if americans knew that politics actually mattered, and actually impacted peoples lives, then perhaps they would stop voting for people who are patently unqualified to govern.
see the following article as an example…
-moby
the nation
gov.’s cuts to hit poor, universities
by evan halper, jeffrey l. rabin and nancy vogel times staff writers
november 25, 2003
sacramento ã‘ gov. arnold schwarzenegger is expected today to propose $3.8 billion in budget cuts over the next 19 months, including reductions in services to the poor and disabled, as well as in higher education programs.
the cuts, intended to help close a budget shortfall of at least $17 billion through mid-2005, would end art therapy for the developmentally disabled, scale back food stamp eligibility, reduce fees to doctors who treat medi-cal patients and eliminate recruitment programs at public universities. a draft was obtained by the times.
republicans who saw the cuts praised schwarzenegger for taking the initiative to solve a budget problem that they said will only get worse with delay.
democrats and advocates for the poor immediately vowed to resist the proposal, which will be presented at legislative hearings today and would cut roughly $1.9 billion in the current budget year and about the same amount in the 2004-2005 budget. they criticized the proposal as targeting low-income californians to generate money to compensate for the $4-billion car tax cut that the governor signed into law nov. 17.
“”this is not a centrist, bipartisan view of the world,”” said assemblywoman jackie goldberg (d-los angeles). “”this is a radical right view of the world. and if gov. schwarzenegger wants to position himself in the direction of saying he wants bipartisanship, this is not a step in that direction.””
officials with the administration declined to comment on the proposal, which they said will be officially released today.
“”the administration is putting forward recommendations on what we believe is a comprehensive and responsible plan,”” said schwarzenegger spokesman h.d. palmer.
the proposal also comes after democratic legislators complained last week that the governor wanted them to take action without providing suggestions beyond calling for borrowing up to $15 billion and implementing a constitutional spending cap.
the cuts affecting the developmentally disabled drew immediate criticism. schwarzenegger’s proposal would save $282 million by eliminating music, art, camping and other nonmedical therapy programs for the roughly 626,000 californians who have mental or physical impairments that make it difficult to learn, speak or care for themselves. another cut involves suspending the lanterman act, which guarantees myriad services for the developmentally disabled.
issues involving the developmentally disabled have long been supported by schwarzenegger, in part because his mother-in-law, eunice kennedy shriver, helped found the special olympics program for the mentally retarded.
another reduction would save $385 million by cutting cleaning, transportation and other in-home services that the state provides to the elderly, blind and disabled to help keep them out of nursing homes. advocates for the poor say it would result in 74,200 people losing their care.
“”these cuts clearly target the most vulnerable californians, largely to pay for a tax cut,”” said jean ross, executive director of the california budget project, a nonprofit group that researches how budget proposals affect low-income californians.
ross called the in-home services program extremely cost-effective for taxpayers, because it serves californians who would otherwise have to be moved to costly nursing homes at state expense.
“”they are people who will otherwise end up on medi-cal at a much higher cost,”” ross said. half of medi-cal’s costs are reimbursed by the federal government.
assemblyman ken maddox (r-garden grove) said the negative reaction t