Censorship In School

     Mr. Zeno's blog interested me because I'm all for no censorship in schools. Kids these days are already so disconnected from the world and so many have no idea what the real world is like, we don't need to fuel this issue.
     I remember being in middle school and reading Harry Potter as a class, one kid mentioned this to their parents and the parents freaked out. Long story short, we didn't get to finish Harry Potter. People try to shelter their kids from anything these days and when the kids finally get out of the house they don't know how to handle life.
     I completely agree with Mr. Zeno's opinion on this issue and think that there is already enough censorship in this world, let's not start picking and choosing books we think are acceptable. Kid need to have some say, enough to be able to decide if they want to read Harry Potter or not. There should options readily available for them so they can choose what they do or do not like.
   

You Have The Right To Die

     Most of you are probably familiar with the term assisted suicide. This past year in particular a specific case of a young girl caught the media's attention, along with the nation. Her name was Brittnay Maynard, I say was, as in past tense, because she chose to die a humane death on the first of November, 2014.

     A little background on Brittnay, she had an inoperable brain tumor that was slowly but surely taking over not only her body, but her life. She chose to move to Oregon, where the Death With Dignity Act is in full force. This is a physician assisted suicide based on medical and personal reasons. Not only did Brittnay have to pass the necessary medical conditions, she also had to be  mentally stable and competent at the time of her agreement. Brittnay is a very special case because she was able to use her last days to spread the word about this amazing opportunity to let yourself die on your own terms. She chose to end her life at the time that she was ready, she had her family and friends by her side and has made, and continues to make, a lasting impression on anyone her story touches. 

     Oregon is not the only state that allows its people the option to choose Death With Dignity, there are currently five US states that aid in dying is authorized, with eight more hopefully following their path shortly. To me it is very obvious that this assisted death program is a great choice for medically inclined reasons. For a human to be forced to suffer through a terminal illness is just wrong and inhumane. We should have the right to say, my time is up, I'm done fighting. These people are not weak, and have not let their illness define them, it is the exact opposite. To be able to say, I am ready to die, is putting the control back into the hands of the person that has been consumed by an awful disease or illness.

     I can only hope that one day the option of this voluntary euthanasia is available to all. I feel that the government should not be aloud to force you to stay alive when you feel your time is up. The right to die should be placed in the hands of the person who is suffering, no one should have to suffer any longer than they feel they can. Everyone will die, I think when it comes to painful medical illnesses, you should be able to end your life whenever you see fit.  

     

     

Critique of "Gay Marriage in Texas"

     Mr. Young provides, in my opinion, a valid and strong argument regarding the ban of same sex marriages in Texas. I enjoyed reading his blog largely in part to his detail and knowledge on this issue. It is clear from beginning to end that he believes everyone should have the same marriage rights, as do I.

     In this day and age, as Mr. Young points out, things are changing. We, as human beings, cannot expect to hold on to outdated and immoral beliefs that marriage is only to be aloud between man and woman. There are many religious folk that are against same sex marriage due to them tainting the sanction of a union under god. Excuse me for being blunt but I think the idiots that marry trees and buildings are who you should be worried about!

     Marriage itself should be aloud to whomever feels they deserve it. Despite my earlier comment, if you want to marry a damn tree go for it! Same sex couples should have that same right, it is not for us to say they are worthy or not. I don't think it is possible for same sex couples to screw up the sanction of marriage any more than the straight couples already have, so have at it!
   

