Thanks for the Wire Jamie

by: wjhamilton 29464

Wed May 13, 2009 at 11:56:07 AM EDT

“I’m Sorry” isn’t much of a response to what has happened to Jamie Sanderson, one of our states’s most active progressive bloggers.  I write this to do better by him and his friends at the Steel Mill in Georgetown, informed yesterday that their mill will be shutting down in July than my facebook comment last night.

I’m a lawyer.  I spend my working days organizing paper, words and the available power of government to make impermanent changes in human relationships.  I’m proud of what I do since I’m certain, and could prove if necessary, that people would kill each other if I didn’t help operate a legal system which provides a socially supported alternative to direct violence.  Our conservative opponents won’t surrender their core delusion that weapons solve most problems more satisfactorily than social engineering.  I’m confident; however, conditions in Somalia, Afghanistan and the Swat valley prove otherwise.   If you use guns regularly to solve your problems, you’ll soon need many more guns and people to fire them.   Ultimately, it will be too dangerous to take your kids out for ice-cream.

Taking your kids out for ice cream, going to their band concerts and reading them bedtime stories are a valuable indicator of the ultimate value of getting out of bed in the morning.

However I understand that a lot of what I do is imaginary.  I settle disputes which shouldn’t exist.  I prepare agreements the parties don’t fully understand, in no small part because they often don’t want to.  I pound shims into a social and economic structure growing so dysfunctional, keeping it level works less and less well.  The things I make can fall apart quickly.  I have my victories.  I pay my bills.  I live in a nice house.  I have no cause to complain.

More after the jump. 

11.4%: March Unemployment Rate At Highest Point Since 1983

by: Tim Kelly

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 09:32:34 AM EDT

Not since the days of St. Ronnie has South Carolina seen a higher unemployment than that in March, according to figures released this morning by the SC Employment Security Commission.

   The number of unemployed jumped 10,221 to reach a record high of 248,578.

South Carolinians can breathe a sigh of relief, however, as it appears the flood of Yankees - cited by Ungov. Mark Sanford as a key reason for the jump in unemployment rate - has subsided a bit: The state’s labor force dropped slightly to 2,185,451.

Actually, there is a bit of good news in the report. The number of non-farm jobs in the state rose for the first time since August 2008. Nearly 7,000 jobs were gained in March with seasonal gains recorded in Leisure and Hospitality (+5,600), Retail Trade (+3,300), and Business and Professional Services (+1,500). Gains in health care pushed Education and Health Services upward by 1,400.

This is no doubt a result of the strong leadership of Mark Sanford and Joe Taylor and reaffirms that the free market principles they espouse are sound. In fact, even as I write this, the Ungov and Sic Willie are inside the State House being soothed by the sweet caress of Adam Smith's invisible hand.

 Meanwhile, the rabid socialist meddling of Barack Obama and the left-wing Congress caused a loss of an additional 4700 jobs in manufacturing and construction.

 Those commies and Sen. Hugh Leatherman are also responsible for the fact that the overall job count remains more than 94,000 below the year-ago count.