Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Slow Saturday Special: State Mugging in Massachusetts

“It’s legislative water-boarding.... That’s how it feels.’’

I can't disagree with him despite the hyperbole.

AHEM:


Governor Guts State Services

Pigs at the State Trough

A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund

The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy

Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts

Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money

Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride

How many times I gotta put 'em up?


Related:
The California "Crisis"

"Budget cuts draw bleak predictions, calls for veto; Local aid, healthcare, social programs hit hard" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | June 20, 2009

Schools will close, municipal employees will be laid off, and waits for a new driver’s license will grow under a $27.4 billion state budget approved yesterday by House and Senate lawmakers.

As they TOSS MONEY AWAY to FAVORED INTERESTS and BANKS!

The vote - 110 to 46 in the House and 31 to 8 in the Senate - came as mayors, town managers, social service agencies, and local activists across Massachusetts began to digest the massive cuts the budget proposal calls for, including up to a 15 percent cut in noneducation local aid for municipalities....

I sounds terrible as I read it, but then I remember it is a MANUFACTURED CRISIS and SELECTIVE CUTS!! That's why I can BARELY STOMACH the Boston Globe anymore.

“It’s depressing; it really is depressing,’’ said Mayor John Barrett of North Adams, which closed a middle school yesterday because of budget woes. “There is no light at the end of the tunnel, not even a flicker of hope. It looks like it’s going to be worse next year. There’s no real revenue stream that’s going to be improving.’’

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette of Chicopee said, “It is a patchwork quilt of knitting together new revenue, spending cuts, and job elimination, and that is how we’re all going to try to survive this.’’

Look at this: on Slow Saturday the Globe finally recognizes Western Mass.

As Governor Deval Patrick began reviewing the budget package yesterday, healthcare advocates, and immigrant rights activists urged him to veto a provision that would eliminate coverage under Commonwealth Care, the state-sponsored healthcare program, for 28,000 legal immigrants....

It HURTS that OUR STATE cares MORE ABOUT -- they are saying legal, but c'mon; illegal-loving, agenda-pushing paperfinally telling the truth -- ILLEGALS than NATIVE BORN!!

And for those who think I'm a prick, NO!! I'm for Sicko-style HEALTH CARE so NO ONE WOULD HAVE TO WORRY and it WOULDN'T BE AN ISSUE -- but "POLITICS" is going to PREVENT WHAT I WANT!

And you wonder why we are angry?

Lindsey Tucker, health reform policy manager at Health Care for All, a nonprofit advocacy group: “We have worked so hard for three years to cover all of our eligible residents. We can’t turn our backs on these folks now.’’

Why not? You guys turn them on us all the time.

Or are those budget cuts just love coming down the pike?

Budget analysts also warned yesterday that the accounts used to maintain the state’s landmark healthcare reform laws are dangerously underfunded.

Yeah, EVERYONE AROUND HERE knows that it is a PIECE of CRAP!!

And YOU are getting it on a NATIONAL LEVEL, America!

Let the LOOTING BEGIN!!!!

Antigang, youth violence prevention, and elderly affairs programs would also see deep cuts....

I guess that means the sports programs won't be getting the funding.

We already know about the old folk!

State programs aside, the budget would deeply affect cities and towns, which operate in large part on huge annual infusions of state aid. Many municipalities next year will see smaller checks, and will be forced to trim local services, staff, and education budgets.

At the SAME TIME you are being LOOTED, taxpayer!!!

A host of new taxes, including a 1.25 percentage point increase in the state sales tax, were included to prevent even deeper reductions.

I KNOW where you can go to GET $$$$!!!!

The budget includes enough money, $100 million, to avoid a toll increase on the Massachusetts Turnpike that had been scheduled to take effect July 1. The budget would require the Turnpike Authority to forgo increases for one year, but does not prohibit increases after that.

Pffft! We mean nothing out here. F*** you, Bahstahn!

MBTA riders, thanks to an additional $160 million in the budget for the T, would also get some relief, though not enough to prevent an expected fare increase in the next few months. Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr. has said the T will need to raise fares 15 to 20 percent and possibly cut some service because of increasing debt payments.

Oh, so the WEALTHY, SUBURBAN TURNPIKE folk -- for whom the Big Pit was designed -- are seeing NO INCREASE while the BUS and SUBWAY RIDERS ARE?!!!!

Yeah, GLOBAL WARMING, right, you f***in lying fart-f***s!!!!!!!!

Also see: Aloisi's Bus Stop

Big Pit Getting Deeper

The First Brother and Sister of Massachusetts

Blogger Jim

All eyes are now on Patrick, who has 10 days to sign, veto, or offer modifications to the proposal. He has vowed to veto the sales tax provision of the budget unless the Legislature first approves overhauls of state ethics, pension, and transportation laws.

Heard nothing yet.

Probably sign it on Friday!

Yesterday, Patrick offered measured praise for the transportation bill, which was approved overwhelmingly by the Legislature on Thursday, saying in a statement: “At first review, [it] seems to be a good-faith effort at reforming our transportation system.’’

Related: Massport Bypasses the Turnpike

But he also chided lawmakers for passing a sales tax increase before finalizing an ethics package. House and Senate lawmakers have been wrangling over the ethics legislation, with one of the major holdups a provision that would ban all gifts to public officials.

Yeah, except HE BROKE the LAW right out of the BLOCK!!

No note, Globe? You know, like Ahmandinejad calling for the destruction of Israel every time his name appears in one of your s***-sheet reports.

The lawmakers’ budget counts on $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money.

Oh, yeah, state saving us with borrowed money that taxpayers will have to pay back with interest, yaaay! So glad they are tossing away billions in tax loot to favored interests and lining their pockets!

It would draw $199 million from the state’s reserve account, leaving the balance at less than $600 million....

Oh, so the STATE is SITTING on DOUGH, huh?

Un-effin-fucking-believeable!

“I don’t have to tell anybody that we are living in difficult economic times,’’ said state Representative Charles A. Murphy, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “The reality that we are faced with forces us to take a vote on a document that is not perfect.’’

How would HE KNOW?

He HASN'T READ the LOBBYIST-DRAFTED LEGISLATIONS!!!!

Republicans hammered the Democratic leadership for filing a 263-page budget proposal late Thursday night and asking lawmakers to vote on complicated issues with only several hours to review it.

So HOW MANY PENSION PERKS and DOUBLE-DIPPING SIDE DEALS were SNUCK IN, hanh?!!!!!

I'll bet we will FIND OUT NEXT SATURDAY!

“The way we do business is deplorable, and it needs to change,’’ said state Representative Daniel K. Webster, a Hanson Republican....

YUP!

Also see: The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Problem

The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Ruling Party

Complicating the politics, labor unions, which came out strongly against the transportation legislation a day earlier, were furious yesterday over a budget that includes deep cuts to - and the eventual elimination of - the Quinn Bill, a controversial program that awards bonuses for police officers who hold college degrees.

Unbelieveable!

Balancing the budget on the backs of the cops.

I hope you guys REMEMBER THAT when they ask you to ENFORCE the TYRANNY!!!!!

“This budget squeezes as much as you possibly can out of workers, on our backs, and out of our pockets,’’ said Tim Sullivan, legislative and communications director for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “It’s legislative water-boarding of unions and working people. That’s how it feels.’’

That's because they are working for YOU-KNOW-WHO!!!

--more--"