Late Edition: My apologies the end of my blog was a let down. I did not fully develop my thoughts. First I do agree with raising minimum wage would work and I agree with all those you disagreed with me. This is funny but I meant an individual worker going into their minimum wage job and demanding their Boss for a raise that high. That would not work, just to have their boss laughing at them, and if the worker quits he can simply replace him with someone that will work. And I know this by my personal experience working at Fast food. Our professor asked me the same thing. I cannot propose what will work to solve this tough issue. Drastic measures do need to be taken. I just wanted to be clear on that. I wished they raised the minimum wage so we would not have to worry as much about finances. As I mentioned in blog five. Thank you all

Blog Eight

In the blog Going Green? Written by Savanna Williams, she talks about how Austin’s drought has gotten better due to the recent weather we’ve been having. But that’s no excuse for us to waste water through our sprinkler systems in areas like dog parks and walking trails. Austinites do enjoy there outdoorsy life style, but there will be a price to pay if our resources are dried up. Ms. Williams puts blame in the rightful place on our local government because they should rethink the sprinkler system. As more than half the water goes into the streets.

            Ms. Williams’s blog is well detailed with examples of what she seen about this problem and what leaders should do about it. The second half of her blog explains how there’s only one place to recycle/ compost in a huge shopping area where she’s employed. She try’s not to imagine other shopping areas where there’s no recycle bin or compost station at all. I agree and I can imagine for her, that’s there’s TONS of places in Austin where plastics bottle and aluminum cans are being wasted. For example even some places small like the park by my job near 183. It’s a very popular park where many people are in and out daily. And it’s sad to see the trash cans are overflowing with bottles, cans, plastic and other garbage that can be easily recycled.  Local leaders say it may take time and money to implement plans to go green.

            I do agree with Ms. Williams about this blog and how we need to take a serious look in how we treat our environment. After all this is a great city like she mentioned and I as well am glad to be born and raised in it.

Blog Seven

Child poverty is increasing in Texas is harsh to say. But the truth hurts. According to an article in The Texas Tribune a report was release recently stating there’s a 47 percent increase in the rate of Texas children living in poverty from 2000 to 2011. The growth rate in population is only 18 percent during the same period. With this information it raises many issues for the future of our youth. Poverty is a key measure of a child well-being. It can be extremely harsh stress on the development on their brains and bodies. Also alters gaps in health and education.

            Why is child poverty so high in Texas? What causes poverty? According to census data Texas was one of two states that saw its overall poverty rate drop between 2011 and 2012. The reason why child poverty rate has grown in Texas is because of our low unemployment rate, which has a high rate of jobs that pay minimum wage or less. My personal experience working a minimum wage when I was 16 was good. You don’t have many bills to pay and you don’t have to support anybody, just extra money in your pocket. It’s much different for adults who have a spouse and kids who they need to support and cannot find a full time job. They resort to a minimum wage job and the income from that job or two or three is not making ends meet. The poverty will continue to happen and increase if changes don’t come to the unemployment rate.

            How can we fix this? What can be done? Some workers are making extreme decisions as to walk off their jobs and demand $15an hour instead of the minimum wage or $7.25 an hour. The measures they take are understandable, but don’t thinks that going to ultimately work.

Blog Six.

In the blog Healthcare in Texas written by Alexy Degterev, he talks about how Texas is the worst state for uninsured citizens. It is difficult for Texans to gain it. Now that we have the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) better days are looking bright for those who are in need for it. But with a policy so great and powerful, there are always individuals or a group or people opposing it. In Texas case that is Governor Rick Perry and Senator Ted Cruz.

                The blog is well written. It gives a brief summary on Obamacare and why it is well needed for Texas.  According to the Census Bureau's 2012 American Community Survey, the highest portion of uninsured children, elderly, and unemployed people are all in Texas. With these facts it gives the blog more creditability, and show the stupidity of both Perry and Cruz.

                Obama offered the state of Texas 100 billion dollars for a Medicaid expansion, to help the six million Texans that need it. Degterev asked a question “Are you crazy Rick Perry?” which we will answer shortly. Believe it or not the offer was rejected by Rick Perry and his response was "Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force us into this fool's errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system." Its irony because Rick Perry is foolish for saying that and, trying to stop the Act that’s going to better the state he governs. So to answer the question above, yes. His partner in crime Senator Ted Cruz is not any better. He demanded several attempts to stop Obamacare as well, but all failed.

                In this blog I do agree with Mr. Degterev completely. The Texas republican party may need a major epiphany to realize how important healthcare is in Texas. Overall good work!

Saving College Students

Enrollment in higher education is slowly increasing in Texas. Overall enrollment grew about 8000 students in 2013. Although that is an increase of less than I percent since 2012. The state has a plan to bring the performance up by 2015. In order this meet their plans goal, we need the growth rate significantly higher than the current one. About 34000 students in the next two years.  An article in the Texas Tribune titled higher education enrollment growth gives facts about enrollment in higher ed institutions. Public universities experience an increase of less that 2 percent the last year. Texas southern University experienced the biggest decrease of more than 10 percent. Texas A&M added 3100 student, on a good note. Community colleges experienced less than 1 percent decline and tech schools experienced highest percent of 5.5 increase. Part of the plan is a program called Advise Texas College Advising Corps. It places college graduates in high school to advise students of their future. Since Texas has a slowly working plan for enrollment process, in order to sustain it Texas government should adopt a course of action to keep student enrolled in college.

