An open letter in response to:

http://processstory.com/2011/02/15/policy-council-exchanging-money-for-tea/#comment-365

Mr. Donahue:

In your bio, you describe yourself as a “political operative” and you ” run political campaigns and serve as the Political Director for the SC Senate Republican Caucus & the Tech Director for the SC Republican Party.”  You also state that you “own a political consulting and Internet strategy shop.”

So a paid, big time, establishment political hack like you, Mr. Donahue, is  implicitly accusing a citizen of being paid to go after corruption in the General Assembly??? And you defend those venal crooks???  The irony here is monu-freakin-mental! And the stench of such actions by paid political operatives such as yourself reeks of desperation on the part of your masters.

I personally know Talbert Black is NOT being paid (except for his real job as an electrical engineer) and is in fact spending his own time, energy, and money in a selfless pursuit to help end the obvious corruption in the General Assembly.  In fact, I don’t know anyone in the movement who is being paid to do anything.  If some of them are, they’re not telling me and they’re most definitely not sharing!

In fact (and I don’t know about others in the movement but I’m sure there are a lot of similar stories) I make very, very little at my job in the current economy yet have carefully saved and done without so that I could, over the past three years, contribute several thousand dollars I really can’t afford–by any stretch of the imagination.  I even cashed in my HSA so that I had money to contribute.  I’m sure it’s  not much money by your “political operative” standards but it shows that people are committed not only in their time and energy but are also putting their money where their mouths are instead of holding their hands out as paid political assassins as you do.

Whether everyone realizes it or not, war is being waged on us by the fascist, money funneling establishment whose worst offenders are in the General Assembly and hiding their corporate welfare votes–for as long as they can get away with it–every chance they get.  I’ve supported candidates that support real substantive, moral, and ethical changes to restore true power to the people in what is supposed to be a representative republican form of government in South Carolina.

If you really want to contribute to the conversation instead of  simply doing your day job as Jake Knott’s and Glenn McConnell’s soulless hit man, maybe you should do an in-depth study to find out how much money Mr. Black’s activism has cost him over the past few years.

It’s obvious that you are getting paid to destroy the SCPC and tea party activists by those aforementioned crooks in the General Assembly.  I hope you enjoy the jingle of those silver pieces in your pocket because your betrayal of your fellow citizens who only want to end the venality and other corruption in state government will leave you with little else in credibility and principles.

February 11, 2011

http://processstory.com/2011/02/09/guest-oped-senator-jake-knotts/

Welcome once again to Bizarro World! Or is it Animal Farm?  Now, the Boss Hogg, SC State Senator Jake Knotts is walking on two legs again and saying that since past governors have not policed the agencies over which the executive branch has no real authority to do so (as he implicitly admits in his mentioning of the overturned veto of Sanford’s) the SC Senate needs to take even more power from the people, the executive branch, and even the SC House?

That’s as bad as saying that since the Federal government’s socialist meddling with the free marketplace has strangled the economy, what is left of the free marketplace should be blamed for the economic collapse and eliminated.  It’s also playing “kick the can” in the game of diverting us from who the real culprits are.  The giving up of oversight by the legislature in this state only made it easier for them to stay on a spending spree as it made it more difficult for citizens to point the fingers of blame where they need to be pointed: straight back at big spending RINOs like Jake Knotts.

Or was I hallucinating when I personally saw Jake Knotts standing on the steps of the Statehouse back in 2009 with a bunch of big government Democrats and RINOs demanding that we accept the money from the Federal government with its accompanying spending mandates that have helped put us even further into this financial mess???

The General Assembly and a Reconstruction Era state constitution have given us the weakest executive branch among the fifty states in the union. Knotts expects us to believe that, since past governors have not done a job that the General Assembly has made an exercise in futility, they should stage a virtual coup d’etat  to seize even more power for him and his fellow legislators?

This is classic big government at work: big government first creates a problem and then comes in riding a big white horse to “rescue” us.  Legislators riding big horses are much more likely to be a sign of the coming economic apocalypse than their actually helping us instead of themselves.

