RE: Discarding Needlessly Afterwards

Last Thursday a classmate of mine wrote an article discussing the poor job of courts in using DNA as evidence prior to sentencing. (“Many times, DNA and other records only become available upon appeal.”) They brought to surface the current release of the wrongly-sentenced inmate, Michael Morton and continued on to defend the use and storage of DNA for future court cases to prevent similar instances from occurring. What I also discovered is that DNA is destroyed and thrown out after cases that end in conviction.  However, the justice system is obviously flawed so, as my classmate suggested, evidence should be kept for as long as possibly needed. I liked this article, especially the solutions my classmate provided regarding DNA storage for future use and would agree that our already unjust justice system should make any and all additional efforts to be... more just.

School vs State: Less Money, More Problems

     It’s mid October and based on the Austin American Statesman, schools are being seriously shorted the money they need to be adequately run. As a result, the 150 Texas school districts that are a part of the Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition, are suing the state for the serious decrease in public school funding. Just over the summer, schools had lost out in over $4 billion in funding. Now, I do recall writing a post about that same amount of money earlier this semester. It was a little while after the summer that many teachers throughout Texas went unemployed due to the $4 billion loss known as state budget cuts. The teachers that were left then had more work to do, gaining larger class sizes and any additional work that other employees would’ve normally done had they not lost their jobs. Of course, all the extra work for the same pay they had before.

      The coalition states “that the school finance system is unfair, inefficient and unconstitutional” and “doesn't treat Texas schoolchildren or taxpayers fairly.” There are schools outside of Texas that I know to have performing arts academies, medical and technical programs, and etcetera while we struggle to even keep basic elective courses in our schools.  It doesn’t make sense for my mom to come out of pocket for more school supplies because the school can’t afford them. Also for her to keep paying taxes just so my sister can go to school and solely take core classes with thirty to forty of her peers. Public education is already not the best so why be so ready to make it worse? I could go on and on but nothing will change for the better until the legislature does and only time, and our students, will tell.

RE: TX Immigrant Tuition Assistance Issue

        Two weeks ago from today an article was written by a colleague of mine commenting on the immigrant tuition assistance issue. “Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill stating that if illegal immigrants performed good in high school, meaning no trouble with the law and is knowledgeable enough to take on college courses.” After this statement was made, my colleague continued on to tell their approval of this bill. We are the “land of the free” and it only made sense to allow others the opportunity at the same education our citizens receive if they so desired to be just as educated. They even continued on to say other states should mimic the moves made by Texas and also allow immigrants to receive equal education if they showed themselves approved. “Hispanics are on the rise” so it would be beneficial to the United States, as well the foreigners themselves, if they were educated so we have an intelligent base of people when they eventually become the majority.

        Now, there are some aspects I agreed with, such as educating them so we will have an educated majority when they become the majority. However, what threw me off is when I read Texas is allowing ILLEGAL immigrants a chance at a low tuition education. The United States is the only country I know of that allows immigrants to come over, find a place to stay, go to school, get a job, start a family, and now even be offered the same cost education as the citizens all while they are still illegal. I don’t understand it. So I now feel that my own education should not be as costly as it is because I am a citizen of this country and it doesn’t make sense for me to have been here but they can come over and start living their lives as if they were also citizens. As long as we are the United States of America and not the United States of Foreigners, I don’t think immigrants should be able to come over and chill long enough for the benefits of the citizen to kick in. You don’t see other countries just letting in and taking care of foreigners like that, but I guess as long as we have more people coming in and bringing more money into the US with them then it’s alright.

Gone Up In Smoke

     January 2, 2012. That is the date all Austin Community College campuses and facilities will be smoke-free. I found out the news through an article of the Accent paper at one of their many campuses I attend. It has already been over a month since the board of trustees had come to this decision. Personally, I don’t smoke and I have never had a real issue with choking on clouds of smoke while running to class so I could care less whether this ban will be followed through with or lifted later on down the line. Yet, I learned that these trustees had not initially come to the students with this idea in the first place. So, for the people addicted to the cancer stick, a move like that was “uncool”. Sam Rios, an ACC student, disproved of the action they took saying “they’re taking our rights away from us. Even if the results turned out the same way, I’d be a hundred times happier if they had just asked the students.” I hear that, but like I mentioned earlier, I’m not on the stick so I stand unchanged by this restriction.

