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Blog from the Backbench

yesterday’s tea party

July 11, 2009 – No Comments

Many thanks to Jonathan Hill and the Hill family for their patriotism!

Independent Mail: About 300 people turn out for TEA Party in Anderson By Charmaine Smith-Miles Friday, July 10, 2009

ANDERSON — Barbie Bryan of Anderson has traveled to Columbia and to Atlanta to protest President Barack Obama and actions that he is taking in the White House that she said are “un-American.”

On Friday, she didn’t have to travel two hours to do that. She stood among several hundred people who gathered at the Anderson County Courthouse square downtown for the Taxed Enough Already protest.

She held a large poster that read, “You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it out.”

“They are putting in socialism faster than we can blink,” Bryan said. “When a president of our country can fire the CEO of a private company, there’s something fundamentally wrong and un-American going on. This is about taking our country back.”

About 300 people turned out for the protest, judging by the number of agenda packets that were handed out by volunteers. The protest organizer, Jonathan Hill of Anderson, said he was pleased with the turnout for the event.

Anderson County Council members Eddie Moore and Cindy Wilson attended. Moore led the pledge and gave the invocation.

About a dozen speakers talked about freedoms in the United States.

A local radio host for WAIM, Rick Driver, spoke to the people about standing up for their rights, bringing a cheer from Bryan.

“Don’t let the people who have been elected take your rights away from you,” Driver said.

S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant also spoke, talking to the crowd about health care. He argued against socialized medicine and praised the quality of American health care. He also said he was proud to see so many people show up to show their interest in the government and political issues.

“They say health care is expensive,” Bryant said. “Wait until it’s free.”

Drew Gilmer, an Anderson resident, also stood on the courthouse steps and said he is tired of President Obama apologizing for America. Thomas Culberson, a military veteran and Anderson resident, echoed Gilmer’s comments.

“One of the first things Obama did as president was apologize for the policies of the United States,” Culberson said. “And then he bowed to a foreign king.”

Dawn Underwood of Townville said she came out to the courthouse plaza Friday because she is also “tired of Washington” and tired of government spending.


J-Mint on healthcare reform

July 10, 2009 1 Comment

July 8, 2009

Dear Friend,

In many ways, our health care system is broken. Even people satisfied with their own care are nervous about losing it, concerned about rising costs, and frustrated by the failure of government to bring about genuine reform. But the reason Congress has so far been unable to fix our health care problems is that Congress is too busy creating the problems in the first place. That’s why the current proposals emanating from the White House and congressional Democrats won’t work either. Those proposals would hand over the most personal, private undertaking of our lives — health care — to the most impersonal, inefficient, and broken system in our society — the federal bureaucracy.
 
These programs will only grow government, limit options, encourage waste and abuse, and ultimately lead to rationing of health care by bureaucrats and politicians in Washington. If you’ve ever wondered if there might be a better way, then my new Health Care Freedom Plan might be for you.
 
The plan, which I introduced last month in the Senate, is the opposite of a government takeover like HillaryCare in 1994 or ObamaCare this year. It does not force any American off of their current plan, but provides them with the ability to access and own a health plan that best meets his or her needs. Compared to the Democrats’ plan, my bill will cover more uninsured Americans, in half the time, at no cost because it will be paid for entirely by terminating the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and reclaiming the Wall Street bailout funds over the next five years.  
 
Here’s how it works:
 
My plan puts individuals back in control of their health care decisions by offering every American a health care voucher — worth $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for families — to purchase a plan that best works for them. It doesn’t force anyone who likes their employer-sponsored health care to leave it. If you like your current plan, you can keep it. If you don’t have insurance, or if you do have insurance but might want to shop around, you can claim the voucher. My plan finally allows comparable tax benefits for those without employer-sponsored care, like small business workers and the self-employed.
 
The plan also breaks down barriers and creates a nationwide insurance market that doesn’t restrict individuals from purchasing insurance plans in other states. It also allows greater flexibility to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to pay for insurance premiums.  
 
