No Arnold

Schwarzenegger Booed at Graduation Speech

2006-10-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

His education policies are publicly challenged.

Schwarzenegger Calls California College Fees "Too Low"

2006-10-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Schwarzenegger Praises the Racist Minutemen

2006-10-21T11:01:00.001-07:00

If you have any doubts that the Minutemen are a racist organization, let these articles put them to rest.

Southern Poverty Law Center

Media Matters

Four More Years!

2006-10-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Arnold Smoking Pot

2006-10-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Schwarzenegger wants to be our president; he's trying to ammend the constitution

2006-10-21T10:31:00.000-07:00


This clip documents the efforts made by Schwarzenegger and those who support him so that he can be eligible for President. This will take a constitutional ammendment. Schwarzenegger claims that America is his homeland when propagandizing Californians.

Anti-Arnold Music Video

2006-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Kalifornia Uber Alles 21st Century by Jello Biafra and The Melvins.

Schwarzenegger's Education Failures

2006-10-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Shane Paul Goldmacher

Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Sacramento promising to end "politics as usual." But the partisan barbs continued as the governor called legislators "girlie men" and likened them to "children" in need of a "time-out." More substantively, shell games, secret deals and borrowing still held the day as the budget was, once again, late. And with his so-called "no-tax" pledge Schwarzenegger locked himself into a position of drastically cutting (and raising fees for) state-provided services. Nowhere is this more evident than in education, the state's largest expenditure.

Schwarzenegger is setting two dangerous precedents for education in California. He struck a deal with the California Teacher's Association (CTA) to suspend constitutionally guaranteed K--12 school funding. And he proposed suspending the promise, for the first time in forty years, that every eligible California high school graduate would have a place at the University of California or a California State University. This from the governor who pledged to "work to expand the dream of college."

Schwarzenegger's wheeling and dealing began in January with a back-room pact with the CTA to suspend the state constitution. The CTA agreed to a $2 billion increase in K--12 school funding this year, half of what the constitution mandates, in exchange for assurances that (in better economic times) all the money will eventually be restored. With the state saddled with record deficits and a governor who steadfastly refuses to consider raising revenue through taxes, CTA president Barbara Kerr argues that, "in order for our state to stay afloat, concessions were needed."

"I know the CTA struck the best possible deal," she says. "It is fully funding class size, special education, textbooks and all of the categorical programs the state depends on." To Kerr's credit she says, "the CTA believes strongly that we need to raise taxes." But if that is the case, why did she agree to a $2 billion cut to California schools? And how can the "programs the state depends on" be fully funded if they are shorted $2 billion?

"If you adjust for the cost of living, you can make the case that we are close to last in per-pupil spending in this country," says Delaine Eastin, the former State Superintendent of Schools, California's top education post. California's per pupil spending is around $6500, while New York spends nearly $11,000 per student. "The governor is not putting children first. California is not putting our children first," says Eastin. "There has been a back-room deal cut where everyone agrees to cut education and not talk much about it. It is wrong."

How serious are the cuts? Just take a look at the West Contra Costa Unified School District, an urban area encompassing some of the poorest parts of the San Francisco Bay area. In March, the district, which has been forced to pare down its budget by $28 million over the last three years, eliminated all school sports programs, closed all its libraries and pink-slipped more than 200 employees. That amounts to nearly $1,000 per student in cuts over three years. "It saddens me," says Catherine Berman, a speech teacher there who retired in 2002 and has yet to be replaced. "I see students losing opportunities in urban settings."

On May 10, a group from WCC Unified organized a hunger strike to convince Schwarzenegger to fully fund education and forgive the debt owed to the state by the district. For twenty-five days they camped outside the Capitol, fasting on only water. One by one they wilted until only two remained. Schwarzenegger refused to meet with them or their representatives.

Finally, after the intervention of Democratic legislators and labor leader Dolores Huerta, Schwarzenegger agreed to refinance the district's state loan. The protesters returned home with the promise of a lower interest rate, which, according to the West Contra Costa superintendent, would net the district a paltry $300,000 to $450,000 per year, less than three percent of the $16.5 million deficit the district faced.

"We still don't know what the interest rate will be," says superintendent Gloria Johnston. "We are just thrilled, however, that the governor agreed to something." It is a testament to how cash-starved the district is that Johnston was "thrilled" by the refinancing of a loan.

Luckily, local voters stepped up and passed a tax initiative, funneling $8 million into the schools and reducing the severity of the cuts (from $16.5 to $8 million). Among the improvements, the schools will be a little cleaner (ten custodians were rehired). There will be smaller mounds of paperwork (secondary school clerks were rehired). And the district will spend $500,000 on new textbooks. At $80 a pop that works out to be one new textbook for every five students.

