Respone to The Money Plant

My classmate B Lindsey, wrote an article called The Money Plant.  The article argues that marijuana should be legalized so that taxes can be collected on it to help close the gap in 2012-2013.  Yes many people do use marijuana even though it is illegal.  Those users are certainly going to keep using it if it is legalized and most likely more people will begin to use it.  Yes if it was legalized it would help cut down on drug trafficking and crime, but what about the other side effects of marijuana.

In case people didn’t know marijuana is still and always will be a drug, even if it is legalized.  Yes it can help with some illnesses but what about the people who use it and don’t have anything wrong with them.  Marijuana has a negative effect on the body because it is a foreign substance.  It causes short term memory loss, increased heart rate, which can lead to heart problems in the future, and trouble forming conception.  Also marijuana can affect the hormone levels in both male and female users which can lead to problems with reproduction.  Also in 2010 the National Institute on Drug Abuse a study showed that men who use marijuana have an increased risk of developing testicular cancer.  So in some ways legalizing marijuana has a give and take aspect.

If Funding is Cut, Of Course Scores are Going to be Low

The amount of exemplary schools in the state is dropping.  Also the scores of non-exemplary schools are on the decline.  Five times as many schools were deemed academically unacceptable in the 2010-2011 school year, and almost fifteen hundred schools lost their exemplary rating. The number of schools in the top two categories is about the same as in 2008, the year before the projection measure came into play.  Some people claim that the reason schools have declined is because that the standard tests have gotten harder.  The new standard test is the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR.  This test replaced the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or TAKS test that used to be in place at the public school level. 

In my opinion I think that we need to get rid of standardized testing.  I think that many student or scared or overwhelmed by this type of test.  I had many classmates who always did well in class and made good test grades but when it came to taking the standardized test it was like they slept everyday during class.  In my mind it doesn’t seem like students need to be judged based on what they score on this type of test.  Also I think an obvious reason that schools are losing their exemplary rating is that the budget for education is being cut.  I don’t see how anyone can expect good scores if they are cutting education funding.  It’s comical!  The education budget is that last thing that needs to be cut in this state.  Instead cuts need to be made in Perry’s spending on his mansion and his travel costs.  Also gambling should be legalized to help create revenue.  I just think it is absurd to expect the same top scores if funding is going to be cut.

Response to Education

A classmate of mine, Graham, thinks that Texas needs to spend more on education, which I also think is something that needs to be done.  He feels that the money should be redistributed in a different way than it is now and I would also have to agree with him on that. Money goes to paying teachers, which is definately priority number one, and things such as supplies, building up keep and other school related business.  He feels that somehow money should be given to fund more college scholarships which I feel is a valid point.

 Many kids can't afford to go to college and they realize that during high school and decide to go ahead and start working as soon as they graduate whether that is something they want to do or not.  I was on the verge of going straight to work when I graduated high school because my family was not able to afford college at the time, but a lucky break with large construction job changed that for the time being, so now working and saving up for my remaining years is the track I'm on.  However my friend wasn't as lucky.  His family wasn't able to afford college so it was off to work for him.  If money was redirected to scholarships it would need to go strictly to academic scholarships and scholarships for the less financially fortunate, and not athletic scholarships.  I think this should be done because if students want to continue their education money shouldn't be the thing that holds them back.  I think that the more people who have the opportunity to further their education will only help the future of society because it gives them the chance to get a better job to then put their children through college and so on and so forth.  That is why I have to agree with Graham.

