some religions? Usually not. Each religion's holy writ leaves enough ambiguity and ambivalence - enough "good stuff" and "bad stuff" - to make an equal case for humane and inhumane conclusions. Jews, Christians, Muslims and the rest must see within their sacred texts the potential for a mishmash of honorable and dishonorable alternatives.
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MOST MONDAY evenings, a group of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, treatment specialists and a few others teams up in an effort to produce a small miracle - help an alcohol- or drug-dependent youth who's committed a crime turn his life around and stay out of prison.
WHEN I asked Larry Martin whether castigations of the governor already had begun during the brief few minutes the Senate had been in session before breaking for lunch Tuesday, the chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee immediately shushed me.
IN DOCUMENTS FILED last week with the Supreme Court, Gov. Mark Sanford argued that the only way to maintain or restore (take your pick) public confidence in the governmental ethics process is by keeping the work of ethics investigators secret.
President Barack Obama made an appearance in Florida last week that should have gotten more attention. At a time when many Americans are apprehensive about the state of the economy and uncertain about the nation's long-term prospects, Obama delivered an upbeat speech that offered a glimpse of a broader overall vision and a practical way forward on the crucial issues of energy and jobs.
Looking back on the candidates this newspaper endorsed, and how they did.
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