Dear Texas, Equality Means Equality..

Homosexual marriage is illegal in Texas. Isn't that against our freedom rights? Is it really making Texas a more functional State? Is banning same-sex marriage a key factor for this state's development?

The People of Texas defines marriage as a ¨basic human right that allows people to express their love for each other and allows them to “team up” for life’s many challenges¨. I think he is completely accurate with this definition. Moreover he basically says that banning same- sex marriage is as unconstitutional as some examples from the past such as black people being slaves and women not being allowed to vote.

So the answer to my first question is definitely YES. To answer my second and third question we need to analyze how and why gay marriage is bad for the state. I would say mind your own business and let the people with different sexual orientation live their life as normal human beings, because believe it or not, they are human beings like you and I. Just like The People's Texas said ¨love and marriage complement each other and should not be restricted to a single type of relationship¨. I could not agree more with that statement and with the fact that gay marriage does not affect the development of the state on a negative way. I am certain that not allowing homosexual marriages is putting an obstacle in this state's path on becoming more functional.

The People's Texas

Powderitas

Liquid alcohol has been around for centuries and it is consumed pretty much everywhere.  Every person consumes it differently, whether underage or not, illegal drinkers are not the only ones that get, well tired and emotional if you want to see it that way. I am not saying that the only function of alcohol is to get f!@#$ up, but it is certainly the reason why some people are concerned about a new product that is said to revolutionize the alcohol industry. So, what is this controversial revolutionary product that is freaking out everyone? Powdered alcohol. Yes that is right. POWDERED ALCOHOL.

Republican state representative Charlie Geren proposed the House Bill 1018, a statewide ban on powdered alcohol. However, Geren postponed the measure until July 4^th after talking to some “people in the industry”, which means that the bill will probably die.  Kids seem to be what Geren and other critics of powdered alcohol or Palcohol are concerned about. They say that it will be easier for those who are not 21 to consume such evil substance.

I think those accusations are totally wrong. First of all, Palcohol is an alcoholic product so it will be sold in liquor stores. This makes it as difficult or as easy, depending on the point of view, as buying liquid alcohol for those who are under age. It is said that it will be four times more expensive than liquid alcohol. I don’t think that any teenager would rather buy one drink for the price of four just to avoid any back injuries from carrying a bottle of vodka on their backs.

I believe that, if regulated as liquid alcohol, Palcohol should not be banned in Texas, if people are concerned about illegal consumption of alcoholic substances (which will continue with or without Palcohol), then people should focus that energy on solving other problems such as fake IDs.

Texas Unlikely to Ban Powdered Alcohol

DREAM not Nightmare

The DREAM Act is an American legislative proposal that guarantees undocumented immigrants the right to pay in-state college tuition if they graduate from a Texas high school after attending three consecutive years.

There are numerous people that are against this and Texas: All or Nothing makes an excellent criticism in "Keep the DREAMers Dreaming" about the way the people who are in opposition to this law think about. Texas: All or Nothing is in favor of the DREAM Act and I support it as well. I believe that there is no need, or actually a good reason for some people in the Texas legislature to want to deprive students from getting higher level education. These people's arguments will eventually cause more harm to the state. This law allows more people to be educated and that is, in no way, something bad for the economy of the state.

There are so many students that depend on this law and without it it would just be impossible for them to get a higher education. I am somehow related to this issue. I am an international student from Mexico City and I live here under a F1 type student visa. However, I did the last three years of high school in The Woodlands, Texas, This allows me to pay resident tuition and without it I would not be able to get my education at a Texas university. As a person who lived in Mexico for 16 years, I am sure to say that most of the undocumented students from my country, would not be able to get a higher education back in their hometowns at all. There is only a few public universities in Mexico and they are either bad or impossible to get in. Most of the people who go to a university in Mexico is because they can afford to go to a private school (which costs about the same as an out-of-state tuition at the University of Texas). 

Texas: All or Nothing could not have said it better: "Why mess with one's education?", this would just create more problems in our society and, in the long run, would hurt the state of Texas' economy.

Keep The DREAMers dreaming

It Is Time to Go Public

Even though I am not a father, I suppose that for a parent, the health of his or her child is the most important thing in the world. I believe that as a father I would always be concerned about whether my child is developing in a healthy environment or not.

In the state of Texas, the law states that parents who decide not to vaccinate their children are required to report that choice to their public school. However, school districts are not required to report information about campus-level immunization rates. That is the reason why I think that the Texas Legislature is doing a pretty good job in considering the House Bill 2474 “Relating to requirements for and the transparency of epidemiological reports and immunization exemption information and reports”.

