TOM MCCLINTOCK: Arnie's Choice

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Monday, December 1, 2003 | TOM MCCLINTOCK

[presidio9]

Have you ever had to make serious cuts -- 15% or more -- in your family budget because of an unexpected job -- loss or unforeseen expense? It's not pleasant, but it's not impossible. And it's also not permanent. As long as you're willing to face your financial problems squarely, you can be sure that the hard times won't last forever and things will improve.

[Reagan Man]

Thanks for the ping.

I think liberallarry's approach to California's budget woes, is a matter of governing by the standards of social engineering.

Tom McClintock is absolutely right. California is in economic meltdown and the time has arrived for difficult and unpopular decisions to be made. Its time for GovSchwarzenegger to step up and do whats necessary to get California back on track. Piling long term debt on top of an existing mountain of debt is fiscally irresponsible.

[liberallarry]

Piling long term debt on top of an existing mountain of debt is fiscally irresponsible

What's the alternative? I've seen McClintock's proposals. He doesn't think they're draconian but most everyone else - including Arnold - does.

[SteveH]

Yes, I read it earlier and was wondering why no one pinged me. (Bwaahhh! ;-)

Seriously, I hope Arnold and Tom have worked out a "good cop / bad cop" protocol and that this is one manifestation...

[editor-surveyor]

"My function is to piss people off by contradicting whatever they say...and thereby force them to think about their assumptions."

No Larry, your role here is to make the morons feel intelligent, and the useless feel useful. (and I have to say that you're doing your job well)

But as Avoiding_Sulla has just informed us, some liberals aren't evil, they're just stupid. What's amusing is that he tried to get you to accept the notion that you're a type #1, and you just let it slide. (guess he's right)

[liberallarry]

No Larry, your role here is to make the morons feel intelligent, and the useless feel useful

Not such a bad role to play...especially since you seem to be telling me I have a large audience of such people. :)

But as Avoiding_Sulla has just informed us, some liberals aren't evil, they're just stupid. What's amusing is that he tried to get you to accept the notion that you're a type #1, and you just let it slide. (guess he's right)

Well, maybe stupid is a step up for you... :)

[editor-surveyor]

"Not such a bad role to play...especially since you seem to be telling me I have a large audience of such people."

In your wildest imagination perhaps. What brings most here is that they are intelligent enough to realize that the PC orgs and far left press are farting in their own throats.

[Amerigomag]

I will come to the defense of liberallarry because his example, while applied broadly, is objectionable, but examined carefully is a valid point.

Liberallarry hails from an area the defies the California norms. It is actually populated by nearly 100% Californians and is far removed (several hours) from a major population center. Loss of medical facilities in this region due to needed budget cuts would constitute a public arrogance.

Unfortunately liberallarry's point wouldn't scale because of the uniuqeness of the location but none the less his point is valid as it applies to his region of California. A seemingly small cut is public largess could severely cripple medical care east of the Sierra Nevedas.

[liberallarry]

What brings most here is that they are intelligent enough to realize that the PC orgs and far left press are farting in their own throats

That's why I came here...although I wouldn't put it so crudely.

[editor-surveyor]

"Liberallarry hails from an area the defies the California norms."

Anyone who truly knows California knows that there are no norms. California is large and complex from both a geographical, and an economic point of view.

"It is actually populated by nearly 100% Californians..."

I have to differ with you on that point. The eastern Sierra is over-run with disfunctional lefties, and heavy drug users, who are mostly transplants from the east. Their primary source of income is selling (chinese made) trinkets to tourists.

"...and is far removed (several hours) from a major population center."

Which is why those hippie-types gravitated out there in the first place (not to mention "saving Mono Lake" which they couldn't do if they had to, since it's L.A. taking the water)

[liberallarry]

Thanks for the support.

I've read in the hospital literature that 19 of California's 72 rural hospitals are almost totally dependent on long-term care for their income and an additional 20 or 30 rely on this source for more than half their income. A fairly large fraction of the above are in deep financial doo-doo.

I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that we were all pretty much in the same boat and that the same solution would likely apply to most...namely, change the rules so that the ER, which is a huge drain on the balance sheet, can be shut down without causing the hospital to lose accreditation and therefore more funding.

It's true that a complete shutdown in an isolated area like mine would be far more damaging than in rural areas closer to big-city hospitals...but it would be damaging enough in the latter - especially if there's a relatively easy fix to prevent it.

I'm not sure I've understood the problem correctly but I've proposed my solution. We'll see how it's received.

