Behind the Times

Posted on June 3, 2011 by mmunson

I am becoming more disappointed that California Republican legislators are basically owned by the Traditional Values Collation, just like how the Democratic Party legislators are basically owned by the Service Employees International Union. Even if it is a tame bill such as AB 9 (Seth’s Law), to help reduce the bullying and suicides in our public school system, Republicans overwhelmingly voted against the bill 26 of 27 members in office, while 1 of the members of the caucus is in the Middle East serving our nation.

Yes, we may have existing anti-bullying legislation. However there are numerous school districts in our state particularly in districts that have legislators who voted NO on AB 9 who fail to take this issue seriously. That is the reason why AB 9 was drafted. We need to make it where no more students have to be in fear of their school safety or have to change their routes home from school so they would not be bullied.

I know the Republican Party basically serves the Inland areas of our state where there is a different demographic composition compared to the majority in the Democratic Party caucus in the California legislature, but if Republicans want to win areas they could have a strong chance in winning such as AD 5, 53, 54, 76, 78,80 and SD 34, 39 they should get over their fear of LGBT Californians because they do exist.

California’s population is no longer white and the elderly base that may have views that support the majority of Republican Party legislators, but if we want to have more members in the caucus to support public safety initiatives , or taxpayer friendly moves such as prohibiting alcohol and tobacco purchases under government aid we need to get more inclusive legislators where younger voters would find common ground with.

With redistricting happening where there is a requirement that the map makers do not take in account where the legislators live which might make it harder for individuals such as Bob Huff or Steve Knight to get re-elected. If Republicans can prepare themselves for the future they could see the reality changing.

How to Save the Community Colleges

Posted on June 2, 2011 by mmunson

California has a severe state budget problem, and our community colleges are going to suffer due to this fact.

Reading Richard Rider’s column about the “Whining community college students”, made me think of the situation and how we can restore the system without going into an austerity mode so rapidly.

Yes, California’s community college students do pay a record low rate for their fees. Around $1100 for 30 units of coursework.

Richard says due to the record low prices our students pay there is no incentive to complete the courses. My solution is to have a portion of a potential fee increase be used as an incentive to encourage students to complete their coursework within three years or earlier to get some of their money back in CSU or UC fees. Or, if they do not intend to go further, a smaller amount such as 50% of a future fee increase would be paid back in the student’s future tax return.

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Patrick’s Law (Proposal)

Posted on May 19, 2011 by mmunson

I would like to make it where if one does abuse to animals one would have to enter an offenders registry. This would provide a disincentive for people to treat animals like garbage.

This would be similar to the sex offenders registry. If someone willingly starved an animal to death, murdered or mutilated an animal they would be featured on this registry.

Breeders, animal shelters and pet stores would be required to check people’s names into the registry to make sure they are not selling animals to these people. And even if someone lives in the household they would be banned from owning animals if they live in the dwelling with the individual.

How would I fund this registry, I would mandate a $135 dollar fee to each new offender after we utilize a startup fund to keep the system active.

Education Reform

Posted on May 9, 2011 by mmunson

In this challenging economic climate we as a society have to reprioritize our resources when it deals with education. I believe that we should reform the tracking system in order to provide all students with hope, personal growth and opportunity. Not all students are meant to go to college, but all students do deserve a good future.

We need a tracking system that has an active career training system so those who do not want to go to college could make a good living. Instead of schools dismantling their auto shop or woodworking classes, we need to do our best to keep them there. Public/Private partnerships would be the best solution so the private sector could get the workers they need. Chino Unified School District ended up dismantling their shop programs, but these programs help keep students in school. I do not expect school districts to fund these programs on their own, but with grant writing and partnerships with private industry we can help lead students to their passions.

College is not exactly the silver bullet, not all students have the motivation and drive to discover a career that sparks their interests and pays a good wage. Personally I am still paying my student loan for a BA in Political Science, and I do not have a career that will pay off this student loan promptly nor I am putting in tax revenue to help fund the public services that we all value right now due to California’s massive budget deficits due to the state failing to plan ahead for the bad times.

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Thinking Presidential

Posted on May 5, 2011 by mmunson

As a registered Republican I am supporting Fred Karger for president at this moment of time. I may have my top three choices, but for the moment I am supporting Fred. Right now, I am hoping Fred gets included in the pollsters questions of who Republicans across our nation want for their presidential choice.

We need someone who will be immune to the charges that they want to eliminate Medicare for the seniors, and someone who would be pragmatic that can reach out to young people and groups that typically do not vote Republican.

Since debates are asking for candidates with popular support, I have sent an email to the PPP and Gallup pollsters to get Fred included for their polling.

Americans deserve a wide choice for their primary vote to determine who will be the Republican nominee against President Obama in 2012.

Be Mindful of Parents Wallets

Posted on April 17, 2011 by mmunson

The economy is rough, wages are being cut with teachers are getting fired left and right. However I have one major complaint with teachers in general even though I personally do aspire to join the field in the next few years. Stop giving parents the unfunded mandate of having your students be required to do expensive projects.

