I Wholeheartally Disagree!!!

            I was reading my colleague’s post Republicans this Republicans that and I fundamentally disagree with nearly every point he is trying to make. To his point that “it wasn’t only the republicans enjoying the ride when it was all nice, easy, and a bed of roses”, my question to my colleague is; when was it a bed of roses? My best estimate was during the Clinton administration.

            President Obama has inherited two wars and a deficit that this country has never seen, both of these instances were caused by a republican majority in the House and the Senate, the Executive Branch, and if you want to count the 2000 Presidential election, The Supreme Court. So to the argument that it wasn’t just the republicans enjoying the ride is ridiculous. The democrats were in the car, but the republicans were driving. That’s like saying that when you were a child, it was your fault, you went to visit your grandparents hundreds of miles away, when all actuality, your parents probably drove you there.

            Now the last time I checked this was a Texas Government course, so let’s focus on Texas. In the upcoming biennium, Texas will face roughly a 20 billion dollar shortfall. This shortfall was created by a republican governor and a republican House and Senate. Ann Richards never had a shortfall like that. When Governor Richards needed to increase revenue for the state, her administration implemented a state lottery. Maybe Governor Perry can be more creative, just like Governor Richards. So to the argument that anti-republicans are not finding any solutions, I don’t see Governor Perry offering any either. He is too busy campaigning for his next job.

Casinos? A Great Idea!!!

          I believe casinos in Texas are a great idea. I believe casinos not only are a great boost to the economy, but it would help with the 25 billion dollar budget shortfall. Casinos would help the budget shortfall by bringing tourism into the state. The state would have new people visiting from other areas of the country, and they would bring their dollars here in Texas. This would bring extra tax revenue into the state, not only gambling revenue, but tax revenue from the brand new restaurants and hotels that casinos usually build. 

            Also people that live in Texas that travel to other states such as Louisiana or Oklahoma to gamble would keep their gambling dollars in state, and Texas could collect that tax revenue as well. This should save the state from cutting from education or from health services to fix the budget shortfall problem. We need to put as much money into these services as we can.

            Now I hear the argument that if casinos existed in Texas that it would bring all sorts of problems. One such problem is the addiction problem, where a man would gamble his mortgage away inside a casino. My answer to that is it is not my problem, but the right answer is that if a person is that addicted to gambling to the point that he is taking his mortgage payment inside the casino, then that person is taking his mortgage payment outside the state of Texas, might as well keep those dollars in state. Another potential problem is the “moral” issue that would be brought up by the “religious right”; I have a question for these people. What are morals? Are morals facts or opinions? Also these same people are pro-business and nothing would increase jobs as quickly as casinos. The other reason is the restaurants and hotels that are already established before casinos would take a financial hit. I agree but I don’t think it would be as bad as expected. Casinos would bring tourism from other states, and I believe that the outsiders could potentially help the hotel and definitely the restaurant industry. Have you ever eaten inside a casino? Yuk.

            I’m sure that there are many more numerous solutions to antidote the budget shortfall crisis in Texas. I believe that allowing casinos in the state is a win-win for the state and its citizens.

A Happy Medium

            In reading my colleague’s blog “Bring Books Not Guns” and he is making the argument that people should bring books instead of guns to school. I just want to say that I agree with my colleague, but however I do see the argument of people bringing guns to defend themselves.

            My colleague used the example of the unfortunate instance that a student from the University of Texas went inside the library on campus and committed suicide. Although this is a sad instance, I believe it is a very rare one. Unfortunately when an individual decides to go into a crowded room or building usually before the person commits suicide, he murders a few people in the process. There are usually plenty examples of this every year, some factory in Pennsylvania, some post office, or Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech incident claimed 32 lives. I wonder if any of the 32 people who lost their life would have had a gun if the numerical outcome would be different. 

            The argument that police are well trained in these types of emergencies is true. Still it takes to much precious time; 30 seconds can seem like an eternity in that situation. I am not trying to make universities into the Wild West; I am just merely suggesting that there should be a happy medium. I just don’t know what that medium is, but I do know that if you are a crazed gunman, and you want to shoot up some university, the “no guns allowed” rules will not stop you from shooting up the place.

TERM LIMITS: A GREAT IDEA!!!

