Future teachers of Texas watch out

On a post titled, “The Evaluation of Evaluations” written by one of my classmates, Jake Gossman. He talks about a bill the senate passed that will have public school teachers evaluated on their performance. The bill states that after a teacher is evaluated they may be fired immediately and with no reason given. Mr. Gossman feels that this may lead to a lot of future lawsuits. A problem that Mr. Gossman found with the bill is what is going to be the “measure” for performance. He is not in favor of this bill passing at all.

I think that I would like the bill to be passed due to fact that it would improve the way our teachers teach and present information for their students to learn.  I think that a lot of teachers today take it very easy with their students when teaching their material. I have a friend who will soon get her degree in teaching and she actually cares about her the work she turns into to her own teachers and I know she will be a great teacher.  A lot of people getting their degrees in teaching don’t care enough about teaching children material they will actually learn and like what they have learned. They just teach to get paid. Mr. Gossman may be right in that a lot of lawsuits may come out of this but at least new teachers know what to expect and will give 100% on all material they teach their students. I think senator Shapiro is doing a good thing by trying to get this bill passed.

The first use of Pentobarbital on a Texas inmate

Today in the Austin American Statesman, I read about a terrible man named Cary Kerr who raped and murdered a defenseless woman without mercy near Forth Worth, Texas 10 years ago. Today May 2,2011 he is scheduled to die. Kerr has requested an appeal which was denied as well as a clemency that was turned down by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Kerr is the first Texas inmate to be executed using a new drug approved for sedation in capital punishments called Pentobarbital. This new drug is being used due to shortage of sodium thiopental another drug used for sedation in the drug mixture for executions carried out in Texas. The condemned inmates states, “This is a drug not even supposed to be used on pets, and yet they’re saying we’re using it on a human being?” He also mentions that he is not volunteering to test nothing for the state.

Seriously Kerr do you really think that the victim you raped and murdered volunteered herself? I don’t think so but yet you committed the crime without thinking about it twice. It’s so sad that this inmate feels he deserves some kind of special treatment after the crime he committed 10 years ago. Pentobarbital has been FDA approved for human use for the treatment of seizures and preoperative sedation. What is he worried about then? I feel that he did volunteer himself to be the first Texas prisoner lab rat to be tested with pentobarbital, if not then he wouldn’t have raped and murdered a woman and later found guilty and convicted of his sinful acts.

Rewarding the criminals is a big NO, NO!

In a blog titled, “The White and Black of Government,” by Erika De Los Santos, some things were mentioned that caught my attention on posting titled, Paying Criminals for their crimes. Why in the world would taxpayers be okay with paying youths in Texas prisons for cleaning, cooking and administrative services. The reason they are locked up is for a crime that was committed, not for helping an elderly man or woman with their groceries. Paying these criminals for doing what must be done on a daily basis should not be an option. De Los Santos mentions that the money to pay these individuals comes from tax payers and on top of that, their wages are tax free. As mentioned in her blog, we plan to dismiss teachers and principals to meet with budget cuts, then we certainly can cut the money being used to compensate the bad behaved youths. Another point mentioned in her blog that I liked was “people learn from their mistakes the hard way, if not, they have no consequences to encourage positive behavior. By allowing this program to continue, we only encourage for more criminals to appear and the more money it costs the state of Texas to keep them locked up for however long. The dollar amounts mentioned were absolutely goofy. I can not believe that the state of Texas spends that much money on this “student employment” program. I agree with De Los Santos when she states that young offenders must learn from their mistakes and that it takes hard work to make it right. No criminal should be allowed the privilege of compensation while locked up that righteous people earn on a daily basis for good behavior.

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs sides with Governor Rick Perry

On a posting from February of this year, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs sides with Governor Rick Perry’s approach to economic development. I don’t really care to much about what is being to done help improve our economy but after reading this article and hearing about budgets cuts in education, I should care more. The number of job loses proposed throughout the states in education is ridiculous.

