Government Choosing your Casket

My classmate Karis spoke about assisted suicide in her post "You have the right die". This particular article on her blog caught my attention. I have heard the woman's name that she spoke about, but I did not pay much attention to her story when it was in the News.                                                                    Once reading her article I found it a bit inspirational in a odd sort of way.  I agree with Karis statements in her article.She states the US should legalize for individuals to make the choice on if they want to fight against there horrific disease or if they would like to let go of the pain and suffering. Death is never an easy topic, and when comes to how many ways government can control it can become an even tougher subject. What the government calls "assisted suicide" is only allowed in five US states as she mention. This program is Death With Dignity Act, on her blog she did not put the exact definition for the law passed in Oregon.   Some background of the law it was passed in 1997, it allows terminally ill persons to end their lives through the voluntary self administration of lethal medications, expressively prescribed by a physician for that purpose. The lady that she's speaks about name was Brittnay Maynard, she had a brain tumor that was slowly gaining control over her body and control of her life. Maynard made the choice to do the program Death With Dignity Act , dying on her of disease taking control of her choice of treatment for her tumor.  Personally I believe this is much better alternative than to place all of those medicines in yourself making the body suffer more antagonizing pain. There is a list full of medications that can be proscribed to a patient , for that list there is another list on that medicines that have many warnings of what can happen to the body once taking that medicine.  For example one is Adriamycin , it can cause serve tissue, skin or muscle damage, life  threatening heart problems, loss of bone marrow and different types of cancer. That's just some of the things listed on one medication that can be given for treatment. The sad part is that government is aware of this and it still is given to you.It may help you get better for the time being ,for your current illness but that list of medical problems can even come 2 years later after taking the medication.  After getting over one severe illness you can turn around and have the pain of dealing with another, by medication that was given to you to purposly is to cure you of a disease. How ironic is that ? Karis did not mention money in her argument, but I believe it goes hand in hand with her statement about what government can control when it comes to dying a humane death. I completely agree that a individual with a severe illness should be able to have the control over the choice of  time to give up the fight and go to the other side. One main reason is that I see this as another way for government to extract money out of the dying. Yes I said the dying, of course they look over the prescriptions to see best as fit to cure, but most times they cause more problems then you had from the beginning. It is just not a natural way of life with so many medications. There are many natural ways to treat cancerous cells with a low budget. Epically when caught early on but it's not told to you, mainly because you have to catch yourself with tons of research.However natural treatments is not going bring in the big bucks and it sure is not going to keep people sick. The government needs money and they also need people to be sick to treat them to take their money, can't take it if there dead or healthy. Karis presented a great argument to the class, the article was full of information and some background on Brittnay Maynard inspiring story. I too hope to see Deathy With Diginity Act spread across the Untied States. This leads to people being able to get back their voice and also given back their control over their body. Maynard story to me shows a awaken to the people that there are other choices and that you are not shown as weak ,but as very strong because you are okay with your afterlife. As Karis said everyone will die , and I believe that the Death With Dignity Act should spread nation wide keeping money in the pockets and pain off the body and families. It may also help inspire other to do more research on being healthy.

Could Hopes turn into our New Reality

The 2014 election has come and left us right in front of our eyes, unfortunately this did not place Wendy Davis in office. Although this placed Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick in the two seats, this did not steal the hope for women in Texas.

           According to Natalie San Luis on the burnt orange report, she titles “The Election WasJust the Beginning: The Future of Women’s Rights in Texas.” Luis says this has created a foundation for future support for the candidates, and likeminded candidates. It has also created growth for collaborations between supportive organizations. I agree that this is not a total lost, it may have not put them office currently but it has definitely created a place for women to grow in politics. My personal belief is that Texas would like to seek change and have people in office like Wendy Davis and Leticia. However Texans may not be as ready as they think they are. Most current holders consist of republicans and many that have just won and were voted in are republicans.  It was not spoke on much in the article. However it is very relative to this article on who is currently in office and the opposite which are the democrats that are trying to win office. So this can be easily said that she had a loss from the beginning, but it stirred much more potential then I think many would like to have predicted. San Luis brings credibility to her article by noting Colleen Loper, Campaigns Director for Annie’s List, and how she agrees that the “organization recruited women to run in competitive legislative races and secured more female campaign managers then recent legislative cycles.”
             Hopes turned into reality, is what we could be saying here in a few years. San Luis tells us that the TWVP is working on creating more ways to encourage Texans to get out there and actually vote. Why the encouragement is growing for voters, so are women to run for office and join on ballots. They have seen a growth from 150 to a 1000 here recently for ladies. This has certainly opened the door for Women and our views showing importance that we need to play for ourselves in government. If we are voting I agree that we should be voting for someone that understands or can at least closely relate to the life of being a woman. With some time given and if the trainings continue to happen on how to correctly represent ourselves(not just having a male answer to questions) this will correctly lead women and democrats with like views to actually win on the ballots in Texas. San Luis could have tied in her comments on what Greg Abbott will not be doing in office when starting in January, like how he will not be dealing with the much touchy subject of women’s clinics. Overall the article reminds you that all hope is not lost, but it can leave you wanting more to the story. Meanwhile it can be encouraging and inspiring to not give up and continue to vote and research to share more information to get women in office.

