Reply to Travis County DA

In response to the article, Travis County DA RosemaryLehmberg: Should she resign from office? I am in complete agreement with the author.  There is no way this she should be able to retain her position.  Some may say “people make mistakes and she deserves a second chance,” I am not one of them.

It was not as if she had a couple drinks with dinner and blew a .09 or .10 in the breathalyzer, which if this was the case I’m sure it would have been swept under the rug.  She refused the test, had a BAC of .23, had an open container in the vehicle, and then made an ass of herself while being detained.  Not only did she only embarrass herself but she also embarrassed the community, county, and the state.

She thought she was above the law and now she should face the repercussions.  If she is not going to leave office then she needs to be removed.  The odds this is the first time she has driven drunk are slim to none.  Who knows how long she has been doing this?  It is obvious from the video that she truly believed she was above the law.  Hopefully this experience will humble her.

Pay Day Loans

Many Americans today find themselves living paycheck to pay check, struggling to provide for themselves or their family.  This is when payday loans come in.  The bad credit, no credit, instant approval, money now “institutions” are taking advantage of thousands.  A study found that the APR for these debts could be as high as 391%  (this was the lowest number I found, other sites claimed it could be as high as 500-1000%).

Normally I am not for government regulation of any kind, but these people are crooks.  They take advantage of people who don’t know anything about how loans work, let alone APR, hidden fees, rollovers, etc.  All these people know is that they need to some extra cash to pay rent or maybe even buy their children Christmas gifts.

Texas is one of 16 states that do not cap these payday loans.  The Pew Charitable Trust classified Texas as one of 28 permissive states when it comes to pay day loan regulation and also found that 8% of all Texans use pay day loans, opposed to the national average of 5.5%.  Also, a $10-15 fee per $100 borrowed is the national average.  In Texas this fee is an average of $23.

I know that people make the choice to borrow from the places, but it is usually not because they want to, and there is a lot of fine print that hardly makes sense when you read it.  There is a reason there are more payday loans than McDonalds and Whataburger in Texas, and its not because they want to help people through a hard time.

Reply to "The Right To Bear Arms"

In response to "The Right To Bear Arms", I do agree with you that we need to stop selling guns to the mentally ill and there needs to be more control over who is and is not able to own a firearm.  I am, for the most part, for universal background checks because it would stop some of the loopholes that are available for people to buy firearms.  However, some of the things you have stated are not true or misleading.

Texas is NOT a state where anyone can purchase and carry a gun legally.  In fact there is no such state.  There are federal laws that prevent this such as The Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits individuals from purchasing firearms that fall under the following:

1.     Is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;

2.     Is a fugitive from justice;

3.     Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act)

4.     Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;

5.     Who, being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States

6.     Who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions

7.     Who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship; or

8.     Is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such inmated partner or person. (someone with a restraining order)

Also, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, which established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and raised the age to leally purchase a handgun and ammunition to 21 years of age. This system is used today by anyone that tries to purchase a firearm from any federally licensed dealer.

So not anyone can legally purchase a firearm.  However, there are loopholes within these acts. These loopholes include “private transactions” which can take place at gun shows (It is important to note that at many gun shows have many dealers with a federal license that perform the required check) or between friends or family members.  Even still it is illegal to sell weapons to the people that fall under any of the categories stated above "private transaction" or not.

The real question is will universal background checks have any real effect.  Many names never get entered into the database.  For instance the Virginia Tech shooter passed through two background checks because Virginia never submitted his mentally ill status to the database. 23 states and the District of Columbia have submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to the federal database. 17 have submitted fewer than 10 and 4 have not submitted any.  33 states have not submitted any records to the controlled substance file in NICS. 

Many Senators and Representatives are pushing for gun control and universal background checks yet don’t even have their own state send in records to try and stop some of these individuals from owning firearms. 

Also Texas is NOT a state where anyone can legally carry a weapon.  It is not an easy process to get a concealed carry permit.  Not only do you need state and federal background checks but also you must have a record of your fingerprints taken as well attend and pass a course (course is usually a total of 10-15 hrs.) that proves you know how to handle and fire such a weapon and pay all required fees.

Stereotypical Texas

Gov. Perry does a good job of keeping the Texas stereotype alive.  When people think about Texas they think of guns, cattle, and oil.  Gov. Perry does a great job of playing the stereotypical “Texan” and for the most part I am glad.

Many people, including myself, move to Texas because it is more conservative. After spending three years in California I wanted to go somewhere that I felt my views would be shared (unfortunately I didn’t do my research before moving to Austin).  Gov. Perry, whether you love him or hate him, represents the stereotypical Texas well.  People are not moving to Texas for its “progressive” ways, they are moving here because they see it as an almost “conservative sanctuary” for the increasingly liberal United States.  Gov. Perry probably doesn’t believe in half the stuff he says but he knows it is what the majority of Texas wants to hear.  Texans want to believe that there is still a chance for “The Republic of Texas” and Gov. Perry will be there to give them hope.

