Yes and you know nothing of me either.

And I don't think I've ever said anything rude or presumptious about you, either.

To answer your question, Scaeagles, I happen to quite like our government. It's not perfect, but nothing is. I would also add that you take a page from the history of the French Revolution, or for that matter the Russian Revolution. Let poverty, privation, illness and alienation of what is always the largest class in any society- the poor- run unchecked, and your government isn't going to stay in power very long. That's something the USA understands probably better than any other country, as we have been the refuge for these people for centuries now. By your own admission, you were being provocative- so why the outrage at the reaction? Everyone realizes that budget cuts are going to run deep, but there are just so many other areas of waste that should be investigated before passing out a death sentence to so many people.

Think of the money that the state could raise simply by legalizing marijuana and manufacturing or taxing it.

I also think placing a higher tax on booze, cigarettes and fast food would be a good idea too.

Problems would be solved, and the impact relatively painless.

Sure, taxing things would solve problems. Unfortunately that's essentially an impossible solution currently.

With any new or increased taxes requiring 2/3rds and both parties having colluded to create safe districts for everybody that essentially guarantees Republicans a permanent minority big enough to thwart any taxes they want without facing serious risk of electoral repercussion there is a near zero chance of using taxes to significantly help the current situation. So cut away.

Bitch about him all we like, but Schwarzenegger has offered serious reform to the systems that created this current problem and both the state legislature and voters directly have rebuffed him.

Plus, I don't see how it would realistically do the state any good to legalize marijuana if the feds would then arrest the people selling it.

Especially as it's the State that would be manufacturing and selling it. :D

I think you could get away with increasing taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. It'll cause an outcry, but not a strong enough one to stop it. I know I'm a jerk for suggesting it, but there you go.

Junk food, on the other hand, is in many cases the cheapest food available, so raise the prices on that and you've just made food for the poor more expensive. While execs can afford to lunch in sit-down restaurants that serve soups and lovely salads, the poor often run to McDonald's, etc.

I do wonder what the method behind this madness is. Are they trying to soften us up for approving something, or are they trying to get special interests riled up to help them get funds on a federal level? The optimist in me wants to think that's what's behind it. I don't know that it is, but I hope so. It'd be nice if the nation could toss us a freaking bone, since their closures of the bases sent CA into troubles that pretty much never left us, even in the good times.

Would that mean the state of California would be arrested? It creates a mind-boggling scenario.

I like our government too. There are things we would both change. I don't like the direction it is moving, but 5 years ago you would say the same thing. All political and what we think is best.

I was being provocative to an extent, but I think there is a bit of a difference between asking a question and expecting a defense of why people support something and the rhetoric implying I want all AIDS patients to die.

I suspect you were trying to make a point via devil's advocacy, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it was, excepting that the we're in a place where hard choices are our only choices? No matter- I agree that The Governator himself was being provocative (for reasons already posted) and I just think that his choice of HIV was a poor one, especially since the Prop 8 fiasco.