Cell Phones Behind the Wheel

I am commenting on my classmate Natosha's blog concerning the use of cell phones while driving. This is a topic that needs to be raised. We all do it, we get caught up and get busy and find ourselves doing work on the road or catching up with friends. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 25% of all police reported accidents have cell phones contributing to them and this is only the ones reported. I believe it will not get any better either without intervention because now not only are people just talking on the phone but they are texting as well. There needs to be laws put into place to restrict cell phone use. Drivers should not be allowed to text while driving and also they should be required to use hands free devices while talking. I know this will be a continuing problem but hopefully it would cut down on the issue. I mean there are speed limits but people choose to break those rules too. The idea is that if they get caught there should be consequences for being careless. People don't like to pay tickets. I speak for myself as well I know I am just as guilty as the next person. I know I would be less likely to use my phone if I knew I would get in trouble.

ID vs. Evolution

There is a huge debate nation wide about how science should be taught in schools. Should we teach creation as another theory or not? Should we let kids know that evolution is a theory that has not been proven and has weaknesses? I was very lucky growing up to have some really good science teachers who were honest about the science of our earth. I was taught out of our text book about the theory of evolution but then shown that there were many things that have not been proven and some things that have even been shown to not be very accurate. For example, one of the pieces of evidence still in textbooks today is the chart drawn by Ernst Haeckel, a German scientist. The chart depicts a few different embryos varying from from a fish to a human showing their development through the early stages. The point he was trying to make was that all of the embryos followed similar paths up to a certain point proving that we all evolved into different species but from the same origin. However this chart was shown not to be an accurate depiction of this process at all. I am not saying that evolution should not be taught and I am not even saying that creation should be taught. What I am saying is just that we need to take a look at our textbooks and make sure that what we are teaching is still theory and has not been proven wrong. We also we need to let kids know that this is just a theory and that we don't have it figured out. I know that I belived what my teachers told me when I was a kid and I just want to make sure we are doing our kids the justice they deserve.

On the issue of intelligent design (ID) I am not sure what to do. I guess creationism is another theory but at first glance it doesn't seem science based. However some would argue that accepting evolutions theory is only done by faith as well. I don't personally have a problem with ID being taught I think that it just offers another idea for kids to think about. Truth will win out someday but for now the reality is that we don't know for sure how everything happened. The board of education in Dallas has been meeting over the last weeks discussing and weighing the proposed changes to the curriculum. The board appointed a panel of six experts to review the curriculum. The changes would be as follows,"A new version of the proposed curriculum released this week effectively reintroduced the requirement to teach the weaknesses of scientific theories by mandating that students "analyze and evaluate strengths and limitations" of scientific explanations." In March some schools will be adopting the teaching of the weaknesses of evolution. They also say that by 2012 they will have new text books ready for the classrooms. I think it is a great compromise for now. We will just teach evolution as theory shedding light on its strengths and weaknesses letting the kids do some thinking for themselves.

Austin Traffic!!

I completely agree with the "Political Environment In Texas' blog about the traffic situation in Austin. I moved here just a couple years ago from Wisconsin and was appalled at the congestion on the roads. Depending on the time of day it could take me twenty minutes to go just a couple miles. I was told about how fast things have grown here. It was like the city just had this huge boom in population and didn't know what to do to keep up. It seems that we just started throwing up roads trying to accommodate but it just hasn't cut it. We desperately need to figure this out and better mass transit seems like a good place to start. I work with a couple guys who have to take the bus and it takes them forever and like this blog said it is sometimes faster to walk. That isn't good to put it plainly. Most people don't have the time to wait around for buses and then on top of it have to switch multiple times to get to the places they need go. If we could get our public buses in better operation and get that rail system underway that would be a great start. Not to mention it would cut down on pollution. Go green!

Proposition 1. Vote "Yes"

There is a local proposition, Proposition 1, that will appear on the ballot in November to try and increase the property tax in order to give teachers a 3% pay increase this next year. The property tax would increase by a mere 3.9 cents per $100. This would mean that an average household would pay an additional $343 annually. This tax increase would not only allow teachers a pay raise it would also allow districts to compensate for the increasing cost of health care costs, fuel to run the busses, and operating costs for the school itself(ex. heat and air conditioning).

We need to support our teachers with Proposition 1. We have a duty to make sure our teachers are taken care of. Our kids will be under the care of these people for most of their formative years and eventually these kids will be the adults of this world. It is a huge job for these teachers to undertake and we want the best for our kids. If we don't take care of our teachers they will find a district that will. If we don't want to lose our good teachers to other schools we need to vote "yes" on proposition1. Our property taxes will go up by about $252 anyways because of increasing property values. So that $91 from each household means a 3% pay increase to each teacher. These teachers are counting on us because our taxes are as high as they can be without the people voting for a tax increase. Everyone wins with this proposition, teachers get their raise and we get to keep our good teachers.

