blognetnews.com
» South Carolina
edited by: Patrick Phillips, South Carolina Editor

South Carolina Citizen Journal

  • Energy Taxes

    Number of comments: 1
    Forget “Cap and Trade” and “Climate Change Legislation”. What we are really talking about are taxes on fossil fuel energy consumption. And taxes on fossil fuel consumption are exactly what we need  in order for our state to prosper in the coming decades. South Carolina currently imports $14 billion in oil [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: October 01, 2009, 9:29am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Governor’s office takes stimulus money

    I am curious to know what the Governor’s office is doing with the $13.9 million in stimulus money that it took. Anybody? Bueller? And the Lt. Governor’s office took $419,000? Can we get an accounting for this 14 million dollars? [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 29, 2009, 6:47am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Wind Turbine Test Facility

    South Carolina is “in a race” for a 45 million dollar test facility for super size wind turbines to be funded by the federal government. Other states on the track are Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan. Oh, to win this race. It is imperative that South Carolina become energy independent as soon [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 26, 2009, 8:47am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • State schools hire lobbyists

    Let’s see, South Carolina tax dollars being spent to pay individuals to lobby for state institutions of higher learning. I can certainly see where federal and state money is getting harder to come by these days, but I also wonder why the board of directors are not stepping up and [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 24, 2009, 7:48am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Joe Wilson

    Maybe next time he could throw a shoe. Maybe he could run naked through the chamber. Maybe Mr. Wilson’s representation of our state should be reconsidered. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 10, 2009, 9:00am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Gubernatorial Candidates

    Number of comments: 3
    I have looked at the websites for all of the candidates for our next governor and so far I see no one who wants to lead this state. What will it take for someone to put their mouth where their money is and tell us what they will do to lead [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: August 31, 2009, 6:24am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • 70% Consumer Spending

    I keep reading about how 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending, and that we need to spend more to bring us out of this recession. It needs to be pointed out that consumer spending is consumption, and that 70% consumption is, to put it mildly, unsustainable. Does that [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: August 29, 2009, 8:58am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Air Industry News

    The recent news that the global air industry faces a 9 billion dollar loss for 2009 tells us that the air industry will be going through massive changes in the coming years and a comprehensive plan to position our state to handle this change needs to be dealt with sooner [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: June 14, 2009, 11:27am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Pay Day Lending

    Number of comments: 3
    Let’s get a few things straight. The pay day lending industry in our state are bottom feeders. They charge upwards of 400% interest on their loans. They fray the base of our society and make our state weaker. When I read that they have a strong lobby within our state’s legislature I [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 24, 2009, 9:05am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Homesteading

    Number of comments: 1
    Some thirteen months ago, my wife and I were lucky enough to purchase a house on a lot of about a third of an acre. It came with a mature pecan tree in the front yard, from which last summer we didn’t get any pecans, but we cleared off the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 17, 2009, 10:52am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • SC Energy

    Number of comments: 2
    I read with interest that South Carolina will soon be exporting 350,00 tons of switchgrass to Europe to fuel power plants there, as they move away from coal. With the recent downturn in energy usage across our state, and with lower projected energy use into the future coupled with technological breakthroughs [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 09, 2009, 12:00pm EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Megadumps

    It is good to see our elected officials taking steps so that South Carolina does not become the trash dumping ground for the whole eastern seaboard. DHEC has passed new regulations making it more difficult for these megadumps to be built here. I would like us to go further and make [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 01, 2009, 6:57am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • State debt, Government

    Well, with all the expansion of government spending and cutting of taxes over the last decade in our state, I just assumed that South Carolina had paid off any outstanding debt at the state level. So imagine my suprise when our governor asks the federal government if we can use 700 [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 29, 2009, 10:12am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Port Authority

    Number of comments: 2
    Senator Robert Ford is back in the news today, introducing a senate bill to “recognize the port’s economic impact”. I think we all already recognize the port’s economic impact, and it does not need to be codified. What we need at the Port of Charleston to remain competitive is SHARED ACCESS RAIL [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 29, 2009, 11:54am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Pay Day Lending Bill

    Number of comments: 3
    Well, instead of simply putting a limit on the interest that pay day lenders can charge in our state, Bobby Harrell, Harry Cato and Bill Sandifer are set to increase our state’s bureaucracy by setting up a state run database to track who has loans with the companies, in order [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 27, 2009, 9:53am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Gresham Barrett editorial

    Rep. Barrett’s editorial today states that the economy is now stabilized. The Financial Times reports today that Caterpillar will lay off 20,000, Sprint/Nextel 8,000, Home Depot 7,000, and General Motors 2,000. Pfizer(after acquiring Wyeth) will lay off 19,000, 15% of the combined workforce. I suggest to Rep. Gresham Barrett, of the 3rd [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 26, 2009, 2:39pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • The Fourth Estate