[liberallarry]

The eastern Sierra is over-run with disfunctional lefties, and heavy drug users, who are mostly transplants from the east. Their primary source of income is selling (chinese made) trinkets to tourists

I wonder what part of the Eastern Sierra you're talking about. Certainly not the Owens Valley.

not to mention "saving Mono Lake" which they couldn't do if they had to, since it's L.A. taking the water

The lake level seems to be stabilized. Dust suppression is proceeding apace on Owens Dry Lake. There remains a big controversy - not yet resolved - about ground water pumping.

One hopes that you're better informed about other matters than you are about my part of the world.

[editor-surveyor]

"I wonder what part of the Eastern Sierra you're talking about."

I'm talking about the area from Sonora pass down to Mamoth Lakes. Most of the commercial activity is fake art and souveniers. Get them snazzy picture rugs and Elvis clocks, etc. I had to spend a week in Mammoth Lakes a few years ago to do a survey of the fire sprinkler system in the attic of the Sierra Lodge for a construction defect law suit. Everything around there caters either to yuppie skiers, or trinket sales. The only saving grace of the place was Cervino's restaurant.

[liberallarry]

You didn't notice that Mammoth Lakes is a trendy, upscale, resort town far different than the rest of the area? You didn't notice that ranching and mining - which were the mainstays of the area for nearly a century - have almost disappeared, leaving the local population (mostly decendents of the original settlers) - with the exception of Bishop and a very few other places - dependent upon tourism? You didn't notice that the drug problem has seriously affected the local kids because the economics are so bad and because they come from families ill-prepared to handle this kind of situation?

Not much of an observer are you?

Actually, none of this has anything to do with the original article and you care nothing about the Eastern Sierra. You just posted your crap to try and discredit me.

You are really dishonourable.

[Amerigomag]

I started to write a lenghtly explanation of the usurping of ERs by a liberal legislature but I thought of a more creative approach to your unique problem.

Have Cal Trans post the following sign on north bound 395 just south of Lone Pine

NO PUBLIC MEDICAL FACILITIES FOR THE NEXT 150 MILES: DRIVE CAREFULLY!

[liberallarry]

I started to write a lenghtly explanation of the usurping of ERs by a liberal legislature but I thought of a more creative approach to your unique problem

Do you really think it's unique? Wouldn't it make sense to preserve at least parts of the rural hospitals in your area?...the SNF units (long-term care, old folks home), the clinic, the lab, etc? Wouldn't that make sense both medically and economically?

[liberallarry]

NO PUBLIC MEDICAL FACILITIES FOR THE NEXT 150 MILES: DRIVE CAREFULLY!

It would be more useful to have police cadets get their training up here - observing really, really bad and dangerous driving.

[editor-surveyor]

Larry, you are a real basket case!

It is you that have failed to notice that the reason that ranching and mining have declined is unconstitutional governmental interferance in their activities, mostly through the fraud known as environmentalism (the favorite of you lefties).

The drug problem is not caused in any way by econonmic factors; it is the total moral relativism of liberals such as yourself that has let the kids down. The families they come from are ill-prepared for any situation because they are not Christ-centered.

The eastern Sierra would be a great place without liberals; as it is, it is nauseating. It's almost as bad as the beggars that piss in the reflecting pool at the Taj Mahal, and really it is the same culture.

Government cannot pull you guys out of this, and you have no legitimate claim on other peoples hard earned money, just so that you can continue in your disfunctional life style.

I have no desire to discredit you, you discredit yourself through your victimism.

[PRND21]

Never right...but can never admit you are wrong.

Sour grapes Bump. Get over it.

[Reagan Man]

Draconian is a nice liberal term. You may view Tom McClintock's economic recovery plan as cruel. I prefer to label it severe, as in austere and a necessity. California will never get back on track without a serious effort to bring some high level of fiscal sanity back to the Golden State. Half measures won't get the job done. GovSchwarzenegger should understand that. After all, no pain, no gain.

[William Tell]

editor-surveyor told liberallarry: "Government cannot pull you guys out of this, and you have no legitimate claim on other peoples hard earned money, just so that you can continue in your disfunctional life style."

You have said it as well as I could.

How the habitability of an isolated region in Kalifornia became a burden to state government is a mystery to me. The same attitude assumes that the productive citizens of San Francisco have a burden to house "homeless" people or to supply the needs of transvestites desirous of sex-change operations.

The just announced refusal of the US Supreme Court to protect and defend my right to keep and bear arms is sufficient reason to continue my program to leave Kalifornia. Even without it, Kalifornia is on the fast track to collapse. Arnold is doing what he promised, but I was never convinced that it would be successful. I, for one, do not intend to approve the borrowing of $15 billion dollars by issuing "deficit" bonds.