Comment Archives: Stories: News+Opinion
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
In the related article, Boston, from the Rec Room, rightly states that bars pay higher taxes because its already recognized that we're more of a burden on city services. I think we pay like 1000% more for our business license than a similarly sized law office. What no one has mentioned yet is: 1). Liability insurance rates skyrocket when bars employ bouncers, I mean security personnel, because ins. co.s know that it leads to more lawsuits. 2). We are still gonna call the cops, only now we'll have more incidents, so we'll call even more. 3). Affected communities can already persue remedy against offending businesses: noise, nuisance, drug, and pandering laws are already on the books, and responsible business owners stay on good terms with their neighbors and avoid getting sued/arrested. Irresponsible business owners can be forced out. 4). There will be no geographical boundaries to this law. While it's aimed at upper King, it will apply equally to freestanding buildings in industrial zones and suburban shopping malls.
The city already has an arsenal of tools to affect change. Like the gun lobby says: "Let's start enforcing existing laws before we rush to write new ones".
Mike Kulick
Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge
The Tattooed Moose
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
It is in fact, Statistism
The City is passing this as an ordinance. A business must comply or face the loss of
their business license. As IP points out some of the reason this is happening is the progression of the city's intrusion into every aspect of our lives.
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
"Statism? It's the opposite of 'statism.' This is the privatization of a basic government function. Isn't this the stuff your libertarian wet dreams are made of?"
No, Travis, it isn't. This is government compelling private businesses to perform an act of law enforcement on its behalf. And, these businesses (and most everyone else) have already paid taxes to fund said government to perform this duty. Sounds like the opposite of libertarianism on both ends, to me.
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
I absolutely can't believe I read what "and if elected..." wrote... It blows my mind the logic of racist people... I don't treat anybody different, and I respect all people regardless of any differences we have, on the other hand, I don't need to apologize for something someone I don't even know did... That logic doesn't make sense... You can't treat me bad for something someone else did to your distant relatives, or even you. I can't be held accountable for someone else's crimes.. If that's the case, then whose gonna be paying for your crimes of hate today? Your children? Your great grandchildren?
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
It's not that they are doing something now, it's that they STILL DON'T DO ANYTHING, to address the racist actions done to whites by blacks. Those issues still exist and are VERY COMMON in charleston county schools. Black students are NOT punished for the things they say, or tweet, regardless of where they say or tweet them. They can be on school grounds & threaten teachers or students, but nothing is done.. Basically, you are only punished for racist comments if you are white...
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
Municipalities are an incurable social disease.
Re: “Mr. Sanford goes (back) to Washington”
It seems some 40 to 60 people in the Charleston area actually read these articles on-line. Perhaps some of them can explain to me why the likes of Mark Sanford gets elected to represent this district despite his apparent theft of public resources; his dereliction of duty as Governor; and his failure to keep an oath of fidelity made before God. Have I missed something here or would he not have served jail time in the private sector. As an independent I would have thrown a rare vote to a Democrat this time had they fielded a stronger candidate. Just what it is that 77,000 voters see in Sanford that escapes me?
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
Brilliant!
Another fine demonstration of the law of unintended consequences.
City council passes an ordinance telling people they can't smoke in the bar anymore, and that they should take their filthy habit outside.
Now that they're outside with their filthy habit, we don't want them loitering in the parking lot or on the sidewalk.
Advice for downtown revelers:
The next time your posse needs to take a smoke break, wait for a nearby light to change and then stand in the middle of the intersection. At least that way when the cops show up, you'll be hassled for a real crime, and by real authorities.
Joe must be in the running for the Nanny Bloomberg prize this year.....
Re: “Clean energy activists to join Saturday for "Hands Across the Sand"”
I hope they will all walk, hand in hand, for thirty minutes, due east.
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
Wow. Who knew that the IRS had so many fans?
Our tax code is so massive that it is not possible for a plurality of Americans to file their own tax returns. Is that what we want? Is that the best we can do?
Should anyone be surprised that an administration would use political power to leverage the regulatory power of the IRS against their political enemies? FDR and Nixon did it. So has Obama. Or maybe it's just a coincidence that after "the shellacking" of the 2010 midterms (the product of the Tea Party groundswell), certain organizations affiliated with the Tea Party were targeted for "special" treatment by the IRS.
Even if Obama had nothing to do with this, the thought that a government entity would single out certain individuals or organizations, just because they happen to oppose the current administrations' policies, should give everyone pause to think about whether that is "government of, by, and for the people" that we all champion.
Heads must roll over this. Getting the acting head of the IRS to retire two weeks early is not addressing the problem.
IF you still think that the IRS is a model of efficiency, check out form 1023, the one that the 30 people who make up the Laurens County Tea Party had to file in order to raise funds as a non profit 501c4.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023.pdf
Read the whole form. See you in an hour.
Then come back and tell me how the IRS cannot be improved upon.
It's time to scrap the current tax code and implement a flat tax. If 10% is enough for God, it should be enough for the government, too.
