Will you listen to me now, California?
For months I’ve been calling for the recall of our defective governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But my calls have gone unheeded.
Now, his incompetence has allowed a large part of the state to burn down.
The last big fires here were in 2003, the same year he was elected. So he’s had four years to prepare, but hasn’t. The L.A. Times reported:
A special panel appointed by Schwarzenegger recommended in 2004 that California buy 150 more firetrucks for emergencies. So far only 19 have been ordered. They are scheduled to arrive in time for next year’s fire season.
The state has not replaced its Vietnam-era helicopters, although the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission had warned that many were nearing the end of their operational lives and that the availability of replacements “is diminishing and will soon be exhausted.”
That means the choppers are older than most of their pilots.
During this time, Arnold has been grandstanding around the world on various causes, such as his obsession with global warming — which, if it exists, ironically will be made worse by the fires he didn’t do enough to prevent. Remember when, just this past June, he took that photo-op in London with then Prime Minister “Phony” Tony Blair?
Or how about his ridiculous insistence, in his January state-of-the-state address this year, that California is a “nation-state” that can lead the world on such issues as global warming and greenhouse gases? It turns out that this “nation-state” can’t even keep its forests and homes from burning down.
Competent politicians don’t grandstand, but get down to the nitty-gritty of getting done what needs to be done. They make priorities and push to enact them. They work not for personal delusions formed in Hollywood, but for the people they represent.
Gray Davis was recalled for far less, mainly for “panicking” during the electricity crisis that led to some blackouts, but little loss of property. Davis also allowed massive budget deficits, which Arnold has not ended, but continued. And Davis imposed the unpopular car-tax increase — but Arnold wants an even bigger tax increase for his socialized medicine scheme. Clearly, Arnold is a much worse governor than Gray Davis, who himself was quite bad.
Arnold is incompetent and needs to be replaced.
Recall Arnold.
Now.
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Myblog's Blog 
October 25, 2007 at 10:28 am |
[…] John Seiler has an interesting post calling for Californians to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ov…. It’s a fun read. Stumble it! […]
October 25, 2007 at 2:01 pm |
!50 firetrucks and more modern helicopters woudn’t have prevented the fires or the spread of these fires. There’s a lot to criticize the Govenor for but this is not one of the issues. Your statements sound as lamebrained as Garamendi’s comments blaming Bush’s war in Iraq as the reasons for the fires.
BTW: Its not a “fun read” its political posturing at its lowest form. Shame on him and shame on you for misrepresenting it.
October 26, 2007 at 10:33 am |
I have to agree with Paul Majors. In my 46 years I have never experienced winds like we had through these fires. I don’t believe they could have responded any better to this situation. When planes can’t fly because of fierce wind conditions and fire fighters can’t get in because of firestorm conditions, homes are going to be destroyed. Mountain community homes are almost impossible to protect in situations like these. I thought the State did a wonderful job co-oridinating and reacting to these fires. I know that people who have lost homes are angry now, but in time they will realize that nothing more really could have been done. There are always these kinds of risks when homes are built in beautiful tree filled settings when drought and wind conditions are what they were. The conditions were literally perfect storm conditions for devastation.
October 27, 2007 at 9:54 pm |
John,
You are placing the blame on the wrong Governor! The blame belongs on Gray Davis’s shoulders.
As you know, we have a severe state budget shortage that is causing a great underfunding of virtually all state-funded services. The question I pose to you is: Should we even further undercut some (or all) other important funded services in order to FULLY fund fire emergency services to full capacity (as perceived needed); or, more fairly as well as realistically, should we allot a fair and square percentage of the state funding “pie” to ALL state-related services in an equitable manner?
In other words, it seems only fair to undercut each service by the same percentage amount from it’s perceived full funding need, rather than unfairly undercutting some services at a higher percentage amount than others!
Then, there is the question as to WHAT state service is truly most important. I believe you will find that service importance is dependent on what each individual citizen’s life situation is. For example, in my personal case, adequate funding for the state’s Regional Centers (who, in turn, fund services for the Developmentally-Disabled residing in California) would be MY highest priority of importance for funding levels! This is because I have a 26 year old child with Moderate Autism and mental retardation who lives in a group home setting for adults, which is funded by the state. He also is involved with a Day Program where he works with a job-coach in different community settings practicing different job skills and activities. This program is also state-funded. Then, there is the Medi-cal insurance he is covered by that is also state-supported. Yet, as it stands, all three of these services he receives are substantially underfunded from what is optimally needed for quality service support. Specifically, the staff, who work in his group home, are quite under-paid, not receiving any cost-of-living increase in salary for a number of years (wage-freezing).
Then, there are those who might view freeway and street pot-hole repair as another important issue if they do a lot of long-distance commuting everyday.
So John, as you can plainly comprehend, it depends on WHO you are as to what state-funded service is most important to YOU. Granted, anyone who lives in areas that are KNOWN to be prone to fire dangers, is probably going to place fire-emergency funding as their highest priority!
While I naturally sympathize with the plight of someone losing their home and valued life possessions, we need to balance this “passion” for the “few” unfortunate victims of fire with the overall welfare of ALL citizens in California, regarding prioritization of state funding of services.
As I see it, our Governor has his job cut out for him in determining how to distribute these funds among the “competing” services that are supported by them, in the most equitable way. Do you really believe YOU could do better??? I seriously doubt you would know where to begin!!!
I DO know that Arnold is a great friend of small businesses with his overhauling of the Workman’s Compensation regulations. And, as you SHOULD know, it is the small businesses in California that help keep our state budget intact (through payroll and business tax revenues).
Think through all of the above, then I believe you will have more praise than criticism for our great Governor!
Gary Smith — Santa Ana resident