Why would we eliminate the teachers that help future generations make this world a better place. We should be encouraging the young ones to graduate or obtain a GED instead of discouraging them from seeking higher education simply because the budget is all kinds of crazy and the only way to fix is to increase tuition and taxes. This makes me want to just say “screw it all!”.

If we don’t help the less fortunate rise from the bottom, how can we expect to have a productive government and economy that keeps this state running to meet our expectations as residents of the state. We as the taxpayers want to see to value for the money we work hard for as mentioned in the article. Why is it the states budget issues the taxpayers problem. The government always finds a way to relief themselves from a difficult situation by screwing over the people that they are governing, its citizens.

So far from what I have read, the way Governor Rick Perry is trying to fix the budget and economy seems fair to everyone. To read more and obtain your own opinion check out the posting in Capitol Annex.

Hmm...non-tax revenue?

I came across a post titled “ Your money now belongs to the state, but don’t worry- it’s not a tax”. The title caught my attention being that it has something to do with my money. Harold Cook states that a subcommittee will take a look at “non-tax revenue” to help balance the budget. I had no idea what non-tax revenue was until he defines it. So, non- tax revenue as defined by Mr. Cook is money or other assets the state has stashed away in various places. Basically the state tells a little lie and creates a tax for a specific purpose. The public then pays the tax year after year, then the money being collected grows in numbers and results in special funds. All this money that the citizens of Texas have paid over the years is now called “non-tax revenue”. Wow, so I would like to make the state of Texas pay me a tax for the purpose of being able to pay my kids college tuition and later just call it non-tax savings or whatever. So Mr. Cook actually agrees with what this subcommittee is set to do. Instead of cutting teachers from public schools or kicking grandma out of a nursing home, the state should just dip into the special funds. I agree with Mr. Cook, why not use the money we have already handed over and put it where it is most needed instead of just letting it sit there, laughing at us. I think that the author of this blog did a good job of making me understand a little more on how sneaky our state is. To read more check out Letters from Texas.

Turn drug money into tool used against cartels

In the article under the opinion section of the Austin American Stateman, titled, Turn drug money into tool used against cartels, gave interesting information on the money seized from narcotic traffickers. State Senator Steve Ogden mentioned a great idea on how to use the money seized towards paying for additional border security checkpoints. Steve McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety states that $140 million has been seized since 2006 with most of it coming from vehicles bound for Mexico. Wow with all this money the government could really increase the number of seizures reducing narcotic trafficking along the border between Texas and Mexico. I think that the audience this article is geared towards is the Senate. I think that using the money that these cartels bring in is a great way to improve our border checkpoints and reduce the intimidation inflicted upon individuals by cartels in Mexico. As the unsigned author states, "An aggressive and accelerated effort to keep that cash from reaching the narcos in the first place would not only support the Mexican battle against them but also steer more money into state coffer". I think that Senator Odgen's idea is one to keep in mind and possibly follow through with. I don’t think we would really be loosing out on much but rather gaining a good source of income to place in areas needed for the state. The points made in the article are good enough to give it a shot at least in my opinion. To read more about article click on the highlighted text.

Eliminating abortion, 'moment that life begins'

Texas lawmakers are trying to pass what is known as the Bill Burch Act to eliminate abortion. The Act which was filed by state Representative Wayne Christian (R), specifies that human life begins at the moment the initial splitting of a human cell occurs during fertilization. If this is the case then we know that having an abortion at any stage during pregnancy is not allowed. This act is giving an unborn fetus the rights and protection that any other living person would recieve. The idea is to define an embryo as a living individual and to allow an abortion is the same as allowing a murder to happen. I absolutely agree with everything that the article has introduced in regards to abortion. An embryo does no magically develop on its own. Therefore the adults responsible for causing the embryo to develop should take full responsibility for their own actions and a fetus should not be eliminated by means of abortion. I found the article very interesting and if you would like to read more about it you should check it out.