The Everlasting Controversy

     I completely agree with my colleague, Adrian Munoz, on the subject of David Simpson and legalizing marijuana. Now, I am a strong believer of Christ and I am not "all for" the legalization. However, like my colleague stated, where is the separation of church and state? Just saying "God created it" isn't a "valid" explanation. Like another colleague of mine said, "Just about anything can fall under that comment." Yes, God did create everything on earth, but He also gave us brains to discern how to use the things He created. To win Texas citizens over with the legalization, Simpson should have disclosed scientific/medical information and proved how this substance can help individuals. I completely agree with Adrian. Where is separation of church and state? Really, David Simpson?

The Plastic Bag Ordinance

     Just two years ago, Austin faced a huge dilemma with the new City of Austin ordinance: the shopping bag ban. Now, in 2015, we are finally getting used to the ordinance. Many Austinites found this decision rather absurd, ridiculous, and inconvenient. It might be true. However, as funny as this sounds, I think Texas Government made a good decision to ban these thin, annoying bags. Reading an article last week, I came across the pros of eliminating plastic bags. Up until then, I was against this ordinance, but I rethought about my opinion.

     The first fact that caught my eye was that single-use plastic bags can take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. This is absolutely not “good” for our environment. We want landfill to decompose as fast as possible. The second fact was that these thin, single-use bags are a major source of litter and can cause flooding by clogging creeks and storm drains. Lastly, one high-quality reusable bag can replace 600 thin plastic bags over its lifetime. Now, why would we want to fill our earth with garbage even more than it already is?

     By our State government putting an end to these flimsy bags, it gives Texas a chance to refresh itself. Yes, it might be inconvenient, but it saves our state tremendously. Why wouldn’t Texans want that for our state? To me, it is another chance at cleanliness. Again, we need to be open-minded and we need to quit being stubborn. Change is always good.

Change IS Inevitable

My colleague, Tori Thompson, has made a good argument as she agreed with one of my mine. Tori states in her argument that whites in Texas are becoming the new minority and the lingering discrimination is still evident. When are the people of America going to wake up and come to reality? After all, it is the 21^st century.

I, one-hundred percent, agree with Tori on how our government needs to realize our country and state comes with more than one ethnicity. Being Hispanic, I can completely relate to this. The world does not revolve around the Caucasian heritage as it did once before. The fact that it ever did is absolutely unjust, inhumane, and brutal. We need a government that is going to support its citizens and listen to their opinions, regardless of change.

The majority of Texas is not a part of the “change” fan club. Most people want to keep and sustain the “traditional” way of living, like Tori said.  I never understood this, but why can’t other individuals see that we are all equal? Change IS going to happen, regardless of what everyone in our state thinks. It is already happening. Why is it horrible that Texas is becoming more diverse? Ignorance has to stop and acceptance of change has to begin. Change is inevitable. We should and deserve to have an open-minded, accommodating local government to protect and serve us. Texas history proves what great lengths we went through for our state to be recognized.

Texas Senate to End Planned Parenthood Funds

In the past years, Planned Parenthood has always been an issue.  Should the government fund it or not? The question can never be completely answered. I read about an issue recently and concluded that I do not agree with the government’s decision. The issue was about the Texas Senate renewing its effort to keep funds from Planned Parenthood and also to end funds regarding breast and cervical cancer screenings. This is absurd in a number of ways. My main concern about the issue is taking away women’s safety. 

By ending funds to Planned Parenthood, women who are trying to prevent conception cannot do so anymore. The women who are in this program are probably on the medication for a number of valid reasons. Maybe she is still in school, maybe she is not financially stable to care for another individual and wants to wait, or maybe she is taking the pill just for her own protection. As a college student, I can side with many reasons as I am not ready myself.  In a way, women’s rights are taken away. Without this, women are not able to protect themselves. Wouldn’t the government want to fund Planned Parenthood instead of funding the expensive labor and delivery medical bills? Preventing conception is greatly cheaper as well.

Another concern that was brought to my attention was ending funds to breast and cervical cancer as well. Like before, I disagree. The Texas Senate should rethink about their mindless decision. If these screenings were to be taken away and not funded, the safety of women and the necessary precaution to prevent cancer is also taken away. According to Access to Breast Cancer for West Texas (ABC4WT), nearly 40,000 women die from breast cancer each year. But today, fewer and fewer women are dying from breast cancer. Breast and cervical screenings have helped so many women by detecting cancer from a very early stage. Thus, it results in fewer deaths. Why would our local government want to end that? 

