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