So, it turns out that Governor Mark Sanford has been stepping out on his wife for some time now. One could gather from e-mail correspondence the he might have actually fallen in love with the other woman. His wife put him out a while ago and he has been working on the "down low" as the kids might call it these days. While the likes of Governor Sanford are not so inclined, I believe that his marital issues are between him, his wife, and his family and friends as long as attends to his gubernatorial duties.
Unfortunately as far as his duties as Governor of the State of South Carolina are concerned, he seems to have been handling his business until this past week. This past week when commandeered a State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) vehicle, dodged his security detail, and left the country without informing the Lieutenant Governor, his staff, SLED, the State Cabinet, or anyone in the General Assembly. These actions are unacceptable for the top elected official of the State of South Carolina.
Commandeering a SLED vehicle was downright illegal. The vehicle in question was a armored sport utility vehicle (SUV) with blue lights, siren, and possibly a full compliment of weapons. Governor Sanford left this vehicle in the daily parking lot of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. This was a major security risk.
The most egregious of these acts was leaving the country without telling the Lieutenant Governor, his staff, SLED, the State Cabinet, or anyone in the General Assembly that he was leaving or where he was going. If anything had happened in South Carolina, or to the Governor for that matter, the consequences could have been dire: who had the authority to declare a state of emergency, deploy the state national guard, etc? People could have died due to Governor Mark Sanford's negligence of his gubernatorial duties. This negligence and malfeasance comes from a governor who inconsistently preaches about personal responsibility.
25 June, 2009
23 June, 2009
Conjecture
This past weekend the Governor of the State of South Carolina went off the grid for four days after allegedly giving his security detail the proverbial slip:
It turns out he went hiking on the Appalachian Trail to clear his head. This impromptu, off the books excursion coincides with the so-called Naked Hiking Day observed on said Appalachian Trail:
Putting his rumored national political aspirations aside, one must wonder what a state governor is thinking when he "disappears" for four days. What kind of leadership example is he setting? This is the same governor who wanted to reject federal stimulus funds on principles in order to set an example.
UPDATE: Turns out that Governor Sanford was out of town with his mistress:
It turns out he went hiking on the Appalachian Trail to clear his head. This impromptu, off the books excursion coincides with the so-called Naked Hiking Day observed on said Appalachian Trail:
Putting his rumored national political aspirations aside, one must wonder what a state governor is thinking when he "disappears" for four days. What kind of leadership example is he setting? This is the same governor who wanted to reject federal stimulus funds on principles in order to set an example.
UPDATE: Turns out that Governor Sanford was out of town with his mistress:
06 April, 2009
Observation
I have begun to wonder why the intersection of people afraid of big government and people afraid of big banks is so small. They seem to be relegated fringe libertarian type groups that come off sounding like anarchists. i.e. people who not only want to shrink the government, but also dissolve big enterprise and redistribute wealth without the rigors of socialism.
While I am a capitalist at heart and an anti-anti-federalist to boot, I wonder of monstrosities like the five largest banks in this country are really what the market demands and in service to the greater good. Regarding the former, it seems that the rise of the mondo-bank begat the hedge fund with fewer rules, higher risk, and greater returns on exotic financial instruments; the hedge funds grew and begat "boutique" hedge funds with yet fewer rules, higher risks, etc; the "boutique" hedge funds begat trillion dollar Ponzi scams which are just plain illegal. Is this not the same pattern of graft and corruption that opponents of big government fear from big government?
Opponents of big government would probably point out that this genealogy is the result of government interference in the free market. The rules and regulations put in place for "protection" and "insurance" are what caused the mega-banks. They would purport that in a truly free market banks would be just the right size for everyone to prosper and there would be no need for the kind of exotic financial instruments that could lead to widespread panic and long term recessions. This conclusion requires the financial arena has some intrinsic altruism and when self-regulated works like a fine-tuned perfect machine: people with money will make everything all right, because when everything is all right; people with money make more money.
The error here is that we are dealing with people and humans are not flawless, perfect machines. People lie, cheat, steal and manipulate for any of a number of reasons. Opponents of big government will point this out ad nauseum when confronted with any any government program that does not fall under defense spending.
Not all people are evil, villainous, creatures and humanity is not doomed, but there is enough "bad" out there that some things cannot go unchecked. Someone has to stand watch and someone needs to watch the watchmen. Nonetheless, I wonder why the intersection of opponents of big government and opponents of big banks is so small.
While I am a capitalist at heart and an anti-anti-federalist to boot, I wonder of monstrosities like the five largest banks in this country are really what the market demands and in service to the greater good. Regarding the former, it seems that the rise of the mondo-bank begat the hedge fund with fewer rules, higher risk, and greater returns on exotic financial instruments; the hedge funds grew and begat "boutique" hedge funds with yet fewer rules, higher risks, etc; the "boutique" hedge funds begat trillion dollar Ponzi scams which are just plain illegal. Is this not the same pattern of graft and corruption that opponents of big government fear from big government?
Opponents of big government would probably point out that this genealogy is the result of government interference in the free market. The rules and regulations put in place for "protection" and "insurance" are what caused the mega-banks. They would purport that in a truly free market banks would be just the right size for everyone to prosper and there would be no need for the kind of exotic financial instruments that could lead to widespread panic and long term recessions. This conclusion requires the financial arena has some intrinsic altruism and when self-regulated works like a fine-tuned perfect machine: people with money will make everything all right, because when everything is all right; people with money make more money.
