Left Leaning Political Thoughts

Commentary on Are Sobriety Checkpoints the Only Way?

2009-05-14T23:28:00.002-05:00

This is a response to the commentary, Are Sobriety Checkpoints the Only Way? I was interested to know your view on this topic. At first with some of those statistics I wasn't sure which way you were going to go. This commentary is well researched, there's nothing like statistics and links to prove a point. I am in complete agreement with this commentary which with my liberal beliefs doesn't happen very often. From previous posts you may know that I am not the biggest fan of APD and I don't like APD turning Austin into a police state while violating my civil rights.

The statistic that less than 1% of drivers arrested are arrested for alcohol related reasons is troubling to me. Isn't that the purpose of the checkpoints? To find drunk drivers? With statistics like that, checkpoints seems like a huge waste of time and money.

Perry passes shield law for journalists

2009-05-14T22:35:00.002-05:00

I just read that Governor Perry passed a law which keeps journalists from having to reveal certain confidential sources in court. Its called the Free Flow of Information Act and it is a great victory for journalists. Texas is the 37th state to pass a shield law and advocates have lobbied for the law for the last three legislative sessions. The act will encourage whistleblowers to come forward because journalists can now protect their sources and in many cases not have to testify or produce notes or tapes gathered while acting as a journalist.

Journalists are our eyes and ears, they are working for us, the people. This law will allow them to do an even better job, whistleblowers can come forward and reveal government corruption or public safety hazards because their identities are protected. There are a few exceptions to the new rule, reporters must name a confidential source in a criminal case if they observed the person committing a felony or if the source confessed to them to committing a felony or if there is probable cause to believe the source has committed a felony and the prosecutor has not been able to obtain the identity.

This law goes into effect immediately and was overwhelmingly approved by the House and the Senate. "It's going to uncover acts and information that will lead to the prosecution of serious crimes," said Michael Schneider, programs director for the Texas Association of Broadcasters.

Source : Perry signs journalist shield law

More guns on campus?!?

2009-05-14T12:07:00.007-05:00

This is in response to a classmates blog, Guns on Campus.

I could not disagree with you more on this issue. I don't believe the answer to violence is more violence and I don't believe the answer to guns on campus is MORE guns on campus. The solution must begin before a gunman brings a weapon or weapons to school. There are warning signs to look out for and they need to be taken seriously. In a report done by CBS news a former Virgina Tech professor Lucinda Roy writes in her new book that she saw warning signs before the shootings but they were ignored. "Roy contacted four different departments on campus, including the counseling center and university police. She was desperate for Cho to get help. But, "I was told that - that would never happen," Roy said.

Statistics show a direct correlation between gun ownership and gun death rates. The chart above shows that states with higher gun ownership have much higher percentages of gun deaths. Inversely, low gun ownership equals low gun death rate. This was a news report from Violence Policy Center, based on data released for year 2006 from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

So no, I don't believe the answer is the throw more guns at the problem, more guns means more people killed at the hands of gunmen.

Man fatally shot by police officer

2009-05-14T02:09:00.003-05:00

I've read the news articles, I've read the editorials, and yes I've read the comments made by the fine citizens of Austin concerning this fatal shooting of an 18 year old kid. You can read yesterday's news article in the statesman here. I think maybe more than anything the racists and ignorant comments made by citizens of Austin scare me very much.

"They are combatic with police or anything vaguely resembling white authority.Ignorant,and basicly lawless,they will riot and claim injustice even if the thug murdered on live Tv."

"Another one bites the dust! One less thug we have to worry about! "

"We need more police shootings, we need to clean the streets of these low-life gansta pieces of you-know-what."

"he was a criminal and got EXACTLY WHAT HE DESERVED!"

This is just a few examples of what I've seen. Now I know this kid has a history of some criminal acts, that has been made very well known. I in no way believe he deserved to die for his criminal past. The fact is that we don't know what happened that day. The fact is that the officers camera was not on and that is very troubling to me. It's department policy that police officers run their cameras when making a stop. Why then was this officers camera off? Wouldn't an officer want proof to back up their word? It's a very scary thought that we have trigger happy officers running around making stops, "protecting" us. He was just a kid, teenagers make bad decisions, he didn't deserve to die for it.

