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Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg
delivered this year’s Women’s History Month lecture, “For Better
or For Worse? Gay Marriage, Grocery Strikes, Budget Cuts to Education,
and More” on March 23 in Kreider Hall. She arrived late due to Los
Angeles traffic, but was well worth the wait. The following are
highlights of Goldberg’s lecture.
= The
budget problems now are very similar to the problems of the early 80s
and 90s. The most significant change in the situation was the recall of
a Democratic governor and his replacement with a Republican.
= The
budgets proposed by both Davis and Schwarzenegger called for about 60
percent shifting of debt and 40 percent cuts.
= There
are two basic visions on the budget which can be identified by political
party, with Republicans generally seeing an expense while Democrats see
an investment. This can be related to education, roads, parks, or many
of the services provided throughout the state.
= Education
will make our citizens a dividend, while not educating them makes them
liabilities.
= People
who aren’t rich continue to vote not
to raise taxes on the wealthy, assuming that they themselves will
someday be millionaires or billionaires.
= The
Republicans knew when they were making campaign promises that they would
not be able to keep them. Stupid people could have been mistaken, but
the Governor is not stupid.
“I’ve met the Governor, and he is not stupid. He is in fact very
intelligent.”
= The
gay marriage issue is a grass roots movement, and not a movement of
power. If it were a movement of power, gay marriage would truly be
equal to heterosexual marriage and not be limited as it currently is.
If a partner in a same sex union dies, the surviving partner has no
right or possibility of getting Social Security based on the deceased
partner’s record, while in a heterosexual union, the surviving partner
gets that credit.
At this point, let me say that I really enjoyed
Assemblymember Goldberg and found her enlightening, entertaining,
informative and well worth listening to. Before anyone thinks to blast
my liberal view of the speaker and the subject, I will finish this
report by letting you know that I am a heterosexual, a Republican, a
Catholic, and a mother as well as a grandmother. I think that we can
all learn from each other, and should respect the right of others to
have different beliefs from ours. That is what makes America the
wonderful place we all want to live in. &
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