TheSunNews.com: Issac Bailey

Issac J. Bailey | There’s nothing like a man’s voice

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:24 EST

There’s something about the power of an adult male voice, particularly in the ears of a young man.

It resonates in a way no other voice can.

Maybe it’s biological or sociological or just something we’ll never fully grasp.

Issac J. Bailey | For men’s eyes only

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:52 EST

Today’s column is for Grand Strand-area men.

So ladies, pass it to the nearest guy. I’ll make up a couple of useless sentences to give you time.

The Dallas Cowboys would have won this year’s Super Bowl had Austin Miles not lost a fourth-quarter pass from Tony Romo in the lights when they played the New York Giants in Dallas. A completion there would have sewn up the NFC East for the Cowboys and eliminated the Giants from playoff contention. That’s just how small the margin for error is at the professional sports level ….

Issac J. Bailey | Unbalanced credit creates unbalanced market

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:01 EST

Ken Strand represents what he says is one of the under-reported causes of the weak housing market.

Despite having had only one late mortgage payment in 14 years, he was unable to qualify recently for the best rate when he tried to refinance.

What he was offered wasn’t good enough to go through with the process. It would not have lowered his monthly payment much and likely would have taken several months, if not years, to recoup the upfront closing costs required.

Issac J. Bailey | New biker dates for a new era

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:46 EST

I must confess, I kind of miss what we used to refer to as Bike Month.

It was akin to covering a Category 4 hurricane that arrived every year on a pre-set schedule.

It was exciting and infruriating.

Issac J. Bailey | The hardest, highest standard

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:46 EST

What would I want to happen to a 14-year-old who tried to rape and murder my wife?

Michael Dukakis was asked a similar question during a 1988 presidential debate against George H.W. Bush and his answer essentially killed his campaign. Dukakis, a staunch opponent of the death penalty, dispassionately said he still wouldn’t be in favor of capital punishment even if that horror was inflicted upon his wife, Kitty.

I’ve been asked that question in a variety of ways since I wrote a column a few weeks ago restating my belief that kids should be treated as what they are – kids – even when they do something awful, especially when they do something awful.

Issac J. Bailey | Paterno’s full life

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:29 EST

I frequently contemplate death. It’s a hazard of my chosen profession and the result of being part of a family that has seen death come in too many ways to ignore.

I don’t much think about heaven or hell, though. Those seem other-worldly and unimaginable.

We can only conceptualize just what an eternity is.

Issac J. Bailey | Stop playing in the sand and honor FOIA

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:50 EST

I want to talk about the boring-sounding - but indispensable -- Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which will take center stage Thursday at 7 p.m. at Coastal Carolina University.

But first, I must make a quick detour into the world of the whole-lot-less important area of stuffed-shirt partisan politics.

Apparently there was a huge sand sculpture with the faces of 6 prominent Republicans that was recently destroyed by a group of Horry County Democratic women. They took shovels to the noses of the sand images of the GOP candidates including Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Issac J. Bailey | Time to talk, not denigrate

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:41 EST

Being born rich doesn’t make you evil, just as living in poverty doesn’t make you lazy.

Working within the current design of our capitalist system to earn millions is not a sign of immorality any more than not dying rich is indicative of a laissez-faire attitude.

There are rich people in the world who are salt of the earth and some poor who would sell their mother down the river no matter their circumstances, and vice versa.

Issac J. Bailey | Poor already work hard

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:40 EST

I wish Newt Gingrich had met Kendra Keel.

Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate who has shot up in state polls before Saturday’s crucial S.C. primary, and Keel, a founding member of the Myrtle Beach group Mothers Against Violence, both attended Monday’s King Day breakfast and community awards banquet.

Gingrich gave a subdued, humble speech about King that morning.

Issac Bailey | Cordial politics possible

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:28 EST

A few things became abundantly clear this week as Myrtle Beach enjoyed its turn as the center of the political universe.

Democrats and Republicans can enjoy each other’s company and respectfully disagree, as they proved during the 5th annual Martin Luther King Day community and awards breakfast Monday morning in Myrtle Beach, where the majority of the speakers who addressed a mostly black and receptive audience were members of the Grand Old Party.

Democrats and Republicans believe the federal government can be a great job-creation engine, as evidenced by their hand-holding in press conferences and parades about the necessity of Interstate 73, which they say can create 29,000 jobs and lead to the type of economic diversification the Grand Strand has long sought.