     Of course the main purpose of the ban was for health and safety reasons because second-hand smoke has been known to kill, but along with that ACC genuinely wants to help people stop smoking. There are resources out there to help people quit such as cessation programs (ex: Nicotine Anonymous) and making nicotine patches available to new non smokers. I think that’s great all they have going on to create cleaner campuses and healthier lives, but for cigarette smokers it’s going to difficult finding a new stress reliever as strong as you’re old, reliable cancer stick.   

Please Don't Elect Perry

If it is okay, I would like to start off by saying "Mean Rachel" is blunt, sarcastic, and seriously hilarious. I must also forewarn any Perry fans not to read her posting on a woman's America under Perry. That is, unless you’re in search of a truth that you weren’t willing to accept when it was initially right in front of you. (That truth being a Texan with good hair doesn’t equal good government for the people.) However, if you are a Perry fan and you are a woman, you should read her posting anyway. It foretells our futures’ underneath “republican of the year” as looking a little grim… and full of babies.

Perry is one of the many “God-fearing Americans” believing closed legs means no diseases and no babes. That is very true but when you see your state has the 3^rd highest amount of kids having kids in America; you have to do a little more to insure the protection of the rest of the kids that also don’t happen to fear God enough. In addition to that, in the process of promoting abstinence, there will be a cut in birth control coverage. So you are then limited to marriage or rubbers. Confusion then sets in because if they’re only promoting no sex, then that means they’re definitely not showing you how to use a condom. If you’re not using a condom correctly, then you may be making babies. Well wait. You can always abort the child, but that’s after the mandatory transvaginal sonogram you have to go through in an attempt to get you to keep the child.

Another fun fact you may not have known: Texas is 1^st in the nation to have kids stuck without health insurance, as well as 1^st to have the most “workers employed in minimum-wage jobs”. That means if you have sex, get pregnant, and are convinced to do the right thing and keep the child, there’s a high chance you still won’t be able to adequately care for the child anyway. All of this reform through the election of the beautiful Rick Perry.

Because I am a young woman, I look to "Mean Rachel" as a source that has my back. She sees what's going on in the government, but knows the times well enough to figure out what may or may not work for today's people. Right now, Perry does not work. Please don't elect him.  

"And I'm Singleee"

September 28, 2011. The Houston Chronicle had posted an editorial on the shortcomings of the single life, echoing the posting put up by the New York Times almost a week and a half prior to their own. They mentioned some facts regarding the 100 million single Americans in existence living without the benefits of the wedded couples out there. They are taxed differently and left with lesser health benefits. “Policymakers have outmoded views of singles” assuming they don’t count as much in society if they are alone as opposed to combining their efforts with a mate. However, they found statistics actually displaying and backing the usefulness of individuals not bounded by a spouse.

The staff expressed that the numbers they’d drawn up suggested “that the harm foisted upon singles by outdated stereotypes comes at a price that this sleeping giant group will not much longer abide.” The staff itself may be full of single people to make a statement like that. Yet, whether they are all single or not, they are apparently sentimental to the singles out there that do what they can for others only to receive the lesser for themselves. Even though I’m not feeling this condensed New York Times version of an article, I do share their sentiments and hope to see equality for the folks that choose to sleep alone at night.

"Clean up. Clean up. Everybody Everywhere"

        Dripping Springs ISD. One of the few school districts in Texas that I found hasn’t had any “teachers that have been laid off as a result of state budget cuts.” That is quite the surprise. Why? Because in an article I found in the Texas Tribune, it was revealed to me that there has been a $4 billion dollar reduction in educational funding that school districts are presently being subjected to statewide. Now usually when something goes up, it, or something else, must come down and vice versa. Well, funding for education plummeted so to absorb the reduction in money, charges for extracurricular activities have increased. Schools “are dipping into their savings accounts to keep educators employed”. Also, unemployment has increased in the Dripping Springs district for anyone that isn’t an educator, from librarians all the way down to the custodial staff.
          As a result, it is now an additional responsibility of the teachers to clean up behind themselves including sweeping up and throwing out the trash. The cleaning is to be done as soon as school lets out and there are consequences if you don’t get it done. I see no serious problem in that. However, they’ve gone as far as to say you can’t even help a student directly after school because they need to get their chores done. Now that’s not cool. You can read for yourself this article, as well as many others regarding the cuts in education and derive an opinion of your own spanning over their roles and responsibilities. But remember they were hired as educators before they became custodians.