Commentary on "Congestion in Austin"

The issue of traffic congestion in the city of Austin has gotten out of hand in recent years. Before, traffic was a bother in Austin, but know it has become an intrinsic part of life in the city in a very negative way. People everywhere have to shape their lives in accordance to deal with the traffic. Things that go as complex as buying a home and getting a job to just being able to comfortably drive to a supermarket have become tasks that require complex planning. In my case, traffic has restricted the places where I look for a job, an apartment, and even the times that I get my classes for the semester. I must consider that my job has to be close to where I am at the time my classes end so I can make it in time because if I have to drive I will most certainly be late. I must also confine myself to an area to look for apartments so that I can manage to make it to campus on time in morning for my classes without having to get up three or more hours before the start of class. As you can see, the issue of traffic in Austin is very serious, and it is even more troubling because it will only continue to get worse.

               The blog post titles “Congestion in Austin” in the blog “Lonestar State of Affairs” brings much needed attention to the issue. Various plans that have been mentioned in regards to possible solutions to the issue of traffic are covered in the blog post but very briefly. One thing that caught my attention and would like to know more detail is the above ground rail system mentioned in the blog post. In my opinion this seems like a great idea, and I don’t fully understand the logic behind the explanation of why this idea was shut down. Also, another thing I think could be added that would give the blog post much more substance is the inclusion of some statistics regarding the vehicles in the city, the amount of people that move to the city, and the square footage of parking space that can be found in the downtown area of the city at any given point in the week. I think these numbers would help provide perspective and understanding as to how real an issue traffic is in the city of Austin. 

UT admissions disclosure

Recently, the University of Texas was asked to disclose some records regarding its admissions policy. The information that was being asked for by the Austin American Statesman had to do with what he administrators commissioned for UT Austin’s admission practices. The main allegation in the investigation conducted by Kroll Associates Inc., was that the former UT President Bill Powers had aided some students in obtaining admissions despite the objection of some admission officials. After having been told to disclose the information, the UT system proceeded to file a lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

               In my opinion, there are many things that are wrong with this picture. The first being that once more the admissions process and criteria in UT Austin’s admissions policy has become a point of discord. I do not agree with UT choosing to not disclose the information that was asked of them. It does not seem that any specific student information would be disclosed, only the admissions criteria which should already be known by the public. The institution is a public university and should therefore operate with as much transparency as possible; there is no reason for them to not want to show evidence pertaining to the issue. If anything, I would think UT would welcome the opportunity to regain some positive reputation by proving that the allegations are false; that is of course assuming that they are false. The actions of choosing to not disclose the information and going as far as to file a lawsuit against the Attorney General only serves to make the University look guilty.

               Having expressed the idea that UT should just disclose the information, I also have to recognize that issues like this are not unheard of. It should not come to a surprise to anyone that some faculty and staff in Universities try to help their loved ones get a spot in those various prestigious Universities. To conclude, I frankly don’t see anything wrong with the former President of UT Austin helping students gain admissions. However, whether it happened or not, UT should just own up to the truth and release the information to the public.

Commentary on “Let us make school more affordable”

               The cost of college tuition is an issue of great concern. For the most part tuition costs continue to rise year after year despite the fact that it is very uncommon for a student’s economic situation to change drastically in one year. For those that have the possibility of getting financial aid, unless you have attained some sort of academic or athletic scholarship, financial aid is typically not enough. That leaves you with few options as a student, the most common one being academic loans. This said, as troubling as this situation is, I don’t believe eliminating tuition from colleges and reducing it from universities is plausible or the right answer to fix the problem.

               The blog post titled “Let us make school more affordable” in the blog “What is happening in Texas today?” poses the above mentioned solutions to the issue of the rising cost of tuition. Both solutions sound great, both solutions would be marvelous; however I unfortunately don’t think these solutions are possible. Perhaps a little more detail on the bill that was passes in Oregon would help understand the foundations of these proposed solutions. Additionally, I would also like to challenge the statement saying that by implementing these solution there would be a “higher number of individuals that receive jobs right after graduating”. If anything it would seem to me that if the solutions where to be implemented and if they were to work as intended there would be a larger pool of graduates, meaning the job market would be even more competitive.

               Although I do not have a proper solution to the issue of rising undergraduate tuition costs, I’d like to bring attention to a related issue. I think more efforts should be focused on providing more aid for students who are perusing graduate school. Very little monetary aid is offered for people wanting to further their education beyond the bachelor’s degree. I think there could be great improvements done in this area without having to resort to such drastic measures.

Bring an end to Deportations

Growing up in El Paso, Texas; a city where the great majority of its population is Hispanic I never fully understood how deep and real the racial profiling issue was in Texas. In El Paso I never knew discrimination, I never experienced being singled out by police or border patrol or any other law upholding institutions. Now that I have grown older and seen more of the state I can clearly recognize that these issues still plague the state. Just recently 27 Mexican immigrants, what I deem a considerable amount of people, where arrested in Corsicana, Texas. This is a prime example of the presence of these issues I speak of in the state of Texas.

Before I talk about deportation I want to first talk about immigration. As citizens of a prosperous country it is sometimes easy to forget that people in other places do not live with the commodities that we do. Taking Mexico as our prime example, it is perhaps more correct to say that many people in Mexico do not even satisfy what we consider essentials to live. To give an idea of how abysmal the difference is between the standards of living in the country of Mexico compared to here in the state of Texas, the minimum salary of Mexico is of seventy pesos per day. That’s roughly five dollars and fifty cents for an eight hour work day. In Texas minimum wage is of seven dollars and twenty five cents per hour. What this means is that a person working at minimum wage in Texas makes more in one hour than a person working in Mexico makes in an entire day. Knowing this, can we really fault Mexican immigrants for crossing illegally?

