A classmate's thoughts on smoking

In response to Albert's post entitled Oh! No smoking here! I believe that the post was nicely written and gave both sides to the argument. I work in a restaurant, and as far as i am concerned, there should be no smoking, obviously, but I do not believe that the legislature has a right to make that decision. What I enjoyed most about Albert's post is the way in which he was able to relate what happened in 2007 to what is happening now and still keep me interested and informed at the same time. Albert writes, " I've seen a chef cooking with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, and the ash barely hanging off the end. It makes you wonder where that ash might be next. I mean, if someone can't smoke in one place, then they'd go off and smoke somewhere else and give other people secondhand smoke. Not to mention, this might hurt some bars that make some revenue off of selling cigarettes to their nicotine addicted customers." This was really gross, yet painted a perfect visual as to how dirty smoking actually is. This was a great post of his. I think that with maybe a little bit more detail we would have been able to form a more valid opinion for ourselves. 

Texas Government and battle scars

The article entitled, Senate passes measure to boost development of solar energy plants, written by Mike Ward and Asher Price in the Austin American Statesman, details how Senate Bill 541 will create a new goal for electricity generated by solar, biomass and geothermal projects across the state. Approval of the bill came as the Texas Public Utility Commission made public a report that concludes that unless the state moves away from carbon-based power generation, federal greenhouse gas regulations could increase electricity prices by as much as $10 billion a year, or $27 a month for the average customer's electric bill. The bill basically goes on to explain how there is a great opportunity for renewable energy in the marketplace, and that this should end up saving us all money in the future. 

As far as Texas government in concerned this is just another example of what our "political heroes" do for us everyday while the legislature is in session. Everyone wants a cleaner environment, right? What i want to know is when do the revisions become too much? I want to know when Texas is going to be ready to scrap the old, stop putting bandages on the open wounds and start over. Renewable energy for example. This sounds great, who wouldn't support that? Oh, and even better, we can save money while we do this! So what ever happened to wind energy? Wasn't that going to be our way out off high electricity costs and a way to save money for consumers? If that really didn't work as well as it should have why are we just covering it up and starting another project, Another example. gambling. Texas has horse racing tracks, and dog racing, and they do have gambling...some what anyway. Is there nothing better for the legislature to do than go back and forth on the issue of having casinos in Texas? The public already knows that this is an issue that is not going to be decided this session, so why bother. Just rip off the band aid and move on to something more important. 

More important I say? What about the biggest cover up of them all; the Texas Constitution. This document that we apparently lean on for all basis of law in this great state has been amended 456 times (and that's in 2007). What is the deal with these lawmakers here in Texas? Can we not spend a legislative session starting anew? Maybe take a fresh look at old problems. Instead of creating new problems like gambling, or solar energy, we should be focusing on the basics. 

The problem with Texas government today is that people don't look at the past, or even at today. Everyone is too busy looking at the future to solve problems that have not even arisen. I believe that it is time to take a step back and get back to the fundamentals of government. 

A classmates blog

I really enjoyed the post entitled Are Sobriety checkpoints the only way by Aleyda. I'll start by saying that the way that the post looks really appealing and easy to read. The paragraphs make it flow together easily, yet stay focused. The most interesting part to her post for me was the way that she added in so many statistics. The numbers really opened my eyes to exactly what she were saying. It seems crazy that less than 1% of people that are arrested at checkpoints are actually arrested for alcohol related reasons. The use of these statistics really help her prove her point and push even those people that are skeptical to her side of the argument. I also really liked how she mentioned that the report that Senator Carona got his information from was from 2007. That is interesting in itself yet when she followed it up with the fact that the 2008 report showed a decline in alcohol related deaths i almost wanted to laugh a little bit. All in all i really did enjoy this post of A. I agree with you in her conclusion, yet she easily convinced me that this seems like an idea that needs some more thought put into it. Her use of statistics as well as specific evidence really made this post stand out for me. She really did and awesome job!