Sweet Tea's evolution

Why are we so afraid of Marijuana?

According to NORML Marijuana is the third most popular
recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been
used by nearly 100 million Americans. So why exactly are we spending so much
money fighting a losing battle against it? It is said that it is a dangerous
gateway drug but in reality it is a lot less dangerous than its legal counterpart’s
alcohol and tobacco. There is no way to overdose on Marijuana unlike alcohol
which accounts for about 100,000 deaths each year. This is small compared to
the 400,000 deaths caused by cigarettes. Marijuana is a naturally grown plant
which is a renewable resource and can benefit the Texas economy if grown and
taxed similarly to tobacco. 

The amount of money spent by taxpayers on the war on drugs is about 10 billion dollars by now. This is a ridiculous amount to be wasted especially during these difficult economic times. It also costs tax payers due to the amount of arrests because of marijuana possession or intent to sell. With The Texas and national budget in a state of crisis it is time to get creative to fix these problems. The amount of money saved plus added revenue from taxation will greatly benefit the programs in Texas that are facing cuts.

Money is one of the great benefits of legalization but making an already thriving market safer will be a large plus as well. If people do not have to go to shady drug dealers funded by the cartel it will help alleviate the threat that Mexican drug trade presents. Our economy is supply and demand and if we supply there will be a much smaller demand for illegal and therefore more dangerous supply of marijuana.  

All of these reasons will likely not be enough for Texans to put aside their goal of morality in favor of greater economic activity but it is something we should still consider.

Good cop Bad cop

Here is a blog from a classmate showing the not so pretty side of some officers. http://davesdebates.blogspot.com/2011/07/local-law-enforcement-needs-tune-up.html

After reading Dave's article on corrupt police my first reaction was to disagree completely, but then I remembered getting pulled over for doing one over and having the cop search for 15 minutes trying to find something incriminating on my car. Asking why the registration was in the name of Edd Whittington, my father, and did I have proof of authorization I could use the car made me question his motives. There are definitely some questionable cops. Knowing three different cops I can attest that they are the image of a modern citizen. I would think that the problem lays more with lack of training or management then corrupt individuals.
Dave shows a good point of view that there are police officers that revel in their power too much. The superiors should watch closer but another key part is citizens need to report officers who are acting improperly. My friends tell me if you ever ask for a cops badge and car number the are required by law to give it to you. Get that information and let their superior know what they are doing. So I see Dave's point but I say don't write all cops off just yet.

Pushing Doctors

There is a new piece of legislation that is working its was through the Texas system that will undoubtedly cause a very large upset across the state. The new legislation is trying to force all doctors to perform a sonogram on any woman seeking an abortion. The set method uses pre-abortion sonograms as a routine, but not medically necessary, procedure. Once this new legislation makes it though all doctors will have to give a sonogram with  detailed description of the fetus. During the whole process the mother will have to hear the heartbeat of the fetus. This seems like a simple step added but it has large implications.
Legislation like this that forces doctors to perform procedures on patients hurts the patient doctor relationship. Doctors are not allowed to perform anything on a patient without their consent bringing the argument that the woman then doesn't need to agree to an abortion. This argument though is imposing that a non medically necessary procedure should hold back a person's choice. If any doctors refuse they could lose their practice strong arming them to throw aside their ethics. Having doctors say and do things against their will ruins the oath they take to do things that are in the best interest of the patient.
A minor part of the legislation is the state can make random unannounced visits to make sure clinics are following orders. If state officials start barging in unannounced the doctor patient confidentiality is removed. This piece of legislature holds much more weight than is noticed and should be stopped. Dictating to doctors what to do and say hinders a doctor from giving the best treatment possible.

Equal spending does not lead to equal performance.

This blog is over the new proposed idea to even out the amount of funding to all the schools in Texas. It is written by Robert Pratt, he seems to be level headed and is not bent on getting a person's blood boiling. Though having never paid real taxes I may not be his desired audience. The basic idea is everyone pays about the same taxes so all schools should get equal funding and therefore be equal. Simply writing the same check to each school though will not produce the same grades. That is where I agree with this blog. Forcing all public schools to revamp to equality would make the schools a muddled average closer to the poorer performing and less equipped schools than the top schools. I believe there is simply not enough money to go around to all the different school systems to make them equal with the higher funded schools. That seems to be the argument of the blog. Where I don't agree is the writer seems to feel that any form of equality should not even be considered. The problem that teachers don't have enough resources like books and pencils, the bare minimums, does exists and that should be combated. At a recent rally I saw many signs from different schools asking Gov. Perry not to let them get shutdown, highlighting the total lack of funding to certain schools. If students can't even have a chance to properly study material then they need help. The students have to be taught, that is obvious, but making every student taught the exact same way on the same level with the same classrooms, curriculum, and methods is too much. Though the proposed change in school funding does not list those things it does say schools need to shape to equity and you cannot claim fairness in equality when running even a few things differently. The blog makes a point that this could open a door for lawsuits filed from schools that feel they are not being treated the same as other districts. These lawsuits would be a waste of time and money. So I sit torn with this blog, I agree with him to a point. Where I disagree is the funding to schools is somewhat broken if these schools are closing and something does need to change. However a generic check to identical schools for indistinguishable classrooms is not the answer.

What is this woman on?

This Ann Coulter seems to be in an all out war against any liberal ideals and I don't quite get it. She is a zealot for the conservative purpose and I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted liberals jailed. She comments that, and these are her words, all liberals are, "the biggest pussies on earth, city bred weaklings." To disagree with a belief is one thing but to go so far as to calling them all cheap and poor is just ridiculous. I don't really disagree with what this woman is saying, I mean I do, but my problem is with how she said what she said. On an open forum it's excessive. This woman obviously wanted to pang on the emotional strings of the strong conservative group with vulgar slander and cheap presumptions. I completely disagree with how this woman went about how she worded her piece. I am not defending the people who accosted Glenn Beck. You cannot go up to someone who is out their family and do what they did.They were absolutely in the wrong but to take that and assume they were all pussy liberals who never had to do anything for themselves is absurd. Glenn Beck has gained a group of followers and a group of haters due to his antics and constant sensational ideas and statements; is it really that hard to imagine those people just didn't like him? Either way, ignoring what point Ann was trying to get across the way she said it and how much she forced the idea comes off as unprofessional, biased, and just all around ill informed. I find it very hard to take someone seriously when their opening argument is how the people in fault are the way they are due to lack of sports and child hood fist fights. I'm not saying the liberals are good are bad neither are the conservatives but this woman's ideas are just stupid.

Where in the world is Perry?

Ever since Governor Rick Perry was re-elected he has been spending a substantial amount of funds and time outside of Texas. But why would a governor spend so much time outside of the state they were elected to be the head of? The most likely answer is that Mr.Perry is going to run for president. Rick Perry has been riding his anti Washington, spend cutting, tax lowering ideals he put into his new book to more than 12 different cities all outside of the state. From California to New York Perry has been quite busy with affairs outside of Texas and has more events planned. I don't know how a man is supposed to run a state without being in the state. The Tribunal has a Perry tracker that shows how much he has traveled. I feel like he has used his re-election as a spring board to president and never really cared to run Texas again. Most of the time he has been promoting his book not governing. Maybe we should just put his book on Oprah and be cone with it.

Perry Tracker! http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/perrytracker/