If Jake Knotts is so determined to be an executive in a state that he himself has declared to be one run by the legislature, why doesn’t he run for an office in the executive branch instead of mixing up the legislative and the executive branches in his and Glenn McConnell’s senate-run oligarchy?

Sen. Jake Knotts is obviously and most definitively a liar and a fraud. He has no standing in this matter in being outraged at anyone but himself and his colleagues in the General Assembly.

No More Welfare for the “Arts!”

January 25, 2011

Governor Nikki Haley, in her recent “State of the State” address, called for ending tax payer funding of the South Carolina Arts Commission.  It’s well past time that we did just that.

The reason given is that we can no longer afford such expenditures.  Government funding in the past has been justified on the specious grounds of making art available to everyone when in reality it is just another tax payer subsidy of the elites and their lifestyles.

Resistance to government welfare for the “arts,” however, should be based on moral principle rather than fiscal limitations. It is simply not the proper role of government to pick and choose who gets tax payer money and who does not. And, before you even ask, yes, %$#@ it! That goes for corporate welfare and all the rest as well!

Equality under the law means everyone is treated equally by the government. The current tax payer funded favor factory is the same fulcrum of power used by monarchists, socialists, communists, fascists, and every other big government, centrally controlled despotism ever created on earth.  Such a transference of wealth is not morally justified no matter what great works of art their generosity with other people’s money may help to create.

Instead of artists and art lovers getting down on their knees to grovel and beg for money at the feet of members of the current oligarchy, why don’t they form a private association of people who are truly concerned with the arts and keep our involuntary tax dollars out of it?  Such a voluntary association would be, I’d hope, independent of the contaminating influences of government bureaucracies and elitist favoritism. Love of the arts is, after all, no excuse to pick people’s pockets.

If, as has been claimed, there are jobs created by government spending on the arts, then, from the moral perspective, we’ve obviously got a bad case of fascism that needs to be cut out of the body politic as if it were cancer–never mind the fact that such vampiric spending to create jobs cannot, by definition, be self-sustaining.  Let’s leave such government CONTROL in the dustbin of history where it belongs along with the government funded propaganda of many failed socialist and monarchist empires.  Our art should be better than that.

Art exists independently of massive taxpayer funded programs. It’s part of the human condition. No matter what, artistic people create art. To throw money from the treasury at it as if we lived in the times of kings supporting favored artists is barbaric and elitist.

The best motivator for art is making a living at it by producing and selling one’s work rather than living off the government teat. And guess what!  It’s what real working people do with their own labor.  Do artists and their institutions consider themselves superior to regular working people?  Well, generally speaking, OF COURSE they do!

Government welfare for artists, however, is no more appealing to the average working person than is welfare to corporations or individuals. It’s time for it to end.

“Jake Knotts in The Chronicle of Narcissism”

January 21, 2011

The January 20, 2011 edition of the Lexington County Chronicle offers a fascinating contrast in recent political ups and downs–or perhaps it’s really just a great strategy for a small paper to make money by selling its soul to a certain politician.

The front page celebrates Nikki Haley’s inauguration as Governor of South Carolina and an article on A2 goes on to mention the five statewide offices being held by Lexington County residents. In contrast to the Knotts’ “rag head” comments of last year against then gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley and President Obama, perhaps now Lexington County is the center of the political universe for a positive reason.

But where is the drama in a story of success like Haley’s? It’s a done deal now. Featuring only good news would be like starting Star Wars near the end and just watching the awards ceremony and hearing R2D2 beep, Chewbacca howl, and overwhelming, grandiose orchestral music leading to the scroll of credits. That’s too much upbeat and not enough down. Despite what some people claim they want in a story, you just can’t appreciate the good without the bad.

Cue Darth Vader’s funeral dirge! Here’s comes Jake Knotts!

