This post is in response to; Ms. Murken's post entitled Childhood Hunger. In her post she talks about the new national initiative called Share our Strength which our great state has adopted and re-named the No Kid Hungry Campaign. I know the name could be a little more original, I am not sure who they hire to come up with the names of these programs but they sure could use a little sprucing up.
The "meat and potatoes" of the plan (no pun intended) is this; that there are too many hungry children in our state and nation and we plan on providing free breakfasts for them as well as after school snacks and meals in the summers and breaks in order to try and increase their level of “food security” I applaud their efforts however misplaced I feel them to be. I was one of the recipients of the original "Free School Lunches" program launched by former President Clinton. I am thankful to have had it however, I am not sure if I agree with the way it is implemented.
This is because I believe in the "teach people to fish" school of thought and not necessarily the “give them the fish" school.
I tend to believe the problem of childhood hunger is just a symptom of a much greater and graver illness in our state and nation. The sickness of too many children being born into under educated, under prepared households, of chronic joblessness and non-self reliance. These problems are like a cancer eating away at our very health as a nation. The clear result of which is the number of hungry children in our nation.
This does not mean I do not support making sure that these children have something nutritious to eat. I do in fact, but it is only putting a band-aid on the bleeding ulcer that needs the real attention. We need to be proactive in the fight by taking preventative measures of ensuring that our education system is working and not just failing the less fortunate by allowing them to drop out and have children they shouldn’t especially when they do not have a job or a way to support the children. It is not only a disservice to the person we are allowing to drop-out but their children as well and society as a whole because we all end up paying to raise their children with programs like this.
I feel we really need to improve our job market domestically to give under-educated persons more of a chance at making a living instead of just throwing welfare at them. I understand everyone makes decisions in life and sometimes we live to regret these decisions for instance, the decision to drop out of high school is a personal decision and I'm sure it’s one that most who make it come to regret (I know I did) when they realize their prospects of employment are severely limited for the rest of their lives barring good-fortune and a whole lot of hard work and effort to overcome the bad decision they made as a teen-ager.
As far as the government program is concerned if we devoted some of these resources to vocational services for the children’s parents who are either un-employed or under-employed they may be able to better themselves and their children in turn.
Overall I feel Ms. Murken had a very upbeat and idealistic view on the situation, especially the part about the program possibly increasing the number of kids enrolling in College. Her view strikes me as being overly optimistic to say the least, there are kids who will go to College and those who won't. Income level has a lot to do with it but not everything; I know plenty of rich kids that feel College is just not right for them. Just like a lot of poor kids think the same. Those who understand the importance of College will inevitably seek out a higher education even if they take a non-traditional path there (like me). Bottom line is this though we need jobs and personal responsibility in this country now! If we had more of these two things there would be much, much less hungry children out there.
Sincerely, Rider on the Storm
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
"The System" works about as well as...
A coon dog that can't bark.
In the editorial; Systems don't fail; people do published in the Austin American Statesman by; the Editorial Board. It talks about the infamous Morton case and how a now exonerated and innocent man was wrongly convicted of his wife’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. He served 25 years of this sentence before being exonerated through DNA evidence which indicated someone else was responsible.
Ken Anderson was the district attorney who prosecuted the case back in 1987. He pursued charges against Morton even though there was testimony saying that Morton wasn't home when the murder occurred and other physical evidence found at the crime scene suggesting another suspect, which would in my opinion at least have cast the shadow of a doubt the man could have been innocent and justified further investigation into the case.
But ol' Ken didn't think so he vigorously prosecuted an innocent man with the hopes of quickly rail-roading this through the court and making sure in the process he was exemplifying the reason why "the system" is completely inadequate when it comes to protecting the rights of the accused.
We always hear the statement "they are presumed innocent until proven guilty" I tend to feel that is just lip-service and what it really means is your screwed because the huge and powerful justice system has you in its sights. So you may as well pack your bags say your goodbyes and find out when it's Salisbury steak night in the state pen because for all intents and purposes when someone is "accused" of a crime and the state decides to press charges. A trial is typically just a formality because facts are facts when a prosecutor brings a case to trial it has usually already been tried in the court of public opinion and unless you are rich or powerful the opinion usually isn’t in your favor.