To bring down overall health care costs, my bill reduces predatory malpractice lawsuits against physicians and hospitals and brings more transparency to the industry by requiring that true costs of health care are disclosed before patients receive treatment. My plan also ensures that Americans with pre-existing health conditions would be provided access to affordable coverage through federal block grant funding of state high-risk projects.
 
Americans should have access to health insurance that they can afford, own, and keep — and that the government can never take over or take away. The Health Care Freedom Plan guarantees every American’s freedom to choose and own a plan that is best for them. You can rest assured that I will continue to fight for real reforms that allow Americans to regain control of their health care choices.

Sincerely,
Office Locations
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112 Custom House
200 East Bay St.
Charleston, SC 29401
Phone: 843-727-4525
Fax: 843-722-4923		 Columbia
1901 Main St.
Suite 1475
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803-771-6112
Fax: 803-771-6455		 Greenville
105 North Spring St.
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Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: 864-233-5366
Fax: 864-271-8901		 Washington, D.C.
340 Russell
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6121
Fax: 202-228-5143
Please note: correspondence sent via mail is delayed several weeks due to security screening.
For time-sensitive matters, please call or e-mail my office


Wendy Tucker: the only SD1 trustee supporting the taxpayer

July 10, 2009 – No Comments

Anderson One passes $54.2 million budget, by Nathan DiBagno, Powdersville Post
WILLIAMSTON — After months of deliberating, the Anderson School District One Board of Trustees gave final approval to this year’s $54.2 million budget.

Only Wendy Tucker opposed the budget, after trying to amend it to remove about $700,000 in raised property taxes. 

“You’ve done your best to shield our classrooms and instruction from the negative effects of this recession,” Tucker said. “But my concern is that the recession does not affect just the schools, but it also affects the entire community. And the future of our schools is dependent upon the future of our businesses. And our businesses invested in our schools, and now we have an opportunity to work with them and get through this difficult time.”

No one seconded the motion. Read on



TEA Party Friday 07.10.09 @ 6:30pm organizer Jonathon Hill

July 9, 2009 18 Comments

independentmail.com

Guest columnist: A dubious celebration: 100 years of income tax

Jonathon Hill
Thursday, July 9, 2009

This weekend marks 100 years since the passage of a resolution from Sen. Joseph W. Bailey, D-Texas, that became the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It authorized the federal government to levy an income tax. The resolution was passed unanimously in the Senate (77-0) and was approved overwhelmingly by the House (318-14).

The resolution was then sent to the states for ratification. On Feb. 2, 1910, South Carolina became the third state to ratify.

On Feb. 3, 1913, Delaware provided the three-fourths majority needed to amend the Constitution.

This highly significant centennial is a cause for great mourning, as it marked the beginning of a slow deterioration of America’s liberty and economic prosperity.

What motivated our legislators to create the income tax and the IRS? “Spreading the wealth” was as attractive to liberals then as it is now.

Though it sounds attractive to some, there is one hidden catch: Middle America foots most of the bill, not the wealthy. At its core, the highly unfair income tax is a favorite tool of socialists, punishing productivity in the name of “fairness.”

The income tax began innocently enough — a mere 1 percent on the first $20,000 of taxable income and 7 percent on incomes above $500,000 (that translates to $430,000 and $10,700,000 in today’s dollars).

By 1939, only 5 percent of Americans had to file tax returns. Today, income taxes are the government’s largest source of revenue, with more than 80 percent of Americans paying income taxes ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent.

Guess what? There’s nothing whatsoever to stop them from taking all of your money.

Before you think they wouldn’t, America’s wealthy faced taxes exceeding 90 percent during the wartime years of 1944-1953. This is pure confiscation.

Worst of all, the income tax necessitated the largest government bureaucracy of all time: the IRS, charged with enforcing the tax code. In the name of “justice,” citizens are intimidated out of their Fourth Amendment rights to privacy in a system that assumes guilt before innocence. Appeals are held in tax courts without juries. To get a jury trial, you must pay the tax and then sue the government. How un-American.

Patriotic Americans find these facts very disturbing. In fact, they are so disturbed that they are taking to the streets in a wave of never-before-seen conservative protests.

If you care about your country, I challenge you to join me in front of the Anderson County Courthouse on Friday at 6:30 p.m. as we “celebrate” 100 years of the income tax.