Jenni Lee, HB 1323, and Why Words Matter

2009-05-14T00:31:00.006-05:00

I found this pretty interesting. This post was found on the Burnt Orange Report blog, you can read it here. Jenni Lee is a reporter for Fox 7 and the Austin Chronicle printed a comment she made on her facebook page. The comment made was referring to the tv show The Amazing Race. I'm not sure if you can read her post but this is what she said, "They weren't really my fave, just the couple I disliked the least. I really didn't want that mom who raised a pansy son team to win." Jenni Lee was referring to the team of Luke and Margie Adams, just so you know, Luke Adams is deaf and gay. The purpose of the post was the point out that words are strong and especially as a member of the media Jenni Lee should know better. The writer of the blog includes himself as a "member of the media" which I don't dispute but then he goes on to call himself a journalist and that's where I have a little bit of an issue. I don't believe bloggers are journalists, an opinion is not fact. I looked at the writers bio. He is very involved in politics and knows the ins and outs of government but as far as I know according to his bio. he has never written for a news publication. This doesn't bother me though, I know this is a liberal blog and most likely I'm going to agree with him on most matters. This issue is no exception and I'm glad someone is writing about it. He goes on to suggest Jenni Lee do a report on HB 1323 by Mark Strama which is an anti-bullying and harrassment bill. The biggest impact of the blog came at the end when I clicked on the video at the bottom of the post. The video from YouTube shows the pictures of multiple children who were victims and ended their own lives to deal with the bullying and harrassment. I immediately followed the link to Equality Texas to do my part and ask my state representative to vote yes on this bill. I recieve emails from Equality Texas and found out I had already participated. I think I will post a link on my facebook to get the word out.

You can take action here by asking your state rep. to vote for the bill.

Texas must tackle issue of uninsured children

2009-05-12T11:43:00.002-05:00

This editorial is from the May 5th issue of the Austin American Statesman, you can read it here. The editorial begins with a statistic, that we lead the all other states in this category. We just talked about this in class so I know this is one of those embarrassing statistics that we'd rather not say out loud. Yes, we lead the nation in the percentage of uninsured children, that's 1.5 million children, 22% of all kids. This has been the case for more than a decade. Two new bills are trying to cut down on the number of uninsured children. One is the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which would insure an additional 80,000 children in Texas. Another bill is looking at expanding the medicaid enrollment period from six months to 12 months. I had no idea that families have to prove their eligibility every six months and lawmakers purposely designed the system that way knowing that many families would drop out because of late applications or errors processing the applications. Personally I agree with the editorial board that the problem of the largest number of uninsured children in the nation is something that needs to be addressed and these bills would help get more children insured. It appears that Republicans generally oppose expanding health insurance for children which is why we currently have the largest number of uninsured children. The programs from these bills will be paid for by President Obama's stimulus package for Medicaid which I assume is why both parties are working together on this issue. The funds will only last two years but I guess we won't have to worry about those consequences for another two years.

Lawmaker suggests that stimulus money pay for mansion restoration

2009-02-18T21:43:00.002-06:00

What?!? Yes, apparently Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Steve Ogden, R-Bryan wants to use Texas' federal stimulus money to repair the governors mansion. You can find the full article here on the Statesman's website. Now lets not jump to conclusions, Steve Ogden is just inquiring about the stimulus money. He just wants to know if this could be a possibility. I guess he believes restoring the mansion is more important than education, health care, child care, homelessness...I could go on and on here.

The Honorable Steve Ogden
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0105
(512) 463-5713 (fax)

A Penny For My Thoughts

2008-12-12T23:36:00.000-06:00

I ran across this column A Penny For My Thoughts through my newspaper advisor, Matthew Connolly. I'm the photo editor for our school newspaper, The Accent. This column is talking about the possible future of newspapers and how some are outsourcing to India. This is exactly what's wrong with our country, it's all about making money, it's all about greed. I would like to go into the newspaper industry as a photojournalist. More and more I'm hearing that my future in that field is uncertain. At the very least I would have to be a videographer and reporter as well. Video I don't mind so much but I'm not really a reporter.

