Reply #18: The legislature is going to be royally P.O.'d [View All]

The breakdown (at present): House 44-7 Dem, Senate 21-4 Dem. (Before you all jump on planes like I did some years ago, bear in mind that in some cases, the (D) after the person's name stands for Dunce, DINO, or both.) The repukes, who have actually lost several seats since Lingle took office, were hoping to make some pickups next month (with local boy Barack on the ballot?) So much for that brilliant plan...

Lingle, who once called Bush** "our greatest President ever" without a trace of irony, has definitely bought in to this "unitary executive" thing. For instance, she discovered an obscure provision that gives her the power to release the money the legislature has already appropriated. Thus, the Dems can fund whatever they want, but not a dime gets spent until Her Majesty releases it -- and when she does, she then proceeds to take credit for it, in the form of press releases reading "Gov. Lingle Releases $2 Million for Moloka'i Hospital" or whatever. :puke:

And now she's forcing draconian budget cuts on all the departments unilaterally, without waiting for the legislative session to begin in mid-Jan. Yes, our tourism numbers are awful (so why not come on out? :-) ) -- but a recent slide show from Business Week on the 20 states with the biggest budget shortfalls did not include a picture of a surfer in front of Diamond Head! This upcoming seesion promises to be a bloodbath -- and guess who'll have a front-row seat in his role as policy analyst for a nonprofit??? :hi: