Green Burials

I was very interested in the editorial done by "The Texas Political Fix," partly because I had yet to hear about any of it and also because I agree with what she had to say about how great a greener burial would be for the world. When she stated that it gives her "some optimism" for Texas government I had to concur with that statement. I like how the article was introduced and I thought it was well presented and explained.

Adding on to what she had to say a state park is not currently able to purchase more land unless they use it for this kind of purpose, so they would plan on purchasing land "adjacent" to the state park and would prefer to buy land near urban areas so they could "save" the land from development. Luckily the "Green Burial Council" says that no one would be buried near campsites, so that means the regular state parks can run like normal they would just have that extra land to give people an option to be buried naturally. This would give wildlife a chance to be saved from construction. None of this has happened and there aren't any plans of it happening any time soon, but it great that people are seriously talking about it.

I personally am not particularly excited to think about becoming worm food and that is why cremation seems to be the way I want to go but I think this is a great option for people who don't mind that kind of thing and want to become a part of nature and not make too serious of an impact on it

The KXAN article is here.

Locator chips for students

I have heard in the news recently that schools in Texas are using "locator chips" in the students id's to pinpoint exactly where they are in the school to track attendance. This chips even can tell a person the student is in the bathroom which totally crosses boundaries of privacy. There has been some opposition to this because people, especially religious groups, say it doesn't go along with their beliefs. People who support this idea say that they are just trying to make it easier to find the student if they are needed.I have to oppose it, but for reasons different than what some religious groups are saying. I think students should be accountable for getting to class on time, especially high school students. Students these days are being treated like babies and should suffer the same consequences everyone has in the past if they aren't where they need to be on school property.
Another issue to take into consideration with this system is the security of the children. If the system were to compromised and someone who shouldn't be looking at it saw where every specific child was on school property, that could be very dangerous. If schools are considering permanently implementing this they need to make sure that take this in to consideration
 Privacy and freedom are main factors. If these most of these students are old enough to drive, they should be able to have the ability to have freedom and privacy to make their own decisions, even if they are bad ones. This locator card takes the freedom from the student and furthers the feeling that schools are systematic and unforgiving, which is not the idea these kids should be getting.

-an article from The Statesman

Commentary On A Classmates Blog

I read an entry from my classmates blog, Thoughts About Texas Politics. The article I read was "Austin's Environment" and it was about how Austin should be more eco-friendly. I agree with this belief and would like to expand the argument by proving that the beliefs stated are already being put into effect. In an article published by Austin Business Journal the author states that the Austin city council voted and  "unanimously"  passed a bag ban ordinance. The ordinance will begin March of 2013 and will prohibit retail stores from offering "single-use" plastic or paper bags, customers can bring in reusable bags if they wish. My classmate had great insight by saying that completely banning plastic bags without educating people on how to go "green" might be a disaster. In the same article by the Austin Business Journal, it is said that 2 million dollars will go to educating people on how to switch to reusable bags.
 I agreed with one of my classmates ideas or a con to the bag ban of there being and issue of shoplifting with reusable bags, but I think it is a chance that should be worth the risk because it will save the environment.  The only thing I disagreed with my classmate on was the idea that people will have a hard time adjusting to a change like banning plastic bags. I think, like any habit, it will take time but people will eventually remember to bring reusable bags into a store with them. I think it will only takes one time for a person to go into a grocery store and have to carry out all the items without bags to turn it into  a habit.

Are Public- Private Partnerships Good?

   When I was growing up I lived in Round Rock and went to school in Austin. I would love the hour sitting in traffic that it took driving into the city because it meant that I could spend quality time with my father and sometimes catch up on sleep. I would get up at 7:00 and I would get to school at just around 8:00 it didn't seem to bother me then because I wasn't the one driving, but now I can't stand it.
    Traffic has always been a nuisance to deal with in Austin but as more and more people are moving here it is only getting worse. In the past 10 years we have added on toll roads and widened certain highways to improve the congestion, this is all thanks mostly to the Public- Private partnerships that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot) has put in place. It has become apparent that the funds through gas taxes and vehicle registration fees can not keep up with our growing population and the need to maintain and improve upon roads. This is why Texas government has begun to approve private companies to fund and maintain specific parts of road by implementing toll roads. I think these toll roads have been beneficial but really only for the people who live outside of major cities. The people in Austin are still having to deal with congestion in I-35, Mopac, and Research. I have heard talk, though, that TxDot is thinking about partnering up with a private company to widen Mopac to four lanes and create a toll lane to ease congestion there. When I went to TxDot's website to do some research on just who these private companies are, they seem to have detailed evidence of the agreements and have laid out just what their plans are for the roads. I think we should continue to create Public- Private partnerships because they can only have positive outcomes, it seems we will not be able to keep up financially with what our roadways need to make life easier.