So for normal folks out there, if for some reason you come home to the nightmare that Morton was faced with please just realize that you really have about the same chance of beating the charges as a snow-ball has of making it all the way through hell.
I feel so terrible for the man. The despair and hopelessness he must have felt that no one would believe him not to mention the tremendous tragedy of him losing his wife and being separated from his children for their entire life’s. It truly tears at the heart in my chest when I try and imagine myself in his shoes. He truly is a wonderful and brave man for having the perseverance to keep his faith all these years.
Cases like Mr. Morton’s are shining examples of the flaws which are entirely too pervasive in our criminal justice system. I agree totally with the Editorial Board who wrote this piece because our system depends on people and people all too often have their values compromised due to ambition and pressure to produce convictions instead of pressure to produce justice.
Overall the piece was really well written and means a lot to me personally because I have long been an advocate for change in the criminal justice system. Also I agree with their criticism of Ken for his half hearted and deflective apology. If he had any integrity at all he would take personal responsibility for what happened and strive to ensure nothing like this ever happens again!
In the editorial; Systems don't fail; people do published in the Austin American Statesman by; the Editorial Board. It talks about the infamous Morton case and how a now exonerated and innocent man was wrongly convicted of his wife’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. He served 25 years of this sentence before being exonerated through DNA evidence which indicated someone else was responsible.
Ken Anderson was the district attorney who prosecuted the case back in 1987. He pursued charges against Morton even though there was testimony saying that Morton wasn't home when the murder occurred and other physical evidence found at the crime scene suggesting another suspect, which would in my opinion at least have cast the shadow of a doubt the man could have been innocent and justified further investigation into the case.
But ol' Ken didn't think so he vigorously prosecuted an innocent man with the hopes of quickly rail-roading this through the court and making sure in the process he was exemplifying the reason why "the system" is completely inadequate when it comes to protecting the rights of the accused.
We always hear the statement "they are presumed innocent until proven guilty" I tend to feel that is just lip-service and what it really means is your screwed because the huge and powerful justice system has you in its sights. So you may as well pack your bags say your goodbyes and find out when it's Salisbury steak night in the state pen because for all intents and purposes when someone is "accused" of a crime and the state decides to press charges. A trial is typically just a formality because facts are facts when a prosecutor brings a case to trial it has usually already been tried in the court of public opinion and unless you are rich or powerful the opinion usually isn’t in your favor.
So for normal folks out there, if for some reason you come home to the nightmare that Morton was faced with please just realize that you really have about the same chance of beating the charges as a snow-ball has of making it all the way through hell.
I feel so terrible for the man. The despair and hopelessness he must have felt that no one would believe him not to mention the tremendous tragedy of him losing his wife and being separated from his children for their entire life’s. It truly tears at the heart in my chest when I try and imagine myself in his shoes. He truly is a wonderful and brave man for having the perseverance to keep his faith all these years.
Cases like Mr. Morton’s are shining examples of the flaws which are entirely too pervasive in our criminal justice system. I agree totally with the Editorial Board who wrote this piece because our system depends on people and people all too often have their values compromised due to ambition and pressure to produce convictions instead of pressure to produce justice.
Overall the piece was really well written and means a lot to me personally because I have long been an advocate for change in the criminal justice system. Also I agree with their criticism of Ken for his half hearted and deflective apology. If he had any integrity at all he would take personal responsibility for what happened and strive to ensure nothing like this ever happens again!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
I never thought I would agree with a Marine.
In the article on "The Gunny's" blog post; http://marineviewperryrun2whouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/are-we-really-exceptional.html. My esteemed classmate commends the city of Round Rock's implementation of strict water conservation policies, and his personal disdain for people who are ignorant and careless enough to blatantly violate the restrictions for the sake of having a nice lawn. He also expresses his disappointment with the actual enforcement of the restrictions by the city’s Police Department.
I found myself getting a little "hot under the collar" when I was reading his story of how he was driving home and saw two separate people violating the ordnance and watering their lawns. Even more frustrating for me was the fact that they were doing so in the middle of the day when it is actually detrimental to their lawns because the grass gets scorched by the evaporation of the water caused by the heat of the mid-day sun. The actions he took are what more people should do we are all responsible for protecting the water supply so I must applaud "The Gunny" for having the intestinal fortitude and integrity to actually tell these individuals that they were not supposed to be doing what they were doing.
