Archive By Section - Editorials
Noted and passed -- Dec. 26, 2011
• We've watched with interest the controversy over the city of Camden's proposed YMCA, and the attendant give and take on both sides. City officials certainly could have been more receptive to those disagreeing with their positions, and some of the opponents could have been more circumspect with their jeers and boos at meetings. But the ongoing debate has been a healthy exercise in democracy and the right of both governing and dissenting. However, we were disappointed to see Y opponent Herb Farber characterize Mayor Jeffrey Graham in a recent news story as a "29-year-old boy." The statement came ...
A wish for peace
As we celebrate Christendom's holiest day on Sunday, let us pause to wish a peaceful season to all in Kershaw County -- those who share Christianity, those who subscribe to other faiths and those who have no faith at all. And to the family of believers, we print once again the words from the second chapter of Luke that have come to be the basis of faith for so many millions of people across the United States and the world:
Medicare
With the U.S. budget deficit still spiraling amid partisan stagnation and deadlock in Washington, two lawmakers, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, have finally come together to advance a proposal that would revamp the runaway costs of Medicare. Though solons in the nation's capital have refused thus far to address entitlement spending -- there's no way to bring the budget under control without changes to both Medicare and Social Security -- perhaps this is a ray of hope that there are some people in Washington who are willing to work together to salvage the fiscal integrity of ...
Noted and passed -- Dec. 19, 2011
• We observed last week that Republican candidates for president had no reason to subject themselves to a debate moderated by Donald Trump, who has continually threatened to run for the White House himself. They all apparently decided the same thing, and the debate has now been cancelled. Trump, meanwhile, says he's keeping his options open to mount a third-party presidential bid. If he does, we predict it will be met with the same lack of enthusiasm as his proposed debate.
Public pensions
Public pensions have been much in the news since the economic downturn began, especially during the last year. The battle in Wisconsin over public employees' collective bargaining rights and pension plans has been the most publicized, but the same arguments have been occurring across the country. The South Carolina General Assembly has now taken the first step to deal with a $13-billion deficit in the state retirement pension fund, and though it involved difficult decisions on the part of a House subcommittee, it was the right thing to do. The recommendations still must go to the House Ways and Means ...
Gingrich
Of all the presidential candidates, nobody was more a "dead man walking" than Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker whose staff deserted him early in the campaign and who was left for dead by voters and the media. But he has been revived in the turbulent Republican race for the White House nomination and polls now show him leading his rivals in Iowa and South Carolina, and even in New Hampshire, where Mitt Romney is almost a neighbor. Ironically, it is Gingrich's ability to stand up and take the heat for his past conduct that is helping ...
Noted and passed for Dec. 12, 2011
• No matter how you feel about Tiger Woods -- it's a bit hard for us to pull for him given all the revelations about him -- one thing is clear: golf is more exciting with him. His win last Sunday at the Chevron Challenge, in which he birdied the final two holes to claim victory by a shot, was his first in two years. It'll be interesting to see how he does next year, and whether he can resume his chase of Jack Nicklaus' record number of victories in major championships, but as long as he's competitive there will ...
Changing opinion, not 'flip-flopping'
The term "flip-flop" has come to be one of the most caustic charges that can be thrown at a political candidate, and rightly so. It's hard to like a candidate who appears to bend his views to suit whichever audience he's addressing, and candidates who insist on taking one position one day and another the next day don't appear to be serious. But sometimes we as voters and political observers take this position to an extreme, pushing people into never changing their positions lest they be termed flip-floppers.
Trump a liability
Decades ago, comedian/storyteller Will Rogers said of politics, "I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat." That same philosophy could be used to describe the decision of the Republican Party to let Donald Trump moderate a Dec. 27 debate among GOP White House hopefuls. Trump, who still says he's pondering a presidential run should none of the current crop of candidates exhibit the ability to defeat President Obama next November, has no business injecting himself in such a debate, but more importantly, the Republican Party has no business allowing him to do so.