"Although more egregious," Eastin laments, "West Contra Costa is a mini-lesson on what is happening all over the state." But some schools, like Lowell High School of San Francisco, are fighting cuts with voracious private fundraising. An academic magnet school that consistently ranks in the top three in the state, Lowell has a strong alumni network and a dedicated Parent Teacher Student Association. The school is not "wealthy," one in five students qualify for free or reduced lunches, but it does have a fundraising base to draw from.

Terry Abad, a vice president in the Lowell Alumni Association, spearheaded a campaign that brought in $385,000 last year, much of which was used to hire back faculty and staff that had been laid off.

"I certainly didn't launch into this idea lightly," says Abad. "To fundraise to pay teachers' salaries? Precedent-wise, it is huge. I mean, how do you get out of it in the future? I agree we need to help everybody, but in the short run I can't do that. In the short run, I can work to improve, or at least maintain, programs at one school."

What results is the de facto privatization of public education. Because the state refuses to provide sufficient funding, affluent communities are filling in the gap. But many communities cannot afford to pay for what is supposed to be free public education.

"It is tragic and unfair," says Michele Winter, a Lowell music teacher. "The neediest schools don't have a fundraising base. How can you raise funds from a base of low-income families? It is widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots." On August 12, Schwarzenegger did reportedly settle a lawsuit with the ACLU, which promises to pump money into 2,400 of California's poorest and lowest-performing schools. The agreement, which remains to be approved by the courts, could signal a shift in the governor's priorities.

But, Schwarzenegger's steadfast refusal to re-examine how schools are funded or to raise taxes means that important programs will be eliminated, and that the losses will disproportionately fall on poorer districts. A recent Los Angeles Times editorial said of the budget, "the only losers, aside from California's future, are cities, counties and local schools, which were fleeced in return for promises of future protection."

Higher education is faring only marginally better. The tripartite system, which consists of the University of California, California State universities and community colleges, is already overworked and facing an influx of new students.

According to Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the state has a history "of using students as cash-cows when finances go bad," with this year being no different. Undergraduate fees to attend a UC in the fall are up 14 percent and a 20 percent boost for out-of-state and graduate students. Since 2002, fees will have skyrocketed 60 percent for undergrads. To make matters worse, the tuition hikes are coupled with a 7 percent decline in funding for UC (16 percent in the last four years), in exchange for promises of financial predictability in the future.

And Schwarzenegger proposed to send 7,600 UC-eligible freshmen (and thousands more CSU-eligible students) to community colleges for two years before transferring into the four-year system, breaking a forty-year pledge to accept all eligible students. In last-minute budget negotiations, Democratic leaders persuaded Schwarzenegger to restore funding for higher education. But the restored money is likely to help only a small portion of those qualified students already denied admission because, with the budget finalized in late July, such students had little choice but to make alternate plans.

Schwarzenegger did not create this mess; he inherited it. He grabbed the helm of California's sinking fiscal ship and has tried to right it. But California's beleaguered educational system suffers as Schwarzenegger refuses to budge on his disingenuous "no-tax" pledge.

In times of economic hardship, cuts are necessary. The CTA's deal to accept $2 billion rather than $4 billion for K-12 schools, while harmful to education, may well have prevented even deeper cuts in healthcare. But the debate should not be about whether old people or young people should suffer more. It should be about making everyone suffer the least.

In May 2004, Field Poll, 62 percent of Californians (and a plurality of Republicans) said that taxes will have to be raised to resolve the state's budget deficit. But the Golden State's golden boy refuses to contemplate inconveniencing the affluent. Instead, the governor is borrowing billions, deferring debts, and betting on an improved economy. All the while California's students endure undeserved hardship.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040830/goldmacher

Why Does Arnold Get an “F”?

2006-10-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

Schwarzenegger Has Been a Disaster for the California State University System.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been attacking the employees and the 400,000 students who attend California State University campuses since the day he took office.

Arnold is well-fueled by wealthy business allies who seek to privatize public services, such as the CSU, to reap the financial benefits and leave the people paying more and getting less in return.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his promise to protect and improve education. He suspended the minimum school funding guarantee, then broke his promise to give the money back.

* Arnold raised college tuition and fees. He tried to cut college academic preparation and outreach for disadvantaged students and close the college doors on 22,000 qualified students who had studied hard and made all the grades. And now he has no plan to improve our schools or to close the state’s budget deficit without once more making deep cuts in education.