One more thing. MoveOn.org is a 501c4 organization with a PAC. Mr. Hamilton's assertion that the Tea Party is "primarily a political organization" is reason enough to deny it 501c4 status rings a bit hollow, in light of these statements from MoveOn's website:
"MoveOn is a community of more than 8 million Americans from all walks of life who are using the most innovative technology to lead, participate in, and win campaigns for progressive change........MoveOn members have been part of game-changing electoral victories, including the 2006 Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, and the election and re-election of President Obama."
Hmm.
That sounds suspiciously like a group that might be "primarily a political organization". I wonder if future IRS commissioners should reexamine MoveOn's 501c4 status?
Sauce for the goose, eh, Mr. Hamilton?
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
I'm saying this as a person who participates in the operation of a non-Christian religious organization that had to renew our 501c3 status after we changed our name a few years ago, we had to go through the same hoops as this group complains about, and we had no political affiliations of any kind and had been in existence for more than 30 years under our previous name. The Tea Party is nothing special, and did not get treated any different than any other organization seeking tax-exempt status.
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
When the Tea Party first went to Washington, they carried posters depicting our President as an African savage and they spit on black Congressmen. After the President's last address to the public the Republican Party AND the Tea Party aired responses. The Tea Party is a POLITICAL PARTY. They should NOT be granted tax-exempt status. NEVER!
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
Lawsey, Miz Tara! I've been white all my life and never been discriminated against because of that. Or maybe I was just too obtuse to realize it. You do make a few defensible points, but that chip on your shoulder must be pretty heavy. I wonder how a few black students would have fared if suddenly placed in the SC school I attended in the 1950's. It may not be quite fair, but payback is, indeed, a bitch.
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
I can see most of these remarks are made by die hard Democrats. Well, folks, the IRS does whatever they can to make the process difficult. Asked one group to write a book report on a book they were selling or promoting. Really? What clown in the IRS has the intelligence to review that report and make an intelligent decision as to it's validity? The IRS is an arm of the White House, face it, whenever the WH needs to put pressure on a group it does not approve of.
Re: “S.C. couple sues MUSC over unnecessary sex reassignment surgery”
I'd like to hear all your thoughts on Allah.
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
The IRS deserves scrutiny on this issue. They broke the law.
What are these posts condeming the victim groups and not the IRS? Turn the issue on it head to serve your ideals?
The Internal Revenue Service's disclosure that it improperly scrutinized certain conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. As an inspector general report on the practice found, groups with phrases like "tea party," "patriots" and "9/12 project" were targeted for the "Be On the Look Out" or "BOLO" list, and often ended up waiting two years for notice on their status.
Somewhat lost in the furor over the disclosure is that very few liberal organizations appear to have been approved either!!
There is no evidence that groups with words like "progressive" or "Democratic" were targeted. But the numbers do suggest that the universe of nonprofit political organizations is small, and that liberal groups were not approved in droves while conservative ones were subject to endless bureaucratic rigmarole.
This is not just a conservative group issue..aparently the IRS has targeted liberal groups as well.
Its about time we take a harder look at the IRS behemoth.
Re: “Late Night law would force bar owners to create powerless police force, endanger lives”
This should come as no suprise. My own exploration of real conservatism begins with Mayor Riley famously sayin.. All our Citizens should be home in bed at 2am, during the bar closing controversy. Who the hell does he think he is?, i thought. No one person has the same lifestyle or work schedule.
I was a radical liberal up til than and i started to look into it closer.
Just who is more controlling when they get the power in their grubby hands?
Life is messy and fun, full of dangers and hurdles. embrace the journey and live as free as possible. We should help and protect those that need it, but for the majority of us, the more rules the less freedom.
We do need government, but come on, where does its intrusiveness end?
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
Commenting on your own pieces this way is tasteless, Tara.
Re: “S.C. couple sues MUSC over unnecessary sex reassignment surgery”
"you know the difference between a doctor and God?"
The doctor exists.
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Re: “City Council considers requiring bar security to patrol sidewalks, parking lots”
In this article, Boston, from the Rec Room, rightly states that bars pay higher taxes because its already recognized that we're more of a burden on city services. I think we pay like 1000% more for our business license than a similarly sized law office. What no one has mentioned yet is: 1). Liability insurance rates skyrocket when bars employ bouncers, I mean security personnel, because ins. co.s know that it leads to more lawsuits. 2). We are still gonna call the cops, only now we'll have more incidents, so we'll call even more. 3). Affected communities can already persue remedy against offending businesses: noise, nuisance, drug, and pandering laws are already on the books, and responsible business owners stay on good terms with their neighbors and avoid getting sued/arrested. Irresponsible business owners can be forced out. 4). There will be no geographical boundaries to this law. While it's aimed at upper King, it will apply equally to freestanding buildings in industrial zones and suburban shopping malls.
The city already has an arsenal of tools to affect change. Like the gun lobby says: "Let's start enforcing existing laws before we rush to write new ones".
Mike Kulick
Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge
The Tattooed Moose