A Response to " Babies, Babies, Babies Rights?" Blog

There is a blog that I recently read that I found to be informative and yet also very unappealing at the same time. I made the following comment to the blog. : "Although I find the information shared in this blog very informative I also can see how the information shared could come across as not only unappealing but also difficult to understand. Not super difficult to understand at all just lengthy and on such a touchy topic I find it important that one catches the reader with their point right of the bat. It is not who is involved or what they are discussing but how it is being presented to those reading it. Although I can not personally agree with every statement and decision made based on my own personal values I will say that I find the argument persuasive and interesting. However, I have to go as far as to say that if you are going to discuss such a sensitive topic with so much force and expect people who need to hear it to not only read it but actually get a understanding of why it is that your information is important you have to bring it a little bit closer to easy understanding and therefore go straight to making your point understood to all that read it."

I would strongly suggest that others read this blog as it is interesting and give their opinion as it is informative as to how many different views there are on certain situations that people would rather run from than have a intelligent conversation about. Not everything has to be an argument would have to be my ultimate suggestion. :)
Check it out: Babies, babies, babies rights?

Public School Teachers Needing A Miracle

In 2011, the Legislature eliminated more than $5 billion in finances from public education and shed approximately 25,000 employees. The state's loss of education funds, grown class sizes, and lack of moral among the teachers has now become one of the most addressed problems in the state of Texas.

 Although, many teachers are refusing to give up hope on the education system others are finding themselves confused on what to do next with their lives. Students are being crowded into classrooms with a teacher that are not getting paid for the time and focus that they are expected to produce. It would be safe to say that with the increased amount of "attitude" among growing children, in some cases the lack of stabilities in homes and the need to feel "popular" can cause stress to a teacher's life. With all considered teacher's unexplained drop of morale can be traced to far more than just state budget cuts. All the budget cuts do is tell the teachers that they need to put up with more stress.

Many are fighting both sides of the argument on what to do with the state's education funding and teacher salaries but there are no real decisions or solutions being produced. Many republicans are trying to come up with a solution that does not raise taxes or touch the state's "rainy day fund" of some odd $6.5 billion.
  Texans are concerned with the education that their children are receiving and yet also do not want to increase their taxes. Texans need to face the evidence that the state's representatives are not going to touch the money that is set aside for emergencies to fund education; therefore, alternatives are going to have to become a reality to many. An easy solution would unfortunately at this point be to pay the higher taxes or come up with alternate suggestions.
  Although now that the teacher salaries and education funds are being addressed many should take the time to address the teacher morale. Gary Dworken, a University of Houston professor, has and is currently collecting data that shows teachers in 2002 were half as stressed as they are today. He points out that teachers are having to deal with a lot more than just pay cuts at this point. It would be unwise to point out that the more than 5% of children in alternate schools, for misbehavior in the regular school systems, help in this area.
Texans and even more so those that are parents need to really consider their children’s futures and what impact their decisions today can truly make on them.

Reviewing S.S Education

In response to the article S.S Education I was shocked with everything I learned. I find the numbers for Texas far more than dissappointing,to be honest I found them flat out an embarrassment. I  have to agree with the fact that Texas needs to figure out what exactly we can do to not only increase the knowledge of our students but also the funding of the school systems. There are so many possible solutions out there that wouldnt involve a raise in tuition or taxes Texans just need a person in office willing to address these situations. I would have enjoyed to know alittle bit on the thoughts and insight on solutions to these problems. I agree with the article but I want to know what options are out there to solve these numbers and give us students who want to succeed and actually can.

S.S Education

What's The Problem With Voting?

Let’s face it as far as voter turnout goes, the United States has seen better days and Texas being so large of a state could make a huge difference in that number.

If Texas wants a larger voter turnout to the polls and wants to have a louder voice in the big elections then they need to start solving the problem small and work their way up. There are two problems with the current voter turnout that would concern anyone even knowing the slightest bit about politics and those two problems are: Uneducated Voters and Low Voting Turnout. Both of these problems could easily be fixed if they were approached at a un- over thought process. People love to compete, people love to have fun and people love free stuff.

If the people of Texas were more educated on voting then there would not be so many, “Well why vote, if my vote doesn’t even count?” comments. Even those Texans that do vote want to know half the time what happened that what they voted for isn’t being implemented, without even knowing that they may have misunderstood the wording of what they voted for on the ballot. If those voting were more educated on their rights, policies and actual voting all together then they would be more apt to vote and not be voting for the things that they really do not want. The only way to fix this problem is going to be to provide citizens with a fast easy lesson and an incentive to get out and take the class.

