Just thought I’d ask because of stuff like this:
No thanks: Haley to reject fed health exchange funds
By GINA SMITH – gnsmith@thestate.comGov. Nikki Haley said she will let federal deadlines slip by and not accept millions in federal funds to help South Carolina set up its own health insurance exchange.
Health insurance exchanges, the centerpiece of federal health care reform, are online marketplaces, to be set up by each state, where the uninsured could compare insurance plans from private insurance companies and buy the one that best fits their needs. Uninsured people who meet certain federal poverty guidelines could buy coverage using federal tax credits.
The exchanges are scheduled to open in 2014 when the health care law goes into full effect. If a state has not made progress by Jan. 1, 2013, the federal government will step in.
But Haley and Tony Keck, whom Haley appointed to head the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, say the federal plan is not the right fit for South Carolina.
“The governor remains an equal opportunity opponent of ObamaCare, the spending disaster that South Carolina does not want and cannot afford,” said Rob Godfrey, Haley’s spokesman. “She and Tony Keck are focused on finding South Carolina solutions that provide our state with the most health at the least cost.”
Haley on getting a photo ID: We’ll pick you up
By Seanna Adcox – Associated Press
COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley’s invitation Wednesday to voters who lack the photo ID necessary to vote under South Carolina’s new law echoed a rental car slogan.
“We’re picking you up,” she said.
The Department of Motor Vehicles has set aside Wednesday, Sept. 28, for anyone who needs a ride. Voters who lack transportation can call a toll-free number to arrange a pickup from a DMV employee, Haley said…
That one has been mocked by both Will Folks and Rachel Maddow (which is quite a range), and a whole lot of folks in between. And of course, when national TV gets involved, the whole state gets tarred (see video above):
Does the implementation of that law immediately make you think of 19th-century civil rights violations? Two, does the federal government have to step in to protect people’s rights? And three, does the governor have to make a pledge to personally attend to the transportation needs of every single state resident? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you just might be a South Carolinian…
And to dig back a few days, don’t forget this:
Gov. Nikki Haley and State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais repeated Monday they will not seek additional federal money for S.C. schools.
The recently elected Republican leaders emphasized their opposition after education groups said lawmakers should seek the money to save teachers’ jobs and create new education programs.
Just thought I’d check your attitudes on the pattern. If you detect one. If not, what are your thoughts on this “disconnected series of events?”
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I detect a pattern. She is not willing to support doing what is necessary to make a difference in the lives of the people who elected her. The bigger mystery to me is why the people who elected her couldn’t and/or still don’t recognize that about her.
[shakes head]
What kind of bubble do the Gov’ness and her supporters live in where SC can turn down money?
I actually think the voter ID law is more mid 20th century Jim Crow in flavor, but same difference!
Voting is a right, and any law that makes it more difficult for an individual to exercise that right is an affront–a slap in the face of the Republic. If there is any sort of voting fraud occurring, identify the perpetrators and prosecute. I’ve not heard of any recently that would have any kind of bearing on the outcome of an election. Making voting more difficult or inconvenient for eligible voters on such a pretext may very well affect an outcome, especially if the estimates of numbers of citizens impacted (170,000-200,000 depending on your source) is anywhere close to accurate.
South Carolina is going to refuse millions to set up our health insurance exchanges and instead try to do it on our own. This in a state whose budget is already stretched to the breaking point and where there is virtually no possibility of revenues increasing in the short term to help establish those exchanges. This should be painful to watch.
Refusing funds that we have to help pay back anyway is blind. Or stupid. The funds would support our educational system in the near term, directly fuel our state economy, and benefit us in the long term with a better educated citizenry. But then, they might know better than to vote for fools such as these.
I’m emigrating from SC to the US.
Safe to say Nikki could have greatly benefited from a liberal arts education.
Because being found out that they’re wrong is intolerable in many people’s eyes.
Few media outlets print anything but love letters for Haley. They print her press releases and swallow her half truths.
Wasn’t one of her points in the State of the State to eliminate state employee lobbyists?
http://www.thestate.com/2011/09/02/1955609/haley-deputy-taking-usc-job.html
And now at least Mr. Christian Soura will be getting a paycheck.
Now, c’mon, tim–he was getting a dollar before–plus funding from undisclosed sources….not that that would influence anyone, no sirree!
Our governor keeps doing things that are hilarious to those who follow the ‘state of the state’; or they would be hilarious if they weren’t so wrongheaded.
I keep hoping to wake up from this nightmare, but, nope, it continues on…
What I’m waiting for is the day a comedian takes the stage, opens with “Today in South Carolina, …” and the audiences automatically starts laughing.
Oh. Wait. They already do that.
Never mind!