Saturday, March 17, 2007

Tag, You’re It

When I was a kid in Ohio, we changed license plates every year, and we had between March 15 to April 15 to take off the old ones and put on the new ones. That doesn’t happen any more; most if not all states have gone to semi-permanent plates that are renewed every year or two by stickers. Plus, a lot of states have come out with special plates that show your allegiance to a college, a cause, or a sport. Florida offers over 100 “specialty” plates for just about every charity, NGO, sports team, and college and university in the state; I’m surprised they haven’t come up with “Lesbians for the Metric System” yet, but the Legislature is still in session, so anything can happen. (You can see the entire list of available plates here.) So I’m thinking about getting one of those.

My current plate is the old standard-issue Florida tag:

Not my real plate; this is from David Nicholson’s excellent license plate site 15q.net.

That plate design was superseded in 2003 by this one —

— so when my current plate expires this year, I’ll be sent of those, complete with the double oranges and the “MyFlorida.com” web address. Feh.

I currently have the State of the Arts plate on the Pontiac.

I like it; it has a flair to it, I do believe in supporting all of the arts, but I’m not sure I want both my cars to have the same plate serving the same NGO.

Perhaps I should go with the Support Education plate:

I do work in education and I know we need all the help we can get.

One more thing to consider, however; how would either plate look on the back of my car? Well, here’s what it looks like now (click on the image to enlarge):

The license plate frame would stay. (Oh, and if you want one for your own car, you can order one here.)

So, dear reader, what do you think? I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to two choices: Arts or Education, but I’m open to suggestions.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Tag Match

As noted a while back, Florida has more specialty license plates than just about any other state — probably because the standard issue plate is rather homely. We also are one of the states that has a “Choose Life” plate, sponsored by anti-abortion groups.

Now a pro-choice group has decided to counter it with one of their own.

The Orlando chapter of the National Organization for Women announced the winning design of a nationwide contest last month: a human figure, surrounded by stars, with the message “United for Choice.” The group is trying to raise $70,000 for the application fee and a required survey demonstrating that at least 30,000 people would buy it.

Donations and signatures are being collected at www.licensetochoose.org.

“It’s unfair to have just one side of the issue represented,” said Cicely Scheiner, the Orlando chapter’s vice president. “It’s almost a freedom of speech issue.”

But even if the group achieves its fundraising goals, the plate would almost certainly face resistance from the Republican-led Legislature. Sales of the plate would benefit sex education programs that do not focus solely on abstinence.

“Anytime you bring a bill that deals with social issues, especially in the area of abortion, that’s going to definitely make for an emotional debate on both sides,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Fasano, who co-sponsored the “Choose Life” plate when he served in the House.

The “Choose Life” tag has raised more than $3.7 million for agencies that encourage women to seek adoption instead of abortion. It is the eighth most popular plate in Florida.

If the Florida legislature is fair-minded, they’ll approve the plate. What; I said something funny?

Friday, February 2, 2007

Don’t Pass This Plate

I heard on the news this morning that the Florida chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has gathered enough signatures (30,000+) to get the state of Florida to issue a specialty license plate with the Confederate flag on it to honor the memory of the veterans of the Confederacy. (I’ve been looking for a link to this story; when I find it, I’ll post it.)

Florida already has enough specialty license plates that Bryan at Why Now?, who posts one every Sunday, has enough stock to last him for two years. We have plates that honor everything from sea turtles to golf; plates that raise money from everything from the arts to your favorite Florida college or university. I suppose if they got enough signatures, we could get a plate honoring Lesbians for the Metric System.

The Confederate flag, however, is another issue. To some people it’s a symbol of a bygone era — old times there are not forgotten — but to many people it’s the symbol of a racist regime and used today by people who still believe in some of the more unsavory values of the Confederacy. What’s next? A plate honoring the veterans of the Wehrmacht with a swastika on it?

If the plate is issued, I predict that any car bearing that plate that gets parked in certain neighborhoods might as well have a big sign on it that says PLEASE VANDALIZE THIS CAR.

PS: It’s a tad ironic that this comes up during Black History Month.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Happy 95th Birthday

To New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, admitted to the union on this date in 1912.


New Mexico

I lived in New Mexico for a total of six years — one in Santa Fe in 1977-1978, and again in Albuquerque from 1995 to 2001. I loved the mountains, the desert, the food, and the people. It’s a wonderful mix of cultures, environments — the Rocky Mountains and alpine forests in the north give way to the Sonora desert in the south with everything in between — and people. I miss the clear sharp air of the mountains and the tang and flavor of a plate of huevos rancheros con chile rojo or a chile relleno at Casa de Benevides.

Even though New Mexico is the fifth-largest state in area and home to over a million people, a lot of people in other states seem to have a problem remembering that it is a part of the United States. With city names like Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Las Cruces, Pojoaque, Teseque, and the spelling-bee favorite Albuquerque, the state sounds like it’s not one of the fifty to the point that the state found in necessary to include “USA” on the license plate.


New Mexico license plate (HT to 15q.net)

The state’s magazine, New Mexico, takes it in stride; one of their regular (and most popular features) is One Of Our 50 Is Missing, chronicling the anecdotes about how the state is often misplaced or mistaken for a foreign country.

Joan and Albert Cole Jr., while planning to move to Las Cruces from Allendale, New Jersey, learned that New Mexico was indeed missing from the United States. Many large and respected entities have lost us. In the case of the Coles, it was the National Spa and Pool Institute in Alexandria, Virginia. The Coles wanted the names and addresses of the institute’s members in Las Cruces. They got a prompt response, listing members in Mexico City, Merida and other Mexican locales.

