Health Care

On Sunday, April 29th, The Texas Monthly, had a blog posted by Paul Burka, in which he wrote about the health care, and the protesters over the money that Texas could get from Obama's Affordable Care act. Rick Perry and other officials met up at the capitol to talk about whether Texas should take the money, which could give 1.5 million people eligibility for medicaid, and at the same time democrats rounded up and decided to talk about this as well.

      Paul Burka seemingly throughout his blog he shows dislike for Rick Perry, and the other officials deciding on whether to accept, or reject this act from Obama. This makes things unsure about how he feels about these politicians, or how he just dislikes that they seem to not want to accept, but it can be seen that in the blog their is something that the blogger dislikes. Which is understandable, because this is a touchy subject, and could change and/or save many peoples lives, so it creates a big deal, and many things to be upset over. Though this can be seen throughout his entire blog, it doesn't change the fact that throughout it he is correct about a lot of the factors being weighed in on this, and brings in some good points.

     Paula Burka has definitely done his research and puts up quotes from what the politicians have said over this matter, which can get the readers emotionally, angry, or maybe even dumbfounded. It was an informative read, and very well written blog, which sometimes is a bit surprising, when some only have a few sources or quotes, but Burka makes all his citations well, and all of them work and flow together well. This makes the blog easy to read through, and hard to get lost into, he brings light to many strong questions to this big topic, and keeps it up till the end.

Replying to: Planned Parenthood

   In, "Texas Will Be Texas"'s blog post "Planned Parenthood", many good parts are made throughout this post. I agree with the fact that it is unneeded to take away funding from Planned Parenthood, for the fact that 3% of their programs are for abortions, it will definitely cause more troubles then it'll solve.

    It was a good point to bring up the other factors that Planned Parenthood brings, and how it helps young adults with certain problems, and questions they have about sex. Another good part was when the fact that not all parents bring it up with their children, be it that they find it weird, or they just don't care, their definitely needs to be someone to talk to those unfortunate children.

    However their was one point I didn't like, not to say that I full heartily disagree, but more so how it was worded. Texas Will Be Texas says,  "If you do it early enough, the “thing” (baby, if you will) does not have a central nervous system developed, therefore it cannot feel and won’t hurt it.", I do not like the fact that this blogger called the newly conceived fetus a "thing" even though in parentheses "baby, if you will" is put down, it still seems highly desensitizing. The fact is, that the fetus, is still living, its just starting to form, the fact that it doesn't feel anything, doesn't change this fact, a living being is being taken away. I'm not saying I'm against or for abortion, their are some circumstances I understand, one being rape, but people can take morning after pills, and other protections. I just feel like the fetus is still a being, and should always be seen as such. 

    In the end I liked reading the blog and it was nicely written, one part I didn't like but that doesn't change the fact that this blog had a many good points, and I hope that Planned Parenthood, will one day, get their funding from Texas back, more so for the reason that the young adults shouldn't be the ones that have to pay for this.

Education in Texas

     Texas Government has had and still does have many problems through the years, but one problem that never seems to change is how they fund this states schools. From kindergarten to twelfth grade the amount given towards school funding does not seem substantial enough, which should make people wonder why is it like this. This could be for many reasons, that the government wants to put funding elsewhere, that this is enough spending for education, or that some school do not deserve as much funding as others.

     Texas being a big state has many things to fund, but what could be more important then spending money on the education of this states future adults. Well the state spends money on toll roads, just so cars don't have to stop at a light, this costs over millions of dollars, and yet couldn't that money have gone to education. Government gives many tax breaks to businesses statewide, but couldn't they charge the right amount, so that it doesn't have to hurt the bank elsewhere, but Texas is a business state and wants to stay that way. What will happen though when Texas' future is filled with a majority adults that can't read at a 6th grade level, education should be one of the main funding in this state.

      A high majority in the Texas congress believe that the government is spending enough towards education, and yet some of the funding towards it is being lowered. In 2011, states education has had 5.4 billion dollars slashed, this means that are schools shutting down, teachers being laid off, and yet the government shows no signs of wanting to increase the funding. Some reasons have been that our states scores were to low to receive such funding, but how will taking that away help things. Such as giving less teachers to the children, or giving them less supplies to help increase their learning experience. Such things will only hinder the education in Texas, not teach it a lesson, because in the end is the children that suffer from this, and it should be the education of the children that should be cared about over all else.

