Another Day At The Office ...

It always leaves me wondering when I listen to the radio and hear about some natural disaster or family tragedy immediately followed by the weather report or an advertisement for cereal. Tragedy to triscuits in the blink of an eye. Maybe we are nationally ADHD, or, in order simply to survive, perhaps we have evolved such that our psyches shut down after 5.7 seconds of bad news.

On Thursday Governor Patterson announced proposed budget cuts to, among other things, education and health care. Mid-year cuts in state aid to school systems would run around 3% per district. $471 million would be cut from Medicaid and other mental health programs - including a $14 million cut to the Child Health Plus program. The governor is responding to a projected $50 billion deficit in the state budget over the next three and a half years.

Something has to be done.

The DOW is up over 10,000, pushed largely by rising oil prices. Bank of America's CEO, Kenneth Lewis, has resigned and is returning his entire 2009 salary and bonuses - not to worry, though, because he leaves with a $50 million-plus nest egg. His exit is brought on as a result of suspected impropriety and cover-ups over Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Millions come; billions go. For some, it's just another day at the office.

But for others it will mean no "After School Program", and no health care - or no payment for health care provided. It appears as if corporate executives make and lose money as quickly as we move from FOX to CNN. One hopes that politicians feel the pain more deeply, that there is some kind of existential turmoil going on before making the announcements.

With education and health care on the state chopping block - our brains and our bodies, as it were - it seems all that's left is our spirit. Can they cut that as well?

Jesus teaches that treasures can be laid up where neither moth, rust, corrupt executives, nor inept politicians can have at them. Here's hoping he's right.

Ooops ... gotta go. I'm meeting a friend for coffee.