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THE STUCK PIG SQUEALS
When Rep. Gary Simrill's (R-York) bill to ban same-sex marriages went
to the floor of the House April 24, it passed 82 0. The Senate passed a
similar version of the bill May 2.
Led by Republicans
 who,
ironically, claim to champion getting the government out of our lives
the bills
would also void same-sex unions performed in other states. The fact that
same-sex marriages are not legal in any state did not slow down the rush
to manage the personal affairs of consenting adults in South Carolina.
Legislators are concerned that the Hawaii Supreme Court will uphold
same-sex marriages in that state, which would give gay couples the
opportunity to fly to Hawaii, get married, return to South Carolina and
claim the same insurance and tax benefits available to "breeders."
Simrill and other sponsors dismissed concerns over the bill's
constitutionality, arguing that the union of one man and one woman in
marriage is sacred and beyond the law.
Displaying a sophomoric humor to match their intellect, House members
jokingly debated an amendment offered by Rep. Doug McTeer (D-Hampton) to
prohibit farmers from marrying their pigs.
Is it possible that the fixation our state legislators have about
homosexuality reveals a certain unease about their own sexual identity?
MEANERGARTEN?
Gov. Beasley's assault on full-day kindergarten has folks wondering if
the governor is playing with a full deck.
At first, the governor was totally opposed to funding a full day of
school for five-year-olds. Ignoring the studies cited by his own
Department of Education, the governor repeatedly claimed that there is no
scientific basis for believing that full-day kindergarten better prepares
kids than do half-day classes.
Beasley has been trying to alarm his conservative brethren by claiming
that the Senate bill deprives parents of their "choice," and demanding
that "full-day kindergarten must be totally optional."
The governor either hasn't read the proposed legislation for full-day
kindergarten or believes that our state's citizenry is too stupid to
notice he is being disingenuous. The bill clearly states that full-day,
half-day and no-day are options the parents get to choose.
When it became apparent that the Senate was going to support full-day
classes, Beasley tried a new tactic. He got his black staff person to put
together a press conference at a black church kindergarten to announce his
support for full-day classes.
After Beasley used the opportunity to announce that he would only
support full-day classes if it included a voucher system that gave parents
money to send their kids to a private school, some of the participants in
the press conference felt they had been suckered.
Rev. Roscoe Wilson, pastor of St. John's Baptist where the press
conference was held, later said that he didn't have a clue that the
governor was going to use the occasion to call for a voucher system. Rep.
Alma Byrd (D-Richland) was heard to say, "They lied to me."
When Beasley sent out an editorial defending his position on
kindergarten vouchers, it claimed to have been co-written by Byrd. The
governor's office had more egg on its face when Dr. Byrd asked that her
name be removed from the piece.
On May 2, the Senate, with the help of five Republicans, passed its
full-day bill and rejected the governor's voucher plan.
While the bill calls for spending $20 million a year to fund full-day
kindergarten, an opponent of the voucher system notes that Beasley's
proposal would require $20 million just to subsidize the middle-class kids
already in private kindergartens.
It's no secret that Beasley wants to use the kindergarten voucher ploy
as a foot in the door for privatizing the entire education system
a plan most
educators view as class-biased and racist.
The governor's best bet at this point is to get his minions in the
house to fight the kindergarten bill in the budget. He really doesn't want
the blood of a veto against early childhood education on his family
valuing hands.
CLAMPDOWN OR SHUTDOWN?
Two years ago, the state legislature ordered DHEC to write strict new
regulations governing doctor offices and clinics that perform
first-trimester abortions on an outpatient basis.
The regulations, which are scheduled to take effect in late June,
would micromanage everything from air flow to door size. There is no
phase-in period for the regulations, and there is likely to be a clamor
from the anti-choice crowd to force an immediate shutdown of clinics and
doctor offices that are not in full compliance.
While the anti-choice contingent chortles over its victory, the ACLU,
Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers plan to go to court to
block the regulations from going into effect.
READY KILLERWATT
With little public notice and less state oversight, SCE&G signed on to
a list of 14 U.S. power companies expressing an interest in using their
reactors to make nuclear bomb material.
While SCE&G claims to be interested only in learning more about the
possibility of providing tritium for hydrogen bombs, no state authority
seems concerned about a private utility entering the nuclear weapons
business.
SCE&G's reactor 30 miles north of Columbia and Duke Power's Catawba
unit near Rock Hill are being considered as potential sources for the
nuclear weapons material.
Since commercial nuclear facilities have been banned from making
nuclear weapons material since 1954, this proposal would make our local
utilities international terrorists.
Should this harebrained scheme become reality, every time you flip a
light switch you could be helping to make a nuclear bomb.
FAMILY AFFAIR
When Rep. Tim Rogers (D-Richland) announced he wouldn't seek a seventh
term, contenders rushed to fill the void left by the Shandon liberal.
Democrat James Smith and Republican Robert Adams are expected to win
their party nominations and face each other in November.
Smith, an attorney with the McNair firm, is Roger's heir apparent.
Adams was campaign manager for David Beasley's gubernatorial race. Adam's
father, Weston Adams, is a board member of the ultraconservative S.C.
Policy Council and a former Reagan ambassador.
While Smith and Adams couldn't be further apart politically, they are
close in other ways. They are first cousins.
CALLING A SPADE
If you have been feeling guilty over your notion that Rep. Hunter
Limbaugh (R-Florence) suffers from racial insensitivity, rest easy.
Limbaugh was pushing a bill that would ban the state from
discriminating against, or giving preferential treatment to, people on the
basis of race.
While Limbaugh denied that the bill was designed to dismantle
affirmative action programs, he has often been heard defending the "boot
strap" theory and the "level playing field."
Limbaugh's politics may be a comfort to the David Duke crowd, but the
real relief is that Limbaugh couldn't get enough of his colleagues to buy
his line to get his bill considered.
OLD STRATEGY
While Democratic candidate Elliott Close may not have noticed that
Sen. Thurmond is looking a bit dote
or is too
polite to say so
Strom has a
new opponent who doesn't mind pointing out the obvious.
Rep. Harold Worley (R-Horry) is a wealthy Myrtle Beach businessman who
became a Republican in late 1994 after supporting Clinton for president
and Joe Riley for governor. "We all make mistakes," he said.
Worley, who is using Thurmond's age as a campaign strategy, is a
godsend for the Close camp. He doesn't have a chance of beating Thurmond
for the Republican nomination, but he will conveniently inject the
senator's age as an issue, letting Close maintain the high road.
It is fitting that comedian and former Jim Miles public relations
flack Michael Graham has been hired to manage Worley's kamikaze campaign.
Close, meanwhile, faces a last-minute opponent in the Democratic
primary, Orangeburg photographer Cecil Williams. Williams ran in the
Democratic senatorial primary in 1984, and received 140,000 votes with an
outlay of $300.
Williams, an African American, considered running this time as a
Republican, but after a cold reception at GOP headquarters
"They didn't
even invite me to sit down," he said
he filed as
a Democrat.
"It would take a miracle for me to win," Williams said, "but I believe
in miracles."
ANOTHER FIRST
It seems that Gov. Beasley isn't the only member of the First Family
fooling people with kindergarten plans.
The First Mother recently put in a visit to check out the kindergarten
program at A.C. Moore Elementary in Columbia.
It's not known if the Beasleys are considering public kindergarten for
the First Children or just showing some hypocritical support for public
education.
The First Mother hung out in the back of one of the classrooms,
accompanied by a large African-American bodyguard.
After she left, one of the other teachers innocently inquired, "Who
was that nice young couple?"
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