RE: Helping others instead of ourselves

I agree with Ms. Pecina's article. I find it ironic that Bush is so concerned about the women's health issues in Africa, but is doing nothing for the women in the State that helped propelled him to Presidency. Governor Perry has the same problem. His budget cuts to the family planning clinics are depriving women of cancer screening. Also, by preventing family planning, women will have larger families, making it more difficult to climb out of poverty. Perhaps local and national politicians should protect their constituents before other countries.

Discarding Needlessly Afterwards

DNA testing has become an integral part of the criminal justice system. Although this technology has been available for decades, cases are still being found that exonerate criminals decades after their original conviction. Recently, an inmate in Texas, Michael Morton was released from prison after spending 25 years for a crime he did not commit.

Morton was accused of beating his wife to death. He was freed after tests on a bloody bandana near the crime site showed different DNA. There are other isolated incidents of late surfacing DNA evidence all over the country, and yet Texas would like to destroy DNA evidence after the completion of a trial.

According to Rebecca Bernhardt, the policy director of the Texas Forensic Services, DNA evidence is destroyed as part of a guilty plea agreement with defendants and is discarded after cases end in conviction. She has been quoted "We have to be very careful about destroying evidence". She listed examples where defendants have pleaded guilty in order to obtain shorter prison sentences, only to later be freed based on later DNA evidence. District attorneys complain all prisoners claim to be innocent and that it is impossible to claim DNA testing on every case.

Bernhardt feels the present situation of storing DNA evidence in police headquarters may not be the safest method of storing evidence. She proposes a separate warehouse for this evidence.

I feel DNA evidence should be stored long after a trial ends. During the proceeding, witnesses have been proven to be unreliable, where as DNA evidence, phone records, and fingerprints have been more accurate methods. Many confessions and convictions have been coerced out of defendants who do not have the most skilled legal advice. Many times, DNA and other records only become available upon appeal. Therefore, keeping this information available until the death of the defendant or their freedom is essential. If the state legal does not have the capability to provide this, there should be a state or national data bank to store material during crime cases.

Re: More for Less

    Well said! I agree with your statement that illegal immigrants are not "stealing" jobs from Texans. Many of the lower paying jobs such as gardening, housekeeping, and child care are performed by immigrants at salaries "Native-born" Americans refuse. The Texas legislatures are proposing fines to employers for higher paying jobs. I think this is an attempt to slow down illegal immigrants, forcing them into lower paying jobs and giving Native Americans a chance for these more profitable positions.
    Unfortunately, many Americans do not wish careers in carpentery, tiling, and roadbuilding. Many Americans prefer "white-collar" jobs preventing the skilled laborers from these jobs will leave a vacuum in the workforce. I think $10,000 and two years in jail is too strict of a punishment for a "crime" that brings employment and revenue to our state. This bill would discourage employers who are trying to bring skilled artisans to our homes.

Plastic Baggage

Mayor pushing to ban plastic bags at Austin stores <Coppola, Sarah. "Mayor Pushing to Ban Plastic Bags at Austin Stores." Austin News, Sports, Weather, Longhorns, Business | Statesman.com. 25 July 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.>

        Mayor Lee Leffingwell recently proposed a ban on plastic bags provided at checkout counters. The reason for the ban is that plastic bags are a non-biodegradable waste that clogs up sewer pipes, pollutes waterways, and fills up landfills. He quoted statistics from the Austin Solid Waste Services Department which said Austin uses 263 million plastic bags a year and costs the city $850,000 annually to clean up the litter.

        I am leaning against this proposal. On one hand, I realize plastic bags as they are presently manufactured are non-biodegradable and therefore not good for the environment. However, retailers have a large supply of plastic bags and larger retail stores have contracts with companies to provide them. This could potentially cause an economic hardship to suddenly stop using the bags.

        In 2008, retail stores started offering at a modest price recyclable bags and routinely offered recycling of used plastic bags. This reduced the amount of plastic bags by only 20%. Presumably, buying the recycling bags was cost prohibitive to some lower-income households. Perhaps the city did not educate the public and solely relied on retailers to market and sell the concept of recyclable bags. Clearly more education will be needed if plastic bags are to be outlawed.

         Plastic bags are used for other things besides carrying groceries. When packaging meats, plastics will prevent leaking and contaminating other foodstuffs. Some households will use plastic bags to line their trashcans and clean up after pets. Buying separate biodegradable bags may prove too expensive for lower income families. Crafters use plastic bags to stuff their pillows and other projects.

         If plastic bags are to be banned, manufacturers could consider using a more eco-friendly material that are biodegradable. Before plastics, there was wax paper. Perhaps this could be made into bags and distributed at retailers. This would be biodegradable and relatively inexpensive.

