FIGHTING FIRE, THE BRITISH, TAXES, UNEMPLOYMENT

A look outside the window here in the Midlands shows that today is definitely Stormy Monday. Hopefully Tuesday won’t be just as bad.

Anyway, here are a few small stories making some ripples in the rain:

• THE FIRESTARTER, TWISTED FIRESTARER, GETS 15 YEARS — If you missed it, that was the second musical refrence in the post… something TPS regulars will appreciate as a rarity.

Anyway, the Associated Press is reporting that Kimberly Wooten was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for burning down four homes near her Irmo neighborhood, with two years suspended for time served. The 42-year-old mother of two pleaded guilty but mentally ill in June to seven counts of second-degree arson and other charges related to the fires.

• GRAHAM PUTS ON TRI-CORNER HAT, FIGHTS LOBSTERBACKS — Sen. Lindsey Graham has picked up the musket ball fumbled by his colleague Sen. Jim DeMint and is now “a key player” in the struggle to get national park status for the Battle of Camden site in Kershaw County, The State reports.

A measure to require the Department of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study for possible park status passed the U.S. House late last year. This is the first time the measure has reached the Senate.

Ordinarily, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., would be shepherding the bill. It landed in his committee, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

But DeMint has turned his back on the bill, and Graham is riding to the rescue.

When asked why he abandoned a chance to preserve South Carolina’s history, DeMint reportedly said, “I just got back from a séance, and the spirits from the battle gave me some really bad vibes. That, and I also want to drill for oil there someday.”

• — For big kids like me who never really grow up and always wish they were still in first grade throwing play-doh at Susie and stealing little Billy’s Tonka trucks, tax free weekend rocks. It’s a chance to stock up on all sorts of new school clothes, backpacks, the latest Air Jordan’s and, most importantly, pencils that can be sharped down into tiny pencils for throwing at other kids — all without paying the state government a dime. Wait, no one else does that? Whatever, forget you then.

Anyway, the ninth annual tax-free weekend runs from midnight Friday, Aug. 1 through midnight Sunday, Aug. 3 across the state. But be warned, tax-free weekend is so popular that it is the third busiest shopping period of the year.

• SC’S LATEST MONSTER IS A GOOD MONSTER — Monster.com was cool about five years ago when they were tops in the online job search sector, but has since become one of the most useless places to look for employment. I saw a commercial the other day that pretty much hit the nail on the head when they said Monster and others aren’t selective enough and will let a whole field of unqualified Joe Schmos crowd out the best candidates.

So they’re taking the same approach as drugged up celebrities — they’re going to rehab. And what better place than South Carolina where you can be secluded from the rest of the world in a place where most people will leave you alone and let you recover?

For Monster, that means opening a recruitment center in Florence. For South Carolina, it means up to 350 new jobs. Everybody wins except for those who like unemployment checks!

MCCAIN, GRAHAM UP BIG, 2010 GUBERNATORIAL RACE CLOSE

Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh, NC based firm, has released a new survey of South Carolina voters that deals not only with the presidential election, but also two major statewide races.

In the poll of 542 likely voters taken between July 9 and 11, Republican John McCain held a 45 to 39 lead over Democrat Barack Obama, with Libertarian Bob Barr picking up 5 percent of the vote.

PPP noted in its results that Obama leads 77-10 with black voters, and 54-32 with voters between the ages of 18 and 29. McCain leads almost every other demographic group.

“It would take an exceptional turnout from young voters and black voters, as well as a lot of disaffected conservatives voting for Bob Barr, to make a win in South Carolina possible for Barack Obama,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “He does seem likely to outperform John Kerry, but a victory in the Palmetto State is still a long shot.”

In the race for U.S. Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham is well on his way to re-election. With former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride now out of the race, Graham has a 54-32 advantage over Democrat Bob Conley.

And Public Policy Polling even took a very early look at the 2010 race to replace Gov. Mark Sanford. Henry McMaster tied Democrats Jim Rex and Inez Tenenbaum in possible matches, while Rep. Gresham Barrett trailed Rex but had a small lead over Tenenbaum. But roughly one-quarter of of those polled in all contests were undecided.

The firm didn’t poll the primary matchups directly, but among those who called themselves Republicans, McMaster had a double-digit lead over Barrett — suggesting the attorney general is by far the strongest candidate in the likely GOP primary field.

DISCLAIMER ON SENATOR’S WEBSITE SENDS VISITORS TO VIDEO ABOUT ‘COMING OUT OF CLOSET’

I honestly have no idea what this is all about, but Sen. Jim DeMint’s website, which recently won acclaim from McClatchy Newspapers, is sending visitors to the above YouTube video (ed: NOT PG-13) in which a 20-something guy “comes out of the closet” to his friends. Literally and figuratively.

It’s really not all that funny but it’s certainly an odd thing for a sitting U.S. Senator to have on his Website.