It would be plausible to say that many would become concerned about the amount of money that this type of education would cost the government and in turn the tax payers; however, what if the burden did not fall on the government at all? What if the burden mostly fell on business that could reap what they sow in a way?  The structure would go as follows theoretically speaking; if businesses were broken down into 3 size categories (therefore competing among their equals) and received a large enough tax break to catch their eye based on the highest voter turnout that took their class then the cost of the classes would therefore be covered. The businesses would receive their award, based on size, from either the Texas Leverage Fund or the Texas Product/Business Fund and therefore cost the government and tax payers no extra funding. Who would run these events with no extra costs for hourly wages? A current student that is legal resident of the state of Texas, with no current criminal charges would receive 3 hours of oral communication credit for either high school or college depending on their level of study. It has been statistically proven that more than 50% of people’s number one fear is public speaking but everyone has to do it. Overall the whole process is beneficial to everyone involved and in turn the benefits would be more educated voters and no extra charges to the tax payers.

In the event that the voters become more educated the state would want to see a higher voter turnout and could do so by making the whole process easier and more welcoming to those that are eligible voters. Although it may not be the most upright and politically responsible image that everyone would be hoping for, if to promote voting you brought it down to a level that the citizens understand and enjoy the turnout would increase. Festivals, carnivals, concerts, celebrities, ACL, Eeyore’s Birthday, and Marley Fest these are the venues that Texans show up to in large numbers teach them what you want them to know and have an event that they are drawn to and then voter education and turnout are not such a concern.

Your Putting Troubled Youth... Where?

 There was a blog that was posted by GritsforBreakfast on October 18th, stating the title "Counties pushing for more control over juvenile system" and in the article goes on to tell its readers about the new policies being discussed at the capital. Basically the blog goes on to tell about how currently teenagers that break the law go to state lock ups instead of local lock ups. There are 6 statewide lock ups that house approximately 1,200 youths and they cost about $400 a day to have each teen in them. Counties are pushing for local lock ups that would house the troubled teens, provide a better chance of reform for them and cost a lot less.
 Although I enjoyed just reading the topic of this post I cant help but to say I find the blog very uninformative. All the author of this post did was aim at an audience that already knew about this topic and to be honest the only way a reader could enjoy this post is if they already had done some homework on their own. Although I would like to say if I agreed or disagreed with this post, it is impossible, and that proves the point that I am getting to even more, how can one decide how they feel about the author's opinion if they arent given it. The reader has no knowledge of who this author is or what their credentials are at all. How do we even know that this blogger even knows what they are talking about. I found it even more interesting that after you read this blog and wonder if maybe you just missed something in there or if the author really did leave a lot of information, if you scroll down you find this letter from a reader and realize that you missed nothing. :

Anonymous said...

"While I agree keeping youth in the local areas if services are available I am afraid there is such a lack of services in even medium sized counties that without intense financial support some of these juveniles would be more of a danger to the local community than they would receive benefits. East Texas does not have a facility large enough for many kids other than their own local kids so where would the little counties send them to? We need more information. GRITS can you post a copy of this proposal??"

 

Anyway check out the blog and see what you think:

 

 Counties Pushing For More Control

Pros and Cons of Prison Healthcare

There was an article posted in the opinion section of the Austin American Statesman on October 4^th titled “Texans Deserve Relief from Prison Health Care Costs”. The article discusses mainly a 61 year old man named Donald Carl Rush who was three times convicted for robbery charges and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Mr. Rush has become very ill with diseases such as diabetes, Hepatitis C and etc. over his last 13 years in jail and had recently requested a parole to a nursing home. Although Mr. Rush’s request was denied it is argued in the article that this was the wrong decision in this case and also in many others. The assumption is that if we would release sick inmates such as Mr. Rush into their requested nursing home parole then the tax payer’s money could go to more important things rather than keeping a very ill man somewhat healthy in prison.

Although I do believe that the author of this article is targeting an older audience in making them realize where their money is going, I think that a younger audience may want to listen up. When Mike Ward made the original report of Mr. Rush’s request and brought the whole topic to everyone’s attention he also went as far to give the audience some numbers, like the $1.9 million spent to keep only 10 of the most expensive inmates alive over this last year. He points out that this money could have been better spent and the inmates still kept healthy with the money that is there to provide healthcare for nursing home patients.

After reading this article a few times over I came to realize that I personally agree with the author, that those inmates that no longer pose a threat to society and are continually monitored by the police should be released to nursing home facilities that can carry them. If nothing else opening a nursing home possibly for the paroled inmates could be government funded with the money that they already use for this purpose, provide more jobs for those that need it and cut the tax payers money going to keep these inmates healthy in jail and lastly maybe even make a little more room for those that are incoming prisoners. I do feel like the author could use a little more credibility than that he works for a newspaper, and given a little more information on how everything is currently paid for to make his article more clear but otherwise a good read, and even better a good lesson.  

Check out the article at:

 Texans Deserve Relief From Prison Health Care Costs

Hispanic Buisness Taking Over

There is an article that I stumbled upon in the Austin American Statesman that talks about how the hispanic job force in Texas is growing and may soon be the leader in not only hispanic owned buisnesses but also provide more jobs for the hispanic community causing numbers to soar. Check it out at: http://www.statesman.com/business/hispanic-owned-businesses-may-become-key-source-of-2465235.html?viewAsSinglePage=true.