Playboy models on snowboard desgins draws protest

A half-dozen ski resorts in New England and the West are joining in protests against two new lines of snowboards that feature images of Playboy models and cartoons of self-mutilation. Smugglers' Notch in Vermont says it has banned employees from using the Love and Primo boards made by Burton Snowboards. Other such resorts have prohibited employees from using the Love boards or any other inappropriate, offensive or suggestive equipment while on duty. The boards also led to a demonstration last week outside Burton's headquarters in Burlington, Vt. Many who actively took part in the protest feel Burton has a social responsibility towards society to create a positive message towards our younger future generation. It all comes down to the profit motives as the boards seem to be a big success to those who take part in snowboarding. Burton CEO Laurent Potdevin says the company supports freedom of artistic expression and stands by the boards. Has Burton gone to far with these desgins?

Habitat for Humanity and the property on 905

Recently, Habitat for Humanity purchased a large tract of land off of Highway 905 near recycle road. This is a great opportunity for this organization as they have fourty plus families waiting and working to have their homes built. Habitat was created by Jimmy Carter and is meant to provide affordable housing and homeownership to families who would not normally be able to purchase a home. It is not an overnight fix as families are carefully selected based on income, housing situations and other factors. Upon being selected, they go through a very rigorous community service, education, and "sweat equity" program. They learn about home ownership, finances, and other responsibilites that come with being a homeowner. They make lasting friendships and fully appreciate what they have worked so hard to attain.

The surrounding communities near said tract of land fear that the homeowners will not keep up their homes and that the crime rates will increase with the influx of "people not like them." I take serious offense to that. I am a member of one of these families and have been waiting for my home to be built for almost three years now. It enrages me that people in this world are so selfish that they feel they have to dump their miseries on others and not improve the status of life for others. I personally know many of the families already in their homes. Quite a few of them finally are off housing, welfare and their children are fairing better because of it. They are healthier because they are under a lot less stress and these evil "neighbors" of theirs are no longer paying taxes to support them. We all are trying to better our position in life here and Habitat for Humanity provides a way for those of us who do not have the means to obtain those goals. Wake up you rotten neighbors and get real. For nearly all of you, I believe there was a time where you were at a disadvantage and needed someone else's help. How would you feel if you were told "No, go away, you are beneathe me!"

Five Rivers

The Five Rivers Scandal has been going on for over a year now. This is one of the rare cases where people who were working for a nonprofit agency acted in their own best interest and did things for their own profit. This went against all ethics rules and laws to the detriment of the agency. I assume that the parties involved saw how easy it was for them to obtain monies from the federal government and other agencies that had a genuine interest in helping the sort of clients that Five Rivers was supposed to be helping and they took advantage of that kindness.

As a result of that, you see people becoming more and more angry when a nonprofit agency asks for funds. Nonprofits do that simply because they do just that. They do not operate for a profit. While I think this is rather silly, it makes sense because one of those philosophies is the fact that they are trying to help people and not make anyone rich. I will continue to keep up with the saga of Five Rivers. While stories like this are not my thing, I am interested to see how this comes out because you do not hear of people getting caught doing this to a nonprofit as much as you hear about people embezzling funds from a for profit corporation.

Socialism?

You hear more and more about the fears of our nation being reformed and having socialist pieces. Everyone is saying that OBama's redistribution of wealth through taxes is straight out socialism. What do you all think, would it be good for our nations poor and middle class to gain back a little ground instead of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? The plan basically points out how people who make over $250k a year will be taxed a little higher instead of the taxes coming from the poorest of the nation.

How many people believe it is morally and ethically right to vote? do you feel obligated or do you want to put forth your voice. i never actually felt the need to vote, but with all of this economic and financial hassels, i directly feel like this election will effect our generations future. i think that our nation is taking a bad direction and we need some kind of change.

Where is the election going?

Im not sure what is going on with this election, both parties are attacking each other, and all i want to hear is how each is going to make our nation a better one. i dont even know who i would vote for, i think every politician is crooked, and what scares me more is they just want to get in the whitehouse by telling lies about one another. how can people who harp on morals and religion lie and betray so many on a day to day basis?

Proposal for Prostitution?

In this town where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and gay marriages are as common as hetero marriages, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K — a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes. The arguments sway both ways as the positives and negatives battle eachother back and forth. This would free up $11 million in funds that are used to investigate prostitution, but now the police force will not be funded for other such investigations. This proposal could make the city and magnet for prostitution and quickly turn beautiful San Francisco into a sex driven city.

