Brad Warthen's Blog

Let It Be

There has long been a significant hole in the catalogue of Beatles films available on video -- Let It Be. My son brought to my attention a few days ago the fact that you can watch it -- in its entirety -- at MilkandCookies.com. Here's the link. Admittedly, it's not the polished work of cinematic art that is, say, A Hard Day's Night. And it's rather sad, since it's an unvarnished portrait of The Beatles at the moment they were breaking up. Finally, the music is far from finished form (I've got it playing as I type this, and my...

'Fun Guy' keeps McCain campaign in stitches making fun of how we talk in S.C.

Actually, it's more accurate to say that he keeps the McCain campaign in stitches encouraging contests to see who can sound more like our own Henry McMaster: Mr. Duprey, who also describes himself as chief morale officer, goofs off a lot -- mimicking a flight attendant, for instance, as she demonstrates the safety features of the aircraft. After Sen. McCain won Wisconsin, Mr. Duprey greeted him wearing a giant Cheesehead. One recent day on the McCain plane, Mr. Duprey organized a contest among reporters to see who could best imitate the southern drawl of South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster....

Radical Chic, and Mau-Mauing the Superdelegates

Four quick things: First, don't try to figure out the headline on this post. It doesn't exactly make sense; I just liked it. Second, The Washington Post has a piece today suggesting that if Hillary Clinton is going to point to Barack Obama's associations with '60s-era radicals, she'll need to answer for her own experience in the summer of 1971 when she worked as an intern at a left-wing law firm in Oakland, Calif., that defended communists and Black Panthers. Third, when folks do give Obama a hard time about the Weather Underground, why do they talk about Bill Ayres,...

A brief political history of the PACT

By BRAD WARTHENEDITORIAL PAGE EDITORONE WHO TRIED to decipher what happened in the S.C. Senate last week with regard to the PACT — that’s “Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test” to the uninitiated — can be forgiven for being confused.I certainly am. Start with a press release from Sen. Greg Ryberg, which said in part, “PACT is dead.... the bill we passed today kills it as of July 1, 2008.” He said “the creation and administration of our statewide assessment test belongs with the people at the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Education Oversight Committee (EOC)...

SCRG release about PACT

Here's the SCRG release about PACT that will be referred to in my column Sunday (I tried to linking to it on the Web but didn't find it at the SCRG site):Senators Declare PACT DeadFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Neil MellenThursday, May 15, 2008Across South Carolina, students began taking the PACT test this week.The PACT is an expensive and outdated test that lacks the child-specificdiagnostic data required by teachers. Unlike tests used in other states,PACT is South Carolina specific, and doesn’t provide educators with acomparison of our schools to regional and national test scores.Lawmakers and educators have long agreed that PACT ought...

Duck! The culture war just started back up

Just as it looks like maybe we can have a relatively high-minded campaign with two presidential nominees who both can appeal to us independents, the Kulturkampf flares back up. This delighted The Wall Street Journal this morning, which as the official spokespaper of conservatism went out of its way to affirm Democratic fears of the Republican attack machine when it gleefully greeted the California Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage:Gay Marriage Returns Just when the news was filling with stories about a Republican Party gasping for air, along comes the California Supreme Court's 4-3 decision yesterday legislating gay...

Sheri Few touts ability to raise funds as advantage in House 79 primary

Although she was a candidate for the GOP nomination for this seat two years ago, this is the first video I've posted of Ms. Few -- in fact, I don't think I shot pictures of her either, since I didn't post any at the time. She was the second candidate to come in for an interview in 2006, and it apparently had not yet dawned on me to take my camera into those meetings for blog purposes. This time around, I have an embarrassment of riches -- so many images and clips on candidates that they keep threatening to crash...

Why do we let THESE people run our country?

