Don't abuse it

In response to the post Abortion.

I agree with many of the points you make in your post. However, I do think the ideas you express could be a bit more thought out and or expanded on. I too feel that women should have the right to choose regarding abortions and that educating our youth in regards to sexual activities is a must.
I also concur with your statement about many people/ groups being against abortions. I understand your thoughts on it however; I think that the paragraph is a bit ambiguous. You talk how many people believe abortion is wrong but don’t talk action, then about a church in this area who is active in an anti-abortion campaign then jump back to how people “preach viciously” but don’t follow with actions, etc. This makes for a choppy and hard to read and understand paragraph. I would recommend stating your objective then following it up with information that supports your idea.
Abortion should be a right that all women have; in 1973 the Supreme Court granted us that right. While surely there are cases of abuse (women using abortion as a means of birth control) there are many, many women that don’t. Having this right means that people who aren’t ready for children don’t have to have them. Many women’s lives have been saved because “back-alley” abortions are no longer needed. Each state does have the ability to regulate abortions for minors, and I believe this should be the case. Under our laws children are not able to give legal consent until the age of 18 and abortion should not change this.
Sex education in our country needs to be revisited also. Some parents are worried by that talking about sex, we will only encourage children to engage in it. I contend that children who are engaging in sexual relations are going to do so with or with out sex education and that it is our responsibility as adults to educate them as to the consequences of unprotected sex (STD’s, pregnancy) and for god’s sake teach these kids how to protect themselves. Teaching abstinence is in no way helpful, this method will leave kids uneducated and unprepared.Although abortion is a right granted all women by the Supreme Court this does not give us leave to act without regard. As adults and role models for people of all ages we need to teach each other how to behave and act responsibly with our bodies.

Am I missing something?

In 2002 the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed into law. The goal of this legislation was to improve the performance of primary and secondary students’ education by increasing the accountability for states and their schools, increase the focus on reading and give families more flexibility in the schools which our children are able to attend. The belief behind NCLB is to raise the expectations and to establish measurable goals to improve the individual outcome of your child’s education through state regulated minimum achievement tests (TAKS in Texas.)

This all sounds great, doesn’t it? Our schools get highly qualified teachers to educate our children and systematic testing to indicate a teaching weakness. What could go wrong?

For starters, Austin has at least 10 middle/high schools who have been rated “Academically Unacceptable.” Texas is having difficulties finding qualified math and science teachers. Don’t get me wrong; I want my children to learn from teachers who know the subjects they're teaching, but to what end? Is it better to have 3 properly qualified teachers with 30 plus students per class and not enough equipment than to have 5 qualified teachers with 18-20 students per class?

I’m genuinely concerned with the quality of teaching that goes on in our Austin schools. During the 2007-2008 school year my son took more practice TAKS and TAKS tests than I can count on two hands. Not to mention the prep time they had for a week prior going into these tests. If my child is spending this much time studying for a minimum basic skills test, where does it leave time for actual learning? You may wonder what I mean by this last comment; I’ll make it very simple for everyone. Public schools are teaching to test, it’s just that simple. The problem with this is children don’t actually learn. Sure, they can give you some cookie cutter response from a textbook, but whatever happened to teaching our children to think with their minds? Which leads me to one of the most detrimental problems NCLB has, under funding.

With out the proper funding we can’t begin to accomplish anything. We can’t hire teachers and schools are in a state of disrepair. Also, to my great surprise, several schools have but only one set of schoolbooks per class. Are you kidding me? How are our children supposed to study for their state tests when they don’t have a book to take home and study with? Homework seems to have become a thing of the past in some Austin schools.

While NCLB sounds good in theory, I can’t help but think that my child is worse off for having been subjected to it. If you really want to help our children don’t lower test standards, increase them. And for starters please…teach our children the importance of thinking outside the box. I don't have all the answers, but I do know that we need to rethink the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and start making changes that are going to facilitate the actual education of our city, state and nations children.

The Irony of Apathy

The idea that people are less expensive, less prone to flaws and in general more dependable and accurate is indeed “senseless.” People are the sole source of the corruptions you mention. Voting machines are not self-aware, they do not decide that they like one candidate over another and change the vote, that is all done by a person, most likely several. Machines are programmed to tally without error exactly what they are told. The actuality is people cost money; it takes many, many people to count votes and man the polls. Can you imagine what a colossal undertaking it would be to count 122 million ballots? On the contrary people are less likely to be more accurate in counting. Sometimes this is do to depravity other times do to just plain human error.

The Electoral College was put in place for just the reason that you querulously refer. The reasoning behind the Electoral College is not to quash the voice of the public, but to avoid chaos. Few voices are easily heard but when you have many a single utterance will be lost. While an elector can vote for a candidate contrary to the public’s wishes, doing so would have almost no impact on the results of said vote, not to mention he/she would not likely remain in their position very long.

Maybe you’re right; your vote won’t make a difference, with certainty, if you’re the only person who chooses not to vote. What happens when a hundred or a million people opt out of an election? Many do and with as many reasons that I could not begin to count. Charles de Montesquieu once said that “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” I understand where you’re coming from, it’s easy to feel like your opinion is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but if you let yourself believe for a moment that being impassive is the higher road, you are quite mistaken. Fore it will not be long that the majority is unspoken and the minority will rule. Take some time, think things through a bit more and ask yourself…"Is this what I truly believe?”

Are you part of the problem or the solution?

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services there were 45.8 million people living in the United States without health insurance. In my mind, along with millions of others, this figure is unacceptable.

The United States is one of the only Industrialized Nations in the world to not have a Universal Healthcare Program for its citizens. Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Canada are only a few of the countries that have a national program to insure their citizens. For god’s sake, even Cuba has a healthcare system that puts ours to shame.