     The last problem in Texas is the how they deal with schools with low scores, and that is decreasing the funding for the school, or as a worse case scenario, shutting them down. However, how will such things help with the education problems in this state? If schools are doing terrible test wise, find the reason why, because the fact that the government is giving up on some schools is not right. The government creates so much stress over the TAKS testing, or now the STAARS testing, that it can create stress for both teachers and students alike, and such things never help with learning. Teaching children on how to test will never help anything, and it just shows number. However showing a child how to learn, and how to enjoy learning that is were the minds should be towards.

    Government funds many things, but the main importance should always be education, but sadly that is usually not the case. In the end  how will lower funding solve anything? Education should always get higher funding, because the money given always makes a difference, but funding will go towards other things that are seen as more important, and that enough is already being spent, or the worst case that some schools don't deserve the funding that is given to them
  

Reblicans talking to themselves

On Wednesday, March 20th, The Big Jolly Politics had a blog posted by Ed Hubbard, in which he wrote about the "Growth and Opportunity Project" and one thing The Republican  National  Committee wrote it in. This project outlined the weakness of the republican party, and suggests for them to better themselves. The main thing Hubbard wrote about was a part of the project that talked about the republicans needing to stop talking to themselves. In this blog he puts in his thoughts about what that part meant him, bringing up when that must have started happening, and that without 9/11 W. Bush would probably not have been elected a 2nd time to office. Hubbard leaves quotations that show the exact words for certain sections instead of paraphrasing, which is great and shows credibility, he even brings up that he is republican, which seems obvious while reading this, because he brings up the problems without attacking the republican party, and words things nicely and puts understanding towards the situation. This blog was probably towards over republicans, so that they can see, and understand the problem and the meaning of it, in case they already didn't know. Hubbard stays very reasonable throughout his entire blog and brings up some good points, and he doesn't go overboard at all, which makes it a lot better to read. When he brings up the fact that the republican's need to start going to neighborhoods and starts talking to them, about themselves, and not just leave it, to start talking to others and not to attack over ideological purity, is when i start agreeing with him greatly and a lot of the things he brings up seem correct. Hubbard continues this for another two paragraphs, and each part is well written and connects with each other in a very understanding way, and that is what makes this blog great, and definitely worth reading.

Cruz Thus Far

On Monday, February 18th, The Austin American Statesmen posted by the editorial board, wrote about Ted Cruz, and argues about how he is doing so far as a senator, and how other senators are dealing with him. This being said, it is obvious that the people of editorial board of the Austin American Statesmen that wrote this do not like Ted Cruz, mainly on how he has been doing thus far. Such things as his statements, how he has been voting, and his stand on gun control has brought up some bad attention. Being posted by the editorial board, should be creditable enough for the viewers, however many of their things do not show many sources, just others negative thoughts about Ted Cruz, such as one anonymous senator that had said "Jim DeMint without the charm" to the Washington post. The main audience is for the people of Texas that are against Ted Cruz, or the ones that are slowly heading that way, and this argument gives a very good push for those that aren't yet certain over Ted Cruz. Their main logic in this post is that Ted Cruz has basically been doing a terrible job and has seemingly been siding more with the Tea Party then with his own party, the republican party. They claim that both Republicans and Democrats are seeing Ted Cruz as a jerk, and that he wears that as a badge of honor. Though for myself, I could neither agree or disagree, with what they are arguing, it seems to soon, and first impressions can sometimes be incorrect and long lasting, it should be given more time before he can or should be highly criticized so drastically, and so that we can have more solid evidence to prove how he has been terrible so far. That being said though, with the things being written I could easily see someone being against Ted Cruz after this, or even someone extremely disagreeing towards it that stands by Ted Cruz. 

Gun Violence

On Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 The Battalion Online posted an article about gun control, recent gun violence news, and were Texas stands on gun violence. The articles begins with politicians talking about Texas in favor of gun rights, and then brings up a shooting that had happened in College Station, TX, as well as bringing up the Aurora shootings. The article also brings up what Obama's plans to do with gun control are, and then goes into what side Texas takes towards gun control, and how we have around 20 bills aimed towards gun control. Such bills will be about concealed hand gun permits, and having concealed hand guns on school properties, for both elementary to high school and college. Some going as far as to overturn a veto from the student body president John Claybrook, which was directed towards Texas A&M Personal Protection Bill for students to conceal carry indoors on campus. Gun control is becoming or already is one of the biggest things happening right now, and were states and the whole countries stand will make a major outcome, which makes it one of the most important things that is happening in Texas and Nationwide politics. Obviously this being Texas the government wouldn't do much to restrict our rights over fire arms, which is why I found this article interesting, seeing how others are dealing with these gun control laws being brought to light.