In an article on A7 along with a picture of his warmly dressed “Boss Hogg” visage from the inauguration, there is an article entitled “Sen. Knotts suggests churches can do better than government,” that extensively quotes Knotts. The article mentions, of course, his “rough childhood” but strangely fails to mention his bastard origins despite his having frequently and openly reveled in that emotionally damaged state of mind when pandering for votes in the past. The article is composed almost entirely of Knotts’ discussion of his apparently “born-again” opinion that churches could do better than government in handing out charity.

Welcome to the small government club, Jake! My, it seems that it was only a couple of years ago that you joined with big government, fascist Democrats and RINOs to speak on the steps of the Statehouse to demand that the state accept Federal money and the accompanying unfunded spending mandates that have continued to bankrupt us.

But let us not be so quick to accept Knotts into our fiscally responsible club. The article also quotes him as saying, “The state is facing serious financial problems, and we have to to stop supporting people who don’t want to work.”

Okay, now, I think I’m beginning to understand. During good times, it’s okay to steal from workers and future generations in order to support people who do not want to work but he’s willing to cut them off during bad times. It seems that mere expediency drives Senator Knotts’ newly found religion more than principle. No surprise there.

The best quote is, “If my family needs something, I’m not going to sit down and expect the government to pay my bills” except, of course, when he’s turning in his per diem expenses for reimbursement for that long drive from West Columbia and all the meals along the way when the SC Senate is in session. At least when he cheats and uses his campaign contributions to eat out, it’s only the idiots who voluntarily contribute to him that wind up getting badly used.

Well, that’s just one article you say? Maybe that’s a bit of a consolation prize for his arch-nemesis having been elected Governor.

But, wait! That’s not all, folks! If you’re following along in your copy of the Lexington County Chronicle, please turn to A9, the “Opinion” page. As you start reading the topmost article entitled, “Transparency first test of cooperation?” your brain will start to feel all fuzzy and the world will start to spin. You may even hear Rod Serling’s voice in the background as Mark Bellune leads you into The Twilight Zone.

Bellune discusses the passage of H3004 in the SC House and wonders what will happen in the SC Senate as they consider whether or not to make on-the-record voting mandatory so that voters will know how their elected officials voted on issues instead of relying on them to tell the truth about their votes. In the second paragraph which I’m looking at now–I keep checking to make sure I’m reading it right–it states, “making roll-call voting mandatory in both legislative chambers [is] a move Sen. Jake Knotts of Lexington County has also championed.” Bellune then goes on to quote Speaker Bobby Harrell of the House and President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell as if they they have also been championing this cause along with Nikki Haley and Jake Knotts.

The only problem with this fairy tale passed off as editorial expertise is that there is a very public and recorded history of everyone but Haley fighting hard to stop the votes from being recorded in order to prevent exposure of the waste and corruption in the Statehouse.

Rep. Harrell, after first harshly punishing Haley for her pursuing this bill, later helped to pass it unanimously in the SC House. Harrell made sure to schedule the vote in order to embarrass Haley when she was out of town campaigning. He only allowed it to pass at all after he had the assurance that it would die in the SC Senate–which it did despite public support and Haley and others speaking passionately on the issue.

Sen. Glenn McConnell gave a long speech at the inauguration (that day was, after all, really all about him) that sounded like a tea party member wrote it. He promised that he would continue to work hard to help get transparency passed. But it wasn’t that long ago that he wrote an editorial that appeared all over the state declaring that such a law was unconstitutional (it is not) and that such a mandate would slow things down so much that no work could get done in the General Assembly. Maybe Glenn had been reenacting the 19th century too much on the side and forgot that 21st century electronics make such recorded votes a very easy and efficient process.

And last but not, by any imaginable means, least, Sen. Jake Knotts himself weighed very heavily in on the matter on the SC Senate floor when he declared that such a bill was “very, very insulting to this body.” Although I looked through the wording several times, I never found anything that might have been interpreted by Knotts as a “fat joke” contained in the bill.

By the end of Bellune’s “Bizarro World” article Jake had become the inventor of the bill. Bellune wrote, “It will be interesting to see what form of Sen. Knotts’ bill will go before the full Senate for a vote and when, or if it will again sit in committee to die another year.”

