TheSunNews.com: Opinion

Ignorance abounds in man's rant on science

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:05 EDT

It is unfortunate that time and energy must be spent countering the specious claims of folks like John Milyo, who recently penned a letter to this paper regarding the insignificant role carbon dioxide plays in our climate due to its minor representation among the other atmospheric gases.

If you extended Mr. Milyo's logic a bit further, it would read something like this: "Carbon dioxide couldn't possibly play a major role in our climate because of the small concentrations at which it exists in our atmosphere, yet virtually every living plant, animal, bacteria and fungus on the planet is completely dependent on that same concentration of carbon dioxide for their very existence."

The fact that this seemingly trivial concentration of carbon dioxide is a critical component of the carbon cycle and hence a necessity for the abundance of life on Earth reveals the incongruous nature of an argument that arbitrarily ascribes a value to the role of carbon dioxide in climate issues based on simplistic, faulty inferences.

Harrop's arguments weak

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:05 EDT

I wish to respond to Froma Harrop's Feb. 21 article, "Sensible middle" makes no sense.

This article is so devoid of common sense and the general concept of compromise it makes one wonder where the limits of media bias end. In order to find the "sensible middle" you must look for it rather than blindly ignore its existence.

To debunk the middle based on two poorly contrived examples of conservative/Republican positions is sophistry by dumbnation. What this country needs and thirsts for are political centrists who will work together gathering and assimilating the best ideas from all parts of the political spectrum to fashion legislation that addresses our needs sans extreme measures where none are indicated.

It's time to start acting like a leader

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:05 EDT

President Obama: I was wondering why you are having so much difficulty getting the Democrats to agree on legislation. The Democrats enjoy majorities in both the House and Senate, yet they act like keystone cops. Maybe it has to do with your lack of leadership. In your defense, your sparse resume is the reason why you are failing as a leader.

Let's examine your predecessors since Jimmy Carter: All of them except George H. W. Bush were governors of a state before they were president. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton served two terms; Carter and George W. Bush served one. George H. W. Bush never served as state governor but surely he benefited from being around Reagan for eight years.

Now, you need to show that you can lead. Your days of pushing and cajoling community groups are over. In case you have not figured it out, you are the leader of the most powerful nation of the world; please start acting like it.

It's time to take a stand and support the weak

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:05 EDT

We need to stop turning our heads away from the reality of bullying.

The reality is that there are those who prey on the weak. For those of you who don't want to acknowledge that for fear you might have to do something about it, it's time to get involved. Within a bully is a sickness.

It's awful to think if that you aren't touching a person, you aren'thurting a person. Words hurt, looks hurt. Bullies pick on theweak ones because the bully knows they won't react.

Farewell, but not Goodbye

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:38 EDT

In the months leading up to Liz Gilland's announcement Tuesday night that she will not seek re-election as County Council chairwoman, her name has been more in the headlines for her mistakes than for her contributions to Horry County.

As we now consider the reality of a County Council without her at the helm, we ought not let a short memory obscure her overall record: 16 years of promoting professionalism and openness in a county government that before her time was sorely lacking in both. Through a personal style that emphasizes deliberation, conciliation and accord, she has largely made the council chambers less a place of open warfare than it was previously ("We started being boring," she jokingly said this week). As chairwoman, she also immediately curtailed the county's longstanding habit of taking hours-long, wide-ranging and largely illegal secret sessions during every meeting.

Do bitter politics and backroom deals remain? Undoubtedly. There remains ample room for improvement, as The Sun News' examination of county officials' e-mails earlier this year demonstrated.

Letters to the editor

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:38 EDT

Voters need to be more aware

I believe that more people need to be aware of what's happening in government, both on a local, state and national level. Hopefully all is not lost.

Jeff Koterba

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:50 EDT

District money funds lobbyists

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:59 EDT

"Enough is enough."

With that mantra, public school officials have taken their case to Columbia, demanding a freeze on expensive mandates, a halt to state budget cuts, and the introduction of new taxes to fund education.

Members of the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA) and the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) held a press conference on Feb. 11, making their demands clear to the 170 members of the General Assembly.

Pelosi and friends too clever

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:49 EDT

As Democrats consider shoving health care reform through the House with a process known as "deem and pass," it is helpful to return to square one and ask: What, again, is the rush?

A year ago, when reform work got under way, Democrats were hell-bent on passing legislation before year's end. Because? There was no way, Democrats believed, that they could accomplish such sweeping reform in an election year.

The Senate bill, which still doesn't have enough votes in the House to pass, barely met the do-or-die deadline, squeaking through on Christmas Eve.

They're gay; so what?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:54 EDT

Three little words.

That's what keeps bringing us back to this intersection of low comedy and pathos. Three words, none longer than three letters -- and yet, some of us still find them nearly impossible to say.

Three words: I am gay.