I also empathize with his level of confusion and frustration toward the reaction of the Round Rock Police department basically telling him "they don't care". It is tantamount to the city implementing the restrictions just for the sake of saying that they had, without having any actual intention of ever enforcing the new laws. This is an all too common byproduct of a pessimistic and non-proactive government and society. It seems to me the only time we really care about the major issues we face like; our current drought and water supply problem, is when they have become to severe to actually do anything meaningful about.
My example is the levee system on the Mississippi River the levee system built by the Army Core of Engineers. The system has long been known to be completely inadequate if there were a large magnitude flood. The State and Federal Governments just kept on passing the buck on to the next guys in line until finally we had a huge flood event in early 2011 and the inadequate levee system all along the rivers length failed and destroyed millions of acres. This may not have been preventable entirely but it certainly could have been mitigated to a much greater extent than it was.
This is why we as Texans seriously need to take a real, long-term, extensive and proactive approach to the impending disaster which we face of running out of fresh water. If you think I'm just exaggerating then you are fooling yourselves! You can think of our water supply as a system. The way a system works is it receives input and produces outputs. The inputs in this case are rain and snowfall which drains into the Colorado River system and the output is the fresh water we harvest from the system. In order to maintain the system there has to be a balance between the input and output levels, we are currently experiencing the worst shortage of input in Texas history (the draught) yet are increasing the output to the highest level in Texas history due to our increasing population. If we are not able to bring the problem under control then we face the failure of the system completely and all we are left with is nothing but empty glasses and dried up communities.
So I implore you to please be more conscious of our water supply not waste it for any reason, because we simply can't go to wall-mart and get more. Once it's gone it's gone at least until the draught ends, whenever that may be.
I found myself getting a little "hot under the collar" when I was reading his story of how he was driving home and saw two separate people violating the ordnance and watering their lawns. Even more frustrating for me was the fact that they were doing so in the middle of the day when it is actually detrimental to their lawns because the grass gets scorched by the evaporation of the water caused by the heat of the mid-day sun. The actions he took are what more people should do we are all responsible for protecting the water supply so I must applaud "The Gunny" for having the intestinal fortitude and integrity to actually tell these individuals that they were not supposed to be doing what they were doing.
I also empathize with his level of confusion and frustration toward the reaction of the Round Rock Police department basically telling him "they don't care". It is tantamount to the city implementing the restrictions just for the sake of saying that they had, without having any actual intention of ever enforcing the new laws. This is an all too common byproduct of a pessimistic and non-proactive government and society. It seems to me the only time we really care about the major issues we face like; our current drought and water supply problem, is when they have become to severe to actually do anything meaningful about.
My example is the levee system on the Mississippi River the levee system built by the Army Core of Engineers. The system has long been known to be completely inadequate if there were a large magnitude flood. The State and Federal Governments just kept on passing the buck on to the next guys in line until finally we had a huge flood event in early 2011 and the inadequate levee system all along the rivers length failed and destroyed millions of acres. This may not have been preventable entirely but it certainly could have been mitigated to a much greater extent than it was.
This is why we as Texans seriously need to take a real, long-term, extensive and proactive approach to the impending disaster which we face of running out of fresh water. If you think I'm just exaggerating then you are fooling yourselves! You can think of our water supply as a system. The way a system works is it receives input and produces outputs. The inputs in this case are rain and snowfall which drains into the Colorado River system and the output is the fresh water we harvest from the system. In order to maintain the system there has to be a balance between the input and output levels, we are currently experiencing the worst shortage of input in Texas history (the draught) yet are increasing the output to the highest level in Texas history due to our increasing population. If we are not able to bring the problem under control then we face the failure of the system completely and all we are left with is nothing but empty glasses and dried up communities.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Texas announces new education reforms
Coming soon to a Texas public school near you will be a new achievement test which will be implemented this coming spring. The new test referred to as the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test is set to replace the old assessment test the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills).
