I chose "If I Wanted to CarryAround Bags, I'd Be a Trashman." as my blog post. I would agree with the writer if the facts that he mentioned are true. The writer seems pretty mad about the new Austin ordinance that bans distribution of free plastic bags in Austin retail stores. As an Austinite, I share the same inconvenience and burden (literally) that the writer had to carry, but I don't think the council made a too bad decision on banning the plastic bag and there is still a room for improvement.

             The writer pointed out many cons about not using plastic bags; he mentioned about how the plastics bags are much easier to recycle and takes much less energy to produce than other replacements such as reusable bags. He also mentioned about the behavioral problems that most people have when using reusable bags; many people don't wash their reusable bags, exposing themselves to potentially harmful bacteria. Maybe the behavioral problems that he mentioned was a little bit over said, but the points were very clear. If the statistics are right, using reusable bags isn't too bad.

             I think there should be some moderations between the writer of the blog and the ordinance.  I don't think it's right to completely ban plastic bags, and I also think that plastic bags are, no matter how eco-friendly and cost effective they are, still too harmful if too much of them are being used.  I think the city council should tell the retail stores to come up with their own plan to give out free plastic bags to certain customers. For example, HEB can give out plastic bags to people who buy over hundred dollars since hundred dollar worth of groceries are very hard to carry.

             Plastic bags are very convenient. Not only do I use to carry groceries, I also used them for my trash bags. Maybe we have been using plastic bags too much until the ordinance, but I started to miss the convenience and the economy (that the writer had mentioned) that they bring. If I spent my precious money at HEB, It's my right as a customer to carry those groceries comfortably. I just really hope that the city council moderates the issue. 

                  Immigration has taken its toll on federal and Texas politic again. This topic has been very controversial since the last immigration action during Reagan administration. Since then, there were a few federal and state actions on immigration; Plyer v Doe allowed children of illegal immigrants to attend public schools in the country, Texas passed its own version of Dream Act to allow college enrollment of illegal immigrants, and Arizona passed the racist immigration law. Compared to other Republican states, Texas has rather lenient immigration policies.

                  Texas' current immigration system allows illegal immigrants to attend their public universities with in-state tuition. Texas had been more lenient towards the minor illegal immigrants than others. With the recent executive order by President Obama, those minors are enjoying a little more taste of freedom that they couldn't enjoy when they were in a shadow. Texas is issuing their driver's license again to these people.  There is still no legislative action towards legalization of this group of people in both federal and state level, but there is an effort in Washington to pass a comprehensive immigration bill.

                  Being a border state, Texas has to be stricter when it comes to deportation and eliminating any incentives for illegal immigrants. Texas has deported more than 387,790 illegal immigrants in 2009 alone, and the number is keep rising with President Obama's new policy that favors deportation. Texas has stoped issuing driver's license to illegal immigrants since 2007. Texas made it very difficult for employers to hire illegal immigrants.

                  The current status of immigration action is green for now since the Republicans started to realize that neglecting this topic would cost them the next election. With the growing supports from Latino and other minority groups, the comprehensive immigration reform introduced by the gang of 8 in the Senate is getting its momentum. If this is passed, it would legalize approximately 11 million people, and it would help bring in skilled workers around the world. Further, this country will experience the toughest border security ever, satisfying the longing wish for the Republicans. 

Source: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/comprehensive-immigration-reform-pro-growth-and-pro-agriculture/123

   I have read "Unlikely but Necessary Immigration Reform" from the blog History in the Making. The authors have introduced rather redundant subject that law makers don't really have the solution. It's not that hard to notice that our immigration system has fallen apart. There was a massive amnesty back in Reagan administration as a permanent remedy to our broken immigration system, but we have now noticed that amnesty was never a solution to this problem. The author of the post has suggested that legalization would add approximately 10 million possible workforce to our economy. He also mentioned that tax revenue would dramatically increase and economic demand would increase the national GDP. 
   I have a rather different point when it comes down to immigration. I don't believe that a comprehensive immigration reform is not the key solution to this problem. First of all, coming up with an ultimate solution to a problem would take very long time and may not be the most efficient way. I personally think that we should prioritize who would be best beneficial to this country. I don't want to see unskilled labors that later benefits off of welfare. Illegal immigrants who have college degree or have the intention of joining the military should be the major target of legalization. They are the most Americanized part of illegal immigrants and are the most skilled people. After legalizing them, we can talk about what we can do with seasonal farm workers, lawn care people, and etc.     We hear many sympathetic stories when it comes down to immigration, but we shouldn't forget that we live in a nation of law.  

