Lucky’s Blog

What has South Carolina to show for being run by Republicans for the most of the last two decades? South Carolina currently ranks 5^th in obesity, 4^th in Chlamydia rates, and 8^th in Diabetes rates, nationally. South Carolina ranks 45th in the well-being of children, which is caused primarily by six indicators: low birth-weight, infant mortality, teen deaths, child deaths, single-parent families, and children living in families without full-time yearly employment.

South Carolina continues to fall behind in several other critical areas. The high school graduation rate is 61.0 percent for incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years. South Carolina, like all the Bible-Belt states, has a high violent crime rate of 730 offenses per 100,000 people. South Carolina currently ranks as the 4^th most dangerous state out of 50 by crime statistics.

Poverty is a major contributing factor to health, education, and crime problems in South Carolina. South Carolina ranks 11^th out of 50 states in percentage of residents living below the poverty line.

The current rate is 15.7%. Jobs and employment opportunities continue to disappear from South Carolina. South Carolina has the 4^th worst unemployment rate at 11.6%.

The South Carolina Republican Party controls all levels of state government and has for most of the last two decades. What do we have to show for their leadership? What has been the Republican response to the critical issues facing South Carolina?

Gov. Mark Sanford engaged a political stunt to point out the “pork barrel” legislation when he brought a pig under each arm into the State House lobby. Within a few minutes, at least one of the pigs defecated on the expensive carpet in the State House lobby outside the Senate and House chambers.

Sanford refused to do what all forty-nine other U.S. Governors have done: submit an application to the United States Department of Education to immediately allow the funds to come to South Carolina to assist our children in these difficult economic times. In reaction to this effort by Sanford, the General Assembly passed a law directing the Governor to make the application. Sanford, in turn, vetoed this provision.

The General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto by a vote of 93 to 23 in the House of Representatives and by a vote of 34-11 in the Senate. Then in June, for seven days, South Carolinians didn’t know the whereabouts of Gov. Sanford.. It was soon found that Sanford had been in Argentina with his “soul-mate.”

Due to a serious lack of leadership from Governor Mark Sanford, the state of South Carolina has cut services to the most vulnerable citizens in the state. Here are just a few of the services recently cut from the state budget. South Carolina Medicaid will limit coverage for psychological counseling, physician visits, and routine physicals. They will also stop enrolling people living with HIV as part of a $61 million round of budget cuts.

In addition, budget cuts include an end hospice care for Medicaid-only patients; a decrease in the amount of assistance for prescription drug costs for low-income, elderly populations; and a reduction in home health nurse visits from 75 to 50 per year; and reducing assistance to hospitals and nursing homes. Families who move from welfare to work will now receive one year rather than two years of Medicaid coverage. Income requirements for Medicaid benefits have been raised in South Carolina and an estimated 3,700 elderly and disabled people are expected to lose Medicaid benefits.

The state also restricted many services, including preventive services. The South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs will have to operate on $70 million less than the previous year. This is due to drastic cuts in the agency’s budget. This means that thousands of disabled citizens will be forced to move into state institutions as the funds to provide in-home care have been cut from the budget.

Sanford was allowed to keep his position as Governor of South Carolina even though he voluntarily quit his job when he vanished for five days. He did not want federal stimulus funds for the citizens of South Carolina. He wanted to deny unemployment compensation to the unemployed. He wanted funds taken from the poor, elderly, and disabled of this state. He wanted to destroy public education in South Carolina.

However, statistics show that folks are leavin’ here faster than they are a comin’ here. Then he said that there are plenty of jobs and that the Employment Commission is to blame for the high unemployment numbers. Then he said that unemployed folks are all on drugs.

Now, he just cut off extended unemployment to people who had been receiving emergency unemployment compensation. He disqualifies people if they were judged “:at fault” in their last job separation. Oh, and the ” judges” in these cases most often side with the company and against the worker. They have this catch-all reason called insubordination and that’s what they use to deny a worker their benefits.

It doesn’t matter if a worker is under physician’s care because the “judge” will not accept any evidence and if it comes down to the worker’s word or the manager’s, well the manager is always right. It does not matter if the manager threatened, harrassed, and abused the employee.

It doesn’t matter if the manager lies and creates false documents. There is no penalty if the boss lies. they can always get some flunkies to lie for them too.  It’s okay for the boss to lie yet the employee is treated as if they are lying. The j”udge” never even listens to the employee.

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that the “judge ” was paid off. So now the unemployed worker, is suddenly stripped of his unemployment compensation. It’s okay with the big “Christian” boss and it’s okay with “Plantation” Mark Sanford if this abused worker can’t feed his family, pay utilities, or keep his home. it’s okay if this family is put out on the street and his children go hungry.