Under the new STAAR program (which was voted for in 2007 and will only be implemented in the freshman class this year) there are several major changes which will dramatically effect the students being subjected to the new standards, the new test will have more questions, a time limit and the test scores will count for 15% of the students final grades for the year.
This of course is of major concern to many students and parents,given the fact that here in Texas students that are ranked in the top 10% of their class are guaranteed admission into a public college in Texas. These new standards will shake things up a bit to say the least. The law also allows students to re-take the exam for any reason, which in my opinion is a waste of resources because the point of a test is to check your knowledge. If you take it and do poorly then you have a good idea of how to prepare in order to do better the 2nd time around, this seems to me to skew the actual results.
There are many ways in which the individual districts can implement the new requirements. For instance it may be given on a pass/fail basis, where if you pass you are given 100% credit and if you fail you are given 69%, (which to me seems unfair to the students who actually do perform exceptionally well the first time) or it will be weighted according to the actual score and therefore be accurately reflected in their final class grades.
Teachers are also concerned and for good reason too. Texas's teachers already produce some of the poorest performing school districts in the entire nation. With the more rigorous test requirements they will predictably only get worse. The simple implementation of new standards does not change the real problems underlying the poor performance. Issues like; student absences and the automatic promotion from grade to grade of students who are clearly not ready for the advancement in curriculum. These issues create a multitude of problems for teachers who cannot control these factors and do not have the time or resources to adequately focus on the students who are behind the curve so they only fall further behind.
In my opinion standardized tests are not a good idea because there are too many variables regarding the material to be tested over. Variables like; the class size, the schools ethnic and economic make-up, the attendance and drop-out rates and the overall ability of the teachers in the classrooms. Most importantly though is how involved parents are in their children’s educations.
I believe in the current system we place entirely too much emphasis on the destination and not on the journey. Meaning if you only worry about making sure students are ready to take a test then you aren't paying enough attention to teaching students how to learn, which is in my opinion as crucial as any information you could ever be taught. (Honestly how much of your 3rd grade language arts class do you actually remember?), I certainly don't remember much. I could be using terrible grammar and not know it. However fortunately for me I was taught how to learn and now thankfully I have the ability to understand just about anything I focus on due to my ability to systematically process the material.
Also I don't think that the simple memorization of material for a test is an adequate measure of individual students’ abilities. It does nothing to measure the intangibles like; the student’s work ethic or their set of values. Which are more important to employers than how much information you can memorize (just to forget it as soon as it is no longer needed).
Finally my prescription for this ailment in our school system is that we should begin teaching our children how to learn and process information starting at a very young age based on several factors like; how they learn i.e. through hands on application, through text or a combination and their individual learning speeds. Some children just need a little more time to grasp a new concept than others this does not mean they are not as smart it simply means they need more practice conceptualizing new ideas.
We should also devote much more financial and human resources in what I call "community teaching", this is when the community as a whole recognizes the students falling behind and or not attending class regularly and focus intently on not allowing them to fail. It begins with the parents but it is a job for everyone, like the old saying goes "it takes a village". It is crucial for our society that we do this because the cost of allowing one single drop-out from high-school is far too great a long-term cost to society to just let happen.
Under the new STAAR program (which was voted for in 2007 and will only be implemented in the freshman class this year) there are several major changes which will dramatically effect the students being subjected to the new standards, the new test will have more questions, a time limit and the test scores will count for 15% of the students final grades for the year.
This of course is of major concern to many students and parents,given the fact that here in Texas students that are ranked in the top 10% of their class are guaranteed admission into a public college in Texas. These new standards will shake things up a bit to say the least. The law also allows students to re-take the exam for any reason, which in my opinion is a waste of resources because the point of a test is to check your knowledge. If you take it and do poorly then you have a good idea of how to prepare in order to do better the 2nd time around, this seems to me to skew the actual results.
There are many ways in which the individual districts can implement the new requirements. For instance it may be given on a pass/fail basis, where if you pass you are given 100% credit and if you fail you are given 69%, (which to me seems unfair to the students who actually do perform exceptionally well the first time) or it will be weighted according to the actual score and therefore be accurately reflected in their final class grades.