The link can be found on the site’s disclaimer, where it reads “Website by Under The Power Lines” — the company that developed DeMint’s site and apparently these videos as well. When visitors click on “Under the Power Lines,” they are taken to TheCoveShorts’ YouTube page, featuring the above video.

Readers may remember that this same group was responsible for the Phoney Fred Wesbite launched during the height of the Republican presidential primary battle.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for these guys to stay away from the Internet tubes.

View a screen grab of the link on DeMint’s page here.

MILLER POPS LOTZ FOR FOR BEING ‘BUSH AIDE’

Two guys I have never heard of are doing battle in the race to become the Democrat’s sacrificial lamb against Congressman Joe Wilson. The primary matchup pits Iraq War veteran Rob Miller — the guy who cut this well-done TV spot — against former something or other Blaine Lotz.

Until recently, both campaigns had been taking the cookie-cutter, anti-candidate approach. They had built their message entirely around attacking Wilson as a Bush crony, spouting off lofty goals to change Washington, and so on.

But that changed Thursday when Miller dropped a district-wide mail piece attacking Lotz as a “Bush Administration insider.” It reads:

It’s incredible, but true — for nearly five years, Blaine Lotz ran Intelligence Oversight for Don Rumsfeld in the Bush Administration.

Blaine Lotz once described himself as the Pentagon’s “policeman” and the Secretary of Defense’s “eyes and ears.”

But as one of Don Rumsfeld’s top aides, Blaine Lotz presided over one Bush-era intelligence disaster after another.

And instead of apologizing, Blaine Lots now wants to be our Democratic Congressman?

I don’t think the problem is so much that he was a Bush crony. I think the problem is that he ran this administration’s intelligence program. I think it’s safe to say that a fourth grader with a salt map and a box of crayons could have done a better job.

MSM RIPS WITHERSPOON FOR BASING CAMPAIGN ON INTERNET CONSPIRACY

I swore I was going to stop giving coverage to reactionary Buddy Witherspoon, who is “challenging” Sen. Lindsey Graham in the upcoming GOP primary, but this is too good to pass up.

Some of the mainstream media are finally starting to pay attention to Witherspoon’s “campaign” and, the more they do, the more they realize this guy is a joke. Not only is he a joke, but so to is the focal point of his entire platform.

That’s because Witherspoon has crafted his entire message around a fictional issue.

Witherspoon has made immigration one of the cornerstones of his campaign, but has also tied it to his fierce opposition to a “North American Union,” which would merge the United States, Canada and Mexico into one political and economic entity.

“It is apparently fashioned after the European Union,” Witherspoon told WYFF News 4’s Beth Brotherton. “I believe in this great nation, I’ve stood for it through the years and as long as I have breath in this body I will continue to stand for what is right,” he said.

Witherspoon said the creation of the NAU would also mean the creation of a joint currency called the Amero, after the Euro.

“The North American Union, whether it is something that is in the making or not, we don’t want to get caught in a vise all of a sudden with our constitution and sovereignty down the drain,” Witherspoon said.

Graham says the issue is nonsense, nothing more than an Internet conspiracy theory he says. [...]

“People on the Internet talk about a highway built from Mexico to Canada, the countries merging, a secret plan to create a new currency, I don’t know where these things come from,” Graham said. “I know what is real: Iran possessing a nuclear weapon, that is a real danger.”

The concept of the NAU became widespread on the Internet after a 2005 trade meeting between President George W. Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada.

But Bush calls the idea of an three-country union “comical.”

Graham agrees. “I want to spend my time in the Senate working on real problems,” he said. “There are a lot of things to worry about in the world: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea. But the U.S., Canada and Mexico merging into one country is nothing to worry about.” [WYFF-TV]

The rest of Witherspoon’s platform is centered around the belief that Amelia Ehrhardt is actually hiding out in a bunker at Area 51, secretly plotting to lead an alien reptile take over the world using barcodes and secret message coded in wingdings. Be afraid folks, be very afraid.

This guy is basically like a South Carolina version of Ron Paul. In fact, I bet they talk regularly

U.S. HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP, SC’S TOP DEMOCRAT, HIRES EX-CON

I have to hand it to Rep. James Clyburn because very few politicians would have the gall to knowingly hire someone convicted of federal bribery and extortion charges as part of their Congressional staff. Yet that’s exactly what he did when he brought on former Orangeburg County Councilman John Rickenbacker to work in his Columbia field office.

He defended the decision saying, “I think it is always important to give people a second chance.”

Rickenbacker, who was released from a Columbia-based halfway house April 7 after serving a one-year sentence in a federal prison system for federal bribery and extortion charges, will begin working in his new position as early as [Friday], depending on completion of the required applications. [...]

