Immigration

On the blog called, "What was that!?" "Oh, that is just immigration." , Robert Toohey wrote about immigration as something that we need to accept. There are not a whole lot of things we could do to prevent it. Building a wall would help but it would cost a lot to do. I don’t think that our country would make that a number one priority with us being in a recession.

I agreed with Robert on the fact that our country is not doing so well economically. There are things that our country has that are better than other countries. My family left Vietnam because the United States was a little better than where they were, so they moved here and got their green card. I also agreed about how "our job crisis is going to get worse whether they come in or not.” It does not really matter if they come in to our country. I don’t think it would make a difference in crime, discrimination, job crisis or any problems at all. We are having problems with them coming in or going out of our country either way.

I think the idea of immigration is a good one because we could learn knew cultures and meet new people. I remember from history class that our country is the melting pot of cultures (or something like that). We see so many ethnicities here in our country and many of them living here have their green card or citizenship.

2010 Census

A census counts every resident in the United States and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years. The 2010 Census will help communities to receive federal funds each year for hospitals, job training centers, emergency services, schools, senior centers, bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects. I think the census is a good idea. It is very useful for the community and nice that the government is providing services to the community.

We should have everybody in the states to be counted because we could make our communities whole lot better. I read an article said that in the 2000 Census, “an estimated 373,567 people in Texas were uncounted.” It cost “Texas about $1 billion in lost federal funds, according to a Price Waterhouse Cooper report on the census.” There might a chance that Texas will be the biggest winner since the 2000 Census. The counts might cause to pick up three or four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. These seats may not result in a huge change of the direction in our electoral college but they are important.

Let just hope that everybody in Texas turn in their census to let the state know the population of your state. We can get enough money to do public works projects, to improve our communities, schools and etc. If some people don’t do it, the state would not provide enough money for the communities to achieve the services in Texas. It is very important to turn in the census. One person being can make a difference in Texas.

Cameras or No Cameras?

On a blog called, " Keeping a closer eye on crime in downtown Austin", Emily Hajovsky. She makes a great point on how the we should have cameras in “high-crime areas”. It would help the Austin Police Department to find that person and arrest them. She also talks about “some owners of their establishment might want to use the video for their own civil law suits or just to treat their curiosity”. She backed her information about “the Austin Police Department is…debating whether or not to install security cameras in high-crime areas around the downtown area” with an article.

I think it is a good idea to have cameras at “high-crimes areas”. I think that will help the owners feel a lot better that he/she knows what going on outside of their place when they are not there. I agree with her that “safety should be there number one concern”.

I also agree that “we have a right to see what’s being videotaped as well as what’s going on in our neighborhoods”. It might or not be useful for a lawsuits or a crime. According to Emily “it wouldn’t be any different if the person pressing charges were to video tape it and use that in their lawsuit”. She gave an example of a case that was in 2007. She said that “they used cameras to catch people who ran red lights” and “people complained about how it was an invasion of privacy”. She makes a great point how people complained about being videotaping but “how is it any different than if there was a cop sitting at that light instead of a camera”. It got me thinking and it is the same thing but they have proof of them doing something.

Does Bill White have a Chance?

On Tuesday, March 2, 2010, the majority of Texas, who are democrats voted for Bill White. He gives the Democrats a faint of hope for the first time in 15 years that they might be able to take back the governor’s office.

For a very long time the Texas Democrats have seen their party stumble and fall in statewide races repeatedly, when the Republican candidate for governor, George W. Bush defeated Ann Richards.

I think that Mr. White has a chance to win this election but still he is going to face a rough battle in a state where big-city mayors have failed to win on a statewide level and where Republicans have been in office since Bill Clements was the first Republican governor in 1979. At the primary, he got about 70 percent of the Democrats votes. I knew that he had the chance to beat Farouk Shami for the Democratic Party. Does Mr. White have a chance to win this election in a Republican state?

In the past, he has cut taxes in Houston and won praise for reducing smog and steering the city through Hurricanes Katrina and Ike. He won re-election twice by large margins. He would probably be re-elected if possible. Does his past accomplishments can make a big difference to win this election?

I think this election this November would be interesting because there is some stuff in the past that made the public to be upset with Rick Perry. If more than, fifty percent of the Republican or the supporters of Rick Perry voted for Bill White. There is chance Texas will be a Democratic state. I know that my generation has never witness a Democrat to be governor of Texas. If Bill White wins, the election this would will go down in history. This election can go both ways. Texas might have given Perry another chance or a Democrat in office. We will see what the outcome will be in November.