Teachers are also concerned and for good reason too. Texas's teachers already produce some of the poorest performing school districts in the entire nation. With the more rigorous test requirements they will predictably only get worse. The simple implementation of new standards does not change the real problems underlying the poor performance. Issues like; student absences and the automatic promotion from grade to grade of students who are clearly not ready for the advancement in curriculum. These issues create a multitude of problems for teachers who cannot control these factors and do not have the time or resources to adequately focus on the students who are behind the curve so they only fall further behind.
In my opinion standardized tests are not a good idea because there are too many variables regarding the material to be tested over. Variables like; the class size, the schools ethnic and economic make-up, the attendance and drop-out rates and the overall ability of the teachers in the classrooms. Most importantly though is how involved parents are in their children’s educations.
I believe in the current system we place entirely too much emphasis on the destination and not on the journey. Meaning if you only worry about making sure students are ready to take a test then you aren't paying enough attention to teaching students how to learn, which is in my opinion as crucial as any information you could ever be taught. (Honestly how much of your 3rd grade language arts class do you actually remember?), I certainly don't remember much. I could be using terrible grammar and not know it. However fortunately for me I was taught how to learn and now thankfully I have the ability to understand just about anything I focus on due to my ability to systematically process the material.
Also I don't think that the simple memorization of material for a test is an adequate measure of individual students’ abilities. It does nothing to measure the intangibles like; the student’s work ethic or their set of values. Which are more important to employers than how much information you can memorize (just to forget it as soon as it is no longer needed).
Finally my prescription for this ailment in our school system is that we should begin teaching our children how to learn and process information starting at a very young age based on several factors like; how they learn i.e. through hands on application, through text or a combination and their individual learning speeds. Some children just need a little more time to grasp a new concept than others this does not mean they are not as smart it simply means they need more practice conceptualizing new ideas.
We should also devote much more financial and human resources in what I call "community teaching", this is when the community as a whole recognizes the students falling behind and or not attending class regularly and focus intently on not allowing them to fail. It begins with the parents but it is a job for everyone, like the old saying goes "it takes a village". It is crucial for our society that we do this because the cost of allowing one single drop-out from high-school is far too great a long-term cost to society to just let happen.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Keeping the "status quo"
Austin officially keeps May elections
From the blog posted on Off the Kuff on 09 Oct, 2011 by Charles Kuffner
The blog discusses the recent debate about whether or not to hold the city mayor election and other bond issues in November instead of May. This issue has been the subject of heated debate and is going to continue to be since four city council members voted not to hold the elections in November. They did so in 3 separate votes (citing the city's charter as mandating the elections to be held in May), even though many organizations and people have supported the idea of moving it to November when more people will be in the city to vote. It says that the extremely low voter turnout in May is partly because many students who live here are out of town on summer break and will not get a chance to participate in the elections as well as making it more difficult for service members stationed overseas to cast their ballots. Overall the blog does not react favorably to the Council’s decision not to move the election to Nov 2012.
The intended audience is anyone with a vested interest in democracy (which should be everyone). The blog is intended to stir support with those who will be alienated by the decision mainly students and military personnel. Both of whom in my opinion should definitely be able to have their voices heard. The students are the social and economic lifeblood of Austin and the service members have more than earned their right to have a say in the affairs of the community.
To me the author seems to have plenty of credibility since he is simply stating the facts of the situation and giving some input from a few different sources in the area.
His argument that this was the wrong decision is backed up by common sense. Voter turnout in May has historically been very low, and the argument of the council-people who voted against the proposal saying that they did not believe it was alright for them to extend their tenure by six months. Their argument is not completely without logic, except for the idea of having an election is to hear the voice of the people. If the people aren't given a chance to be heard then democracy is not being served. It also appears to be logical to want the election in Nov since the city spends an estimated $1.2 million extra just to hold the elections in May. We are in a very tuff economic time and a "penny saved is a penny earned" as the proverb goes.
Finally I would just like to concur with the author, and hope the future City Council reconsiders this decision. because it only seems right that we should schedule elections at the most apropriate time for all citizens.
