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.  

Stage Two Water Restrictions, effective or useless?

Since the start of 2011 and going into 2012; Texas is being recorded as the worst drought in it's state history. What precaution measures are we taking as a state to minimize water use do you ask? Well as of right now we are in a so called "Stage 2 water restriction" which was supposed to take into affect September 6 of 2011. So what exactly are these restrictions? Does anyone know without looking them up? Probably not, but here is a list of what SHOULD be enforced, although I have my doubts as to if they are even being acknowledged.

The restriction states:

• Residents may only water outdoors once a week. Homes with odd-numbered addresses can water on Saturday, even-numbered on Sunday.
• Businesses and multifamily units may only water outdoors once a week. Those with odd numbered-addresses can water on Tuesday and those with even-numbered addresses can water on Friday.
• Automatic sprinklers can only operate before 10 a.m. on your watering day. Hose-end sprinklers can be used before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
• Hand watering can be done at any time on any day of the week.
• If you wash your car at home, do it on your watering day before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.
• You must use a hand-held bucket or a hose equipped with a shutoff nozzle; you may use a waterless cleaning product or a commercial carwash to wash your car on any day at any time.
• No charity carwashes are permitted unless a waterless cleaning product is used instead of water.
• No ornamental fountains may be operated except to provide aeration for aquatic life. Automatic fill valves for pools and ponds must be turned off as well.

Now tell me, has anyone seen a neighbor, while driving by watering their yard, or washing their car outside of these guidelines? Furthermore has anyone seen the use of water in any way shape or form outside the judgement call of what is "necessary"? My opinion is this; these guidelines are probably not well known if known at all, and fact of the matter is IF we are spending tax dollars to implement a patrol through the police department to monitor people and their use of water, that no one will take it seriously. Those guidelines are set up for failure because fact of the matter is no one is going to follow these, and if a cop just so happens to see someone washing their car or lawn during the wrong time, chances are they aren't going to stop and write a citation.

Rather than spending money on restrictions that aren't being monitored and CAN'T be monitored as closely as they should be, start monitoring water bills, start monitoring all the automated sprinkler systems, start monitoring something measureable rather than monitoring something that is too wide of a spectrum to keep intact.

My final statement is this, I encourage you to ask your neighbor, or even fellow officer what or if they know of the "stage 2 restrictions" we are under right now. Hopefully sometime soon someone in Texas Government will come to the realization that these restrictions are not going to be enforced, or at least not well, and hopefully reform how to conserve water and enforce restrictions at a city wide level.

"Save Austin Public Schools"

With the new legislature coming up in 2013, everyone is brainstorming on their stances on different topics to prepare for the year to come, one of which will always be a factor; money. These early discussions for the 2013 legislative session proposes we cut MORE public school funding and welfare, and start enforcing more local/public control. 

OFF THE KUFF states, "This is basically the Paul Ryan Budget Plan for Texas. Protect a few things that the rich and powerful like, ensure those folks have to pay as little as possible, and cut the hell out of everything else. It has nothing to do with “priorities” or needs or anything else except lowering taxes for those who least like paying them. I guarantee you, every spending cut these guys would propose will be accompanied by an even larger revenue cut that will ensure the need for more of the same in the next budget. The goal is to exempt themselves from paying for anything". 

I agree in the sense that cutting into public schools funding isn't the way to go in any state, let alone in a state that has half of the children's new growth population."Between 2000 and 2010, the child population of the United States grew by about 2 million children, and over half of them were Texans. Our economy benefits from having so many young people — if we teach them the skills they need.”-Conservative Budget Coalition Targets 2013 Session.

The author clearly is targeting, and actually states that he is targeting all the Democrats in the upcoming 2013 legislature. Along with that would also be the public itself with that advertising of this upcoming Saturday's (March 23rd, 2012) Save Texas Schools rally. 

In the end result, I completely agree in the saying, "Our children today, will be our Future tomorrow". They are the ones that will be the new fire fighters, police officers, computer programmers and so on. Without the right education, and special skills needed to perform in the job industry for the future to come, there won't be anyone professionally qualified to ensure faith in their production.

Austin's Solution to Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

Recently Austin is discussing and planning to implement collaboration between charter schools and public schools. They are the second school to receive $100,000 towards this newly invented project. This is something that in that past hasn't been done or even thought about. Charter schools til recently were going to be obsolete. I agree with the author of this editorial in the sense that it will help the success of children graduating and moving towards a higher education.

”Responsive Education Solutions, a Dallas-based operation that runs charter schools throughout the state, will run a dropout recovery program in Austin's Lanier and Travis high schools."At the end of the day, I really want to see more kids graduate," said Meria Carstarphen, Austin school district superintendent”. That’s a direct quote both from the author and Meria Carstaphen. I think the collaboration won’t happen over night, however I do think that working towards a similar education can and will allow certain cross teaching and or a better teaching system. This $100,000 fund also puts AISD andAustin Charter schools in the running for and even bigger purse of $7 million dollars.

The demograph that the author is targeting is really both sides of the spectrum, parents, teachers, along with charter and public schools to show a new perspective to both sides that as long as you have the same future in mind (students graduating) that anything is possible.

This new collaboration will allow new and innovative ideas between the two different schoolings. At the end of the day, with this new collaboration, the main goal is to increase the number of students who graduate and move on to higher education. No more competing against each other, rather, working towards the same future.

Wind Power - Where Does Texas Stand?

Energy is always a pressing issue, especially in political debates. When it comes to energy, this year Texas is very interested in wind power production. With Texas being a very large state, it has become a leading producer of wind power. While this is very fortunate for the great state of Texas, it is also unfortunate that the upcoming termination of the federal tax credit could also limit this success. According to The Texas Tribune, the tax credit provides farm owners 2.2 cents for every kilowatt- hour of power they produce over a span of 10 years. Many wind farmers and advocators of wind manufacturing are working towards finding a way to extend the tax credit for as along as possible. Texas politicians are split when it comes to this decision, with Democrats being in favor of “ green-power”. Texan Republicans on the other hand are still undecided as to where they stand on the issue. The Texas Tribune posted an article titled “In Texas, Ambivalence Over Wind Tax Credit Extension” which gives a bit more insight as to why congressional politicians in Texas are so on the fence about the federal tax credit.