Prop 4

Proposition 4, up for vote on November 3rd, is a controversial idea to push for more tier-one universities in the state of Texas. While some see it as controversial and unnecessary, I, and the author of the editorial, would like to see the Prop 4 pass with flying colors. According to the author in the editorial, "A vote for Proposition 4 is a vote for education and economy," the money that would be used to fund universities throughout Texas, such as UT-El Paso, UT-Dallas, and Texas Tech (just to name a few) to achieve tier-one status is already there; the money has just been laying dormant for some years now. Texas looses about 10,000 high school graduates each year to other out-of-state universities who grant doctoral degrees at other tier-one schools. Additionally, Texas only brings in about 4,000 students from other states to attend universities here. The reason Texas looses so many prospective students and only draws in a small amount is due to the lack of funding for Texas universities to thrive to their greatest potential. Since the money is already there, and the schools are already built, saying yes to this proposition would seem ignorant.

As a college student in the state of Texas, I would throughly enjoy the opportunity to have more variety of tier-one universities in my own state. I could avoid paying out-of-state tuition, as well as stay close to family and friends. Passing Prop 4 would not only alleviate admission pressures at UT-Austin, but would also boost the state economy because more students would want to continue their higher education in the state of Texas.

Governor Perry, An Innocent Man, and Texas

There has been a lot of media attention surrounding the recent execution of a possible innocent man, Cameron Todd Willingham, in Texas. I located an editorial from the Austin Statesman, "Governor Grants Stay of Scientific Evidence," which I think had good logic regarding the entire issue at hand. After being on death row for years, Willingham's case came up to review again long before he was executed. Despite new science, new theories, and new arson investigators that found the man innocent of the crime, he was still executed. Governor Perry has said that he sees no reason to doubt the conviction and took drastic measures to the Teas Forensic Science Commission by replacing different members that would not question him. Was this just the timing or was there a different motive for Perry to replace these members? This article shines light on an issue that needs to be brought to the attention of Texas residents, so people can realize that we may have killed an innocent man here in the state of Texas because of one man's ignorance, Governor Perry. Governor Perry completely dismissed the evidence of the new arson experts. The author thinks that this whole ordeal seems shady and I totally agree. The author states that "science proves otherwise, more than one Texas might want to blurt out the kind of profanity laced statement that Willingham opted for in his final moments." Most innocent men do not use profanity when they are about to get executed. The author thinks that Texas needs to get this one right even if it is ex post facto to make sure this kind of thing does not happen in the future. It is one thing to put an innocent man in jail for the rest of his life, but to kill an innocent man for something he never did is another. I agree with the writer of this editorial, but I think that his thoughts and points could have been structured and formatted in a different way. While reading the article, it seemed to jump around and, I as a reader, was unsure the direction and points that the writer was trying to make. It was not until the end that it really stood out to me that he felt like something needed to be done in Texas about the execution of innocent men. This issue brings attention to the fact that Cameron Willingham might not be the only person who suffered because of a man's ignorance.

Comptroller: Energy bill will cost jobs

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/mobile/Comptroller_energy_bill_will_cost_jobs

I was reading an article from KXAN's political section and came across something that I found to be interesting. There is currently a new energy bill that is moving through Congress that will implement a cap and trade on energy use. The comptroller is saying that if passed it will cost Texans over a hundred thousand jobs. The cap and trade bill would "cap" limits on carbon emissions in an area and then in those areas those are allowed to "trade" credits to areas in need of reducing emissions. Different areas would buy, sell, or trade greenhouse gasp credits to credit some sort of limit on the state. This bill would not impact families directly, but Texas is the # 1 oil and gas exporter in the country and this bill would definitely limit the amount of production people would be able to do. Since people would not be able to produce the amount of what they are currently doing; therefore, they would not need as many employees or laborers to work for them creating major jobs cuts in Texas. I thought this was interesting since Texas has remained one of the few states that have not seen a huge job loss in the recession that we are living in. People are moving to Texas from all over the country to have a job and make a life for their families. If they were to pass a bill then people would have no reason to move here to keep the economy steady like it is now and possibly get laid off from their new job. Texas is a state that has a lot of jobs in manufacturing, agricultural, gas, oil and electric industries. A bill of this nature would directly impact all those industries. In a time that every job counts, they should rethink about this bill and possibly make more modifications to it.