    It’s a funny thing about internet news outlets, how easily they can be filtered. It would be much easier to deny access to an internet site than newspaper that goes out to homes on paper. This is why I lament the trouble that the newspaper industry finds itself in. The term “fourth [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 24, 2009, 12:45pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • State pay for County Treasurers and Auditors

    I read today that the state has cut a pay supplement for county treasurers and auditors from $19,395 to $13,783 a year. Well, I guess I’m wondering why the state pays any part of salaries for county held offices. Shouldn’t counties pay for their own office’s salaries? If the state were [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 22, 2009, 8:44am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Senator Robert Ford Proposals

    Number of comments: 1
    I see Senator Ford is in the news today, introducing bills to legislate a dress code and music lyrics. If he has his way South Carolina will have the best dressed video poker players in the world, all listening to Perry Como. I’m sure our esteemed legislative bodies need to be focusing [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 16, 2009, 10:02am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Sanford and the bailout

    Wait, somethings up with the economy? Really? I’m pretty sure, if we keep it quiet, no one will notice that the U.S. economy has been completely run into the ground. Governor Sanford seems, with his recent statements against the huge federal bailouts, to perhaps be positioning himself for a run at [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 13, 2009, 1:04pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • Sanford and the Unemployment Commission

    Well, I have to hand it to our Governor. It was a joke, saying he would not request the federal money to fund our states unemployment commission, but it looks like he might be successful in getting the four person board eliminated and the director put directly under the executive [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 13, 2009, 1:02pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina Gasoline Tax

    I’m reading a lot about the upcoming budget and the Governor’s plan for a new tax structure, and I am wondering why raising our state’s gasoline tax has not come up. We are currently ten cents lower than our neighboring states of Georgia and North Carolina, and raising this tax has [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 13, 2009, 10:36am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Value of a Dollar

    Dollars. Greenbacks, Benjamins, bacon, bread, bucks, clams, smackers, simoleans, moolah, cold hard cash. According to Niall Ferguson’s ‘The Ascent of Money’, since 1957, ‘the purchasing power of the dollar, relative to the consumer price index, has declined by a staggering 87 percent’. Ah, holiday reading. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 07, 2009, 10:44am EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina Wind

    Looking at a wind map of the United States, you can see that our state, in the far northwestern corner, just happens to have a small swath of world class wind that is there for the harvesting. It would be a small part of our state’s energy mix, but we should [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 17, 2008, 6:16am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Hypermiling

    Hypermiling is the simple concept of driving as efficiently as possible. With South Carolina importing 100% of its gasoline, it is an idea that should be actively promoted. Perhaps a public service campaign by our department of transportation would be a good idea. The less fuel we import, the more wealth [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 16, 2008, 8:32am EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina Transportation

    Number of comments: 2
    With the federal government poised to dole out billions in new public works funding, it is a good time to take a look at what type of projects might benefit our state. We could of course do the usual and spend the money on automobile infrastructure- roads, bridges and the like. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 13, 2008, 9:11am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Sanford Tax Plan

    First, where is the increase in the gasoline tax? The Governor has really dropped the ball on this issue. Second, an increase in the cigarette tax should definitely be implemented. Third, ending the tax holiday for school supplies does not show much support for our students and educators. Fourth, a $3 a ton [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 11, 2008, 12:17pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • Roll Call Voting (again?)

    I read today in the Post & Courier that our state senate president, Glenn McConnell has said that roll call voting is a waste of time and money. Perhaps we should say that any bill that does not demand roll call voting is the real waste of time and money. Let’s just [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 11, 2008, 8:40am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Federal Political Appointees

    I read today that there are 600 political appointees working in the Pentagon. Maybe that should be rolled back to, oh I don’t know, maybe ONE, the secretary of defense? This over insertion of appointees, and it is no doubt just as bad in all the other cabinet departments, surely is [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 05, 2008, 2:02pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • SCANA Nuclear Plant Proposal

    What we should ask ourselves about the SCANA’s proposal to build two nuclear power plants is, would we be willing to store the nuclear waste within our own state’s border? If no, then we should concentrate on clean coal, renewable sources and conservation.        [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 05, 2008, 1:50pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • Gasoline Tax

    South Carolina’s tax on gasoline currently stands at 35.2 cpg. In comparison, our neighboring states of Georgia and North Carolina have gas tax rates of 44.4 and 48.6 cpg, respectively, according to southcarolinagastaxes.com. Figures include 18.4 cpg federal tax. With gas prices plummeting and South Carolina tax revenues in freefall, it [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 03, 2008, 9:27am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Are You a S.C. Patriot?

