Dirty, Sneaky

As if the dreaded Porkulus $787 billion economic stimulus bill wasn't bad enough at face value, more underhanded tidbits keep coming to light. South Carolina just forced the Governor to request the bailout money.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to request $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools, ending months of wrangling with legislators who accused him of playing politics with people's lives.

The nation's most vocal anti-bailout governor had refused to take the money designated for the state over the next two years, facing down protesters and legislators who passed a budget requiring him to.

Clyburn, D-S.C., inserted an amendment in the federal law with Sanford's anti-bailout stance in mind, saying legislators could go around a governor's refusal. While the legality of that was questioned, U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson on Monday cited it in saying it was clear Congress intended to allow legislators to get around governors who didn't want the money.

This is what you get when nobody actually reads the omnibus bills before voting for them and when you have effective one-party rule.

Clyburn knew his Governor wouldn't take the money, so he wrote a law to circumvent him. Are you shocked to find they're both from South Carolina? Are you also shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here?