Hopefully, the Texas Senate will end their ludicrous efforts to eliminate these funds. Even though it requires finances and probably does increase federal deficit, these are valuable lives at sake. Please, don’t end that of all things.

Ted Cruz's Gay Marriage Money

     As I was looking through Burka Blog, I came across an article titled, Ted Cruz’s Gay Marriage Money, which was published on March 22, 2015. This blog depicts the distrust R.G. Ratcliffe, the author, has for the Texas Senator and gives valid points on why he thinks Cruz is skeptical. As we all know, Sen. Ted Cruz has publically announced his presidential bid for 2016. However, only being in office for a little over two years isn’t enough for some citizens. The author of this blog goes in depth on why he thinks Cruz’s candidacy is ridiculous and uncertain.

     The first main argument the author uses is Ted Cruz’s first dilemma in 2009. While getting ready to run for state attorney, he took more than $250,000 in campaign funds from out-of-state bankers who were advocates of legalizing marijuana. He then said to leave same-sex marriage up to the states, which completely overlooked the U.S. Supreme and their input on the issue. Two strong advocates of gay marriage willingly donated a total of $1,160,000 combined to the Senator. The issue with this is that Cruz would happily accept the donations, but at the same time appeal to social conservatives on banning same-sex marriage in Texas.

     Another thing that the author questioned was the some of the bills Cruz has proposed since he’s been in the Senate. One being: a bill to prohibit the use of drones to kill citizens of the United States. (I laughed at this for the longest time and I completely agree with the author’s take on this bill.) The author states “I haven’t heard of a drone in the United States . . . maybe it is different because these were not U.S. citizens.”

       After reading R.G. Ratcliffe’s blog, I agree with his beliefs on Senator Ted Cruz’s candidacy. The author proved to me that he has credibility by being well-educated on the subject and has me on his side. The author also gave extremely valid points that are correct. Lastly, the intended audience seems to be leaning-liberals. This blog, I think, would confirm why Republican Sen. Cruz is not the most trustworthy candidate due to his money dilemmas to most liberals. All citizens can do now is sit back and see what else Ted Cruz has in store for America.

 

 

Evaluation on UT Admissions Scandal

As I was looking through The Dallas Morning News, I came across a commentary article about the University of Texas admissions scandal that was published on February 12, 2015. The article is about how politics and favoritism led to the admissions of unqualified applicants with the help of UT President Bill Powers and his top staff. Other students or people who look up to the university seem to be the intended audience. The article writer makes several arguments or points throughout the article. The first argument he or she makes is that Powers should resign for the safety of the university’s credibility. Quite frankly, I agree with this point. The writer also makes a good point about how UT gave preferential treatment to certain applicants that was not given to others or released to the general public. This makes the situation secretive and rather unfair. The writer then states that this goes against the university’s big rule: an applicant should not be given special treatment or consideration due to family, political connections, or persons of influence. Powers told investigators that these particular students were admitted in order to expand the class. Which leads readers to the author’s last good point: if the class was expanded for the unqualified, then there was more room for applicants who deserved to make UT’s cut. I strongly agree with all these arguments. It is not fair for anyone to be rejected from a university when they worked so hard to be accepted and qualified. The author has me, as a reader, well informed about the current situation and has established a strong credibility. The author of this article made firm and solid points and has me agreeing with him or her.

DNA Testing in Texas

On February 9, 2015, The Texas Tribune published  an article about DNA testing in criminal cases. This article is about a man, named Michael Morton, who spent twenty-five years in prison for a murder he did not commit. With current DNA testing and access to the correct evidence, Morton was able to be released from prison. He joined state Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and other lawyers from the Innocence Project at a press conference to persist the passage of a bill to expand access to DNA testing in such criminal cases. Senator Ellis claimed that Morton wants to make sure that the right person is convicted and that our communities are always secure. In 2013, lawmakers passed a bill that Senator Ellis proposed to mandate DNA testing in criminal cases. Just recently, Governor Greg Abbott, who was then an attorney general, gave his consent and support for the bill. The bill was then approved and signed into law by then-Governor Rick Perry. This is extremely important, I think, because fifty-two people in Texas have been falsely accused of crime. By not convicting the right person, we not only put an innocent citizen behind bars, but we also put our state and its people in danger. Former Governor Perry signing this new law represents our state and emphasizes that we will try not to make this horrible mistake again. Texas has learned from its fellow strong citizen, Michael Morton.