Death Penalty

Author of “Everything’s Bigger in Texas” recently blogged about the current issues with the death penalty in Texas. The death penalty has been in the news lately because of the recent milestone mark of the 500^th execution in Texas. 

The author poses the question, do two wrongs really ever make a right? Personally I am in agreement with the death penalty for several reasons. However, I do not think that two wrongs make a right but I do believe in justice and karma. Although the death penalty is cruel in that a person’s life can be taken away, why should we allow them a life in prison as an alternative? In a sense, we are paying to house and feed these criminals who might have harmed our loved ones. This is something I struggle to understand when people make the argument that legal injections should be taken out of the picture and a person who has murdered should just be give life in prison.

The author also argues about the system and how consistent it really is. I agree with her about the system not always being consistent and possibly slightly biased depending on the case. However, not every system will be perfect and if this is the case, does it make sense to keep a not so perfect system when human lives are at stake? Although I previously stated my support for the death penalty, I still question various aspects of the law and how it is being applied in our society.

MetroRapid

The Capital Metro is working on a new transport system called the MetroRapid. This new transportation system is supposed to change transportation in and around the University of Texas campus area drastically. MetroRapid, which can be used starting next spring, will be a faster and more efficient way to use Austin's public transportation. This system is appealing to students at the university because of its easy accessible bus stop locations. The new bus system will be implementing new technology that allows the bus to "talk" to traffic lights allowing them to stay green, which will potentially get passengers from point A to point B much faster. In addition, the bus stops will be displaying the exact time the bus will be arriving and if the bus has been delayed, the times will be updated through a GPS tracker on the bus. This alone makes riding the much much more efficient. As a student at the University of Texas who currently uses the bus system, I believe that these changes will make my ride to and from campus much more efficient due to these new changes that will be taking place soon. The real time arrival information will make it easier for me to plan  The bus system is also trying to meet the needs of all students who live on and around campus so many of the routes are going to try and accommodate the dispersion of the students. By running more often, the wait time in between buses decreases which also will save a rider time in transit. Overall, I feel that the MetroRapid will be a good addition to our public transportation and it will hopefully a more efficient mode of transportation.

Six Drop Rule in Texas

In Erika's blog Ehauer Government Summer Blog, she evaluated the law that limits first time undergraduates or transfers from dropping more than six classes. Her critique was very well written and thoughtful. The arguments made against this bill were thorough and evidence was provided to fully support her argument.

The biggest argument made in regard to this bill relates to rule that states a student is allowed to drop a class before the 12th class day in order for it to not count as a withdrawal. I completely agree that this is not enough time for a student to decide how the course is going to go. Most of the time, the first exam of the course has not even taken place. From my personal experience, there have been many upper division biology courses that I have taken that seemed easy at the start. However, I quickly discovered after the first exam the class was going downhill and by this time, the only way I could drop the class is to count it as one of my six drops.

As Erika made clear, things happen and they are never expected. Placing a limit on the number of drops makes it challenging for people with harder majors and people who might encounter extreme circumstances through out their time in college.  

Standardized Tests in Texas:

Parents of young children complain that in their children's classes, they take too much time focusing on reviewing for the state exams. Texas implements the No Child Left Behind Act which requires states to test public school students in grades through eight annually in reading and math, and at least once in a science in both elementary and middle. I agree that a lot of time is wasted during the school year focusing on preparing for these exams. In middle school we spent days at a time taking practice exams even though the middle school I went to had a 97% commended rate on all subjects. As students, we enjoyed review days because that meant we didn't have to learn new material. Now hearing about other parents complaining about the time wasted during the school year, I understand where they are coming from. I realize we should be testing our children after the school year in order to evaluate the amount of material being taught and retained during the school years but I do feel like the amount of time being used to prepare for these exams can be allotted better. It does not benefit the student further down the road because there could possibly be gaps in the material if it was skipped or briefly covered due to preparing for these exams. Why should the teachers be molding their teaching schedule around preparing for the exam. The same thing happened to me in high school, in all my AP classes the teacher would focus on the material we needed to do well on for the AP exam versus covering all the material for the course. I feel like there should be a better balance in schools when it comes to preparing for the exams.

Texas Insider Editorial

On July 22, 2013, the Texas Insider published an editorial called "Chairman Smith Threatens to Subpoena EPA Secret Science". A little background into the Texas Insider, it is a right-leaning, conservative Texas State and Political blog.  The audience of this editorial is most likely other politically conservative people that are likely to read the Texas Insider to begin with. The argument is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not releasing their "secret science", which is the data they use as the basis of the costly regulations. The editorial is assuming that since the Environmental Protection Agency is not cooperating with their request to release the data to the Science, Space, and Technology Committee they base their regulations on, that they have something to hide. The editorial goes on to say that their reluctance to share the information to the American people might be an indicator that the research studies are weak. The main evidence that the committee has against the Environmental Protection Agency is that they sent in several letters requesting the information and have been shut down by the administration. I believe the argument is successful in convincing the reader that something fishy is going on with the Environmental Protection Agency and their reluctance to release gathered data. For the most part, I am convinced that with this editorial is arguing is indeed factual. Accepting this argument does not require me to rethink any of my own beliefs in regards to this area because I did not really have an set beliefs when it comes to these kinds of political issues.

The Daily Texan: Opinion Column

The column Texas women aren't going to take abortion restrictions lightly is a series written by UT students that The Daily Texan has been publishing in response to the ongoing debate over abortion regulations.  The audience it is directed towards university students and younger adults.  The basic argument being made is that, Texas women are not happy with these new regulations and they plan on voicing their opinion. The student makes the argument that as females, we have been told what we can and can't do. This includes the type of jobs a female can and cannot hold to the appropriate age that a female can bear children. The argument made does contain substantial evidence that supports the authors opinion. Examples in the article argue that sexual assault and rape are reasons supporting the authors position on this debate. The argument is successful in providing insight into the position against  abortion regulations. I was not convinced by the argument however, the evidence for why abortion regulations should not exist are very valid points. Although, my opinion will never budge because religiously, we believe that abortions are not allowed. This being said, I have always wondered about the special circumstances such as sexual assault or rape. This article reinforced my concerns about these special cases but the article did not make me refine what i previously believed. It seems that females are more focused with abortion regulations effecting their "rights" instead of looking at the big picture. I believe that if pre-marital sex is condemned, like many religions believe, we wouldn't even be in this situation. I have a hard time understanding why females are so outraged, the way i see it is females want the right to sleep with many partners and be careless and have a safety net if a pregnancy occurs. I completely understand the argument regarding sexual assault and rape but any other argument being made seems to be coming from a self-centered, careless place.

Abortion Legislation

On Tuesday July 13, 2013, The Daily Texan published an article titled Democrats remain determined despite Texas senate passing abortion legislation. The Texas senate passed the legislation with a 19-11 vote. The bill will ban abortion after 20 weeks and increase the standard safety at abortion clinics.  Many people who were protesting during the ongoing debate were not pleased once the legislation passed. After Cecile Richard's successfully filibuster identical abortion legislation during the first special session, a second special session was called.