Pulling Out

     Texas Government needs to take some sex education advice and learn how to pull out, when it comes to the abortion controversy, that is. I feel like they are fighting very hard to stop women in Texas from getting abortions, but why? It's not their body, their child, or their life. No one is banning sex, the number one cause of pregnancies. No one is trying to regulate men's sperm. It takes two to tango, people! I understand this is a touchy subject, and I don't think we will ever come to an agreement on it, but, I can assure you that sticking your heads where they don't belong, women's uteruses, isn't going in the right direction.
     Today in Texas their are tens of thousands of children in foster care, and a shocking number of them were parent surrenders. I feel that if these new laws pass in full, then more women will be forced into unwanted child birth and these foster systems will fill up faster than ever. Not only can some of these women not afford to have a child, they flat out don't want a child. I can't justify forcing a woman to have a unwanted baby that will be brought into a world where their mother doesn't want them. Recent studies have shown a drop in abortions, the lowest rates since the 1970s. Some people see this as a step in the right direction, but no one is following up. Yes, the abortion rates have dropped, but have the homeless children rates gone up? Have the foster cares seen a jump in the number of children entered each year? No one seems to care what happens to the child after they're born, they just want to force women to have babies and don't seem to think about the consequences.
     With the recent abortion laws proposed in Texas, abortions will be harder and harder to receive, leaving hundreds of thousands of women forced to travel hundreds of miles to attend one of the eight clinics that will be left open in Texas. As of now, only a number of clinics have closed due to a Supreme Court block of part of the new abortion law that requires all abortion facilities to have standards of hospital-style surgical centers. These requirements are outrageous and specifically aimed at causing clinics to shut down. Many of these clinics are donation-based only and don't require payment at all in certain situations. The worst part is that places, such as Planned Parenthood, do so much more than perform abortions; they educate and inform people about sex, give them free contraceptives, breast exams, and other tests.
     I urge Texans to think long and hard about the decisions ahead. For a very long time, we have fought to keep a limited government and this is going against everything we stand for. As human beings, women should have a choice in this matter. Religion and personal opinion aside, motherhood should be a choice. Texas Government is overstepping their boundaries here and it scares me to think where they will go next if we allow them to continue down this path.

   

Record Breaking Job Growth

Well Texas is doing something right, in the past month we have had record breaking job growth for a twelve month span. I randomly came across this article while reading up on some recent political standings. I was surprised to of not heard about this earlier. Obviously jobs are one of the most important things about our economy, it's funny to me that no one was jumping up and down yelling about this. With the recent Ebola concerns and increased drilling who would have thought that our unemployment rates would drop significantly. Maria Halkias, the staff writer of this article, points out our past missteps and worries about big jumps in employment. Many people are nervous and think that it is too good to be true, which causes more doubt and less spending. She makes a great point, that we need Texans comfortable and spending money, to keep this job trend rising. When we Texans spend money it goes directly back into our economy and helps produces and keep the jobs we are so desperate for. Maria nails this story to the wall when she brings up wage increases. "We're having a broad-based increase in job growth in Texas, sooner or later we're going to have to see wage increases..." Basically, with the unemployment rate low people will be holding jobs longer and raises will need to be given out. Raises equal better money, better money equals more spending, more spending leads to more jobs. I feel that this story was super informative and fresh. People have become numb to our unemployment rates and I think it's awesome that someone is still talking about them. It's not like jobs are important or anything!

Editorial Critique

The editorial I choose to read was regarding the recent challenges our president has had to face moving forward with action against jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The Dallas Morning News has brought to light, what I think to be, a very important issue. The United States people have never had a say in any of the decisions about how to handle our situation or the steps we should take. I myself never even thought twice about it honestly, if Obama says we should start with air strikes then I think it is the right thing. Not because I am blindly following him, but because I didn't know about the War Powers Resolution. They boldly point out that this could very easily turn into a full blow war yet the legislative branch has never been convened regarding this. I think this writer has done a fantastic job creating doubt among their readers. Not only do they make you second guess whether we are heading into a war or not, they also make you second guess the presidents intentions. The mentioning of reelections was brilliant; would they really use these acts of terrorism to turn votes in their favor? Many questions arise after reading this article and that is obviously the writers goal here. Is Obama taking the responsibility that he should? Are we headed to a full on war? What say should we the people have in this? The writer has targeted a reader that is very much your everyday American. They don't go into any right or left sided political view so they have stayed very neutral, as to not raise a political debate, but an ethical one. I feel that this was a very well written editorial and that the author did an awesome job getting their point across without seeming pushy or demanding.

"A Fleeting Moment of Substance" is an article written by Erica Grieder about minimum wage and its role in the upcoming November election. Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for Governor, made a very bold statement saying, if elected, she'd push to raise minimum wage to $10 an hour. This article piqued my interest initially because of the topic, but as I started to read I learned much more than I thought I would. The style this blog is written in is very open and forward. The writer doesn't try to sway your opinion one way or the other, she seems to just be writing from a very unbiased standpoint. This made the blog a very easy and fun read; you get a view of both sides of the political spectrum. What also intrigued me was how little about raising minimum wage I have heard about since the writing of that article, it's dated the 9th of September and apparently after Wendy Davis' initial jump to this proposal of raising minimum wage not much else has been said about it. I would have loved for her to stick with this proposal but it seems to have fallen by the way side. This was a great short read that really makes you want to follow up with some further research on the subject at hand.