FINAL ASSIGNMENT!!!

I totally agree with this argument, swine flu has been totally out of proportion by the media and is honestly not that big of a deal. The other major point that I believe should be added is the fact that(this gonna sound crazy but) we should let people get the flu, which someone my say is crazy but if we get it now the population will build up a resilience and when the swine flu comes back, stronger(as is predicted) the effect won't be as large. This method has proved itself in the past in the days of small pox a very deadly disease at the time it was noticed that the maids who contracted cow pox(a much weaker form of the disease) from milking cows, did not contract in large quantities and those that did, did not die. Otherwise I thought it was a very good article full of supporting links and good arguments.

Low, Low turnout expected

Today Austin-American Statesman released perdictions that only 10-14 percent of registered voters in Austin will turn out to vote in the heating up mayoral election race. 10-14?!?!?!?! How could only 10-14% of the 526,187 turn out to vote in the elections that will have the most effect on our everyday life. Personally I always plan to vote on the people that can effect my everyday life. Besides if you don't you don't exercise your right to vote, then one can't really complain, or be upset with their own government if they didn't take the time to care about the issues in the first place. The Austin-American Statesman also recently posted that only 5.9% of registered voters showed up for early voting, which is now closed. One thing thought to bring in additional voters is the recent accusations that the candidates have been throwing at eachother. I believe that more people should go vote for the people that have the most effect on our lives, but I don't believe a bunch of accusations that come up every election, should draw out those voters. 

sorry this is late, More guns at school = BAD

Over the past couple of years the number of shootings on school campuses has increased dramatically. Although compared to the college shootings in the past the recent shootings have caused relatively low amounts of deaths when compared individually(with the major exception of VT). These college shooting have become much more frequent and slightly less deadly because not as much planning have been put into the attacks(When compared to attacks like Columbine). One would think that the logical choice is to arm the people too defend themselves, but as this article points out we should leave that to the professionals. Arming students and professors is just a terrible idea, do we really want to allow a bunch of irresponsible and easily angered people carry guns on campus??? Now I'm not saying all students are like this but it only takes one to start a mass of shooting. Besides what if a madman comes on campus and shoots a student, another student shoots the perpetrator, and then a third student sees the perp get shot and thinks the "hero" is the madman. It would just start chaos that would rapidly spread and likely end in a greater tragedy than if the law enforcement stepped in. I completely agree with Mr. Galloway's post and Mr. Coronado's commentary that the peace keeping should be left to the people who have qualified for the job, been trained to handle extreme situations and have proven that they are trustworthy. And if such an event is occurs under their watch its their job to figure out what went wrong, how to fix it and too never let it happen again. And if they cant adequately protect the students we need to find someone who can! If this bill passed I would feel less safe on campuses, because of the knowledge that almost anyone can have a weapon.

Drought Disaster Declared in Travis County

Today the Austin American Statesman, reported that the Travis county commisioners unanimously decided to declare a drought disaster in Travis county. The county commisioners sent a letter to governor Rick Perry to support his effort for relief funds for the disaster and they also gave the Texas AgriLife Extension Service the go ahead to do a study on the effects of the drought on farmers and ranchers. In Bastrop county 1000 head of cattle have died since the drought began two years ago, while in Travis county the damage to the livestock is not as severe it is definitly a prominent and looming threat. The death of the livestock is due to the fact that 75% of the livestock ponds and water sources are dried up or unfit for livestock. 

The ongoing drought combined with the recent decline in the stock market, failing banks, and the national government trying to bail out water from a fast sinking ship seem awfully reminiscint of the great depresssion and the dust bowl. 

So what does the future hold for the economy and climate? Well no one knows for sure but hopefully we'll see a complete turn around like after the great depression.

Texas Rainmaker

On March 27Th, 2009 the Texas Rainmaker blog, criticizes the national government for not aiding the the families affected by the recent flooding in Fargo, South Dakota. But his argument for this criticism is very fallacious and goes as far to say that the reason the government doesn't help is that Barack Obama hates white people. The author asks a series of rhetorical questions, that effectively ask where are the liberals while this problem is occurring, and then goes on to say that the citizens "busting their asses in sub-freezing temperatures to help themselves". The error with this argument is if the citizens are helping themselves then where are the conservatives that are part of our national government and why aren't they helping. The other major fallacy in his argument is that later in the comments he boldly states, "Personal responsibility… A concept lost on liberals" (meaning the people affected should do it), which totally contradicts his initial bashing of the liberal government when he claims it is not helping. He even makes me remember election time when he states "How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Fargo flooding ever again?", because throughout Barack Obama's campaign the conservatives were constantly criticizing the media sources for being too "easy" on him. Overall this authors work was very fallacious in my opinion, did not have a lot of supporting evidence and more so did not make sense at all because it was poorly organized and written. Obama does not hate white people, I guarantee it.

Guns and College don't necessarily mix.

Recently in the Dallas Morning News, there was an editorial concerning whether or not guns and concealed weapons should be allowed on campus by students and faculty with the proper certifications and paper work. The article brings up several good point on both sides and then makes a very compelling argument against the possession of firearms on school campuses. The author points out that most people do not want another incident like the one at Virginia Tech in 2007 and therefore weapons might help, but soon turns it completely around by stating "it's also possible that a well-intentioned gun-toting student or professor could make matters much worse. They could wind up being shot by police, mistaken as the gunman. They could shoot the wrong person." These are all valid and compelling points, the author's ability to point out how a possible solution to the problem could make matters even worse, is probably his best attribute in writing. Personally I am all for protecting the citizens' second amendment rights, but I believe that there is a time and a place where guns should absolutely never be carried by anyone except by those who are paid to keep people safe. Another good argument that he makes is that by law, unless the school has it written that certain people can have weapons (11 universities) it is completely illegal to have a weapon on school properties. He also brings up the issue of other secured (gun free) facilities that we have such as polling places and secured airports where there have been problems with gunmen in the past and the fact that armed civilians could help the problem is debatable as well.

 

Stimulus Money may go to restoration of Governor's mansion

According to the Austin American Statesman, the Texas State legislature is considering sending over 700 million dollars to unspecified public works projects. The Senate finance committee has even reportedly suggested that a portion of these funds go to the restoration of the Governor's Gansion. Where are we gonna get 700 million dollars for "unspecified public works projects", you might ask. The funding for these projects comes directly from 16 billion dollar stimulus package we should be receiving any day now. It is also reported that the main advocate for this proposition will be Chairman Steve Ogden, who supposedly sent John Sneed to go find out if part of the stimulus money could be used on restoring and upgrading the Governor's Mansion.