The error here is that we are dealing with people and humans are not flawless, perfect machines. People lie, cheat, steal and manipulate for any of a number of reasons. Opponents of big government will point this out ad nauseum when confronted with any any government program that does not fall under defense spending.
Not all people are evil, villainous, creatures and humanity is not doomed, but there is enough "bad" out there that some things cannot go unchecked. Someone has to stand watch and someone needs to watch the watchmen. Nonetheless, I wonder why the intersection of opponents of big government and opponents of big banks is so small.
19 December, 2008
18 August, 2008
Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
This past week I added "Hot Buttered Soul" back into my music listening rotation. "Hot Buttered Soul" is part of the Soul music canon, and by extension a part of the Twentieth Century Black Music Canon. Most notably, the album makes me nostalgic for the era in Black music when the music scene was dominated by musicians who were also gifted instrumentalists. I often long to hear about the rise in popularity of five piece soul/rock/funk/R&B ensemble, or some gifted soloist who plays multiple instruments. To be more precise, I am waiting for the next James Brown, Otis Redding, or Marvin Gaye to make his way from the Chitlin Circuit to the mainstream and set the music world on fire.
Unfortunately, this kind of nostalgia can be dangerous. Waxing poetic about golden years long past can cause someone to loose sight of the present and miss out on the future. Additionally, this kind of nostalgia has its own brand of amnesia where only the positive aspects of an era are remembered. It is not 1967 and never will be again-- a good thing. Nonetheless, I do miss the music.
Progress and change beget innovation and invention. I will not pretend that I do not keep T.I. and Outkast in my listening rotation, or bob my head to Lil Jon. For all intents and purposes they are the rap era's version of James Brown, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. Someday, someone might look back on "Atliens" with a similar regard as "Hot Buttered Soul."
Unfortunately, this kind of nostalgia can be dangerous. Waxing poetic about golden years long past can cause someone to loose sight of the present and miss out on the future. Additionally, this kind of nostalgia has its own brand of amnesia where only the positive aspects of an era are remembered. It is not 1967 and never will be again-- a good thing. Nonetheless, I do miss the music.
Progress and change beget innovation and invention. I will not pretend that I do not keep T.I. and Outkast in my listening rotation, or bob my head to Lil Jon. For all intents and purposes they are the rap era's version of James Brown, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. Someday, someone might look back on "Atliens" with a similar regard as "Hot Buttered Soul."
19 June, 2008
mount (8)
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
/dev/hda1 is first partion of a primary IDE drive, not /dev/hda.
19 May, 2008
The Ballot or The Bullet
On or about this date in 1925, Malcolm Little was born near Omaha, Nebraska. He would go on to live an epic life that ended tragically a couple of months before his fortieth birthday. That short, epic life saw the worst of the Black American experience in the Twentieth Century.
While many dwell on his years of of affiliation with the Nation of Islam and his intermediate chosen name, Malcolm X, few consider the total of his life. A life that saw the effects of violence and racism in the United States. A life that took him around the world and earned him disenfranchisement by the Nation of Islam. A life that ended shortly after his true awakening to the implications of apartheid and racism and the self-hate it fostered in the so-called Negro in America.
Aside from encouraging Blacks in American to take responsibility for their destiny through enterprise and self-empowerment, one of Malcolm X's fundamental messages was for the so-called Negro in America to love himself. This came about because Malcolm saw in himself and his Black contemporaries a self-hate that lead to ignorance, crime, and social indifference. His conclusion was that changing the circumstances of Black America was to change this.
It has long confused me as to why teaching Black people to love themselves was so controversial. Another prominent leader who was a contemporary of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., based his message on everyone learning to love one another. These are not disparate messages but rather the latter relies on the former. Still, during their lives and long after, Malcolm and Martin were portrayed as adversaries. This, too, baffles me.
I would encourage anyone interested in American history in the Twentieth century to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. It provides a remarkable perspective on the American experience.
While many dwell on his years of of affiliation with the Nation of Islam and his intermediate chosen name, Malcolm X, few consider the total of his life. A life that saw the effects of violence and racism in the United States. A life that took him around the world and earned him disenfranchisement by the Nation of Islam. A life that ended shortly after his true awakening to the implications of apartheid and racism and the self-hate it fostered in the so-called Negro in America.
Aside from encouraging Blacks in American to take responsibility for their destiny through enterprise and self-empowerment, one of Malcolm X's fundamental messages was for the so-called Negro in America to love himself. This came about because Malcolm saw in himself and his Black contemporaries a self-hate that lead to ignorance, crime, and social indifference. His conclusion was that changing the circumstances of Black America was to change this.
It has long confused me as to why teaching Black people to love themselves was so controversial. Another prominent leader who was a contemporary of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., based his message on everyone learning to love one another. These are not disparate messages but rather the latter relies on the former. Still, during their lives and long after, Malcolm and Martin were portrayed as adversaries. This, too, baffles me.
I would encourage anyone interested in American history in the Twentieth century to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. It provides a remarkable perspective on the American experience.
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