Stage Eight: Critique

Abortion has always been a major issue of discussion in our society and there are always different opinions on abortion. The Senate Bill HB 2364 is something I personally agree on but I do not agree with Jamie's point of view, I personally disagree with abortion, you are taking the life of an innocent baby. From conception there is life. No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another without punishment, and abortion is no different. I think that abortion takes killing into another level. I mean what happens if the child you were killing was you, just think how they would feel? Abortion is not the only choice if you don't want to have the child, the million of childrens that are dying could change ourr future, there's couples who are hurting so bad because they can't have children, if you don't want a child, don't abort it - give it up for adoption so they can have a chance to live.

Stage Seven: A Common Sense Bill

In the Texas Tribune, there's an article about a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's permits after paying about $150 in fees, get fingerprints and backgrounds checks.
House Bill 3206 by state Rep Roberto Alonzo would require that applicants pass a driving test to get the document, which would allow holders to legally register their vehicles and obtain auto insurance.
Republican opponents fear the bill will encourage illegal immigration but they need to know that it's only a driving permit and also the licenses would be labeled to say that the immigrants are not legal residents, and the identification  could not be used to board a plane, vote or to obtain public benefits.

Immigration has always been a controversial topic,  some people don't agree with this bill but I think it's a good thing because there are more than 1.6 million immigrants in Texas and many of them drive, issuing them driving permits would make Texas roads safer and would allow the state to keep better track of who is driving.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is in favor of the bill, he says "It will absolutely enhance safety. There is nothing more frustrating than being hit by an individual and when you go to exchange information, there is no ID." It goes toward helping them to investigate all crime because now they have a picture and of course fingerprints. It's just safer for everyone and we are all more protected!

"It's a law enforcement, a security, a common sense bill."

Blog 6: On The Phone, Off The Road

On Wednesday, April 3, 2013 one of my colleagues posted an article called "support ban on texting while driving" my classmate made really good points on why they think that texting while driving is the same thing as driving intoxicated because "when you're drunk and you drive you not only a danger to yourself but a danger to other drivers on the road" we all know that texting and driving can result an injury and loss of life. I think before new drivers get their licences, they should at least know that taking their eyes off the road even for a few seconds could cost someone injury or even death. Yes some people are able to text without looking at their phone, and they might think it's safe but isn't, texting while driving is very dangerous and can cause very serious harm. We should ban cell phone use and texting without hands free all over the entire United States and state of Texas, there are too many accidents about to happen and it can all be prevented with passing the law to ban cell phone use without speaker or hands free devise.

Stage 5: Austin passes plastic bags ban

Austin should not ban plastic bags, this is officially the most intrusive piece of legislation to come out of Texas government in my lifetime. 

The bag ban is the most ridiculous social tax I have ever seen because some people reuse the grocery bags for trash cans in bathrooms and kitchen, they honestly have all sort of use. If the city of Austin want us to use reusable bags they should at least supply them for free. I don't like grocery shopping as it is and now it's hard to carry all the things in just one bag! Plus reusable bags are unsanitary because of all those germs wind up where your bag us set when you are checking out, most reusable bag shoppers do not wash their bags once they return home may be leading to food poisoning, that's why I prefer plastic bags over reusable because I value my personal health. 

People say "it's okay to save the world" but there are millions of things we can do that are more effective and less inconvenient than a bag ban. It honestly has a big effect in our daily lives. Give people a choice to respond as to whether they want to switch to reusable bags or not, not labeling them as caring about the environment or not. There are many reasons why people may or may not use reusable bags, that have nothing to do with whether they care about the environment. The bag ban is going to be overturned either by the legislature, or by a citizen initiative. It needs to be repealed.

Stage 4: Regulating Abortion Away In Texas

On Wednesday 20, 2013, the Burnt Orange Report  published a blog title Regulating Abortion Away in Texas by Chaille Jolink. In this blog, Chailie Jolink is discussing about abortion and how the Texas is doing what it does best, threatening women, the poor, and health care providers. A bill has been filed by Senator Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) which states that every abortion provider must also be compliant as a licensed ambulatory surgical center.
I think it was actually a good blog and it was worth reading because I agree and I don't think abortion should be legal. I think abortion is very unsafe and harmful. But it's a very controversial topic to talk about, abortion is a big issue concerning women because for years it had been said that abortion should not be legal. Many people feel aborting an unwanted child, or killing an unwanted child be against the law.
Even though Deuell insists this bill is all about safety, "if the health care centers can't afford burdensome changes and cannot provide care anymore." then no woman is safe. It is estimated by Planned Parenthood that the number of clinics would drop from 42 to only 5 throughout the entire state. This bill will do nothing to advance women's health, but it will drive up the cost of women's health care which drives up the risk of unsafe medical procedures, not the other way around.

Stage 3: Single-Sex Schools

On Saturday, February 2, 2013, the Austin Statesman published an article title Plan for single sex school in East Austin is another pricey experiment, in this article the writer is discussing about how the Austin school trustees voted to approve single-sex schools last week for Garcia and Pearce middle schools. The audience for this article are the parents, homeowners and taxpayers because they deserve more serious discussions about how decisions of single-sex schools will affect the bottom line, the article talks about how Pearce and Garcia have also been rated academically unacceptable by the state of Texas in three of the past four years and they need to do something about it.

  The writer of this article does make a point that is not a good idea and it's not the solution to improve the academic performance because the new research shows that in the classroom, separating the two sexes may not be the best way for either gender to learn and grow and I agree with that but we also know that

single sex education has a successful track for many decades and it has worked for private schools so why can't the same plan work with public schools? But another suggestion that has worked in urban school is moving to small classes that way the teacher can help them out even more.

The solution should be that they should allow the student to choose which type of learning environment they would like, however, the cost for all the same sex schools are larger. Single sex schools only seem better because they're usually in areas with lots of money or private.

Stage 2: The Budget Battle

The article I would like to introduced is "The Budget Battle: Week One:" and how Republicans will spend more but they don't want to spend it on schools is written by Erica Grieder in the Texas Monthly website. It was posted February 11,2013.
There were many cuts across the board in 2011 but the the cuts to education had been more controversial than most, even parents had seen the effect in their children classrooms and they think that the state has failed to "educate" the kids in Texas and  because of that the state is currently facing several lawsuits because the Texas constitution requires the legislature to make "suitable provision" for public schools which means that the State Board of Education  have to set aside a sufficient amount of funds to provide free textbooks for the use of children attending the public free schools of this state.
What Republicans are saying is that the state has more money but in their view doesn't mean it should spend more money for education. This definitely helps explains why public education is going to be the focal point of the budget battles. I think it's important to read this article because it will affect us one way or another and in the future Texas public schools enrollment is going to grow and that means we would need more teachers and textbooks but who is going to pay for all of that? We just have to see what happens in this Budget battle.

If you want to read more about this article; click below.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/budget-battle-week-one