36 Reasons To Vote For Bush In 2004

[Gimpy]

36 Reasons To Vote For Bush and Republicans In 2004
by James Boyne
OpEdNews.com

Vote for President Bush and Republican Senators and Congressmen if:

You think $900/month ($10,800/year) is a fair price for a health insurance policy.

You believe drug companies should prevent you from buying Canadian drugs at half price.

You are a senior citizen and you think you are about to receive all your medication for free because President Bush has passed the ?prescription drugs for seniors under Medicare? legislation.

You think large tax breaks for CEO?s making over $50 million are good, but your own CEO may have to cut the company budget and eliminate your position.

You never work or get paid for overtime so you don?t care about the recent Bush bill that will eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers. You don?t know any of the 9 million unemployed U.S. and don?t know anyone in Iraq.

Your state has a budget deficit of $2 billion but we should spend $600 billion in Iraq.

You know Iraq has more oil than any other country in the world, but no one knows where it ends up after it comes out of the ground or who got the money for it.

You would like to see us attack Syria, Iran, and North Korea and Cuba at a cost of $1 trillion, because they are bad and are trying to get us and we better get them first. These rogue countries are sneaky and have tens of thousands of nuclear missiles and weapons of mass destruction pointed at us. You don?t know how much $1 trillion is. (Answer: It?s $1,000,000,000,000 or a million million dollars. $1 trillion dollars could pay for 25 million jobs that would pay $40,000 for a year. $1 trillion could employ all of the 9 million unemployed for the next three years. The United States could probably purchase peacefully all of North Korea for $1 trillion dollars.)

You are a woman and want abortion made illegal, and want women imprisoned for obtaining one, to teach them a lesson. You can afford to travel to Sweden.

You are a man and want to make sure that women having abortions is illegal, and that the men (also known at the ?fathers?) who impregnate the women are completely and totally blameless if such a crime is committed.

You like Pat Robertson, the TV evangelist. You send him contributions and you pray with him for the ?passing? of three Supreme Court Justices.

You are 100% for the death penalty and its OK if a few hundred people get executed when they were actually totally innocent. It?s the price we have to pay.

You think that 2 million people in jail is normal and we need to lock up even more people. You think we have won the war on drugs because no one ever talks about it anymore.

You think $15,000 to $30,000 a year to send your child away to college is just fine and it?s a good buy.

You are a doctor and want doctors to be imprisoned for accidentally or purposely causing an abortion.

You are a doctor and like spending more time with insurance paper work, pharmaceutical sales reps, your office personnel, your lawyer, phone calls to insurance reps and drug stores, and you find your patients too time consuming and annoying.

You are planning to move to China or India and want a job with an American company there. (Working for 35 cents an hour with no benefits).

You never visited a National Park (Yellowstone, Yosemite, the White Mountains) and don?t care about them. They look fine on the postcards you get from friends.

You are a teacher and think that our educational system is tops in the world.

Your town just rejected spending increases of $5 million for additional teachers and much needed reconstruction of the school buildings, and it?s closing a local medical clinic but you think it?s a good idea for President Bush to give $50 billion to a few warring countries in Africa that are in total chaos, so they can build schools, hire teachers, open clinics, and then destroy them as they continue to kill each other in never ending civil wars.

You keep getting Liberia mixed up with Lebanon so you don?t really care who gets the $15 billion Bush earmarked of one of those countries.

You like paying $2.00 a gallon for gas because Exxon/Mobil must be hurting.

You don?t mind transferring your computer technology skills to serving coffee in Dunkin? Donuts for $6.00 an hour with no health insurance.

You think Saddam Hussein attacked the World Trade Center and can?t remember who Osama bin Laden is. You forgot who had the weapons of mass destruction; us or them.

You believe that 40 million people without health insurance isn?t all that bad. You think that the solution is that they just better not get sick.

You think that your company enjoys paying most of your health premiums and they probably have never thought about eliminating your position.

You don?t know what the Homeland Security Department does, how much it costs your State Government, and you can?t name all the colors on the color-coded alert chart.

