AIKEN'S GRADUATION rate is down to 68.6 percent. That's bloody pathetic. No wonder nobody can get a job; nobody can read and write.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S Gov. Sanford wants a "new" department of state government, a Department of Administration. Whoa, Sanford! That's just another bureau to pile on top of the other bureaus, thus making a more gigantic bureaucracy. The only true solution to government problems is to cut government like crazy; but that scares the pants off of professional politicians. Without all that tax money to spend, they'd rather go home and get a real job.

THE SOUTH CAROLINA House of Representatives says they need to cut spending, but they keep on giving "grants." A "grant" is nothing more than shoveling money to somebody who has no legitimate reason to get it from the taxpayers. The economy is busted, yet the state "leaders" keep on shoveling the money out. That's YOUR money.

ASSOCIATED PRESS story about South Carolina budget says, "Poor children will still get mostly free health care." Better written and clearer, this line would say, "socialism continues to reign in South Carolina budget deals."

A RAVE FOR THE Colonial Times. My son and I had a blast there. The people were so friendly and willing to teach my son what he needed to learn. I loved it. I will go again!

NORTH AUGUSTA'S new municipal centers are a waste of money. The motorized flag pole costs $15,000. The clocks are over $50,000 plus maintenance, and stop wasting natural gas for eternal flames in North Augusta and around the country.

PERHAPS A RANT: If gas was $3.60 a gallon when crude was $148 a barrel, why wouldn't it be about $1.80 now since crude has dropped 50 percent in cost?

NEWS FLASH! Phil Spector is accused of murdering somebody five years ago. Now they're about to pick a jury. This is where present Congresses, recent presidents, and all the courts have led us -- UNswift justice. No incumbents!

SUPREME COURT Justice John Paul Stevens says "he has come to believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional." Sadly for law-abiding Americans, this nincompoop's ego has raised him to new heights of daffyness, and danger for us. The U.S. Constitution means what it always meant; it didn't suddenly change meaning just because an egotistical bozo of a "Justice" changed his mind.