Also note how much of a PRICK the DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR is! Cutting off the people he's supposed to repping -- like a mean, old, nasty Republican!!
For the record, Romney did a WAY BETTER JOB than THIS GUY!!!
"Protests loom over state cuts; Disabled, blind said unfairly hit; Mental health programs affected" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | October 18, 2008
A fierce backlash is brewing over social services budget cuts imposed this week by Governor Deval Patrick, foreshadowing potential hazards as the first-term governor attempts to navigate the economic crisis.
Advocates for the blind are planning a protest next week of Patrick's elimination of funding for Ferguson Industries for the Blind, a state-run business in Malden, which will lead to layoffs of 25 visually impaired workers. The advocates are also objecting to reductions in funding for basics like magnifying glasses and talking clocks for poor, elderly blind residents.
This morning, a group of mental health advocates was expected to demonstrate at a state conference of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Danvers over cuts to training programs for the mentally disabled.
The protests are building as social workers and nonprofit advocacy groups pore over the details of Patrick's 1,000 layoffs and $1 billion in budget cuts and spending controls, which were required to make up for revenues lost in the economic crisis. About $625 million of those cuts were made unilaterally by the governor this week across dozens of accounts, using his power to balance the budget, and went into effect immediately. He is preemptively denying another $146 million in anticipated spending requests from his departments. He needs legislative approval for the remainder.
How many times I gotta post it, readers?
Of course, "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Oh, and did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer. Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
See: Massachusetts Gives More Money to Hollywood
Yup, but they are going to CUT JOBS and SERVICES while telling us we need to keep the income tax!!
Don't you just get SICK of the BULLSHIT?!!!!
The state's financial problems, for instance, have required $9.3 million in cuts in the Department of Mental Health budget. Administration officials said they wanted to preserve services that provide homes and medical care to mental health patients, but transitional programs that help mentally ill residents get training and find jobs will be scaled back.
How about SCALING BACK HOLLYWOOD'S CUT, huh?
"I'm very concerned about every one of the cuts we put on the table," said Barbara Leadholm, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health. "We're cutting programs that we believe are important, effective, and support our consumers' recovery. That being said, we still had to make these cuts. We're having to prioritize in a way none of us wants to do."
The administration yesterday gave department heads several options for cutting back on staff, including delaying comp time and offering one-time payments of up to $7,500 to employees who accept layoffs. Services for Employment and Education, a program that helps reintegrate adults with mental illnesses into the workforce, is being eliminated as a result of the budget cuts. The program, which relies on $6.6 million from the state, will shut down on Dec. 31 and leave about 2,000 people statewide without job support.
But we have BILLIONS to give away to banks and corporations here in lovely, "liberal" Massachusetts!
Next month, Ferguson Industries for the Blind is scheduled to close, and 25 blind workers were told on Thursday that they would lose their jobs. Another seven workers at the facility are state employees, most of whom will be relocated to other areas of state government.
The 102-year-old manufacturing facility employs blind workers who make brooms, office supplies, and linens. "With a stroke of the pen, they eliminated us," said Jim Agostinelli, a 59-year-old from Stoneham who has been legally blind for about 13 years after glaucoma gave him pinhole vision.
Agostinelli has been calling state representatives and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, hoping anything could help prevent the center's closure. He and others are planning to come to the State House next week to protest the cuts.
Trillions for WARS and BANKS, but... I get tired of typing it.
The budget cuts the governor announced this week included few winners, with veterans programs and antigang grants for police officers being among the few areas that were not cut. The governor also decided not to cut local aid to cities and towns, which has won him plaudits from municipal officials.
Even high-profile initiatives important to the governor were cut, including $5 million that was going to bolster the state's life-sciences sector; $3 million to expand full-day kindergarten classes; and $4 million for putting new police officers on the streets.
The governor also cut into pet projects that state lawmakers boast about in their district, although many in the Legislature so far have been accepting of the governor's plans. Even House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was not immune. The North End visitor center in the heart of his district will be all but eliminated, one of his aides said. But some have criticized the fact that one of the governor's pet projects, the $3 million Commonwealth Corporation, is only taking a 5 percent trim.
Gee, what a shock!
"This is obviously a sacred cow," said Senate minority leader Richard Tisei. "I don't know how you can cut mental retardation and mental health services and leave boondoggle like this." --more--"
Hey, this is MASSACHUSETTS, my dear man!!!!