* Schwarzenegger broke his promise to increase college fees by no more than 10 percent when he raised the fees for attending a community college by a staggering 44 percent. He also raised the fees to attend a state college or university while simultaneously cutting funding to financial aid programs, resulting in many qualified students not being able to afford to go to college or earn their teaching degrees.

* Arnold taxes on teachers by eliminating $570 million in tax credits for teachers who buy school supplies.

* More reasons to Flunk Arnold:

* Over a three-year period, Schwarzenegger has backed nearly $2.5 billion in taxes and fee increases that heavily burden middle-class families, young people and seniors while protecting corporate tax giveaways, including:

* Raising state park fees by $18 million.

* Raising family childcare fees by $22.3 million.

* Eliminating property tax assistance for low-income seniors and disabled homeowners and renters, which would have cost them $135 million.

* Raising health care premiums by $27.4 million.

From Flunkarnold.com

Schwarzenegger Out of Touch With Middle Class Families

2006-10-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Gov. shows why he’s not our working families choice to lead California

On Wednesday August 16th, Arnold Schwarzenegger held a press conference in Sacramento. During the event, Schwarzenegger showed once again that he is out of touch with middle class families and will continue defending his special interest backers. Phil Angelides will reorder the state’s priorities away from special interests and put them back on the side of middle class families.

Out of Touch With the Middle Class, Saying Yes to Special Interests

On Wednesday, when Governor Schwarzenegger was asked about Phil Angelides plan for middle class tax relief, Schwarzenegger said he was opposed:

Asked about Angelides' plan to cut taxes for middle-class families, the governor said the state's fiscal picture had not brightened enough.
(San Francisco Chronicle, August 17, 2006)

“Tuition and Fees Were Too Low”

As he opposed tax relief for middle class families, Schwarzenegger went on to admit that while steadfastly protecting tax breaks for the HMOs, tobacco and oil companies, the Governor considered the burden on middle class families, teachers and students “too low.”

When asked about his record of hiking tuition and fees for middle class families, Schwarzenegger said: “Everyone has to contribute. It's very clear. College tuition fees were too low in comparison with the rest of the country, so we raised it up a little.”
(San Diego Union Tribune, August 17, 2006)

In fact, tuition and fees have risen by $5,000 under Schwarzenegger. Note to Schwarzenegger: $5,000 is not “a little.”

“I Always Keep My Promises”

And finally, Schwarzenegger delivered one of the biggest howlers of the campaign, saying, “I always keep my promises.”

While it’s true Schwarzenegger kept that promise for his wealthy special interest backers, the Governor has burdened middle class families, seniors and teachers with $2.5 billion in tax and fee increases since he took office. Some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tax and fee increases include a half-billion dollar tax increase on teachers and more than $1.7 billion in higher education fee hikes.

Source

Schwarzenegger background information

2006-10-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

All of these programs are real audio recordings.

True Lies, More About Conan the Republican

Description

Pump This: The Schwarzenegger File

Description

The Destabilization of California Pt. 2

Description

Triumph of the Shill

Description

Triumph of the Shill Part 2, Reichstag Wildfire?

Description

Triumph of the Shill Pt 3: The Kaiser of California

Description

Triumph of the Shill Part 4: The Gropenfuhrer

Description

Triumph of the Shill Pt. 5: Update on the Gropenfuhrer

Description

Protest Says Schwarzenegger Degrades Women

2006-10-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

by Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO - Does movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger have a problem with women?

Although Schwarzenegger's run for governor of California has excited many voters tired of conventional politicians such Gov. Gray Davis, some are complaining the actor's past statements and behavior toward women cast doubts about his character.

In the latest distraction from Schwarzenegger's official message of a "people's revolution" to retake Sacramento in an Oct. 7 recall vote, a group of women announced they would picket the former bodybuilder's campaign headquarters on Friday to protest what they call his misogynist views and crude behavior toward women.

"I am not concerned about what he does that is consensual," said Karen Pomer, the founder of the Rainbow Sisters Project, a group of rape victims. "But women who do not want to be touched who he touches -- the reports of him harassing women -- they are of great concern.

"It's degrading to women."

Schwarzenegger is married to television journalist Maria Shriver, a member of the nation's most prominent Democratic family as niece of the late President John F. Kennedy. They have four children.

Some published articles have portrayed Schwarzenegger as touching women's bottoms and breasts without their consent.

In a recent interview with Reuters, his best friend Franco Columbu confirmed that such incidents have taken place, such as when he touched the breasts of a British television presenter.