Mission projects bust parents pocketbooks when many students and their families are living paycheck to paycheck. 50-100 dollars to complete the project can be better used elsewhere.

I am not speaking only about the infamous mission project or state projects, but even book reports can cost a pretty penny.

Not everyone is from a high wage household and educators in our state should recognize this fact. If we are friendly to the parents that send their children to our schools, then maybe the parents will be more likely to advocate for more funding to prevent education cutbacks.

Obama May Stink, but We Should Not Stink Ourselves In the Process.

Posted on April 17, 2011 by mmunson

President Obama’s presidency has made people on the right and even on the left frustrated and disappointed. However since Obama has African-American heritage, there are things you absolutely should not do to express your disgust with him or his policies.

Any alleged humor dealing with food black people typically eat. A lady in Rancho Cucamonga got nominated as worst person of the day by Keith Olberman and sparked worldwide news about this with her Obama Bucks cartoon.

This situation also happened with an email with a cartoon about Obama turning the White House lawn into a watermelon patch which caused controversy for a former Orange County city councilman.

Then recently, someone sent an email about Obama and some apes which caused an Orange County Republican Party committee member some unwanted attention. Yes, you are allowed to consider W Bush an ape in cartoons and art, but due to history depicting black people as less than human it is not cool to share emails like that.

Attack Obama on the issues, don’t become the target. Attack Obama on his love of Planned Parenthood over the Armed Forces, attack him on maxing out the nation’s deficit, attack him for his energy policy which is making working families and businesses struggle to stay afloat.

Needed Advice for San Bernardino County Republicans

Posted on April 13, 2011 by mmunson

Lets focus on creating jobs, and not on bashing LGBT people. For the people who do not have spare time to attend central committee meetings the beliefs of the majority in the room during the meetings are not the total beliefs of the people of the party or the region. We do not need any more Ben Lopez or Ryan Sorbas in the San Bernardino County Republican Party, but we need to have people that can unite and bring more people to our party.

The bashing of LGBT people is only a distraction from us getting to the real issues that are facing our nation.

Alan Simpson, former US Senator from Wyoming has got it right in his interview with Chris Matthews.

Personally I wonder if Ben Lopez, Scott Folkens, Earl De Vries, James Na and company would say the stuff they usually say in front of the faces of Bill Postmus, Congressman Drier and Roy Ashburn.

End Reefer Madness In Ontario and San Bernardino County

Posted on April 11, 2011 by mmunson

As someone who is considering running for elected office in my area, I am here to write my policy position on safe access on marijuana for people who need it for a medical condition.

Sadly my city of Ontario and the county of San Bernardino which my city is a part of made it difficult for individuals to obtain their medicine.

Proposition 215 made it possible for individuals to obtain the drug to treat their medical conditions thanks to its passage in November 1996. Even though almost all of the counties have implementation plans, many cities in San Bernardino County decided to firewall their communities against having these establishments in their neighborhoods because they say, if federal law does not let us have the drug or use the drug then federal law would trump state law.

But its ironic how many of these opponents may be hospitable to state’s rights, but they are selective to the application of the tenth amendment. Kind of like how Los Angeles County DA would not defend Prop 19 that legalized marijuana possession for any usage if it passed in the 2010 election.

I know cities want to maintain order and quality of life, but there should be a way to host a dispensary away from residential districts with rules such as you can not bundle any other drug aside from the marijuana, if you consume the drug within a 1/2 mile radius in public of the dispensary’s location you can receive the same charge as being publicly intoxicated.

I am not a marijuana user, but I believe in individual personal freedom to make the proper choices for their lives.

Or better yet the solution should follow where people just grow their own plants and not have to worry about dispensaries and as long as you do not tax the water system or the energy grid, you should be left alone. If you are in a single family home and you use up a water supply to fill up a swimming pool when you do not have a swimming pool, then the DEA and the local police should have a word with you.

Quick Notes

Posted on April 10, 2011 by mmunson

Did you know that the founder of Red County is in deep trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission? Charles Hanlon, also known as Chip overstated his investment portfolio which means fraud in the SEC’s eyes.

Red County used to be a real good blog in San Bernardino County until the San Bernardino County scandals derailed the blog. Red County was the place where we had the Obama Republican Women’s club scandal unravel where Keith Olberman led to have the club’s president as his worst person of the day.

With the federal government broke, it seems we should have a website where average citizens could come up with proposals to help cut costs. I recently thought of the idea of eliminating congressional pensions for individuals such as Gary Miller of Diamond Bar or John Kerry of Massachusetts. If a retired congressional member has a net worth of less than 2.5 million then they would be able to get a congressional pension, if its between 2.5 million and 4.99 million then they would get a partial pension. After 5 million net worth, they would be on their own. However if they bottom out they could get their congressional pension restored the next calendar year.

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