The Eyes (and Ears) of Texas - The Healthcare Bomb

Joshua Chapman the creator of The Eyes (and Ears) of Texas posted a blog post with the title "The Healthcare Bomb" which talks about the Healthcare plan aka Obama care and how it will put burden on the taxpayers, be a crushing blow to the middle class, and how the bill will be harmful to the majority of Texan's wallets.

I agree with him. The re-election of President Obama guarantees the release of his healthcare plan and now that he has time to concentrate on his next four years he can make sure the republicans don’t do anything to harm the plan. Furthermore, I agree that the health care plan will put intense burden on the taxpayers and a “crushing blow” to the middle class. It’s interesting to add that this plan will also be catastrophic for medical companies. One specific company named ADM Tronics will be devastated when Obama care becomes law. Additionally, ADM Tronics has never in its history, even through the recession when it even added jobs had to lay off people. Currently, they had to lay off six people from their 52 work force and many more layoffs next year.   

Should Texas Secede?

      President Barack Obama’s reelection has caused an appeal to be issued, calling for the Federal Government to let Texas, which is a conservative state to withdraw from the Union. This brings up the question, should Texas secede from the Union and is Texas able to secede. A petition was created, receiving over 65,000 signatures, stating the reason for the request, relating the continuing economic difficulties originating from the federal government’s incompetence to reform domestic and foreign spending. This sheds light on the fact that people are both scared and fed up with the federal government and that something not just needs to be done, but has to be done. Texas holds a balanced budget and is the 15^th largest economy in the world, which leads me to believe it wouldn’t be a bad idea if Texas did secede from the Union. If Texas has the power to escape the growing national finical fire, why wait till we burn?

      

     The second question, can Texas secede from the Union? In Article 1, Section 1, it states that “Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States” it doesn’t say anything about being directed either by Congress or the President of the United States. Nowhere, in either the Texas Constitution or the Constitution of the United States does it disallow the secession of Texas or any state for that matter. Furthermore, it is stated in both constitutions that “All political power is inherent in the people … they have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government in such manner as they might think proper”. Knowing this I believe anything is possible with the will of the people. If the majority of Texans want to secede, they will.  

Texas Voter ID Law

I was looking over one my class mate's blogs entitled The eyes of Texas are Upon U and the discussion was over the Texas Voter ID Law. I pointed out that the 2012 election served as a reminder that Texas would have benefited from the Senate Bill 14. That the OSCE members from the UN even stated that they were stunned that a voter did not have to show a photo ID to vote. I then went on to discuss the policies at the Methodist Stone Oak Hospital In San Antonio, Texas where it is required for you to register, identify yourself, present your valid government issued photo identification to obtain a visitor's pass and that they even took a photo and printed on a temporary visitor's badge, free of charge. Furthermore, the information given to the hospital would remain in their system for future use. Lastly I stated our elections need to be protected and when the state of Texas appeals the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Senate Bill 14 then Texas will feel they have integrity at the ballot box.   

Say No To The UN!

If the Federal government was doing their job right by upholding the laws of the nation, the UN election team would never have been called into Texas. What a shame that the Texas Election Code is not honored as a worthy tool of voting.  We have our own poll watchers that are appointed by our own citizens which are both from the Republican and Democratic parties.  Why did Project Vote reach out to the the UN? Texas did what they thought best by trying to pass a vote ID law to prevent voter fraud but the law was shot down once again by the power of the Federal government.  What kind of government do we have now that cannot control its own voting and must have the United Nations step in to control things? Do we really want to start relying on the UN to protect the citizens of Texas? You give some people a little power and that is not enough.  Watch out Texans, if the UN poll watchers show up in your neck-of-the woods the next time they come they will be dressed in blue military uniforms with guns and besides losing your voting integrity you will be losing your right to be free. What has caused all the voting concerns in Texas that demands the United Nations to step in? Perhaps that is the issue that demands our attention.  Close the borders, clean up the voter registration rolls, and help elevate racial tensions that plagued our State and start demanding less Federal government and more state government.  Stop the voting problems before it reaches the polls!

Voter Registration Fraud

On October 11, 2012 Neil Aquire posted from his Texas Liberal blog an article titled Fort Bend Democratic Party Chair Stephan Brown talks about protecting the right to vote in Texas in 2012. Mr. Brown claims “True the Vote” are self-proclaimed voter fraud vigilantes that want to use their poll watchers to intimidate and challenge minority voters at the polls this fall. He states, “True the Vote watchers hover over people as they vote and engage in confrontational conversations.  They want to purge voters, challenge the right of eligible voters to cast their ballots and bully everyone on Election Day.” 
      Chapter 33 of the Texas Election Code describes the role of a poll watcher. The poll watcher is someone which is legally in the polling place and is appointed. There are certain qualifications and responsibilities that come with the job such as the poll watcher cannot be disorderly or disruptive of the voting process. Furthermore, The Texas Election Division also has an online poll worker training at www.texaspollworkertraining.com

     Subsequently, Mr. Brown fails to report that labor, civil rights and voting right groups including the AFL-CIO, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, also are coordinating poll watchers. Perhaps he should take the time to mobilize and train volunteers to be poll watchers and not be critical of those that are trying to restore truth, faith, and integrity to our elections.  With this in mind why does the State of Texas allow for poll watchers during our elections? there is voter fraud across the nation and both the Republicans and Democrats should be concerned and work together to come up with a solution.  

Should Legislature Reform Teacher Evaluations?

In the editorial, “Legislature Should Reform Teacher Evaluations”, the writer suggests to a general audience, that legislature should be used to update the teacher evaluation form in order to encourage effective teachers. The new evaluation however may seem unfair to some, based on schools whose majority consists of a minority and which are at an academic disability compared with other schools with a greater participation rating. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not think this was unfair and pursued to “increase the percentage of a teacher’s evaluation that would be based on classroom performance data". However, Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn’t get the full percentage he wanted; student’s scores now effect teacher evaluations more than ever before.  Furthermore, Texas legislators sought to introduce a bill that would also require districts to include classroom performance in their teacher evaluations and it called for half of the evaluation to be based upon student data. To their dismay, the legislation never made it passed the house. On the other hand, Houston has already adopted a new teacher assessment and Dallas is currently working on theirs. Personally, I believe the idea of using a standardized test to evaluate a student’s success is ineffective. We need to provide environments and opportunities which allow children to be nurtured and flourish according to the many ways they learn. Teachers have lost the power to divert from standardized education and the power to deviate from real and true learning.  Reform in evaluating teachers must be accompanied by reviewing our goals for education.