Budgeting scandal  Re: your Aug. 12 editorial, "State's duct-
tape budgeting is the real scandal":  While the editorial
identifies a significant symptom, it fails to diagnose the core
illness.  The electorate has, first, for decades demanded
revenue strategies at all levels that target "Anyone but me" to
pay the bills, and, second, an ever-expanding list of
indispensable recipients of government largess.  One need look
no further than California's ridiculously progressive revenue-
bubble-generating income tax schedule, and the Great California
Sacred Cow Proposition 13, to find the archetypes of this
thinking regarding the former, while George Will's column the
same day about the not-all-that-high-speed rail boondoggle makes
a fine case for the latter.  The improbable candidate gets my
support that has the gall to say, "Quit whining, because you
need to pay the bills you've already racked up, whatever else it
is you want, you can't afford it, and stop looking for someone
else to pay your bills."  - Michael Gord