You’ll have to forgive Katy Stech at the Charleston Post and Courier … those new Boeing Dreamliner airplanes (which have yet to fly, btw) sure do look phallic.

Plus, it’s hard to find anybody, anywhere in South Carolina right now who’s not either fellating or tossing Boeing’s salad with everything they’ve got.

Well … except for the S.C. Policy Council, of course, which has bashed Boeing’s incentive package as a “bailout” and in the process (to borrow a term used by one of our favorite “movement” fiscal conservatives)  “stepped on a big ole’ pile of sh*t and tracked it all over the house.”

In fairness, we’re not exactly donning the knee pads yet either, in large part because we’ve got lots of smaller fish to stand up for – plus we know that the Palmetto State landing one major economic development announcement every decade isn’t exactly a record to be proud of.

Hence today’s announcement that South Carolina’s unemployment rate has topped 12%, again …

Anyway, from Stech’s most recent article, entitled “Boeing: the Future” (be sure to have paper towels available when you’re finished) …

Boeing Co.’s transformational influence on the Lowcountry will start with a mound of dirt today but have an immeasurable impact on generations to come.

The sheer scope of the aviation giant’s future $750 million plant, the largest private investment ever announced in the Charleston area, could change the economic and cultural fabric of the region.

Boeing’s plant will stand as the region’s largest building, a steel-sided fortress on the Charleston airport’s campus. With the footprint of 12 football fields, it could be seen through trees along Interstate 526.

Drivers will be able to peer into the fenced-in facility over neat landscaping and guarded entrances. The entire area around the plant will be redesigned for traffic flow with fresh turn lanes that will guide traffic into a black asphalt sea of parking lots.

Boeing’s influence likely will reach beyond the plant itself. Planes with foreign logos will be lined up on the airport’s tarmac. Students in schools will study the aerospace industry within direct sight of their future profession. Aviation suppliers will hum with orders to support Boeing’s operation. International workers and visitors will bring a cosmopolitan flair and flock to cafes and restaurants that will spring up to serve the plant.

Again, we read this story three of four times and frankly couldn’t find a line in it that the Boeing PR office wouldn’t have rubber-stamped … or written themselves.

Like the reference to how foreign visitors “could make their way down to King Street, filling the air with casual banter in various languages,” or the line towards the end that talks about about how “a company as big as Boeing could make residents who aren’t even directly connected to the facility feel linked into its pulse.”

Seriously, is this the friggin’ company newsletter we’re reading?

Then there was the whole entree into local government spin, in which Stech notes that Boeing “could be the nexus of a movement to revitalize blighted areas and build interconnected neighborhoods in which homes are mixed with shops, and transportation such as light railways.”

(gulp)

Light rail?

Sheesh.

Don’t get us wrong.  Boeing’s decision is indeed “transformative,” and you know we mean that because we absolutely detest using those ridiculous buzzwords.

We also hope it is every bit as successful as it promises to be, because this state desperately needs another success story like BMW.

But that, again, is our point.

Landing one big bear a decade does not a successful economy make … as today’s unemployment rate once again capably demonstrates.

As much as we respect his intellect (usually) and support the vast majority of votes he’s cast in the South Carolina Senate, there’s a reason that State Senator Larry Grooms is still a fringe (and some say “Stepford”) candidate in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial race.

And no, we’re not just talking about the massive bank loan he had to take out in order to keep his sagging campaign afloat.

We’re actually talking about videos like this one, which would have you believe that ALL Americans must rally behind Grooms (and give him their hard-earned money) or doom and gloom will surely befall our great land …

Ummm … okay.

Somebody obviously needs to call the Goose Creek High School special ed AV club, people  … they’re going to want their announcer and video editor back.

Yikes.

Anyway, while this “money bomb” video (such as it is) isn’t directly affiliated with the Grooms campaign, it’s obviously reinforcing one of his core branding efforts – namely the he (and he alone) is the “Tea Party” candidate in the 2010 race.

Hmmm … we wonder if Grooms has shared this bit of his voting history with his fellow Tea Partiers?

Because they tend to be an “all or nothing” sort of crowd.

Again, though, we think Grooms is a great guy.  In fact, we spoke with him the other day on an incredibly complicated port-related issue and his immediate grasp of its fundamentals was impressive.  That’s a marked contrast to U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, who babbles incessantly about the state’s port system but clearly doesn’t have a clue what the hell he’s talking about.  Seriously, Barrett might as well be an inbred Yorkie yapping on command at the kennel club.

Assuming Grooms campaign is legitimate, though, we’d really like to see him start acting like it.

