Brad Warthen's Blog

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. It's from an endorsement interview with Rep. Jimmy Bales, who's being challenged in the Democratic primary for District 80 by Stanley Robinson. Mr. Bales mentioned in passing in the first minute or so of the interview that he hoped Democrats would pick up a few seats in the S.C. House this year. Not quite hearing him, I asked a little later whether he had said he thought Dems might regain a majority. Actually, he did think there was an outside possibility of that, but...

One million and counting!

The virtual odometer in the upper right-hand corner just ticked over1,000,000 page views!And, as a result -- well, life goes on. Maybe when I get done for the day -- and I've got hours and hours more work to do before that happens -- I'll go out for a beer. If so, I'll let you know, and maybe you can join me. Then again, maybe I'll be so worn out I'll go home and crawl into bed, ending this momentous day not with a bang, but with a snore... So much for my historic, world-shaking plunge into the Heart of...

Free Thomas Ravenel

Did I get your attention? I expect I did. Well, calm down. I'm not here to praise Thomas Ravenel, or defend him. But I am here to raise the question: Why do we want to pay to feed, clothe and house him for the next 10 months? This brings me to the larger question -- one of the biggest facing the state of South Carolina, in fact: Why do we want to imprison nonviolent offenders? Sure, we may do it cheaper than any other state in the union, but even then it's a huge waste of resources that could be...

Stupid sells

Sex sells; we know this. At least, it did back in MY day. (Back then, dagnabbit, there were hot, naked women in whipped cream everywhere we looked, and we liked it!) There are certain biological imperatives that dictate this. Some of us will see this as arising from God's plan, others will see it as evidence of the power of evolutionary forces, and some of us will see it as both. There is no doubt that this beautiful, natural thing has been exploited in the service of a lot of tawdry, even perverse products and causes (Herb Alpert and Noxzema...

Talk about your cheap thrills...

Robert and I were just brainstorming about his cartoon for tomorrow, and we were looking for parallel phrases, different ways of describing the same thing -- specifically, the pandering proposal by John McCain (and now Hillary Clinton) to lift the federal gasoline tax for the summer. One way of saying it was Cheap tricks, and we were looking for another, and for some reason my brain kept going Cheap tricks and other delights. I knew this wasn't right, but it seemed like it was close to some phrase I half-remembered from the '60s, and I was having a hard time...

Here's a free psych eval: It you're planning to whack Jesus, you've got problems

Yes, I know that's an insensitive headline on a number of levels, but sometimes I lose patience with quiet, sober discussions of whether someone has psychological problems when the naked fact is staring us in the face. Take this kid who wanted to blow up his high school. An investigator says he has owned up to planning to kill Jesus. Specifically: Townsend testified Schallenberger told a Chesterfield County sheriff’s detective that once he got to heaven, he was gonna kill Jesus or something like that.We're going to be paying money to determine whether this kid's got mental problems? Killing Jesus...

The Final Countdown: Millionth page view likely coming up Friday

Folks, for what it's worth, and whatever it means, this blog will most likely have its millionth page view sometime tomorrow. That's Friday, May 2, 2008. Or Saturday at the latest. I won't be exactly sure when we've hit the mark. I've got two counters going -- the one you see in the upper right hand corner of your screen (at 997,549 as I type this), and the internal dashboard one in TypePad (at 996,986). The one you see is consistently running about 500 or 600 page views ahead of the internal one. I don't know whether to believe either...

The Energy Party Manifesto: Feb. 4, 2007

Since, I'm on my Energy Party kick again, it occurs to me to provide you with something never previously published on the blog: My original Energy Party column from the paper. Since it was based on a blog post to start with, I didn't post it here. Consequently, when I do my obligatory Energy Party link, it's always to the incomplete, rough draft version of the party manifesto. So, if only to give myself something more complete to link to in the future, is the full column version, published in The State on Feb. 4, 2007. Here's a PDF of...

Tom Friedman's back, and he's going to bat for the Energy Party!

Tom Friedman is finally back after a four-month, book-writing sabbatical. The NYT said he'd be back in April, and he just barely made it! (Now I can stop fielding those phone calls from readers wanting to know what happened to him. Here's a recording of one of those.) And he's coming out swinging... and best of all, he's coming out swinging on behalf of the Energy Party (whether he knows it or not). His first column is headlined, Dumb as We Wanna Be, and you'll see it on our op-ed page tomorrow. An excerpt: It is great to see that...

A Grownup Party forum

As I mentioned back here, sometimes I call the UnParty the Energy Party (depending on the subject at hand), and once or twice I've referred to the Grownup Party. That kicked off a discussion that I think has a certain relevance to some of the philosophical friction that vexes us these days. Here's the discussion:Doug, I give you credit for being a consistent anarchist...but don't you support parental authority? Posted by: Randy E | Apr 30, 2008 9:17:05 AM Not coercive authority... I should be able to influence my children through my words and actions, not by threats or intimidation....

Why do people compress files -- or use PDFs?

Here's a pet peeve. I needed to share with a colleague a handful of Word files that had been sent to me. Unfortunately, they had been e-mailed to me as a compressed folder attachment, and my colleague didn't have the unzip software. So I had to unzip the things, save them to a folder, and then e-mail them to her. My question is, why do people do that -- create unnecessary barriers that just make work on both ends? The total size of all these files was less than a 72 dpi photo, so there was no need whatsoever. The...

A Brad's Blog primer

Noticing that this recent post had attracted some first-time-readers, I thought I'd greet them and give them a quick orientation. And the message I wrote sort of said some stuff that it might be good to remind everybody of occasionally. So I hereby elevate that quick primer to separate-post status:Marie, Joshua, thanks for joining us. Sorry you're disappointed, Joshua, but bear with us. And Marie, what part of Tampa are you from? I went to high school for two years there. Robinson High. A long, long time ago. It occurs to me to give y'all a quick primer on what...

Did Obama get the job done in denouncing Wright?

There was no question, as this day dawned, that Barack Obama was going to have to denounce his ex-pastor in unequivocal terms -- no more of that, Well, you just have to understand about the black church stuff. Right now, I'm trying to decide rather urgently -- did he go far enough in what he said today? I don't mean far enough to satisfy me, or even you, necessarily. I just mean, did he do what he had to to save his candidacy? Because there's no question in my mind that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's statements of the last two...

Hillary joins McCain in pandering on gas tax; Obama stands up to them both

This has been a busy day and I'm just getting around to some basic things now. But I couldn't let the day pass without noting how right Obama is about this:Obama says rivals Clinton, McCain pandering on gas taxBy MIKE GLOVER and BETH FOUHYAssociated Press WritersWINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Democrat Barack Obama dismissed his rivals' calls for national gas tax holiday as a political ploy that won't help struggling consumers. Hillary Rodham Clinton said his stance shows he's out of touch with the economic realities faced by ordinary citizens. Clinton and certain Republican presidential nominee John McCain are calling for a...

Rev. Wright still fails to clarify

Just in case anyone was still confused, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright emerged over the last day or so to explain (I think) what I've already said about his sermons: He meant what he said the first time. It seems he was being descriptive, not divisive. Asked whether he thought some of the things he said might be less than patriotic, he changed the subject -- he mentioned his service in the Marine Corps in his youth, and mentioned that Dick Cheney never served. To which I say, Huh? To elaborate, thank you for your service, Reverend -- I stand in...