You don?t live in the Northeast so the electrical blackout didn?t affect you but you think we should spend $18 billion on the electrical grid in Iraq.

You think the 150,000 American troops are having fun in Iraq and we should send more to protect the Iraqi?s from the Iraqi?s.

You think President Bush and the Republican Party deserves contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industry and you don?t mind paying $200 for a bottle of prescription drugs.

You like seeing constant TV commercials for powerful, potentially dangerous prescription drugs because if you didn?t you wouldn?t know you were so sick and your doctor wouldn?t tell you about the drugs without you asking him.

You like President Bush?s tough talk and get a kick out of the expressions ?we?re gonna smoke ?em out and bring ?em ta justice?; ?we?re gonna get ?em dead or alive?; ?bring ?em (the terrorists) on?; and ?we?re gonna get ?dem folks who knocked down da buildings?, and you think this eloquent speaking, (prepared and reviewed by 100 Presidential speechwriters) enhances our stature in the world.

You like to see President Bush getting off the shiny green helicopter with his two dogs and he always smiles and waves and holds hands with his wife and that seems nice.

Your main source of information is the Nightly News where you hear 20 minutes of short sound bites from any one Presidential candidate speaking for 15 seconds on the $600 billion being spent on Iraq, intermingled with 15 commercials for pharmaceutical products that ?speak? for 30 seconds each. You especially like the chemotherapy and rheumatoid arthriti commercials that show healthy people walking their dogs on beautiful green grass with beautiful sunsets with soothing music; and the commercials where people have been cured of their diarrehea and constipation and can get to work on time.

You voted for Bush?s father when he won and you voted for Bush?s father when he lost. And you voted for this current President Bush when he lost, but then you found out he won because of something in Florida. And it?s easy to remember the name Bush, so you might as well vote for him again.

You live in Florida and it doesn?t matter so ?let the chips (or the chads) fall where they may?.

I am a former staunch conservative Republican who will vote Democratic in 2004 for their honesty, integrity, common sense, and well thought out positions on all the important issues facing our country.

James Boyne dboyne@aol.com

James Boyne is a freelance satirical writer. He has a B.S., an MBA and a degree in Financial Planning. Mr. Boyne is former computer trainer and sales executive for several major corporations. He is an avid public speaker and has numerous public speaking awards. This article is copyright by James Boyne, originally published in OpEdNews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this entire credit paragraph is attached

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[HARDCORE]

GIMPY -

Your state has a budget deficit of $2 billion but we should spend $600 billion in Iraq.

It's like I have been saying for some time - one can not be a domestic conservative and a foreign liberal, all at the same time! As such, a few in politics these days are proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt that "You Can Fool All Of The People, All Of The Time!!"

The bottom line is that the United States is dividing itself into vested camps. And while we are doing this, many in the world are laughing their backsides off.

We are dividing ourselves, because to a few, political party means more than national unity, vested power means more than the mandates of the majority, and bull shit is (far too often) digested as readily as one takes his next breath!

Again, if we continue to support our enemies, the money and blood has to come from somewhere, does it not?


VERITAS

[SuperScout]

First of all, considering whom the Democrat party will nominate, all the way from a shoot-from-the-lip governor with a snarl, a platform of hate and nothing else, to a washed up general who can't make up his mind what side of the fence he's sitting on, to a race-baiting part-time preacher, to a socialist who would practically disband the Department of Defense and invite the Taliban to join his new political party and Usama bin Laden as guest of honor, to all the other wacky wannabees..... gosh who to vote for???????????

Most poeple don't pay $900 per month for health insurance. Many people, myself included, have earned it, and it costs me less then $500 per YEAR, tee-hee.

Most senior citizens don't need a prescription drug entitlement. It's a bad law.

Most people think that tax breaks are good for everybody, particulary for those who have paid in the most taxes.

My state doesn't have a budge deficit. Those that do just overspent. Tough shit. Cut spending. Did you same whiners complain about the billions we spent under the Marshall Plan?

