Blog stage 8

After reading this post, I agree with the whole rice growing in Texas. Texas could save that water and use it for something a little more important especially with the drought that has been going on the past couple of years. Texas could always bring it in from another state or country. As for the conservation of water I like the cutting off the shower heads at 15 minutes but I think you could lower it to about 10 minutes. I dont know why it should take anyone longer than 10 minutes to take a shower. You could also cut water costs by turning off the water when brushing teeth instead of letting it run, turn off the water if the faucet is leaking. However I don't agree with not flushing when you have to urinate. First of all its gross, its unsanitary, and not safe. What if you go to the bathroom and accidently leave the seat up and you have a child walking around being curious I'm sure you dont want the child playing in urine or if a dog thinks its water and starts to drink it. Leaving urine in the toilet for perhaps hours would start to smell and just not healthy to leave around waiting till the next flush. There are plenty of other ways to save water in and outside of the home, but not flushing every time you have to go to the bathroom wouldn't be right.

http://elizabethfuhr.blogspot.com/2012/08/to-expand-on-my-blog-waterconservation.html?showComment=1345096156517#c1645336262130645132

Texas Unemployment

While viewing Texas’s unemployment I noticed that Texas continues to be one of the few states that have a low unemployment rates and maintain that low rate of unemployment. The national average of unemployment has hovered around 8.3% throughout the year, while Texas has stayed around 7%. From June of last year 2011 to June of this year 2012 Texas has gone from 8.1% to 7.0% unemployment rate. All the while during the same time period Texas has created 231,800 jobs. The biggest metropolitan that has the biggest unemployment rate is the Dallas-Fort Worth area with around 248 thousand from 2012 which is a decent drop of 277 thousand from last year. Houston-Sugar Land area comes in second with around 231 thousand this year which is a drop from last year 2011 as well of 262 thousand. 

While Texas continues to have a low unemployment average and its ability to generate jobs, Texas continues to struggle with its budget either spending too much or cutting back way too much and hurting the programs that has been cut or its budget reduced. Texas ability to generate new jobs, start up new businesses, and having companies move to Texas has done good job to cut down on unemployment and give new opportunities to people who have lost their job or wanted a career change. While the national average of unemployment and the nation’s non ability to generate new jobs continue to stay about the same as they are now and perhaps rise a little bit. Texas has maintained its low average of unemployment, its ability to generate jobs, and good enough economy to get by and be able to survive this recession.

Blog Stage 6

As an employee of Texas Health and Human Services Commission and have been through an extensive and required training about SNAP benefits and Medicaid for men and women. I have learned a lot about what Texas healthcare can do for women and children. It provides many wonderful and helpful benefits for women. Some programs have requirements that the individual has to follow to be able to obtain and keep benefits. However for women’s benefits they are able to receive free health screenings, birth control, counseling, and much more. Generally low income women use these services and are a necessity to this state. If we didn’t have these services to offer for women, there would be a crisis on hand. Women wouldn’t be as well as informed or if someone who couldn’t afford to go the doctor and if Texas didn’t have these services a women could have a disease or a cancer go undetected or a teenager or young woman not taking birth control maybe having multiple children without the proper care and information needed. Taking away these services would not be in the best interest for this state or government.

Voter ID Law

As a person who isn’t registered to vote I never thought too much about a requirement of having a valid photo ID to be able to vote. After reading this article on CNN, I began to understand why people wouldn’t want this valid photo ID law passed. It would create a problem with the people who live in rural areas of Texas that takes a couple hours to get to a place where you can get a valid photo ID, or a passport or some kind of proper identification to allow you to vote. No one wants to drive that far for something that little. It would also hurt the person who don’t drive and doesn’t require a driver’s license or someone who doesn’t have the money to get a Texas ID, or they don’t have anybody to take them to their local driver’s license station to obtain one. People also think it would bring discrimination with the new law. This law wouldn’t take in consideration by the color of your skin or your ethnicity. It would affect everyone that doesn’t have the proper identification to be able to vote or the means to obtain one. In this article on CNN statistics show that about 600,000 registered voters lack the state issued driver’s license or identification card. This law wouldn’t cut down on fraud, it would create problems for the people who have issues obtaining a proper identification card, or possibly someone who has physical or mental disabilities and couldn’t get one. I’m sure someone with a physical disability is still in the right frame of mind to vote. It’s just another way to take our hard earned money out of our pockets and use it one something that is irrelevant.

Crisis in student voting

After reading this article, I believe that this author has gotten the student body attention about the crisis in student voting. The author states that a little over nine thousand students voted from a university that generally enrolls fifty thousand students a year. That’s relatively higher than the two primary republican turnouts. However in certain precincts that are heavily dominated with university student did not vote and the actual number of students that voted is closer to two thousand. The author suggests that maybe they should change their election days so it wouldn’t conflict with other election days. Student voting is an important thing for the university and the future of politics it helps student learn about elections and voting and help them vote in the future for more important elections than student government. This article was published in March of 2010 by Michael Hurta a senior editor with The Burnt Orange Report

State and Local goverment curb unfunded mandates

I came across this article; it’s a little old but very interesting published by Texas Tribune. It’s talking about state and local government looking for other ways to ease budget costs on government, cities, school districts and community colleges. Lawmakers are trying to ease the unfunded mandates the states impose on them. Counties are stuck with a lot of the burden. They are required to pay for attorneys for criminals who can’t afford one. They are also required to pay for elections and keep up jail standards. A representative wants to amend the Texas Constitution to block the state from ordering new mandates without providing the money to pay for them. It’s a very interesting article to read.