The budget debate typically careens from the sublime to the ridiculous as lawmakers get impatient and punchy. But state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, introduced an amendment straight out of the “South Park” movie last week.
Grooms’ proposal would have banned film companies from cashing in on state tax credits if they make PG-13 or R-rated movies.
Grooms cited “Nailed,” a supposedly bawdy comic look at the political process, filmed in South Carolina last year, that he says casts the state in an unfavorable light.
Sen. Jake Knotts, in opposing the bill, cited the Mel Gibson movie “The Patriot” as an S.C.-filmed, R-rated movie that casts the state in a positive light.
But Grooms urged lawmakers to require that productions be family-friendly to get the tax credit. Grooms then cited one example — “The Passion of the Christ” — as a film worthy of S.C. tax breaks.
That film, of course, is rated R for “sequences of graphic violence,” according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
The whole debate very nearly turned the General Assembly into the “South Park” movie, in which one character noted that for culture warriors, “Horrific, deplorable violence is OK, as long as people don’t say any naughty words!”
http://www.thestate.com/politics/story/772797.htmlAh yes. The lege takes care of important items while teachers worry about their jobs. The budget isn't big enough to worry about.