Anyhow, here's the post:

Joe Wilson A Hit At Capitol Hill Tea Party: Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who famously yelled out “You lie!” during a s... http://bit.ly/2NSLD

And it gets even funnier. See, when you click on the URL in the twatter post, it goes to an article, allegedly penned by Joe Wilson with more or less the same text from the twit post:

Joe Wilson A Hit At Capitol Hill Tea Party
by Joe Wilson on November 6, 2009

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who famously yelled out “You lie!” during a speech to Congress by President Obama, just spoke to the Capitol Hill Tea Party, receiving massive applause immediately as he came to the podium.

Who does Joe Wilson think he is? Bob Dole? The Rock? Timmy?

And frankly it was the boost the Upstate Republican needed to win the hearts and minds of the red meat crowd; for months now, he's been criticized for supporting the TARP bailout by the Teabaggers and 9/12vers, who've taken over the GOP in the Palmetto State.

Now, he's bought a new domain to show everybody just how strongly he feels about the possibility of a Gitmo transfer: WWW.KEEPTERRORISTSOUTOFSC.COM. The domain name goes directly to an online petition urging President Obama to not authorize the transfer. The letter reads:

Mr. President:

The people of this state have already made it abundantly clear that any plan to move terrorists to our soil is unacceptable. I strenuously object to the potential transfer of known terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to any federal or state facility inside the State of South Carolina.

Furthermore, we believe bringing known terrorists to South Carolina endangers our state’s citizens and makes them potential targets for future terrorist attacks.

I strongly urge you, Mr. President, not to transfer any more of these known terrorists to American soil and I would support any legal or legislative remedy opposing terrorist transfers to the State of South Carolina.

According Network Solutions, the organization that overseas domain name registration, Under the Power Lines, the firm handling Barrett's web operations, bought the domain at 4:15 p.m. today.

And while Haley agreed to sign Barrett's we-don't-need-no-Gitmo-detainees-in-S.C. letter to the president — she doesn't want those guys here either — she wasn't entirely supportive of Gresham's penmanship either. Here's what Haley said:

However, calling on candidates for Governor to join you in a letter to President Obama, rather than asking your colleagues in Congress — who are actually in a position to prevent this potentially dangerous situation — to do the same, strikes me as little more than political grandstanding.

And it gets better:

I would suggest writing another letter to President Obama that might do even more good. Please ask the President to stop using taxpayer dollars for the TARP bailout. As you were a supporter of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, adding your voice to the chorus of conservative opposition to that continuing waste of tax dollars might actually prove helpful.

Of course, Haley's outburst probably does very little to increase her chances at securing the Republican nom for governor. This is a race between Barrett and S.C. AG Henry McMaster. Haley has a lot of work ahead of her to catch up to these two.

• For every dollar South Carolina spends on corrections, it spends only 49 cents on education.1

• South Carolina's overall incarceration rate ranks in the top fifth of states nationwide.2

• South Carolina's drug use rates are comparable to those of the rest of the country, yet South
Carolina's rate of imprisonment for drug offenses ranks seventh in the nation, putting an
unusually large burden on the state's taxpayers and justice system.3

• Whites and African Americans use drugs at virtually identical rates, yet in Charleston County,
you are 24 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you are African American
than if you are white. This racially disproportionate rate of imprisonment for drug offenses
ranks among the 50 worst for mid-sized counties in all of America.4

• In Richland County, you are 17 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you
are African American than if you are white.5

• In Greenville County, you are 14 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you
are African American than if you are white.6

A FRESH APPROACH…

South Carolina's bursting prisons paired with the ongoing economic crisis demand a fresh approach to
nonviolent drug offenses. Unfair and ineffective laws that require lengthy incarceration of nonviolent
drug offenders have squandered precious taxpayer dollars and pushed the state to the brink of
bankruptcy. "Lock 'em up and throw away the key" policies fail to recognize and resolve the root
causes of drug use and abuse, and undermine the health and safety of us all.

A FRESH LOOK AT SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE FAILED "WAR ON DRUGS"
SO, WHAT CAN OUR POLICYMAKERS DO?

• Create alternatives to incarceration: Eliminate imprisonment for all nonviolent drug
possession offenses, instituting civil penalties and non-prison alternatives, such as treatment,
which have been found more effective and cost-effective than incarceration.

