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Comment Archives: Stories: News+Opinion
Re: “The Agenda: Mignon Clyburn breaks FCC glass ceiling, Controlling Edisto floats, Hurricane Awareness Day”
She's sat on the board for nearly four years. She was a member of the Public Service Commission for 11 years. She ran a newspaper before that.
What, exactly, makes you think she is not qualified to be the acting Chair of the FCC - aside from the fact that she isn't white or male?
She's still rich - and that's what really matters.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
We have a useless photo ID law that was created to intimidate minority voters and fully gerrymandered legislative and congressional districts to insure the power of the Republican party. We even have Mark Sanfraud as one of our Congressmen.
Does SC really need to prove to America once again that we are the stupidest state in the country?
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
Every one forgets that it was the paper ballots in Florida that caused the nation to have to wait for months to know who was President. They never were able to count them all. This is a ridicuous idea. Do you have any idea what two million ballots look like all stacked up in warehouses or how easy it is to make a few of those stack disappear? Stop being afraid of technology
Re: “Anatomy of an IRS shakedown”
Hamilton is a turd. Professes his love of these idyllic cities of the Northeast, while laying around his computer and bitching about what we have here. Touts his admiration of urban transit and biking, when it's apparent to anyone looking at his pic that he couldn't bike to Krispy Kreme if they were giving donuts away. Writes diatribes in the Moultrie News about withholding Halloween candy from the neighborhood kids unless they bow down and profess their love of communist figures, thinly veiled as a Jeopardy style quiz show. And endorses (as well as sends his money and brainwashed children to) "a college" that once invited a Black Panther and convicted cop killer to give the commencement speech. You're a real winner, hammy. You should really look into taking your "talents" (whatever they may be) to Venezuela or Iran, where they'd be more appreciated. You, William J. Hamilton, are useless and a cancer on our area. The quicker you'd pack up and move to one of your Avatar-inspired wannabe socialist villages, the happier the rest of us will all be. Ignore everything this moron has (past and present) and will write. He has no credibility and is simply an idiotic sham.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
This is a good way to insure election fraud. If there are issues with the electronic machines figure them out and fix them. Just like letting people vote without an ID this is supported by people who do not care about vote fraud.
Re: “The Agenda: Mignon Clyburn breaks FCC glass ceiling, Controlling Edisto floats, Hurricane Awareness Day”
Must be nice to have your father get you your job and then be elevated to one of the best jobs in DC with virtually no experience whatsoever in what you are doing.
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
And... The Grand Douche... I mean Matt, has spoken!
Re: “School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy”
the not so thinly veiled point of the article is that black people have it easy and that white people have had to shoulder what orlando patterson called "the ordeal of integration." white people are victims.
this of course is supported by a casual look at life in charleston where black people have segregated themselves in all of the best housing enclaves on the peninsula and along the coast; where their children attend exclusive schools; where black people exercise control authority through their leadership of law firms, local government, the ports authority, boeing, musc, the citadel and college of charleston; where black people eat at pricey downtown restaurants to the almost complete exclusion of white patrons; where expendable white workers fill our local jails. . . . yes. everywhere in charleston, white people are victims.
in all seriousness, tara servatius and other white supremacists are entitled to their belief in black inferiority. but they owe it to their readers to be honest and to defend their beliefs with real evidence, rather than wallowing in the murk of white resentment politics.
Re: “City Council considers requiring bar security to patrol sidewalks, parking lots”
I think this is about as stupid idea that city council has had scince the smoking ban.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
I've participated in the elections where scanned marked paper ballots were used in Florida, under the supervision of a Republican controlled election commission and there was no problem with them. Everyone was satisfied with the new system, which replaced a system similar to ours which was junked after weird results were noted in several elections. That system replaced the old butterfly ballots in Florida.
After six years of disputed results, Florida was determined to end the problem and they did.
Keeping a set of printers operating while supervising voting is no minor undertaking. They'll malfunction. One scanner/tabulator/safe can serve dozens of individual voting stations, which at that point only have to be simple cardboard privacy screens on tables. The current machines are now decade old relics and compatible parts are no longer available. There is absolutely no reason not to go to a fully verified, failure proof system.
Re: “The Agenda: Johns Island TIF nixed, Capt. Sam's Spit to be reheard, SC-1 home stretch”
Vic Rawl votes to complete I526, as Joe commanded, then City Planners scuttle Vic's plan to build on his John's Island property, then Joe tosses the planning commissions unanimous nay vote so Vic can build and make his fortune.
A sterling example of 'you scratch mine I'll scratch yours' - - political pay-off. Boss Hog politics is/are alive and well here in Charleston. What! No Sled investigation - - - yet ?
Re: “Tough Titties: Lowry Beall stares down breast cancer”
Lowry!