AVX just doesn't know when to quit

For many Myrtle Beach residents, the antics of the AVX corporation are beginning to wear thin. A few months ago, they mentioned that the military may be responsible for some of the pollution that is being blamed on AVX as a result of the military base being adjacent to the AVX property. While the government admits that there is still some cleanup that needs to be done, the pollution the government put into the ground is nowhere near the AVX side of the old air base property nor has it been conclusively tested to be the same type or as caustic as the AVX pollution. AVX filed court documents this month stating that the military is who is responsible for the groundwater contamination in the neighborhood around the AVX property in Myrtle Beach. Not suprisingly, AVX has also requested protection of its employees from having to answer questions as to how the contamination happened in the first place.

My thinking is that if AVX is indeed innocent, why are they so concerned with their employees being questioned unless they have something to hide or they are guilty in the first place?

Michele M

Gas on the decline

As we have all seen the price of gasoline has been on a steady decline as hurricane season starts to wind down and the mess down south is starting to be cleaned up. According to a national survey taken last Sunday, gas prices dropped a record level in the last two weeks, falling by more than 35 cents a gallon. The price has now tumbled nearly 87 cents, or 21%, below the record $4.11 set July 17. And it's down about 43 cents from a month ago, but still remains some 49 cents, or 19%, higher from a year ago. As the current economic crisis still unfolds, there is some relief for the working middle-class American, so some pressures can be freed from our minds. Slowly but surely economists still see a steady decrease in the price of gasoline. Oil prices also have been moving sharply lower amid fears that the economic crisis, which has deepened globally, will have a severely damanging effect on demand. Do you think this decline in the price of gasoline has some Americans feeling somewhat more secure in their money situations?

" TV Ads Take a Nasty Turn"

If you haven't noticed, lately there have been a lot of attacks at different compaies with their commercials and marketing techniques. The aticle that I read said that Dominos would give their new sandwiches away to the first 1,000 people named Jared, taking a jab at Subway. Another instance was when Campbell's soup commercial said it was made with TLC while Progresso was made with MSG. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD) said that they have 50 percent more complaints about aggressive ads than they did last year. I personally think its great mostly because it makes for better TV, but in a business sense isn't this exactly what business is supposed to be? In our book says anything is legal as long as its within the rules of the game, and competition is a main part of the game. To me whoever can sell the product better, whether it be knocking your competitor down or not you should win and get the money.

Schools and the "forced" tutoring

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/living/education/story/615484.html

It is a great service that they offer when the schools fail to meet their AYP goals however, the drawback is the fact that they do not provide transportation. I believe many parents would take the offer if transportation were provided or the providers of the services would come to the schools for all the services they offer.

A couple of years ago, the Middle School that my son went to offered tutoring and Sylvan was the provider that the parents chose. However, the initial assessment to determine the childs needs would have to be done at the Sylvan office behind the old air force base. At the time, we did not know exactly where it was and had to decline the tutoring he so would have benefited from because we could not get him to the initial assessment. We were assured that once he went through the initial assessment, that services would be offered at the school, however (1) we had one car and (2) we could not travel very far with that one car. Unfortunately, we had to decline the tutoring services. Had transportation been offered, we would have allowed him to do that. Also, had it been more convenient, we would have too. It amazes me how the school system offers these great things, but they make it so damn difficult to obtain the services.

Ok, time to talk Bike Rallies, Michele M.

I am so perturbed (sp?) by all this bike rally stuff. It drives me insane that every single year, there were talks about scaling them back and now after years of threatening to do so, they have finally done something and it is to the detriment of the community. There are businesses that closed due to the fact that their main part of the money making year is during the three bike rallies that come to Myrtle Beach. It has alienated a couple of groups of people with the potential to bring in some serious tourism dollars each year.

Further, I happen to believe that the city wants to end only the Memorial Weekend bike rally but cannot do so without eliminating both Harley rallies. That would be a form of discrimination and nobody wants to mess with the NAACP and I dont rightly blame them. Yes, the people who come to the Memorial Day weekend rally do happen to be a little louder or rowdier but one incident that happened during that week spurred this whole thing. I understand the whole situation surrounding the Coastal Student that was shot was the beginnig of this whole thing. But there are some fundamental flaws here: (1) He was living on Flagg street which is known for drugs and prostitution (2) He should have taken a better approach to the parking situation instead of yelling at the person parking in front of his apartment (or room, whatever it was.) I understand that he has his rights to peacefully live but why should the city take this one event to spur a whole bunch of bad decisions. Our economy is in a serious world of hurt in Myrtle Beach and it is not getting any better. What do you think?