1) What's the obsession with moving to Watsonville? Rents are rising there, too.
2) "If your wages are so totally inadequate for the service you provide, then stop providing it." That's a great argument if your job is total bullshit. For *some* city employees, doing humanitarian work providing direct services to people in need isn't just a job, it's something they are emotionally involved in: helping. Seems kinda foreign to the golf course crowd, I know. But it's not all about the money for some people, troll. A lot of people do work that is underpaid and undervalued. A lot of people do no work and are criminally overpaid. They are called CEOs.

3)"Conservative charity to the people of Iraq" How misled you sound. How sick to call bombs and torture, occupation and gun barrel diplomacy "charity." I can think of almost nothing more revolting.

4) How is Steve Argue responsible for the budget of the Santa Cruz City agencies? "Your Robin Hood welfare system..." "YOU pick my pocket to fund YOUR charities on YOUR terms..." I don't understand how critics of city policies and those actually willing to raise their voices in dissent or who work for progress are blamed for the very system we wish to change. Yes, troll, "waste, fraud, and abuse" are common. Financing a golf course is a perfect example.
4) Golf courses are piss poor public planning, and our city government has no business getting involved in them: they are environmentally destructive (takes a lot of RoundUp™ to keep that shit green and lush all year), and they destroy wildlife corridors (don't give me that 'they're creating habitat' bullshit). Santa Cruz may not lack redwood forests (yet) but when the water shortages hit we're taking the golf courses OFFLINE first. Where's that water come from anyway?
5) Let's look at who we're talking about, since none of us seem to be unionized city employees. In-Home Support workers are paid meager wages to provide care to the uninsured sick elderly. They aren't necessarily MDs or Nurses, etc, but they provide personal attention to people very much in need. There must be a unique irony in being denied insurance coverage through your job which is providing healthcare to the uninsured.
6) Argue is divisive and binary for what again? Speaking out against rubber stamp support for the Sit! Fetch boy! Roll over and Concede! Candidate Kerry? Is he attacking the middle class for golfing? Heaven forbid. Golf is the only 'sport' I can think of where it is against the rules to share equipment. Get your own set of clubs or get out. The divisive ones are those who continue to insist that we support the Democratic Party despite a nice long record with SELL OUT written all over it and two consecutive EASY wins against Baby Bush and nothing to show for it. The Democratic Party is finished. Too many of us have already walked away. We're waiting, watching, astounded that you're all still sitting patiently, waiting for some bourgeoisie golfer to save you.
7) "Anyway Mr. Socialist aren't you supporting the big evil capitalists by living here?... you don't have to pay as much rent into the coffers of those you despise. Stop empowering your enemy, you hypocrite ." Okay Troll--why are you on indymedia other than to waste our my (our) time? The question is: WHY ARE THE COFFERS THEIRS? This is our city. Our city government. Our city budget. So it's welfare if the city pays a living wage? It's charity if the government pays its citizens a better wage than private business? The government is supposed to be a good employer. It astounds me that people believe that the government should be able to pay people so little that they can't afford to live in the jurisdiction of the very same government they work for. You want us to flee Santa Cruz and leave it to the golfers and landlords and vacation rentals? This is MY COUNTRY. There's no reason any of us should live under the thumb of these people. Wasn't that one of your points? How do you pretend to know anything about how anyone else lives anyway?
8) How is "quit your job" a solution? Yah, here's some advice city workers: Instead of going on strike, quit, file for unemloyment or workers comp. Or go to a publicly funded school and improve your lot in life. These sound like solutions that a tax freedom capitalist should be attacking, not advocating. Are you confused? You want these city workers to take control of their destinies, quit their jobs as the ultimate form of protest, and get on the dole that they are currently running?
Robin Hood welfare system my ass.
You really believe that our government is in the business of robbing the rich? Please.