Jonathon Hill is a resident of Townville and organized the Anderson Post-Tax Day TEA Party on April 16. He works as a grassroots activist, not on behalf of any political party. E-mail: jonathon@compwright.com


Pendleton Farmer’s Market

July 9, 2009 – No Comments

farmers_mkt002001

Pendleton Farmers Market is now in its 6th year!
The market will operate Thursdays 4pm-6pm
and Saturdays 9am-1pm on historic 
Pendleton’s downtown Village Green.
Come Shop for FRESH FARM PRODUCE and PLANTS!

more info


The Palin Puzzle: by Michael S. Smith II, SCHotline Contributing Editor

July 8, 2009 6 Comments

The Palin Puzzle

July 8, 2009

MichaelSSmithII

The Palin PuzzleBy Michael S. Smith II, SCHotline Contributing Editor

On July 6, I enjoyed a nice lunch with an old friend and mentor of sorts. My friend, who shall remain nameless, is a Charleston transplant — or “comeyah” if you must — of D.C. origins. He was very involved with the Reagan, Bush and other Bush administrations’ efforts, both in formal and informal capacities. He is also the author of one of the most significant pieces of legislation which outlines the tenets of one of the most significant U.S. foreign-economic policies for the Western Hemisphere — that bill shall remain nameless, too.

Despite his decampment from D.C. several years ago, my friend’s relationships with the most insider of insider conservatives from within the Beltway have remained intact. Time and time again, events prove my friend has more than just a prescient feel for the pulse of the Republican Party’s heartbeats. Given such, I was delighted by his brief inclination to address the news of Sarah Palin’s decision to resign her post as governor in order to, ostensibly, pursue a Reaganesque stump tour about the Lower 48.

While our conversation was mostly limited to conjecture, here is a summary:

To begin, Gov. Palin has been bombarded by a maelstrom of muck of all imaginable form since John McCain added her to his ticket last year. She was not prepared for the fallout that would ensue.

(Mention of the appointment stirred my memories of a question directed to John McCain during the pre-event event part of his last major fundraising appearance in South Carolina in 2008. A member of the crowd of 50 or so of us who gathered for the private reception Sen. Graham hosted for John McCain asked something along the line of, “Can you tell us who your vice presidential pick might resemble?” The honored guest bullied his host a bit as he replied: “Anybody but Lindsey Graham.” How true those words ring in retrospect.)

If wearing Sarah Palin’s shoes, boots or whatever (just don’t get too carried away with your imagination!), most in their right minds would seriously consider resignation a worthwhile option. However, most aspiring to ascend to a higher office would quickly clear that option from the table — at least if they’re planning to run for that office in the immediate future.

My friend, waxing typical academic wonkishness, asserted: The resignation makes sense if Palin is planning to move south in order to pursue a master’s or doctorate degree in foreign affairs or some other area of study that will strengthen her ability to position substantive comments on bigger issues that matter to our country. Still, we agreed that’s as unlikely an If as a Palin appearance on David Letterman’s show since Letterman called her daughter a quiff.

So what’s driving Sarah’s latest move? Probably the same sorts of things that diverted John McCain’s attention away from the economy last year, not to mention the same sorts of things that prompted Gov. Sanford to divulge the details of his tryst in Argentina in the utterly bizarre manner he did two weeks ago — bad advice from too many clueless “political consultants.”

Simply put, it may be that Palin has surrounded herself with too many yes-(wo)men. If this is true, the lenses of her political glasses may be becoming so blurred by the steaming piles of sycophantcy surrounding her that the ship of Palin-post-governor-of-Alaska has been rendered rudderless. In other words, the same sort of group-thinkish approaches to determining “next steps” that proved so poisonous for the Bush-Cheney foreign policy establishment’s endeavors appear, from a distance, to be sabotaging Palin’s political future.
“Can she become president in 2012?”

“No,” my friend replied, adding: “She won’t even win the primary.”