The Great Red State of Texas

                  Let's face it. Texas has lots of white people. And most of those white people in Texas support Republican. The reason is simple: Republicans are especially known for their xenophobia and state's right. Over more than a century, Republicans, or Democrats during Civil War era, have been making agenda for Texas. However, some of those policy agenda are slowly driving their power away from them. The recent Republican push on the abortion bill enraged many Texas women across the state, tough immigration policies have made many Latino voters to turn their back against them, and the recent court ruling on the Voting Rights Act that would eventually encourage the Republicans to perform unscrupulous gerrymandering is making people sick of their action. With all these reasons accountable, is it time for Texas to turn into a blue state?

                  Texas abortion bill had outraged many Texas women. I know that they are angry, because I marched and protested with them. This is a bill that would supposedly improve the standards of abortion clinic and make sure that abortions are performed safely. Under these pretty sugar coating, people have realized that this bill will narrow Texas women's abortion options to five clinics across whole Texas and increase the cost of women's health care.  No matter how much a person supports Republican political agenda, when things become personal and poke her skin, she will stand up against it. Republicans have poked the most vulnerable part of Texas women. Whether she is a strong Republican or not, if she feels that she's discriminated, she will not vote for them. This is where they lose potential half of Texas population.

                  It's easy to see how Texas Republicans are abandoning possible Latino supporters. The most vulnerable part for Texas Latinos is immigration, but Texas Republicans' policies are trying their best to suppress any chance of illegal immigration. It's not that they are encouraging legal immigration either. I haven't noticed any news about the quarter for international students earning the green card increasing. They stopped issuing driver's license to illegal immigrants and even discussed the similar racist law that Arizona had passed. Texas Republicans also were trying to enforce an ordinance in Dallas to outlaw landlords from renting their housings to immigrants without legal documentation. Fortunately, the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional since immigration is in the hands of the federal government. The growing number of Latinos can't be undermined. As we saw in the last presidential election, Republicans can't no longer depend on Texas that easily; Obama had 41.7 percent of the total  votes.

                  Recently, the Supreme Court had allowed the government to make voters to present their photo ID in order to vote. Now this news is a very good news for conservatives, because they get to discourage minorities from voting. Many minorities are living in a city where they take public transportation. Many of them don't even have a valid photo ID or have the time to wait ridiculous hours in DPS to get a twenty dollar photo ID; they just don't have the inspiration to go through all that. This is pretty much like putting poll tax on people. Most of minorities have supported Democrats in the past. Republicans might benefit from this unscrupulous gerrymandering for short time, but people will definitely be disgusted by it for sure.  

                  It is not too much to say that the Red state is slowly turning blue. Republicans had to touch the most vulnerable part of Texas in a very wrong way. Texas women will remember who voted for this ineffective abortion bill, Latinos will remember how they have been treated, and black and other minorities will remember the shadow poll tax that bar them from voting. If Texas really want to stay red, they really need to wake up and fix their political agenda.

