07.01.11
Tepid
There are a lot of interesting political conversations going on all over the country. Here in California, Jerry Brown signed in the budget that cuts the state deficit by $15 billion and supposedly creates a financial balance. “This is a huge step forward. But California’s long-term stability depends on our willingness to continue to pay down debt and live within our means.” On the other side of the country, Minnesota government is now in its second government shutdown in six years as a “partisan divide over taxes and spending to close a $5 billion deficit became even more bitter as a midnight deadline came and went without an agreement.” I think they all need to get their partisan hats on and boogie on down Broadway.
We the people of California keep wondering when the next axe will fall. The California prison system has already begun releasing inmates who are considered less dangerous after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California’s prisons are dangerously overcrowded and must reduce the 143,335-inmate population by roughly 33,000. “Yep – pull off the ankle bracelet and hit the road, my friend – you are free! But don’t ask us for any services or help of any kind because the budget took away all of our prison profits and we’re not happy!”
I am experiencing a “deja-vu” as I remember California in the early 1980′s. That was when “Ronald Ray-guns” emptied the prisons and due to budget cuts, had to release thousands of people out of hospitals, nursing homes, drug rehab centers and homeless shelters. Many of the homeless were presented with one-way tickets to anywhere they wanted to go. The rest struggled or died because of the lack of services. Yes indeed, “a tough budget for tough times” states Governor Brown. But, the questions remain the same – what now?
Are we sliding rapidly back into a recession, slipping into a depression, or are we simply tepid? The current climate feels like watching a movie that fails to arouse your senses, or experiencing a kiss that smacks of boredom, or are we simply feeling something that is no longer possible or acceptable?
I just opened my little Dove dark chocolate square to read the enclosed message: “Open your eyes to all the love around you.” I like it when the universe provides these precious moments. I will leave it with that – it’s much, much easier!
Peace.
