LEATHERMAN, LICENSE PLATES, VOTER ID AND HOME RULE

I’ve been pretty busy lately so I haven’t been posting the usual absurd number of stories, but even if I had been around, there really isn’t anything going on in South Carolina. At least not much worthy of its own post.

So here are a few stories to tide you over until something scandalous takes place, which should be any minute now:

• WHAT A SURPRISE, LEATHERMAN LIKES HIGH GAS TAXES — It’s probably not much of an exaggeration to say that State Sen. Hugh Leatherman has added a few trillion bucks in pork projects to the state budget over his career. But even he realizes that someone has to pay for his greed — taxpayers! So what better way for the entire state to fund Green Bean Museums and performing arts centers and festivals and all the wonderful things that benefit a few dozen people in Florence County than to keep paying high gas prices.

Leatherman justified this by telling WLTX-TV that the state gas tax is only a few cents per gallon, so it’s really no big deal. Thanks, Mr. Senator! You know what else isn’t a big deal? Florence County paying for its own sh*t so we don’t have to.

• ANOTHER STUPID LICENSE PLATE? — Lord knows we don’t have enough specialized license plates in this state. Everyone from the Ancient Free Masons to the Secular Humanists of the Low Country to South Carolina Ducks Unlimited to Working for the Wild Turkey has their own tag available. And now we might have yet another one.

The Senate gave a bill second reading Tuesday to create a license plate with an image of a cross in front of a stained glass window with the words “I Believe” (pictured above). Because, you know, there’s nothing more important to worry about. I’m not sure who exactly has the power to get rid of the absurd amount of these damn specialized tags plaguing the already inefficient Department of Motor Vehicles and cluttering up the road for police officers, but I’m afraid they’re the very people perpetuating the problem.

• CLYBURN WHINES ABOUT VOTER ID RULING — Last I checked, the liberal leadership in Congress, including our very own Rep. James Clyburn, were completely out of touch with America. So it’s not surprising that Clyburn sent out a snotty little press release Tuesday griping about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Indiana’s voter ID law.

“The Supreme Court’s decision threatens to undermine this enthusiasm and disenfranchise voters,” Clyburn said. “Our nation should be moving forward to help all Americans participate in our democracy, not deterring people from casting their votes.”

Now that I think about it, Clyburn is absolutely right here. Who better to trust with American democracy than people that are too lazy to take 30 minutes once every ten years getting an ID card.

• HOME RULE OR BUST — Much to the chagrin of Sen. Hugh Leatherman, Sen. Glenn McConnell’s Constitutional Amendment to eliminate “home rule” and create spending caps on state government seems to be doing well. The South Carolina Association of Taxpayers’ Don Weaver offered a good write-up promoting McConnell’s work on the issue saying “[his] line distills the argument down to its essence, because evidence has shown that taxpayers, homeowners and businesses alike can’t afford the home rule they’ve had so far and can expect to see in the future in the absence of limits in government spending.”