Just as it did last time thanks to Knotts and McConnell and other RINOs in the SC Senate, Mr. Bellune?

Gee! It sounds like you have full access to the very principles in that staged melodrama. WHY DON’T YOU ASK THEM YOURSELF?

Is that enough “balance” for the Lexington County Chronicle? No, not quite. In furtherance of the apparent attempts to transmogrify Jake Knotts from an unprincipled, profanity-spewing, arrogant blowhard into a sweet, loveable teddy bear, there is an ad on the last page in which he graciously agreed to appear showing his bloated, smiling face reading the Lexington County Chronicle. The title at the top identifies him as being a member of the “Chronicle Fan Club.” Below that, “‘I trust the Chronicle’” is apparently a straight quote from Knotts as is the following text appearing below the photo:

‘I always smile when I read the Chronicle. It’s one newspaper I know I can trust. It’s the one newspaper that prints the truth. It doesn’t lie to you. It doesn’t try to be sensational. It doesn’t have a hidden agenda. They’ve always been fair with me and reported more than one side.’ –Jake Knotts, South Carolina State Senator

I’m sure the smile is not an evil one and surely his quote is not the least bit self-serving, is it?

Is it?

No “hidden agenda” at all, right?

Right?

All I know is that I can’t trust myself to recognize reality if what the Chronicle states is really the truth.

November 17, 2010

NOTE:  This commentary quoted here is by Summer Solum whom I know personally as a fellow activist in the midlands of South Carolina.  It was in an email sent to me and I post it here with the author’s specific permission.  It is a very good overview of the current situation in South Carolina.  It so well expresses the concerns of so very many people I have talked to that I could do no better:

“Like many regular working people, I have been very busy & unable to write this email before now. I’m assuming by the time this is read, the Bobby Harrell vote will be over, but I wanted to state some of my thoughts on the matter anyway.

“I am not sure that everyone in the Statehouse understands what this is all about.  In general, most SC legislators think that this “fad” will pass, just like previous movements. It has been implied by some of the members of the General Assembly that the reform people are well-meaning but confused about “how things work”.  It has even been implied by some that the effort to dethrone Bobby Harrell is payback by reformers on Haley’s behalf.  They could not be more wrong.

“There are over 70 different conservative groups in SC alone–each with its own area of focus–and I can’t even to begin to imagine how many people are involved nationwide.  The media has lumped them all under the “tea party” label.  A recent Rasmussen poll showed that nationally over 25% of the people either considered themselves part of the tea party movement or had a family member who was.  Exit polls showed that over 50% identified with the tea party ideals & goals.

“In Lexington County, I would estimate that the numbers are probably higher since this county is extremely “red”.  The tea party people are not going to back down or get tired. They have had enough of “business as usual”. I’ve heard them everywhere and anywhere I’ve been.  They are serious, they are motivated, they are vigilant, and they are dead serious.  This is a true revival of our founding principles.  I know this if I know anything: this movement isn’t about any one piece of legislation nor any one person.

“Contrary to media portrayal, this movement really started to pick up steam back during Bush’s term. Certain provisions in the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act & of course, the infamous T.A.R.P. Act woke up many, many more members of the previously sleeping electorate.  By the time the second set of bailouts & Obamacare came about, the fire was already lit and was then starting to blaze.  With the help of the new technology we now have at our disposal, electrons and pixels replaced pitchforks and torches.  All of the various groups were now communicating and coordinating and eagerly learning how to be effective as a unit.  The overall “tea party” reform movement today is simply a continuation of those efforts.

“For those who are paying attention, SC House Speaker Bobby Harrell represents the kind of leadership that helped assure South Carolina’s place as dead last (or close to it) in many important areas.  It has become painfully obvious that simply pointing fingers at the Democrats for our problems was useless and largely hypocritical since an effective opposition party does not, for all practical purposes, exist in this state.  New leadership is essential and will be put into place one way or another.

