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.

Rant of the Day: Plastic Bag Ban

I just saw on my Facebook feed yesterday, that a friend had posted about how annoying it is that you can’t get a plastic bag anywhere in Austin. I couldn’t help but cringe. Did you know that every plastic bag ever created still exists and will continue to exist for decades after your death? Plastic does not biodegrade, and thus lives on for hundreds of years. Plastic has even been found in human DNA. (Check out this frightening article to find out more.) Plastic clogs up our creeks and streams, destroying our natural water systems. Plastic bags are responsible for millions of wildlife deaths due to the animal getting caught in the bag or mistaking it for food.

So tell me again how much of an inconvenience it is to you that you must carry your own reusable bag to the grocery store. At least nine cities in Texas, Austin included, have banned plastic bags in the last few years. Many citizens are opposed to this, out of what I assume is ignorance. We all have to share this planet, and we’ve made a huge mess of it. Perhaps the majority of the public doesn’t know the effects plastic bags have on the environment, and we need to put forth more efforts to show them. Many people who oppose banning plastic bags feel that it doesn’t put a dent in the health of the environment, so why even bother with it? But I feel like that is ridiculous, and that every effort counts. Some environmentalists feel that the public should want to help the environment, and we should encourage them to make that decision instead of prohibiting plastic bags and making the call for them. What these folks fail to realize is that humans are convenience creatures who like instant gratification. It is neither convenient or an instant fix to our environment to ban plastic bags, and thus most people would never make that decision, especially if they’ve been using plastic bags all their life.

The fact of the matter is this: anything we can do to help our suffering environment needs to be done. As the health of the environment continues to decline, ours as humans will as well.

Thank you, and goodnight.

(If you want to delve more into the plastic bag argument, check out this article from Salon.)

"Barack Hussein Obama" gets to stay...for now

I spent a little time today browsing The Texasfred Blog. I was sad to see that the author (Fred) wouldn’t be posting for a while due to a shoulder injury. :( It’s pretty obvious that Fred is a very conservative Republican, which isn’t quite my taste, but I appreciate all perspectives on issues. One article that particularly interested me was “Cheney: Any attempt to impeach Obama would be distraction”. The article was about how in a CNN interview, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that impeaching Obama would take far too long and most likely be unsuccessful, and also that it would give the Obama administration the perfect opportunity to get their dirty deeds done while the impeachment was such a popular topic. Fred seems to hate Obama quite passionately, but agrees with Cheney that an impeachment of Obama would be exactly what the Democrats want. Fred gives a link to a government article on impeachment, but he tells us essentially what we need to know: the process is long, and not guaranteed. He criticizes Sarah Palin for seeming to not know this, because she is calling for Obama’s impeachment. Fred says the best choice the Republicans have now is to take control of the Senate until the next Presidential Election in 2016. This way, hopefully (in his opinion) Obama can be more closely monitored.  

Even though I do not necessarily agree with all of Fred’s opinions, I do think he is right; impeaching Obama would not lead to his removal, but only chaos until the matter was settled. We have never actually impeached and removed a president in the U.S. (according to my U.S. Government professor anyway) and I don’t think this would change with Obama. Though much of his argument is based on his own opinion, his bit on the pains of the impeachment process is factual. However, how he feels about Obama and his administration using an impeachment as a distraction is totally based off his own feelings and there is no evidence that would happen. So good job Fred, you’ve convinced me that Obama’s impeachment would be an utter waste of time, but you have not convinced me of “Barack Hussein Obama’s” foulness.

Because this is a blog and not a news source I feel like it is okay for Fred to rant about his own opinions. Isn’t that what blogs are for?

Thirsty for Change

Like many Texans, I’m thanking God for the rain we’ve received this past week. However, I know that it won’t even put a dent in our drought situation that’s been going on for the last several years. I got to thinking how a large part of our water crisis is due to Texan’s misuse of our water resources. Then I found this article in Dallas News about that very issue. This article, written by Louis DeLuca, is talking about water rights of industrial businesses and farms. The way things are now, senior riverside industries take priority over water usage rights to newer industries, no matter the need of water usage.

DeLuca described how some students at The University of North Texas recently published material showing how some upstream farmers faced hardships because of the excessive water usage of a downstream chemical plant on the Brazos River. The current system for water rights would possibly allow for senior users to store up and sell their water rights to frantic junior users.

Currently, the Texas courts are supposed to be looking for a new way to make the water usage rights fairer and standardized so that all businesses are allowed water rights based on need, not seniority.

I think the courts need to crack down on water conservation for all riverside industries because if we don’t, we might soon have no water to argue over.

Although this article was published by Dallas News and used the Brazos River as it’s primary subject, I think it was meant for a wide audience across the state of Texas because the water rights affect all of our rivers and lakes. I feel like DeLuca did a good job of supporting his argument with sources like the Denton Record-Chronicle and the publication from the students from The University of North Texas. I also think he made a good argument for ending seniority rights and switching to a needs based system.

Kids These Days...

I was just perusing the Texas Monthly website looking for an interesting article to write about when “Meet the 18-Year Old Mayor of Archer City” jumped out at me. What! That’s just a kid! Of course I clicked open the article and started reading. Turns out, Archer City is a pretty small town (about 1,800 residents) and the new mayor, Kelvin Green, has been a well known local all his life and was uncontested in his candidacy. Green recently graduated high school and was sworn in by his father and godmother, who happened to be the city secretary. Green is the town’s youngest mayor (not surprisingly), and faces many challenges in his new mayoral term; Archer City’s water sources are drying up at accelerated speeds. Piping water in from another town would be much too costly for the small city’s budget and many residents may find themselves having to pack up and head out of town. Despite his young age and inexperience, most of Archer City’s residents seem confident in their newly elected mayor. After his first City Council Meeting where the drought issue was discussed, all the City Council members clapped and congratulated him on his good work. I thought this article was quite inspirational, and I hope this ambitious young man can prove himself a worthy mayor and that his story becomes famous for young people all over the nation to hear.