Tomorrow’s impending election will probably result in Rick Perry’s 3^rd term as Governor of Texas. Rick Perry has been Governor of Texas for 10 years, and if he wins the election tomorrow he will be Governor for 14 years at the end of his next term, and even possibly more. I believe that the Texas State Constitution should be amended to create a law that all elected officials are subject to term limits. The advantage of term limits for the Governor is that it will limit the Governor’s power to a level intended by the State Constitution.  Governor Perry’s authority is elevated. Out of approximately 4000 appointed officials Governor Perry has appointed them all. This leads to having only his people in the executive power. So there is no listening to the other side, because there is no other side to listen to if you appoint everyone. Also, if you are in the State Senate or a Congressperson you should have term limits as well. I believe that this would drastically reduce lobbying, especially from corporations. If you are the head of a major corporation here in Texas, and you know every election cycle that you will have the same person holding office, then it would be fairly easy to bribe that person, because you know who that person is going to be. If term limits were instituted, it would be more difficult for corporations to gage who they are going to bribe. Now I understand the argument that if the voting public votes the official in, then that is how our democracy works. I counter with this argument; absolute power will corrupt absolutely, and if these officials continue to stay in power, then our system is corrupt.

Quit manipulating the words!!!

I stumbled across a blog by Joey Olivo and he is making the case that Texan’s should vote for a gentleman by the name of Stephen Broden for congress. Broden is running in district 30 which encompasses the Dallas metro area, and he is running against a lady by the name of Eddie Bernice Johnson, who has been the congresswoman for district 30 the last 18 years. Olivo states in his article that he was at a campaign stop for Pastor Broden and Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman was at the campaign stumping for pastor Broden. In his blog he continues to make claims that Congresswoman Johnson funneled 23 scholarships worth more than 31,000 dollars to family and friends. He states that unemployment in Dallas County is 8.5% but in the pre-Obama presidency the unemployment for Texas was between 4.5-5%.

            I have a few opinions on his blog. The first one is concerning the scholarship fraud. I totally agree with him on his statement. I don’t care if you are a Democrat or Republican if you commit fraud you should go to jail. Secondly, he writes this blog implying that Pastor Broden is a very conservative candidate and he will lead the charge in restoring integrity back to congressional office. If that is the case, then why is Pastor Broden letting a man like Michael Steele stumping for him? Steele’s office is responsible for spending 20,000 dollars at a Las Vegas strip club and another 40,000 dollars for a vacation to Hawaii.

            The last statistic is the unemployment numbers. I like the way Olivo manipulated these numbers. First he states the unemployment in Dallas County was at 8.5% and that the unemployment in Texas before the Obama administration was between 4.5-5%. So I was curious what was the unemployment in Dallas County and in Texas was during George Bush’s administration. The unemployment rate peaked in 2003 at 8.3%, which is lower than the 8.8% of Obama’s but I believe Obama inherited this declining economy. In Bush’s administration the unemployment rate in Texas peaked at 7.5% in 2003. The only problem I have is that he tried to manipulate these numbers so he could say that in the pre-Obama years (AKA the Bush Years) the unemployment rate was much lower, when in reality it was not.

I AGREE; IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!

There is an article in the Austin American Statesman, from the editorial Board, stating that it is time for a change at Texas governor. I would like to state that I agree completely. In an era where candidates who run for office, uses glitz and glam as their campaign method, (aka Sarah Palin) it is refreshing to finally have a candidate who has a no non-sense style of campaigning. The candidate that I am referring to is Bill White. The article points out that Bill White will not send a room full of voters from calm to frenzy, but what he does offer is straight up honest answers to problems. I like that approach, because he just seems more grounded to me. The article states that Texas will be encountering a 21 billion dollar shortfall for the next two years. Bill White offers no “magic bullet” solution, just honest opinions on how to fix the problem. The article also states that Governor Perry has a sense of entitlement; he has a 9,000 dollar a month rental house while the governor’s mansion is unavailable, and Perry’s outright refusal to debate White. I don’t know about you, but we need a governor that will allow his state’s citizens to watch him in a debate. I just cannot understand this campaign strategy. George Bush Sr. used the tactic of not even acknowledging Governor Clinton by name in the 1992 presidential election, but that strategy did not turn out that well for him. So I believe that it would be in Governor Perry’s best interest to debate White, but of course that is a debate in itself. Also, Perry has been Governor of this state for 10 years and I would personally like to see a change. I believe that “politicians are like diapers”, they need to be changed from time to time.

Let's Not Talk About It!!!

I have just read an article from the Houston Chronicle website http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7201302.html about how Governor Rick Perry will not have a public debate with democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White, unless White submits three years of his tax returns from the 1990s. White states that in 1995, he cannot submit that year's tax return, because he did not have any taxable income for that year. I think the article is worth reading because, voting in a state the size of Texas, one would think that Texas should have a gubernatorial debate. How can other states like Kansas, which is way smaller in population, have a public debate, but the state of Texas do not have one. Another reason is, what is Rick Perry running away from? It is easy to say that Bill White is running away from his tax records, but one would think that if Perry is in a debate with an opponent for the Governor of Texas, it would be to his advantage for him to have his opponents suspect tax records at his disposal. If I was Governor Perry, I would rather for him to defend his tax records publicly in a debate, instead of them never seeing the light of day. It just seems fishy to me that Perry would not take advantage of this opportunity.