“Many of his RINO detractors say that Rep. Ralph Norman would not follow the unwritten rules of etiquette that a House Speaker supposedly needs.  Ralph Norman has even been accused of being a “straight arrow”–as if that were a bad thing!  There seems to be no limit to the twisted logic and bizarre statements used by members of the establishment to denigrate someone who will stand on principle in the SC House.

“As I recall, some of those same sorts of comments were made about Governor-elect Haley.  Members of the national GOP have routinely said the same things about US Senator Jim DeMint.  Members of the RINO establishment such as Karl Rove, Trent Lott and others were even brazen enough to openly talk of co-opting the new members of Congress & indoctrinating them into the “business as usual” attitude.

“There is obviously a plan at the state level for RINOs to co-opt new SC legislators. It would go against all we already know of the entrenched big money, big government establishment if there were not an active effort to do just that.  Change is a hard thing for most people and those who are dependent on free-spending legislators with billions of tax dollars at their disposal can not be expected to let all that money be taken so quickly out of their hands.

“Men like Bobby Harrell remind me a bit of J.R. Ewing from the old TV series, Dallas: he’s always ready to make some token concessions if there is no other way but you had better watch your backside afterwards because there WILL be retribution of some sort.  Based on Bobby Harrell’s past behavior, I am utterly unable to trust him nor can I believe that his current “conciliatory” attitude is anywhere close to the reality of the situation.

“Straight arrows & backbones are what this country and this state need now. We need people who will stand up for what is right, no matter the consequences.  We have suffered greatly and far too long from those who do just the opposite and repeatedly violate their trusts as they smile and twist the knives in our backs just a little more.

“I ask myself, why would a legislator who seems to be an honest, straightforward person resist getting rid of Bobby Harrell? Maybe he’s been bought and paid for by Bobby Harrell and the corrupt establishment.  Or, to give him the benefit of a doubt, maybe he thinks there isn’t any other way for the system to work besides Bobby’s way.  I and a LOT of others think there is another way.  What’s more, we think it’s way past time to give it a try.”

–Summer Solum

Thanks, Summer!  You’ve said it all!  We may not win this one but we’re all in this fight for the long run and eventually this state will reform for the better in terms of liberty, morality, equality under the law, and true self-governance–WTC.

November 15, 2010

Dist. 85 SC House Representative Chip Huggins obviously thinks he owns his SC House seat. While obstinately refusing to back down from his commitment to voting for Bobby Harrell for Speaker, Chip reacted very badly to a constituent’s comment and threatened him (by obvious implication in the context of the conversation) in his stating that he knew someone in the Sheriff’s Department.

The audio with video text commentary by me (for what it is worth =:>) is available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnJ6BosxD5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe82attZfKc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3PxUO4xysA

The audio linked above is from a telephone conversation a constituent had with Rep. Chip Huggins on October 12th. It was legally recorded according to South Carolina State law.  The full audio was available to me and I edited it down to more digestible chunks regarding the points made here.

Near the beginning of the conversation in Video 1: Segment 1, Huggins begs the constituent to “unelect” him if he’s not doing the right things.  Fair enough, sir!  That is the democratic part of our representative republic and is certainly a good way to get rid of those elected officials who have not performed as expected or desired.

Unfortunately, Chip’s memory is very short.  A little later in the conversation, the constituent tells him point blank that if Chip votes for Bobby Harrell for Speaker, he’ll see about getting someone to run against him in the primary.  The constituent then added that even if he couldn’t get Chip unelected doing that, he’d at least force him to spend most of his campaign fund to win the primary.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.  As Jim Croce might have put it:

“And they say you don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off an ‘ole Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with Chip Huggin’s campaign fund.”

Okay, that last line doesn’t quite fit the rhythm of the song but hopefully you get the idea of Chip’s arrogant attitude.

“You’re now threatening me . . . ?” Chip asks, apparently outraged at the idea. He then quickly goes on the offensive and asks whom the constituent works for.  What was Chip going to do with that information?  Tell the constituent’s boss that one of his employees was being uppity with him?

