In Response to "Mother admits to klling child"

In an article written by "Texas Fight!" the author discusses the issue of child abuse. In the article they go through a case study of a recent child abuse victim. A mother beat her 2 year old daughter to death and admitted to doing it.
This is obviously an awful case to have to deal with but I'm not sure what the author's point is. They argue that the death penalty should be used against this savage mother. I believe the death penalty should never be used because sometimes there are mistakes in our justice system and the death penalty is provably more expensive than life in prison. This article is a little disorganized but combs through a rather savage case promoting the death penalty rather effectively.

Texas Tech put on Probation

Texas Tech University was put on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for failing to show “that its curriculum did not meet college level competencies.” Texas Tech officials claim that it was put on probation simply because it did not get the results together in time for the association’s meeting. The article also points out that TTU is still accredited by more than 25 associations and organizations. The significance of the probation is that TTU may be subject to less federal grant money.

This seems like a minor thorn in the side of Texas Tech. By all other accounts they are a great university and a fine place to go to school, and before reading this article I have never heard of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. How ever much influence they have they seem to be minor and Texas Tech should be in compliance in no time.

This may impact the enrollment of future students depending on how seriously students look at this organization, but in the long run I believe TTU will be fine.

In response to Bill Pickle's "Bastard...Gun Owners"

I could not help but notice Bill Pickle’s article on gun ownership in Texas, not only because the first word of the title is “bastard”, but because gun control (or lack there of) is an important and controversial issue in the world today, especially in Texas.

For some reason Texans have always thought that the world is out to get them. Maybe it dates back to the fact that Texas was its own independent nation once upon a time, and the people residing here feel they should still be a little better than the rest of the country. I’m not sure, I don’t consider myself one of them. I personally am not for or against gun control but I would like to react to an interesting bit of Mr. Pickle’s commentary.

He states, “Average citizens who want to protect themselves and their families will no longer be treated like hardened criminals.”

I consider myself to be an average Texas citizen. I was born and raised here; I have a job, I go to school, I can vote, etc… I have also driven across the country many times including to and from Maine, to and from Colorado, to and from Southern California, and numerous times to and from a family friend’s beach house in Galveston. I have never ever, not even once, been threatened while traveling. I’ve done all of this traveling from the time I got my license at 16 up until last summer when I turned 19. I’ve done it with my siblings, my parents, and even my girlfriend. Let me re-emphasize, I have never been threatened while traveling.

The kind of person that becomes threatened when traveling, is the kind of person that threatens while traveling. This, I believe, goes back to the arrogant and self-centered nature of Texans and their feeling of righteousness. You simply don’t need a gun to protect yourself while traveling, and if you really think you do, you should obviously never travel because it’s too dangerous. You never know when one of those gun-carryin’, car travelin’ Texans will threaten you and your family. Remember, they could be anywhere so watch out.

Texans should Approve Prop. 2

I chose to critically analyze Proposition 2 on the Texas voter’s ballot in November 2007. This proposition states the following:

"The constitutional amendment providing for the issuance of $500 million in general obligation bonds to finance educational loans to students and authorizing bond enhancement agreements with respect to general obligation bonds issued for that purpose."

I believe Texas voters should approve this proposition because, as a current student needing financial aid, I personally know the hardships college costs can create. Higher education costs are constantly rising and these costs create a burden on students and young adults to pay back these fees, not only in full, but with added interest, making the cost of education substantially higher than advertised in the long run.

One argument against releasing these funds to increase financial aid would be to spend the money elsewhere. Texas could of course spend this money elsewhere, but nowhere else would it directly affect the future and growth of Texas. This money will help Texas become a more educated state because it will increase the number of students able to go to college and afford the costs of tuition, room and board, books, computers, lab fees etc…

If we approve these funds, Texas high school students will more likely be able to afford college and therefore more likely to go to college making Texas a more educated state. This bodes well the economic and societal advancement of Texas in future years. Educating students should be a priority in this state, and these funds will help achieve future success. Again I urge you to approve proposition 2 and vote “YES” this November.

Just another case of the gov't wasting our money

I chose to critically analyze and article on statesman.com called “DPS argument over tapes is weak and waste of money.” It is intended for the readers of the Austin American Statesman and was written by the editorial board on October 16, 2007.

