WHAT’S THE POINT?
The Hydrogen Highway Governor should do something effective, besides gather headlines and raise more money than his predecessor, that is.
He wants to be the Governor who shakes things up, and does business in a better way. He claims to not be a ‘girlie-man’ in politics, but if the governor wanted to help the energy crunch he would submit a bill to the legislature requiring any developer who is building more than four residential units to install solar panels.
I’m sure he could find a way to exempt his own building activities while in office.
The source of this new passion for solar came to me as we were driving to Northern California this past weekend. Thanks to a truck spill on the I-5, we spent an hour and a half in the lovely town of Mojave, where we discussed the huge tacky developments of new housing.
Staring at the large number of homes, each with their own air-conditioner, it makes sense for the governor or some astute legislator to propose a solution that would help build an industry, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, and put the burden on developers who are large enough to fold the costs into their large scale development plans.
For example, if KB Homes were to put solar panels on the homes they are building in the Inland Empire, those homes could be mostly self-sufficient for electricity. Additionally, they would be creating a market for the solar industry, which would help bring prices down. Currently, a system that collects enough energy to put out 3 kilowatts an hour — enough for most homes with a family four or five — costs approximately $25,000 before the state tax rebates. With the rebates, the costs are down around $14,000 for an individual home system.
But with some of the famous Eli Broad arm-twisting, and a kick in the butt from the Governor, I’m sure that could be lowered.
The utilities are required by law to purchase any excess power generated, which is good for the homeowners and could be a selling point for KB. Given the gargantuan appetite the state has for power, and with each new baby born, or “must have” gadget created by Silicon Valley, our demands increase, so the home generators are not going to be putting Southern California Edison out of business anytime soon.
By putting this burden on the developers it would be transferring the need for new power plants to the parties responsible for it. It is a viable solution, and for once, not at the expense of the taxpayers. Granted the costs would be passed on to the homebuyers, but they are financing over 30 years.
Politics is a shell game of names, acronyms and deception. But in this game of mystery players and shadow supporters, is a player who has the ability to stand above it all, and carry the standard of truth and honesty — Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The attorney general finally did something worthy of note. In politics today there has been a concerted effort to misname groups and causes, so as to mislead the voters. The behavior is engaged in by both liberals and conservatives, but frankly I seem to notice it more from the far right.
The names of these groups are phrased in high sounding principles, but in reality they are just fronts for extremists. Groups like the Traditional Values Coalition and the Alliance Defense Fund, California Family Council, PreserveLiberty.com and ProtectMarriage.com all sound like a patriotic endeavor, but what they really stand for is bigotry and misogyny.
They claim to be fighting for a free and equal society, and I suppose so long as you fit their image of a husband and wife and two tow-headed children, and attend their church regularly, you’ll get your equality. But the problem I see, is that most families are not fitting that mold these days.
It is in that spirit of Christian equality that a ballot initiative was sent to the attorney general’s office for review under the title of the Voters Right to Protect Marriage Initiative by the California Family Council. The initiative had the stealth title to sound like ‘marriage protection’ but what it really does is repeal the domestic partnership laws. Those few rights that gays and lesbians have would be stripped away. The attorney general renamed the initiative and called it what it is, Invalidation of Domestic Partnerships.
Last year in the drama over gay marriage, the pundits were quite vocal about how ‘protecting marriage’ was not about taking rights away from the gays. It seems the battle has changed for those who feel emboldened and are willing to press hard to move their agenda forward with ballot initiatives to enshrine bigotry and homophobia.
This is a woman’s issue. Because once the gays have their meager rights taken away, abortion is next.
And I don’t want to hear that I’m an alarmist, or that it will never happen here, because last year it was about ‘protecting marriage’ and now it’s about repealing rights. A quick look at the Alliance Defense fund Web site has “Religious Freedom”, “Sanctity of Human Life” and “Family Values” as major issues.
This is a black man’s issue also. Because once the gays are back in their little box, and the women can’t have legal abortions, the stealth patriots are coming after the “promiscuous” black man who has too many children out of wedlock and expects society to support them. It’ll be the Family Values again. If you don’t believe me, remember most religious folks are Republicans, and they don’t have such a great track record with criminal justice laws. Three Strikes — a Republican idea. End welfare — a Republican platform mainstay. if you need support to believe me, take a look at the fact that then-Governor Gray Davis closed prisons, but the private contractors who build them kept their lobbyists in the state. Current Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger has bowed to the prison system needs and is reopening facilities because we have a population explosion of prisoners. Most are not Caucasian.
So thanks are due the attorney general, for being the one voice that seems to have some truth in his work. (David Pisarra or 310/664-9969.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 2, 2005. Read the original PDF.