As IF Times

link Voter reports problem with ballot machine | machine, screen, voter – Local – Sun Journal.

Of all of the advancements western civilization lays claim to, the process of democratic election of representatives is probably the most sacrosanct.  So important is this concept that the west often sends observers to emerging nations to oversee their elections to discourage corruption, nations that are usually far less civilized than the western experience.

As we recall, in Iraq, they resorted to the simple but effective method of dipping people’s fingers in ink wells to ensure non duplication of votes.  Crude certainly, but there were few lawyers and even fewer techies involved other than those hired to fill the ink wells.  As much as this was a pragmatic means of voting, it was more importantly a symbolic show that the idea of democracy was taking hold in the war torn nation. 

Over here in the west, it looks like we still haven’t quite got the process down as pat as in Iraq, for despite over 200 years of history, they still can’t seem to get the simple mechanics of voting down to a foolproof system.   Remember hanging chads during the 2004 elections? Now because we’re in the Internet age, some brilliant marketers have sold new and improved gizmos to elections officials to make the voting and counting process easier, faster and of course, planet friendly.  Presumably, the manufacturers of these devices went through some rigorous testing of these things before receiving approval for public use.  We would assume there were safeguards to protect against voter fraud, operator error and MOST IMPORTANTLY, to ensure accuracy of vote.  Surely, they must have employed chimpanzees to pull the switches to emulate even the dumbest of real life voters. 

The hard part of the democratic process is supposed to be the choices between good and incipient evil that are made BEFORE going into the voting place.  Once that decision is made, the mechanics of voting should be straightforward.  Kind of like choosing between a Mars bar and potato chips at the vending machine.  Maybe that’s what should happen.  The vending machine people should get in the voting machine business.  When you have successfully entered the appropriate vote, a little reward pops out, like a Mars bar as proof of successful voting.  As voting  machines have gone electronic, it is easy to be leery of the ensuing results as the incidences in the linked article allude.  Manipulating data electronically is easier than hiding boxes of votes.  We are aware of the data manipulation that has gone on at Google and Facebook.  If you push the button for Mars bar, you don’t want nuts.  Officials will quickly point out that these are isolated incidents, yada, yada, yada.  The fact that it happens at all at this mature point in the history of the democratic process is scandalous and shameful. 

They should simplify the process down to the level that would appeal to the most basic instincts of people.  Link the process to food.  Every voter that shows up gets some M&M’s which they can put into any number of openings in a board corresponding to a candidate.  The M&M’s are then counted and the winner is announced.  If the voters don’t care for any of the candidates, they can eat the M&M’s and the trip to the polling station was not a complete loss.  I’ll just wait here by the phone for the elections people to call me.  Meanwhile, buy stock in M&M’s.

link Jason Riley: The NAACPs Unhealthy Tea Party Obsession – WSJ.com.

Someone is going to take notice one day.  If the statistics revealed in this article are correct, it essentially means that the NAACP, an organization founded on promoting the ‘advancement’ of colored people has been an abject failure.  Yet, somehow despite the glaring statistics which prove its uselessness, the NAACP still tries to be relevant in the 21st century.

The group was founded just over a century ago in 1909 with the task of being an aggressive watchdog for ‘negro’ liberties as expressed in its charter.  In addition, it was also charged with ensuring civil and political liberty. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~naacp/history.html  At the time, the rights of blacks probably needed to be monitored, but here we are, 100 years later and the mandate has been modified somewhat.  At the end of the website link above is this new modified mission statement:

“…Building on the foundation established by Du Bois, we pledge our commitment to an integrated, non-violent society that rejects all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia…”  

Notice they left out global warming and animal rights causes.  So now the plight of blacks per se are not really the objective;  the NAACP has morphed into a PC liberal lobby group.  The author Jason Riley is bold enough to come right out and state that they have become a political action group for the DNC.  Perhaps and all evidence does  point to that.

If I were a black person in the U.S., especially one of the constituents mentioned in his article who; were in the group of 16% unemployed, 41% if teenager; underperformed significantly in school; constituted 38% of the inmate population; was part of the 70% living with a single mother, I might be inclined to ask exactly what successes the NAACP has to crow about in 100 years of existence.  While it’s all fine to pursue the new modified mandate, the main objective of the organization was to enable better lives for black people.  On this front, if the statistics are to be acknowledged, they have failed miserably.  I think I might be inclined to ask that a new direction be taken to help me “better my life” and not the path of being a subcommittee for the DNC.

Someone should have a look at either their mandate, or their leadership to find out why the organization which started off with such noble intent has degenerated into an irrelevant one which does not serve to advance the lives of blacks at all.   Society has transformed and progressed over the past 100 years.  Over that time,  immigrants from all over the world have served to make the United States a strong and vibrant industrial and social dynamo, influencing all corners of the earth.  How can it be explained that even with the existence of the NAACP that the black community has seemingly failed to advance with the rising tide of prosperity?

It would be as logical as if the Women’s Christian Temperance Union still existed today trumpeting the horrors of alcohol use.   Or as logical as movements supporting the rights of minorities and women to vote.  Those ships have sailed.

Someone should get around to focusing on the correct issues affecting that community, determine how to participate in mainstream culture as members rather than as perpetual victims.  First suggestion, excommunicate the Reverends Al and Jesse, they are the problem.  At the very least, make them take a pay cut! Those intellectual giants have played the race card so many times, it’s the only one in the deck.  Bring in people like Alan West, Michael Steele and even  Bill Cosby.  It’s time for the political hacks to go.   The mandate should be changed to the National Association Against Continuing Pointlessness.