Legalizing Marijuana

When reading my colleagues writing on her opinion on the legalization of marijuana, I completely disagree. I do believe that this person should have used more facts to make her point but since this is an editorial, I guess that does work. First off, I do not smoke marijuana but I know plenty of educated individuals who do. Legalizing marijuana would create a new multi-billion dollar industry in the United States with a substance that can be taxed by the Federal Government thereby generating more money to fund government programs and create more government jobs. Isn't that exactly what we need? Marijuana has also been proven on more than one occasion to not cause cancer unlike it's legal counterparts tobacco and alcohol. Patients suffering from things like Cancer, Aids, chronic pain and insomnia would have easy access to a natural pain reliever. With that being said, I think the least of our worries would be that people would be walking around more calm and "chill-faced" then usual.

Pell Grants in Higher Education

Pell Grants in higher education is vital to those who cannot afford to put themselves through school. With a new act in federal legislation that cuts the middle man ( private banks) out of the equation, students not only in Texas will still be able to recieve the amount they need. Without this new legislation, it was talked about that there might have to be cuts in the amount each person could recieve to meet a certain budget. With the way that the economy is, tuition is going to be rising and people just can't afford to not recieve the gift of a pell grant in the amount that they need.
The way that the federal government is going to do this, is to phase out the banks that the students would be paying for their federal student loans and have the student pay directly to the federal government. This cuts out a cost that can go towards the pot of pell grant money.
Even though I personally don't recieve pell grants or student loans, I believe that in the future it may come to that and it makes me feel reassured that there is help for higher education. I know many people personally that rely on pell grants and loans that would suffer emmensely without them. Way to go new legislation!

FILL OUT YOUR CENSUS

My classmate wrote an original editorial about the census and it's turn out rate thus far. I completely agree with what she says and the questions that she is wondering about why there are so many people who haven't filled out the forms. I do believe that there are many places that could benefit if the census was just filled out and turned in. So many people are too wrapped up in their lives to realize how much the lack of information could hurt our community, city, state etc. I think that the idea of sending out the census a second time and having census workers going door- to- door is a very pushy but good idea to try to reinstate the importance. I completely support this!

Immigration in Texas

The issue of immigration and illegal immigrants coming into Texas' boundaries has been an on-going concern for some time now. According to the Texas Tribune, the Migration Policy Institute has reported that over 1 million illegal immigrants and their children reside in Texas at this time. Texans are just plain tired of this costly nonsense. Tax payers are paying for the illegal aliens to live with money that could be very beneficial in other areas of our agenda. Because the federal government has talked and talked and put no action into this problem, Texans believe that the state should step in and do something about it. The issue seems now with getting anti-immigration laws to pass, as many bills have come along and have not passed.

Immigrant advocates have been working against the anti-immigration laws as they argue that the illegal immigrants are crucial to our economy as they fill jobs such as construction and some service industry jobs. Their main concern is that some businesses will fail as a result of the laws.

Seeing both sides of the issue, my support lies with the anti-immigration crew. I agree businesses should be penalized if they are caught with employees that they are aware are illegal. It just seems fair.

Health Care on the Menu

According to "The Right Standard" blog site, which leans toward the conservative right side, the article Health Care On The Menu discusses a pretty valid issue that Republicans against Obama's healthcare reform have.

The article speaks about the fact that with Obama's healthcare reform, it would be required by law for small businesses to offer their employees health insurance. This leads to the issue that small businesses cannot afford this and would be forced to raise prices on their products to be able to comply to the law. As a result, some customers may become angry and revenues will fall, possibly causing the small business to lose customers and maybe even close their doors for good. The article also mentions that cities as large as San Francisco have lost around two hundred small businesses in the last four years. This cannot be good. The writer believes that President Obama has not put into consideration all of the consequences that the Healthcare Reform may have.

This article is on a right leaning conservative website, which seems to me that it would be aimed at the right wing crew of Republicans but everyone should take this into consideration. It seems credible because of the embedded link that the blogger adds for Fox News.

I agree with the blogger on this issue because it is legitimate and it makes sense why this law has not been established in the past. Our future will pay for the mistakes made as long as President Obama continues to push irresponsible policies to satisfy his own political agenda.

Editorial Board- Our stump: Get out and vote

The article I found in the Editorial section of the Austin American Statesman was an opinion on the candidates in the upcoming primary election and the primary election itself which takes place Tuesday March 2nd. The author also touches on Texas being an all Republican State and the need for change with that, as well as elections for the Supreme Court Judge spot. The article seems to be leaning toward the left on the political spectrum and the opinions are fairly strong. The writer says, "Texas Republicans seem on the verge of nominating Perry for another four-year term, which would give him 14 years in office. Thanks for your service, governor, but we wish you would not have sought re-election." I find it strange that the intended audience for this article would seem to be Texans as a whole but as I read I felt as if it was aimed more at the liberal Austinites who love change. The main point the author is trying to make is that people (with a focus on the people of Austin) need to use the "most powerful tool they have" and vote. He does mention that a person should do their research before stepping into the poll booth though. I think that it is safe to say that the author is credible. I would say this because he/she works for the Statesman rather than being a guest writer for a political blog of some sort. I don't agree with everything in the article but I believe the writer makes valid points about important issues and I agree that the people of Texas should vote. Another thought, I gained respect for this author when he/she mentioned that the voters should remember to be kind and thankful to the poll workers as they make close to nothing for their long hours.