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250-Mile ‘March For California’s Future’ Begins
A diverse group of California public employees today began a 48-day “March for California’s Future.” The march, sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), AFSCME and a coalition of labor, education and faith groups, began in Bakersfield.
The march will draw attention to the state’s budget crisis and the devastating impact of budget cuts on Californians now and into the future. The goals of the march are to restore the promise of public education, create a government and economy that works for all and establish fair taxes to fund California’s future.
Hundreds of firefighters, nurses, in-home care workers, students and police officers will join the marchers for parts of their 250-mile trek to the state capitol in Sacramento.
“Our children’s futures are being shortchanged. The governor and a minority of legislators believe the only ‘solution’ to California’s budget challenge is to cut our public school system and other vital public services and safety net programs,” said one of the marchers, Jim Miller, an English and labor studies professor at San Diego City College.
I know we can restore quality public education and public services, rebuild a government that serves all Californians and create a fair tax system to fund our state’s future.
You can follow the march at http://www.fight4cafuture.com.
Writing on The Huffington Post, CFT President Marty Hittelman says in the last two years, the California state budget has been reduced by 20 percent. The state’s school budget has been cut by more than $17 billion.
California was heading in the wrong direction even before the recession. Tax rates for the richest Californians and big business have been reduced over the past 15 years. Their lowered state tax rates have cost the state billions of dollars in revenue each year. Most Californians are paying a fair share while the rich and powerful continue to receive more tax loopholes every year.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after promising in January to increase education funding, instead proposed cutting $2.5 billion from education in his budget proposal.
Yesterday, in Sacramento, several thousand students, teachers and workers rallied on the steps of the capitol building, demanding that state legislators and the governor fully fund public education and make it affordable and accessible to all.
Hittelman says:
Democracy is no longer in charge of Sacramento; instead, ideology is in control, benefiting the richest and most powerful while dismantling the California Dream for the rest of us.
We don’t have to let California go down that drain. March with us to restore the promise of the golden state.
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3 Comments
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Cutbacks won’t solve anything and the government already knows that. Unless California rids itself of illegals it has no future! FACT: Illegals ARE a drain on the economy. I know pro-illegals don’t like hearing that. Too bad. The truth sometimes hurts. How many CA emergency rooms have had to close because illegals use them as their PCP and don’t pay? How many CA hospitals are going bankrupt for the same reason? How many thousands of illegals/anchor babies are attending public school in California? Most of which are undoubtedly receiving ‘free’ meals from those schools. And, yes, I am well aware of the fact that illegals are NOT the only problem but they ARE a huge part of it.
Mindless anti-immigrant posts are fodder for the bosses and have no place on a union web-site. The bankruptcy of capitalism is the problem while they continue wars in the Middle East, bail out the bankers and Wall Street and protect every medical professional in their greed for more. Of course to acknowledge this and realize that it takes a fight to build a political alternative to the present pack of political bandits is to much for the mindless ones and like kicking the dog or the beating the wife they lash out at “illegals” because the bosses do. Get a life.
No ‘bosses’ nor anyone else influences my ‘lashing out’ at illegals. I think for myself. I ‘lash out’ at illegals of my own volition. Why? Because illegals are here, well, illegally and that makes them home invaders. The USA is MY home therefore anyone who occupies it illegally is a home invader. And, as anyone with any common sense, I would never welcome a home invader into my private residence. And I wil certainly never welcome an illegal into my country! As for ‘getting a life’? I already have a very good one but thanks for caring. LOL!