Shat-urday

Two more William Shatner gems ...

Performing "Common People" with Joe Jackson on Jay Leno



A parody of "Seven" featuring Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker and Rescue 911




Hey Mike ... backatcha!

Graduation Party videos, part 2

... and the hits just keep coming from the big graduation party roast of yours truly.

Mike Reino from SC6 believes that I won't campaign for candidates in dry locales:

Department of Communication Chair Brian McGee, who I had for an Executive Speechwriting course, looks back on his experience of dealing with me:

Terry Hardesty, serving on the Berkeley County School Board, complained about the late hours which I returned his calls when I ran his school board race:




State Representative Carl Gullick takes us back to 1992, when I was helping him during my aborted first attempt at college. Fortunately his first attempt at running for office was a lot more succesful:

Joe Lieberman: "Democrats and Our Enemies"

Yesterday, we shared with you the thoughts of Ed Koch, who challenged his fellow Democrats to remove partisanship from foreign policy. Today, it's Joe Liberman, who takes his party, including Obama, to task for putting partisanship ahead of national interests:

I felt strongly that Democrats should embrace the basic framework the president had advanced for the war on terror as our own, because it was our own. But that was not the choice most Democratic leaders made. When total victory did not come quickly in Iraq, the old voices of partisanship and peace at any price saw an opportunity to reassert themselves. By considering centrism to be collaboration with the enemy – not bin Laden, but Mr. Bush – activists have successfully pulled the Democratic Party further to the left than it has been at any point in the last 20 years.

Far too many Democratic leaders have kowtowed to these opinions rather than challenging them. That unfortunately includes Barack Obama, who, contrary to his rhetorical invocations of bipartisan change, has not been willing to stand up to his party's left wing on a single significant national security or international economic issue in this campaign.

In this, Sen. Obama stands in stark contrast to John McCain, who has shown the political courage throughout his career to do what he thinks is right – regardless of its popularity in his party or outside it.

John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately – the difference between America's friends and America's enemies.

Amen, Joe. We couldn't agree more. Go here to read the full op-ed.

More campaign bloopers

We've seen some stupid stuff this election cycle, but this one missed the mark by a couple thousand miles ... literally.

Joshua Gross over at the Columbia Conservative shares an NRA-ILA endorsement piece for Jakie Knotts which opens by supporting a legislative candidate ... in Idaho?!?

If you look close at the image's second line (I zoomed in on the back half) you'll notice they asked the voters of District 23 to "Vote for Judy Boyle". Now, as everyone in Lexington County surely knows, Judy Boyle is running for District 9 in the Idaho House. That happens to be only 2472 miles away from downtown Lexington, according to Yahoo Maps. Here's to hoping Jakie's voters write her in on June 10...

There's more in this mailing, but we don't want to steal all the thunder, so if you'd like a good laugh, head on over to Joshua's blog and take a look.

Graduation Party videos

Ok everyone ... we spent weeks telling you about the big Blogland Graduation Fest, inviting you and hoping you'd make it. Some of you did, others didn't - those that didn't make it, missed a really great time ... and free beer as well.

We told you it would be a party, but we didn't tell most that the event would include a roast of yours truly. We could tell you about it, and we did try, but when all is said and done, nothing does it better than video. The videos from this occasion, which we'll be putting out on a piecemeal basis for our readers, will share some of the good, bad, and ugly from this event.

Gary Stroble, my company's operations manager, marvels at how well I used school to avoid work, and used work to avoid school:

Fellow blogger Mike Reino of SC6 fame, talks about my efforts to fit in with younger college students, using my love for heavy metal:



Britton Pruett, who I'll be helping in her challenge of Clarendon Rep. Cathy Harvin, admits she was never so afraid of someone wearing a plaid shirt (correction - I don't own plaid shirts, but I do have a lot of beach shirts):



Mike Reino breaks the news that Rick Beltram couldn't make it:



Be sure to check back daily as we roll out more clips from the event

Ed Koch: "History Will Redeem Bush"

We don't know what it is about prominent Jewish Democrats that makes them support the President, aside from maybe their ancestral connections to the Middle East, which make the threat of militant Islam far more real, and thus more relevant, to them.

We've often talked about "Fightin' Joe" Lieberman, but another well-known Northeastern Democratic icon, former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, sounds off in continued support of President Bush:

Today, with the passage of time, most historians and certainly the American people, see Truman in a different light, primarily for his willingness to stand firm against Soviet aggression, whether against Greece or South Korea, and proclaim the Truman Doctrine, effectively defending the free world from Soviet efforts to expand their hegemony. Like Truman, George W. Bush, in my view, will be seen as one of the few world leaders who recognized the danger of Islamic terrorism and was willing with Tony Blair to stand up to it and not capitulate.

The rest of the op-ed is well worth a read. Go check it out.