The Death Penalty

The article I am writing about is about three teens that killed a man in Round Rock.  The three teenagers killed and robbed a man at the age of 25 Saturday at an apartment complex.  They took drugs from the man they killed and fled the scene.  Monday the three teenagers were arrested and charged with murder.  Their bail was set at five hundred thousand dollars for each of them.  If they are all convicted they could be sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in a state prison.  I don’t really think this is the right way to go about this process.  With the amount of criminals in the Texas jail system I don’t see the need to keep murderers in jail.  If they think that it is okay to purposely take somebody’s life, especially for something such as drugs, then I think that they should not be allowed to stay alive, even if it is in prison, because it seems that they don’t have any appreciation for life its self.  They family of the man that was murdered now has to live the rest of their lives without him.  I know that the teens that killed the man have families too, but they broke the law in one of the most horrible ways possible.  I think that Texas should use the death penalty because we do still have it believe it or not and our prisons are already crowded enough as it is.  As a tax payer I know I don’t want to have to pay for murderers to have more luxuries than homeless and starving people because they don’t deserve it.  In the report the murder was said to have been done by one of the teens who stabbed the 25 year old man in the chest.  I think Texas should give him and all other murderers the death penalty for sure and the other two teens should be considered because they are accomplices to murder.

Potential Jobs for Austin

In the editorial section of the Austin American Statesman Monday, there was an article titled Perry Helps State Secure More Jobs.  It is an article describing the benefits and potential downfalls of the company EA Sports opening a branch here in Austin.  The article states that by EA Sports coming to Austin it could potentially open 300 more jobs for the people of Austin.  Of those 300 jobs they would be split evenly into the form of jobs actually with EA Sports and the rest as contracting positions.  Rick Perry was a huge supporter of EA Sports coming to Austin and it is speculated that without his efforts, EA Sports would not be opening a branch here in our beloved city. 

At the time being optimism is very high but it could turn out that EA Sports won’t really have that many jobs for local workers.  With a company such as EA Sports that demands a lot of technical and creative brain power to work there, the possibility for Austinites to work there could diminish in the future.  Although Perry was a major factor in getting EA Sports here, he also was a big leader in the educational budget cuts that lowered the budget for public schools four billion dollars and higher education another billion on top of that.  The author of the article makes a very strong point at the end where they state, “For now, Texas has enough creative and educated workers to meet demands of Electronic Arts and other companies. But that might not be the case in the future if the state continues to go cheap on education. Then it will be in the position of importing most of its talent rather than growing it.

Voting Centers

The Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvior thinks that there needs to be voting centers to help increase the turnout of voters to all elections that are held.  As most people know many voters only vote when it is a major election like the Presidential Election for example, but there are even people who don’t vote then.  Many Americans claim that voting takes too much time because it can be confusing on where to vote or they are just too busy.  DeBeauvior claims that if voting centers are put in place more people will vote more often, but I happen to disagree.  Voting isn’t that hard to do and it doesn’t take that much time at all.  I don’t understand how people can claim that it is confusing as far as where you can vote when there are always signs outside a place of business that says vote here.  Some places people are even standing outside holding bigger ones and waving them around.  With early voting it seems that there is plenty of time to get it done and not wait till that last minute when lines can get longer.  If voting centers are put in place we will just have to look at more little annoying signs saying vote for so and so and all that other nonsense that comes with elections.  So with that being said I don’t think that adding voting centers will increase turn out.

Article http://www.statesman.com/opinion/centers-would-make-voting-more-convenient-1606404.html

Rick Perry and the Border

Governor Rick Perry stated in April 2010 that bored security was a big issue.  He feels that the borders need to be safer and that human trafficking across the border really needs to be addressed.  He feels that the federal government does not do enough on either subject.  Perry stated in his April 2010 press release that, “Until the federal government brings the necessary resources to bear, we will continue to commit state funding and resources for additional border security efforts in order to protect our communities and legitimate cross border trade and travel, while enforcing the laws already on the books.”  However, with this being an important issue some other it sometimes takes precedent over issues that it probably should not.  For instance higher education saw a budget cut in this year’s session while border security did not.  In my opinion, if the Perry and the government feel that border security is such an important issue, money needs to be aimed that direction but not by cutting the higher education budget.  The money needs to come from somewhere else; perhaps Perry should quit living in that mansion!  I think this is an interesting article because it explains the cost of border security and how the money is provided for it.