Is Green a good thing?

I have lived in Austin for almost 7 years and I do consider it to be a very "go green" city. But how green is too green. The blogger of It's Called Texas brings up the bag ban that has recently swept over Austin. The author brings up many valid points on why this may not be in our best interest. For one, it is not very cost effective and we wont actually see the affects for 150 years. Also, the food contamintation is a huge concern for me. Granted I never remember to bring my bags and always end up buying new ones at the store. Some people do remember their bags but did they remember to wash them? Did they remember that they had chicken and pork in that bag just last week. Food Bourne illness is a very serious sickness. According to the CDC "it estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. That is a lot of people, granted not all of those people got food bourne illness due to reusing a paper or cloth bag. I also have to agree with the author of the pure inconvenience not only do I forget my bags but when I am going shopping to look around and find a few items I have to figure out a way to get them home or but another bag. No joke I probably have 50 bags behind my shelf. Recently, I went to Pflugerville to shop just so i could get bags without having to pay for them. Another flaw to the system is the paper bags are much taller and look very sturdy however they're not! I wish that grocery store employees would stop putting all my cans in one bag. I do not know how many time I have been carrying my groceries up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment and the bag starts ripping due to weight! Its paper people not indestuctible! So after that rant I have to agree with the author I think the bag ban that turns out is voluntary is too far. I thought the author presented a great case and formulated an argument based on facts. Maybe there should be a reusable bag option which I could use when I am going to the store for a few small things. I just wish this project that cost so much money was a bit more thought out.

Near and Dear

Have you ever had a passion for something that could be destroyed by a vote? I have one. I have worked in a senior clinic for 2 and a half years providing better health to our local seniors. I love my job and I love seeing the smiling faces of patients who get to escape their house for a few minutes. Unfortunately, sometimes this is the only time the patient gets to leave their house. Sometimes they have to stay inside because of simple barriers. Though we cannot help everyone we can help many. We can help people who are bound to their homes by wheelchairs. How do we do this?

Texas has a wonderful program known as the Texas Ramp project where people from all over including churches, support groups, doctor offices volunteer their time to build wheelchairs ramps for people who could otherwise not afford it. These are done on Saturdays, all the supplies are donated all a person has to do is volunteer their time and muscles and they can build a ramp for someone and change their life forever. Personally it’s the best feeling in the world. When you see the person who was chosen for that project roll down their ramp for the first time it’s exhilarating. These people who had lost a sense of purpose and their quality of life had started to decline get to take it all back.

Now the real question comes to mind why would I take the time to write about something that is so perfect? Unfortunately there are people in this world that want to make projects like these a lot more difficult than they should be. I tried to research this in the news but sadly I only have the information that has been passed down to me from the people who have helped us volunteer. On Tuesday August 6, I had to sign a petition letter to get city council member to vote in favor of Resolution 60. This was to vote in favor of keeping the Texas Ramp Project alive in Austin. Failure to pass this resolution could result in hard time for Texas Ramp project. “The resolution would streamline code compliance for us and minimize or eliminate permitting costs. Failure of the measure would involve higher costs and impose design restrictions that would limit the number of ramps we can build” according to Dennis Mick of Texas Ramp Project. That was a quote from an email he sent us. To my understanding this means they want new building codes with stricter rules, meaning each ramp would have to be inspected by a certified person which would cost this volunteer service a lot more money and time.

I do not know yet what the verdict was on Resolution 60 I hope to know soon. I look forward to building many more ramps for these home restricted people. I can only put myself in their shoes or their family I would want my family member to still be able to get out and enjoy the wonderfulness Austin and all other Texas cities have to offer.

A discrete critique.

I titled my blog post a discrete critique because that's what it is. Honestly, when I read The Lonely Star of 1845 post from July 26, 2013 I have nothing bad to say. Though my stance on abortion is much different than Mrs. Wendy Davis how she stood up for herself is truly amazing. Mary did a great job at expressing the troubled life Wendy started out in. Yet she becomes a hugely successful business women and possibly the future of Texas.

I did a little research myself and found a point of view that Wendy Davis and I both agree on. Senator Davis believes providing an excellent public education system is the state’s most-important responsibility. According to Wendydavisforsenate.com. Wendy truly stands up for what she believes in and I feel the way Mary represented her in her blog was with the most upmost respect.

I look forward to hearing and seeing what Wendy Davis has in store for our beautiful state.

Thank you Mary for opening my eyes to a politician I had not paid much attention to.

Texas...The accepting state

Seven years ago I was a freshman in high school in the beautiful, hot state of Arizona. That's when my parents informed me we were packing up and moving to Texas. I was devastated. I did not want to leave my friends for the "countriest" state in the USA. Which is very bias and inaccurate. As I packed my things and said goodbye to my friends I couldn't figure out why my parents were making us move.