How can any Democrat or Republican look in the mirror after the shenanigans in the House Thursday? An excerpt from the WSJ's story today:WASHINGTON -- The House rejected $163 billion in funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the first time the House has voted against funding for the Iraq war -- as Republicans held back support as a protest against domestic-spending items Democrats added to the legislation. Some antiwar Democrats applauded as 132 Republicans voted present and the funding failed on a 149-to-141 vote.... The House passed two other measures during the war debate, one placing restrictions on...

Did Joe Wilson do a brave and smart thing? Critic says he did

A Democrat who wants to oppose U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson in the fall put out this release yesterday:Beaufort, SC – Today, Democratic Congressional Candidate Rob Miller released the following statement concerning incumbent Joe Wilson's vote yesterday against legislation that could lower gas prices as much as 24 cents a gallon. Wilson was one of only 25 members of Congress to vote against H.R. 6022, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act. Majorities in both parties voted in favor of this legislation to provide Americans some quick relief from record high gas prices. Joe Wilson owes people back...

Maybe not dead so much as completely different

Jim Foster over at the state Department of Education sent out this release, which is a tad more informative than Mr. Ryberg's:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, May 15, 2008 Senate gives key approval to bill that wouldreplace PACT, reform 1998 accountability law COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Senate today gave unanimoussecond-reading approval to legislation that would replace PACT whilemaking significant changes to South Carolina’s overall studentassessment and school accountability systems. “Teachers and parents are clamoring for these changes, our studentsneed them and our state deserves them,” said State Superintendent ofEducation Jim Rex. “It’s really gratifying to see the Senate makesuch a strong...

Don't polar bears eat people?

At the risk of riling up the animal lovers again, I've got to say that I don't get all that warm and fuzzy about protecting polar bears from extinction. At least, not as much as, say, the Bald Eagle. Or the koala, in case anybody asked me to protect them. Or the snail darter. Oh, it might be necessary for the planet and all. But I don't get emotionally involved. If we gotta protect 'em, let's do it. But I just don't feel about them the way I did back when, say, those cute Coca-Cola commercials came out. The problem...

Ryberg: PACT is dead

Greg Ryberg wants to claim credit for doing away with the PACT test. Witness this release:Senator Greg Ryberg today hailed an agreement between himself and senate leaders to eliminate PACT and move forward on a new accountability system for South Carolina. “PACT is dead,” Ryberg said. “The bill we passed today kills it as of July 1, 2008.” Ryberg added that, “Other senators, Republicans and Democrats, agreed with me that the creation and administration of our statewide assessment test belongs with the people at the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Education Oversight Committee (EOC)...

Broder takes buyout from WashPost

We keep getting complaints about the whole no-opinion-pages-in-Saturday's-paper thing, and when anybody complains to me personally, I ask them what they'd do, given the imperative of cutting expenses. Given our staff cuts over the last few years, I was faced with either doing pages of lesser quality seven days a week, or doing fewer pages, maintaining quality, and staying here really late every Friday night putting a bunch of Extra stuff online for you ingrates. No, really -- I'm humbled by folks missing our pages so much. But it might be helpful if people had a bit more understanding of...

Don't worry; it's 10 'til 8

A few minutes ago Mike warned me that there appeared to be a problem with the op-ed page (which is, until we print it out as a negative and a plate is made from it, just a big QuarkXPress file) -- one of the ads hasn't shown up. This could mean I'll have to finish it later in the evening because Mike has to leave soon. I told him not to worry: It's 10 til 8. Earlier, as Warren and I were talking about the need to rewrite his column for tomorrow in light of new developments, and he had...

Go into Burma with guns blazing

Alternative headline for this post, for those of you who thought that one a bit too lurid:I'm down with R2PI refer here to the alleged United Nations principle of responsibility to protect, which Trudy Rubin wrote about in her column on today's op-ed page. I say alleged because it's one of those things the U.N. talks about, but doesn't do. To help you catch up, here's an excerpt from the column:What do you do when the world is lined up to help more than a million desperate people hit by a cyclone, and Myanmar’s hard-line junta blocks that help? That...

Candidate interviews continue...