And just to show your rampant ignorance, Iraq doesn't have more oil that anyother country in the world. And what is being pumped out is being sold on the world spot market. And that money is going into the Iraqi treasury. You got a problem with that?

I could go on, but responding to drivel makes me want to do something more enjoyable, like clean out the cat box.

Oh yeah, and BTW, I plan on voting for the re-election of the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, and do everything in my power to make it happen.

Have you seen the war plans to attack Syria, North Korea, and all the other lies you're printing? Obviously not, so obviously, all you're doing is spreading lies and horseshit. As usual.

Oh yeah, most Americans want to limit abortion, especially late term abortions, where the so-called doctor partically extracts the baby, punctures the cranial cavity, and then vacuums the brains out, leaving a dead baby to be removed from the birth canal. Maybe you liberals think that's a really good deal - God help you.

Name 25 people who have been executed that were innocent. If not, why do you think you can name hundreds? More lies and bullshit. Typical.

[Gimpy]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lemme see now?

Are you SURE you live in Texas?

If so.you must also be living in a constant STATE of DENIAL as well!

So YOU "think" (and I use that word with EXTEMEME prejudice knowing your past attempts at this have failed miserably) that "$900.00" per month is a "fair price" for health insurance, huh?

I didn't say MOST people pay that....YOU DID!

Here's the actual cost and TRUE facts about insurance costs!

A recent Towers Perrin survey of 358 employers found that workers will pay 19.3% of health insurance premiums this year (2003), up from 18.7% in 2002. That same survey found that 75% of firms had increased deductibles, co-payments or monthly contributions paid by workers in the past two years.

"Annual increases in health care costs are growing at historically high levels that show no sign of abating," the Perrin report says.
Some employers are requiring workers to pay 10% to 30% more toward monthly premiums, raising deductibles and setting higher co-payments for office visits, hospital care and drugs. Hewitt Associates estimates that the amount employees will pay in premiums and other costs next year will rise by an average of $342, to $1,753.

If a worker gets a 4% raise next year ? and earns the national median weekly wage of $597 ? health care costs will eat up 28% of the raise ,or $669.00 per month. That's not good news for the economy, because as workers pay more for health care they will have less money to spend on other goods and services.

And more than 41 million Americans have no health insurance, a number expected to grow as premiums rise.

That's the George Bush legacy of "affordable" health care!

***********************

And, if you "think" most senior citizens don't NEED a prescription drug "entitlement" ...as YOU call it.........then you're sure as hell not listening to the vast majority of folks who fall into that catagory??? Just ask AARP how many of their members have burned their membership cards over this issue!

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Tax breaks?? You're right (I can't believe I said that!). Usually they ARE good for everybody............not THIS time!

We (the rest of US in the United States) will be suffering from the same "post-partum blues" you folks in Texas have been suffering from ever since GEE-W left Austin for Washington!

He's gonna leave US with the same "tax breaks" for the rich folk that make it impossible for government to provide bascic services for average working people, just like in Texas! With bills & legislation written by energy lobbyists (like Enron) working the cash & carry model of "Guvment" that GEE-W perfected in Texas! And, elimination of the most basic work place protections for employees...............JUST LIKE HE DID IN TEXAS!

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Budget deficits??? You better go BACK and check out what is REALLY going on in your "state" of "denial", there SuperFella!

And I quote,

"Large States Have Largest Budget Deficits"
By Jim Burns
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
January 09, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - California and Texas have the worst state budgets deficits in the nation and they are deepening, a legislative watchdog group said Wednesday.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released "budget figures" showing California with a $35 billion deficit. Texas ranked "second worst" with a potential $12 billion budget deficit, recently surpassing New York State.

AP. wire services..

"Despite being one of the wealthiest states, Texas ranks last in the nation in revenue raised per capita and in per capita expenditures on citizen services. A regressive tax structure accompanied by huge loopholes and breaks for corporations and the wealthy have led to a $9.9 billion budget deficit looming over state finances."..End quote!