    What constitutes a Patriot? One who loves his country and supports its interests. I put forth the following that true patriots can embark upon to make our state better. 1. Be as energy efficient as possible. South Carolina imports close to 100% of its energy, and we can go a long [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 02, 2008, 9:47am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Congressional Travel

    To those recently outraged by the Detroit automaker’s CEO’s recent travel by private jet to hearings in Washington, I say that what we need to look at is how much congress spends on travel and on housing. I vaguely remember a news article when Nancy Pelosi first became speaker of the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2008, 10:07am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Economy

    My kitchen is not my dream kitchen, but it certainly is nothing to complain about, most of the modern conveniences being included. My favorite thing in the place is not the food processor, which is used sparingly, or the blender, or even the coffee maker, which I do rely on [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 22, 2008, 5:30pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • Who owns your grocery store?

    Number of comments: 1
    Just so you know where your money goes when you shop for groceries I have compiled the following list: Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., corp. offices in North Charleston, SC, privately held, employee owned. Bi-Lo, corp. offices in Mauldin, SC, privately held LLC. Harris-Teeter, corp. offices in Matthews, NC, privately held. Food Lion, corporate offices [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 10, 2008, 11:03am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc.

    A wire blurb in Friday’s Post & Courier caught my attention regarding lower sales and profits from the new Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. After having done a little research I found that their corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, making Wendy’s and Arby’s regional chains, and I see the relevance of the wire [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 10, 2008, 9:42am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Budget & Control Board 8% Decision

    Number of comments: 1
    Without having done any analysis of my own, I am initially disappointed in the Budget & Control Board’s recent decision not to lower the expected return on investment from 8% to 7.25% as Governor Sanford had advised. I personally would love to see 8% returns on my own investments, but [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 08, 2008, 10:08am EST
    by NotforHire

  • University Medical Associates send money, jobs out of state

    Number of comments: 4
    After having an altercation with an automobile on my bicycle earlier this summer that required medical attention, I find myself looking at a bill from University Medical Associates, the umbrella group that handles billing for doctors that practice at MUSC. The statement has me sending my payment to a post office [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 07, 2008, 9:53am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Health Care Costs

    Health care premiums in South Carolina rose nearly six times faster than median workers’ earnings between 2000 and 2007. I would like to suggest, to all of us who are fortunate enough to have health insurance, that it is important to look closely at health care bills to make sure [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: October 18, 2008, 10:16am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Political Contributions

    I think it must be noted, in this presidential election cycle, the lack of advertising dollars flowing into out state from the national campaigns. This being due to a lock on our vote for the Republican candidate. My point being that the rate of return that our state sees on any [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: October 18, 2008, 9:50am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Debt/Bailout

    The current economic crisis has been spurred by deregulated greed of mortgage lenders, dubious decisions by home buyers to accept adjustable rate mortgages without reading the fine print, and global bankers who were more than happy to overlook the underlying structural problems of these loans and spin them into investment [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: October 18, 2008, 9:32am EDT
    by NotforHire

  • S.C. Roll Call Voting

    The Journal applauds the recent articles and the editorial in the Post & Courier regarding the abysmal lack of accountability in the voting procedures in both the South Carolina House and Senate. Our elected officials should be proud of their voting records, not slinking around them, and we as a state [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 28, 2008, 12:00pm EDT
    by NotforHire

  • Keep it in our back yard

    I’m pretty sure we don’t want the senators from California, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, meddling in our state’s affairs. So let’s have our senator, Mmmm DeMinty stay out of municipal affairs in California, shall we? [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 12, 2008, 3:20pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • Circle the Wagons, Part I

    Number of comments: 1
    According to the South Carolina Energy Office’s 2005 Energy Statistical Profile “South Carolina spends $10 billion per year on energy and ranks 18th in the nation in total energy consumption per capita”. The profile also states that our per capita energy consumption is above the U.S. average. Now if I’m not [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 07, 2008, 11:45am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Upstate paper wants new water board

    Number of comments: 1
    The Spartenburg Herald-Journal has called for the creation of a state water board “in order to study the state’s water resources, their current use and future needs.“ I’m pretty sure that’s what the hydrology department in the Department of Natural Resources already does for us. Yes, when I read the departments [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 05, 2008, 12:40pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina campaign money going out of state

    South Carolina politicians, both Democrat and Republican, send hundreds of thousands of dollars of our political contributions out of state by paying for out of state consultants and media production. First off, if a politician has to go out of state to craft their political message, it’s not showing a lot [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 04, 2008, 11:34am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Keep South Carolina Ports for South Carolina

