Drug War

The Drug war on the borders is an ongoing issue in Texas that is somewhat overlooked on a national level. I read Border and Drug Trafficking by my fellow classmate Margaret Falcon. The editorial is informative but to me just gives a vague look at the issue at hand and lack more detail that would grab the reader’s attention. I think that a little more personal views and thoughts on the subject would strengthen the article and make it more personal to the author.

I do agree with the article based on the fact that the ongoing drug war on the Texas/Mexico border is getting out of control. The use of strong points like the killing of innocent people and people being allowed to cross border lines because of this bring this issue to life because regular people are being affected. Although the article suggests that the U.S. and Mexico are working to come to a resolution for the problem at hand a more in-depth description to these issues would help strengthen and give these points creditability.

All in this entire article to me is a good article it’s short, informative, and to the point. To me this article is very relevant and important to me and all Texans. More attention needs to be paid to this subject by our national government because the issue has out grown our Texas government.

Unemployment Hurts

As Unemployment rates linger around and take their sweet time to drop to somewhat acceptable numbers across the United States, you have to ask yourself is the $814 billion dollar economic stimulus program working. Well if I was to answer that question I would have to say yes and no. If it was you wouldn’t have so much focus on jobs in candidates political campaigns right now, And if it wasn’t the job market wouldn’t be opening back up like it is even though the process is slow.

Although as a whole the country is doing better than years past, like 2009 when 650,000 jobs were being lost a month, it’s not being seen in the communities across the nation which gives candidates fuel to add to their political flames. Television ads are being run from both democrats and republicans pointing the finger of blame for the situation at hand. But what does that accomplish nothing, it just puts the blame on one group of people when they all are guilty in some way.

I think the unemployment issues need the political leader to come together as one government to work to get the main points of the situation worked out. But all the finger pointing from side to side has to stop if they want things to get any better. When you have one group of people trying to do something to help a situation and you have the people who oppose their view criticizing their effort you don’t get anywhere. To me President Obama and his administration did what they could to combat the problem of unemployment with their stimulus program, but the end result for some people like myself was that they only shuffled out money at the situation to get brownie point with the public but didn’t help the unemployment rate shift more to a favorable position. I know that solving a major problem like this takes time, but the progress of the stimulus program is taking time to surface and for people that are still unemployed this is discouraging. They want the progress more visible and faster.

But with a government that so divided on so many issues, programs like the economic stimulus program would have trouble reaching favor with citizens because Washington can’t even agree with each other to make it function right. I not saying that the stimulus program is not working because it is helping slowly. But with such a divided government will we ever see days of an honest living soon? Time will tell but for now we will continue to hear bickering and blame calling.

Money Matters

Political campaigns require a lot of resources people, time, transportation, and more importantly money. Money is what makes everything else that’s needed to come together. I read House, Senate Democrats Retain Cash Edge posted by Erin McPike on Real Clear Politics for Time.com. It was an interesting read to me because it gives a look at how much American Citizens feel their political committees are worth by how much money they back those committees with.

                The article basically explained how much more money the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised in September and how their opposition the National Republican Senatorial Committee compared with their fundraising success. “The DSCC raised $15.5 million last month compared to the NRSC’s $8.3 million in the same time period.” As stated in the article is a clear example of how the two committees compared for the month. It’s also a prime example explaining why the author wrote this article with a Democratic overtone.

                I feel that this article was written more to enlighten whoever takes the time to read it. I really don’t feel that this article was written for a specific group of people but more for everybody. Everyone should know how much money is being collected by their political parties. To me it’s just a good indication into how much effort can be put into campaigns that matter to you, and how much to expect in those campaigns. I can appreciate articles like this one because it reassures me that someone out there in the information world feels that the smaller issues of politics that are sometimes overlooked once down the stretch are still important to report about.

What was his name again?

Texas politics are just as important to us as national politics if not more important. Texas politics determine what happens in our state, what laws are pasted, and who enforces those laws. The editorial Texas Judges Run in the Dark by the Editorial Board for the Austin American Statesman was a clear look into an aspect of Texas politics that most people are ignorant to, or just don’t put much effort into finding out about. This is the election of bench occupant and the way they execute their jobs in the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals.

                The article is written to inform the voting public basically that “the state’s voters will hand the power to redirect lives and money to people they barley know.” as said in the article. To me is a good and well written point considering that I don’t pay that much attention to these parts of my own states political system. But in a way it is somewhat justified because lots of everyday citizen don’t deal with these courts or not directly affected by them in a daily basis so we tend to put these parts of politics on the back burner.

                As much as it is informational at the same time this article still grasps on to its point that the public voters are voting for people they barley know. For an example the author tells of a story where Verla Sue Holland, a former member of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and how she blemished a certain capital murder case. She played all the legal issues by the book, but she had been having romantic affair with the prosecutor. Points like this strengthened the article and gave it some important facets to back up the main point.

                This article delivers exactly what the author wants it to and in essence makes people want more information about the political delegates, an action that I think the author intended to happen. And to me I think that it is important that we the people that elect the judges should know them, not so much on a personal level but at least enough that they don’t fell like strangers. I know for sure I will be doing more research so that I know what candidate I’m voting for so I don’t have to ask that question “what was his name again.”              

Struggle for Power

The Health Care law to me is of the hottest and most important topic right now in politics considering we have a midterm elections coming Nov. 2. The election could determine whether the law gets the funding it needs to run properly once it’s put into motion in 2014 considering who wins or holds the majority in the house of represitives.

 The article that I read from the Washington Post titled: Win or Lose, Republicans to target new health-care after November elections describes exactly what’s going to happen if the Republicans get that majority and gain control of the House.” I am committed to doing everything that I can do… to prevent ‘Obamacare’ from being implemented.” A pretty bold statement to me made by House Minority Leader John a Boehner is basically the whole tone of the article with details on how the GOP plans to do this like regulating the spending budgets across the board including the presidential budget.

 I think that this article was a well worth read because to me if the republicans where to win the majority in the house in a way it would be a sort of balance of power considering that the republicans and the democrats would have to come to some kind of agreement for thing to work properly. Also explaining the effects of the potienal swing of power the article goes in on the challenges the HHS (Health and Human Services) would have if the GOP where to win.

 Also the fact that president Obama would basically have to work with the GOP in times when he really doesn’t want to me could help work on the relationship between the president and the GOP.