Commentary on "Religious Intolerance in Texas" by Oscar Roberts

Even though the fear of Islam in Texas carries plenty of misconception. I do not believe this to be unfounded. This is because, there is a terrorist organization from Islamic origin. Regardless, as many have spoken before me, the actions taken by the terrorist does not represent all of Islam and their people. And while it may be sometimes hard to distinguish terrorists from common people, I agree that the barring of Syrian refugees is out of hand. And the retaliative actions that have take part in the U.S. such as the burning of the mosque. Prove your point true. "Christian Republicans" have bullied our rational thought". Regardless, I would rather not emphasize the "Christian" in republicans. Because in my opinion, most "Christian Republicans" are merely Christians. Instead, the Christian name is used to appeal to the general population. I would emphasize it as the extreme right wing. The consequences of christian republicans having it their way as you mentioned, are: Illegal Abortions, Islam banned in the U.S., and more cheap labor for Mexicans. These consequences seem to be very conservative, which is what the extreme right-wing is known for being.

What's the Big Deal?

In Texas, possessing 2 oz. or less of marijuana can land you in jail for up to 180 days. And while most minimum possession cases don't go that far. That penalty still seems like too much for Texas people. According to a poll ran by the Texas Lyceum, seventy-four percent of Texas adults say the maximum punishment for being caught with pot should be changed from a criminal penalty to a ticket or fine. I am certainly in favor of such change. This is because marijuana does not have a single known case of overdose. And we all know, there are plenty of people smoke a lot of the green leafy substance. This contrasts greatly with alcohol, and plain pharmacy drugs which account for 16,000 American deaths. All this does not mean Marijuana is not to be taken seriously. And legalizing in Texas is a whole other subject. But, I wonder who pays for all the minimum possession prosecutions of Marijuana in Texas? Well, that would be the labor force of Texas, me included AKA the taxpayers. When other issues arise regarding cuts on very particular or specific areas of Texas government spending, they just overlook this particular subject, for now at least. 

Comment on "Convenient Accuracy"

Voting turnout in Texas is definitely an issue. The fact that, as you mentioned "There are more people unregistered than people who actually vote." gives reason for concern. I like the very feasible solution to the problem. That is, making registration easier by providing more locations to register in a simpler manner.

Source Material - Convenient Accuracy

Cutting Corners

         In the past few months, it seems as though the Texas Government has been focusing efforts to eradicate planned parenthood within the state. An institution that was founded nearly 100 years ago, because of controversial actions that exclude their patients. Regardless of the care they have provided to many women during the course of their time. Planned parenthood is being accused of selling fetuses for so called science practices, it is also being accused of Medicaid fraud.  The government has issued  intrusive subpoenas that in the eyes of the average person seem ridiculous. These subpoenas include personal information requested from planned parenthood workers. It might seem as though the government would like to find these people and independently accuse them for misconduct, but up to this point this is not the case. The Texas Government is after the organization as a whole, with no solid proof of Medicaid evidence, or hard evidence on bad practices within the company. 

         I do not want to come off as one sided, as there might be a shady side of planned parenthood that I do not see, nor do most people for that matter. But the side that I do see, is the clinic that helps women especially those with low incomes. The informative guidance that women get from this organization, such as their preventive, STI, and breast exams is essential to our society. It is sad that the organization that has strived to help women throughout the years is involved in misconduct, but I believe it is even sadder that our government does not nearly attempt to fix the situation. For instance, to levy heavy penalties and/or warnings towards this company. Instead they insist on defunding it, without taking into account that there are currently not enough clinics that can help low income women with their reproductive issues and preliminaries. 

Insight into a Rick Perry's follower writing

The Blog entry, “Insiders are wrong: Rick Perry won't be the first to drop out” (August 18, 2015), discusses Rick Perry’s presidential campaign previous to his drop out of it. The Bloggers intended audience are Rick Perry’s followers; I assume, conservative Republicans. The credibility of this entry is non-existent, since there is no evidence to back up the author’s claims. The author simply makes assumptions about the political actions of Rick Perry, such as; “Rick Perry running for president in 2016 is quixotic.” and “… if you’re Rick Perry then you stay the course through Iowa.” The argument the blogger makes is literally the title of the entry. The entry contains some non-substantial evidence, which seems very biased, therefore it is hard to take the writer seriously. The author’s logic implies that, Rick Perry was very unlikely to win the 2016 presidential elections, but he will not drop out of the race. One way for Perry to succeed according to the author is to “Focus on farmers and veterans and hope you’re under the radar enough that they don’t target you for not supporting ethanol subsidies. Spend all your  money in Iowa and see if you can make a go of it.” Currently, Rick perry is not running for president, as he dropped out of the presidential race on September 11 of this year, just shy of a month after this blog entry. There’s no one left to agree with the author, after the irony. Regardless, had Rick Perry not suspended his campaign for presidency, I could not agree with the author on this entry, since it is extremely biased. It seems that the author is only hoping about what he is writing, instead of actually backing up his claims. 

Texas ban on texting while driving. Does it matter?

The editorial discusses the absent ban on texting while driving in Texas. In this article all Texans are the main audience, this becomes very clear at the end of the editorial where a “Make your voice heard” section is included. There is sufficient evidence to back up this article, making it credible, for example; “The Texas Medical Association reported to lawmakers that 95,000 crashes and 460 deaths were attributed to distracted driving in Texas in 2013.” The argument in this article is largely made against Rick Perry, who vetoed a 2011 texting while driving bill. The writer argues that even if the bill would “micromanage the behavior of adults” (Rick Perry), Texans would follow the law just like when we started buckling up. Even though I agree with a bill passing regarding this issue, I’ve had the opportunity to see a law against texting while driving implemented at a more local level. While texting and driving is illegal in Austin, I am perplexed at how many Austinites completely ignore the law. It seems as though this law was never implemented. Maybe, it does not possess as harsh of penalties as it should. The article states “texting while driving has become a bigger hazard than drinking and driving” and it backs it up with a fact: “11 teenagers die every day because they can’t break their electronic addictions in the car.” 

If this problem kills as many people as the data claims, maybe the penalties shouldn’t seem so extenuating.

Source:  It’s absurd that Texas doesn’t ban texting while driving

Birthright Citizenship. Is it a right anymore?

This article is rather interesting to me because it talks about immigration, a rising and controversial issue these days. The article depicts something that I find fascinating, and sad at the same time. That is to see what happens when a person promotes an idea and the rest of the people make it a trend and follow it, “the bandwagon effect” coming from Donald Trump.

In this article the topic is ending birthright citizenship, which contradicts what the constitution intended according to many. if this action happens to move forward without consideration towards the already born but not birthright citizen candidates, those will become people without a country. Since the one country they were born into will not declare them citizens of the United States of America.

Source: Dismissal of Birth Certificate Case Would Leave Many U.S. Citizen Children in Limbo

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