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Speaking of "rampant ignorance" (your words), how do you justify your "boys" actions after more than two years now where it is becoming clearer and clearer that we are looking at people (Bush administration) with an agenda driven by corrupt idealogy?

While talk of "Christian" compassion are drifting throught the halls and offices of the Whitehouse and Congress, people are not only getting screwed.......losing their life savings, their pensions, their health insurance, their jobs, AND unemployment compensation.............they're also getting sick, getting hurt, and even dying because the PEOPLE'S interests and well being now take second place to big contributors and big corporations??

A government OF big corporations, BY big corporations and FOR big corporations has thousands of ramifications for US.....the PEOPLE..............very FEW of them GOOD! As the acolytes and former lackys of large corporations take over our various government regulatory agencies that are SUPPOSED to keep corporate power in "check", of which the process has so far been "tainted" to the point that it's fairly comical.......the results of which fluctuate between infuriating and frightening!

They believe the "free market" can solve ALL problems...........that Government is generally "bad", that we should "privatize" everything we possibly can (yeah, that REALLY works alright!), that there is NO such thing as "Global warming"..........that the environment is "unimportant"...........and that worker "safety" will be provided and protected by generous and benign companies and corporations..................SURE THEY WILL! And, last but not LEAST.........lets' NOT forget his "pledge" during the campaign to the military veterans.............A PROMISE MADE SHOULD BE A PROMISE KEPT! What a freakin JOKE! Bush expressed his everlasting gratitude to veterans, then cut their funding. His budget fell $1.5 billion short of needs according to every single one of the Veterans Service Organizations. Caught on Film September 15, 2003!


Yeah, GEE-W left good- old Texas in REAL good shape alright.
As governor, he inherited $6 BILLION surplus, pushed through two major tax cuts, and PROMISED that they would "grow" the economy so much the state would never miss the money. Just three years since he left and Texas and you're looking at a $ 10 BILLION DEFICIT and it's still rising! And, he didn't even HAVE a "WAR" to blame this on either

I guess we ALL better watch out................his "brand" of "Guvment" is now all of ours..............sadly!

Now I need to go and do something more "enjoyable............like throwing UP..................cause seeing all this truth about GEE-W makes me SICK!
:cd: :cd:

[SuperScout]

To set the record straight and RIGHT, contrary to what The Font of All Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding has penned, the Great State of Texas does NOT have a deficit - as a matter of fact, state constitution, and law, we can't operate via deficit financing, and have to operate with a balanced budget, which we have. The tired, stale, dated and banal bullshit you quoted is over ONE YEAR OLD, and is no longer appliable! Sorry to bring this irrefutable fact to your attention, O Mighty Peddler of Poop, but you must not have sniffed your coffee this morning. And oh my goodness, California is running a deficit? Gonna blame that one on Bush too? Can you spell Gray Davis and other overspending Democrats? And O Master of Manure, if a tax break is not good right now, can you tell us just when a tax break IS good? Peer into your magic crystal ball, and divine the answer for us, O Oracle of Omniscience. Pardon me for observing, but it does seem that the national economy is rebounding rather nicely, that more and more meaningful jobs are being created, that consumer confidence is rising, and that other economic indicators are pointing upwards, all directly related to the tax cut. Did this news escape your little part of the world, or are you just content on reading last year's bad news?

Global warming? The most highly financed urban myth yet. There is NO scientific proof thta global warming exists except as a naturally occurring phenomena, as it does and has over the past several thousand millenia. It's a cyclic thing that God controls, and if you want to take up your argument with Him and tell Him how to control His universe, I suggest you quickly purchase some asbetos underwear and avoid standing near water or holding a 1 Iron in your hand, as contrary to what Lee Trevino told me, God CAN hit a 1 Iron!

I could continue, but I'm going to do something enjoyable, like praying for your enlightenment.

[Gimpy]

Did this news escape your little part of the world, or are you just content on living in your fantasy world down there in Rio Linda Land?

