Review of Pets in Parked Cars

I think Aaron Bonnette brings up a highly under publicized topic about animal cruelty - people leaving their dogs in parked cars in our taxing Texas heat (here is a link to his article). Awareness needs to be spread about just how little time it takes for a car to heat up to tremendous temperatures that are usually fatal for dogs. As Aaron points out, dogs can do very little to cool themselves since their bodies do not sweat, and cracking a window for your pup does almost nothing to keep the temperature in your car down. Death by heat exhaustion is horrible and no creature should have to suffer it. Don't leave your dog in the car, even "for just a minute."

I think Aaron did a great job with this article, giving us some background knowledge on the current punishments for this form of animal abuse and what the effects of high temperatures can have on a dog. He also cites Examiner for a few quick facts on the speed of which car temperatures can rise. He seems to have done his research and his article was well written.

Although I agree with Aaron that Texas needs stricter punishments for leaving an animal in a hot car, I think that we need to raise more awareness about this issue. Most people who see a dog in a car will just walk on by, which I can assume is only because they do not know how dangerous it is for the animal. Perhaps if people knew the amount of suffering the dog was going through, or that it's life was on the line, they would be more likely to call police.

420 in Texas

Colorado recently legalized the possession and use of marijuana. I believe Texas should be next to make this move into a more progressive society. Here is why:
1) Far too much money and jail space is spent on arresting people for possession of marijuana. This money and space should be used on people with more severe crimes.
2) Yes, marijuana can be used as a gateway drug into heavier and more dangerous substances, but I believe this commonly happens because people can't get their hands on any marijuana. I also think that once people have broken the law and done something "bad", it's easier for them to rationalize other bad and unlawful decisions. They've already "messed up", so they might as well continue, right?
3) I am not a marijuana smoker, but in my experience, people who use marijuana do not participate in risky or aggressive behavior, unlike people who use high volumes of alcohol, which is legal.
4) The biggest reason why I think marijuana should be legal in Texas is because it can be used to soothe many people with debilitating medical conditions, such as PTSD. My grandfather is a Vietnam War veteran, who suffers from horrible PTSD. His condition alienated him from his friends, family, and the outside world altogether. He would spend days or weeks cooped up in his room, all alone, just him and the horrible memories in his head. In the last few years, some war vets who were friends of my grandfather's told him that smoking marijuana could help his problems. He tried it out, and it worked. I don't mean to say that smoking marijuana magically cured my grandfather, but thanks to it, his insomnia and paranoia have gotten much better, and he's working on getting his life back into a normal routine. I think that many suffering veterans' pain could be eased with the use of marijuana, but most won't even give it a try because of it's illegality. Many veteran's families and friends are disapproving of the idea because it is unlawful and has negative connotations. Marijuana should be legal so that our heroes don't have to feel like criminals just for easing their pain.
(More stories about war vets who found a cure with marijuana can be found here.)

Texas Tolls

Adela Moreno writes about the issue of toll roads in Texas in her article “Driving is not always Priceless” which is found on her blog, Forgotten Alamo. In her article, Adela talks about her concern with lawmaker’s possible decision to make I-35 a toll road. 

I agree with Adela that we don’t need toll roads in Texas and that our tax money should pay for roads that should be free for anyone to access.

Freeing up the toll roads would greatly help the congestion on non toll highways in Austin and many other high traffic cities. Currently, the toll roads are underused as a result of citizens not wanting to pay extra. To me, this just looks like wasted roads. Austin has a huge traffic problem, but city officials have turned the other cheek. Making toll roads free would help the problem tremendously in my opinion.

I thought Adela had some good points about how taxes should pay for our roads, but she didn’t really back anything up with data or other articles. Overall, her article was good and got me thinking about how the toll roads in the Austin area affect the horrible traffic we have here.