• Let judges judge: Eliminate one-size-fits-all mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses,
allowing judges to make appropriate sentencing decisions on a case-by-case basis.

• Repeal the "three strikes" law, which often senselessly punishes minor offenses with major
terms behind bars to the detriment of us all.

• Take practical steps to prevent recidivism: Facilitate reintegration into the community by
removing the barriers to voting, employment, housing, and driving that now face individuals
leaving prison. For example, remove provisions that suspend the driver's license of a drug
offender when there is no evidence that he or she was driving while impaired.

• Make room in prison for serious, violent offenders: Reform the State's parole system to bar reincarceration
for technical violations.

• Research the impact of drug sentencing: Finally, more state- and local-level data is needed to
better understand the fiscal and human costs of lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug
offenders. The State should make specific data available and collect new data where needed to
allow for an honest accounting of necessary reforms.

For the sake of public safety, fairness and South Carolina's fiscal solvency, a new approach is needed
and soon.

1 Pew Center on the States, "One in 100: Behind Bars in
America 2008," February 2008, p. 31.
2 Ibid, p. 34.
3 Justice Policy Institute, "The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial
Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive
Counties," December 2007, p. 9.
4 Ibid, Appendix A, p. 26. Charleston ranks #47, with an African American-towhite
drug prison or jail admission ratio of 24.
5 Ibid, p. 25.
6 Ibid, p. 25.

www.aclusouthcarolina.org

Yesterday, Barrett called on all of the gubernatorial candidates to sign a petition opposing the relocation of suspected terrorists from Guantanamo to American soil, and particularly the Charleston Navy Brig.

McLeod responded this morning and, if this is the tone we're setting for the next year, buckle up.

With all due respect, I’d request that you take your letter and shove it.

In times of war, our duty as Americans is to pull together and do our part to secure victory.

No one wants suspected terrorists on our soil while they await their richly-deserved punishment. But
when the President asks us to do our part in the international war on terrorism, the only appropriate
response from this or any state’s Governor is “Yes Sir, Mr. President.”

Frankly, I am surprised that you would choose to play politics rather than support our war effort.

Barrett spokesman B.J. Boling says McLeod was more interested in rhetoric than reality.

"The reality is that should President Obama choose to transfer known terrorists to our state, our citizens will become even more of a target for terrorism. That is simply unacceptable," Boling says.

We also just got word of a trunk show going on at Pearl today  through Saturday (Nov. 5-7). You'll find vintage jewelry from the Carole Tanenbaum vintage collection, as well as the Megan Park 2010 spring/summer collection. Call (843) 654-1014 for more info.
 

Now before you get all anti-PC PC, and Lord knows this post will likely attract a fair amount of I-may-be-white-but-I'm-a-victim-too tomfoolery, consider this bit from a press release from the attorneys representing the plaintiffs before getting all in a huff:

"The Court noted that 'white employees burned a cross in the roll mill department and covered their heads in hoods,' a supervisor hung 'a chicken with a hangman's noose in another black employee's workstation,' and 'repeated racial slurs, nooses, and similar items hung in the roll mill department, and racially offensive graffiti on bathroom walls."

Not good.

Closer to home, a group of current and former Nucor Berkely workers have claimed that this type of behavior has also taken place at the Huger, S.C., mill. According to a press release from Alabama-based law firm Wiggins Childs, Quinn & Pantazis and Charleston-based firm Derfner, Altman & Wilborn:

"[W]hite supervisors and employees frequently referred to black employees as 'nigger,' 'bologna lips,' 'yard ape,' and 'porch monkey.' White employees frequently referred to the black employees as 'DAN,' which stood for 'dumb ass nigger.' These racial epithets were broadcast over the plant-wide radio system, along with 'Dixie' and 'High Cotton.' Monkey noises were also broadcast over the radio system in response to the communications of black employees. The display of the Confederate flag was pervasive throughout the plant, and items containing Nucor's logo alongside the Confederate flag were sold in the plant's gift shop. Additionally, several e-mails that depicted black people in racially offensive ways, such as by showing them with nooses around their necks, were circulated by various employees.'"

According to The Post and Courier, an appeal from Nucor may keep the case from going to trial for years or it may hit the court next year.