Gov. Schwarzenegger Apparently To Recommend Effectively Closing California State Office Of AIDS

Actually if you a Californian

you should be calling for a constitutional conventition to get rid of the crazy structure of government out there that allows things like this and prop 8 to happen at all. Direct democracy has its place in our system, but not for things that require much long term deliberation.

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 17:46:55 PM CDT

Or go for Plan B ...

...since Californians seem to go for this sort of thing, they could abolish the state legislature and all elected state offices from Governator on down, and run the whole badwording state by voter initiatives. That should save them a lot of money, ya think?

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by: ChicagoMolly @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 18:25:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Or Plan C

and leave California pronto... dear gawd.

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by: Louise @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 18:48:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fair enough.

Problem is, since most of my fellow Californians are dimwits and refused the proposals offered...the cuts have to come from somewhere.  And a fuckton of the cuts are going to come from HHS stuff, and another fuckton from education, and services like police and fire...SOMETHING has to give at this point.  So yes, it sucks that the HIV/AIDS office is going kaput, but I'm not surprised, and I guess I just feel like, if I fight for this one, what else gets defunded in its place?  

When the voters are stupid, we all lose.

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by: Nikaia @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 20:20:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sadly that's true

Sorry to hear you have to live with other people's stupidity.  

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 21:27:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

they were bad proposals

californians were right to reject them. It's time for california to fix the real problem here -- the fact that it requires 2/3rds of the legislature to pass the budget (though unfunded mandates via citizen initiatives don't help!)

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by: RyansTake @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 23:04:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"The people"

did it again.

Budgetary matters belong (by and large) in the hands of the legislature and the executive, period.

Yes, there is a place for direct democracy, but with state budgets, taxes, and issues like Prop 8? This is where mob rule can take you, just as Plato predicted 2500 years ago.  

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by: kevinchi @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 20:20:56 PM CDT

The problem is we keep having morons

who at some point think "oh yes although its fucked up in the past- this time- we will be better and get it right this time." That's become the American mantra whether direct democracy, wars to prove how tough we are or not understanding equal protection exists to protect all or none of us. If said that to most Americans, they would look at you dumbfounded and asked what do you think of Adam Lambert not winning American Idol.

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 21:30:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

the problem

wasn't the people, it's the fact that california requires 2/3rds of the legislature to pass the budget. This means Republicans can be in the extreme minority and still control everything. Hence, the severity of the situation.  

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by: RyansTake @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 23:05:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

who created the system that required that number

the magical legislature fairies? Please- it's the people of CA who need to start taking responsiblity for their dysnfunctional system.

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 01:27:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They could keep doing Gay Marriages...

That should bring in enough money (both directly and indirectly) to cover this program and a few others...

Just sayin'

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by: Will St. James @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 20:32:27 PM CDT

marriage is more important thatn genocide?

Are you kidding me? Some things are not worth "just sayin'.

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by: skevin @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 07:59:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm just sayin' this

To show the absurdity of the claim that they can't find funding for this program.  Gay marriage in California does not directly affect me because I don't live there and no do I think it is more important than someones life.  

The point being made was that there are many outs that the legislation can take to keep this and other programs running.  And they probably could have if they did not have their hands tied by the "direct democracy" initiatives that not only prevented them from fixing this problem, but also overturned gay marriage.

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by: Will St. James @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 11:48:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Life or Death

Unfortunatly, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP is the only way thousands of Californians can afford the life-saving medications they need to survive. To cut this program would sentence people to death. Close down some of the redundant boards and councils that are used has holding pens for termed out legislators. Paying someone $100,000.00 a year to show up at a committee meeting once or twice a month is excessive compensation

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by: River Nic @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 21:36:56 PM CDT

Where's the first place they cut

Those expendable people....fags, black women, Latinas, junkies.

Marie Shriver...you and your family EMBARRASS me, you loathsome F*CKS!

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 22:26:04 PM CDT

You are stoking the flames which will ignite TUESDAY

Burn Baby Burn

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 22:27:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Combine this

with Obama breaking a campaign promise by not funding needle exchange program (at least not for FY 2010). So here we have 1) the Feds and 2) the state of California cutting funds that will, yes, allow people to die.

Shameful.

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by: kevinchi @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 11:56:25 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Be sure to write to Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post

Tell him to ask his wife, Sheri Annis -- the Republican operative who put Arnold in office -- what she's going to do about all the fresh corpses.

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by: David Ehrenstein @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 22:28:35 PM CDT

this is what happens

when you create a system in which 1/3 of elected leaders can block the entire budget. It's an affront to democracy - and has resulted in simply disastrous consequences.  

