Comment on "A Slice of Pecan Pie"s Blog

I firmly disagree with what “A slice of Pecan Pie” says about abortion. I believe that one of the main things that Pro-Life people try to do is push their emotional and ethical beliefs on us, most of which being Christian. It is not our responsibility to worry about others “judgment” if G-d is to punish someone for getting an abortion it is not your job to save them by "showing them the light" it is your job to not get an abortion yourself. If people believe that a fetus is life and that abortion is murder then think about this. Trees are life, yet we cut down hundreds of thousands every year, bugs are life, yet we swat them every chance we get. Facts are that when a baby is conceived it starts as a clump of cells, stem cells, then they start to form things like organs and other things.
As to the G-d aspect, I personally do not see it as murder, I see it as the right G-d gave us, the right of free will. Now, he may send us a child knowing what is best for us, but we as humans have the right to say," no." If you do believe in G-d's plan then ask yourself this, if G-d means for a human to be born then that child will be born to someone better if they abort the child. Is it really believed by some that G-d just terminates that soul because the mother decided she could not handle that right then. That to me sounds ridiculous, this is G-d, all powerful G-d. His plan will pan out no matter what.
As response to children born of rape, what kind of horrible thing to do to the mother and child. Imagine a mother being forced to carry the evidence of their rape for 8 months then have that child and have to deal with that kind of trauma to give it up or keep it. Living to resent the child that came out your womb. I cannot imagine anyone who could be okay with doing that to another human. Then, think of that poor child, if they are not given up for adoption, they probably could never be fully loved by their mother because of the trauma the mother suffered. Then the guilt the child must feel and the scaring of being the product of such a heinous crime. Thank goodness for plan b contraceptives so help catch a rape pregnancy. It is sad that because someone else views it as murder and feels the need to "save" others, a case of this could happen.
I do agree with what she says about that those who use abortion as a form of birth control should be punished, and they are wrong for doing so but is it right to punish a child by having it and then giving them up for adoption. Maybe they get placed in a home and perhaps they wont. As an unexpected child myself I know what it is like to grow up with many questions about your life, or being called horrible names as a youngster because I am a bastard child. Is it fair to put any child through that? If we allowed adoption to be the only way the system would be flooded with children who could not find homes, then they grow up in foster care, and most statistics say that a lot of the children who grow up in foster care end up becoming young parents, homeless, in prison, etc. because they lack a support system. “Based on current AFCARS estimates released January 2000, there are approximately 520,000 children currently in foster care in the United States. Of these, 117,000 are eligible for adoption.
Overall, the reason I disagree with "A Slice of Pecan Pie" is because all things aside they are trying to push their beliefs of religion onto others which is overall against what our country has been founded on religious freedom, whether it is to practice what you want or even freedom from religion. While I respect your high morals, I disagree that you feel the need to save the world from committing "murder." If we do commit "murder" it truly is none of your business. The only reason it would become your business if we actually murder a full, complete life.

Death Penatly in Texas

My views on the death penalty in Texas are fairly in depth but simple to understand, they are as follows.
First, I believe that the death penalty is a good thing, it satisfies most people’s view of justice and the threat of it helps to keep our society in check. People who should get the death penalty are those who have been convicted of capital or first degree felonies in Texas beyond reasonable doubt, those include murder and rape. Texas' policy right now for execution is only for a capital felony which is murder. I disagree with this I believe that aggravated rape should also warrant the death penalty because of the irreparable damage that aggravated rape can and in most cases does cause.
My second point and/ or issue with Texas' punishment policy are that those who are on death row should sit there for no more than 5 years to allow for appeals. This is because the people sit on death row for decades directly contribute to the overcrowding of prisons and are just sucking up our resources.
This brings up another point of mine; prison should be prison, no cable, no internet, no nothing, only the necessities!
The next argument is how those who are on death row should be punished, simple, lethal injection only. To quote my boyfriend, “people who are being executed are still people who are dying, they should not be subject to humiliation in their last moments on our planet,"
Finally, I would like to say that it must be taken into account that there is room for error because no system is perfect, our system could be corrupt but show me one that is not.

Comment on a Colleagues Blog: Hey Austin, butt-out of smoker's business!

I disagree with Herdeman's opinion about the Austin smoking ban. The reason I do so is basically from personal experience. I am an asthmatic non-smoker and just as recently as this Monday went to a concert downtown in a establishment that allowed smoking and it went like so. It was fairly small establishment and there was so much smoke that I could not stay to see one of my favorite bands play because I went into a full blown asthma attack, if you have never felt one let me enlighten you. YOU CAN'T BREATH! The commercial that says it feels like you are a fish out of water, hit the nail on the head. I had to leave because some people wouldn't just step outside to smoke their cigarette. Also, science is now proving that second hand smoke can cause more damage than smoking a cigarette because at least smokers get a filter. Therefore those who are smoking are not only taking their own life into their hands but others. I respect your right to kill yourself smoking but please do not kill me while you are at it. I believe that even though Herdeman gives the valid point that everyone uses to get away with things, "it is a free country". If they are harming others as well as themselves it is no longer an act of freedom, it is doing harm to others such as cancer.