From the blog posted on Off the Kuff on 09 Oct, 2011 by Charles Kuffner
The blog discusses the recent debate about whether or not to hold the city mayor election and other bond issues in November instead of May. This issue has been the subject of heated debate and is going to continue to be since four city council members voted not to hold the elections in November. They did so in 3 separate votes (citing the city's charter as mandating the elections to be held in May), even though many organizations and people have supported the idea of moving it to November when more people will be in the city to vote. It says that the extremely low voter turnout in May is partly because many students who live here are out of town on summer break and will not get a chance to participate in the elections as well as making it more difficult for service members stationed overseas to cast their ballots. Overall the blog does not react favorably to the Council’s decision not to move the election to Nov 2012.
The intended audience is anyone with a vested interest in democracy (which should be everyone). The blog is intended to stir support with those who will be alienated by the decision mainly students and military personnel. Both of whom in my opinion should definitely be able to have their voices heard. The students are the social and economic lifeblood of Austin and the service members have more than earned their right to have a say in the affairs of the community.
To me the author seems to have plenty of credibility since he is simply stating the facts of the situation and giving some input from a few different sources in the area.
His argument that this was the wrong decision is backed up by common sense. Voter turnout in May has historically been very low, and the argument of the council-people who voted against the proposal saying that they did not believe it was alright for them to extend their tenure by six months. Their argument is not completely without logic, except for the idea of having an election is to hear the voice of the people. If the people aren't given a chance to be heard then democracy is not being served. It also appears to be logical to want the election in Nov since the city spends an estimated $1.2 million extra just to hold the elections in May. We are in a very tuff economic time and a "penny saved is a penny earned" as the proverb goes.
Finally I would just like to concur with the author, and hope the future City Council reconsiders this decision. because it only seems right that we should schedule elections at the most apropriate time for all citizens.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Invisible Hand
This blogpost is in response to the issue discused in the article Bumper-sticker policy no way to fight poverty.
In my opinion the author of the editorial seems to have a good grasp of reality. The historical context of his argument also increased the persuasiveness of his argument. I believe his intended audience is primarily those who are probably not in poverty or suffering financially but anyone in the position to do anything about the topic of his editorial which is how poverty in Austin is increasing and has become a major issue.
He is imploring the policy makers to re-think how they are dealing with the issue of poverty in the area, not just give it "lip service". The Evidence he presents is very strong in making his case that something needs to be done. Just the fact that Austin has more people living in poverty than anywhere else in Texas is outrageous. His logic behind the claim is also sound he does not say that we will be able to completely eradicate poverty. He concedes that is very likely never going to happen entirely. He simply argues for a more proactive approach to the growing problem in our city, state and country as a whole…. My thoughts on the subject follow.
Upon reading this editorial I could not feel it rings more true. I am not at all shocked at the level of poverty in the area; I have never lived anywhere where the gap between the rich and poor is as visible as it is here in Austin. There can literally be a homeless person pan-handling outside the gate to a multi-million estate.
It just seems un-real to me. The statistic about how it actually cost a family of 4 around $56,000 a year to live in the area when adjusted for inflation seems to be a whole lot closer to accurate than what the government would lead you to believe. They say $22,000 for a family of 4 is the poverty line, this is nearly outrageous, this amount may have been adequate in 1980 but I am certain it is no longer able to take care of a family of four. It does not take a math major to tell you if milk is $4.00 a gallon and gas is $3.50 that most of what people working a minimum wage job make goes directly to food and transportation, now factor in a place to live and God forbid and emergency health issue or the family auto breaking down and you have real destitution on your hands.
It is this very reason many people find themselves out on the street, they are struggling each and every day just to put hand to mouth and then when something unexpected happens they are completely helpless. If you happen to be one of the people living hands to mouth (I am most of the time) it does not take much to figure out that our society could really care less about you. Most of the “charitable institutions” are much more concerned with feeding the hungry in Africa than looking out their own windows and seeing that there are millions of starving people right here in the “Good ol' U.S.A”.
