It just keeps coming up

Whenever a new voice calls attention to the Confederate battle flag flying prominently in front of the S.C. Statehouse, its defenders claim with victorious glee that the matter is settled, that it’s in the past, that a deal was done and should be honored.

It can’t be settled, because it just keeps coming up. And just because a deal is done doesn’t make it right.

Public debate over the flag’s place seems likely to re-ignite next year, after two S.C candidates for major offices each described addressing it as part of their platforms. First, a Charleston attorney seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, Mullins McLeod, issued a jobs plan that calls for removing the controversial flag to a museum in order to improve the state’s reputation to businesses around the country. ...

The governor alone will have a difficult time removing the flag, as the “deal” that took the flag from its position of sovereignty over the Statehouse to mere prominence in front of it in 2000 requires a two-thirds vote of the state legislature to revisit. That’s why retired Air Force Col. Robert Burton, a Charleston Democrat seeking the nomination next year to challenge U.S. Rep. Henry Brown for the Congressional seat that stretches along the S.C. coast, proposes enlisting tourism-based chambers of commerce in Myrtle Beach, Charleston and other areas to create political pressure.

The economic boycott of the state by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ... has bedeviled the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to develop sports tourism in the area, most notoriously in the loss of a college baseball tournament over the summer. As the Grand Strand struggles to replace its biker revenue with a variety of festivals, we have suggested that local elected officials use their political clout in Columbia to try to reopen the dialogue with the NAACP. ...

Though all five Republicans running for governor have lamentably said they are unwilling to discuss moving the flag again, both McLeod and Burton are making economic arguments for seeking an end to the boycott. If next year is as dominated by a stressed economy as 2009 has been, those arguments may prove attractive. ...

The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News

Where are the vaccines?

The nationwide shortage of vaccines for swine flu should give pause to advocates for a larger federal role in setting prices for the nation’s health care industry. So should shortages of vaccines for seasonal flu and some childhood diseases.

The most recent official figures show that 22 million Americans have been infected by swine flu, and though the illness has generally been less severe than originally feared, 4,000 deaths have been attributed to H1N1, including 540 children.

Federal health officials told the Senate recently that they had unintentionally misled Americans about the availability of swine flu vaccine, which has been below the predicted amount. But they suggested that the shortages were due to factors beyond their control.

However, some of the problems with getting an adequate supply of H1N1 vaccine can be attributed to the unintended consequences of earlier congressional intervention. Unfortunately, Congress apparently has yet to fully acknowledge its errors or learn from its mistakes. ...

The 1993 Vaccines for Children program gave the Centers for Disease Control power to set the price for childhood vaccines. In the 1990s, it paid as little as 25 percent of the list price, according to a 2003 study by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academies of Science.

That led a number of firms to stop making vaccines; those remaining did not invest in new technology. ... There is at present only one flu vaccine manufacturer in the United States, and it uses a 50-year-old chicken-egg technology that often fails. In 1996 there were eight U.S. vaccine manufacturers. ...

As the Vaccines for Children program shows, the government’s heavy hand on drug pricing could result in unintended consequences on a broader scale.

The unavailability of sufficient doses of vaccine for swine flu shows that the problem can quickly become more than academic. The absence of adequate precautions against the virus is one bad example of your federal government at work on the health care front.

The (Charleston) Post and Courier

A bit much to excuse

Once, we’ll call it an understandable glitch; human involvement means mistakes. ...

But the state Employment Security Commission’s second extra-check slipup in four months is just a bit much to excuse. The good news is that only 150 duplicate unemployment checks were sent out before officials caught the error; in July, it was 1,250.

This isn’t simply a paperwork error that causes a little inconvenience. Anyone who cashes a duplicate unemployment check is responsible for reimbursing the money. That requirement makes good sense, but it can create a real hardship for someone who is barely getting by, as people who have been laid off tend to be.

That’s bad enough under normal circumstances, but the timing of last month’s glitch increased the chance that recipients cashed the extra check before they found out they weren’t supposed to. That’s because the duplicate checks were delivered on the heels of news that thousands of extra checks would be mailed out because the Legislature passed a law to make residents eligible for extended federal unemployment benefits that they were being denied. It’s easy to see how people would think that’s what the duplicate check actually was. ...

It was a breathtaking error in judgment that forced lawmakers to come back to town last month to fix our law, which they should have been able to address before the problem became a problem. But when the Legislature resumes the debate about reforming this agency, some will insist that only minor changes are needed. We wish that were so. ...

This agency has significant problems built into its DNA: Its director reports to three full-time commissioners, for whom there are no job requirements and who are elected by the Legislature (of which all were members at the time of their election) and cannot be removed from those cushy, no-qualifications-required jobs until their terms end. The commission, in other words, is the very definition of a political patronage system. And yet it is tasked with operating what is essentially a massive insurance agency that is governed by a complex set of federal and state laws that most legislators don’t understand well enough to properly monitor. ...

The computer glitches are minor by comparison. But they’re an important reminder that this agency needs to be fixed. And sooner rather than later.

The (Columbia) State

Distracted driving

Rep. Bakari Sellers, D-Bamberg, is ready to address a pressing safety issue on the state’s highways. He has prefiled legislation to ban the use of communication devices while driving. This would include cell phones, PDAs, Blackberrys or any other hand-held device that could distract one while driving.

The proposed legislation provides for a 2-point penalty and up to a $125 fine.

Whether his bill will get immediate and strong support is unclear, as banning all uses of all such devices may be seen is going too far. But restrictions are coming in South Carolina and nationally.

With the problem of people sending text messages and e-mails while driving visibly growing, South Carolina is wise to address the issue ahead of federal mandates that will force states to act. ...

Already, South Carolina has a campaign focused on distracted driving. With lane and road departure accidents, according to the Federal Highway Administration, accounting for 53 percent of fatal crashes, it’s obvious that something is taking away attention on the road.

No doubt, there are many factors beyond mobile devices — from paying attention to passengers to adjusting the music level — but sending a text message or an e-mail while driving is simply irresponsible. And talking on cell phones excessively while behind the wheel can be a major hindrance to concentration. ...

At present, 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws making texting while driving illegal. Seven states and the district ban talking on handheld cell phones while driving. ...

Texting, which has grown from nearly 10 billion messages a month in December 2005 to more than 110 billion in December 2008, and typing and sending e-mails are practices different from conducting a phone conversation while behind the wheel. Attempting to curtail all uses of phones and other devices for voice communication is impractical.

The (Orangeburg) Times

and Democrat