Yesterday, it was Rep. Kit Spires, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and Senate challenger Katrina Shealy. Today, it's House candidate Tony Lamm, Richland County Council candidate Don Purcell and Richland County Clerk of Court Barbara Scott. But before that ....aieeee, Cindi's coming to get me for the first one! Gotta go......

Let's talk military buildup

There are certain things that worry me, and nobody seems to be talking about them. In fact, our public conversations tend to go off in directions entirely opposed to where the discussion should be going. For instance: Children's brains are essentially formed, in terms of their ability to learn for the rest of their lives, by age 3. What do we do about that? I don't know, but it's weird that we can't even make up our minds to fund 4K for all the kids who could benefit from it. Also on education -- we need to bring about serious...

God Bless E.W. Cromartie

Say what you will about the guy -- and we've had a few things to say about him on the editorial pages of The State -- but he just saved a lot of lives by switching his vote on Columbia's smoking ban. By this change, he now forms a majority for a total ban, which is the only rational and moral approach:Councilman to switch vote on smoking ban City Councilman E. W. Cromartie said this morning he is now supporting a total smoking ban for Columbia, all but ensuring the a ban that includes bars will pass when council votes...

Lindsey pandering for McCain

Someone pointed this out to me yesterday, but I was having so much trouble getting ANYTHING to post I gave up on the blog for the day. Now that things seem to working again... We know that Lindsey Graham's best buddy in the Senate is John McCain. And predictably (but sadly), Lindsey is walking point for his party's presumptive presidential nominee on his worst idea ever -- the summer-long gas tax holiday:Gas tax holiday to be introduced by GrahamBy Doug AbrahmsGANNETT NEWS SERVICEWASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he will propose suspending the federal tax of 18.4 cents a...

Now and Zen

Yesterday, my wife and I went on a walk with one of our daughters on the Cayce segment of the Riverwalk. As we were heading back toward our car, we heard the Giant Zipper sound of a very large tree starting to fall, accelerating as it tore down through surrounding vegetation, then landing with a muffled Crump! Curious to see the source, we started back up the trail roughly in the direction of the sound (the foliage was too dense for the direct approach), but we met a man coming from that direction, and he reckoned that the tree was...

Mayor Bob is an op-ed machine

Recently, in a post headlined, Now I know how Dr. Frankenstein felt, I mentioned that Bob Coble has enthusiastically embraced the new Saturday Opinion Extra venue. And as you probably noticed, we had a piece from Mayor Bob that Saturday. We had another one from him this past Saturday. And today, I get this message from Cindi:I see from Mike that Mayor Bob has already submitted TWO op-eds, and it's barely Monday...Yikes. Just pronounce it right: It's FRAHNK-en-steen....

The Obama Effect

By BRAD WARTHENEDITORIAL PAGE EDITORWEEKS SUCH as the one just past — in which I am still mired as I write this — do not lend themselves to complete, extended thought of the sort that leads to coherent columns. But when have I ever let that stop me? We’re in the middle of candidate interviews for the June primaries — 50-plus meetings with folks seeking their respective parties’ nominations for the state House, state Senate, county councils, sheriff, clerk of court, and on and on .... But as disparate as these candidates and their goals and issues may be, sometimes...

Senate Dist. 21: A 'debate' between Wendy Brawley and Sen. Darrell Jackson over his position on school 'choice'

This is one of my better little videos from endorsement interviews lately. Wendy Brawley of Richland One school board, who is challenging Sen. Darrell Jackson for the Democratic nomination in Dist. 21, is going after the incumbent hard, and has a bill of particulars as to how she believes he's looked after his own business more than the people's. An example: Her accusation that he favors private school vouchers. Sen. Jackson argues back strongly, point by point. I think it's a video worth watching, especially if you live in that lower-Richland and Calhoun County district....