The author of the column Maureen Dowd doesn't seem to take a stance on this issue. As someone with hopefully a future in the newspaper business and the photography business I personally like to have a hard copy. I mean I prefer reading a newspaper to staring at my computer screen. I prefer to hold a beautiful print of a photo than looking at a digital image on my computer. That's just me. As for outsourcing, I think that's the worst idea. Who will have jobs in America if we keep outsourcing? I mean really, where does it stop? Save a little money, fire American workers.

Day Without a Gay

2008-12-12T23:26:00.000-06:00

Wednesday evening I went to my first rally. December 10th was labeled as Day Without a Gay. The idea is to call in to work to volunteer with your local LGBT communities and not make any purchases to protest the passage of anti-gay constitutional amendments in Arizona, Florida, and California. I didn't have to work that day but I did have to go to school. It was my last day of class and I had to take an exam. The rally was in front of city hall from 5:30-6:30 p.m. It was freezing! I attended with my gay roommate and straight roommate. I don’t know how many people were there, less than I expected but it was very cold so I’m assuming that’s what kept some of them home.

There were a number of speakers and we learned some cool chants and for the first time I realized how much this issue really affects me. Maybe because I’m getting older and realized that yes, I would like to be married some day. I guess I always assumed I would have some sort of ceremony resembling a wedding but never even considered having the same rights as married couples. I was just content with that as my fate. Now that this issue of gay rights, my rights, is being renewed I am very happy to participate and hopefully see a big change in my lifetime. Well we have already seen changes in a few states. I just don’t know why everyone doesn’t think the Constitution applies to gay people.

American prisons on the rise

2008-12-12T20:55:00.000-06:00

Commentary on American prisons on the rise
I also completely agree with you. We need to look at alternative methods as a form of punishment or rehabilitation. Prison is not for rehabilitation, no matter what anyone tells you. I think non-violent offenders should be rehabilitated and given the opportunity to live a productive life instead of thrown in prison. About half of all incarcerated prisoners are nonviolent offenders.

Not only is it very expensive (nearly 50 billion a year at the state level) to house inmates, once they get out of prison it is very difficult to lead a productive life. They have a criminal history now so how will they get a job? If they do get a job will it be a good job they can support a family on?

People make mistakes, they are young and dumb. Some people experiment with drugs and alcohol. Does that mean they go out and murder people? No, and I don't think they should be treated the same way and be given virtually the same punishments. Whether you serve 2 years or 20 you have a criminal record now and for the rest of your life. We leave them with nothing and expect them to make it when they are released.

A 2005 California study found that more than two-thirds of parolees were back in prison within 3 years of release, 40 percent for technical infractions. We need to help these people stay out of prison and break the vicious cycle.

Response to Donkey vs. Elephant commentary on gay marriage

2008-12-12T18:14:00.000-06:00

My last blog was about gay rights, gay adoption rights, ect. so I didn't really want to touch on the same issue in this last blog...but...looking through classmates blogs I stumbled upon comments made on the Donkey vs. Elephant blog. The blogger disagrees with gay marriage and since I completely disagree with everything said in the blog I am compelled to comment on it.

You said:
Children who are raised by gay parents face hardships that children with strait parents don’t.

Are you saying that children of straight parents are not picked on or teased by classmates? Kids are kids, there will always be the bullies who pick on other kids. Always, it's a part of life. It is the homophobic parents who put these ideas in their childrens heads.

You said:
Children need both a maternal and paternal influence to be healthy.

This claim is just a little ridiculous, I'm not sure how to respond. According to the 2006 census there were 12.9 million one-parents families in the United States. That is a lot of unhealthy people being raised according to your claim. I do think that two people raising a child is preferable to one person but I don't think the child would discriminate between two mommies, two daddies or a mom and dad.

You said:
One other claim that I cannot stand is that gay people are the way they are because of genetics. There are no genes that determine one’s orientation. Being gay is a choice people make for whatever reason and all choices have consequences.

