TOKIN’ BUDGET SOLUTION… It was the role Squid was born to play – and it went to Nadene Herndon of Fair Oaks, Calif. Was it Squid’s legs? Squid hasn’t been hitting the gym too regularly these days… must have been Squid’s legs.

While the governor and legislators have been attempting – and failing miserably – to solve California’s $26.3 billion budget deficit before the state locks visitors out of its parks, stops paying dental costs for poor kids who need fillings, and ups the average class size to 60, and it’s bond rating take a nose dive to junk-bond status – oh, wait, that already happened, Squid’s been reading lines and auditioning for commercials, the first step up the ladder of fame and fortune.

Finally, Squid had found Squid’s dream part: an actual California marijuana consumer with a solution to the state’s fiscal crisis. Citing creative differences, however, the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation, which produced the TV spot (www.mpp.org/califad), rejected Squid and chose Herndon for the role. After discussing proposed budget cuts to schools, police and state parks, Herndon, also a real, California marijuana consumer, says, “But the governor and legislators are ignoring millions of Californians who want to pay taxes. We’re marijuana consumers. Instead of being treated like criminals for using a substance safer than alcohol, we want to pay our fair share.”

Says Aaron Smith, MPP California policy director: “The two million Californians who use marijuana in a given month deserve to have their voices heard – and their tax dollars should help solve the fiscal emergency that threatens our schools, police and parks.”

Squid knows the Governator is adamantly opposed – these days – to any thought of new taxes, but given his well-documented former history as a toker who admits to having inhaled (www.youtube.com/watch?v=goWaJn7M75Y) and his public assertions, as recently as last May, that it’s time to reconsider legalizing (and taxing) the weed that may be Kalifornia’s last remaining profit center, one wonders why the great minds who pass for our political leadership in Sacramento haven’t looked into this more seriously. Sounds good to Squid, at least compared to some of the other more recent ludicrous suggestions, including closing the state parks, releasing prisoners early and furloughing half the workers in the state.

Arnold and his GOP buddies may need to take a long, deep, err, breath while they ingest the full dimensions of what’s being unleashed.

And, who knows, a blunt may bring Assembly Speaker Karen Bass back to the negotiating table. It wouldn’t hurt to offer.

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