I just feel that those people in society who are in a financially secure position should be much more willing to spread the wealth. This is not my original thought either, there is a man named Adam Smith who just so happens to be the founder of modern Economics and he had a little theory called "the invisible hand of wealth" it says basically that people having great wealth is good for society because it acts as an "invisible hand" to help the less fortunate. Well all I have to say is I think the hand is not just invisible it is becoming non-existent. If those who have all the money are un-willing to spend it to create good paying jobs or education scholarships then they should not have it at all. Greed is an evil which has corrupted the very fabric of our nation and it must be locked up and thrown back in its cage.
In my opinion the author of the editorial seems to have a good grasp of reality. The historical context of his argument also increased the persuasiveness of his argument. I believe his intended audience is primarily those who are probably not in poverty or suffering financially but anyone in the position to do anything about the topic of his editorial which is how poverty in Austin is increasing and has become a major issue.
He is imploring the policy makers to re-think how they are dealing with the issue of poverty in the area, not just give it "lip service". The Evidence he presents is very strong in making his case that something needs to be done. Just the fact that Austin has more people living in poverty than anywhere else in Texas is outrageous. His logic behind the claim is also sound he does not say that we will be able to completely eradicate poverty. He concedes that is very likely never going to happen entirely. He simply argues for a more proactive approach to the growing problem in our city, state and country as a whole…. My thoughts on the subject follow.
Upon reading this editorial I could not feel it rings more true. I am not at all shocked at the level of poverty in the area; I have never lived anywhere where the gap between the rich and poor is as visible as it is here in Austin. There can literally be a homeless person pan-handling outside the gate to a multi-million estate.
It just seems un-real to me. The statistic about how it actually cost a family of 4 around $56,000 a year to live in the area when adjusted for inflation seems to be a whole lot closer to accurate than what the government would lead you to believe. They say $22,000 for a family of 4 is the poverty line, this is nearly outrageous, this amount may have been adequate in 1980 but I am certain it is no longer able to take care of a family of four. It does not take a math major to tell you if milk is $4.00 a gallon and gas is $3.50 that most of what people working a minimum wage job make goes directly to food and transportation, now factor in a place to live and God forbid and emergency health issue or the family auto breaking down and you have real destitution on your hands.
It is this very reason many people find themselves out on the street, they are struggling each and every day just to put hand to mouth and then when something unexpected happens they are completely helpless. If you happen to be one of the people living hands to mouth (I am most of the time) it does not take much to figure out that our society could really care less about you. Most of the “charitable institutions” are much more concerned with feeding the hungry in Africa than looking out their own windows and seeing that there are millions of starving people right here in the “Good ol' U.S.A”.
I just feel that those people in society who are in a financially secure position should be much more willing to spread the wealth. This is not my original thought either, there is a man named Adam Smith who just so happens to be the founder of modern Economics and he had a little theory called "the invisible hand of wealth" it says basically that people having great wealth is good for society because it acts as an "invisible hand" to help the less fortunate. Well all I have to say is I think the hand is not just invisible it is becoming non-existent. If those who have all the money are un-willing to spend it to create good paying jobs or education scholarships then they should not have it at all. Greed is an evil which has corrupted the very fabric of our nation and it must be locked up and thrown back in its cage.
Friday, September 9, 2011
El Paso cancer patient gets medication stolen by thugs.
*Warning you might find my statements controversial.
