PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tag south

A state senator whose first wife suffered a painful death wants the state to legalize medical marijuana use. Sen. Bill Mescher of Pinopolis says the issue has been on his mind for about 20 years. “My first wife died of lung cancer -- a long, agonizing death,” the Republican lawmaker said. A doctor said marijuana might help ease her pain and nausea from chemotherapy, but South Carolina law wouldn’t allow it, Mescher said. People won’t let dogs die with that kind of suffering, he said. “It’s been on my mind ever since.”

What would you do if armed terrorists broke into your church and starting attacking your friends with automatic weapons in the middle of a worship service? Would you be prepared to defend yourself and other innocents? Would you be justified in doing so? Is it time for Americans to consider such once-unthinkable possibilities? There is one man in the world who can address these questions with first-hand experience. His name is Charl van Wyck – a South African who was faced with just such a shocking scenario.

More than 50,000 South Carolina Medicaid recipients are eligible for colorectal cancer screenings through a program administered by the Health and Human Services Department. ()() This is a waste of taxpayer money. The state medicaid program will only pay $300 -- $400 dollars for this procedure. The procedure typically costs at least 4 times that much. Who's going to pay the rest of the cost? People with private insurance will get charged even more for the same procedure.

I knew the events in the Middle East were big when the New York Times devoted nearly as much space to them as it did to a New York court ruling last week rejecting gay marriage. Some have argued that Israel's response is disproportionate, which is actually correct: It wasn't nearly strong enough. I know this because there are parts of South Lebanon still standing. Most Americans have been glued to their TV sets, transfixed by Israel's show of power, wondering, "Gee, why can't we do that?"

Bad guys have superior firepower, can eavesdrop on communications of American law enforcement Hundreds of rounds of automatic-weapons fire rained down on South Texas sheriff's deputies and Border Patrol agents from the Mexican side of the border as they investigated a horror story told by two American brothers who fled across the Rio Grande fearing for their lives. ()() One more reason we need to stop the flood of illegal aliens coming into our country. Time for our Border Patrol agents to move up to M-16's and machine guns.

While a series of marches focused much of the nation's attention on the plight of illegal immigrants, scores of other Americans quietly seethed. Now, with the same full-throated cry expressed by those in the country illegally, they are shouting back. Congressional leaders in Washington have gotten bricks in the mail from a group that advocates building a border fence, states in the West and South have drawn up tough anti-immigrant laws, and ordinary citizens, such as Janis McDonald of Pennsylvania, who considers herself a liberal, are not mincing words in expressing their displeasure.

Earlier this week, Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Mike Crapo of Idaho proposed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Resolution that would have created a reserve fund to protect the Social Security surplus.

THE creators of "South Park" appear ready to fire back at Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology following a dust up earlier this month that included soul singer Isaac Hayes quitting the series.