Blog Posts - July 2010

The NAACP: Desperate to be Relevant

By netboots, on Jul 13, 2010

[Source: California Republican Party News]

What is going on with the folks who run the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People? These days, it seems like they're more concerned with making headlines than they are advancing anything. Let me cite three recent examples. They <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/13/tea-party-preempts-racist-resolution-condemns-bigoted-naacp/">adopted a resolution</a> to condemn the racist elements of the Tea Party movement. The California chapter of the NAACP came out in favor of a ballot measure to legalize marijuana. And that same chapter's president, Alice Huffman, has supported studying whether to convert Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch into a state park. It's not clear to me how any of these actions follow the NAACP's mission statement to "eliminate racial hatred and discrimination."<br /><br />Let's start with the Tea Party resolution. This would make sense if there was any clear indication that the Tea Party movement is indeed racist at its core. But I'm struggling to understand why the NAACP seems intent on framing the Tea Party movement in racist terms. If any organization should have a fundamental understanding of civil unrest, it should be the NAACP, right?<br /><br />It's not surprising that the mainstream media is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eib2di9bq4">salivating over the prospect</a> of labeling the Tea Party movement as racist, but I've been to more than one Tea Party event, and felt not one inkling of racist motivation or intent among the people attending. From everything I see, the Tea Party movement is about reducing taxes, checking federal government efforts to skirt the Constitution, and identify waste and fraud. How is that racist?<br /><br />Ironically, by focusing on the still evolving Tea Party movement, the NAACP seems to be turning into the same thing it's historically fought against, labeling people it simply doesn't understand.<br /> <br />In fact, by passing an anti Tea Party resolution, the NAACP is implying it has transcended racism, that its members are beyond racist thought and action, flawlessly objective. So how would the NAACP react if another organization passed a resolution condemning the racist elements of the NAACP? How would its members feel if they were lumped into the same category as the National Black Panther Party? I have no doubt that if I were to start looking, I could find a line in the NAACP bylaws, or one person holding a race-tinged sign at an NAACP rally, then exploit that image to garner national headlines and tar the good works of the NAACP. <br /><br />Unfortunately, that's all the Tea Party resolution amounts to. <br /> <br />My same concern extends to the California chapter of the NCAAP and its ludicrous arguments in favor of legalizing marijuana. If anyone should aware of the rampage and mayhem illicit drugs have caused in the African-American community, it should be the NAACP. Instead of continuing attempts to curb the amount of drug use that goes on in poorer urban environments, the NAACP has decided that it is more convenient to focus on minority arrest rates. But regardless of how they spin their concern, legal or illegal, marijuana is a damaging, mind-altering substance. Making it legal will just lead to more drug abuse, the last thing the African-American community needs or can ever afford.<br /> <br />And then to cap it off, California NAACP President Alice Huffman went on record this week supporting a proposal to covert Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch into a state park. I admire Michael's artistic contributions to American pop culture. But California is in a budget crisis. People need jobs and good schools, and clean safe parks in our own communities right now. This act, perhaps more than any other, indicates the desperation of the NAACP's leadership to crowd into a news cycle and show to everyone that it's still there, that it still counts.<br /> <br />I am truly saddened by this direction of the NAACP. Instead of providing solutions to problems, it's promoting weak, ill-conceived, misguided resolutions that echo the same dark-age philosophies and attitudes the organization was founded to overcome.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">You can reach Micah Grant at mgrant@cagop.org</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4415342305243133312-3077506618626621936?l=blog.cagop.org' alt='' /></div>

A Modest Revenue Proposal

By netboots, on Jul 2, 2010

[Source: California Republican Party News]

<span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-style:italic;">As seen in <a href="http://www.flashreport.org/featured-columns-library0b.php?faID=2010070210143278">FlashReport.org</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />"California Lawmakers Consider License Plates that Flash Ads"-- Los Angeles Times, June 29th, 2010</span><br /><br />Earlier this week, the Assembly Transportation Committee voted unanimously to pass along a bill authorizing to study whether selling advertising space on digitally-changeable license plates could produce enough money to help close California's multi-billion dollar budget deficit. Which begs the question: why stop there? If, after decades of Democrat-dominated malfeasance, the state is so broke it's actually considering the financial merits of placing what are essentially millions of little flat screen televisions on the backs of moving vehicles, our government has obviously lost all sense of perspective.<br /> <br />After all, if we're willing to add millions of little distractions to our roadways in the quest for new state revenues, can big distractions be far behind? And if we're seriously contemplating selling our license plates, why not the Full Monty? Let's put every available money-making idea on the table. Go big or go broke, is what I say.<br /> <br />So how about this: how about special projectors that turn your auto's entire rear window into a rolling billboard? Unlike the license plate proposal, rear window ads wouldn't force drivers to look down while they take their eyes off the road to check out the two-for-one sale at the local nursery.<br /> <br />And why stop with vehicles? There are any number of state-owned edifices advertisers must surely be slathering over to potentially hawk their wares. For instance, how about projecting ads onto one of those big prison walls on Alcatraz? What a thrill that would add for tourists visiting San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. How about adding strings of programmable LED's onto the Golden Gate Bridge? Tourists flying into Bay Area airports could catch up on the latest rental car specials, provided those lingering San Francisco sunsets don't spoil their view.<br /> <br />Closer to home for lawmakers, what's good for the goose is no doubt good for the gander. You know those state-owned vehicles our lawmakers drive at taxpayer expense? Why not shrink wrap those cars, cloaking them in the same sort of ads we see on city buses? In fact, why stop with lawmakers? I'll bet there's a hefty sponsorship contract tailor-made for the thousands of state owned vehicles now used for "official business."<br /> <br />Getting back to Sacramento, there's product placement opportunities galore inside the state capitol. Imagine the pride of escorting our out-of state residents on a tour that includes the Senate and Assembly galleries, as we gaze down on the traditional red and green carpets. Only now, those carpets would be embossed with the logo for a cleaning product, the "Official Stain Lifter of the California Legislature!"<br /> <br />And why stop with inanimate objects when there's potentially 120 walking billboards in the form of state lawmakers. Really, what's the harm in dressing our legislators in suits and dresses plastered with sponsor patches like a NASCAR racing suit? I don't see a down side, not when there's a perennial budget problem and our children's future is at stake.<br /> <br /> Or--and here's the really crazy idea-how about our state lawmakers actually make an effort to operate the state within its current means. You know, the way the rest of us manage the accounts of our own homes and businesses. Instead of constantly concocting new methods to fill government coffers, they could look for ways to stretch our existing tax revenues. It might not be enough to close California's $20 billion budget gap, but it would be a good start, even though it's a process our Democrat-dominated legislature has consistently taken pains to avoid. And it's definitely a better idea than posting ads where license plates belong.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />You can reach Rob Griffith at rgriffith@cagop.org</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4415342305243133312-4373013794332682840?l=blog.cagop.org' alt='' /></div>