Anybody can yell. Where’s the substance, Larry?

Until then, we’re not ready to dismiss the whole “Stepford” argument …

For someone who prides himself on having zero integrity or credibility, our founding editor has nonetheless managed to amass quite a bit of both over the past few years.

Alright, alright … Sic Willie obviously has no integrity … who are we kidding!

But it’s hard to argue that FITS News hasn’t become a credible news outlet, even as Sic rakes in the big sweet dollars from undisclosed special interests while at the same time disingenuously proclaiming his hatred for the accumulation of such mainstream “respects.”

Errr … wait … no, actually.  None of that.  Did we just write that?!?!?  Mistake! We meant something else!

Anyway, as FITS has shown on multiple occasions, Sic is also the master of “milking a story,” as he is obviously doing with the whole “Lindsey Graham is a tool of the radical left” series.

And yes, here’s the obligatory invitation for you to click here, here, here and here if you want to read the meticulously-documented stories that expose the whole scam.

Sometimes, though, it’s not us that’s milking the story … it’s the hit dogs who “holler back” at us.

For example, here’s an email we received earlier today from one of the leaders of Lindsey Graham’s Shining Path …

In one of your recent posts about Lindsey Graham you incorrectly assert that Republicans for Environmental Protection gets funding from the Tides Foundation. REP has not recieved a dime from Tides. REP is organized under section 501c4 of the tax code and I do not think it would even qualify for such support.

REP has no connection whatsoever to liberal whacko George Soros, and implying that we do is dishonest. You also imply that REP is not really the group defending Senator Graham. We are. So please get your facts straight. If you are really interested in honest reporting, I am happy to answer any questions that come up regarding REP.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

David Jenkins
Vice President for Government and Political Affairs
Republicans for Environmental Protection

First, excuse us while we bend over and contemplate the half-hour (and several hundred dollars) that our lawyers are going to bill us for as they contemplate this nonsensical missive …

(moon river …)

… ahhh, that’s better. Thank you.

Now, on to the substance of this merit-less complaint (which $640 later we were advised to simply ignore, btw).

First of all, as FITS readers are very well aware, “Republicans for Environmental Protection” was not the group originally listed as the entity behind these ads.  It was supposed to be paid for by the left-leaning “Truman National Security Project,” although our investigation into the whole she-bang (bad pun, sorry) forced Graham’s left-wing defenders to switch the sponsor of the buy at the last minute (see the evidence of that here).

It’s funny to see such a passionate response from a guy whose organization was literally thrown onto the ad buy at the very last minute – after we exposed the first assemblage of tree huggers.

Anyway, let’s look at the various bones of contention from Mr. Jenkins’ nastygram (because we’re milking, remember?) …

“You incorrectly assert that Republicans for Environmental Protection gets funding from the Tides Foundation,” Jenkins writes.

Well, no.  No we didn’t.  We asserted what we could prove, which was that Republicans for Environmental Protection “is connected to a donor fund managed by the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, one of the many George Soros-funded non-profits that provides provides ‘fiscal sponsorship for progressive groups.’”

Indeed, during the 2008 cycle, $20,000 of the $25,000 received by the Republicans for Environmental Protection PAC came from John A. Harris IV and Lawrie Harris.  The Harris’s are big time donors to environmental 527 committees.  In the 2006 election cycle, for example, they contributed over $1 million to environmental groups. In one of those donor disclosures, Harris lists a group called the Changing Horizons Fund as his employer.

Guess who manages that fund? George Soros’ Tides Foundation.

Jenkins goes on to allege that our story implied that “REP is not really the group defending Senator Graham. We are.”

Um, really?

Actually, we stated directly in our story that Republicans for Environmental Protection was “the group that is now responsible for the pro-Graham ads.”  And obviously, the “now” reference refers to the fact that they weren’t always the group responsible for the ads, which is once against a fact that we not only caused, but meticulously documented as well.

Seriously, dude.  If you’re gonna come into our kitchen, accuse us of “inaccurate” reporting, and tell us to “get (our) facts straight,” you better come with more than this.

This is our kitchen, and we refuse to be blamed for the fact that you and the rest of your fellow Lindsey lovers left such an easy trail of bread crumbs for us to follow …

Of course if you’re looking for a place to print this weak ass sh*t, we recommend taking it over to Graham campaign headquarters.  They’ll no doubt print it verbatim and unchallenged.

Of course, bear in mind that in so doing you’ll only be helping us to further milk the story …

“Y’all have stirred up a hornet’s nest now,” a friend of ours emailed our founding editor today, referring to a story we posted Thursday regarding the Confederate flag.

