I am ashamed of California. I am ashamed it has taken me this long to protest what I consider the least moral, most egregious assault on those with the least power and the most to lose.
The governor's slashing of programs, all aimed at poor families, along with his rigid stance on taxes and the sacrosanct stance on Proposition 13, are surely not representative of an America that celebrates taking in the downtrodden, the poor and the disenfranchised. Putting the burden on the backs of the disabled and poor shows just who the spineless are among us.
The governor worries about businesses and corporate interests leaving our state if they are unduly taxed. Where will they be when they are the only ones left with no consumers for their goods?
I feel like our legislators have regressed to children fighting on the playground, and there are no teachers left to make them play fair because the rational educated middle classes have already been sacrificed.
I am a mother of a young adult with cystic fibrosis, the mother of a teacher, the wife of a practicing physician who happens to be a paraplegic. I am an occupational therapist who is substitute teaching in the Ojai Unified School District. I am a member of the human race who feels disgraced and horrified that we can "turn the other cheek," not to forgive, but to look away from the human trash heap we are creating with such thoughtless policies, only to fatten the coffers of those who thrive on that trash heap!
-- Marlene Schick, Oak View