CIRCUS BERSERKUS

CIRCUS BERSERKUS: Some are born buffoons; some have buffoondom thrust upon them. But either way they are generally harmless except in a bull-in-a-china-shop way.

One exception that proves the rule is Kaua`i Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho who is once again on the warpath against the scourge of medical marijuana according to an article by the latest functional illiterate on the staff of the local newspaper, Tom LaVenture

Seems Iseri is doubling down on her efforts to get the legislature to nix bills to move the medical cannabis program out of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) into the Department of Health- where all other such programs reside in their respective states- and provide "compassion centers" where patients with "recommendations" can legally purchase their medicine.

LaVenture's sycophantic write-up describes an August 30 gathering of the local befuddlery hosted by the mayor's anti-drug office where dangerously deluded DPS anti-drug honcho Keith Kamita joined Iseri in protecting their funding. In a scene out of Reefer Madness they engaged in rallying the diminishing troops to narrow the class of eligible patients to those who apparently are already dead.

But conspicuous by his absence was Deputy County Attorney for the Kaua`i Police Department, Justin Kollar who has announced a quixotic run opposing the malaprop- and spittle - spewing Iseri next year.

Kollar appearance last February at an equally absurd alarmist presentation before the county council in support of Kamita's and Iseri's agenda has, in the minds of many political observers, doomed his campaign despite the widespread voters' remorse since Iseri's election almost three years ago.

Although many believe a coconut could beat Iseri, Kollar is, in fact, a "malahini haole" going up against the notoriously racist Iseri who runs her department as a "locals only" club according to virtually anyone with inside knowledge of the department.

Kollar needs to make sure that people- especially the progressive community- actually have a reason to vote for him, not just against her. Although probably three-quarters of the island agrees that the state legislation is way overdue they need a reason to not just leave the ballot blank because they see no difference policy-wise on the issue.

Rumor has it that, despite Kollar's reported statement that “it is baffling and disheartening to see so much more effort being put into making more drugs available to more of our residents,” he has told people that he has softened his position and may support the compassion center legislation although he has yet to say anything new about any marijuana-related issues, such as the decriminalization bill that is also pending next January.

The problem is that people generally "only know what they read in the papers" even if the paper is a piece of crap. And the only issue upon which Kollar has really been reported to have taken a stand is to support the absurd notion that even if there are medical marijuana patients out there it should remain illegal for them to obtain their medicine.

Once the election season is here, the battle between the two promises to get exceptionally nasty with race taking a front seat in a whispering campaign that will make Mufi Hanneman look like Martin Luther King, Jr.

Right now the only thing Kollar has got going for him is that he isn't Iseri. But unless Kollar gets out front with his "new" position soon- assuming he really has one- it could be lost in a battle that gives new meaning to the word ugly.