  Since The University of Texas at Austin is my major target school to transfer, news and opinions about them interest me very much. A recent news that I encountered is about UT board of regents' investment on an online academic tool known as MyEdu. This website, according to my UT friends, is an useful tool that helps UT students to plan their schedules and research about their future professors. It also contains features that help students to find internships and career planning using a specified major. While many UT students find the system useful, some people like TheDaily Texan is skeptical about their use of school money. Since 2011, UT have invested 10 million dollars on MyEdu to aid them aid UT students. According to The Dailey Texan's research, 90 percent of UT undergraduate students now use MyEdu compare to 75 percent before 2011. Clearly, UT helped MyEdu, but the question is, did MyEdu use the money wisely to help UT students? I never used MyEdu since I don't go to UT yet, but my friends who had been using MyEdu before 2011 are saying that they haven't felt anything different. One of the main features that students find it the same is class update. MyEdu doesn't tell students whether the class is open, closed, or cancelled. Now I doubt UT's investment. If UT really wanted to help their students using MyEdu, why not share their data base to MyEdu? Also, many of its features can be substituted by many other websites like RateMyProfessor and Google Calendar. Sure MyEdu tells students about available UT classes, but its inability to update the status of those classes doesn't match the full potential of 10 million dollar investment. Furthermore, MyEdu's other features like job research and profile are only used by 5 to 15 percent of the website users according to The Daily Texan. This proves that these features are either inefficient to aid UT students into their career or not advertised well. Since UT is my main target school, I really don't want the school to waste student's tuition money. Sure MyEdu is helping UT students, but are they doing 10 million dollar job? The Daily Texan says not so much. I agree with them if the facts that they present are true. 

  I have read an opinion about the recent Texas abortion bill, HB 2, by The Dailey Texan that didn't disclose the name of the author. The Dailey Texan took a con-position about HB 2. Introducing the bill before any further discussion, this bill would supposedly improve the standards of the abortion clinic to the standards of ambulatory surgical hospitals. The bill will also criminalize abortion of fetus that is over 20 weeks old with exceptions of inevitable circumstances that threatens the life of the mother. The Dailey Texan say that people are angry about women's right to abort babies, but more importantly, the right to women's health care. They argue that this bill would eventually drive up the cost of women's health care on individuals. They also went on to half jokingly suggest that women might use a hanger to perform barbaric abortion. They were also mad about the comments made by certain Republican law makers during the voting. Singling out Senator Dan Patrick, they have called his comments, "confusing'' and "insulting to women." They have made a position that supports the amendment that saves 20 week old babies, but they were rather enraged by the fact that the bill would limit the availabilities for Texas women to get abortion in Texas to five clinics across this vast state according to the study done by Planned Parenthood. They have called the lawmakers, especially Republicans who supported this bill, "willfully ignorant." I was very surprised by this opinion that is very similar to mine. Just like many people in America as well as Texas, I'm a swinger. I do like certain provisions about the bill but absolutely despise certain amendments as well. I'm 130 percent with The Dailey Texan about saving the 20 week old babies. When the babies are 20 weeks old, if anyone has seen the completeness of the human form that the baby bears, nobody would ever argue about the mother's rights unless the baby would pose a threat to the mother's life. Besides, perhaps the argument that the woman didn't know about her pregnancy during those 20 weeks will fade away during those 20 weeks. Any women will know there is something wrong with her body if her period stopped for 20 weeks and her belly starts to get bigger. This is exactly the place to tell her that her procrastination will not work in this situation. I was very disappointed by the sort of ignorant decision made by the lawmakers that will supposedly improve the standards of abortion to those of St.Davids. I unfortunately didn't read the bill to be enlightened about the level of standards that the lawmakers are expecting, but I can guess this; you don't need a million dollar equipment to trim your nails. It may sound little bit too much, but this is what I can guess about the current situation. As it seems, Plan Parenthood has estimated that only five clinics in Texas have the financial ability to meet the standards that the lawmakers are expecting. I really hope that Rick Perry sends back the bill to the House floor to re-discuss about the amendment that would close down many abortion clinics so that many women who are making the hard decision to get the best operation that they deserve.

Texas Republicans, as it seems, had touched the most sensitive part of Texan Women: abortion. The bill called, SB 5, has been reintroduced to the Texas senate floor by the push of our governor Rick Perry despite of it being struck down recently, Texas women were furious. I have witnessed hundreds and thousands of women from all over Texas protesting against this measure. This bill would eventually close down most of the abortion clinic in Texas except five. Many protesters were arguing that the Republicans are not caring about their constituency’s opinion. They are saying that this bill would discriminate against women’s health care. The advocates of this bill are saying that this bill would make the women’s health care safer and more regulated. The most important thing is this; the bill is now passed and many of the Republicans including Rick Perry might lose their office because of this. Article link: The Daily Texan