Right now as we speak there is a very ill cancer patient who is fighting for more than just his survival. Bob Crause of El Paso Texas is in court facing charges that could send him to prison for quite some time. You ask what did he do? Well that's just it. In my opinion he didn't do anything except what his doctor said was his greatest chance to cure his cancer. That is use medical marijuana. Now I know there is no shortage of controversy surrounding this topic. Medical marijuana is legal and regulated in 15 states; it is not legal here in Texas however. So I guess here in Texas we don't care about helping peoples suffering unless the drugs they take are opium based highly addictive and made by pharmaceutical companies, then it's completely fine to take drugs. It does not make any since to me why we allow people to drink alcohol which is a leading cause of death in America not to mention many, many other serious societal issues. If we can say this is fine, why not allow sick people to use cannabis, why not let everyone use cannabis? There has never been a single fatality associated with using marijuana; in fact it is one of the least toxic substances we know of to the human body, this is because the human body naturally produces canabanoids which help to regulate your body’s natural functions. The proper use of Cannabis only promotes a healthier functioning body. Enough with the medical lesson though, I will make my point and that is this. We do not need to go around spending our dwindling tax revenue stealing some sick mans medicine from him and then throwing him in jail. The bottom line is that as a people we need to wake up already, the fact that cannabis can even be included on the controlled substance list ( let alone as a Schedule 1 drug which means it is classified among the most dangerous like Meth and Heroin) is completely ignorant. The statute says it is controlled because it has no “legitimate medical value” and it has a “high propensity for abuse”. I would say this is obviously not the case since so many medical professionals have came forward and supported cannabis as a treatment for everything from minstrel cramps to leukemia. I would definitely say that it has a "Legitimate Medical Purpose" in fact it has a great many purposes. So being armed with this knowledge why would we allow ourselves to continue to be subjected to archaic drug control policies, policies that were created in the 1980's as a way to wage a war on the poor. Yes I said wage a war on the poor! Just look at incarceration rates of the lowest income levels in our society since the 80’s; they have skyrocketed creating the world’s largest prison population. At any rate I just believe we need to reprioritize our drug policies so that we are proactive and not reactive about drugs. In my opinion education and treatment are probably going to be the best ways to deal with drugs and addiction in the long run in our country instead of spending billions of tax dollars every year on an un-winnable war. If you have read this I ask that you please look into your heart and find the common sense answer you know is there and that is we should just legalize cannabis already. Please follow this link to read the article and maybe see for yourself how absurd our “Justice system” is. http://coloradoindependent.com/96111/seriously-ill-cancer-patient-may-face-jail-time-for-medical-marijuana. Peace.
Right now as we speak there is a very ill cancer patient who is fighting for more than just his survival. Bob Crause of El Paso Texas is in court facing charges that could send him to prison for quite some time. You ask what did he do? Well that's just it. In my opinion he didn't do anything except what his doctor said was his greatest chance to cure his cancer. That is use medical marijuana. Now I know there is no shortage of controversy surrounding this topic. Medical marijuana is legal and regulated in 15 states; it is not legal here in Texas however. So I guess here in Texas we don't care about helping peoples suffering unless the drugs they take are opium based highly addictive and made by pharmaceutical companies, then it's completely fine to take drugs. It does not make any since to me why we allow people to drink alcohol which is a leading cause of death in America not to mention many, many other serious societal issues. If we can say this is fine, why not allow sick people to use cannabis, why not let everyone use cannabis? There has never been a single fatality associated with using marijuana; in fact it is one of the least toxic substances we know of to the human body, this is because the human body naturally produces canabanoids which help to regulate your body’s natural functions. The proper use of Cannabis only promotes a healthier functioning body. Enough with the medical lesson though, I will make my point and that is this. We do not need to go around spending our dwindling tax revenue stealing some sick mans medicine from him and then throwing him in jail. The bottom line is that as a people we need to wake up already, the fact that cannabis can even be included on the controlled substance list ( let alone as a Schedule 1 drug which means it is classified among the most dangerous like Meth and Heroin) is completely ignorant. The statute says it is controlled because it has no “legitimate medical value” and it has a “high propensity for abuse”. I would say this is obviously not the case since so many medical professionals have came forward and supported cannabis as a treatment for everything from minstrel cramps to leukemia. I would definitely say that it has a "Legitimate Medical Purpose" in fact it has a great many purposes. So being armed with this knowledge why would we allow ourselves to continue to be subjected to archaic drug control policies, policies that were created in the 1980's as a way to wage a war on the poor. Yes I said wage a war on the poor! Just look at incarceration rates of the lowest income levels in our society since the 80’s; they have skyrocketed creating the world’s largest prison population. At any rate I just believe we need to reprioritize our drug policies so that we are proactive and not reactive about drugs. In my opinion education and treatment are probably going to be the best ways to deal with drugs and addiction in the long run in our country instead of spending billions of tax dollars every year on an un-winnable war. If you have read this I ask that you please look into your heart and find the common sense answer you know is there and that is we should just legalize cannabis already. Please follow this link to read the article and maybe see for yourself how absurd our “Justice system” is. http://coloradoindependent.com/96111/seriously-ill-cancer-patient-may-face-jail-time-for-medical-marijuana. Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)