Actually, we have Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod to thank for that, as we were merely covering the Confederate flag issue within the context of his “jobs plan,” which called for the Stars and Bars that currently flies from behind a soldiers’ monument on the State House grounds to be transported to a museum.

You can read the story (and the comments) by clicking here, if you’re interested.

Anyway, as much as we’d love to write about the Confederate flag every day (and rake in all the huge web traffic that such articles bring), in good conscience we just can’t.

Why not?

Because frankly, we don’t believe that the Confederate flag debate – or any flag-related flap (bad pun, sorry) – is really that big of a deal.

After all, you are currently reading a website that relishes bashing rednecks every bit as much as it enjoys telling the NAACP to go f*ck itself – although those examples stand out because we rarely feel compelled to address the race issue at all.

Why not?  Well, as much as polarizing politicians like President Barack Obama and Rep. Joe Wilson might think (read: exploit) otherwise, race isn’t all that complicated.

To us, “equality” means exactly what its definition implies – a level playing field for all that doesn’t discriminate based on race, gender or sexual orientation.  Is such a position considered “progressive” for a state like South Carolina?  Who knows.  We honestly don’t think about it all that much.  We believe what we believe, and others are free to do the same.

The flip side of that coin, though, is that we also don’t believe in affirmative action, handouts, hate crimes legislation, quotas, the re-imposition of the welfare “bounty system,” government-imposed education monopolies (which, ironically, hold more blacks down) non-performance based pay raises, minority-only loans or any of that other PC nonsense that presumes to give any minority an unfair competitive advantage over non-minorities (read: crackers) in any field of endeavor.

Yeah … our “white guilt” level is less than zero, people.

Bottom line, we never enslaved or lynched anybody, nor did any of our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.  You wanna go back further than that?  Take it up with President Johnson (Andrew).

Of course, if you flip that coin back over (again), racism is a fundamental human evil that makes us want to throw up.  That’s why it’s doubtful you will ever find another news outlet in South Carolina that so aggressively (and articulately :)) excoriates those who demean or belittle other human beings based on race.

Joking is one thing (we do plenty of that), but when people spew authentic hatred – and it comes time for somebody to “drop the hammer” on them – we’re always game.  Similarly, you won’t find a more stringent advocate for undoing South Carolina’s racist 1895 state constitution,which continues to hold our state back a helluva lot more than any piece of fabric.

On that note, if gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod was serious about improving economic conditions for all Palmetto State residents, he would have included a plan to bring our state government out of the 19th Century, not a pandering focus on a meaningless symbol.

Which brings us our point (and the picture we were forwarded earlier today by a good friend of ours).

As you can see from the image above, that’s a group of Ku Klux Klansmen marching through Washington D.C. in 1925.  Amazingly, they’re carrying the American – not the Confederate flag.

“Oh say can you see,” right?

Pandering, obviously, was every bit as alive and well then as it is now.  And flags, obviously, can still be carried by anybody looking to make any sort of statement.  Even racists like the KKK.

Of course, when you stop and think about it, a lot of people who stand by the flag these days clearly don’t have the foggiest conception of what it stands for.

Most of them don’t, actually.

Think about it … the revolutionary equation that this nation was founded on is strikingly simple – individual liberty and prosperity for all, with a limited government (like we used to have) dedicated to protecting freedom and free markets.

Accordingly, where individual freedom and free markets wax, America moves closer to its ideal and its people move closer to happiness.  Where those principles wane, however, we move closer towards oblivion and a repressive regime that will soon have to erect walls to keep people in, not out.

Until the current generation of politicians – in Washington D.C. and Columbia S.C. – figure that basic formula out, their flags will continue to stand as meaningless symbols on the political battlefield.

They’ll also continue to cheapen the sacrifices being made by those who are fighting for freedom on the actual battlefield.

Pic hat-tip: KJSK

By Jeff Duncan

The act of terrorism at Fort Hood reminds us all that regardless of what the Obama/Pelosi Team or the elite media call it we are at war with Islamic fascism. Americans must rise up and remind our elected officials, Republican and Democrat, that we will not sit idly by while they bow at the altar of political correctness. Americans must, because President Obama and Nancy Pelosi will not, demand that outrages such as the massacre at Fort Hood be labeled for what they are and treated for what they are—acts of terrorism in the war that radical Islam is waging on the United States.

The emerging facts of the Fort Hood case indicate that Major Hasan is a jihadist bent on killing Americans, particularly American service personnel, in the name of his religion. Reports have indicated that Hasan told colleagues at Walter Reed Hospital that non-Muslims are infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire. We know Hesan communicated many times with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki who is tied to Al-Qaeda, and repeatedly exclaimed “Allahu Akbar” as he carried out his brutal attacks.

