Archive By Section - Columns
Could we find life on Kepler-22b
If the data from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is right, there's at least one planet with the potential of harboring life. Perhaps, based on the data, there are thousands upon thousands of such worlds.
Debates as un-reality TV
Karl Rove, a star political strategist, is outraged that Donald Trump, a star real-estate mogul and reality show host, is staging a reality show with real Republican presidential candidates and calling it a debate. Yet, with all due respect, Trump is only exploiting a process that political strategists like Rove already hijacked.
Let them clean toilets
WASHINGTON -- It is a rare day when Al Sharpton emerges as the voice of sagacity, but when Newt Gingrich has the microphone, all things are possible.
Blow taps for the tea party
If history tells us anything, the rise of sometime-historian Newt Gingrich to Republican presidential frontrunner is a sign that the tea party movement is destroying itself.
Give gadget gifts a gander
Welcome to Tucker's Christmas Mart, the store where you purchase gifts that seem like a good idea at the time but end up on the junk pile by the time New Year's Day arrives.
Oden’s successful return would be captivating storyline
Basketball fans knew a lot about former Ohio State center Greg Oden when he made the jump to the NBA in 2007. They knew he was going to be the Portland Trail Blazers' top pick in the draft that year. They knew he was one of the best collegiate players at the time. And they knew he had a chance to be a once-in-a-generation player in the pros. ...
The surging Newt
WASHINGTON -- Things sure do change fast around here. One week it's Rick Perry, the next it's Herman Cain. Now it's ... Newt Gingrich?
A ‘followership’ crisis
When somebody complains about how politicians are a bunch of corrupt, lazy, no-account bums, Rep. Barney Frank has been known to reply with a wry grin: "Y'know, the public is no bargain, either."
A 1799 Camden letter and postmark
In 1989 Robert J. Stets and Harvey S. Teal completed and published "South Carolina Postal History and Illustrated Catalog of Postmarks, 1760-1860." Included in this work were six different postmarks and 14 different rate markings used by Camden postmasters during antebellum times. An illustration of them accompanies this article.
Remembering one of our ‘Greatest Generation’
As a reporter, there are times when your editor comes to you with a story assignment that -- you can't help it -- makes you cringe. I'm not a golf fan. I don't play, I rarely watch and I certainly had no interest a number of years ago in following a couple of guys in their 80s and their grandsons around a golf course. It just wasn't my thing.
Fortune and misfortune
Looking for a real-life story that will top any soap opera? Then search no further than the strange saga of Huguette Clark, a fabulously wealthy New York City recluse who died earlier this year at age 104 and left two wills, drawn within six weeks of each other, the latter one cutting her family out of her half-a-billion dollar estate. Family members now charge Clark's lawyer and accountant, who's a registered sex ...
Anatomy of a flip-flop
WASHINGTON -- When the Democratic National Committee circulates an ad attacking Mitt Romney even before the Iowa caucuses -- and long before his presidential nomination is clear -- one can be fairly certain that Romney is considered the greatest threat to a second Obama term.
Pay it forward
Giving thanks. Thankfulness. Gratitude. All words that often come to mind during this bountiful season of thanksgiving. Impeccable timing, wouldn't you say? This time of giving thanks leads us right to the season of giving (gifts); the season of giving and receiving and more receiving for some. So, just as I am offering thanks for the gifts I have in my life -- family and friends, food and football -- among many, I catch ...
An ‘uppity’ outrage
I don't know whose idea it was to send First Lady Michelle Obama to a NASCAR race. But the reaction offers a timely lesson in political correctness, a regime that used to be known simply as good manners.
Focused on foreign policy
When the presidential debates between George W. Bush and Al Gore were held in October 2000, the 9/11 attacks were less than a year away. Guess how many times "al Qaeda" or "Osama bin Laden" came up in those debates? Not once.
Articles by Section - Columns
What comes after the welfare state?
The welfare state is now omnipresent in every part of the United States. The federal budget is dominated by entitlement spending, with 45 percent of federal spending in 2012 going to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare (among other health care entitlements). Simultaneously, states are struggling under the fiscal burdens imposed on them by mandatory entitlement programs: for example, spending by the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services ...
The 11th hour: Warsaw, Kiribati and South Carolina
What if I told you that it's the 11th hour, and that the proof is Warsaw, Kiribati and South Carolina?
Drop off our kids safely, please
I'm the parent of a Camden Middle School (CMS) student. Each weekday morning, I drop him off after taking his brother to another school.
The poor dirt farmer
There's nothing glamorous about being a farmer, nothing charming, little endearing and certainly few things easy about it. It is either a calling or a curse, depending on how one looks at it. Some are born into it and some just can't find a way to escape it for it's all they've ever known.
The GOP’s toxic messaging
WASHINGTON -- As the government health care website chugs along, the Obama administration has initiated a counter-initiative to combat Republican naysaying -- and its weapons are of superior grade.
What I AIN’T grateful for
Last week I told you about a lot of things for which I'm thankful.
‘Tis the season of lots to do
A blog I follow posted a piece last year about Christmas traditions. The woman who writes the blog is newly married and wanted to start some holiday traditions with her husband and carry them on if they should ever have children.
Imagine your crimson pot
I'll be first to admit I'm a pushover when it comes to stories of do-gooders and their noble deeds of "giving back." As it goes, at this time of the year -- the season of giving -- many of us find ourselves looking for ways to be charitable, for ways to help others in some capacity. No doubt, the stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year's finds most of us in ...
Spend the money and get what you want
Shopping for friends and family members can be fun, but it can also be very stressful. I can't tell you how many holidays have come and gone where I've waited until the last minute to buy Christmas presents for my nearest and dearest. It's not because I don't have the opportunity. Bien au contraire, mon ami, ce n'est pas vrai.
Food stamps and turkey tales
WASHINGTON -- If you peruse the news on any given day, the farm bill/food stamp debate produces two general impressions: Republicans are heartless turkey thieves; Democrats are spendthrift welfare caterers. If only neither were a little bit right.
Classically Carolina
"We are Camden, a place surrounded by history. Long a home of Native Americans, we were founded not long after Carolina was separated into North and South. Here, King Haigler, the Catawba chief, worked for peace among natives and colonists along the banks of the Wateree. Here, Patriots suffered one of the worst defeats in the Revolutionary War. Yet, from this place the tide of war would turn and ultimately lead to victory for ...
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