That was until I got older...after I made new friends and realized the move wasn't so bad, I asked my mom why we moved here and she said Texas had one of the best economies. Arizona had started to turn into the next California where shabby little houses would sell for 300,000 dollars. Texas has always plentiful jobs and my parents fit right in. Texas was such a welcoming state and we found our place here.

So I looked it up. In 2010 Texas has an influx of 120,000 job openings where as all other states had a decrease of 120,000 plus. In some states such as California the were down 700,000 jobs. I can not even imagine. I recently spoke to a real estate person she states almost 1 person per day moves to the Austin area from the west coast. I see signs all over Austin saying new homes starting at 100,000 which is such an amazing deal! Of course if you live in central Austin you will never find that but, north Austin is wonderful and really can not imagine living any where else. The question is what's the secret?
 
I plan on living in Texas as long as possible. I feel secure in this state, like we can make it through the "tough times". As long as the job is here for me I am here to stay!

"Texas Shame Act"

Today I had the pleasure of reading one of the most interesting blogs I have ever read. The Blog is called Mean Rachel and in her blog you can vote on whether or not her post was mean, too mean, or not mean at all. Very Creative Rachel...

Though Rachel does not post often I enjoyed reading what she wrote that is now considered "old news". March 2012 she wrote about what she calls the "Texas Shame Act". This post was about how a Texas newspaper posted in the comic strip section a pun towards women and the abortion laws and the Texas sonogram law. People who support the law  "a bit of anxiety as they never expected anyone but liberal, hairy-legged peace pipe players and baby killers to pay attention to the law or even hear about it." She goes onto exploit how people are offended that something terrible like that would be in the newspaper but how people are also saying it's to protect the women...She made a specific point that I found very interesting. She states in her article if it really is about protecting the women then why can't I read it while "eating my cheerios". She goes to point out how there are other comics about menopause and such.

I feel Rachel's post is directed toward the democratic prop choice audience. However Rachel has a unique way of writing which makes you see a perspective you may not of thought of she made me see a point through the eyes of a Democrat. I am typically a conservative Republican who is pro life, but as Rachel points out the republican offended by the comic strip her logic really does not make sense. ""I'm very sad that a Texas law is being made fun of in this manner, when all this is about is protecting the health of women," said Carol Everett, CEO of anti-abortion non-profit the Heidi Group. "...[W]e do not need to be putting it in the comic section, first of all, where families and children may see it, or even the editorial page. We need to give that woman the privacy that she deserves when she makes that decision, yet a fully-informed consent."

If Republican's really feel that this is inappropriate then they need to have more of a back bone instead of making excuses saying it's not fair for women and children to have to read this. They should come out and say what they believe in and be ready to face the battle. Not to say Republicans cower down but in this particular story, the Republican did.

Why can't we be friends?

Robbie Cooper author of the UrbanGrounds blog, writes a piece called The Texas Tribune starts it's smear campaign against Attorney general Greg Abbott. This blog which is considered to be a right leaning blog goes on to state how the "so called" no partisan paper is already making bad publicity for Greg Abbott, who recently announced that he would be running for Texas Governer. 

The author goes on to quote certain campaigns against Abbott claiming he is a hypocrite "for fighting for strict tort reform measures even though he himself won a large settlement in the accident that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. On a side note, but to back up my claim that these types of attacks are only aimed at Conservatives in Texas"

I feel the author is directing this article towards the Republican followers. Both Democrats and Republicans will say that one is hashing the other with lies. While reading the blog post I get the feeling that the author is defending Greg Abbott making arguments against what the tribune supposedly said. I have to agree with defending people you believe in. Though Greg Abbott will likely never know it happened, it's great to stand up for those you believe in.

I am new to politics, and still trying to understand why the parties that represent our country back stab each other like high school girls.

Hold on for your future

According to KXAN's article Texas, libraries work against child obesity Texas libraries are going to receive educational books that will support the fight for childhood diabetes. The 910 states libraries and 1000+ elementary schools are in line to get fitness and nutritional information books.

Diabetes is a horrible disease that effects people in more ways than one especially in children. It leads to insecurities, and a lifetime of medical conditions. Obesity in children is a sad situation. For the most part children do not get a say in what they eat. They eat what there parents put in front of them. Unfortunately, in todays world most "quick" food to make is full of sugars and processed chemicals.

A more educated society might lead to less children suffering from obesity, and getting diabetes. No child should have to worry about going to the nurses office and having there blood sugar checked, sadly obesity is not the only cause of Diabetes is children, some kids are born with it. However, if we could cut out diabetes caused by obesity it would save families so much money, time and worry.