Cannabis Law Reform In Texas

       After reading Lee Birch's "Taking Steps Toward Cannabis Law Reform In Texas", I agree with this blog post completely; cannabis law reform is long overdue. Even though this is a small step, we are now a whole lot closer to legalization than we were before. We, as residents of the state of Texas, all need to do our part and stand up and show the government how legalization will benefit this state greatly.
      The ongoing drug war is not only ineffective, but also very expensive and dangerous without much success. Our tax dollars are going to agencies that try to prevent people from doing something they are clearly going to do regardless of the legality. It is clear why this has been unsuccessful. The potential benefits of cannabis legalization greatly outweigh the potential problems. These potential problems don't even hardly seem to be problematic when contrasted with the benefits of legalization. I feel that the government should be less concerned about how they are going to tax cannabis because they have never seemed to have much of an issue deciding how to tax any other item on the market. Legalization would give the government the opportunity to make back all of the money they've wasted on the drug war.
      Although I think the decision the government is faced with is much more simple than it seems to be portrayed to the public, I am pleased that this discussion is ongoing and progress is being made. Even though it's a very small step, it's nice to know we're finally moving.

If You Can't Fix The Problem, Feed It

                                                               

This article is in regards to House Bill 3206. If this bill is passed, it will allow the state to issue two-year driving permits to people who can pass an exam as well as a background check - regardless of immigration status. This is a prime example of the American way of working around things rather than actually attempting to fix them. Before I begin, let me just explain that I am in no way, shape or form supporting a ridiculous "unsurpassable" fence or closing the borders off to anyone who isn't "from" here. I believe proposals of that nature along with House Bill 3206 are either far right or left levels of ridiculous. I personally believe that anyone from any country should have the opportunity like we, as American citizens, all have had within this land that didn't originally belong to us. I do however think that in order to gain that opportunity, people need to go through the proper procedures. The government should most definitely make the process cheaper, faster and more efficient overall so that people actually have a reasonable opportunity to do so, considering we all know they would. However, it is illegal to enter this country without permission and I do not think we should be catering to it. If the process to become a legal citizen is close to impossible, but you can come over here illegally and get a drivers license and free healthcare, what is the motivation for anyone to do it correctly? Dancing around this issue to see who can bring the most conservative or liberal idea to the table obviously isn't working. If the process was made easier and cheaper we would all benefit in the long run. There are hard-working people who would be excellent additions to this country who literally risk their lives attempting to get here and the states just start promoting it. The process is so difficult that people actually pay criminals to sneak them across the border. Should we start paying for their gas or maybe a mobile mechanic just in case they have any car trouble? Making it a better deal for someone to break the law is ridiculous. We need to fix the problem and allow people who want to work come and work and start paying taxes. We also need to stop losing money in one political parties favor. 

Reply to "Austin Passes Plastic Bag Ban"

This is a reply to an article in my classmates blog Just Like A Texan. This article was written about a bill that recently passed which banned the use of singles use plastic bags in Austin,Texas. Let me begin by saying that I could not agree more with my classmate on this subject. This is the single most ridiculous thing I have every heard of and not to mention extremely inconvenient. There's nothing worse than those two seconds right after you walk into the grocery store and realize you forgot those horrible tarp bags again. Some cities have done bans on water bottles- even though I would not support it, I can almost see the point.  We should be taking steps to help preserve what we have, but i believe plastic bags are a baby step in the wrong direction.

The Texas Education System

 With Texas being the second largest and second most populous state in the country, one would think that Texas' Education system would be in much better standing than it is currently in. The Education system in Texas is not only a problem for the state alone, but for the rest of the country as well. The problem with education is becoming much worse each year. The Texas public school system desperately needs much more funding but the Texas Government will just not provide it.
 Texas Gov. Rick Perry turned down seven hundred million dollars in grants from the National Government because Texas is currently not in compliance with Federal Education standards. Texas would have had to spend three billion dollars to get the education system where it already needed to be. Seven hundred million dollars for doing what should have already been done was just not enough for Perry. As of now, Texas is the worst place in the country you could go to receive a primary education and still well under par from Federal Standards. Hopefully following horrible statistics like that, Gov. Perry will begin to take steps in the right direction.
 Gov. Rick Perry recently went to California in an attempt to persuade business owners into moving their businesses to Texas for large tax breaks. Gov. Perry is hoping to bring more jobs to Texas, which will also bring more people and if things continue the way they are, there will not be anyone educated enough to fill the positions. Considering there are over one hundred and fifty people moving to Austin a day, the Texas Government needs to begin treating our education system like the greatest return investment it is.

