Much That Is Hidden

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I gotta give out props to Rusty the Radical Georgia Moderate for making my day with his observation on today's State of the State address by Gov. Sonny Perdue. The statement tickled me when the Guv said it but Rusty put it in that light that could only come from a true, uh, fan(?)


Other highlights from the SOS:

The sorta good:

~ Three percent raise for teachers (woohoo!)

~ $176 million for teachers and state employees' healthcare to continue at present levels (even though the coverage got way shittier last year)

~ $100 million put away toward the 30-year liability of teacher and state employee pensions (looks OK so far - of course, the federal government is about to REQUIRE that states keep up with their pension liabilities)

~ More $$ for biofuels research - the move is on toward biomass like poultry litter (aka chicken shit), something that Georgia is pretty good at making.

~ $50 million more for land preservation (to TRY and make up for Oaky Woods no doubt. FYI - I do not endorse the site of this link, I just think they made a funny on Sonny)

~ Sonny sez the "Main Thing" is education, which is good to hear because Georgia's SAT scores jumped up last year... to 46th.

So in that spirit (the bad & ugly):

~ Guv recommends that there be another “temporary” reduction of $139.9 million in the funds that the state allocates to local school systems (boohoo!). This is in addition to $169.7 million in cutbacks for the current fiscal year and a whopping $332.8 million in cuts during fiscal 2006. Those ongoing cutbacks in state funds have forced dozens of local school boards to either raise property taxes, eliminate school programs or lay off teachers and staff to make up the difference. The governor’s budget also reduces state formula funding for the University System by $274.2 million

And in other sunny news, new Georgia Lite Gov. Casey Cagle (who spanked Abramov pal Reedy Ralph in the GOP primary last summer) is extending the long arm of bipartisanship, actually naming Democrats to chair and vice chairmanships over two Senate committees. I think Janitorial and Ticker Tape or something similar.

I never thought I'd see the "N" (vvv) word in my tags.

Labels: home state, humour, NASCAR, politix, spaghetti westerns