Noted and passed
• Rep. Barney Frank has been one of the most unabashed liberals in Congress for more than 30 years, advocating all things left and marking business -- nearly any kind of business -- as the enemy of the people. Frank now says he won't run for another term, saying redistricting will put him at a disadvantage. The Massachusetts Democrat is well-known for his irascible nature, and during campaigns, his aides often tried to keep him away from voters, knowing he would offend them with his personality. The New York Times reported, "Those who admire him say Mr. Frank served up his sourness ...
The cuts to come
Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who was one of 12 members of the so-called Super Committee which recently failed to reach an agreement on deficit reduction, says he opposes the automatic spending cuts which are scheduled to occur because of the committee's failure. The automatic decreases in spending were intended as a sword over the committee's head to make sure the dozen members came together in compromise to do what was best for the country. They -- six Republicans and six Democrats -- didn't do that, and now Clyburn wants to change the rules.
Cain and Gingrich
Voters in this country are notoriously fickle -- even more so than football fans, and evidence of that can be found in the up-and-down nature of regular polls conducted to see which Republican presidential candidate is doing best. Each week it seems another contender has either caught the fancy of voters and surged to the top of polls or committed some blunder and plummeted like a rock falling off a cliff.
Noted and passed for Nov. 28, 2011
• We haven't been very impressed with the "Occupy" protestors at different sites across the United States -- most don't appear to have much of an idea of what they're protesting -- but unless there is something that doesn't meet the eye, police officers at the University of California-Davis used poor judgment in directing pepper spray at students who appear to be passively sitting on the ground. Further examination might provide new evidence warranting the officers' actions, but at first blush it appeared inexcusable.
Another failure in Washington
Of all the nauseating things about the Super Committee's inability to reach a deficit-cutting deal, perhaps the worst is that the leaders of both parties have apparently spent months anticipating such an impasse and trying to lay groundwork to use the committee's failure to advance their own causes in the 2012 election. It proves once more -- how many times does this make? -- that most of the elected officials in Washington are interested not in advancing common-sense proposals but in trying to get re-elected and trying to make sure their own party dominates.
A time of thanks
We live in troubled times. The United States is mired in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, which has left thousands of Kershaw County residents with dire immediate circumstances and uncertain prospects for the future. Our military is fighting terrorism on many fronts, and the world in general has in many ways lost its respect -- and certainly its reverence -- for our country. Our federal government is strangled by political gridlock, and an overwhelming percentage of Americans say our elected officials aren't doing the job they were sent to Washington to do. Some people feel the moral and ...
Articles by Section - Editorials
Noted and passed - March 10, 2014
• As the C-I continues to report on the Briana Rabon murder, there is a lot of speculation about how she and her accused killer, Stephen Ross Kelly, knew each other. Officials have, so far, only said that they both attended Lugoff-Elgin High School and were acquaintances, but not involved in a romantic relationship. Rumors abound, however, which we always check out but rarely get confirmation for publication. That's fine. Frankly, it's best that rumors stay out of the newspaper as we let the investigative and judicial processes take whatever time is needed to bring justice for Briana and ...
Fighting AIDS
The last couple weeks have brought astounding new developments in treatment of babies born with AIDS, raising for the first time the hope that perhaps a treatment has been found that will eradicate the disease in newborns who are born to mothers infected by the HIV virus. The first such case was reported last year, but there was skepticism among many in the scientific community. Earlier this week, a second similar case was reported. The first child, dubbed the "Mississippi baby," is now 3 years old and still virus-free; the second one shows no signs of HIV nine months after ...
Reid’s hypocrisy
We aren't very keen on so-called super PACS, those political organizations which spend limitless money promoting one viewpoint or another. They buy huge blocks of television and radio time, along with newspaper ads, to launch attack ads against candidates, with much of the material in the ads questionable at best. Super PACS are a sad sign of what our political process has become.
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