Public Humiliation

I read a post on the blog, Grits For Breakfast, Dallas Using Public Humiliation Tactics For Petty Scofflaws. This article talks about how Dallas County has published a website where people can look up and find people in their area that have as little as a class c misdemeanor. Scott Henson (the writer of this blog) believes this is just the counties way of embarrassing people into paying their fines therefore raising revenue. He believes that it is one thing to provide this kind website for sex offenders because that actually offers a service. The website even offers pictures of the people owing fines and a list of who owes the most. It is horrible that this is even out there but then on top of it, the website put up a disclaimer. The disclaimer states, " The wanted person’s [sic] listed may not be accurate due to the instant ability to satisfy their delinquent accounts and the inability to update this list in a timely fashion. This list may not be current. The case amount is approximate, and can vary." So these people are being embarrassed and in some cases without reason. The article also talks about how the jails are charging inmates a medical screening fee which of course doesn't come from the inmates but rather from their families. The author feels that this is just another ploy on the behalf of the county to produce more revenue by taking from the people on the bottom.

I think this author is justified in his his opinion about the website. It is not the job of Dallas county to air people's dirty laundry. I think most people could understand this argument. I don't have any charges or fines against me but, I can certainly understand people who do, not wanting their business out for all to see. This article was probably written to inform the average citizen who might have these minor charges against them that this site is out there. As far as the medical screening fee for inmates, I can understand what he is saying that it is not the inmate that is actually paying these fees, but i don't think that it is a horrible idea for the people who broke the laws to pick up some of the financial burden they cause. Even if our opinions might differ the author is credible. He has for his adult career served as a volunteer for criminal justice reform and worked in professional politics for a long time. So his opinions are based on being around this arena for much of his life. Government can definitely be greedy so i am glad he wrote this article to inform us whether we agree or not. The more knowledge the better.

Church Can Do What It Wants?!

The article I read was about a Church that in my opinion, got away with a crime. The Texas Supreme Court Wrong On Demon Case was an article written by The Editorial Board from the Austin American Statesman on Tuesday July 1st 2008. This story is about a church that physically restrained a seventeen year old girl to the ground saying that she had been possessed by a demon. The girl tried to sue the church for physical, mental, and emotional abuse. She was bruised and also said she had sustained mental trauma. A jury awarded her $188,000 but that decision was overturned by the Texas Supreme Court. The Judges in this court said that this lawsuit violated the first amendment that protects religious freedom. The authors of this article find that this decision is unfair and gives the church too much power and exemption from an consequence.

This article was written to a wide variety of people excluding would anyone religiously extreme. I think that the average person could relate to this story even including "church people". I grew up in church but i was outraged when I read this article. Pretty much anyone that is not a religious nut would be concerned at what this church got away with. The article was not trying to bash church all together but just saying that just because church and state are separate doesn't mean they should be able to get away with injustice. The article takes the claim that in another environment this would have been considered a crime and that church should be held responsible for their actions. The article states, "Abuse, assault and false imprisonment cannot be excused as the free expression of religion. Religious practice must conform to the law of the land, not exist outside it. If not constrained by law, religion could claim any exemption from rape to human sacrifice." This is a fair statement, a line needs to be drawn so they don't get away with injustices. I think the authors' point is well taken and they don't come off angry which helps to make the argument feel legitimate. However, there is a lack of actual research and proof of why this church shouldn't be allowed to get away with this. It is a shame though because the point would have been easy to make. They could have made arguments for assault and abuse pretty simply. It was a good article and I agreed with what they said but they could have made a more solid argument.

Moment of Silence

On Austin36o.com I read an interesting article about the moment of silence observed in Texas school's after the pledge to the Texas and U.S. Flags. In 1985 the supreme court said is was ok to allow a moment of silence if it was motivated by a secular purpose. In 1995 permission was given to allow a moment of silence for the students if the individual schools desired to do so. In 2003 that law was amended and it was then required for all schools to allow one whole minute for students to silently reflect on anything of their choice as long as they were not disruptive to others. In this law there was a list provided of examples of things students could do during this time. Among other options like meditation and reflection, prayer was listed. This law has been a point of contention among some. In this group are David Croft and his wife Shannon. Mr. and Mrs. Croft are atheists who don't like the idea that their children are subjected to this mandatory moment of silence. Since prayer is listed they believe it is a cloaked religious practice. They believe it is just a way to establish prayer in school and also they think it is just a waste of time. The Croft's have tried to fight this law and so far have not had any success in doing so.


It is just rediculous that these people would spend this much time, energy, and money on something like this. No one is making their kids pray to a god they are just allowing other kids the right to do so. Kids can do what ever they want in this time. They can get themselves ready for class, take a minute to relax and clam down before class starts or pray to the god of fire if they want. In the article it says that this family has spent $16,000 on this so far. If you want to do something for your kids then put that money away for college. It just seems crazy that people would be so insecure in what they believe that they have to fight other people on what they believe. As long as their kids are not being force to do anything who cares. I recommend reading this story, "Atheist Family Challenges Minute of Silence Law" and see what you think.