History slanted to left or right?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:49 EDT

Once upon a time, Americans did some very bad things. They enslaved Africans, displaced Indians, oppressed women and exploited laborers. Then the Great American Government came to the rescue.

Spurred by protest movements for freedom and equality, the government instituted changes that brought the nation progressively closer to its founding promise.

That's the theme of most American history textbooks. And it's also what offended the Texas Board of Education, which voted last week to approve a new set of social studies standards that emphasize America's timeless virtues. The current standards, one board member explained, "are rife with leftist political periods and events: the Populists, the Progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society."

Common myths on health reform

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:49 EDT

President Obama's top strategists have belatedly challenged the Republican argument that Congress should kill his health care reform plan because the American people have rejected it.

White House counselor David Axelrod noted on several Sunday shows that, when Americans are asked about key provisions, they support such things as ending the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions and requiring all Americans to have health insurance.

Obama pollster Joel Benenson wrote in The Washington Post that, in the few polls that asked detailed follow-up questions, "a significant number of people who oppose current plans do so because they don't go far enough." His argument: If it passes, they'll be on the administration's side.

Signe Wilkinson

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:59 EDT

Local Leaders Online

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:38 EDT

At S.C. Comptroller Richard Eckstrom's urging, 11 towns and cities, six counties, two school boards and one fire-rescue squad around the state have begun putting their spending records online for the public to see, and with four local governments on that list, the Grand Strand is undoubtedly leading the way.

Although Horry County was initially skeptical of the effort, officials have since not only joined but also significantly raised the bar with their new online videos of County Council meetings. The first meeting has been uploaded to www.horrycounty.org/council/index.asp and, in an extremely useful feature, is even indexed to that evening's agenda. Want to see the update on The Coast RTA's funding? Click on agenda item 10b, and the video jumps to the 51-minute mark when agency manager Myers Rollins Jr. begins speaking. County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said the next plans are to offer the same streaming during workshops and committee meetings, which take place during business hours when many members of the public cannot attend.

You can find the county's check registers under the "Finance" section of the county's Web site, and as of Friday, they were up to date. Only the registers from the two most recent weeks and the previous month are shown, but upon inquiry Friday, Bourcier said the county will soon compile an archive of the older files.

Letters to the editor

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:38 EDT

Toll proposal

not worth the trip

Obama attempts fall flat

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:39 EDT

President Obama has told Americans repeatedly that the stimulus has created jobs. Issac Bailey wrote a column titled "Stimulus helped; now it's on us," wherein he seemed to agree with the president.

Only 6 percent of Americans believe the stimulus bill passed a year ago this week has created jobs, a CBS News/New York Times poll reported last week. Six percent. Nearly six times as many Americans believe in ghosts as believe Obama's jobs claims.

The president and Bailey seem to be in the minority - the 6 percent.

Health care needs public option

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:24 EDT

Now that a health care bill seems inevitable, the only question remaining is whether or not the Senate will pass a public option to bring the final legislation in line with what the House passed last year. With court challenges to the individual mandate already being planned, inclusion of the public option is essential for both reasons of constitutionality, and to maintain the important separation of our democracy and free market capitalism.

Critics label the bill as government takeover of health care, but in actuality the legislation is a mix of insurance regulation, the institution of a coordinated and competitive insurance purchasing exchange system, and subsidies to ensure everyone can afford insurance. Many liberals who support a government takeover of health care via a single-payer system cringe at the current plan because it funnels tax dollars to insurance companies by essentially forcing Americans to hand over their dollars to private, for-profit corporations by mandating health care coverage.

While America has been both democratic and capitalist since the country's founding, never before have the two systems entwined themselves in such an egregiously problematic way, and thus challenges to the bill as unconstitutional because it requires the citizenry to purchase a product from a private entity may have merit.

S.C. jobless deserve support

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:39 EDT

Re remarks of John Kyl/Objection of Jim Bunning

Dear senators:

I am writing to express my outrage over the recent remarks of Kyl regarding how much fun it is to be unemployed, and the objection of Bunning to the extension of unemployment benefits.

Workers overpaid, inefficient

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:39 EDT

To Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint:

Re post office and Sen. Jim Bunning

Dear senators:

Openness Advances Slowly

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:36 EDT

In January, as the S.C. legislature prepared to return to session, The Sun News editorial board profiled a number of open-government issues pending before the state.

More than two months later, approaching the session's midpoint, how much progress has been made? Very little.

Certainly, the spirit of transparency has yet to sweep the Statehouse. During this week's budget debate in the House of Representatives (the budget is H.4657), state Rep. Nikki Haley proposed an amendment to give lawmakers and the public three days to review the budget document before passing it, an idea House leaders immediately decided to ignore. When the vote was called, Haley's amendment died 50-44, and the House would go on to pass the budget hours later.