An Article from the Star Telegram

Medical School for UT.

  I read 'Taxes for UT?' a blog post on Burka Blog by Paul Burka. It was a post about how UT is not sure they can financially support the new build and operation of the proposed medical school on campus. The idea to make up for this lack of financial support comes in the package of Proposition 1, a tax increase on homeowners in Austin of upwards of almost 200 dollars. Many people oppose the proposition because they obviously don't want the tax hike. Burka seems to not like the idea because, as he states, UT has the most "endowments of any universities in the country," and instead of taking it forcefully from the citizens the form of taxes they could have a huge fundraiser for the money.
    I honestly feel like there is a need for a medical school here in Austin and we should take any measure to ensure that we get that so people who are really sick don't have to drive to Houston to get top notch medical care. The other side to that is that I don't own a home in Texas so I don't really feel like my opinion counts because I am not directly hit, yet. I can see both sides of this but I know that we need a medical school here so Austin can stay at the forefront of medical advancement.I feel like this article is well thought out but I wish he would have given a little more background information or maybe cited a source for a news document. It was short and to the point and i liked that.

Education Reform

I read a commentary by Sara Stevenson, a librarian at O' Henry middle school, about how she believes the attempts to reform education could be doing more harm than good. The reform for public schools consist of standardized testing and “identifying” and getting rid of the teachers who are doing a bad job. A bad job can be considered as not successfully being able to teach a class as big as "45 students." Many parents and teachers are vocal about their opposition to this and their "advocate" is Diane Ravitch. Ravitch was assistant secretary of education for both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and currently works at New York University.

Ravitch shows us that in "1964" when U.S students took the first international test to see where we stood with the rest of the industrialized nations we ranked "12 out of 12." It seems we have not improved or gotten worse in that ranking.

One point Stevenson makes is that "Finland is ranked number one" on that international test and they don’t have standardized testing. She also points out that Finland also has only "four percent" of children in poverty compared to the "59 percent" here in Texas who “qualify for free or reduced lunch.” She states that poverty shouldn’t be a crutch but just a “reality” in why our school system is failing even with the reform. I don’t think statistics on poverty should have an impact on how a child learns if anything the school should be a safe haven not a testing war zone.

Stevenson realizes that many teachers will be fired as well as leave because of these stringent rules and tests that are put in place and she states that we should be asking questions such as “who will take those teachers places?” and “will we break free of our addiction to data?”

I feel like Stevenson could have spoken more for herself in this commentary instead of using Ravitch quotes more than speaking for herself and really stating her own opinion. I think Stevenson’s intended audience are those people who see the changes in school as a negative and disagree with the Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Obama’s Race to the Top reforms. I have to agree that education reform is doing more harm because everyone I know that is still in school is not retaining anything they are learning, they are just memorizing facts for the next test they have to take and forgetting them as soon as that test is over. 

Can Concealed-carry save lives?

An article from the Star Telegram published on September 15th, 2012, "Concealed-carry saves lives, gun advocates say" is about how many people in Texas believe that the shooting in Aurora Colorado could have been stopped if there had been armed movie goers in the theater. The article states that " gun advocates have a new mantra: Gun ownership is not only a constitutional right, it's socially beneficial." There are many examples of how having a gun can ultimately save someone in a deadly situation. The counter argument is that many people might not be able to have enough knowledge to be the “hero.” The victim could miss the person trying to hurt them, or even misuse the gun and end up hurting themselves. I think both sides have a point but I think that is why people who own guns should have a license; it makes sure everyone who owns a gun knows how to use it. This article is worth reading because it gives both sides of the story and makes you think about which side you might support.