It’s okay isn’t it Mr. “Plantation” Mark?  It’s okay isn’t it big boss man? I bet you’re really proud of yourselves and you repiglican Jesus is happy too. That’s fine with me. Throw all you can at me. You want to do away with me but I’ll rise each and every time you hit me. I’ve got faith and I’ve got the real King Jesus with me.

More About “Plantation” Mark

Pollution

Changes to our natural environment may go unnoticed to us. Differences in weather statistics such as average temperature and average monthly rainfall may not be detected by most people as we make it through our daily schedules.Workers,who are fortunate enough to still have jobs, commute to the employment site on crowded highways and endure hours of stress along the way. We don’t take time to see the negative effects of climate change right before our eyes. Vegetation can’t grow because there is not enough rain.

Rivers dry up and are contaminated by Mercury and other chemicals. There is no longer an abundant water supply and large international corporations control more water resources each day. We have turned our future over to the “private” sector by giving corporations control over the water supply. At the same time, republicans have changed environmental laws and prevented enforcement and oversight for the laws they did not eliminate. We now have a dire situation where over one half of the rivers and streams in South Carolina are polluted with Mercury. Humans can’t survive without clean water. This is a simple fact.

Here are some actions we can take:

• Research weather statistics. You can start with weather.com and this will give you an idea of what to look for.
• Walk around and observe the world around you. This is good for your health too.
• Go to the local library and gather information about your area. What companies are located near you that may impact the environment.
• Contact your state department of environmental control. They probably are online and you can also request information about toxic sites close to you.
• Contact your elected officials at every level of government. Ask them what they do to protect the environment. If the answers don’t satisfy, then vote them out of office.

These are just some simple steps that can help get you started.

Demented Plantation Mentality

I try to keep up with these nuts. Bad news is that Jim Demented has no Democratic opposition for 2010 and he’s already raised $2 million for his campaign. He and Mark Sanford are in a race to see which one can destroy the state/nation first. We have to call them on these outright lies though. He says “socialism” has failed everywhere it’s been tried.

So who does Jim Demented is making the United States a socialist country ? Okay, and who do you think he’s wanting to stir up with this rhetoric? And he’s a United States Senator ? How pathetic.

Demented, by the way, won his election by the same margin that Mark Sanford won by. They both had a 10% margin. South Carolina is touted as being the most repiglican state in the country. They control all branches of state government, 4 of 6 congressional seats, and both U.S. Senate seats. If you have time, please check on the statistics for South Carolina and you’ll see exactly how well repiglican theory works in real life. The unemployment rate is well over 10% and that’s the official rate. South Carolina has the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S. and the state economy is managed exactly to Demented and “Plantation” Mark Sanford’s specs. It’s a shame that they are intent on a complete destruction of the public school system. All functions of government will be turned over to private corporations. We’ve recently witnessed the collapse of our economy due to the management skills used by corporate CEOs.

Yet, as I write there is a crowd on the State House grounds who agree with Jim Demented and Plantation Mark. Yep, some of the same folks who collect social security benefits and Medicare shout and scream while they wave the confederate flag in the air.

McMaster: Governor has say over stimulus money

The Attorney General for the state of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, ruled that Governor Mark Sanford has the final say when it comes to sccepting stimulus funds. He says this is because of “state sovereignty” and is accordance with the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Seems to me we already had one war over “state’s rights” and seems to me that South Carolina was on the losing side of that argument.

Fighting For Our Homes

My name is David, and I’m from South Carolina. My grandfather built this house in 1933 and it’s been in my family now for 5 generations. My mother was born in this house, and she’s recently moved back in so that we can take care of her. My eldest daughter moved in with her newborn son and they lived here as well, until he sadly passed away when he was two years old.

I remember coming home from work to play with him. I remember growing up, churning ice cream on the front porch and playing baseball in the front yard, playing football in the back yard. I made a big mistake in 1989 when I got out of the US Army. I took a mortgage out on the house to build extra closet space, enlarge the den and the kitchen and add another bathroom. The original loan was for $35,000 dollars. I’ve paid the loan for 20 years now and my balance is still $27,000. I recently lost my job in January and have stopped making payments. The bank is threatening to foreclose my home next Thursday. I can’t stand to be tossed out on the street – me, my Mom, and my daughter.

I tried to talk to the bank through the Veteran’s administration to tell them that I had come up with the money to remain current on the loan and continue making payments, but they didn’t respond. Instead, they keep sending threatening letters addressed to “Occupant.”

There are so many memories in this house that I just can’t stand it. My grandparents died here, my Mom was born here, my late grandson Jacob played here. I can’t sleep at night thinking about the future. If I could just get them to accept my payments, I promise I will never borrow money ever again. That was my mistake, borrowing money from this bank.