First I’ll explain the situation the article writes about and then I’ll give you the article’s perspective. In May of 2005 the liberal party of the Texas House of Representatives attempted to seize surveillance tapes in the back hallways of the capital in suspicion of republicans illegally lobbying. The DPS has refused to turn over these tapes so far as hire private lawyers with public funds to dispute the claims of illegal lobbying. The DPS insists that handing over the tapes would compromise capitol security and it would set precedent for handing over the capitol tapes to anybody at anytime with no real evidence. The Democrats believe that they are not handing over the tapes because there was something fishy about the tapes that the republicans didn’t want to be seen. This article by the editorial board argues that what ever the reason for not handing over the tapes, the DPS should never use taxpayers’ monies to hire private lawyers to handle this case.

The evidence for the case the article is trying to make is obvious an undoubtable. Every penny that the DPS spends is documented and available to the public. They indeed have so far used $120,000 to fight the release of these video tapes. Neither party in the fight for the tapes has much evidence other than hunches and animocity but that is not really this articles argument.

The conclusion is very simple and clear. The DPS should not be spending our money to fight a battle that is completely created by them. The public funds should have never gotten dragged into this. It is ridiculous to think about the working people of Texas paying for the governement to have little fits and dominance struggles in the capitol. It comes across as very immature and childish.

Hopefully the DPS is reprimanded and the money they spend fighting this case is taken out of there budget but since they are on the side of the republicans and the house is controlled by the republicans, our tax payers will never see this money again and it will be just another case of $120,000 down the drain. If anybody at the capitol wanted to give me that amount of money I’m sure I could find a better way to spend it then to use it to fight with my little brother.

Here is the original article:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/editorial/entries/2007/10/16/dps_argument_over_tapes_is_wea.html#comment-1676969

Public Office Votes

The article I am analyzing is called “No More Hiding from Folks in Texas” and it is an editorial from the Austin American Statesman that appeared on September 24^th of this year. The targeted audience is the readers of the Statesman and the source is the editorial board of the same.

This article argues that in the November 6^th election this year voters should approve proposition 11 to make all legislators’ votes on all bills public and available on the Internet. The editorial board argues that this is an important change because under current law the legislators just say “yea” or “nay” verbally and it is impossible to keep track of all lawmakers’ responses. The board also argues that this bill has no down side but most importantly informs the voters of what kind of decisions their representatives and senators are making on controversial bills.

The evidence put forth by the editorial board says that keeping citizens virtually uninformed on lawmakers’ decisions is bad government and citizens have the right to know what their elected representatives are voting for. The editorial board argues that excuses from lawmakers on why their votes aren’t made public aren’t valid and that they are afraid of political backlash, which is inexcusable. The main piece of evidence is brought up again and it is stressed that it should be a right to know what the public’s elected officials are actually doing with their position of power.

When evaluating the conclusion I first thought that the editorial board didn’t make a very good argument because it was only supported by really one substantial piece of evidence but then I realized that that one piece of evidence is all there is and all the needs to be. Citizens should be more informed as to what is happening in the capitol because since the public elects the officials the public has a right to know that their candidate isn’t just talking the talk, and that he/she is actually walking the walk.

The political implications of this shouldn’t be too major although if there are some legislators that vote differently than they say they do, or promise they will, there could be new lawmakers in here in Austin.

Texas' Financial Disaster

After Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of Louisiana and Mississippi many people forget about the devastating effects of Hurricane Rita on the coast of Texas. Hurricane Rita damaged 80,000 properties in Texas and caused severe hardships for the families affected.
Texas allotted $210 million to help rebuild homes and properties. Of the $210 million distributed, only $200 thousand have actually been distributed to families in need. The article describes the over cautiousness of the state officials. The officials say that the process is difficult and they are trying hard to distribute the funds fairly and properly it is just a slow process. The families however are tired of waiting for the funds and have pretty much given up hope that any help will come from the Texas government.
I think this article should be read because it makes you realize that our government needs to be more efficient despite its size and complexity. There is no excuse for this extreme delay in disbursement and whether it is constitutional reform or the election of new officials, something needs to be done.

The oringinal article can be read at the following link
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092407dntextritaassist.2b804bf.html