Buffalo Boy's Blog

I know that Governor Patterson warned everyone about the New York State budget cuts and how everyone will feel the pain, however, the pain that he is pushing is a little much.

Im all for budget cuts if they make sense. Cutting education and healthcare does not make sense.

At a time when children in our schools have made so much progress and have so much more progress to make under the horrendous No Child Left Behind Act, now is not the time. Cutting the state budget will mean less teachers, which will certainly mean less help for the students that really need it. Education I'm sure has some budget fat that can be cut at the state level without damaging the local districts.

Healthcare like education Im sure also has some fat that needs to be trimmed. However, it should be done with care not to take funds away from the programs that really need it. Meals on Wheels is one program that delivers meals to the elderly and the disabled and essentially, keeps those individuals from needing more expensive nursing home care. Im sure there are some people on welfare/medicaid that don't deserve to be on right now who are milking the system. Cut that before you cut vital, volunteer programs like Meals on Wheels.

Governor Patterson has a handicap himself so he of all people should be approaching both education and healthcare with a bit more altruistic and sensible eye. How about cutting lawmakers salaries too. No mention of that in the state budget. How about laying off some of our state senators. Haven't heard that option yet.