Schwarzenegger the Slasher Wins in Court

After the legislature passed $24 billion in emergency budget cuts last year, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promptly sliced an additional $489 million in programs for kids, the elderly and the infirm.

That's thanks to his line-item veto power, and needless to say, it pissed off people who like kids, the elderly and the infirm, who turned around and sued.

But a state appeals court has ruled that Schwarzenegger was within his rights, arguing that if the legislature really wanted to restore the funding, they could overrule the vetoes with a two-thirds majority.

The same two-thirds majority requirement that many blame for getting us into this budget mess in the first place, naturally.

It's not clear if the plaintiffs, which include social service organizations and lawmakers from the state Senate and Assembly, plan to appeal the decision to the state's Supreme Court.

So Schwarzenegger lives to menace lawmakers with his oversized novelty knife another day.

Jackson West wonders if maybe a three-fifths majority would work. Or how about 11/16ths?