For the most part people know what they are going to get with Gov. Perry.  He is sometimes very conservative and it rubs a lot of people the wrong way.  But in Texas this helps his cause.  If he can make politicians in California and New York angry for his views he is doing great by Texas standards.

Texas will always have the stereotype of a bunch of arrogant, gun toting cowboys; it might as well embrace it and benefit from it.  Many gun manufacturers are being forced out of states because of new laws and Texas stands to profit from this.  By no means do I agree with everything he says but I do know that I don’t have to worry about Gov. Perry trying to take of my guns or veteran benefits.  This is what makes Texas such an appealing destination to many veterans, many of which are ready to work or go to school.

Jobs Are Weird?

In the blog "Dateline Houston" by Emily DePrang which can be found on the Texas Observer website she wrote a blog titled “Helena Brown Is Coming For Your Gun (Manufacturer)” on March 9, 2013.The blog post was written on a liberal news source so the intended audience were liberals.  There was not really an argument made, the blogger was just trying to put a negative spin on a potentially positive story.  The story was that Council Member Helena Brown from Houston and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst were trying to bring the gun manufacturer Beretta to Texas, Brown more specifically to her district. The blogger implied that Brown has some sort of secret agenda and that Lt. Gov. Dewhurst just wants the publicity.  While that may be true there is no evidence or reason to think that (although after some research I found council member Brown to be quite odd).  Again the blogger has no evidence of any wrongdoing but certainly implies something is not right.  She claims that it is “weird” because Brown’s district is “a dense residential area with largely settled and aging population”.  Under the assumption that if the company were to move they would need to keep the same amount of workers, 300 in this case, I do not see how brining more jobs into your district is a problem.  While her district may be largely settled and aging I am sure there are still people looking for jobs and others that would be willing to move their or commute for employment.  In regards to Lt. Gov. Dewhurst she again said it was “weird” but this time it was because “everyone has already done it”. Again I don’t see how more jobs can be a problem.  The blogger says “everyone has already done it” when referring to asking the company to move into their state or district but later goes on to say “ as of March 9 at least seven other states have courted Maryland’s gun manufacturers, including the governor of Texas, West Virginia’s House speaker and an Illinois congressman.”  This is hardly “everyone” in fact it is hardly anyone.  I think it would have been “weird” if the Lt. Gov. didn’t back the Gov. of Texas and help him bring some jobs to Texas.  I think the blogger tried to put a negative spin on them because they are Republican and the jobs would contribute in the manufacturing of weapons.  I’m sure if the people involved were Democrat and the 300 jobs were for a cotton candy manufacturer she wouldn’t have cared where, why, or how, instead she would have praised them for their valiant efforts of trying to bring jobs to a struggling economy.

Is prayer the answer?

An opinionated article titled "Rick Perry Offers His Solution to Gun Violence: Pray" by Forrest Wilder of The Texas Observer was written on Jan. 16, 2013.  This was an extremely biased article written for a liberal audience.  His basic argument is that Rick Perry is a moron and that his solution for gun control (and all other problems for that matter) is to pray to stop it.  He does nothing but dissect part of a statement released by Gov. Perry and his staff.  His argument has very little to stand on.  He states no facts or evidence that this is Gov. Perry's stand on gun control and does not explain others ideas for gun control.  The author sort of just takes his words out of context and runs with it.  Not only does this article not convince me of anything it angers me that they allow such shoddy journalism on their website.  While Gov. Perry is not the sharpest tool in the shed I think that it is safe to assume that he is not a complete moron.  He said to pray for rain during the drought, what was he supposed to do? Strip down and do the rain dance?  The author is trying to turn his audience against Gov. Perry but he does so in a very childish way.

There was not really much of an argument made.  I think it was just a liberal writer who is fed up with the conservative Governor and was ready to jump on whatever he said next, but I still felt as if he should have put some input as to what others were trying to do on the issue.  Yes, obviously prayer alone is not going to solve gun control issues, but if you are a person religious person does it hurt?  I have been a life member of the NRA since the age of 12 and I am all for the second amendment but I think we do need to start doing some sort of background checks on people.  But simply bashing someone and not offering any sort counter argument is not going to help your cause. 

Soda Tax

The article, written by Tiffany Craig, explains how a San Antonio lawmaker would like to add a penny per ounce sales tax on sugary drinks like soda.  The tax would not affect diet sodas, fruit drinks, or sports drinks.  Rep. Joe Farias says the tax could add an estimated 2 billion dollars to the state's public education fund and might promote a healthier lifestyle.  Farias also tried to introduce a "soda tax" in 2011.  

This is important because people are being taxed to the point of poverty.  Every proposed tax is "estimated" to provide tons of money for a great cause (e.g. public education) yet nothing seems to ever get done.  The fact he states "it might promote a healthier lifestyle" is ridiculous, 20 oz.  of lemonade contains more sugar than 20 oz. of coke yet would not fall under the proposed tax.  I would like to see a plan on how he would spend the estimated 2 billion dollars on public education.