Being gay is a choice huh? I don't know why anyone in their right mind would CHOOSE to be gay. I was raised in a Mormon household. I don't know if you are familiar with their teachings but like a lot of churches they believe gay people are going to hell. For a long time I believed this too. It has been a very long struggle but I've almost made it to the end, complete acceptance. I KNOW this was not my choice. It's so much harder than being straight, why would anyone choose that? Gay teens are 300 times more likely to committ suicide than straight teens. Does that mean they are happy about being gay? No. Would they be straight if they could? Probably.

You said:
I personally do not agree with gay marriage.

As an American all I want is the equal rights. This IS a civil rights issue. There have been many parallels to the African-American civil rights movement of the sixties. Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe writes, "For if opposing same-sex marriage is like opposing civil rights, then voters who backed Proposition 8 are no better than racists, the moral equivalent of those who turned the fire hoses on blacks in Birmingham in 1963". It wasn't very long ago that interracial couples were not allowed to marry. In 1967 in the Loving v. Virginia case, the Supreme Court ruled by a 9-0 unanimous decision that bans on interracial marriages were unconstitutional. Today would anyone think twice about two people of a different race marrying?

A small victory for gay adoption

2008-11-26T23:05:00.000-06:00

All this talk of gay marriage and gay adoption just makes me sick. I suppose this too shall pass and one day we will have equal rights along with women and minorities. Okay, maybe they aren’t exactly equal but they have come a long way from the 1920’s or 1960’s. That being said, that one day I can look foward to having equal rights, well that doesn’t help me right now. One day I would like to marry the person I love and have children, most likely adopt as in vitro fertilization is crazy expensive. Maybe I could adopt from India, I saw that once on Oprah. I’m veering off topic.
So, I try not to think about it but I won’t say it doesn’t hurt when I hear another state explicitly bans gay marriage. Now they are talking of banning gays from adopting as well. One bright spot from the strictest state on gay adoption, gays had a victory in Florida yesterday when a judge ruled the ban unconstitutional. Florida is the only state to have an outright ban on gay adoption. Utah prohibits adoption by any unmarried couple or individual. And while Mississippi does not explicitly ban gay and lesbian individuals from adopting, it does prohibit adoption by same-sex couples. The state of Florida has already vowed to appeal and this case will likely end up in front of the Florida Supreme Court. Now that the states have almost completely banned gay marriage in the U.S. (it is outright illegal in 45 states) they are moving on to gay adoption as next on their agenda. I just want to live in a place where I have the same rights as everyone else! Why is that not an option in America? Because the Bible tells us so?

Obama's (So Called) Tax-Plan Disaster

2008-10-17T18:40:00.000-05:00

The blog I will be commenting on is called Obama's Tax-Plan disaster and can be found here http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGExY2UzNjQ5YjAyNWUzZmI2MDQyNmU4MmU2NGI3ZDg=
I found this on the national review blog which is a conservative blog so obviously his audience is Republican. It was written by Cesar Conda, and he is a former economic and domestic policy advisor to Vice-President Dick Cheney. I suppose that makes him credible. Of course in the middle of this economic crisis I don't know if I would trust Bush's team to make wise decisions with my money.
Okay, lets get down to it. Mr. Conda is critical of Obama’s tax plan. He says that Obama will raise taxes for families making $250,000 or annually and re-distribute the money, via tax credits to lower and middle class working families. He follows that up with this will “do widespread economic harm”. Personally that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea to me. It sounds like a great idea to me actually. Help the people who need the help. America is consumed with greed, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I for one and excited that there is someone who seems to really care about helping working people. That’s what’s really going to help the economy, working people having money in their pocket. We have a problem in this country, our economy is in the worse state since the Great Depression and who does that impact the most? The working class, not someone who makes over $250,000 dollars a year. I do not agree with Cesar Conda’s argument in this blog as you can see. It just doesn’t make sense. For the first time in a very long time we have someone who appears to really care about the American people and who is going to try to make things better.

Sarah Palin is NOT qualified for the office of the Vice-President!

2008-09-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to be the next Vice-President of the United States. I’m sure there are a lot of people who feel this way but most of them are probably Obama supporters, not Senior Republican Senators. "I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper. The article can be found on the BBC America website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7623771.stm. He goes on criticize her foreign policy credentials and claims that Alaska’s proximity to Russia does not in any way make her knowledgeable about Russia. This is one Republican with some common sense.