TAKS,a measure of success? Not really

One problem that has plagued Texas for as long as I have been alive has been standardized tests. These tests are a gauge to judge the competency, efficiency, and overall progress of schools. The theory is the better the student’s scores, the better the school, and they fund (rewarded) accordingly. First, for me at least, it was the TAAS test (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Now it is the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The reason these are problematic is because these tests are becoming so important in the schools that real education is out the window. I remember in my English classes all through high school early in the spring semester, instead of reading real literature, we read TAKS preparation essays and answered multiple choice questions like “What was the main characters name and conflict?” This was the problem; the schools were so pressured by the state to get high test scores that they told the teachers to teach the test material, instead of other curriculum. Also, now to encourage kids to care about the tests and do their best, they made passing them mandatory for advancement or graduation. So basically a kid with a great grade point average but is not very good at taking tests now cannot graduate on time with his fellow classmates because he has to take special classes to help improve his test taking skills, or worse not at all because he got too discouraged. One of the biggest complaints I hear from some of my professors is that we were not properly prepared to work at the college level, well gee I wonder why? Maybe we would be if the teachers had the time to teach us what was important to know. Now, I do not have a specific solution to this problem except to eliminate all standardized tests and get back to real education. If you want a realistic estimate about how the students are doing, ask the people who know them best, their teachers. If you want to know which schools need more money go look at their campuses and see what basic needs are not being met and ask the good questions of why. Overall, what needs to be done is to allow each student to learn and grow, make them want to learn by not putting so much pressure on them to compete. They are not our athletes to put up against other states as to who has the best test takers. If you want to know who has the best education system look at who has the highest amount of higher educated people, and measure their success on what good they do with their education. This problem is not only a Texas problem but all states because the education of students is left up to the states to deal with. Perhaps if Texas makes strides in the right direction of pulling away from standardized tests maybe some other states would follow suit.

Free Needles to drug addicts?

The article Chaplain faces jail for giving out needles speaks about how a man named Bill Day was arrested and charged with the distribution of drug paraphernalia because he handed out clean needles to drug addicts. Going off of his parents examples of good deeds he feels that he needs to do what he believes to be right. He believes, as many in the medical community do, the distribution of clean needles cuts down the spread of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Another reason his gives for his actions is his own personal battle with AIDS, he said, “I don't want anyone else to go through that."
The exact reason for his arrest is due to the fact that Texas does not have some kind of needle exchange program unlike every other state in the nation. Therefore, Mr. Day’s actions are considered the distribution of drug paraphernalia which is illegal. Although he could face up to a year in prison he remains optimistic stating that all the other needle distribution programs started in the same if not a very similar way.
I once disagreed with this notion of people giving needles to drug addicts because I believed like I am sure many do, that it promotes illegal activity in the form of drug use. Yet, when I took a closer look I realized that whether or not these people give them clean needles, junkies are still going to be using drugs unless they seek some other kind of help. Therefore giving them clean needles doesn’t feed their habit, it simply helps reduce the spread of serious diseases. As the article refers to the study that the University of California conducted in 2002 clean needles help greatly reduce the spread of disease.
Another viewpoint that I once had and changed was that the cost of a program if funded through the state would be costly, but if someone looks at the cost the taxpayers pay to county hospitals to take care of AIDS patients because they didn’t have clean needles the cost is a lot lower than a needle program would most likely be.
Overall, I agree with Neel Lane, the attorney of Bill Day when he said that Texas needs to get on the bandwagon and pass some kind of needle exchange legislation for health reasons.

Clinton needs to change strategy to get Texas

Clinton strategy unchanged in Texas

In this article it talks about how Senator Clinton plans on not changing her strategy for trying to get the votes in the primaries in Texas on March fourth, and hoping that “…repetition plus time will drive home their contentions that rival Barack Obama is inexperienced and all talk, no action, while Clinton is ready now to become commander-in-chief, manage a shaky economy and win in November.”- By Chuck Lindell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
I think that this is a mistake on her part. Although I know Texas is a very diverse state, despite what many think, but I do believe that there is a large majority that includes veterans, who are concerned about her ability to lead militarily if elected. I am all for women’s rights but even as a woman I am not comfortable with a woman president and most specifically a woman Commander in Chief. I also am a strong believer in that if you do not have military experience that you should not be president. Now I know that this applies to both the major Democratic candidates but I am sorry, I do not believe women should run our military. I base my opinion on my own thoughts on the day of 9-11-01, now I know now that the terrorist came from all over and things like that but I do know one thing is that if I had been president on that day, my emotions would have driven me to blow to pieces everything east of Turkey. Now I know that sounds crazy but that is what emotions will lead you too and I think that Americans emotion of revenge was what got us into this war in the first place among other things.
Also, as much as I would like to believe that the world has moved past the idea that women are inferior to men, I know that there are a lot of countries who will not be open to listening to a woman who represents the United States; this is a fact of life that we must consider before we put a woman in office.
Overall I feel that if she wants to succeed in Texas she needs to show that she really can handle, pardon the expression, “man up” and fill the large duty of the presidency, and not cry like she has done recently in her campaign. She needs to show that large amount of Texans who agree with me that she can be a strong woman and convince them that women are in fact not all emotional nillies.

Foster Children may get "bill of rights"

Texas drafts bill of rights for foster children
Similar list of rights failed in 2007 legislative session.
By Corrie MacLaggan
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/01/26/0126foster.html


This article speaks about how last year the Texas Senate passed a bill about a "list of rights" that foster children are entitled to, such as the right to a safe place, and freedom from corporal punishment, but that failed in the State House. The bill failed after some criticized that kids would abuse the bill and say that they had a right to luxuries such as designer jeans. Although the bill failed its ideas were still taken in when the Department of Family and Protective Services decided they would make up such a list to insure that this idea would go through. The Department plans to start informing foster children of their decision in the next couple months and start implementing the decision. The article goes on to say that the reasoning for all of this action is to let the kids know of the rights that they already had just in a simple format. I believe that the article is worth reading because it demonstrates the resourcefulness and the ability of the Texas government to get action on an issue even if there are many who oppose it.