Marijuana Marijuana

My colleague Mrs. Tran Say “No” To Marijuana caught my attention. On my last blog “Texas and their Cannabis” I wrote about how Texas has put Marijuana reform back on the agenda for 2015.  In Tran’s argument she say’s Texas should have not inference with distribution of recreational marijuana. My thoughts on the argument is that I almost totally disagree with her reasoning on why they should not legalize it. With my last blog my ideas almost clearly shows that agree to legalization for marijuana in Texas and why I am disagreeing.

The statement marijuana is considered unhealthy, was the first red flag I put up. However this can be considered a false statement, it has been proven to be good for the body. Some of the most know examples is it treats glaucoma, reduces epileptic seizures, stops cancer from spreading, decrease anxiety, even can protects the brain after strokes. All those can be found proven true, and 18 more can be found on businessinsider. In most cases it’s the actual wrapping of the cannabis “swishers” that are unhealthy and what is addictive because of the tobacco it contains. As the article continues, she gives a creditable source the NCADD and talks about related issues with illegal drugs. The crimes listed can be found to be very true, but has been highly unlikely to be the case from someone smoking weed.  Tran did a great job on giving research and findings on what people have to say on why it should remain illegal. However I strongly believe the information is just not creditable or reasonable. The cases that are linked to dangerous actions being taken under the influence, but none of the cases reported are from them being in their natural form.

                I personally do not smoke cannabis, but I am for legalization for the substance. It has proven to be good for the body. Like anything else marijuana can have some negative affects to a human, but so does eating too much gluten. Her argument was taken to dramatic levels on it not being good, I believe that the statements made can suit better on why there should be “No Legalization of alcohol”. This was just a bit ironic for a person that agrees with people having the choice to free of what they do to their bodies in on another topic. Like any other substance there should be rules and regulations to how much to have and when to use. To say crimes and accidents will increase just because it becomes legal, is a big overstatement.  If people are too busy being happy, when will they have time to commit those crimes? In conclusion it was very well written, but the reasoning was better fit for a completely different argument.

Texas and their Cannabis

Living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but there can be a price to pay when you get caught with a little cannabis.  Not every state is against the medical marijuana usage. Surprising Texas is one of the states that is coming to a head with being okay with reforming ideas around this green leafy substance. Texas has puts Marijuana reform back on the agenda for 2015, which is just a few months away. Many are still against the ideal of making it legal here in state, it just being a gateway for more trouble. However there has been total opposite opinions to that, this time is being brought up in politics.

Texas being so close to Mexico with all there drug trafficking, some say this could be a way to lessen the danger that it has caused in the states. Also with the reform talks, attention has been brought about when to actually criminalize someone for the amounts on how much marijuana there holding possession of when caught with it. It is said a person of a first time offender with less than 2 grams of the substance can be let go with no corrective action.  Personally I feel that’s a reasonable response, corrective actions and conviction time is an over the top reaction to something that can be considerably petty. Looks like we are taking baby steps towards a full on legalization of the substance, but that could be a good thing when introducing something people are so opionnated about. This can just get the idea through the door and began to better inform the public about the good use of the substance and that it’s not all bad compared to some legal uses we have currently. If you would like become more informed about information there is a site you can visit about the use and reform. (Mainstreet)

For this to be such a big and important topic to many, nothing has officially be released that bills or laws will be made or changed anytime soon. Many will continue to privately practice this substance in their homes and elsewhere. Others will continue spread news against this reform, but baby steps aren’t looking too bad for supporters.

