In My Orbit...
The Girl has come up for air from her Yogically-concentrated path of Teacher Training to actually write a blog post. Can you believe it? Just three more weeks of training to go, then we'll see where the path continues to takes me--I'm actually kind of excited!
I'm also excited about the series I am writing for my Faith & Community Page on Examiner.com called "Yogis of Faith". Do pop by and check out Part 1: Transformation, and Part 2: Devotion. As soon as I finish this blog post I'll get to working on Part 3: Application.
As always, that coming up for air includes checking back in with the political scene. Scary Brown is doing what I pretty much suspected, breaking off budget negotiations with the GOP. The Republicans have effectively put the kabosh on Brown's plan to mount a special election in June to ask voters to decide whether tax increases should be extended.
The Christian Science Monitor forecasts the future in California budget: Have Republicans outfoxed Jerry Brown? Lara Brown, a political scientist at Villanova University in Pennsylvania paints a not so pretty picture of gridlock:
"'What he fails to understand is that in today's highly polarized political arena, ideologically extreme position-takers consistently beat old-school partisan compromisers,
"'[...]This generation of politicians understands that Democrats "are better off fighting and standing their ground – showing the liberal Democratic base in California that they are principled, than they are in giving into the demands from what is – and has been for some time – the minority party in the state,'
"The Republicans, meanwhile, 'would also rather fight it out, because it allows them to cast the Democrats as extremist incumbents who are letting the state slip into insolvency, which then helps them in their attempt to recruit moderates and Independents,' she adds. 'Governor Brown, who came into politics in a different era, has yet to realize that he, like [former gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger, will likely be the one to sustain the mortal wounds in this partisan duel.'"
In the meantime, California continues its fast slide into insolvency and is quickly losing its taxpayer base. The 2010 Census numbers are bearing that out. Thomas Sowell, sagacious and experienced in these matters, hits it right between the eyes:
"In general, people are voting with their feet against places where the liberal, welfare-state policies favored by the intelligentsia are most deeply entrenched."
Give it a read. Voting with Their Feet.