A note in the Deming Headlight tells about Norma Wheeler of that city, who wanted a company in Saratoga, New York to send her a case of the spring water she liked when she grew up there. Replied the company, “We’re sorry, but we will not ship out of the U.S.A.” It’s a subsidiary of Coca Cola.

As much as I love living here in Florida, I have chile in my veins, and I know I’ll go back to visit quite often; I have friends, family, and memories of views like this to bring me back.


Sandia Crest looking south towards Albuquerque

Totally trivial footnote: I have a collection of license plates that go back to my first car, and I hung on to the one I got when I lived in New Mexico in 1977. When I moved back in 1995, I got a “prestige” (i.e. vanity) plate with my old number on it, so my collection contains two New Mexico plates eighteen years apart with the same number. (I told you it was trivial.)

Friday, December 8, 2006

Saturday, July 16, 2005

“Suffer the Little Children”

Via Collective Sigh and CNN:

A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency’s “Statement of Faith.”

Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year.

“It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,” Bethany’s state director Karen Stewart wrote. “Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant’s time, money and emotional energy.”

[…]

Sandy Steadman said she was hurt and disappointed that Bethany received funds from the Choose Life car license plates. “I know of a lot of Catholics who get those tags,” she said.

She added: “If it’s OK to accept our money, it should be OK to open your home to us as a family.”

Bethany is one of 24 adoption and pregnancy counseling centers in Mississippi that receives money from the sale of Choose Life tags, a special plate that motorists can obtain with an extra fee.

Of $244,000 generated by the sale of the tags in 2004, Bethany received $7,053, said Geraldine Gray, treasurer of Choose Life Mississippi, which distributes the money.

Two problems with this story:

  • These “christians” are bigots and heretics and ought to be boiled in oil.
  • The state is giving them money to promote this bigotry and ought to yank both the charter for the agency and drop the “Choose Life” plates.
  • If this is the Bush administration’s idea of “faith-based initiatives,” I’d love to see who they’re going to recommend for promoting the internets in rural areas — the Amish?

    Wednesday, December 8, 2004

    Playing Tag

    Florida has added eight new license plates to its tag collection, bringing to 97 (!) the total number of different types of specialty plates available from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

    The proceeds from the $25 plates go to nonprofit groups, but many residents simply want to choose a tag to match their car, said Michael Towner, a British-born marketer from Boca Raton who is promoting the new Lennon, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and soccer tags.

    He said research has shown that of the 1.2 million car owners who buy specialty plates in Florida, 72 percent are sold based on the color of the plate. For example, the “wildfire” plate goes on Volkswagen bugs, the “Save the Whales” tag goes on blue Mercedes, he said.

    “People spend a lot of money on their cars,” Towner said. “This is one more accessory.”

    For the organizations promoting them, these accessories can translate into money. The state collected a total of $25 million last year on specialty tags, with the largest percentage benefiting the preservation of the Florida panther.

    Among the new ones: The “Family Values” tag benefits Sheridan House, a Christian-based program that serves children with behavioral problems and their families in Fort Lauderdale. The “Imagine” tag, which features a line-drawing portrait of Lennon, done by the musician in his youth, benefits Florida’s food bank program for the needy. And the “Support Soccer” tag benefits the development of youth and adult soccer programs in Florida. [Miami Herald]

    The theory behind this flood of special plates is that it will raise funds for the non-profit groups they advertise, but I think it’s just because the regular plates are unattractive. I have the old standard Florida tag on the Mustang. Fortunately I missed out on getting the new one with the state’s website on it; it’s just plain ugly, and the twin oranges with the branch look like…well, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I have the State of the Arts plate on the Pontiac. It has two advantages: it supports the arts and it’s virtually unreadable from a distance.

    (Thanks to my friend David Nicholson at 15q.net for the additional pictures of the plates. Check out his site; it’s a cool collection of license plates from 1969 onward.)

    Saturday, March 6, 2004

    At the Auto Tag Agency

    I finally decided to bite the bullet and get my Florida license plate for the Mustang even though I knew I’d get screwed for the sales tax on it; Florida charges 5% sales tax on a car when you bring it in from out-of-state. So I got down to the tag agency to stand in line an hour before the place opened – and was seventh in line. I brought along a book to pass the time. The guy behind me brought a folding chair and his iPod. (If I was an entrepreneur, I’d take a coffee cart down there on weekends and make a fortune.)

    Ahead of me in line was a guy about my age standing with a kid who looked about eighteen or so, and they were carrying on about how global warming was a lie put out by the “extreme liberals” – trees are more responsible for ozone than cars – and how “they” were planning on all sorts of draconian gun control laws that would even hinder the police.

    It took a great deal of control for me not to tell both of them that they were full of it; even Ronald Reagan disowned the “killer trees” line, and the last time I checked, the NRA was still in charge at the White House. But then I realized that there are more of us than there are of him. Besides, as I told my friend Brian, trying to convince a redneck that he’s wrong is like trying to teach a dog to wipe its butt: you end up with a mess on your hands and it annoys the dog.

    So I got the plate, chalked the tax up to airline miles, and I’m now applying for my personalized plate on the “Support Education” specialty tag. And probably kill a few trees in doing the paperwork.

    Thursday, February 5, 2004

    My Tax Dollars at Work

    Every five years or so Florida puts out a new standard-issue license plate. This is the new one:

    Florida also issues over 50 specialty plates covering everything from Save The Manatee to Choose Life. (For a look at them, go here. I have the State of the Arts plate on my Pontiac.)

    I predict a sharp rise in the sale of specialty plates.