Police our protecting the People by Killing those People

The blog piece I will speak about comes from the Dallas Morning News an opinion piece written by Tod Robberson on October 14, 2014 which he titles it “In black and white: New study shows racialskew in police use of lethal force.”

In this piece Robberson focuses on the actions called by American policemen with the decisions that have left death being the main choice to how to correctly respond to potential assault. The article begins with some public events that have been happening in the states like the Ferguson tragedy and the Wal-Mart accident, showing that not all that were killed were attacking our policemen. Then the article moves on to provide some the statistics provided by ProPublica. Just to share a bit of the research it showed there has been 1,217 fatal police shootings between 2010 and 2012, the ages between 15 and 19 were killed that were black. Rate showed 31.17 per million compared to the white race which was 1.47 per million. Not all officers were white some black officers. I believe that audience that Robberson is wanted to reach is mainly blacks not just teens but the parents of those teens, and not just blacks but some our other minorities. In the article I think another audience he also like catch attention of is the policemen and how their represented, being that this is officers of any race doing numbers in the murder rates. When reading the article you can say it is well articulated, research has been done and it provides plentiful information for the readers. I believe that as he targets his audiences, that the solution provided is meant to be an eye opener as well as a motivation for the readers. It was suggested that United States should review the training for our police force. Personally in school I was taught that Police are meant to serve and protect you as an American. However in reality it has shown otherwise because even if you run being in such situation, showing your back which shows no threat you can be shot, and more than once until you’re dead. The statics aligned with personal experience, and tragic stories can put truth into you knowledge.  

Towards the end of the article he shares a story of personal experience of an Afghan story that could have easily in our state turned into another murder but it was easily settled by quick thinking with a better ending. This article I believe grabs your full attention and also makes you think why it should be legal to kill because you have on the badge to do so, then having leading thoughts to if they are protecting us then who will protect us from them. The article in my opinion is informative and if you have time I recommend to go read it no matter what of ethnicity background.

New Center prompts Students to watch out for Identity theft

      I have chosen an article from The Daily Texan titled New Center for Identity should prompt students to watch out for identity theft written by Jan Ross Piedad Oct 6, 2014. This topic is closely related to every one that I sit and share a classroom with. Piedad a college student themselves is addressing who and why certain groups of people are likely to be selected for identity theft.
      According to the article college students like myself are at the greatest risk of getting there identity stolen. Many times of the day we swipe our debit card, piling up many transactions for lunch, snacks, gas, online shopping that's including buying off of our social media websites. Many of the transactions are done with out thinking twice about who all where all you personal information is going. Piedad speaks on some of the ways "skimmers" are receiving our information. It is also mentioned the things to look out for and although they put no official date they also speak of UT launching information from the center of identity there new program to encourage identity management some time this month. Piedad also gives a new site that is set to launch October 7 is called IDWise which provides protecting important personal information , which can help mainly those at risk. Piedad provided a well-round opinion piece for students and others to think about when spending money off a plastic card. With-in just moments into the article I had to think twice of what information I share on social media that includes my full name and birthday making it easier for "skimmers" . Sharing some personal experience with about how they to have experienced charges of there card that actually did not go through due not having a big enough balance. There personal experience about there account strengthen there argument showing it can happen to anyone . Then I too found myself thinking how times have I made transactions without making sure my information was secure. Overall I believe Piedad provides great information to the public to prompt students and others for identity theft. It helps spread the word so you keep your information safe.

 

"CPS Visited an Austin Woman Whose Kids Were Playing Outside Unsupervised "

Texas Monthly published Dan Solomon article on The Daily Post addressing "CPS Visited an Austin Woman Whose Kids Were Playing Outside Unsupervised" on Sep 16th, 2014.
      Earlier this Sept. Kari Anne Roy CPS had come to her home , days after a woman says she was "returning" her child back home from him playing down the street. Roy explained that she allowed her 6 year old child to go play, technically unsupervised but maybe only 150 yards away from her home. I choose to speak briefly on this topic because I would like to know is calling cps and causing possible legal trouble for parents taking it to far ? It seems to be a focus parents that are not doing the "obvious wrongs" that are finding there self  with the possibility to lose there children. However  they are epilating more of child-healthy environment like playing outside instead sitting playing violent video games learning to shoot others. Roy when seeking solution was told by the CPS worker to just not let the children play outside. What good does that do for the kid? Seems the government taking some more control on how to raise your children. Well it is still okay to play outside, just stay on the porch.