Protect the Captial

This blog is called the "DPS plan would put x-raysa nd metal detectors at Texas capitol entrances" by Scott Henson. Scott writes about the DPS plans are to put metal detectors and X-Ray machines at the entrances of the state capitol to help support in "gun detection." Scott disagreed with this decision on this plan. He does not want to see the culture at the city hall to dramatically change. Scott is saying that if they have metal detectors and x-rays at the capital, this would cause the people to form a line and the shooter could fire off shots outside the capitol. This would affect innocents' lives to be in danger while waiting to go through the metal detector. He thinks that it would be a waste of time for security to mess with the visitors with metal detector.

He presented a schedule to show that the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security will join together with the House Transportation Committee to talk about the DPS plans. He wrote how this idea was considered after 9/11 but a man fired off a gun at the capital and backed up this by a presenting a article.

I like how the writer expressed his opinion. I think Scott's credibility is all right. He gave us a link where he got the data and told us some information about it. He used it to back up his statement.

I think that it is a good and bad idea about this. It is a good idea that we can feel protected at the captial, but people do visit there and also childern. There is a lot schools do field trips. I think it would scare the childern everytime they go. On the other hand x-rays and metal detectors would make people feel safe when they go. It would make people feel better by thinking that there won't be a man firing his a gun at the capital.

A Nasty Fight

This editorial is called "Don't forget the nastiness when politicians make nice" by Ken Herman, American-Statesman writer. He wrote about how the candidates will be mean and nasty to each other but later after the election is over, they will be all nice and still be friends.

He wrote about the GOP gubernatorial debate on Friday night on January 29, 2010 and the campaign ads. He thinks that Rick and Kay didn't mean to say all that mean stuff about each other throughout the campaign.

The author gives questions to let the readers really think about it. He states that according to all the TV ads are saying negative things about mostly about Kay or Rick. He also assumes that readers are Democrats. He said, "What should be your favorite political comment of the year (so far) came on the Democratic side."

Then Ken Herman gave his opinion that "maybe intellectual honesty demands that the loser not endorse the winner. But reality dictates that the loser will abruptly pivot to the any-Republican-is-better-than-any-Democrat mantra and endorse the winner." He goes on talking about how Hank Gilbert was endorsed by Farouk Shami and now Gilbert is endorsing Shami for governor. Then he asked about Gilbert twisted things around by saying Shami was trying to be the nomination while he was a gubernatorial candidate and Ken Herman was not surprise about that.

I think that it is wrong what Gilbert did because he was very rude to Shami because he endorsed Gilbert and I think it is a right thing to do for Farok is to support Shami. It is like "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back." When Gilbert twisted things around it was a mean and backstabbing thing to do. I think that when you are going up against someone in an election and the other person won.

I think that this editorial analyzed the campaign and it makes you think that the candidates are trying their very best to win by taking any dirt they could find on the other candidates to be governor. It is depending on the person to be nice with a fake smile after an election. It is their choice. I think that they should be friends and not let an election ruin a friendship. It would be nice have connections. There is nothing we can do to change that. It is human nature that we try everything in our power to win, if it means that we need to find any evidence that can hurt the other candidate's chance to win. I think it is a good thing to be friends with your opponent that you lost to or just put a fake smile because it will help to support that you are a good person.

A Battle for Governor

There is an article called "Perry stands ground on his record" by Jason Embry and Corrie MacLaggan is about U.S Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Gov. Rick Perry and Wharton businesswoman Debra Medina are attacking each other. It also talks about the candidates’ discussions and their responses in the debate.

It seem that this article is mostly talking about Gov. Rick Perry defending himself and how Hutchison and Medina are picking on him and making him look bad to the public. Perry is trying to make him look good and not let Hutchison and Medina's statement affect his chances on winning the election. In article, it states that Perry defended himself on issues like him "being pro-life."

According to the article, it looks like Perry took a shot at Hutchison. He said in "Washington, [she] had failed to secure the Texas-Mexico border." Medina took a shot at Perry.

I think this article is worth reading and interesting because it is showing how three people are attacking each other and making the other candidates look bad the public’s eyes to win to be governor. It makes you think who you really want for governor.