According to him, when it comes to having what it takes to debate with someone like Barack Obama, the Empress of “Victory 2008″ would quickly discover she has “no clothes,” figuratively speaking that is. The only way she’d stand a chance of making the White House her family’s future home in 2012 would be for tragic events to position Joe Biden as her competitor — and that’s if, by some miracle, Palin can pull off a primary win.

One’s ability to back-door their way past the others who lined up for the Veepstakes last year is hardly something that will position that person as a serious candidate for the presidency three years from now.

If she’s as calculating and rational as we presume she may be, Sarah Palin will not position herself as a big-ticket item for at least another six and a half years.

-#####-


contact form now working

July 8, 2009 – No Comments

call-me-01

 

I’ve recently discovered that the “contact” , “get involved”, and “donate” forms have not been working properly.

We’ve just fixed them, but if you’ve tried to contact me with one of these forms, I did not get your message.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. If you need me for something, please resend the message or call me. cell 864.202.8394


good news: Boeing

July 7, 2009 8 Comments

boeing_01

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA - OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR - MARK SANFORD, GOVERNOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: Joel Sawyer: 803-734-2100
Gov. Sanford Issues Statement on Boeing Announcement
Columbia, S.C. - July 7, 2009 - Governor Mark Sanford today issued the following statement on Boeing’s announcement that they will purchase Vought Aircraft Industries’ North Charleston facility:
“Boeing’s announcement today is a real testament to the dedicated work of our economic development teams at the state and local levels, and it’s also a testament to the workforce and business climate of South Carolina that a world-class company like this is choosing to expand its presence here,” Gov. Sanford said.
“This in many ways has been a project years in the making, and accordingly I would give credit to former Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith and his team for their pursuit of the original $560 million investment. In that same vein, I’d give real credit to Joe Taylor and his current team at Commerce for the way they’ve continued to cultivate this business relationship.”
“Our administration is equally committed to doing whatever we can to help Boeing succeed and grow in our state,” Gov. Sanford said.
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SC GOP censures Sanford

July 7, 2009 – No Comments

STATEMENT FROM CHAIRMAN FLOYD 
 
Statement from SCGOP Chairman Karen Floyd on censure of Governor Mark Sanford 
 
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Karen Floyd tonight released the following statement after the South Carolina Republican Party State Executive Committee voted to censure Governor Mark Sanford: 
 
“The events of the past two weeks have been as divisive as they have been disappointing for Republicans. But today has brought a large measure of resolution to a sad chapter in our State Party’s history. Republicans came together to speak with a unified voice, and now is the time for healing. 
 
“Now is the time for healing for the Sanford family. We must pray for them – Mark, Jenny and their four beautiful boys. Now is the time for healing for the Republican Party. We must hold true to our core beliefs and re-commit to being Republican now more than ever before. And now is the time for healing for our great State. 
 
“The task ahead of us is tall. But as Ronald Reagan said, the best days are20ahead of us. We are now united and we pledge to focus our energy and efforts on finding conservative solutions to the challenges facing South Carolina.” 
 
The censure resolution passed by the State Executive Committee read: 
 
“Whereas, the South Carolina Republican Party adopts this Resolution of Censure as a unified expression of the Party’s opinion in the recent matter relating to Governor Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr.; and 
 
“Whereas, the South Carolina Republican Party adheres to a set of core principles and beliefs, primarily but not exclusively expressed in our Platform; and 
 
“Whereas, the revelations regarding Governor Sanford’s private and public conduct demonstrate repeated failures to act in accordance with these core principles and beliefs; and 
 
“Whereas, Governor Sanford’s conduct, in addition to falling below the standards expected of Republican elected officials, has breached the public’s trust and confidence in his ability to effectively perform the duties of his office; and 
 
“Whereas, a formal admonishment by the South Carolina Republican Party is appropriate and necessary and, barring further revelations, will be the Party’s last word on the matter; 
 
“Therefore, be it resolved, that the South Carolina Republican Party does, with great regret, censure Governor Mark Sanford for his recent conduct.” 


TEA Party Friday

July 6, 2009 4 Comments

Host:
Riley Harvell
Date:
Friday, July 10, 2009
Time:
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:
Anderson County Courthouse
Street:
101 S. Main St
City/Town:
 Anderson, SC

Phone:
8649735141


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