In today’s news out of Columbia comes word of something so incredibly obtuse that it almost sounds like something from The Onion. The State reports,

The state Comptroller General’s Office said Wednesday that the state ended the 2012 fiscal year with a $379.5 million surplus. But state lawmakers had planned for about a $397 million surplus.

The difference – $14.7 million (after $2.8 million in sustained budget vetoes) – means some things in this year’s state budget won’t get paid for.

I’d like to be able to explain that but for some reason the rational side of my brain has barricaded itself in a disused corner of my head and is crying softly. I’m sure that there’s probably some logical explanation for how the state government of South Carolina can simultaneously say, “We have a surplus” and “We don’t have money for everything in the budget” but I am not going to hold my breath for that explanation to come soon.

One of the casualties was $500,000 for the SC Arts Commission, whose funding was entirely vetoed by Governor Nikki Haley last month and later restored by overwhelming votes in the SC House and Senate.

I have not found a complete list of the unfunded items but I am certain there will be more than a few with a $15 million dollar budget deficit.

Oh, I’m sorry, make that a $15 million deficit inside the budget surplus.

South Carolina, and you wonder why people point at you and laugh.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley dropped some late night vetoes back into the collective lap of the SC legislature Thursday. She struck out 81 lines in the budget which included the usual right wing bugaboos of education and the arts.

What’s most striking, though, is the Governor’s veto of funding for a number of public health concerns. From the Charleston City Paper:

$453,680 for the Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, $100,000 for the Bleeding Disorders Premium Assistance Program, $500,000 for the Office of Rural Health Benefit Bank, and $100,000 for the James R. Clark Memorial Sickle Cell Foundation. Haley explained these vetoes in the Department of Health and Environmental Control budget by writing, “Each of these lines attempts to serve a portion of our population for which we extend our sympathy and encouragement, but nevertheless, it is only a small portion of South Carolina’s chronically ill or abused. Overall, these special add-on lines distract from the agency’s broader mission of protecting South Carolina’s public health.”(emphasis added)

Now, as many of you know (or could easily figure out), I am not religious and naturally one of the things that bothers me is that so many people speak of America as a Christian Nation. Generally, I find that sentiment to be not only historically inaccurate, but also politically untenable.

But it is language like this that truly disturbs me, since it makes it plain that these pious people are not actually interested in any of the teachings of Jesus.

To paraphrase the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25 Verse 40 “What you have done for the least of these, your brothers and sisters, you have also done this to me”.

So, in this case, the Governor of South Carolina has told Jesus, “Fuck you. You’re on your own. There’s just no way I’m going to spend money on the small number of people in this state who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault (which I find hard to believe) or those with blood disorders or those who just live out in the boonies.”

It’s quite clear from the actions of the right that they haven’t the first clue what is in the Bible. So, could we just drop the nonsense that we’re a Christian Nation?

For having done little more than sit around all day, I feel exhausted right now.

First, there was the ridiculous nonsense of the Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to use the “O” word. It’s stupid. It just is.) Not that the decision was nonsense (although I have to say that deciding the individual mandate is a tax was a sneaky move). The reaction, however, was utter nonsense.

From the right came the weeping and gnashing of teeth from people who don’t know what “socialism” and “communism” are. Not just because they’ve been lied to by Fox News for ten years. It’s deeper than that. America has been lying about those words since the 1950s, all while existing under a mixed-model economy that was closer to socialism than they wanted to admit.

At least, until Clinton and the “new” Democrats disassembled the whole thing. That’s a different story, though.

From the “left” came all the smug, self-satisfied back patting you have come to expect from a group of people whose largest base of support is comprised mostly of people who were politicized less than five years ago and aren’t even sure why they like Obama except that he’s not one of those Republicans (although, of course, he secretly is just like a lot of those Republicans).

Anyway, instead of clearing the way for a proper debate on real change in health care, we’ve gotten stuck with corporate welfare for the private insurance companies and the useful idiots of the right call it “socialism”. I suppose I could take heart that, according to some, the entire law is actually aimed at phasing out private insurance slowly but, as I like to ask, “Why is it that progress must happen slowly, but regress is allowed to happen instantly?”

Coming back to more local matters, today was also the day that the South Carolina House Ethics Committee held hearings on whether or not Governor Nikki Haley violated ethics rules (maybe criminally, even) while a state legislator. The claims had been brought up months ago, the committee had voted to not investigate then reversed itself less than a week later (based on what is anyone’s guess).

There was supposed to be lots of evidence that Haley acted improperly by lobbying while a state legislator. There were a lot of witnesses lined up to give testimony. Each of them described how they met Haley, in what capacity they worked with Haley, and - without fail and at least ten times - they were asked if Haley ever did anything illegal or unethical.

The answers were all “No” or “I don’t recall”.

So, then, why are we talking to you people? I mean, if you asked me if I knew someone had broken the law and I probably was complicit in it, I don’t think I’d answer honestly either (assuming, of course, there’s no penalty for perjury in front of the ethics committee. I’d ask about that, but in this state I don’t think anyone knows).

During this repeated line of pointless questioning, the US House of Representatives went ahead with its contempt vote against US Attorney General Eric Holder. I suppose Fortune Magazine’s piece detailing how everything we’ve heard about “Fast and Furious” for the last six months is a big stinking heap of crap was somehow lost on the House GOP. So, the Democrats walked out and after an awkward chant of “Shame, shame, shame” aimed at the GOP inside (where they couldn’t, of course, hear it), they all got back to being buddies and went and played a charity baseball game.

At this point, I should stop and mention that no one in Hollywood could write anything this utterly stupid. 

So, back to the SC House hearings which seemed, as the day wore on, to be nothing more than an elaborate hoax. The surprise of the day was that the Governor herself took the stand in her defense. After some rote denials of wrongdoing came this exchange: 

Question: Why is he (Rainey) coming after you?

Haley: With all due respect (to the people here), Mr. Rainey is a racist, sexist bigot.

You could try to believe that this was just the crowning moment to a show trial that was meant to clear the Governor. But at the time, it seemed to me that this was the most honest I have ever heard the Governor sound. Whether or not the charges (or others) are true, there’s really no doubt in my mind that Rainey seriously offended Governor Haley when they met during her campaign.

Speaking of Mr. Rainey, he apparently spent the day in a holding room in Columbia, awaiting the chance to present his case against the Governor. For twelve hours.

He was never called to take the stand.

Ain’t that America?