The cradle of the confederacy offers up a couple of winners

John, caller: I'm a 9/11 truther. And I had a friend of mine…tell me, look on the internet, Google "the Pentagon" and show me where the plane hit the Pentagon. Where is the plane? There's all kinds of pictures of that building smoldering, and fire trucks everywhere. There's no plane. So I did research on the size of planes, of the engines that ran this plane. These things are 12,000 pounds, these engines that would have flown off—that's six tons—and put a hole in something. There's nothing there.

Bill LuMaye: Well, without getting into—

John: There's a hole in the building and there's no broken glass.

LuMaye: Well, I'd rather not get into a discussion on whether 9/11 was an inside job or not. I really, I mean, we can save that for another day, I have no problem with that, it's just—

Greg Brannon: These questions, again, actually, that's what [9/11 commission vice-chair] Lee Hamilton said. And he just said, there's other questions that need answering. The guy who got all the information…a Democrat and a Republican, were the co-chairmen of the 9/11 commission, and when they got done, they did not put their stamp of approval on the commission. They said, 'There's data that we did not put in there.' So things like this have to be asked.

LuMaye: Well, I appreciate your call, John.

Brannon: Thanks, John.

In the space of a few minutes on national television this month, Thomas Ravenel admitted to smoking pot, streaking nude and participating in ... er, ah ... unusual sex acts.. He also declared his likely candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Even by South Carolina’s sometimes zany political standards, it was not your traditional announcement.

But, to use the catchphrase that Ravenel popularized a decade ago during a previous run for the U.S. Senate, “That’s how Thomas Ravenel rolls.”

Now, the Charleston businessman and disgraced former South Carolina treasurer says he is rolling up his sleeves to campaign as an independent, breaking from the Republican Party to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

It might seem like a bold gambit from a man with well-publicized legal problems, but Ravenel is energized and enthusiastic about his chances of unseating his Upstate rival, whom he criticizes for being under the thumb of corporate interests and beholden to hateful Republican policy positions. Ravenel proposes righting the country by adhering to a libertarian agenda and reducing the involvement of the federal government in almost everything –whether foreign entanglements, the economy or the regulation of marriage and drugs.

Much has changed for 51-year-old Ravenel, or “T-Rav” as he has come to be known, since he resigned from the state Treasurer’s Office in 2007 and pleaded guilty to cocaine-related federal drug charges.

Following his release in 2009 from a 10-month prison term, Ravenel has sought to salvage his reputation, continuing his lucrative career in commercial real estate development, taking up polo and securing a starring role in the Charleston-based reality show “Southern Charm,” which premiered in March on the Bravo channel.

Last month, Ravenel also became a father, celebrating a daughter born to girlfriend, Kathryn Dennis, also a cast member of “Southern Charm” and 29 years his junior.

He also just downsized, selling his 5,500-square foot mansion in downtown Charleston for $3.3 million, enabling him more freedom to enjoy his Edisto Island plantation or remotely manage his business while following the U.S. polo scene, which moves seasonally between locales like Aiken, Florida and New York.