A twelve year old student in Schenectady was sent home for wearing a Rosary to school.  Why?  The school administrators said that the Rosary could be gang symbols.  This is a Rosary worn by the young student to remember relatives that have passed on.

You can read about this in the Times Union.

This is in violation of our freedom of religion and freedom of speech and expression.  These are basic rights that must be defended.

Increasingly, our rights are being taken away.  Stories like these serve as a good reminder that we need to protect our freedoms from over-reaching government officials.

So…Did you figure out what’s wrong with the bill?  Hint:  It’s not the bill itself.  I think the concept of free health care for all is very noble.  Just it’s very misguided.  Here are some random thoughts:

* The more benefits people get for being poor ruins incentive to actually work.  I want people to have to work hard in life.  The fear of “what happens if I lose my job” SHOULD be big.  If not, people slack off, and us people who do actually work just pay for their slacking off.

* Why increase taxes so much on successful Americans?  They should be rewarded for their hard-work/determination/inventions/etc.

* The government shouldn’t be able to FORCE innocent people to do anything – especially if the reason is “it’s for your own good.”  Let people decide for themselves.  If they have the money and want the safety of insurance, they will get it.  Otherwise, they are smart enough to know they are risking their financial and physical well-being.  With freedom comes responsibility, and people need to learn that.

* Where does it stop?  What is the next thing the government is going to try to intrude on?

* The process was corrupt.  The bill was created by Democrats with essentially zero input from the Republicans.  The D’s did not invite the R’s to their backroom meetings or White House deals.

* Democrats in the House knew it was such a bad bill that they tried to get it into law without voting on it!  They didn’t want their “Yes” vote in their record!

* Literally, a majority of Americans were opposed to the bill.  It is extreme arrogance on the part of Democrats to say, “I know you don’t like this, but trust us, this is good for you.”

There are many more reasons this is a bad bill for America.  For signing up Americans to pay $1 trillion, it should be something they love, not loathe.

The Governor has proposed this before, however, and the NYS Legislature refused to approve such a move – fearing the political backlash of cutting funds to their constituents.  Governor Paterson, though, has proven that he is above the groaning of his constituents, and continues to do what he believes is best.

Personally, I have not been a great supporter of the Governor, but if he follows through with this move, and cuts funding to the bloated schools and municipalities, I will need to seriously reconsider my opinion of him.  He is persistent, and honestly believes he is doing what is right.  He has many flaws though (such as trampling on the NYS constitution to appoint an illegal Lieutenant Governor), too many to earn my vote.  This act, if he follows through, will have earned my respect.

The reason I believe this cut is important is simple.  New York State should not be going in the red at the same time that local communities have enough money that they still have the luxury of “choices.”

New York City will not receive $84 million in aid.  Albany and Schenectady will not get $1.2 million each in aid.  Local governments across the state in total will not receive $1.9 billion in aid.

This is the type of cut that hopefully will make governments tighten up their budgets.  We need some consolidation of entities in order to survive these tougher financial times.  Many communities have separate City operations, Library services, school districts, water supply, etc.  This creates obvious inefficiencies, and therefore costs taxpayers more.

Hopefully Governor Paterson’s drastic 10% cut will yield the type of change necessary to bring financial stability to our state.