    Number of comments: 1
    The South Carolina Ports Authority is in the news again. Containers coming through our system dropped 11 percent in 2007. Somehow this drop in cargo should be answered with an expansion of the Charleston port, but no one is explaining why an expansion is a good answer to a drop [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 30, 2008, 11:20am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Classroom unruliness and disruption

    Teachers in South Carolina will not be able to effectively do their jobs until they have the power to tell a student to get out of their classroom for unruliness. Public schools in South Carolina will not be effective institutions until the school administrators figure out what to do with the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 29, 2008, 9:46am EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina Golf TV ad

    Number of comments: 2
    I was watching a little cable last night when on came a delightful commercial(very high production values) promoting golf in our fine state. Directed to go to southcarolinagolf.com, I did, being redirected to golf.discoversouthcarolina.com(but no matter), which is a SC Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Tourism website. Kudos on the web site [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 12, 2008, 9:04am EST
    by NotforHire

  • School District Energy Competition

    Number of comments: 3
    Citizen Journal would like to see every South Carolina school district institute a yearly competition, within each school district, between schools, of which school can use the least energy throughout the school year(per capita), with some sort of commensurate prize awarded to the winning school. Such a competition will save school [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 10, 2008, 11:10am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Mmmm, DeMinty

    “U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., will be campaigning on behalf of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney today in S.C. DeMint will greet voters in Greenville and the Lowcountry.” This is the blurb from The State regarding our Senator’s swing through the state, talking the talk in support of his presidential candidate. I’ve [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 09, 2008, 11:39am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Congressman Inglis takes trip to South Pole on taxpayer’s money

    Bob Inglis, global warming skeptic who has recently felt the warm breeze of political change in his face, has been taking jaunts around the world on taxpayer money to see for himself, most recently to Antarctica. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I send South Carolinians’ to [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 05, 2008, 10:17am EST
    by NotforHire

  • 45 from Richland school district going to Mobile

    Number of comments: 4
    Does it really take 45 people from the Richland school district to go to Mobile to study their school system? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to send ONE COMPETENT PERSON who would then return and report back to the Richland school system? If the Richland school system can do without [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 04, 2008, 8:04am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Graham and DeMint in Iowa

    Our esteemed Senators are traveling through Iowa right now, supporting their presidential candidates. No doubt they do so completely as private citizens, spending not one penny of taxpayer’s money. Powered by ScribeFire. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 03, 2008, 7:43am EST
    by NotforHire

  • This Year

    Ought eight is the year folks, time to circle the wagons. More on this soon. Happy New Year. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 01, 2008, 1:52pm EST
    by NotforHire

  • South Carolina Powerball is economic “Powerdrain”

    Number of comments: 2
    There was a well balanced article in The State Sunday about the South Carolina Education Lottery. I for one see both the pros and cons of a state run lottery, but I don’t have a particular ethical dilemma with the system. I have even been known to play the lottery [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 17, 2007, 9:47am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Governor Sanford hits home run with land conservation proposal

    Number of comments: 3
    Governor Sanford’s proposal to budget an additional $50 million for land conservation is an outstanding move. He is correct when he says, “If you develop every square inch around each one of the metropolitan areas of this state, one of the inevitable byproducts is a deterioration of the quality of [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 14, 2007, 9:06am EST
    by NotforHire

  • S.C. Supreme Court okay with legal beagles, not legal eagles

    Number of comments: 1
    There seems to be a bit of controversy surrounding the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to let 20 people who failed the bar exam become lawyers in our state. Passing the bar is hard in this state, because we want the best practicing law here, and of course there were people [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 10, 2007, 7:45am EST
    by NotforHire

  • State tax incentive for Cabela’s step in the wrong direction

    Governor Sanford is right to oppose tax incentives for sporting goods retailer, Cabela’s. The creation of a few service sector jobs and a very minor tourist ‘destination’ is not nearly enough to validate the tax incentive plan passed by the South Carolina legislature. It would be a different matter if state [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 03, 2007, 10:43am EST
    by NotforHire

  • Introduction

    Number of comments: 1
    Just a few comments from the ledge. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: December 02, 2007, 11:34am EST
    by NotforHire
← Crack the Bell Brad Warthen's Blog →

Blog Info:
South Carolina Citizen Journal

» http://citizenjournal.wordpress.com

Categories

BNN Traffic Index

Alexa: 7,791,490
1,454,119

Compete: No data
0

Quantcast: No data
23

BNN Traffic Index: 1,454,119

BNN Influence Index

Rank

This week: Not ranked this week.

Last week: Not ranked last week.

12-week Average:

BNN Authority Index

Technorati: 0

Google: 0

BNN Authority Index: No data

» Subscribe to the South Carolina Citizen Journal feed