Posted on 03/04/2008 8:20:59 AM PST by SmithL
A couple of hundred University of California students staged a street theater demonstration Monday at the Capitol, protesting looming budget cuts in higher education and the prospect of higher student fees.
It wasn't exactly a throwback to the tie-dyed 1960s; the female students wore high heels and the men coats and ties as they listened to politicians' expressions of support, including a "freeze the fees" plea from Lt. Gov. John Garamendi. But subdued as it may have been, it symbolized the angst that's developing over the state's whopping budget deficit.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposals for slashing spending by billions of dollars – whether serious or symbolic – and Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill's alternative budget that includes $2.7 billion in revenues from loophole closures and a batch of new fees are igniting public and private resistance. Those facing spending cuts or higher fees and taxes are muscling up with lobbyists and other tools of persuasion.
The powerful Education Coalition is mounting an advertising campaign against the governor's $4 billion-plus reduction in state aid to schools and hundreds of school districts are sending out teacher layoff notices this month. Meanwhile, the prison guards union and law-and-order legislators are denouncing Schwarzenegger's plans to overhaul parole.
When the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee staged a hearing on tax loopholes, dozens of lobbyists turned out. The software and entertainment industries are among those that would be affected should Hill's approach to closing the state's budget gap be adopted.
...Capitol lobbyists, a notoriously phlegmatic lot, may see the Schwarzenegger budget and the Hill alternative as full-employment acts that will generate untold thousands, or even millions, of dollars in income for themselves. But despite the angst, it's still uncertain whether either of the pending budget proposals, or even any of their major provisions, have any chance...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Fire any asshat screaming the loudest!
Has anyone anywhere on earth ever had their politics influenced by street theater?
There was a great line from yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune editorial:
"The media, meanwhile, further muddy the debate. Many reporters depict a reduction in an agency's proposed budget for a future year as if it were an actual spending cut, instead of a reduced spending increase. This allows special interests to forever depict themselves as besieged and starved for funding."
This reporter, Dan Walters, has been around a long time and is normally pretty good.
It's a shame he still gets a little sloppy like this.
My daughter is stressed out at Cal State Univ. at San Bernardino because of all this talk of cutting classes, teachers, scholarships. Why don’t they talk about cutting the BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT ON ILLEGALS MEDICAL AND EDUCATION costs? That’s what I’d be protesting!
I agree....they cut higher education and leave all the healthcare and education for illegals programs in place?
Since when is raising fees considered a budget cut?
What did he have to say about that?
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