Robert Evan "A Stick Situation" Commentary

I am in complete agreeance with my classmate Madeline Shapland in the decision to legalize marijuana. When marijuana was first legalized for recreational use in Colorado it was said that Recreational Dispensaries were estimated to ring up a whopping 925 million in sales and 51 million in tax revenue. With that much money Texas could much more money invested into its Oh so proud reputation of having the highest number of executions. 

But not only is marijuana economically better to legalize but it seems much the upcoming generations have a different view then their elder counterparts. With a current increase in the amount of people who are leaning to legalizing marijuana. A new survey finds that 53% favor the legal use of marijuana, while 44% are opposed. As recently as 2006, just 32% supported marijuana legalization, while nearly twice as many (60%) were opposed.

Beer Vending Machines: A Drunken Step into the Future

So, as I am searching through the Internet I came across a unique and interesting title in the "The Daily Texan". This title was  "Alcohol vending machines: the future of your Friday night ," as I am reading this all I can think to myself is, "well it was bound to happen sometime".

As stated in the article Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo) is working to legalize the sell of alcohol in vending machines to establishments that allow the on location consumption of alcohol. Along with Vice chair Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) who helped impose the bill on Monday. Gutierrez stated, "The customer must present an employee of the establishment with a valid ID, which is scanned into a database and tied to a customer’s credit card. The customer is then given a uniquely encoded wristband to access the machine. The bands would track the amount of alcohol consumed by a bar patron and limit alcohol intake. Vending machine users would be cut off after 30 ounces of beer, 10 ounces of wine or three ounces of liquor."
My first initial thoughts after reading this were that they seemed to have thought very thoroughly about the implantation of the vending machines which I was very enthusiastic to see, because honestly I was expecting some poorly thrown together plan of getting these machines into areas as soon as possibly, however, that turns out to not be the case at all. Although, there was one issue of being able to take off the wristband and giving it to a person under the age but no counter action was stated.

Another problem that was arisen was that many bartenders felt like it would affect the average amount of tips they receive since most of their pay is based off tips but Shane Ali, a biology senior who used to bartend house parties made a good point: "One of the reasons that people go to bars are for, like, their favorite shot or fancy shots that are being made instead of a glass of wine or a quick beer".  From this, I don't believe that bartenders tips would really be affected all to much since even though the contents of the vending machines were not specified people do have a preference and would like to have a specific drink made for them.

Overall,  I am on the fence about the implantation of alcoholic vending machines but I am willing to see where it goes based off the information I gather it seems like they did a good job implementing alcohol regulation and safety also not allowing easy access. So I am willing to see were it goes in the near future if they do happen to be placed in local bars and what not.

Test Dilemma

The fact that many students entire futures are determined just by the passing or failing one of the five high stakes tests is completely ridiculous. I completely agree with my classmate Madeline Shapland.

Basically students could invest hours of work into school having straight A's, perfect attendance, and becoming an honor roll student yet be denied not only their much deserved diplomas but their hopes and dreams to achieve greater things in life."Students who do not graduate simply because they failed one high-stakes exam cannot attend most colleges, join the military or qualify for even some minimum wage jobs. Many "drop out" even though they may have passed course requirements"( Houston Chronicle; March 17, 2015). What does a child do when they have all these scholarships to attend Ivy League schools, but cannot attend do to inability to pass a single test?

Just as Madeline stated Texas did not take into account students who suffer from test anxiety or just do very poorly on tests but excel in other skills.It is hard to understand the reasoning for why Texas would implement a testing system with such sever consequences. The simple fact that 28,000 students may not graduate since the test was  implemented should be an automatic red flag that is may not be the best choice.

But the part that really gets me fired up is that even though 28,000 students may not receive their diplomas it is stated, " This statistic might be a sad but necessary consequence of educational accountability if these exams measured the skills sought by employers."

Texas Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a vital to a countries economic growth and prosperity. It is the fundamental system we rely on as a country in order to move goods, people, and provide services. However, our nations infrastructure has been becoming an ever growing problem as we wastefully spends tax payer money trying to expand highways rather then insuring they are well maintained.

For example, Texas infrastructure has become an ever growing problem in every metropolitan area Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. Even the Texas Department of Transportation stated, "that it needs about $5 billion more a year from the state just to meet current demands for road construction and maintenance. Amazingly, this number just maintains the current level of congestion, which is clearly not satisfactory." As stated this is just in order to maintain the states growing current level of congestion this does not solve the dilemma. This while become an even greater challenge as Texas only has a budget of about 2.6 billion to spend annually on Texas infrastructure. Unless transportation funding is increased at the local, state and federal level, Texas’ roads and bridges will become increasingly deteriorated and congested.