I've thought of you often, and miss your fun quirkiness. Best of luck in all your future endeavors!!! <3
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
There is no reason that the electronic voting machines could not be programmed to create a printed copy of the ballot submitted, which then could be verified by the voter and dropped into a sealed box. If there were any questions about the electronic results, the printed ballots, all of which should be readable since they were printed by the machine, could be counted by hand. I think all election jurisdictions need to make this a requirement for the vendors of the electronic machines.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
I've seen scanned paper ballots used in Florida, where they gave up on the touch screen machines after some very questionable election. People marked them in simple, card board table top booths, so time wasn't a huge issue. Then they were scanned. Valid votes got tabulated and dropped into a safe at the bottom of the scanner. Ones with problems like casting two votes for one office were kicked back and the voter got to try again with a new paper ballot. Whatever happened, all the hand marked ballots were locked up and safe for recount. Our touch screen machines aren't secure and can't be verified. There is absolutely no way to know what voters were ever cast on these machines in any reliable way. That realization is creeping through the SC political system despite the hostility of elected officials and both political parties. Republicans win on these machines, so they're OK with them. Democrats are afraid if people understand what is really going on that they'll stop bothering to vote. Increasing numbers of people don't bother to vote. South Carolina keeps them because we're cheap and because doubt in the mind of voters reduces turnout in disfavored groups.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
There are no good voting methods. Let's not do it anymore.
Re: “City Council considers requiring bar security to patrol sidewalks, parking lots”
Joel... you wrote, "I am highly college educated." I think you have just made Foodmancing's point for them. Well said sir!
Re: “Mr. Sanford goes (back) to Washington”
Colbert Busch was supported by the unions that wanted to kill Boeing in the Charleston area. That alone should be enough to see that she didn't have the best interests of Charleston in mind. The district is largely conservative, especially in the fiscal sense and, all of his other faults not withstanding, that is the way that Sanford has always voted. ECB was evasive and vague about her positions so voters had to extrapolate her beliefs based on her supporters and donors such as the union support mentioned above. She had a very orchestrated campaign that largely only went to 'safe' situations. Like/agree with him or not, Sanford campaigned everywhere he could. Also, a bunch of her supporters were obviously not very informed as they thought they should be able to vote for her even though they did not live in her district. As for gerrymandering, it happens in every state, red or blue, and is done to benefit the party that was in power at the time redistricting happens. That is how I have the joy of being stuck in Jim Clyburn's district, arguably one of the worst Congressmen ever.
Re: “Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots”
If you saw what happens to paper ballots (now absentee and provisional), you wouldn't want them. First, the Board of Elections throws out batches of them for minor flaws (I remember a case in which an elderly couple voted, and the wife witnessed both ballots. Hers was thrown out.) Then they are run through an old optical scanner which tears up at least one in 10 of them. Each damaged ballot is given to two election workers who painstakingly transfer the votes on it to a clean ballot, which is run through the machine (and perhaps torn up again).
Re: “Mr. Sanford goes (back) to Washington”
This district -- and all of the state -- was very carefully gerrymandered in 2011. This time, the GOP not only took out most Black folks, but also most Democrats -- for instance, Clyburn's district now includes the west side of the peninsula all the way down to Broad, because it's College of Charleston territory. There's not much that can be done about that. And your post says it -- "a rare vote to a Democrat." Colbert Busch was a strong conservative Democrat and a businesswoman. What is your definition of "stronger candidate"?
- The Agenda: Mignon Clyburn breaks FCC glass ceiling, Controlling Edisto floats, Hurricane Awareness Day3 comments
- Burbage’s sale in the works4 comments
- City Council considers requiring bar security to patrol sidewalks, parking lots11 comments
- Summer's the right time for Txacoli1 comment
- Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots8 comments
- Clean energy activists to join Saturday for "Hands Across the Sand"2 comments
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Oak Steakhouse
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Craftsmen Kitchen and Tap House
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Charleston Bakery
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Chopsticks House
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Phuong Restaurant
Yes! -Paul Cheney
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School of the Arts tweet exposes Charleston County Schools' hypocrisy
When the Tweet Hits the Fan
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Charleston County considering a switch to paper ballots
Mt. Pleasant resident presents a bold idea for transparent, hacker-proof elections
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The Agenda: Mignon Clyburn breaks FCC glass ceiling, Controlling Edisto floats, Hurricane Awareness Day
Wilson seeking those "wrongfully targeted" by IRS
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City Council considers requiring bar security to patrol sidewalks, parking lots
You Don’t Have to Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here
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Is Anne Frank's Diary pornography?
Private Matters
Re: “The Agenda: Mignon Clyburn breaks FCC glass ceiling, Controlling Edisto floats, Hurricane Awareness Day”
What's wrong with a black head of the FCC? What's wrong with there being a black Attorney General, a black Inspector General (Head of the General Accounting Office); a black TV Czar? What's wrong with blacks filling more and more key positions in government, the IRS, the court system, and the military? What's wrong with the Obama administration demanding that the Associated Press reveal its sources? It really shouldn't be of any concern. But it may be a good reason to remember that June is HAM Month (Hug a Minority.) Just in case any of those people bear a grudge against Colonial America, WASP, and right wingers. More needs to be done to let blacks know they are appreciated in this country. After all, they are running most of it. And their influence will be around for a long, long, time.