“Well, I don’t like threats, I can tell you that,” Chip continues.  “I’ve been in South Carolina too long to like threats.”

I don’t get the connection he’s trying to make there unless he’s trying to say he lives in a politically dirty and dangerous environment where threats are followed through with.

The constituent then denies that he was “threatening” him (and later on more fully explains that he was just talking about the only recourse citizens have in getting rid of an unwanted politician and that if Chip takes that as a “threat,” then so be it).

Chip then, believe it or not, goes on to threaten the constituent: “I can tell you I have the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office watching [unintelligible] me–”

Constituent responds: “So you’re threatening me . . . ”

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no!” He exclaims and then goes on to fill out in more detail the obviously implied threat and, once again, denies that he’s threatening him: “All I’ve said is I’ve got Officer [Sheriff's Deputy] Stacy Gadson right–and he’s-he’s-he’s and I–and I–anyway–I can assure you I don’t make threats.  And–that is not me and I-I-I didn’t do it.”

Constituent: “Well that’s very good!  I’m very thankful that you don’t because that could be problematic under the law for you.  So, all I’m saying is that, don’t expect an easy ride if you make the wrong decision [voting for Bobby Harrell as Speaker].  Don’t expect to go unchallenged.  And don’t expect to have your campaign funds intact because you haven’t had a good challenger.  That’s all I’m saying.  It doesn’t take that many people to change . . . the election.”

Chip Huggins denies it repeatedly within the same breath but the implications were obvious and ominous. He seemed to take the mention of a challenge that, even if unsuccessful, drains his campaign fund as a personal threat.  If he’s depending on his government salary, perquisites, and off-the-record vote-selling to make a living, then perhaps he’s right to feel afraid for his job.  His life and health are hardly being put at risk, however and to respond at that point in the conversation with any mention of someone he knows in the Sheriff’s Department is obviously meant to imply a threat, to a reasonable mind, against the constituent.

Furthermore, Chip makes it sound as if Deputy Gadson is his goon who protects him from uppity constituents who “threaten” him with the democratic process. I sincerely hope this is not the case but Chip never did make it sound like anything else.  And later, in Video 2, Segment 3, Chip again refers to being “threatened.”  There he eventually claims that “threatened” is not the right word but it sure sounds like he meant exactly that the whole time and even obviously struggles to find a word to replace it.

Less dramatic, but also interesting in the second and third videos, are the many complaints Rep. Chip Huggins has about Speaker Bobby Harrell’s leadership. He even goes so far as to complain about the Robert Cahaly robo-calls that Harrell commissioned well before Cahaly was arrested for making other calls of that nature.  Chip complains bitterly about Bobby Harrell but acts as if he has no choice but to vote for him.  Is Chip Huggins suffering more from venality or cowardice?

The constituent is consistent in insisting that Huggins vote against Bobby Harrell which right now means voting for Rep. Ralph Norman who is (the only challenger to Harrell so far) running for Speaker.  He states that he also wants the vote to be out in the open so that the public can know what is going on in the caucus meeting.  That way he can know how Huggins votes.

Listening to this audio over and over has left me with a really awful feeling in my gut.  How do people like this get elected?  If Huggins started out as a pretty good guy, how did the evil powers that be convince him to go over to the dark side?  Did someone make him an “offer he couldn’t refuse?”

Rep. Chip Huggins obviously acts as though he’s part of an organized crime mob. Considering the billions of tax payer dollars at the General Assembly’s disposal with no real checks and balances in this structurally backwards, legislatively-controlled state government, perhaps we, the people of South Carolina should consider them as outlaws and seek in earnest to remove as many of the bad players from office as soon as possible.

In conjunction with that, we should immediately start working to strip away all the excessive powers conferred upon the General Assembly so many years ago and put them back into a more normal relationship with the executive and judicial branches of government.  Currently, we are the oddball state in that regard among the fifty in the union.  It’s long past time for citizens to take charge of our government again and, through law and constitutional amendments, to get rid of many of the governmental mechanisms that allow the General Assembly to rule more as an oligarchy than as a true representative body.