Dems will have to face the fact that they're up against John McCain

As we get closer to the actual general election contest beginning, I keep running across Hillary-style messages such as this one from the Democratic Party:Clyburn and Fowler Against Third Bush Term Columbia, SC – South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler and House Majority Whip Congressman James E. Clyburn addressed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's visit to South Carolina and the possible impact his presidency could have on the state today during a press conference. South Carolina doesn't need a third Bush term and that's all John McCain has to offer voters. His policies and outlook on the war...

The Idiot

No, this isn't about Dostoevsky. I'm just responding to a blog post about me (and you don't have to thank me for boosting your traffic, NVB). I ran across it because I was looking for the URL to provide a link back on this post. An excerpt:I started wondering today what qualifications are needed to be an editorial writer at the state’s largest newspaper. I don’t mean this in any petty, mean-spirited, Brad-Warthen-is-an-idiot sort of way. But I know what qualifications are needed to be a doctor or a lawyer or a brick mason or a fast food worker. I...

The Chicago Tribune on beating dead horses

You may or may not know that our own Robert Ariail was a leading contender to replace the late Jeff MacNelly at The Chicago Tribune. In fact, he was rumored to be the candidate, which had me pretty worried. But fortunately for me (and you, the reader, I would assert), the Trib decided not to replace MacNelly. In light of that, and with regard to the cartoon some of y'all got so worked up about, you may find this passage from a Tribune editorial of this week interesting:The only filly in the crowded field crossed the finish line second, but...

Low-def license plates

What do y'all think of those flat, fakey, counterfeit-looking S.C. license plates -- not that I'm trying to influence your decision or anything. The first few times I saw one, I thought, Wait a minute... and went out of my way to pass the cars bearing them, so as to look at them from the side and confirm the fact that the things are completely two-dimensional, and do indeed look like something somebody ran off on a $29.95 inkjet printer -- you know, one of those they sell you because the replacement cartridges cost more than the machine itself. Out...

HERE's that Wolfe quote

Back on this last post, I made reference to something Tom Wolfe had written, and I just had to run it down, and it turns out to have been from The Right Stuff, and most delightfully of all, it was making fun of my least favorite sector of the MSM:In the picture on the screen all you could see was the one TV woman, with the microphone in her hand, standing all by herself in front of Annie's house. The curtains were pulled, somewhat unaccountably, inasmuch as it was nine o'clock in the morning, but it all looked very cozy....

NCAA on the warpath

You know, all week I've thought about posting something about the Newberry College ex-Indians and the NCAA, and that appallingly lockstep faculty vote in favor of this absurd dictate, but it's just TOO ripe. The whole situation puts me in mind of something Tom Wolfe once wrote -- I forget where -- about the Fool-Killer walking away in bewilderment, dragging his club, overwhelmed by the enormity of his opportunity... Basically, I hate Kulturkampf topics such as this one, and I generally just turn away. That's because on the one hand, I don't care what Newberry College calls its sports teams,...

Must intellectuals use the language properly?

First, I realize to what extent I'm opening myself to criticism, but then, when did I ever call myself an intellectual, other than ironically? So have at me, for whatever sins against the language you can find on this blog. I know they are many; one thing I had to do in resolving to maintain a blog to begin with was accept the fact that I would have to write and publish more quickly than I could do so without error. So go for it. On to my subject: I don't know whether you clicked through this post on Foreign...

They euthanize horses, don't they?

As Bill Murray said so wisely, in What About Bob?:There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him...But I'm here to tell you about another dichotomy that may constitute a much greater cognitive divide:Really serious animal lovers. The rest of us.Robert Ariail has been hearing today from some folks who love animals -- horses, especially, I suppose -- the way Bob Wiley's life loved Neil Diamond. Maybe more so. The category that consists of the rest of us is large and broad. I suspect it's the majority,...

