Ghost Fingerprinting

One hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars for something that most of our government officials are not even going to use. What was the point of this? Did they think that this pathetic attempt to cover up ghost voting would appease the masses? Whose bright idea was this? There are only going to be a small number of these devices. 6000 bills that need to be voted on but there are only 4 or 5 of these things. This is a waste of taxpayer money. The machines are optional and ghost voting will still continue. Does our government think they’re fooling us? Well they did get away with it.

Brick in the Wall

El Paso public officials have signed a letter addressed to President-elect Barack Obama asking to stop the construction of a $2.6 billion fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The letter states that it would be irresponsible to continue spending billions on the fence during a financial crisis. Representatives called building of the fence damaging to U.S.-Mexico trade and hurtful for relationships with Mexico and Latin America. Representatives there state that they do want a more secure border but they want it done in the manner of American tradition. The city and county of El Paso along with the Texas Border Coalition’s joined in a lawsuit against the fence last summer. In addition to this, various environmental groups have also filed suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and argued that the department inappropriately ignored more than 30 laws that would have prevented the fence's construction.
I think the creation of jobs was a great idea but that’s about it. The building of this wall can hurt the U.S-Mexico and Latin America relations. The government has found itself between a rock and a hard place because if they did decide to stop the building of the wall then that could lead to more job loss. It is something that should have been better thought out. 30 environmental laws have been ignored during the building of this wall. Who’s idea was this anyways, Oh Yeah,….Bush. It was a horrible idea to begin with.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/politics/ci_11133793

Bush coming home to bankrupt Texas

The reign of terror known as the Bush presidency is almost over. George and the lowest approval rating any president has ever had are coming home to Texas. The man that has bankrupted every business he ever ran and now including the United States of America are coming home. Texas is supposed to be a little more resistant to the recession than the rest of the economy but what’s going to happen when President Bush comes back to town. What kind of image will Texans now have in the eyes of the rest of the country? Investors that are looking to do business might be less likely to deal with Texas investors because they think that George Bush is the smartest thing to come out of the State. He could possibly just by sneezing cause Texas to go into a deep recession. I’m also concerned about what the President is planning to do once he does make it back. What dealings and debacles does he have in store for our state government? There could be mass home foreclosures, banks could fail, tornadoes and earthquakes could wreak havoc in Texas. As a favor to the rest of his fellow Texans President Bush needs to make sure he makes himself as irrelevant as possible for the sake of his great state. If he can do this, maybe the rest of us will have a chance at rebuilding the image of all Texans.

Early voting equals BIG numbers

I read a commentary on news8sutin.com called "Big numbers showing up for early voting" by Harvey Kronberg. Harvey writes that news polls show Borack Obama is ahead and gaining speed in early voting and many people think that the election is over. Harvey comments that since Texas is not a battleground state the national pollsters don't really focus on Texas. He gives many statistics about previous elections and how more and more elections are having a higher percentage of Democratic voters. Kronberg states, "Well yes, but it should send a signal to Republicans in Texas that all is not well. After all, McCain scores 9 points lower than George W. Bush did in 2004 just as Cornyn is 8 points lower than Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006." I agree with Kronberg that polls are just telling us what people are currently thinking. Statistics show that younger voters always turnout towards the end of an election but I think this time younger voters have already made it out in big numbers. They know what is at stake this time. It seems that it may be possible for the state of Texas to turn into a swing state in future elections. Analysts covering the election do not see a clear winner right now. Anything can happen. Currently Texas is still a Republican state but it is possible that at the end of this presidential election we may be a Democratic state.

APD Blood Test

I read a commentary in the Austin American Statesman by John Kelso called "HMO, make that payable to APD." John Kelso has a regular commentary in the Statesman.com. I normally don’t agree with his point of view but as far as this commentary I do. His intended audience is the readers of the Statesman.com. The commentary is about Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo's program that involves drawing blood from suspected drunk drivers that refuse to take a breath test. Kelso believes that Austin police officers should not be allowed to draw blood. He believes that it is an invasion of people's personal lives. Police officers should not double as nurses. Police officers have enough responsibilities and I can’t imagine that they are too happy about having another potential weapon to deal with. There are many things that could go wrong. While drawing blood the police officer would be at risk of accidentally poking themselves with a contaminated needle. Police officers could have a difficult time dealing with someone that is intoxicated and might possibly have diseases. Kelso’s commentary sarcastically says that the police department might as well perform medical procedures and perform physicals. What he’s saying is these should not be the responsibilities of the police department. Kelso also points out that this might be the beginning of the invasion of privacy adding, “Now, I'm not in favor of driving while loaded. Then again, I'm not a big fan of this intrusion of privacy. What's next? Mandatory urine samples at highway rest stops? Still, isn't there some good that could come of this blood drive?”

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/21/1021kelso.html

Picken's Plan

I read an article about the Pickens Plan. T Boone Pickens is a billionaire philanthropist that is proposing the use of renewable energy in the form of windmills and natural gas. I thought the article was interesting because he's try to sell his idea to the entire country claiming that he's worried about the environment and that we should have a plan. He believes this is the solution, claiming that he does not care about the money he's going to make if his idea is adopted. In the article it mentions that his plan will only replace oil with natural gas which is still not going to help the environment, "Skeptics of the plan said the renewable energy portion is good, but Pickens forgets about a bigger problem related to the environment. "This is not a comprehensive plan that addresses climate change and he's talking about replacing oil with natural gas – one expensive hydrocarbon for another," skeptic Andy Wilson said.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=221645