Erickson, Ceips turn on St. Helena's Island traffic signals

1Monday morning saw U.S. Group reach the final major milestone on it's Sea Island Parkway (U.S. 21) widening project on St. Helena's Island - the activation of two new traffic signals. These signals were the last part of the project affecting traffic, completed three months ahead of schedule.

Joining us for the occasion were Representative Shannon Erickson and Senator Catherine Ceips. Our latest on-the-job trainees, they eagerly studied the challenges of programming and operating a traffic signal control unit (also known as a cabinet):

They then formed a project team to execute the most important task - flipping the switch to activate the signals:

Here they are posing for photos with Lee Murray, our Project Manager (the short guy), and Archie Evans, our Project Superintendent (the tall guy):

Gullick's challenger confused, Part 2

In the course of pushing out the large volume of messages that are associated with political campaigns, mistakes happen. But the guy running against State Rep. Carl Gullick, mistakes seems to have been, in the immortal words of Led Zeppelin, "dazed and confused for so long it's not true.

Today's case in point is Boyd's website. The page to solicit support has the disclaimer address of "Paid for by Kyle Boyd 2008 - 1603 Columbus Road - Landrum, SC 29356 - (864) 384-5885"

When we traced the address back, it led to the home address of another GOP House candidate - Joey Millwood, who is seeking a Spartanburg County seat.

Whoops ... again!

What we're dying to know is this: When a student in his school makes this many mistakes, what kind of grade do they get?

Being the long-haired rock and roll types we are, here's a video of that classic song from Led Zeppelin:

Lauren Gentry's bill before Senate Education Subcommittee tomorrow

Recently, we sang the praises of a bill by Representative Shannon Erickson ("Representative Erickson's bill shines light on the problem of punks in S.C. schools "):

Erickson submitted the bill in February in response to a case involving Lauren Gentry, a star softball player at Battery Creek High who transferred to Beaufort High to escape harassment from an ex-boyfriend.

The S.C. High School League’s executive committee has twice denied her eligibility to play softball, citing a rule that students who change from one public school to another without a change in address cannot play sports for one year.

The committee ruled in March that Gentry’s case didn’t meet its hardship exemption, and Gentry missed her senior season of softball after being Battery Creek’s most valuable player in 2007.

Tomorrow, this bill goes in front of a subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee, led by Senator Wes Hayes from York County. We understand that Ms. Gentry will be there in person to provide testimony regarding this bill. While it's too late for her, we are proud that she has the courage to continue to stand up for the rights of others who may become the victims of schoolground stalkers.

We know it's late in the session, so we appreciate the willingness of Hayes and his colleagues to listen to the concerns of those who, like Gentry, are being preyed upon by those who should be in jail, not stalking the hallways of our public schools.

We would ask the Senators in this committee to listen to the facts which will be presented to them by Gentry and others, and we hope they will vote to send this worthy bill to the full Senate.

Gullick's challenger confused?

Does he support citizenship for illegal immigrants?

Did he vote to support Mark Sanford?

If you're the guy who is challenging York County representative Carl Gullick, the answer could be yes AND no, depending on when you're asked:

Kyle Boyd, the Christian school leader running to be a "true conservative light" in the state House, says he misspoke Thursday during a candidates forum when he said he supports granting citizenship to illegal immigrants.

Well ... which is it?

Among Boyd's platforms is that Gov. Mark Sanford needs more help to advance his reform agenda.

"He's not being supported like he should," Boyd said Thursday night. "I'm a true conservative Republican."

Boyd hasn't voted in an election since 2004, county and state records show. Sanford has appeared on two ballots in that time, a Republican primary and general election in 2006. Sanford won both contests.

Asked Friday about his absences, Boyd said: "That's a good question. I wasn't able to get away from school, that's all."

A short time later, Boyd re-contacted The Herald to say his recollection had changed and that he did vote in 2006. He declined to elaborate.

(Our thanks to Matt Garfield at The Herald for a good story.)

We guess the guy hasn't heard of absentee ballots? Or maybe he supported the Governor's agenda before he actually voted for it? Sounds a little like John "I was for it, but I was against it" Kerry to us.

We heard this guy was recruited to run against Gullick, but if this is what he can do in two days, we hate to see what the rest of his candidacy is looking like.

Huckabee endorses McCall for SCGOP National Commiteeman

An email we received this evening from a top Glenn McCall advisor let us know that former Arkansas Governor and GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed the candidacy of York County GOP chair Glenn McCall to fill the recently-vacated National Committeeman seat.

Such involvement in a race for a National Committeeman slot is most unusual, but McCall apparently has made connections and is eagerly working to call upon these friends to boost his candidacy in what is expected to be a close race.

We also understand McCall may be receiving other national-level endorsements in upcoming days. Should these reports turn out to be true, we'll be sure to share this news with your readers as soon as it lands on our desk.

Is the GOP relevant in 2008?

