I started to say that yesterday’s budget deal was a really bad day for California, but I don’t guess it was technically worse than the many days that preceded it. The deal was just the bad news waiting to happen.

As should be expected, the poor got the short end of the stick. That’s almost comical to say out loud – if it weren’t so sad. CalWorks, the welfare program for families, suffered a 528 million dollar hit. Only to be surpassed by Medi-Cal, health insurance for the poor, which suffered a one billion dollar hit. Oh, and health insurance for children was cut by 124 million, too. Thankfully, since no one who actually has money had to suffer the horror of having his or her taxes raised, donations to organizations working with the poor will instantly increase by a couple billion dollars this year.

Everyone, I’d like you to meet sarcasm.

I am so glad that I’ve had the opportunity to work on behalf of the homeless in Los Angeles this summer. I had no idea the extent of the problem here. Did you realize that 1 of every 9 homeless people in the entire country live in Los Angeles? I had no idea. And how do you think cutting public assistance by a couple billion dollars will help that problem? Me, too.