How they voted on the cigarette tax

Here's the Senate vote to pass H.3567, which increases cigarette taxes by 50 cents per pack, with half the revenue going to expand Medicaid coverage, and half to give tax credits to low-income workers to help them purchase medical insurance.Passage of the bill (H.3567): Ayes 33; Nays 11; Abstain 1 AYESAlexander Anderson CeipsCleary Cromer DrummondElliott Fair FordGregory Hayes HuttoJackson Knotts Land *Leatherman Leventis LourieMalloy Martin MatthewsMcGill O'Dell Patterson *Pinckney Rankin ReeseScott Setzler Sheheen *Short Thoma WilliamsTotal--33 NAYSCampsen Courson GroomsHawkins Massey McConnellPeeler Ritchie RybergVaughn VerdinTotal--11ABSTAINBryant Total--1 *These Senators were not present in the Chamber at the time the vote was taken...

Arrgghhh! It was painful enough the first time

Among those who lived through the Florida Long Count in 2000, who would want to live through it again? Not me. But HBO is betting I'm in the minority:REVISIT THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN U.S HISTORY AS KEVIN SPACEY LEADS AN ENSEMBLE CAST IN RECOUNT PREMIERING SUNDAY, MAY 25TH AT 9 PM ET/PT ONLY ON HBO Two-time Oscar® winner Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty,” “The Usual Suspects”) leads the ensemble cast of HBO Films’ RECOUNT, debuting SUNDAY, MAY 25 (9:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO. Shot on location in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, RECOUNT revisits one of the most dramatic moments in...

Dissed by 'Foreign Policy'

Foreign Policy magazine is inviting readers to vote for their Top Five Public Intellectuals. Here's the link. As you can see, there are 100 intellectuals listed. One Hundred. And yet, I didn't make the list. Tom Friedman -- sure, HE made the list. And the Pope, too -- and you know, I don't even like this Pope as much as the last one... I'm reduced to being like one of those pathetic celebrity freaks at a premiere, standing alongside the red carpet, hoping to see an intellectual I recognize: Oh, LOOK, there's Salman Rushdie! I know him -- I met...

I feel like Batman

And not even a cool, respectable sort of Batman, like the one in Batman Begins, or even the quirky-hip Michael Keaton Caped Crusader in the first big-budget movie version (best moment -- when he answers the crook who demands to know who he is with an edgy I'm Batman! that lets you know our hero's wound JUST a bit too tight). I'm talking Adam West here. The thing that's got me feeling this way is that I'm in the middle of candidate interviews for the June primaries -- legislative, county council, etc. -- and the same characters keep cropping up....

Obama answers Hillary's shot with a PBR

Barack Obama, not to be outdone on the regular-guy front by Hillary's boilermakers, strode decisively into a Raleigh bar tonight and ordered a Pabst Blue Ribbon. As a result, he won the North Carolina primary. That is, you can't prove that's not why he won. If only he'd mastered the intricacies of Yuengling while there was still time in PA... He also demonstrated that he could hold his brew by resisting a pitch from a perky saleswoman who wanted to sell him new kitchen countertops for the White House. Really. Unfortunately, while the candidate was catching up on his drinking,...

Ron Paul lives!

Over the weekend I found myself in Greenville, and I rode by a house adorned with several Ron Paul for President posters, and I thought, Somebody hasn't heard the news... Apparently, that somebody is me. I discovered today in the course of reading The Economist that Ron Paul is still running for president! This immediately brings several things to mind: How come none of you Paulistas complained when I removed his Web page link (along with everybody else's except McCain, Obama and Clinton) from my list at left? If his supporters thought the MSM was boycotting his campaign before, what...

Desperately seeking video tech help

Today, I forgot to bring my camera to work. Normally, I remember all my school supplies (mainly because I keep them in the briefcase out of which I live), but this morning I left my Canon PowerShot A95 on the kitchen table. Since I had two interviews this morning -- with Vince Ford, who's seeking Kay Patterson's Senate seat, and Rep. Joe Neal, defending House District 70 -- I had to stoop to a desperate measure: I used the Sony Model DCR-SR40 camcorder that the nice folks at thestate.com gave me awhile back. This is a pretty cool video camera,...