Voter Registration

In case you didn’t have enough Supreme Court business to worry about.... By Charles Kuffner

In this blog, Charles Kuffner is discussing the current issues regarding voter registration. He explains a previous bill passed that set the nation-wide standard for voter registration and he also discusses a bill passed in Arizona which requires people to provide citizenship when registering to vote. Here in Texas, a bill has been filed by (R)Rick Miller which will hold Texans to the same expectation while obtaining a voter registration card.
This was a good article and I enjoyed reading it. This is a tough subject to make a stance on so it is definately a complicated subject to write about. This is a complicated subject because when you first hear about it, it sounds somewhat reasonable but when you get passed "illegal aliens shouldn't vote" and you look at the big picture, all of the understanding you had kind of just drifts away. I feel this way because after doing further research on the topic, I have learned that it is very hard to track if illegal aliens are voting, if we could track them, i'm sure there is an easier way to prevent it. I believe the topic of voter registration is more of a diversion to the real issue, immigration. In states like Texas and Arizona, immigration is an issue politicians like to dance around without ever really getting anything done. The topic of voter registration seems to me like an extremely watered down version of the really big issue. I believe if we made the immigration process more time and cost efficient, we would decrease the problem greatly. People flock to this country for a shot to be able to get a good job and provide for their families, I doubt voting is very high on their list of priorities upon arrival. It seems as if it is just extremely difficult for opposing political parties to even come close to a comfortable medium on the topic, so both sides just start coming up with solutions to only an unidentified fraction of the big problem.

Point Austin:Don't Shoot... Hug it out and our problems will disappear

   I am writing this critique on an article from the Austin Chronicle called "Point Austin:Shoot first...Think Later" written by Micheal King. In this article King is discussing the danger of current gun laws on society. He is using examples of recent shootings in Texas and other parts of the country to try and persuade the reader that some stricter gun laws will somehow eliminate most of the gun violence here in the US. He discusses a recent incident at the Lone Star College in Houston, TX in which two men got into an argument and eventually one of the men began firing a semi-automatic weapon. He fired ten shots, one hit his opponent in the back of the leg and he also shot and injured two bystanders. The gun was purchased legally by the man, but he was illegally carrying the weapon. The man did have prior convictions but were only misdemeanor charges.
  King is definitely aiming this article towards a more liberal audience. He is trying to say we need to work on a comfortable medium in which everyone benefits and everyone will be comfortable but I think we all know that's impossible, especially with this subject. He tries to explain how discomforting it is that the high number of guns in this country is mainly due to most gun owners owning multiple weapons. I do not see how that could possibly be discomforting, they got the count because those guns are obviously on file and people with multiple weapons doesn't mean they grew more hands and arms to have the ability to fire them all at once anyway. He says we need to conduct background checks, which is a wonderful idea and probably why we do it already. He also discusses that we need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and sums it up with "make it a bit harder for criminals to buy guns". The key word here is criminals... King has the understanding that by partially disarming working, law abiding citizens will "make it a bit harder on criminals". Criminals take advantage of the system and the citizens who abide by it. By making things harder on average civilians, you make things easier on criminals. For example drugs, money, work, etc... They are criminals, they are going to do whatever they want to do as long as it helps them get by. When criminals have the opportunity to take advantage of a normal citizen, ten out of ten times they are going to try their best to do so. If you went downtown today and told all of the crackheads they should stop because that stuffs illegal, here in the real world that would not change a thing.
  Other than being a writer, King does not have much credibility on this topic. He does attempt to provide some evidence, excuse me, which is all bullshit. He provides numbers of all gun deaths after Sandy Hook until now and he is considering all of those deaths "violent crimes". Although his numbers include every single death involving a gun. So his statistics include suicide, police using deadly force and average citizens defending themselves.
 I do not agree with King on his article. I think it would be an amazing thing if we could somehow get guns out of the hands of criminals and nuts but it is just simply impossible. The bottom line is if people want to do something, and they are crazy there's no stopping them. It's easier to buy a gun on the street than it is at academy and partially disarming law abiding citizens who do not enjoy people breaking into their homes will simply not do the job.


Here is the link to Kings Article
Point Austin: Shoot First...Think Later

Perry's California Persuasion

 Today, Gov. Rick Perry is in San Francisco, Cal. attempting to persuade California business owners by offering tax breaks and lax regulations. In doing this, he is hoping they will re-locate there companies to Austin, Texas which he is calling "the next Silicon Valley". He is going after all sorts of different industries. Including high tech, bio technology, financial, insurance and film industries.
 This is a very important thing to keep an eye on because these companies would bring a lot of wealth and opportunity to Austin but it would also have a very strong influence on our local government.

Texas Governor Tries to Lure California Business Owners