A stabbing in Oakland, and mugging of America

A stabbing in Oakland, and mugging of America

By Lynda Carson

On Friday, February 9, I awoke from an afternoon nap to hear a woman screaming outside my window. "That bitch stabbed me, she stabbed me", the woman cried out in pain. Immediately afterward, her cries were followed by the screams of a young man crying out, "Call 911, someone call 911".

I peered out my window, only to see two shadowy figures standing up against the wall of a building next door in the drizzling rain, and I immediately turned around to pick up my phone to dial 911. A polite voice curtly told me that someone had already called in about the stabbing, and is giving details to an operator at that very moment. I was not asked if I saw or knew anything about the stabbing, or where I was at, and the 911 operator quickly hung up on me.

It was'nt long before the screams of a siren ushered in a parade of fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance, to haul the victim away, as the rain quietly washed her blood from the perilous streets of Oakland.

I could'nt help but wonder if the woman survived, or if someone had been arrested.

Within a half an hour, I could look out my window again, the parade of vehicles were gone, and you could'nt tell that anything out of the ordinary had taken place out there. Just another day of violence, in the City of Oakland.

On February 5, the Bush Administration announced it's $2.9 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2008, which takes a knife to the heart of our nation's domestic life saving programs, in an effort to kill off what little shred of decency that exists any longer in this land of War Criminals, and their bloody occupation of Iraq.

No one called 911, and word of the Bush Administration's latest attacks against our children, the elderly and disabled of America, had barely made the evening news in the wake of the latest troop bloodbath being promoted by the nation's mainstream news outlets, against the citizens of Iraq.

The Mugging of America

The gloves are off, and no one is trying to sell Bush as the compassionate conservative anymore as the White House reserves the right to confiscate and read our mail, bug our telephones, and highjack our democracy.

The Bush Administration seeks an 11.3 percent increase for the nation's War Budget, as it seeks to cut away at our nation's housing programs, schools, medical needs and food programs, while trying to silence the voice of public radio with a 25 percent cut from it's operating budget.

Bush budget priorities show that education and health programs were major targets for termination and catastrophic cuts, with an additional plan to kill 141 discretionary programs which amount to another $15 billion in cuts. It includes a $31 billion cut from education alone, and a $2.3 billion cut from Health and Human Services, which shows how Bush feels about the needs of our school children and people's health care across the country.

On February 8, Senator Harry Reid blocked Republicans from adding amendments to a senate bill that would have forced a 73% across the board cut to all programs, except veterans programs, homeland security and the pentagon's war programs.

First responders face a huge budget cut of $1.2 billion (35 percent) in state grants and training programs. State homeland security grants decrease from $510 million to $250 million, as grant assistance to firefighters would be cut from $662 million to $300 million, while terrorism prevention program grants would drop from $363 million to $262 million.

According to the New York Times, Bush wants to cut $70 billion from Medicare and Medicaid during the next 5 years, but documents reveal that Bush really plans to cut $101.5 billion.

The $35.2 billion proposed budget for HUD represents a decrease of 8% from the FY07 HUD funding budget currently under consideration in the Senate, and according to the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities the Bush Administration is also proposing major changes in the nation’s housing voucher programs, including direct funding cuts of more than $1 billion.

Bush also wants to cut $700 million from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, and his budget cuts funding from Section 811 housing for people with disabilities and Section 202 housing for the elderly. Budget cuts have already resulted in a loss of 150,000 housing vouchers since 2004, due to a lack of funding in HUD's programs.

Since 2000, Bush cut more than $1 billion from public housing programs that offer housing to more than 3 million people, and he wants to cut another $6 million out of the operationg fund and $22 million out of the capital fund for public housing.

In total, Bush wants to cut $2 billion from HUD's budget, including funding from CDBG, Hope VI and public housing needs.

Bush proposes to eliminate funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), terminating food assistance to 440,000 low-income seniors per month.

The Bush attack on the Department of Agriculture results in the termination of 10 programs by cutting $573 million from their budgets, with another $358 million slated to be cut from other departments in agriculture (including more housing programs).

Cuts to other programs include, $223 million from the Childrens Health Insurance programs, $100 million from Head Start, $400 million from the Home Energy Assistance Program, $172 million from housing assistance for low-income seniors, including $2.4 billion from community and regional development grants for low and middle-income communities.

When the Bush proposals cuts 329,000 poor people off the food stamp program and stops providing boxed meals to 500,000 seniors, theres not going to be anyone left around to make up the difference and feed those people.

Meanwhile, Bush wants another $250 billion for the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, while demanding that the rich must receive another $1.6 trillion in tax breaks during the next 10 years.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com