************************
AP. wire services
FDIC STATE PROFILES--FALL 2003

Employment growth in Texas has been uneven with the manufacturing and transportation sectors still losing jobs. The Texas manufacturing sector continues to shed jobs on a year-over-year basis with negative employment growth of 3.4 percent in the second quarter of 2003 (see Chart 2). Since the beginning of the tepid recovery, the Texas manufacturing sector has lost an additional 69,000 jobs. Employment declines in transportation may intensify as American and Continental Airlines, major employers in Dallas and Houston, continue to struggle. These job losses contribute to Texas' growing unemployment rate that stood at 6.6 percent in the second quarter, its highest level in nine years, and well above the U.S. rate of 6.2 percent. Diversification away from energy and toward high-tech manufacturing benefited the Texas economy greatly during the 1990s expansion. However, the downturn in the high-tech and telecom sectors represents a major contributing factor in the state's sluggish economic performance since 2001.

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Now, would YOU like to EXPLAIN why you claim there is no "budget deficit" down there in Texas for all the folks around here and elsewhere? These I believe are your words, "the Great State of Texas does NOT have a deficit - as a matter of fact, state constitution, and law, we can't operate via deficit financing, and have to operate with a balanced budget, which we have."

You' re so full of Texas bullshit you are starting to stink up the place, you know that?

Let's examine just HOW your republican cronies absolved themselves of that "deficit" of $9.9 billion and supposedly "balanced" that budget!

*************************************

State's budget problems worse than expected
From staff and wire reports

AUSTIN - Already facing a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, lawmakers learned Wednesday they don't have enough money to pay off loans used to run state government, sparking angry finger-pointing at Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

Some members of the Senate Finance Committee accused Strayhorn, a Republican, of hiding the severity of the state's fiscal woes from lawmakers until this month because she didn't want it revealed during a heated campaign season.

Finance Chairman Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo, said Strayhorn's notice this week that the state won't have enough cash to pay back loans due by Aug. 31 was a bombshell.
"The reason I called it a bombshell is because it was a surprise," Bivins said.

The state typically takes out loans to cover expenses during the budget cycle before tax money is collected. Officials anticipate tax collections will be enough to pay off the loans by the end of the fiscal year.

But this time, the state will not have enough money to repay the loans on time.

If the money isn't found by Aug. 31, the state's general revenue fund would have a deficit, which is prohibited by the state constitution. Also, Texas would not be able to get new loans, Deputy Comptroller Billy Hamilton told the committee.

Also Wednesday, Bivins and the 14 other members of the Senate Finance Committee filed a "zero-based" budget bill for the 2004-2005 biennium. Senate Bill 1 would allow the Legislature to build the state budget from the bottom up, instead of being based on the last biennium's spending.

"There's no better way to get state agencies to account for every dollar they intend to spend," Bivins said in a news release.
Amarillo Globe-News Staff Writer Max Albright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, noted Texas ranks 49th in per capita spending and dismissed the notion of a spending spree last session.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Shapleigh said. "When you look at what that does to real lives of Texans, children, these programs, I think that the allegation of over spending is baseless."

Strayhorn said she told lawmakers about the larger shortfall when she realized holiday sales were weaker than expected as tax receipts started coming in earlier this month.

"No one has the crystal ball, but the minute we saw what was happening, I told not only the Legislature but all the people of Texas," she said.

Stayhorn sent the committee a letter saying she warned lawmakers two weeks ago there wasn't enough money "to pay the bills" through August.

The state's $114 billion two-year budget uses a combination of sources to pay for programs and services, including cash from state tax revenue, income from investment funds and federal money.

The latest problem does not change the anticipated $1.8 billion fiscal year shortfall, but it complicates lawmakers' budget work.

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Dallas Morning News
By Robert T. Garrett Staff Writer
Published July 1, 2003

The Legislature put virtually all of state government on the chopping block this year to plug a $9.9 billion deficit - and to make good on political promises that taxes would not be raised to balance the budget. To help pay for the final budget, about $117.4 billion over the next two years, lawmakers cut programs and increased the price of many services. Here, by staff writer Robert T. Garrett, is a sampling:

ELDER CARE

Visiting nurses will have less time to spend with elderly, disabled clients

The budget is so tight, lawmakers said they even had to scale back programs that save money - such as those that keep disabled and elderly people out of nursing homes.
Budget-writers agreed to cut by 15 percent the number of hours of weekly help for most of the 101,500 infirm or older Texans who receive assistance with bathing, cooking and cleaning in their homes.

