Neil Macdonald, the Washington correspondent for the CBC, has a reasonably thorough look at the dysfunctional mess that is my state in his article, The giant Ponzi scheme that is Florida.

Republicans are not fiscal conservatives, no matter what they claim. They refuse to accept the concept of “saving for a rainy day”, because they apparently don’t believe in rain. If they receive a windfall they throw it away on nonsense and then lower taxes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. If things go into a slump, they lower taxes to ensure it will continue longer than necessary.

It doesn’t occur to them to pay off bonds, i.e. retire long-term debt, or to save for bad times. Republicans want to continually run at a loss. They lie openly about states having balanced budgets. Issuing bonds is taking on debt – it is running a deficit. All the states do it, and then claim only the Federal government has deficits.

Many people have been consigned to political death for suggesting that the state needs to reform its revenue structure. The successive Republican governments have suggested that there really is “a free lunch”. They have been hoping for someone else to pick up the check.

Bjornar Andersen (18) of Team Norway has scratched at Takotna where he was in 10^th place. His dogs made better than 7mph coming in, so I’ll have to wait to find out the story.

Update: the ADN reports that Andersen was injured in the piece of work that is called a trail between Rohn and Nikolai, but stayed in the race until it became obvious that his condition was getting worse. He was dragged after getting bounced off the sled and hit a stump, probably causing internal injuries.

The trail beyond Ophir is buried under snow, so the group headed towards Iditarod are going to have a hard slog, breaking trail. Normally the lead will switch off a lot as dogs get really tired jumping more than running. The group that Martin Buser passed in Takotna have finished their 24 hour stop and have to move on, while he rests in Ophir. There’s a reason he has won the Iditarod 4 times and holds the record for the fastest race ever.

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The hits keep coming for local law enforcement as the Local Puppy Trainer reports on the Crestview Police Department: Two police officers arrested at Ying Yang Twins concert

OKALOOSA ISLAND – Two Crestview Police officers were arrested after an altercation with security and deputies at The Swamp nightclub early Thursday morning following a Ying Yang Twins concert.

Bryan Crawford, 26, was arrested for battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly intoxication. His brother, Danny Crawford, 28, was arrested for resisting arrest with violence and disorderly intoxication, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office offense report.

The Ding Dong Brothers should have passed on the Ying Yang Twins concert. Well, they made lay off decisions easier for their chief.

Martin Buser (33) whipped by the leaders while they rested in Takotna and took the lead. He has been hanging back between 30^th and 40^th place, and then passed them all. He rests on the trail more than at checkpoints and keeps his own schedule. He arrived at Ophir at 7:50pm CDT. The six teams at the back of the race are on the trail between Rohn and Nikolai.

Even though there is $43K in gold nuggets waiting for the first team into Iditarod, it is 90 miles away, so I don’t see Martin rushing to get on the trail.

Teams have to take a 24 hour break at some point, and an 8 hour break at one of the check points on the Yukon, so strategy is kicking in at this point.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that the Cause of dog’s death remains unknown after necropsy. Jeff Holt doesn’t run a racing kennel. Most of his dogs were pets that people couldn’t keep, so he can’t be happy that they can’t find an obvious reason for a healthy 6-year-old dog to just die. They will continue looking.

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