The facts are clear. President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, however, remain loathe to identify evil.  Instead, President Obama stated that, “We don’t know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts.” This denial of domestic terrorism stands in stark contrast to President Obama’s denunciation of an American police officer when he said, “not having been there and not seeing all the facts…the police acted stupidly.”

The mainstream media has denied the obvious to maintain their anti-war, blame-America-first agenda as well.

The initial reports of the terrorist act on NBC, CBS and in the LA Times all omitted the fact that Hasan is a Muslim.

• Bob Schieffer of CBS said that, “Islam doesn’t have a majority – or the Christian religion has its full, you know, full helping of nuts too.”
• CNN anchor Betty Nguyen asked, “Are the Ft. Hood shootings the action of someone who might have suffered from PTSD?”
• Pete Williams said on NBC that, “everything about his background is rock solid, and nothing extraordinary stands out about his background.”
• Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano vowed to use her agency to “prevent everybody being painted with a broad brush.”

These people and others like them who willfully ignore the obvious terrorist motive of Major Hasan, solidify in the minds of the American people that they have become either too gutless, too liberal, too arrogant, or all of the above, to stand up for Americans against all enemies foreign and domestic.

These, of course, are the same people who have given us TARP, stimulus, a budget resolution with a trillion dollar deficit, Cash for Clunkers, and a health care bill that will wreck whatever functioning economy we have left. Americans, if they did not know better, might think that our leaders are actually working against us.

However, Americans are beginning to let the status quo and its defenders know that they have had enough. The recent gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey were to differing degrees referenda on the Obama/Pelosi agenda.

Voters in VA and NJ rejected the tax and spend programs of the incumbents or their parties. The voters in NY-23, moreover, rejected the oligarchic arrogance of Republican leadership by driving from the race their hand-picked pro-abortion and Acorn-endorsed Republican in favor of an independent conservative who nearly won after only a three week campaign. The message: no more business as usual.

The electoral uprising coupled with the absolute implosion of the mainstream media audience shines a ray of hope on an otherwise bleak landscape. Americans will no longer be treated as children who need the instruction and discipline of their intellectual and moral superiors. President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, the Congress, and the media better wake up soon or they soon will have all of the facts that they need – next election day.

Rep. Jeff Duncan is Chairman of the South Carolina House Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental Affairs Committee. He is a life-time member of the NRA, and holds an A+ rating from the South Carolina Club for Growth. He is currently running for United States Congress in South Carolina’s Third Congressional District. www.JeffDuncan.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: Rep. Duncan’s oped was originally published on RedState.com.

It’s been an autumn of enlightenment here at FITS. First we figured out who Taylor Swift was (thank you, Kayne West), then we discovered Gossip Girl (courtesy of the Palmetto Family Council’s righteous indignation).  That led us to Blake Lively and, today, Leighton Meester.

An actress and aspiring musician, Meester appears in the latest issue of GQ (pics below), but it’s an interview she gave to British Glamour (with a “u”) that has our engines purring.

“My problem is, I lose interest. Every time I’ve fallen in love, it’s just momentary,” Meester recently told the magazine.

“Honestly, I’ve hated every boyfriend I’ve had,” Meester continued. “I don’t want to have a boyfriend unless I want to be with him forever. If I don’t see an end, that’s nice. Because I always see an end.”

Um, “Boy-oye-oye-oye-oye-oye-oye-oye-yoing!”

Wowzers.

We’ll have to consult our resident man-visor Steve V., but we’re pretty sure Meester just qualified for man points.

Pics: GQ

We already knew that South Carolina was among the fattest states in America, but how much is all of that extra weight costing us?

According to a new report by our friends at the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, within the next decade 48.1% of South Carolinians will be obese, which means our state will spend $5.3 billion annually – or $1,500 per person – fighting obesity-related ailments.

That’s some expensive blubber y’all.

Nationwide, obesity-related spending will soar to $344 billion, according to the report, with an obesity rate of 43%.

“At a time when Congress is looking for savings in health care, this data confirms what we already knew: obesity is where the money is,” Emory University economist Ken Thorpe says. “Because obesity is related to the onset of so many other illnesses, stopping the growth of obesity in the U.S. is vital not only to our health – but also to the solvency of our health care system.”

A report released earlier this year showed that South Carolina ranked fifth in the nation in obesity, but did not assign a cost to that figure.

If you’re ready to shed some of those lbs, S.C. First Lady Jenny Sanford’s “Healthy S.C. Challenge” has plenty of helpful tips.

