Texans in Congress say they’ll keep backing fighter project despite massive cost overruns": Constructive criticism Blog stage 6

I couldn't agree with you more Linda. The spending of this jet ($1.4 trillion) is way too high for any country, let alone a country that is trillions of dollars in debt. With that being said the only conclusion I could come to as to why Congressmen in Texas want to keep this plane alive is the jobs its creating for the Dallas-Forth Worth area. With that Being said, rather than saving this super expensive toy with Texas government money trying to keep jobs, I say take the money, part ways from the damn near impossible jet and use it to create the jobs they are trying to indirectly save.

With that being said the government's argument is that it would provide a better way of safety. My thought is this; we are the most powerful country in the nation. Why do we need a jet that will cost $1.4 trillion dollars if we are already the big dogs on campus? Rather than spending money to show who has the bigger gun, I say spend it on creating more jobs to stabilize Texas' economy in the near future, or exactly what you said Linda, keeping our children in school, and keeping them healthy with health care which in turn will stabilize our future since our future starts with our children.

"Take our LABOR BACK!" Constructive Criticism

I recently read up on Melanie's blog called "Take our LABOR BACK!" which is about Texas' minimum wage is too low, major corporations are moving to other countries to make a quicker buck, and of course the poverty level set at $20,000 for a family of four which she argues should be higher. I completely agree with all of these points needing a higher minimum wage seeing as how our growth of population has increased majorly within the last few years, along with the fact that we are losing jobs due to major corporations sending jobs across seas and even the statement of the poverty level needing to be higher with a family of four.

My argument is this; Texas at $7.25 minimum wage is in fact that same as the federal minimum wage which is actually the same minimum wage for twenty-two (22) other states. Which leaves eight-teen (18) states above the federal minimum wage which leaves five (5) under the federal wage and five (5) not having a minimum wage laws at all. Now along with this Texas actually ranks under the federal cost of living in four (4) categories:

Costofliving	Texas, TX	United States
Overall	88	100
Food	90	100
Utilities	95	100
Miscellaneous	95	100

Melanie's first argument is that Texas government does not take into consideration of "life" and issues that stir things up such as little Susan getting a tummy ache. My response to this is that the Government simply cannot take variables into consideration when looking at a larger scale, because if they took into consideration all the "what ifs" that could possibly happen in a year, the list would be endless. With that being said IF they did take into consideration bills that could possibly never stack up, and raised the minimum wage in Texas, then they would in fact have to change all other twenty-two (22) states that have the same minimum wage due to having to take into consideration the same living situations and "what ifs". My last food for thought is out of all the job creations in the U.S. statistics have shown that Texas created 40% of those job increases in the U.S. alone! Then why is the economy still short handed on jobs you ask? Going back to my previous statement above; our population growth is growing at a rapid pace, after all, we all live here for a reason don't we? My statement simply argues that people are moving to Texas for a reason. I do agree that the state needs to adapt to the growth quickly and create even more jobs, but the statement at hand is that we do not create many jobs at all which in fact isn't true since we've created 40% of the jobs in the USA. 

I do however agree with Melanie's way to solve the issue at hand and how to create more jobs. Entrepreneurs are definitely the way to go so that we can supply and back up local organizations, because when a consumer buys locally, the money gets put back into the economy. Along with that her statement was jobs are becoming more technical, which is very true. I would argue on top of entrepreneurship, going back to school is a must in order to fill these positions properly. 

All in all I agree there's an issue at hand with Texas' economy, but fact of the matter is, we aren't doing so bad when looking at other minimum wages, and our cost of living. 

Planned Parenthood Removed from WHP Funding

Women's Health Program (also known as WHP) has been providing a whopping $13.6 million dollars annually to Planned Parenthood. Now the state and the WHP will start to exclude Planned Parenthood all because some of their clinics either did abortions, or recommended abortion clinics to their clients. This was fought with the argument that although the WHP provided a substantial amount of funding, Planned Parenthood stated that they did not use the states funding to execute abortions and furthermore this exclusion based on the affiliates Planned Parenthood has with other abortion clinics is unconstitutional for they have the freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Now in my opinion I do think that Planned Parenthood does more good than bad. Obviously the notion and stereotype we have when we hear 'Planned Parenthood' is babies, and well planning the future. In actuality Planned Parenthood does a lot more than just help planning for future children or directing a female to an abortion clinic. They are also well known for but not limited to breast and cervical cancer screenings, STD testings, birth control, and high blood pressure screenings. I do however believe there should have been a happy medium; a way to regulate the funding given to P.P. and make sure its not going towards abortion or anything of the nature. Stated in the article, this cut will affect almost half of the Women that go through the Women Health Program since about half go through Planned Parenthood. I do believe rather than completely de-funding P.P, they could have taken away 3% which was the percentage given that they supposedly use to do abortion type planning.

All in all I feel this is a huge mistake given the fact that 49 clinics will be closed down, and logically speaking it will be very difficult to find new clinics to provide for these uninsured Women who live in Texas. Along with that, I feel taking away full funding is a little dramatic given the fact that Planned Parenthood is so widely used not only for future mommies and children, but gives other amenities as well, other amenities that 49 different clinics will no longer be able to perform because of this decision.