"Like the girl in London when he was lying on the bed, the couch or whatever it was, and touching her and taking a picture," Columbu said. "That stuff is Arnold, he does that. He says, 'You have nice big legs' and touch her, fine. But nothing harmful or telling somebody 'Leave, I am going to be with her alone."'

"They love it of course. I've never seen him do something that was, like, out of place. Talking, yes, he would say something like 'Oh, you look so sexy,' 'Oh, ya, you have a nice ass,' but that's it."

A security guard wipes an egg from the shoulder of actor and gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he greets students at California State University in Long Beach, on Wednesday. Schwarzenegger was pelted with the egg by an unknown assailant as he strode to the stage at the university.

Schwarzenegger has raised eyebrows in recent days with the recirculation of a 1977 interview in which he discusses participating in group sex. He initially dodged questions on the topic, then on Wednesday he said he had made up the story.

"The '70s was a totally different era," he told MSNBC. "We tried to promote 'Pumping Iron,' so you say outrageous things to make headlines in the newspaper."

Over his long career in bodybuilding and then film, Schwarzenegger has often discussed women and sex in a way that some voters may find objectionable.

"Girls became sex objects. I saw the other bodybuilders using them in this way and I thought it was all right," he wrote in his 1977 memoir "Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder."

"Whatever I thought might hold me back, I avoided. I crossed girls off my list -- except as tools for my sexual needs."

"My attitude about all that has changed radically. I used to feel that women were here for one reason. Sex was simply another kind of exercise, another body function."

In the 1974 book "Pumping Iron" Schwarzenegger said: "If I see a girl with big tits, I'm going to stare and stare. And I'm going to think in my mind what I am going to do with her if I would have her."

Asked for comment on Thursday, Schwarzenegger's campaign arranged a telephone interview with Bonnie Reiss, a family friend who is CEO of the actor's Inner-City Games Foundation.

"In 24 years of friendship and in 10 years of working on his children's foundation with him, never, ever, ever has he treated me or any other woman I have ever seen when I am in his presence with anything but respect and regard," he said. "Is that a misogynist? I think it is the opposite."

source

President Schwarzenegger?

2006-10-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

October 9, 2003

Movement Afoot to Amend Constitution for Arnold

By MARK HAND

Based on his win in Tuesday's California governor recall election, Arnold Schwarzenegger must now be considered the frontrunner to win the presidency in 2008. When his tenure in the White House ends in January 2009 after a second term in office, George W. Bush will be barred by the Constitution from running for a third term. That unfortunate predicament for George W., who's never been successful in any other job, will open the door to Schwarzenegger, who by then will be the standard-bearer of the national Republican Party, to assume the presidency.

There's just one little hitch in this plan. And it involves another section of the Constitution, the part that prohibits anyone who is not a "native-born citizen" from holding the position of president.

But why, you ask, wouldn't the Republicans just try to push through the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress and the Republican-controlled state houses a plan to get rid of the 22nd Amendment from the Constitution? That strategy would allow George W. to remain in office for as long as the American people would have him.

The answer is that it makes more political sense for the Republicans to promote an immigrant-friendly movement for giving naturalized Americans the right to realize the American dream of becoming president than to promote the heavy-handed and authoritarian concept of a career president.

A movement to get Schwarzenegger installed in the White House in 2008 is already afoot. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch in July introduced a bill that would allow anyone who has lived in the United States for 20 years to be eligible to hold the office of the president. Schwarzenegger has lived in the United States since 1968. The bill, which would amend the Constitution, must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures before becoming law.

Hatch, who introduced the resolution before Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for California governor, has said he was not necessarily thinking of Schwarzenegger when he was drafting the constitutional amendment. But Hatch has said he believes Schwarzenegger would make an excellent candidate for president.

Hatch's "Equal Opportunity To Govern Amendment," or S.J. Res. 15, does not have any co-sponsors in the Senate and is currently under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee. A House version of the resolution, H.J. Res. 59, was submitted in June by Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat from Arkansas. His constitutional amendment would require a foreign-born presidential candidate to have been a citizen of the United States for at least 35 years. It currently has six co-sponsors in the House and has been referred to the House Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy almost 40 years ago, many in the nation have yearned for another Kennedy to occupy the White House. They will finally get their wish when Maria Shriver, daughter of JFK sister Eunice Shriver, stands by her man Arnold as they enter the White House on inauguration day in January 2009.

Mark Hand is editor of Press Action. He can be reached at mark@pressaction.com.

http://www.counterpunch.org/hand10092003.html