                Once students are enrolled in college the main goal should focus on keeping the student in. There are many reasons for students to drop out of college. Their financial situation can play a big factor. Many students throughout their college lifetime don’t have to funds to pay for it. They may take out student loans, apply for scholarships, or mainly apply for financial aid. Once these options run dry weather it is student slacking in school or just don’t have the necessary means to supply their schooling. It can put a huge toll on the dropout rate, which does not reflect well with the enrollment rate. Therefore Texas needs to implement a better funding program for college tuition. This will help tremendously with the overall system of Texas higher education. Your finances are main stressors in life. If you know your finances are taken care of, then your life can be less stressful. College is where you worry about your finances half the time and I shouldn’t have to be.

                Although it is a good one, the overwhelming college lifestyle can be another reason why students drop out. Many are not prepared for the transition from high school to college. As stated earlier, there is a program to advise high school student about college to help with the enrollment rate. With the dropout rate there should be a better program to assist it. There are many counselors and previous student as well to help freshmen college student. But there should be a specific program to help student stay focus in school ensuring it doesn’t interfere with their promising college years.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/25/higher-ed-enrollment-grows-slowly-deadline-looms/

Blog 4. Shaking my head at this joke.

On October 6,2013 Genevieve Cato of the Burnt Orange Report  wrote an article about a sign outside of an Austinbar that was offensive. “I like my beer like I like my violence: Domestic” Bar sign shocks patrons. Her article evaluates the sign and the views of the establishment. The title of her article can strike a huge audience once people have read it. Not to mention it’s also a sign viewable to the public. For those who have read it and care about the issue at hand would have been anything less than outraged.  The author is very genuine. She is speaking on the manner completely opposing it. Her argument is extremely sufficient so to say.  She argues it’s inappropriate and shocking under the circumstances. She gives facts about Domestic violence to prove it is no laughing matter. In 2011, 102 women in Texas died as a result or intimate partner violence. One in four women will experience domestic violence, and one third of reported female homicides are the result of intimate partner violence. Over 1600 calls were received from Texans by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and Texas ranks second in number or calls made to this important service. This is clearly nothing to make fun of. People don’t tolerate this kind of joke. The manager of the Bar couldn’t agree more. Once he found out about the sign and started receiving complaints, the next day every dollar spent on beer will go towards the NCAVC in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It turns out the person who wrote the sign is no longer employed and that Bar. His joke or statement about domestic violence has no place in our society. I agree with the author completely, her argument is well spoken and supports it with facts.

Enough Arguments

In the article GOP to Obama: Don’t stop us, we’re on a negotiating roll, author Jim Mitchell makes a claim that conservatives are making multiple arguments to prevent Obamacare. He disagrees with his colleague Bill McKenzie saying the tweaking of Obamacare will bring peace and harmony to legislative. I agree with Jim Mitchell in this editorial.

Obamacare is the law of the land, it has already been passed. Since so many people are against it they tried to stop it at every level. Mitchell tells the different levels to prevent Obamacare in which the conservatives failed. They are all true so it supports his claim. Conservatives wanted to stop Obamacare from getting out of congress, it did not work. Then it became a challenge to the constitution stating it was un-American and illegal. Clearly it wasn’t and Obamacare keeps pressing forward with more arguments trying to hold it back. The argument to repeal, defund and delay all lost one after the other. The main argument in his editorial is about tweaking Obamacare. His colleague believes if Obama agrees to reconfigure or eliminate the tax on medical devices, it can speed up the process of the government shut down. If not than it can also influence the debt limit. Although Obamacare has been passed it has not been into effect yet and it doesn’t have a few years under it. So Mitchell thinks you can’t tweak it we don’t know if it needs adjusting now. He makes a point Obamacare will cost a lot in the long run but the arguments are not sufficient enough to stop it.  

In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed to prevent discrimination in major forms. Till this day we still face discrimination and this article “Feds: Minority Firefighter applications were Discriminated Against” is a prime example.   

In the article the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Investigated the Austin Fire Department and discovered black applicant were being discriminated because of their race and Hispanic applicant because of their national origin.  Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr stated they will not hire any more applicants responding to this determination and she will not debate these findings. She had no further comments. Later she did state she wants to show how the hiring process has improved over the years. AFD received a letter from U.S. EEOC saying they found out that only one black candidate was hired out of 736. If that is true then that’s very unacceptable. Kerr said 636 blacks completed the application and the 328 that took the test. 3 were placed on the hiring list. This still does not make it better.

City Manager Marc Ott wrote a letter to the president of the Austin Firefighters Association stating the city needs the unfettered ability” to implement any recommended changes to the hiring process that might result from the federal investigation. This Article is worth reading because it gives the reader understanding on how minorities are still being discriminated indirectly and what’s being done about it.