Rickenbacker’s primary duties will be to conduct visits throughout the district with constituents on their concerns related to senior issues such as Social Security or veteran disability benefits. A salary has not been settled upon yet.

Rickenbacker in June 2006 was indicted following a six-month sting operation in which he accepted about $50,000 from an undercover FBI agent posing as a consultant for a company interested in buying the Regional Medical Center.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year and one day in prison on April 2, 2007.

As part of his sentence, he also received three years of probation or supervised release, the payment of a $200 assessment fee, a $5,000 fine and completion of five days or 100 hours of community service. [Orangeburg Times & Democrat]

I guess in Clyburn’s mind he’s bulletproof, so why the hell not hire this Rickenbacker? And if this guy did all that stuff and got caught, this time he’ll know how not to get caught. If that’s what Clyburn’s going for here.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about second chances. If this guy paid his debt to society, then he should be forgiven.

But that doesn’t mean he should be tossed back in a position with access to the exact same resources that got him in trouble in the first place. Unless, of course, that is by design.

KETNER CAMPAIGN: SCREW THE ECONOMY, GIVE ME YOUR MONEY

Sorry to scare you with that banner picture, but I think it adequately conjures up the compulsory thousand words about the intensely arrogant nature of Linda Ketner’s bid to unseat Congressman Henry Brown.

And to remind her supporters that everything is all about Linda, she recently sent out an e-mail encouraging folks to take their rebate checks from the federal government and — rather than spend the money in a way that would stimulate the economy or pay down debt or — give them to her campaign.

According to The State, Ketner “argues in her e-mail that spending the money is a short-term solution. Sending her to Congress is a commitment to needed, long-term change.”

That sounds surprisingly like the jargon being pushed by Socialist Party Vice Presidential “candidate” Stewart A. Alexander.

“The government rebate checks are an example of the failures of capitalism and how a capitalist system will never meet the needs of working people,” he wrote Saturday on some leftist Website. “The checks are being sent to provide quick spending cash for millions of working people; however, these checks will provide few benefits for the poor and working class; while adding to the wealth and welfare of billionaires.”

So I guess if Ketner’s “needed, long-term change” revolves around usurping an evil capitalist plan to kick-start our economy in favor of some self-centered socialist fantasy where we are all saved by electing champions of class warfare rhetoric who will think for us, then Ketner is your gal. But if I wanted that, I would just build a time machine and travel back to Soviet Russia circa Joey Stalin’s regime.

All hail Comrade Ketner!

FORMER RNC MEMBER MIMICS MOVEON.ORG, SENDS E-MAILS SAYING SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMITTED TREASON

A recent campaign e-mail published by SC Hotline from former Republican National Committeeman Buddy Witherspoon’s Senate campaign reveals the truly disturbing nature of the malicious, libelous attacks aimed at Sen. Lindsey Graham by his challenger.

The e-mail was sent by Witherspoon’s Political Director Christopher R. Oviatt, the second ranking member of his campaign, and contained a post-script that read, “If you’ve received this email but do not wish to receive further information and updates in the efforts to rid our state and country of the traitor, Lindsey Graham, please email deportillegals@earthlink.net with the word, ‘CANCEL’ in the subject line.”

The line is reportedly even a part of his default email signature.

The “deportillegals” e-mail address is distressing enough, but to call a well-respected sitting United States Senator who has more than 25 honorable years serving in the military a “traitor” is completely classless and Witherspoon knows better.

I would expect language like this about a Republican from MoveOn.org, but not from a former member of the RNC.

If he hopes to be taken seriously for the final 40-plus days of this campaign and someday attempt to restore the reputation he has destroyed over the last few months, he should start by apologizing and firing this guy immediately.

_______________

OVIATT UPDATE: Witherspoon’s political director just sent me the following e-mail:

My email was taken and pasted/doctored onto another email page and sent out. The email that I sent out had all of the recipients blind carbon copied. My email was sent to a list of our supporters who wanted to help us distribute our campaign signs which arrived last week.I cannot help what supporters or anyone in the generl public does with the emails that I send them. All of Dr. Witherspoons material have a “paid for” on them including our lapel stickers. Our new signs are the same as the 2X8’s that were put up last year except they are 4X8’s. Because I work for Dr. Witherspoon does not mean I have any ill feelings towards Senator Graham. I do not think he is a traitor by any means, I think he is a great American. Myself or Buddy would never say anything slanderous or make false allegations against the Senator or anyone else. Though our campaigns differ on certain issues, we all want whats best for South Carolina and the USA.

The signature on the e-mail didn’t have the alleged language, so maybe he’s telling the truth. I bet what happened was those damn illegal aliens hijacked his e-mail account and sent out messages saying Graham was a traitor.

Not the Mexican aliens though, this isn’t their style. My money is on the aliens from the Andromeda III galaxy. You’ve got to watch out for those pesky little buggers.