Issac J. Bailey | Open Letter To GOP Candidates

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:40 EST

Open letter to current and former GOP candidates:

Welcome to the great state of South Carolina, the place I was born and have lived most of my life.

Have a glass of sweet tea and a few boiled peanuts.

Issac J. Bailey | S.C. a model for the nation?

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:20 EST

The broad concepts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination will tout on the stage at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center Monday night have been preached for almost a quarter of a century in South Carolina.

Taxes are low.

Labor unions have been defanged.

Issac J. Bailey | If guilty, hold Viers accountable this time

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:06 EST

If the allegations against him prove to be true, S.C. Rep. Thad Viers has a problem.

I can’t tell you how deep-seated it is, or what the odds are that it will manifest itself in uglier ways.

Less than a week after sharing a bond hearing in Myrtle Beach with a man charged with public intoxication, Viers took his place in Columbia among those who will set the legislative direction for South Carolina in 2012.

Issac J. Bailey | Hard to forget, hard to forgive

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:50 EST

Danielle D. Switzer couldn’t bring herself to muster sympathy for 16-year-old Zireek Brooks, the boy who almost two years ago put a bullet in the back of Switzer’s head, which is still lodged there and might be forever.

She wasn’t ready to forgive.

She recounted in detail what she said was the worst night of her life, when she said she was giving Brooks a ride and he tried to rape and kill her.

Issac J. Bailey | Forget Romney, where’s Ric Flair?

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:13 EST

After watching Newt Gingrich’s concession speech late Tuesday night in Iowa, I can’t wait for the GOP presidential debate that will be held at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Jan. 16.

Gingrich came in fourth after floating to the top then being bombarded by negative ads designed to propel Mitt Romney.

He tore into Romney, who won the Iowa caucuses by eight votes over Rick Santorum in the closest race there ever, as all of the cable news networks carried his remarks live.

Issac J. Bailey | Capitalism’s higher calling

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:22 EST

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me … Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

Jesus

Over the past few months, I’ve been participating in some rigorous back-and-forth with defenders of capitalism, including business professors and relocated retirees who happen to be former executives of major corporations.

Issac J. Bailey | Haley’s dubious actions

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:59 EST

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney would have been better off had he won the endorsement of President Barack Obama instead of S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.

Haley officially began backing Romney a couple weeks ago, was with him in Myrtle Beach recently and will surely be in town stumping on his behalf again between now and the Jan. 16 Republican presidential debate.

But Obama, the commie-socialist-Kenyan-terrorist-Manchurian-candidate who wants the federal government to kill old and disabled people in death panels – I’ve heard him described in those terms, and worse, by readers – is more popular in deep red South Carolina than Haley, the woman the national media still portrays as a rising star and influential with the types of voters Romney needs to win the state’s Jan. 21st primary.

Issac J. Bailey | The gift of democracy

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:16 EST

A few days after the final U.S. troops trekked across the Iraqi dessert and into Kuwait to end an almost 9-year-old war, an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice President Tariq al Hashimi, which, according to various reports, means a potential major fracture of that fledgling government.

Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, upon hearing the news, urged the Obama administration to reopen talks with the Iraqi government so we could send thousands of U.S. troops back into the country.

“This crisis has been precipitated in large measure by the failure and unwillingness of the Obama Administration to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government for a residual presence of U.S. forces in Iraq, thereby depriving Iraq of the stabilizing influence of the U.S. military and diminishing the ability of the United States to support Iraq,” the men wrote in a joint statement early last week.

Issac J. Bailey | Spirit of season found in tragedy

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:40 EST

By the time you read this, I’ve probably dashed to the store to make a few last-minute purchases for Christmas. I never make any first-minute purchases.

In part I do it to use the holiday as an opportunity to spread a bit of cheer, which isn’t in great supply these days, no matter the season.

In part, I do it, like many others, out of a sense of obligation, even though we know that doesn’t line up with the spirit of the season, which is built upon a foundation cemented by an incredible sacrifice even if it began with gift-gifting. The beginning of the story would not be significant if not for how it ended. The birth of the child was significant, but it was the purpose of his life and death that made him great.

Issac J. Bailey | Coastal Carolina University football swaps country mouse for city mouse

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:27 EST

It might seem that Coastal Carolina University fired Billy Graham and hired Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, they announced a successor to former head football coach David Bennett: Joe Moglia.

That made it official: the country mouse has been put out to pasture and the city mouse has been given the keys to an up-and-coming college football program.