Gov. Arnold and State Republicans Lack Compassion

Saving lives is not a top priority in the halls of power. Being compassionate and concerned about human life can cause a man to lose his job. It can cause a woman not to get the job to begin with.
Myriam Miedzian, author

I have been sitting on this article since Saturday. This is absolutely unbelievable. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to govern from the middle, but the Republicans only believe in their way or no way. As a result, they held up the state budget for two months until they made conditions worse for the homeless and the elderly.

In California, Arnold eliminated a $55 million program that has helped thousands of mentally ill homeless people break the costly cycle of hospitalization, jails and street life, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Among the cuts:

Tracking hospital efforts to eliminate infections, which kill more than 7,000 Californians a year

• Budget for state parks cut by $30 million (let the gangs have them, what the hell)


• Helping to persuade drug companies to keep discount drug programs alive for lower-income people, cut by $6 million


• Protection for senior citizens, budget cut by $17.4 million
  

This takes the cake, truly: A $45 million tax break for yacht owners stays in the budget. State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine, a yacht owner, pushed to ease the tax burden on owners of yachts, plans and RVS. This way rich Republicans can stay in the water and not see the homeless or care about state parks, let the seniors die naturally, they don’t need no stinkin’ drugs.