Deportation has historically been the primary response to illegal immigration in the United States as a whole, this has to stop. As reported by Mark Lopez, Ana Gonzales, and Seth Motel in 2011, deportations steadily rose during the last decade. Although some empirical research would be required to confirm this theory, this could possibly mean that illegal immigration has continued to increase and consequently deportations has as well. In short, the solution is doing nothing to solve the problem and therefore is a waste of resources. The only thing that comes from deportation is the destruction of families which only leads young Hispanic kids to grow up resenting figures of authority in the United States. Deportations have to stop, instead of sending these people back to a country they escaped from in search of a better life, lets help them and make them productive citizens of American society.

No more Trump

The article written by Erica Greider titled “Thoughts on Donald Trump’s Trip to Laredo” leaves much to be desired. She begins with a strong note of sarcasm in her opening paragraph proposing that Laredo would rather go back being an independent republic and be vulnerable to Mexico and Texas than to deal with Donald Trump. She then goes on to explain that Trump was not welcomed very warmly in Laredo, pointing out that neither former Governor Rick Perry or Laredo state senator Judith Zaffirini took the time to take part in any formalities with Trump; although she does provide a link to a very well written article by the Texas senator herself regarding trumps visit, I highly recommend it. From hear things take a more slanderous turn. Greider proceeds to refer to Trump as a “grotesque and repulsive clown”. She then finishes the article in a less than ordinary fashion implying that she will cover what Trump thinks about Laredo, however she never does.

First, let it be known that in no way, shape, or form am I a supporter of Donald Trump; on the contrary, I agree with most or perhaps even all that Greider said. Yet, I can’t agree with the act of writing articles such as this, especially in regards to Donald Trump. As satisfying as openly bashing, ridiculing, and insulting Trump might be it is not the answer. Doing so perhaps adds a few moments of minor excitement and pleasure to our day but at what cost. Certainly it is not worth the amount of time it took Greider to write this blog post, much less the amount of time spent by the dozens of people who read it. To conclude, although the article is dedicated to drag Trumps image a few more time through the dirt; in the end we actually give this joke of a presidential candidate more publicity. The best thing any sensible blogger, reporter, journalist, or writer can do that dislikes Trump is to stop writing about him. Ironically I have fallen in to the same mistake as Greider and many others in writing this blog post but I vow that this marks the end of it, stop giving this man more free publicity, stop getting his image and message out to the masses; let’s stop wasting our time on Donald Trump.

                

An opinionated discussion of Rick Perry

The article written by Michael Gerson titled “Perry emerges as responsible voice” posses a refreshing point of view on previous Texas governor Rick Perry. The article commences with what could be mild passive aggression or careful praise for former Governor Rick Perry. Gerson begins by declaring that Perry has been an unexpected source of leadership. After this the article takes an unexpected turn. Gerson continues on to discredit Donald Trump and compares his politics to Know-Nothingism. After, Gerson speaks highly of Perry’s opposition of trump and acknowledges him with understanding that Trump must be discredited. He then goes on to presume that Perry has given “the best and bravest” speech of any republican candidate in his remarks at the National Press Club and to claim that Rick Perry was an adept governor; in all accounts I believe Michael Gerson to be correct. First, although Rick Perry’s comments regarding Donald Trump are opinions, they are opinions that any sensible and educated human would share. Regardless of your opinion on the senseless remarks made by Donald Trump on immigrants, it must be understood that only a halfwit would risk making such remarks and alienating an entire segment of the United Stated population when he or she is running for office and presumably needs votes. Second, although I presently do not consider myself informed enough to agree with Gerson’s claims on Perry's Speech given at the National Press Club, I will say it should be applauded whenever a politician does not shy away from the though subject of racism. Last, the fact that former Governor Perry kept the state of Texas in descent shape through the recession that began in the year 2008 should suffice as evidence for his more than proper governance of Texas. Having said this, it should be noted that Michael Gerson has been associated with the Republican Party multiple times, most notably serving as former President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter.  This tells us that Gerson is a person that is active an engaged in politics. In addition we also learn that Gerson is educated and to some degree competent to be writing about the current presidential candidates. This could mean two things; either his remarks are completely biased and therefore should be discarded, or he knows what he is talking about and his opinion should be valued.  In the end, this article will more than likely be read by people who identify with the Republican Party but are unsure of which candidate to support; it is they who will decide if Michael Gerson is correct.

Planned Parenthood Controversy

On Friday the 17th of this month the Texas Insider published a short article briefly covering the recent viral video that shows an executive from the anti- abortion group Planned Parenthood discussing receiving money for samples of fetal tissue. Although the video is unclear and many details of the conversation heard are unknown it has sparked great controversy. The short article by the Texas Insider titled "Patrick Taps Schwertner for Expedited Planned Parenthood Investigation" reports that a request was made to Senator Charles Schwertner and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to conduct an investigation and confirm that no laws have been violated. Whatever your position on the issue of abortion is, the possibilities that come to mind with the conversation that is heard in the video this article talks about are more than disturbing. I believe it is important to know whether the rights of human beings have been violated by this anti- abortion group. If they have then they should receive the full justice of the law.