[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Judy Darnell
State Advocacy Director
United Ways of California

When the May Revise is released, there is sure to be some bad budget news for everyone. But, even in tough budget times, the Legislature and Governor must set priorities and a top priority must be children’s health. Our leaders should work to ensure that this year’s budget decisions do not result in more children losing health coverage because it not only hurts kids, but will also make our state’s bottom line even worse.

While all the details of the May Revise are not yet known, current budget proposals put the health of more than 500,000 California children at risk and would increase the ranks of uninsured children by 60%. Two flawed policy proposals are responsible for these troublesome numbers.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

I don't know - we must all just be crazy. It's not bad enough that slams of sexism and racism are flying through the air between the Clinton and Obama camps. That's just a little bit of it. But all of it bothers me.

We Democrats are on the rough end of what could be the most revolutionary, history-making, and earth-shaking presidential election ever. If our side prevails, at least from the assessments this early in the game, we would be witnessing the ascendance of either the first female president or the first African-American president. EITHER ONE would symbolize a huge leap forward for our country, considering how both women and blacks have been the largest groups to live with disenfranchisement through our history, and what distance both groups have had to travel toward equal footing in our society.