As many people already know, Governor Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power to cut a few things from California's budget. Included in those vetoes was a lot of AIDS money. At work today I witnessed the effects of these cuts as our Executive Director was forced to meet individually with each employee to terminate some and add to the responsibilities –– dramatically –– of others.
When one of my coworkers said, "this is just fucked up," it really hit me how fucked up this actually is.
Since I am younger and moving to New York soon, this doesn't affect me very much in the sense that my job stability in Santa Barbara was only temporary anyway. For other employees, they have lost the foundation we have all been taking for granted. After all, who really thought that programs supporting people with HIV/AIDS and preventing the spread of the disease would be lost? I guess I'm being idealistic, but I thought this was a pretty important priority.
Which brings the discussion to the individuals served by these programs. Where will they turn?The purposes of these programs are to save lives, preserve lives, and enrich lives; without the funding, there will be no one for these people to turn to.
And fucking Cash for Clunkers.
You might die from AIDS, but you can turn in that old car of yours for big bucks!
AIDS, who cares; Jalopies, BINGO!
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