Rotary Club of Charleston

“Kick the Carbs in the New Year”

January 19, 2010: Dr. Ann Kulze, a graduate of Clemson University and The Medical University of South Carolina, is a practicing physician, CEO of Just Wellness, LLC, a firm which specializes in teaching others about health and wellness, and a well known author. Creator of the book, “Dr. Ann’s 1-Step Diet”, she believes that people can live right and maintain a permanent appropriate weight, losing weight as needed. Scientific research has concluded that maintaining an appropriate diet is the best way to prevent illness, especially obesity, cardiovascular decease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. The pathway to this good health begins with eliminating consumption of “bad carbs” and substituting more food from the “good carb” group. The bad carbohydrates are white flour, white rice, white flour products and sugary sweets. The bad carbs turn into glucose and are digested quickly, tthen they turn to insulin which stores fat and the body’s glucose level is even lower than before eating, triggering even more eating! People actually become hungrier in this vicious cycle, which adds weight, and promotes disease.

Our early ancestors were hunters and gatherers, whose only source of sweets was honey, a substance which was never in great supply; they lived healthier lives. Sugar and sweets, which are such a pronounced part of our diet contain 50% glucose and 50% fructose, something which is new to modern diets. It is found in fruit, but its amount in an apple, for example, is small. The amount ingested in our typical sweet overloaded diet promotes fat in the liver which is a defining step towards heart decease, cancer, diabetes and overall fatigue. Today’s society eats 4 times more fructose than we did 20 years ago, and is a big factor in obesity, which is the trigger of many other deceases. “Good carbs”, which are great for our health include whole wheat bread, brown rice, grains and beans. Beans are a truly super food and should be eaten daily. They are a great nutrient and lower cholesterol.

Fruits and vegetables are the most important, they provide us fiber without excess calories. Among the best of the fruits and vegetables are oranges, a great cancer fighter, and all dark leafy greens such as spinach. Broccoli, cauliflower, berries, grapes and tomatoes are all excellent parts of the right diet.

In the question session, she noted that a glass of wine a day is helpful. She also recommends against sugar substitutes, unless one is diabetic, because they increase your appetite and make you gain weight. And, yes, she herself exercises 45 minutes per day.

Reported by Fred Sales, Keyway Committee

SC Chamber of Commerce 2010 Competitiveness Agenda

January 12, 2010: Mr. Rawl became President and CEO of SC Chamber on Oct. 1, 2008. There are 6,500 member companies in the Chamber, 90% of which are small businesses. He opened his presentation by stating that “We are here to stir things up.” He used Kyra’s silver spoon as an object lesson. He said that there needs to be a greater amount of accountability in Columbia, making sure that legislators come to our point of view. Mr. Rawl stated that the most important issue in the state is JOBS, that more jobs need to be created because we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Other states have better jobs, more sustainable and long term jobs than we do. The arrival of GE and Boeing offer a great chance to turn things around and move forward. Mr. Rawl had several ideas that he feels are crucial to promoting our state; “the real thing we must do is elect a Governor that is pro-business, one who goes to bed at night thinking about how to bring new jobs into the state. Additionally, “we need a more energetic Dept. of Commerce, to develop more jobs. We need to develop more comprehensive tax reform policies. This would primarily have a major impact on the growth of small businesses”.

In the speaker’s opinion we need more economic development in the state. We are in the bottom 10 of all the states in corporate class action lawsuits. There needs to be an expansion of our port. This is not just an issue for Charleston, but for the entire state economy. Stabilize the port! The Dept. of Commerce does not have enough resources to develop new jobs in the state. The cost of energy is also a concern in the state.

Other major issues that Rawl mentioned were the quality of employees . Where are we going to get a skilled workforce? The State demand for jobs will increase by 16% in the next 20 years. The state unemployment rate is currently at 12.3%. A reform of the SC Employment Security Commission is needed. There is a strain on our economic system because so many people are unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits.

Healthcare was another area of concern Mr. Rawl discussed. SC healthcare costs are the second highest expenditures for businesses after payroll. 98% of medium and large employers provide healthcare for their employees, and 720,000 people are uninsured in the state of SC. SC cigarette tax is 7 cents per pack. The state needs to raise that by 50 cents a pack to help pay for healthcare, Rawl is encourages that the cigarette tax will pass this year.

Rawl feels that government restructuring is another must. There has been a $2 Billion reduction in state revenue in the past two years and more constitutional officers need to be eliminated. The state needs to jointly elect the Governor and Lt. Governor and our state expense forcasting models have been flawed and procedures need to be improved. Rawl said that we need to protect SC workers from the dangerous federal employee Free Choice Act, or, “Card Check.” One other major issue Mr. Rawls spoke briefly about was CAP and TRADE. Mr. Rawl stated that CAP and TRADE would mean corporations would either fail or move off shore. Many industries would move to other countries. This would be an enormous burden on our citizens.

Submitted by: Bill Christian, Keyway Committee

Leventis stresses a more pragmatic view of politics



Jan. 5, 2010: State Sen. Phil Leventis (D-Sumter) urged Rotarians to pull the wool away from political issues to see that nothing is really black or white. Most issues come in shades of gray, he said.

