Governor Schwarzenegger is joined by California families
as he discusses the state’s budget crisis.
Photo courtesy the governor’s office.

By Gino Rambetes

July 3, 2009

The photograph above came out of the governor’s press office and illustrates why California’s government and the state’s economy are in such a mess.

First, one wonders how many taxpayer dollars were wasted to choreograph, shoot and distribute the photo.

Second, and more important, the press release (see below) does nothing but continue a finger-pointing exercise. Like so much other drivel from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, it fails to mention what politicians in both “major” and some “minor” parties have long known and refuse to admit: that the budget crisis and economic disaster stem from the class warfare that started with California voters’ passage in 1978 of the property tax limitation initiative known as Proposition 13.

Taxes per se are not evil nor harmful. They are absolutely necessary to fund vital public services — health care, education, aid to the needy, public-works projects, police and fire protection, etc. — and a taxation system that is properly constructed and fairly implemented can do just that.

The politicians need to stop parroting the corporate lies, and to start telling and acting on the truth. Otherwise, within 10 years, the class war will erupt into violence that will make the urban riots of the 1960s look like tea socials. Sleep well.

Gino Rembetes is a freelance writer based in San Francisco.

Schwarzenegger’s Press Release

Following the legislature’s inability to pass a comprehensive solution to solve California’s entire $24.3 billion deficit, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today visited San Francisco to discuss the state’s budget crisis. Wednesday, the Governor proclaimed a fiscal emergency and called a Proposition 58 legislative special session to address this emergency. Additionally, the Governor exercised his executive authority to save cash for vital state functions and services by ordering three furlough days every month. Click here to read more. The following photo was taken at Governor Schwarzenegger’s field office in San Francisco, CA.

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Protestors performed a die-in outside San Francisco City Hall earlier today
as part of an ongoing series of protests to draw attention
to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget cuts.
Photos by Luke Thomas

By Luke Thomas

July 1, 2009

Protests against Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget cuts continued for a third day today at San Francisco City Hall.

“We’re protesting Mayor Newsom’s inequitable, inhumane, immoral budget that basically balances the City’s budget on the backs of the poor, the backs of the homeless and the backs of the sick,” said Julian Davis, one of several protest organizers.

“It’s just unacceptable,” Davis added.

Julian Davis discusses Newsom’s budget cuts with a KTVU reporter.

Today’s die-in protest followed similar protests Sunday during the annual Pride Parade and on Alioto Plaza, Monday. Davis said the protests would continue, “Until the Mayor gets serious about campaigning for new revenue.”

Newsom’s budget proposal includes over $125 million in cuts to health and human services while other City departments, including public safety, have been largely spared.

Some progress has been made to rectify the imbalance following ongoing negotiations Monday between the controller’s office, the mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors. Budget Chair John Avalos indicated $20.1 million had been identified for possible restoration to health and human services while signaling that the mayor’s office is supportive of ballot revenue measures that specifically raise revenues for the cuts Newsom has proposed.

Avalos said the City is looking to raise at least $50 million in revenue on the November ballot to help close an unprecedented $576 million budget shortfall.

More pics after the jump.

Continue reading Newsom Budget Protests Continue for a Third Day

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During his June 2009 Cairo Islam speech, President Obama pledged
to “seek a new beginning between the United States
and Muslims around the world.”
Photo by Stephen Crowley, NY Times

By Ralph E. Stone

July 1, 2009

What is the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars so far and what are the California tradeoffs? As of June 30, 2009, in Iraq, 4,321 Americans have died as have from 92,435 to 100,911 civilians and another 2 million civilians have been displaced. In Afghanistan, 709 Americans have died and, although accurate counts are hard to come by, as many as 9,000 Afghan civilians have been killed and another 3.7 million refugees are living in neighboring countries.

The cost of those who died in these wars is immeasurable, but the dollar tradeoffs can be calculated.

Continue reading Cost of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
and the California Tradeoffs

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A candlelight vigil was held yesterday outside City Hall
to protest Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget which includes over $125 million
in cuts to health and human services.
Photos by Luke Thomas

By Luke Thomas

June 30, 2009

Protests against Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal continued Monday with a candlelight vigil and die-in outside City Hall.

As many as two hundred protestors, mostly from SEIU Local 1021, gathered around 5 pm to draw attention to a budget that includes over $125 million in cuts to health and human services.

“City Departments that serve the most vulnerable San Franciscans have been asked to shoulder the lion’s share of the budget deficit,” said Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach. “At the same time, progressive revenue options have not been sought and the budget ax seemed to have missed police, fire, high paid executives and public relations staff inside the Mayor’s office.”

Continue reading Newsom Budget Protests Continue

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Thomas Berry, 1914-2009

By Steven Chapman

June 29, 2009

Earlier this month, on June 1, the Earth became a little bit darker.  Father Thomas Berry, cultural historian, visionary cosmologist, “geologian,” and mentor to many, passed away in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Berry was one of the most original and creative thinkers of the modern environmental movement, and his passing merits reflection on some of his accomplishments. The arc of Berry’s career and his engagement with the “big questions” of our time is extensive. After entering the priesthood and obtaining a doctorate at Catholic University (with a dissertation on the work of Giambattista Vico), he eventually ended up at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in the Bronx where he ran a history of religions graduate program.  He wrote books on Buddhism (1966) and on the religions of India (1971), and was the founding director of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research from 1970 to 1995.

Continue reading A Tribute to Thomas Berry 1914-2009:
Prophet of the Ecozoic Era

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