Every year more and more Americans live without the benefit of insurance. At first glance this doesn’t seem to be of great importance, but if you take a look at the facts maybe you’ll come to understand the urgency of the matter. An uninsured person is more likely to have chronic health problems because they cannot afford to receive routine medical treatment. One of the contributing factors is the high cost of prescriptions, people can ill afford to pay the outrageous costs demanded by pharmaceutical companies. Uninsured people also have a higher risk of premature morbidity.

Some of you may think that this isn’t your problem and that it only affects the person who is without insurance, but you’re mistaken. Persons without insurance also affect you and I. An uninsured person is more likely to miss work, spread communicable diseases and clog up urgent care facilities. Many uninsured will go to the emergency room for minor issues. Who do you think pays when the outrageous bills from these visits go unpaid? You guessed it, the privately insured does. Medical facilities raise their costs and insurance premiums increase to help offset the higher costs of medical treatment.

One way to stop this nonsense is for our government to get off their rumps and start working on a universal healthcare system that will benefit the U.S. Senator Barack Obama is only one of a few of our countries leaders who support such a plan. Obama supports a National Healthcare Plan that would provide coverage of everyone, have affordable premiums/deductibles and provide easy enrollment. This plan includes the mandatory coverage of minors under the age of 18.

It’s time to wake up America, stop asking what others can do for you, stop burying your head in the sand and open your eyes. This problem will not resolve itself and it’s not a problem for others to solve. Each of us must do our part to help our fellow man.

"When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied." - Herophilus

Where's your Humanity?

The moment we decide to imprison an individual, we become responsible for their well being. I fear however, that too many of us do not consider this to be true, if they think about it at all. We the country who preaches such ideals as equality, liberty and freedom, are being proven hypocrites.

Brought about by articles recently published by The Washington Post, L.A. Times and The New York Times, Representative Zoe Lofgren of California and Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey recently introduced the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. “Dying in Detention,” is one such commentary featured in yesterdays The New York Times, which sheds some light on the despicable lack of care provided to detainees by the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The commentary rightly criticizes our government, namely the Bush Administration of willfully neglecting imprisoned persons health care namely when “the people in custody are illegal immigrants.”

“Dying in Detention” is an article written not just to educate people, but also to shock them. To accomplish this they used the story of Francisco Castaneda an immigrant from El Salvador. While imprisoned Castaneda was denied what medical officials deemed as an “urgently needed biopsy” among other medical treatments. During the next 11 months of incarceration Castaneda had been repeatedly denied this procedure that was ear marked as “elective” by outside officials who effectively killed Francisco Castaneda by overriding the opinions of medical experts.

Representative Steve King’s quote: “Why should the American people be responsible for paying Rolls-Royce medical care for illegal aliens?” is yet another wake-up call. Does our government and our people really believe that providing health care for immigrants is bad? It makes me cringe to think of how many people think that it is.

On a more heartening note the commentary goes on to address what I hope is the beginning of a resolution. The Detainee Medical Bill Act of 2008 would “impose more rigorous standards” for federally and privately ran institutions. The article also states that the “current rules” for said prisons are “voluntary, not legally enforceable” and that the new act would require all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.

It breaks my heart that after all these years and all the progress made in our country we still have people who are just as ignorant as ever running our country. Does it matter that a person is in the U.S. illegally? Does this make them any less of a human being? Is it not the position of the U.S., our government that we should fight oppression?

It heartens me that we have people like Rep. Lofgren and Sen. Menendez who are willing to standing up for people whom our country refuses to give the most basic of rights to.

Nelson Mandela once said: “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones…”

Where will they go?

Boston’s Joan Vennochi’s article “How to play political hardball, Clinton style” featured in today’s Austin American Statesman begs the question, who will get Senator Clintons female supporters? Vennochi’s commentary opens with the acrimonious question, do Hillary’s supporters stay with their party and “the candidate who reminds them of every man who got the raise and promotion before they did?” or should they change sides and vote for McCain who “reminds them of the dad with whom they disagree but respect?”

Vennochi suggests that the best way for Obama to garner Clinton supporters is to include Hillary on the Democratic ticket as the V.P. with the thought that Clinton supporters would automatically follow suit. Also suggesting that some supporters may follow McCain due to their dislike of Obama.

Another means of attracting followers is flattery. The article flatly accuses both McCain and Obama of sycophancy. Since Hillary’s withdrawal both senators have lavished her with praise for making history, being a strong leader and an inspiration to all women.

According to the author this is how Hillary is going to not only keep her followers, but also, stay in the race. Not for president, but for vice president. Hillary will use her vast following and similar ideals on healthcare, the war and taxes to make herself Obama’s running mate come this fall.

Now I know Hillary is a bright woman and I like her ideas on healthcare, but I can’t believe that Hillary is in her right mind to think that after all is said and done, that Obama would even seriously consider that proposal.

Does someone have any spare Social Graces?

Enough is enough already. I can’t think of a time that I was so engrossed a primary yet so turned off. Does anyone else feel like they stepped into a kindergarten classroom? For being such a talented and bright woman Senator Hillary Clinton is doing a great job at making an ass of herself. Throughout the entire process Hillary has made backhanded remarks in reference to Sen. Obama and had more than a couple cases of foot in the mouth disease. Is she ever going to stop?

In a news article featured in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060303157.html?nav=hcmodule, Ruth Marcus writes that although the Obama campaign “deserves credit for pulling back. The Clinton forces, despite their good deal, stubbornly refused to compromise.” Yet again Sen. Clinton’s schoolyard behavior continues. In response to this compromise, Sen. Clinton claims that she was “hijacked.”

Thank goodness at least one of our candidates has been able to handle themselves with some semblance of gentility. If anything Clinton should try taking a page from the Obama book of decorum.