Who to Vote for in the SC Presidential Primary?

My local paper, The Sun News (a good friend of mine calls the liberal rag The Scum News), printed a rundown of the main GOP candidates for the 2012 South Carolina Republican primary, which takes place in less than a week. Based on the whole, I know who I’m going to vote for, but I thought I’d go through all of their descriptors and stances on particular issues and create an amalgam of my ideal candidate based on all of them.

Now, as a full disclaimer, all of the issues mentioned and specifics quoted are from the paper. I didn’t pick the issues. I wouldn’t necessarily make the stand represented here. This blog is only based on what they said. A “,” comma is used to seperate ideas with the same candidate. A “;” is a seperation between candidates.

Here goes…

Abortion- Federal government should have no authority either to legalize or ban abortion

Debt- Balanced budget, avert a default on US debt payments; eviscerate Federal government, slashing nearly half of its spending, shut five Cabinet-level agencies; cut pay of Congress; oppose the financial industry bailout

Economy- Cut regulations, lower taxes, spur jobs through energy development, repeal Obama’s healthcare law; return to the gold standard, eliminate the Federal Reserve

Education- Do away with the No Child Left Behind Act, more school choice; abolish the Education Department, end the Federal role in education

Energy- Drill offshore reserves of oil and natural gas, end restrictions on Western oil shale development; eliminate the gasoline tax, provide tax credits for alternative fuel technology

Environment- Convert EPA into something altogether different; human caused global warming is a hoax

Healthcare- Repeal Obama’s healthcare laws, generous tax credit to help buy insurance

Gay Marriage- Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

Immigration- Path to citizenship for illegal immigrant’s children who perform military service, make English the official language; Do whatever it takes to secure the border, end right to citizenship of US-born children of illegal immigrants, no social services for illegal immigrants, aggressive deportation of illegal immigrants; more border agents; opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants

Social Security- give younger workers the option of diverting Social Security taxes to private retirement accounts

Taxes- Eliminate the Federal income tax and the Internal Revenue Service and defund close to half the government; zero corporate tax

Terrorism- Continued use of Guantanamo bay for suspected terrorists; no Constitutional rights for foreign terrorism suspects; airport screeners should employ profiling

War- reducing US involvement in conflicts

So, that’s it. That’s the best I could make from what was said by the candidates. Some of it I would offer differently. Of course, by the time I run for President in 2028, there’ll be a few new issues that I’ll have to deal with, although I’m sure some of the old mainstays will still be around.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley Saves Us from Personal Responsibility Again

In a knee-jerk reaction to the death of a biker last summer on the James Island Expressway connecting the island to Charleston SC, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has condemned any bikers or pedestrians who use the bridge to a night in the pokey.

The bridge connects a very heavily populated community with a bustling downtown area that has very limited parking options. Thus, it is more important than ever that we increase the bike traffic and decrease auto traffic. What about the carbon offset, the environmental concerns, the fitness concerns, the concern for people being responsible for themselves and allowing grown adults decide for themselves how they would like to ambulate or pedal into town?

Nah, let’s just do the government thing and decide for people that they don’t need to ride across the bridge and that if they can’t take a car, then they just don’t need to go. Pfooey!

Let people decide on their own, please.

NASA Redo Way Overdo

Am I alone in thinking that NASA needs either a major redesign, overhaul, or total scrapping?

What exactly has NASA ever done to justify billions in annual funding?

Inspire kids to be astronauts…not worth the money. Tony Stark (Iron Man) inspires the same kind of greatness.

Populate museums with moonrocks…not worth the money. I can find meteor rocks in the Arizona desert.

Burn up millions of gallons of fuel…not worth the money. I can do that in my SUV.

My ears are open. If you can think of anything helpful or relevant that NASA has ever done that’s worth the money, feel free to comment.