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by: RyansTake @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 23:02:32 PM CDT

if ADAP goes away, people will die--its that simple

If people cant get their HIV meds, even for a brief period of time, it could lead to hiv resistance and increases in viral load which may not be fixed if they get access to meds at a later date.

This is bad, bad news!


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by: Mad Professah @ Sun May 24, 2009 at 23:34:18 PM CDT

Arnold is from the "pro-life" party, so no worries.

oh wait, you're talking about the post-unborn dying?  um, nevermind.

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by: Lurleen @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 00:36:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

if they want to reduce the budget burden

they should boot the minor criminals from prison who are there because of 3 strikes and serving undeserved draconian sentences.  how many minor-league 3-strikers are there?  at home many thousands per head per year?

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by: Lurleen @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 00:34:50 AM CDT

ANOTHER G*D DAMN CA actor will kill us AGAIN

Reagan did NOTHING as thousands of us died in the streets, when hospitals wouldn't bring food into AIDS patients rooms, where VULTURE realitors sold gay men's homes for pennies on the dollar if someone died of AIDS, many times where the surviving lover only had months left to live themselves. It is almost UNIMAGINABLE CA could begin this nightmare again, and this time the deaths will be hundreds of thousands or MILLIONS.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 01:53:47 AM CDT

Sell Big Sur, make every higheway a damn toll road

Renegotiate medicare D drugs with drug companies, means test seniors getting medicines when they are RICH.
Don't kill you poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 01:57:33 AM CDT

Where We Are Going

Since the beginning of time, if a human got badly sick, she usually died. The rich might have gotten sick less often than the poor, but they died, too.

The scientific accomplishments of the last century have helped us overcome some of this. We now have antibiotics, and even some drugs that fight viruses. These scientific accomplishments, however, could never have taken place without an educated middle class. The rich allowed the middle class to come into existence so all of the scientific advancements of the last hundred years would be possible.

Now they've had enough. They are very tired of having anything less than absolute rule, and they want to return to a feudal system, albeit a modern corporate version. It is time for them to eliminate the middle class as a social entity.

So this is where we are going: You will have not have any health care, you will not have any education beyond what is needed to perform your mindless job, and you will never own any property or be able to save any money. You will be a serf, and once you are unable to provide valuable labor to those who rule, you will be cast aside like an old farm animal.

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by: Jim @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 02:02:02 AM CDT

Tomorrow I guarantee there will be a run on pharmacies

Every clinic with AIDS formularies will be PACKED, and it's gonna get ugly.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 02:44:43 AM CDT

tuesday forgot the holiday

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 02:45:18 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Barvarian Nazi Pope:::Austrian Nazi Governor.

This is nothing short of genocide. Californians, get off your asses, and do something!!

I have AIDS, I live in NYC, and I'm frightened that this shit will spread.

Are death camps and mass crematoriums next?

How the fuck does Marie Shriver sleep?

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by: skevin @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 07:56:05 AM CDT

Stop CA Dem leadership from going along with these cuts

Unless Democratic legislators hear it from their constitutuents, they'll take the lead of leadership, which is to compromise until they give the Republicans everything - namely, closing the $20B+ budget gap with cuts alone (and perhaps a $2 billion property tax "forced borrowing" from local governments).

The fact is that Democrats don't need any Republican votes to pass a budget that raises revenues in addition to cutting programs -- revenues categorized as "fees" don't fall under the 2/3 rule.  They showed this was possible by doing it in January.  

If you're a Californian who doesn't want to see vital programs cut like the ones provided by the State Office of AIDS, then call your legislators (particularly Democratic) and Democratic legislative leaders (Assm Speaker Bass (916-319-2047) & Sen Pro Tem Steinberg (916-651-4006)) and tell them to pass a majority vote 'fee increase' again.  

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by: PeterB @ Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:05:46 PM CDT

The solution is simple...

Obama and the Democrats, with the support of the Republicans have given trillions to the owners of AIG, GM, BoA, and others who ruthless looting of the economy wrecked out standard of living. The rich began looting California even before the economic collapse by manipulating energy costs and stealing billions from taxpayers.

At the same time as Obama refuses a bailout for California he demands takebacks from unions and working people. His program is trillions for the rich and austerity for the rest of us.  

We should demand that California and other state governments get the same kind of bailouts as the looter rich.

In addition, Obama should declare that HIV-AIDS is a national emergency and call for a "Manhattan Project" funded to further HIV-AIDS research, prevention and treatment and to provide jobs, housing and social services as needed.

The looter rich much prefer working with Democrats like Obama and the Clintons - they're greedier, they fool more people and they're able to get away with a lot more than Republicans.  

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by: donal1944 @ Tue May 26, 2009 at 02:31:53 AM CDT