Now I know how Dr. Frankenstein felt

Remember how I posted awhile back on the subject of how online provides a nice forum for public officials to speak to the public? When I wrote that, I was thinking about our new Saturday online page, as a place where Mayor Bob and others could have frequent missives appear without being limited by the one-column-to-a-customer policy we have in the paper, since in-paper space is at such a premium? Well, Mayor Bob seems to like the idea. In fact, after I told him late last week that I would feature his latest offering on Saturday, and urged him to...

Hillary's Makeover

Hillary Clinton has pulled off the Makeover of the New Century: She, it seems, is now the Voice of the People, while Barack Obama is the Tool of the Elites. You know, the woman who killed health care reform by drafting her big plan in secret with all the wonks, a la Dick Cheney doing energy... And if you believe in her latest incarnation (and to my amazement, increasing numbers in PA and NC have in recent weeks), Warthen Landmark Real Estate Co. has some prime property it would like to show you......

Eagerly awaiting 'The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'

When I was looking for a link for this post, I ran across some really good news I had not previously heard. Martin Scorcese is making a movie based on Edmund Morris' The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, which I happen to be reading. Now folks, this is what we call exciting movie news! Why didn't the Real Message Center send me a pop-up about this one? I'm so pumped -- or DEE-lighted, as Morris tells us Ted would have said -- that I don't even mind that young Mr. Roosevelt will be portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. Come to think of...

But you're probably wondering what Katon means to ME, Al Franken...

As the Rolling Stone correspondent to the 2004 Republican Convention, I know that S.C. GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, like Sgt. Hulka, has a heck of a hip sense of humor. Here's further proof: After weeks of bad news for Al Franken, even other state Republican Parties are getting into the act. Franken, who earlier this year agreed to a $25,000 fine for failing to cover workers' compensation insurance for his employees, has also been stung in recent days by an acknowledgment that he owes up to $70,000 in back taxes in several states in which he performed. In a letter...

This makes me feel SO much better

Energy Party think-tanker Samuel Tenenbaum gave me this book to read this morning, but knowing how slow I am at getting books read (currently I'm slogging my way through The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Breaking the Spell simultaneously, and have promised myself a novel when I'm done with those), I figured it would be awhile before I'd be in a positive to comment on it, which I figure is something Samuel is hoping I'll do, which is why he gave me the book. ... To increase the pressure, Samuel emphasized I was one of the few he'd given it...

How I vote is none of New York's business

Keep meaning to tell you about this bit of propaganda that I enjoyed... Some anti-union group sent out a release a week or two ago, with the headline Johnny Sack in the Voting Booth? and a link to the above video. My reaction was, what business is it of New York's how I vote? Maybe when Carmine was around, yeah (not little Carmine, but old Carmine), but not any more. Johnny Sack doesn't command that kind of respect. Now if Tony wants to know how I vote, OK, maybe......

Act your age: Join the Grownup Party

By BRAD WARTHENEDITORIAL PAGE EDITORYOU’VE HEARD of the “UnParty” and the “Energy Party” — at least, you have if you’ve kept an eye on this space for any length of time. But I have yet another name for my never-ending battle against the foolishness of the Democratic and Republican parties: the Grownup Party. What is the Grownup Party? Let’s start with what it isn’t. It isn’t based on age. If it were, John McCain would win the party’s nomination this year, hands down. But John McCain recently proposed something that violated everything the Grownup Party stands for: a summerlong gasoline-tax...

Hamburger hegemony: Military history as a food fight

First off, I should say that this is PRET-ty weird. If you will be offended by extremely ironic humor in the representation of some pretty grim events of recent history, you shouldn't watch the video. I found a lot of it offensive myself. But if you are morbidly fascinated by how the other half (the half that has LOTS of time to waste, enough to shoot hundreds of photographs of hamburgers in various poses) expresses itself, you might want to glance at this. One of our regulars sent me the clip as an e-mail, so I won't say who it...

The Obama Effect: Democrats' chances in the S.C. House

Here's a video I prepared for publication on the Saturday Opinion Extra page for this week