If you listen to political rhetoric, “everything is in absolute terms,” he said. “Practical politics is not like that.” He noted that most issues don’t have simple answers because there are almost always unintended consequences that result from simple solutions.

Leventis, who has chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee and is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, outlined how state government was an exercise in providing quality services to its investors, the taxpayers.

“State government is not a political science experiment – a zero-sum game where Republicans win or Democrats lose. It should not be partisan in the sense of who wins or loses. Being a governor is about the practical – opening schools, staffing prisons, paving roads.”

State lawmakers, he chided, seemed to spend too much time on divisive issues that don’t matter. They seemed to forget that what’s important is educating children and protecting the citizenry.

He also said that many politicians wrap public policies in “good stories’ so much that they focus only on the story and not the important public policy or facts behind the situation.

“I want you to be more skeptical about the sources” that politicians provide, Leventis said. “What we don’t need are more stories.”

He urged members to hold politicians accountable to making public policy more measurable.

“I think what we should be doing in government is setting measurable goals, observing them in appropriate time frames and then be held accountable. ”

Leventis, a member of the Sumter Rotary Club for more than 30 years, told Charleston members that the word “tax” shouldn’t be a dirty word.

“We as a community can’t do without the government,” he said. “We should demand accountability. We should consider our taxes as investments and expect a return. When we put our public discourse on that level – the Rushs, Glenns and Keiths will be out of a job, but the community will be better off.”

Submitted by Andy Brack

“Higher Education Officials Push Education Action Plan”

Dec. 8, 2009: For South Carolina to get out of the cellar on a number of generational problems – low education levels, poverty, high unemployment and more – its leaders need to make a sustained commitment to improving higher education according to two state leaders who spoke to the club today.

Dr. Garrison Walters, executive director of the state Commission on Higher Education, told members South Carolina was far behind in focusing on the growing knowledge economy. “We have a lack of public priority focus and a lack of public focus on higher education.” he said. “Our state is far behind economically and we’re not catching up.” For example, per capital income and the state’s rank in the number of people with bachelor’s degrees is about the same in 2006 as it was in 1990. Additionally, South Carolina’s public colleges and universities rank 15th out of 16 Southern states in the percent of their budgets that come from state sources. In the current state budget, funding was down $203 million from two years earlier to $555 million. Columbia attorney Ken Wingate, who chairs the Commission, said it has created an Action Plan to make higher education a public priority . Three goals include:

Raise education levels. About 22 percent of S.C. adults have at least a bachelor’s degree. The goal is to have 30 percent by 2030 – a so-called 30-by-30 goal.

Increase research and innovation. By creating new pathways to learning and technology, the state will create more of a culture of discovery, which should increase personal income.

Improve workforce training and educational services. Such a goal would align educational programs with important state clusters and connect adults with higher education in more flexible ways.

Wingate said several of the priority recommendations would cost little or no money: Enacting “regulatory relief” to allow colleges and universities to cut red tape from hiring, procurement and facility enhancement; and creating a cost reduction committee to promote and share best practices among institutions. Other measure would cost more, particularly increasing state funding and borrowing through the state’s bonding power. Instead of declining state support, colleges and universities “have got to find the political mettle to make higher education not only an add-on to the state budget but the key to economic prosperity.”

If higher education can become a state priority, a study shows individuals will earn twice as much over their lifetimes, generate almost 45,000 permanent jobs. “If people don’t believe education, including higher education, is important, we can’t possibly make the progress we need.”

Submitted by Andy Brack, Keyway Committee

“SC Wind Energy ~ Nobody Does It Better “

December 1, 2009: As the wind energy market emerges along the East Coast and turbines continue to grow in size and weight, South Carolina is strategically positioned to serve as an industrial hub for this evolving industry.

The next-generation wind turbines and drive trains will be tested by the Clemson University Restoration Institute in a move that is expected to create hundreds of jobs and place one of the most important sites for wind energy research and development in South Carolina. The effort has received a $45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, combined with $53 million of matching funds, to build and operate a large-scale wind turbine drive train testing facility at the institute’s research campus on the former Navy base. The announcement was just made by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. A drive train takes energy generated by a turbine’s blades and increases the rotational speed to drive the electrical generator, similar to the transmission in a car. The award is the largest single grant ever received in the university’s history and represents an enormous economic development opportunity for the region. Partners: the Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority; the South Carolina Department of Commerce; the State of South Carolina; South Carolina Public Railways; the South Carolina State Ports Authority; and private partners RENK AG, Tony Bakker and James Meadors.

The testing facility will be housed in Building 69, a former Navy warehouse adjacent to existing rail and ship-handling infrastructure, and will be capable of full-scale highly accelerated testing of advanced drive train systems for wind turbines in the 5 megawatt to 15 megawatt range. The building stands at 82,264 square feet on 6.3 acres. Planning and construction of the facility will begin in the 1st quarter of 2010 with an operational date of mid-2012. The Department of Energy estimates that SC could gain 10,000 to 20,000 new jobs related to the wind power industry during the next 20 years. In the short term, the Restoration Institute estimates the initiative will create at least 113 temporary jobs associated with construction of the facility and 21 full-time jobs. It also will generate 568 indirect jobs for a total of 852 jobs.

Submitted by Bill Crowe, Keyway Committee