Gail Harris, a home care attendant in Dallas, said she and other attendants are concerned about possible layoffs by the nonprofit Visiting Nurse Association of Texas, one of the state's contractors.

"I am worried," said Ms. Harris, 43, who fills in for VNA attendants who are sick or haven't shown up for work.
Ms. Harris, who is paid $8 an hour plus mileage, was laid off two years ago by a clothing manufacturer. A single mother, she joined VNA and quickly excelled.
She now has health coverage, even if she can't yet afford it for her two children.
"I love what I do because I've always wanted to help someone, and this is my way of helping someone in need," she said.
Under the state's "community care" programs being cut, VNA serves 950 elderly or disabled people in Dallas and Tarrant counties, said Linda Mason, the company's vice president for long-term care.

Ms. Harris said most of the frail elderly residents she checks on have no surviving family members, or at least none within easy driving distance.

She's concerned about what will happen if they have an accident that isn't discovered as quickly because service hours have been reduced.

Agencies warn attendants not to become too attached to their clients, but that's hard, she said.

"Several of them, I'm like the daughter they never had," she said.

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Other social program cuts:

Up to 60,000 poor women and children will lose welfare benefits because of tighter asset limits (of which some are considered unreasonable) and stricter sanctions for failing to meet program requirements.

Child abuse and juvenile delinquency prevention programs for more than 3,000 families and 5,000 youths were eliminated.

The families of about 5,200 mentally retarded children and adults will no longer receive respite and other services that allow patients to stay out of institutions.

Nearly 3,000 mentally ill children and adults will lose medication and therapy now provided by community mental health and mental retardation centers.

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE

Families brace for service cuts - and chance of lost coverage

Five-year-old Sean Hernandez has kidney and speech problems. He recently had his tonsils removed and tubes inserted in his ears.

His parents fear they may lose access to that kind of medical care.

Angie and Steven Hernandez of Oak Cliff have relied for three years on a state-funded health insurance program to cover Sean and their two other children.

Now, because the Legislature has placed new limits on the program, the Hernandez children are sure to lose coverage of speech therapy, hearing aids, eyeglasses and dental care - and they could wind up uninsured, as they were before the Children's Health Insurance Program started in May 2000.

Other health care cuts:

Higher premiums, a 90-day wait for coverage after enrolling and a requirement for re-enrollment every six months - changes that will remove 168,000 children from CHIP.

Closer scrutiny of assets and some face-to-face interviews hopefully will stop a recent surge in enrollment of children in Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

Because of lower income ceilings, about 8,300 low-income pregnant women will lose Medicaid coverage.
Because Texas doesn't have to cover them and chooses not to, about 10,000 poor parents will lose Medicaid coverage.

Texas prison system cuts:

Up to 1,500 of the prisons' 41,000 employees may be laid off.

Overnight nurse staffing will be cut at some units.

Inmates' daily diet is being reduced by 200 calories; there will be more use of powdered milk and beef extenders made of soy.

Alcohol and drug abuse self-help programs will rely totally on volunteer counselors.

Intensive substance abuse therapy for probationers is being reduced from nine months to six months.

EDUCATION SYSTEM BENEFITS CUTBACKS

Insurance bonuses halved for teachers, axed for many others.

Two years ago, legislators offered a helping hand to teachers, creating the state's first health insurance program for school employees.

But money woes have put a squeeze on that benefit. The Legislature sliced in half the $1,000 annual health insurance bonuses it gave teachers and other school workers in 2001. It eliminated them for counselors, principals and administrators.
Lawmakers passed measures promising to restore the money for teachers in 2005.

In the trenches, there's doubt about that commitment.

Not only did lawmakers reduce the bonuses, they also doubled what teachers must pay toward retirees' health care - an average $8-a-month increase.