WEB EXTRA

Cost of Obesity SC Press Release

UPDATE: Ironically, on the week these results are released, South Carolina makes national news (again) with the sad story of Daniel Webb, a 550-pound (some say 800-pound) Greenwood man who died in his recliner after five months of immobility. Click here to read the story, written by the AP’s Jeffrey Collins.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) is one of four swing votes in the upcoming Senate deliberations on President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine proposal.

As such, she’s “solid gold real estate” for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – who cannot afford even a single democratic defection if he intends to ram Obamacare through the U.S. Senate the way Speaker Nancy Pelosi narrowly pushed it through the U.S. House.

Reid’s solution?

Well, in addition to pimping fictitious budget and cost estimates related to the bill, he’s flat out bribing her.

On page 432 of the 2,074 page Senate Obamacare bill, there is a provision increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”  Specifically, the subsidies apply only to states which “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

Hmmm …

This $100 million “mother of all kickbacks” is obviously intended for one state and one state only – Landrieu’s Louisiana.

Landrieu was originally scheduled to announce her position regarding the legislation Thursday, but then held off after news organizations began to report on this controversial provision.

Contrary to the $900 billion figure tossed out by the Congressional Budget Office, Republicans say the legislation will ultimately cost three times that amount.

“To characterize this bill as anything close to fiscal responsibility may be the largest game of bait and switch ever played on the American people,” U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) told reporters in Washington Thursday. “This bill expands the size of government by $2.5 trillion when it’s fully implemented over a 10-year period.”

Landrieu is one of four U.S. Senators who are currently undecided on the legislation. The others are Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas (both Democrats), and Joe Lieberman, an Independent/Democrat from Connecticut.

There’s no college football game being played at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. this weekend.  And even if there was, it would no doubt result in yet another University of South Carolina loss.

So why not use USC’s bye week to check out one of the Southeast’s most unsung athletic traditions?  You know, one of the few Columbia-based athletic teams that the University hasn’t managed to scare off?

We’re talking about rugby, people, a sport that makes American football (at any level) look positively tame by comparison.

Specifically, we’re referring to the Columbia Olde Grey – the Capital City’s oldest athletic club – which is facing off this Saturday in its annual grudge match against the Charleston Outlaws.

“Forget Clemson and Carolina,” one rugby enthusiast tells FITS.  “When it comes to physical sports, there is only one real rivalry in the Palmetto State.”

“The only game that matters is the Columbia game,” Charleston’s flamboyant Welsh Head Coach Chris “Taffy” Greenslade tells FITS. “No self respecting Outlaw gives a damn about getting to the Sweet Sixteen or winning the National Championship. The Old Grey scalp is sacrosanct and Oh boy do they know it!”

The rivalry – which kicks off the 2009-10 conference schedule for both teams – has been dominated in recent years by Charleston, but the upstart Columbia squad pulled off an upset win a year ago (a shutout, no less) and are the reigning Palmetto Champions.  Both squads play in USA Rugby’s Division II, which also has teams in Greenville, Augusta, Charlotte and Wilmington.

“Charleston, I hate to say, have been the most successful club in the Palmetto Union in recent years, and they have done this at our expense too often,” Olde Grey President Matthew Foxworth told FITS. “But Columbia has been building and working harder than ever. We have a new coaching structure, new blood and a group of guys with a real drive to take down those lightweight, low country boys.”

Rugby itself is also is enjoying a resurgence these days.

Last month, the International Olympic Committee approved the game for inclusion in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.  There’s also a major motion picture about the sport due to be released next month.  Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, Invictus tells the story of South African president Nelson Mandela – who used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite his country after the fall of apartheid.

Saturday’s “Rug off” is set for 2:00 p.m. at Owens Field, which is located next to the downtown Columbia Airport (1400 Jim Hamilton Boulevard).

Admission is free.

Earlier this month, we conducted an investigation into all of the money that’s being poured into what was billed as an impassioned “conservative” defense of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham – a defense waged by South Carolinians.

You can “bone up” on the details of our investigation by clicking here, here, here and here, but it’s safe to say that we exposed this “local” and “conservative” effort as nothing more than a carefully-crafted front for Graham to receive gobs and gobs of money from some of the nation’s most liberal special interest groups.

Graham’s people responded by accusing us of being in the pocket of “Big Oil,” a charge our founding editor addressed here.

Anyway, in addition to being picked up by dozens of different media outlets around the country, our reporting has also provided the inspiration for a rather creative political cartoon.

Here’s the cartoon, courtesy of The Chilling Effect …