What’s the deal with Mac Toole?

11/12/2010
I don’t get him.  SC State Representative Mac Toole approached several “tea party” reform-minded activists back during an event in September and seemed enthusiastic about getting on board.  He supposedly advocates change but, in start contrast to his apparent inclinations, is solidly committed to voting for RINO Big Government Party man, Bobby Harrell to continue his reign of error and economic genocide for two more years.

Mac Toole–and I’m serious when I say this–really seems like the friendliest fellow you could want to be around.  He’s the fellow you’d let grill the burgers at a cook-out and count on him not poisoning anyone with botulism.  He’s the fellow you’d let flirt with your teenage daughter and really know he didn’t mean anything by it.  He’s the kind of fellow who works hard to be liked and, up to a point, seems willing to do the right thing which, of course, begs the question,  why is he so bullish on Harrell to be Speaker?

And Mac seems downright energized in his support for Harrell.  When discussing why he wouldn’t vote for Ralph Norman, Mac engaged in a couple of quick, bizarre pantomimes. Somewhat after the fashion of an Egyptian hieroglyph with his head bent forward and one arm jutting out in front and one arm jutting out in back, Mac replied to a citizen pressing him on the matter that this is why he couldn’t vote for Ralph Norman.  Norman, he explained, is a “straight arrow!”

Okaaaay.  I hear what you’re saying, Mac, but I’m just not catching what the downside to this is that you seem to be implying.

Well, upon further explanation by SC State Rep. Toole, it turns out that the people of South Carolina really need someone as speaker who will not stand on his principles as Mac is sure that Ralph Norman would do.

It seems, from everything I can glean from this exchange that Mac Toole and others think that what we need is a deal-maker and a power-broker who will be willing and able to keep the backroom deals in the backroom, keep playing games with the SC Senate to provide cover on transparency without making it law, and to keep spending OUR money like drunken sailors on weekend binge.

So, what gives, Mac?  Does Bobby Harrell have a leash around your neck?  Is he jerking you around like he’s jerking the rest of us around? Inquiring citizens really want to know.

11-05-2010

Nikki Haley has represented me since she was first elected to public office. I’ve had the pleasure of voting for her every time she’s run.

Nikki Haley’s winning the election for governor is a win for the regular, hard working people of South Carolina. We’re getting back to basics here but it’s going to take a lot to break through the corrupt, money-funneling favor factory that our General Assembly has become. Nikki may not have a lot of friends in the General Assembly but she’s got a lot of regular people behind her and we’re already working hard to change things for the better here.

South Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies and the Revolution was in a large part won due to the campaign waged down here. Unfortunately, our politicians here have since eschewed the concept of equality under the law and no longer respect our unalienable rights. They are some of the most corrupt and self-interested elites known to man–especially the leaderships of both houses.

The people elected Nikki Haley despite a lot of dirty tricks and smear campaigns the establishment engineered to bring her down. The people will support Nikki in her reform efforts and there are a lot of us reform-minded, regular, every day folks who have been studying and learning how to push through legislation. Some greedy pigs used to wallowing in our tax money are about to start squealing. We are about run roughshod over the Boss Hoggs and Foghorn Leghorns in the General Assembly.

Jake Knotts had better be worried. He had better be very worried.

Nikki Haley ROCKS!

11-03-2010

Bill Rentiers of Grass Roots Gun Rights and I had a great time last night at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center–lots of tea party folks there from across the state, including Allen Olson and Bill Connor.  We enjoyed hanging out and watching the results as they showed up on the large screen TVs.

Katrina Shealy, our next SC State Senator for District 23 (after she beats Jake Knotts in 2012) was there and I hung out with her some as well.  She even took me to the VIP lounge where I got to talk to Mrs. Ralph Norman–a beautiful and personable woman who takes an active and supportive interest in her husband’s career.  We had a very interesting discussion on our mutual frustration regarding the cowardice of most of those in the SC House who will not make a stand on principle in order to defy the power brokers.  Ralph Norman is definitely making himself noticed in a good way to the people of South Carolina by showing the guts to run against Bobby Harrell’s dictatorial control of the House.