Water Recycling

Blog - <Kuffner, Charles. "Re: Recycling Water." Web log comment. On The Kuff. 8 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.>

Article from Blog - <Goodwyn, Wade. "Recycled Water Quenches San Antonio's Thirst : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. PBS, 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011>

Texas has been in the midst of a severe drought for the past twelve months. In the past, cities have been using the aquifers to supply new water and using up precious resources. Twenty years ago, San Antonio was using up the Edwards Aquifer. The Sierra Club sued the city in federal court, claiming San Antonio was endangering the Blind Salamander. Since San Antonio was unable to use fresh water from the Edwards Aquifer, over the last twenty years, they have perfected a recycling system to reuse water. Although this water is not considered drinkable or potable, it is pure enough to be used in the River Walk, in the Toyota manufacturing plants, and municipal golf courses. Sea World has even made their own water recycling system. Instead of using 8 million gallons, it now uses only 4 million gallons over the last 3 years.

One of the ways San Antonio has been able to preserve their water supply is to take water from the Edwards Aquifer during times of plenty and store this extra water in the Carrizo Springs. This can then be used during times of drought and not drain water from the Edwards Aquifer.

Part of this recycling system involves the city laying over 60 miles of pipeline throughout San Antonio that collects used water and sends it to a treatment plant. This innovative program was 20 years in the making, but has stood San Antonio in good stead during this historic drought.

I believe other cities in Texas and Oklahoma (areas that were severely hit during the Dust Bowl) should set aside funds to build underwater pipelines and treatment plants. This conservation would provide a whole new source of jobs.

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The State of Sex Education

The state of Texas has the 3rd highest teen birth rates. Additionally, it is the number one highest for multiple births to teenage mothers.

In 1995, Texas legislators voted to have sex-education in the classroom, but allowed school districts to decide what kind of education they should provide. A 2009 study by the progressive Texas Freedom Network showed that 94 percent of school districts elected to only teach abstinence. The Guttmacher Institute notes that a sexually active teen who does not use contraception has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year. The rising birth rate in Texas would seem to support this, but now with the state's rising pregnancy rates, schools and parents are changing to an abstinence-plus curriculum including one that includes information on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases.

Although Texas school districts are trying to catch up with modern sex education, using the school system will not help with the pregnancy crisis. In a 2010 statewide TFN poll showed that about 80 percent of likely voters favor teaching students about contraception. Consider the "pregnancy pact" incident at Gloucester High School in 2008. Girls there were in a race to become pregnant, despite the more extensive sex education provided to the Massachusetts population.

In times of financial and family upheaval, some teenage girls feel that having a baby will give them unconditional love. They are oblivious to the responsibility of things like 3 A.M. feedings. Some might blame the school for making motherhood too easy, by providing free on-site day care during school hours, and making strollers available to students during the school year. If parents want the school system to provide education and moral direction, they must include more than contraception. They must educate in responsibility for raising a new life.

Main Source

http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Let-s-reconsider-abstinence-only-sex-ed-2184304.php

Other Sources

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1816486,00.html

Controversy Over School Finances

Texas school districts are going to lose $9 billion in state funding. The Austin area will lose 1153 employees. 571 of these are teachers. Governor Rick Perry blamed the impending loss of jobs on local school administrators and school boards. "The lieutenant governor, the speaker, their colleagues aren't going to hire or fire one teacher, as best I can tell. That is a local decision that will be made at the local districts." School Board president Mark Williams in response, "It is easy to deflect responsibility and put the blame on school districts. We are the ones that have to make the tough calls. Someone has to balance the budget." The State Senate is trying to blunt the effect of budget cuts. Reducing the cut to $6 billion over 2 years. The House of Representatives is still targeting $9.8 reduction. Conservative lawmakers feel, "Texas classrooms are under assault...from school administrators. Facing wise and necessary budget cuts, administrators are threatening to fire teachers, claiming the Legislature is making them do it — when administrative bloat is the real problem," according to Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, which last month launched the Protect the Classroom campaign. Perry states over the course of the last decade there has been an extraordinary amount of non-classroom employees added to the school roles. He feels the school system is padded with too many administrators. Data from the Texas Education Agency does not show an increase in staff hires other than teacher in the past decade. A recent analysis from school finance consultants found that even if school districts could eliminate half of all nonteaching staff members including counselors, librarians, and cafeteria workers, they would still be unable to meet the $9 billion budget cut. Unless the Conservatives can work with the School Districts, Texas is in danger of falling behind even further behind the national standards in education.

Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/perry-dont-blame-state-for-teacher-layoffs-1310392.html