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.