Curtis Loftis was there and, as usual, somehow managed to be at a dozen places at once talking to everyone.  He’s got a LOT of energy and will really need it during the next few years.  We couldn’t ask for a better man than Curtis to tackle a very difficult job.  (By the way, who was that beautiful woman you were with, Curtis?  Introduce me next time!)

I finally met Charlie Speight of GarnetSpy.com in person and snapped a few pics of him meeting with Nikki Haley for a couple of minutes shortly before leaving about 12:40am.

Nikki talks with Charlie Speight

After their quick conversation, Nikki hugged my neck then and told me that the hard work starts now and I told her that we were there to help her out.

For a while last night, it looked iffy.  We didn’t get to see the locations that were reporting in on television and, due to the delay of Lexington and Greenville Counties, the votes and corresponding percentages did not start piling up in Nikki’s favor until relatively late in the evening when Sheheen finally faced the inevitable and made his concession speech.

It was wonderful to look up on the screen and occasionally see Brad Wart Hen’s puffy face–robotic and devoid of emotion as usual–wearing his Harry Potter glasses, and “oh-so-defiant” bow tie as he played at being some sort of “expert” on one of the local stations.  He was such a great expert on politics that he was fired from Der Staat when it came time to trim the dead, gangrenous flesh there or go bankrupt.  It was wonderful to see him on TV I say because Wart Hen looked so very depressed at the results–I think.  It’s really hard to tell with him.

Tonight was an “in-your-face” to the arrogance of those like Wart Hen who treat people like lab rats or cattle and expect to be able to determine among themselves, the self-appointed “elites,” how the rest of us have to live.  It’s time to really get government out of the way and stop punishing production.  If we stop legislators from handing out favors and special privileges with our money and let profit happen, the jobs will take care of themselves.

Nikki and family

Last night marked the end to the cycle of campaigning for Nikki that began about the time of the SCGOP convention in Columbia at the same location in 2009.  I remember seeing Nikki back then, when it was her turn to speak during the convention, smiling and waving over at us in the Lexington delegation where the far greater portion of applause and enthusiasm was coming from our group of about twenty to thirty tea party supporters.

The cheering was a whole lot louder tonight and we had many more–many hundreds more–supporters there in a very crowded, standing room only floor.  It was like a rock concert and everyone was excited.  Some of the male members of Nikki’s Indian family and friends even started beating the drum and performing a traditional celebratory dance for several minutes.  The dance was in part intended, I was told by a friend, to send a very special message to Jake Knotts.  I’m sure por ol’ Jake went to sleep last night with the sound of that drum pounding in his head.

Michael Haley shaking hands

When Nikki came in at long last it was pandemonium.  Nikki gave a great speech, thanked those who had done so much for her and stood by her through the hard times.  Nikki Haley made clear that she’s a fighter.  As I’ve always said, if she does nothing more than give the people mandatory on-the-record voting during her terms in office, she will have done more for the citizens of this state than any other governor for several generations at least.  I’m sure we’ll be getting a lot more from her leadership and that this state will become an example of how to reform abusive government.  For one thing, there are a lot of regular, every day working folks behind Nikki and they are tired of being tax slaves for the state or the federal level governments.  It’s clear that exciting times are ahead in terms of returning power to the people.  Nikki has repeatedly promised that she is “going to hit the ground running.”  She’ll have a large group of regular every day people running right behind her.

Watch out, corporate welfare establishment!  We’re coming after you now!

Nikki speaking

Dan Cooper, Todd Atwater, Glenn McConnell, Jake Knotts, Mac Toole, Kenny Bingham, Bobby Harrell, Hugh Leatherman, Chip Huggins, Dan Hamilton, David Thomas, Larry Martin, workingtommyc, SC House, Columbia, South Carolina, House Speaker, SCGOP