Right now, a lot of Republicans are probably feeling the way Winston Churchill felt at the end of 1945.

Two months after Germany surrendered, the crowning achievement of a war effort that many of his countrymen once believed to be unwinnable, Churchill was ousted as Prime Minister in elections in which half his party's seats were lost to the new Labour government.

On the heels of losing special elections for three longtime Republican congressional seats, Republicans are wondering what lies ahead, concerned that many of the roughly two dozen open seats may follow suit, reducing the GOP to its pre-Clinton era minority in the House.

What went wrong?

History shows that while voters may appreciate past performance, their current concerns are more important in influencing their voting behaviors. So long as the GOP chooses to remain silent on the issues which most affect people, they shouldn't be surprised at their present state of affairs, which we believe centers around three key problems:

First, an unpopular President, who has chosen to hunker down and ride out the last two years of his term in office, has hurt the party. Second, the work of Congressional GOP leaders, who abandoned the party's fiscally-conservative principles and allow ethics to return to the days of Jim Wright and Danny Rostenkowski, convinced swing voters that Congressional Republicans had no more appeal than the President. Third, with Saddam Hussein dead and Bin Laden either dead or in hiding, the last ace the GOP had, security and military issues, was no longer relevant.

As in 1945 post-WW2 Britain, today's electorate has moved on to new issues. Thus the question before the GOP is not one of if it's right on issues, or what it's done wrong to upset voters, so much as one of relevance.

Some of our die-hard Republican readers may argue that the GOP is right on the issues, but look at the polls - voters now favor Democrats on the key issues of the day, and the issues where Republicans enjoy the highest (but still losing) levels of support, are low on the priority lists of voters.

Whether the issues are fiscal conservatism and governmental ethics, where their credibility has been severely damaged, or issues like energy prices and health care, issues of high importance with voters, where they are painfully silent, Republicans may be talking, but for the first time in a long time, nobody's listening.

The Republican congressional majority, which was installed in 1994, was based upon the perception the Democrats were out of touch with the American people. Putting together an agenda that connected with the views of voters, both right and center, on the issues which were of the greatest concerns, the GOP rode to victory from coast-to-coast.

In the months following the GOP's electoral romp, Bill Clinton "got it" and started to speak to the concerns of voters, even when he didn't actually do anything. As a result of his combination of symbolic and substantive tactics, Clinton salvaged his re-election prospects and the GOP gained little additional ground throughout the rest of his term.

Right now, the Democrats may not have much of an agenda, but they don't have to - they're not in charge. They need only keep their heads down, avoid infuriating voters, and wait for the voters to throw them the keys of power. So long as the GOP holds the White House, voters perceive its congressional members as part of the political majority - and will reward or blame them accordingly. In the last three special elections, the voters have done just that.

So how does the GOP turn it around?

In business, it's all about serving the customers - listening to them and meeting their needs. For a party that is supposed to be pro-business, the GOP seems to be doing a pretty lousy job of emulating that basic approach of DOING business these days. Republicans should try treating voters like customers - learn their needs and concerns, and offer them a quality product they'll want to buy on Election Day.

We'll be talking about some of these problems, and hope you'll join the conversation.

What's getting done in Columbia?

That question is on the mind of Nathan Ballentine, one of our favorite House members:

With just three weeks left before the end of this two-year legislative session, I keep hearing the same question back home “What’s everyone thinking down there in the State House? Is anyone listening to the people?”

They remind me we have a Republican majority in the House, a Republican majority in the Senate, and a Republican Governor but we seem to not be getting what the citizens want accomplished.

They know what “this guy” thinks and what I’m working towards but I can’t speak for the rest of the body. I can only share what folks mention in passing at the grocery store, church, schools, and at neighborhood meetings:

Right on, Nathan!

Now, go read the rest of his posting.

Playing with photo perspectives

Jennifer, who I kind of knew a little in middle and high school, and got to know even more as a blogger, over at Four Weddings and a Funeral, did some really neat photographic tricks:

For more - go check out her original posting, and share some thoughts while you're there!

The Cow

If you've lived in the Lowcountry, or even just spent a lot of time there, then the Coburg Cow probably needs no introduction. But if you don't know what in the world we're talking about, our favorite cow made it into the May & June edition of the Charleston Post and Courier's Lowcountry Living magazine:

Bessie is almost 50 and looks as good today as she did in her youth – maybe even better. After all, back then she was hanging from a pole. Now she runs circles around the rest of us, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. She does stop temporarily in the event of a hurricane, but other than that, her life is “better than it has to be.” And she’s even been given special recognition by the city of Charleston, which means she doesn’t have to follow the same rules that her neighbors do.

In case you haven’t guessed, Bessie is the Coburg Cow.

If you wanto learn more about some of the more eccentric landmarks that help define the Lowcountry, it's great reading. It also makes for some light, but informative, reading for the weekend. Go check out the article.