It is a fact that there is only a really small percentage of parents who prefer not to immunize their children and also there is just a tiny percentage of children suffering from fatal illnesses (being the ones most affected by this matter). So, some people may stay behind the argument that this bill is a "discrimination bill" against those who do not have every vaccine required by the government. I think this argument is nowhere near as powerful as for example: "I have a son who is a cancer patient and he is in a very delicate immuno-compromised situation. That being said, he would be better off if he is in a school with a high immunization rate". 

This bill is not trying to violate the right of the people by making them to vaccinate their children and it should not fall into the discrimination subject whatsoever. This bill is about letting people know where is the best place for their children to go to school in the subject of immunization rates. It is the health of the children we are talking about here and I think it is more important than anything else.

School Choice

In this blog, the author is describing a situation in which she is a mother of a child with cystic fibrosis. She writes this blog for all the people that chose not to immunize their children in public schools and sends a message promoting the idea of campus-level immunization being available to Texan parents. She says that as people have the right to not vaccinate their kids, people should also have the right to know which schools are the safest for their children.                                                                              
The author's argument, as a parent of a child with a disease that could potentially kill her daughter, Kiera, is that people should have the right to know which schools are the safest for their kids in the vaccination matter. The author writes this blog like if she was asking for those people who "choose not to vaccinate their kids because of fear" to vaccinate their kids for the health of children just like Kiera.

Her logic comes from the fact that she is the mother of a child with cystic fibrosis. This makes her intended audience to feel more compassionate and probably makes them think about this issue. She does not provide any numerical evidence what so ever and I think that numerical values, that represent children who would be better off with "school choice", would help her blog to be more powerful.

I agree with the author in her position of making campus-level immunization public for Texan parents without losing its confidentiality. If I had a daughter with some kind of illness as Kiera, I would like to have the right to choose the school where she will attend as parents have the right to not vaccinate their children.

 Kids Who Cant Be Vaccinated Have Rights Too

State Employee Pension is a Ticking Time Bomb (II)

In this editorial, the author claims that "Texas lawmakers must address a state pension problem before it becomes an insurmountable crisis.”                  
The author compares the state’s second-largest employee retirement fund, the Employees Retirement System of Texas, with a credit card debt. He states that lawmakers have not "properly funded" the pension plan and that the fund is set to run out of money in 2063. He says that if the government does not take care of this issue, the debt will increase by $500 million every year and would cause Texas’ credit rating to go down. The author emphasizes that the legislature must do something. He proposes cutting pension benefits or asking employees to contribute more, but suggests that the best solution would be for the state to make the financial contributions “it hasn’t made for years”.

Finally, the author mentions Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, who said “he won’t support tax cuts until lawmakers shore up the state pension fund.” Agreeing with the senator, the author, in name of Texas’ citizens, “urges” Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Legislature to take care of the issue.        
From my perspective, the author’s intended audience is Texas’ citizens that will be retiring in 2063 and later because those will be the generations affected by this issue. I strongly agree with the author of this article. I think this issue should be fixed if we don’t want Texas to enter a dead end road.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20150215-editorial-state-employee-pension-is-a-ticking-time-bomb.ece

Lege Targets the Undocumented (I)

Conservative legislators have proposed several bills designed to obstruct the way of life immigrants have in the State, from going to school to having a job. 
These bills suggest: the use of E-Verify, a federal electronic employment verification system that would separate the illegal immigrants from the workforce; the disallowance of in-state tuition for undocumented Texas residents; and the requirement of law enforcement agencies to determine the immigration status of anyone arrested, and placing immigration holds on the undocumented.
Bill Beardall, executive director of the Equal Justice Center and a UT Law professor, said: "Every session of the Legislature, for the past two decades at least, has started with a slew of anti-immigration measures – many of them harsh and strident," he went on. "Many of those efforts have been turned back, but mostly through the extraordinary efforts by a coalition of immigrant rights advocates working with allies in the faith community, business community, and the labor movement." This means that there is an economic drawback to all of the proposed bills that are trying to put obstacles on the immigrant workforce. There are sectors in the economy of the State that rely heavily on the foreign labor force such as construction and retail, consequently putting holds on the immigrant workforce would do more harm than good to the State's economy.
I think this article is worth reading because several people in Texas think that immigrants just cause harm to the State and it would be right for them to be informed about how the immigrant workforce actually makes helps for the prosperity of Texas.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-02-06/lege-targets-the-undocumented/