However, even with Texas's infrastructure at its current state there have been discussions on how to maximize work ethic in order to correct the failing system . Speaker of the House Joe Straus suggests, "proposes that the Legislature end all noneducational diversions of gas tax money away from transportation projects." On the federal level Texas government increasing the state's vehicle registration fee by $50 and dedicating a portion of the motor vehicle sales tax for road construction and maintenance. On the state level,  voters can pass this upcoming years transportation funding initiative.That amendment would authorize annual spending  from the state's oil and gas production tax collections to the State Highway Fund, transferring $1.4 billion in the first year alone.

4 (black) Cops Killed In 7 Days---- Where's The Outrage?

by Larry Elder

My main problem with Mr. Elders discussion by his title he seems to be expecting some kind of outrage from American citizens to riot and fill the streets with signs, protestors, and rage over the deaths of these 4 (black) cops that have recently passed. Although, I understand his anger these police officers enlisted knowing the risks of the job they were enlisting in well before actually becoming registered officers. The reason there is no outrage, the reason the nation is not in an uproar over the 4African American police officers is simply because they understood the risks of the job. Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin African American citizens that did not know they were going to die that day. That left their houses believing nothing would go wrong and they would return to there families, who had no lethal weapons on them at any all but were killed in cold blood.

Mr. Elders even has the audacity, "Last year, according to the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers died in the line of duty in 2014 — although some deaths were attributed to health problems or traffic accidents. Fifty officers were killed by firearms, 15 of them in ambush attacks."
Also including deaths that were caused by accidents and health problems. But in total actually killed by firearms is stated 50 compared to "The FBI’s stats show that in all of 2013 there were 461 people killed by cops, but when using the new site, which only shows from May 1 to Dec. 31, 2013, police actually killed 748 people. Keep in mind, 748 is drastically more than the feds claim police killed the entire year but only accounts for 8 months of 2013.

The site shows 2014’s total number killed by police to be at 1,029 with a few weeks left in the year." Greatly outweighing the number of officers killed, but to add Mr. elders claim every cop undergoes standard training in which they are trained to disarm armed suspects so my question is why are there so many civilians deaths?

Austin landlords should accept Section 8 housing vouchers 

By Mary Dolan

I believe this opinion article did a good job covering the bases of the current topic. Ms. Dolan introduces and states the current issue in the allowing the reader to understand her possession pretty clearly.

First, the author introduces what the vouchers under the “Section8 program” provided by the Housing Authority of the City of Austin and funded by the Federal Government actually ensures. “These vouchers are meant to help lower-income residents pay for rent without overwhelming them financially. Because of this, residents with vouchers are supposed to have a greater choice of places to live.” This background information allows the reader to grasp a better understanding of actually topic being discussed so there is no confusion.

Next, the author clearly states the issue, “Regrettably, many homeowners and rental apartment complexes have refused to accept vouchers.” So, this made citizens unable to move in to better homes and forced to stay in the same or equally low income areas. Thus, enabling the Section 8 program unsuccessful.

Then, after the issue was stated the author discusses the reasoning behind why many of these vouchers were refused by landlords. However we do see a quick resolve made by the Austin City Council who decided that landlords could not deny potential tenants on the whether or not they were using housing vouchers.  

Lastly, we see the author’s thoughts and opinions towards the ordinance implemented by the Austin City Council, “The real problem in this matter is not the ordinance but the attitudes of landlords that made the ordinance necessary.”  The author breaks up the information each positions side of the argument stating that liberal are for the Ordinance and Republicans who are very much against the ordinance such as Charles Perrys recently introduced bill, “that would prohibit local communities from enacting ordinances requiring landlords to lease to tenants who pay with housing vouchers.” But, what is funny is that Ms. Dolan shortly after states the confusion behind Charles Perry’s logic.

Overall I believe the author did a very good job relaying the information and further stating her opinion on the topic and not just quietly sitting in the neutral zone.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy push for progressive legislation

Natalie Cerna and Stephanie Hamborsky members of the Sensible Drug Policy in Texas seek to educate students on the governments War On Drugs, beginning each discussion with myths, facts, racial objectivity, harm reduction, and social stigmas.

 

Stephanie Hamborsky the clubs president stated, “It’s unscientific, and a lot of it is based off of social stigma. Because we are demonizing these drugs, we are rejecting the idea of drug education, which gives the misrepresented idea about drugs, facilitating the increase rates of addiction." The clubs Vice President Andrew Hood also stated that the group does not advocate the use of drugs but more on how to employ policies that will keep the community safe such as the Medical Amnesty Policy.

 

The members of the Sensible Drug Policy intend to lobby, pair with larger groups such as the Texas NORML, hold letter writing campaigns, hold fundraisers, and bring educational speakers like Brad Burge who works for a drug research group.