Other public education cuts:

Retired teachers will pay up to 30 percent higher health premiums.

Replacement of some social studies textbooks will be delayed. Some still refer to George H.W. Bush as the current president.
The Texas Education Agency froze hiring and eliminated bonuses.


TUITION

Students feel squeeze as costs soar.

Texas Tech University senior Kyle Clark takes a full load of business classes and works more than 30 hours a week in a campus job.

Starting this summer, an average student's charges will jump 21 percent, the school says. Mr. Clark figures he'll pay $1,700 more his final year in Lubbock.

For years, lawmakers limited tuition that universities can charge. This session, universities sought to end the caps, saying they needed flexibility to offset a loss of state funds.

Critics say letting each campus set tuition will result in big increases and price out some students.

"I'm glad this is my last year and this is almost over with."


Other higher education cuts:

Almost all community colleges are offering fewer summer classes, as are the University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University.

Virtually all campuses froze hiring, and most canceled equipment purchases and delayed new construction.

UT-Austin in early July will lay off about 300 employees, mostly nonfaculty.

Texas A&M University announced $44 million in cuts, including chopping funds for research and closing three small agricultural research stations.

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So you see my old Rio Linda buddy.................you DID (and STILL DO) have a "deficit" in your State Governments Budget...........regardless of how you try and choose to hide it from the rest of us!

But.............then again.........that's the REPUBLICAN WAY, HUH?

DECEIVE, DISTORT & DENY !!!!

Have a nice day!

[MORTARDUDE]

Gimpy :

You Da Man !!!

Larry

[Gimpy]

Let's see what kind of "mere correction" SuperSleuth can "conjure" up to try and ignore the TRUTH that The Font of All Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding (that'd be ME according to SS) has penned this time. CAUSE HE CAN'T!

Speaking of "O Mighty Peddlers of Poop,".............He can't get much deeper in his own horseshit than he already has stepped, or can he????

[Gimpy]

of Sludge & Supressor of all that is TRUTHFUL!

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The Budget Politics of Being Poor

Quietly and painfully, most states are choosing to crimp the health-care safety net for their poorest and most politically defenseless residents. An ominous new study shows that up to 1.6 million impoverished and working-poor Americans ? at least a third of them children ? have been deliberately knocked from publicly financed health care programs in the last two years.


Officials in 34 states are opting to slash Medicaid and poor children's health insurance coverage as a path of least resistance to the balanced budgets mandated by law.


States have raised poverty standards beyond federal requirements, increased bureaucratic delays and even shut down children's health programs entirely to keep entitled poor people off the rolls. For each dollar thereby saved in the state budget, statehouses are losing $4 to $7 in federal aid. Yet more such counterproductive "economizing" can be expected next year, according to the study, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a government watchdog group.


During the 1990's boom, those who despaired of getting universal health insurance through federal action looked to expanding state programs as the best way to protect the working poor. But many of the same states that were increasing health coverage were also cutting taxes (like Texas ). Unlike the reckless tax-cutters in Congress, they cannot simply bury the resulting deficits in future debt. Something had to give, and it turns out to be programs like the hard-won gains in health insurance.

Missouri, for example, lowered the income limit for eligibility for Medicaid to $11,750 from $15,260 for a family of three, and tightened the requirements in other ways, eliminating benefits for as many as 42,700 people. Florida has stopped granting children's health benefits to new applicants, putting them on a waiting list instead; this has affected 44,000 children. Texas increased monthly premiums for the children's health program and imposed an asset test for families. Those and other changes will drop as many as 494,000 Texans from the ranks of the insured. In all, the center estimates, 1.2 million to 1.6 million poor people have lost their health benefits as a result of cuts at the state level.

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But........hey, at LEAST Texas won't have a "budget deficit" to worry about, will they?

[Gimpy]

must be looking awfully hard to find a way to respond intelligently (whoops....that's not gonna happen now we KNOW that....don't we?) to the "tales of Texas" politics I've brought to his attention, huh??