Texas Budget Shortfall

Anybody who follows just a little of the news media in Texas has probably heard that there is a big budget shortfall.
The best predictions are showing about 28 billion and this may be much higher as we approach the legislative session in January. Texas have to cut spending in some fashion, so what to do? Some options are there but will we agree on them, here is the question. Most people on survey want cut spending, those who says that don’t really realize that it will probably touch education, or even scarier Medicaid. If those have to happen they will bring a whole set of other problems in the future that will require a lots of effort to fix. Unfortunately, those two options are where the state of Texas spends the most. Since most of other diverse taxes like increasing fees, allowing gambling, and other form of revenue will have minimal impact on the budget shortfall. Touching on education is just going to be a bad idea especially for Texas that cannot already be proud of its education system since it’s one of the last one ranked statewide. Medicaid is just like putting innocent people to death, sometimes unplanned things can happen to anybody’s life, and a little help on health is all I would ask for because this is the dead last most important thing after all.   Texas got this shortfall because of previous mistakes, but don’t make the same mistakes again especially knowing this will make the next budget even shorter than ever. I hope that Texas will manage this situation wisely.

Red-Light Camera

This post about red-light cameras in Houston Texas is written by Jhoana.
The post shows that some citizens are protesting installation of red-light cameras saying that it violates their right to privacy.
I agree with Jhoana's point on how dangerous driving in Houston is. Austin is technically not too far from Houston, but what a difference on the way people drive. Houston is one of the most dangerous cities in United States, and Austin one of the safest. Jhoana made a good point being in favor on keeping those red-light cameras, you have to follow the rules anyway, so a red-light camera shouldn’t be a problem. I would feel safer on the road if they were installed because the problem is not you driving but others and especially those who run red lights. Furthermore, those cameras can help some cases where there is a hit and run case. I also support this program and don’t see anything wrong on having those camera.

""Bring Books Not Guns""

    In the past month there was an upraise debate on whether or not students can carry a handgun on college or university campus due to the recent gunman shooting at the University of Texas.
Just after the shooting, public debate started on talking on the issue and government official in favor of having guns in campus used the event to promote the idea.
I remember watching republican senator Dan Patrick on local television saying that we are putting students, professor and staff at risk by not allowing them to carry a concealed gun. This senator even tried to pass a bill to remove the current ban.
This is just one example, but many are using event such as this one to try to pass bill that would in my opinion rather make the problem even worse. I personally would not feel safer if guns were allowed in campus, that is not were they belonging. Campus police officers are well trained to do their job on those circumstances. Police officers respond quickly enough to take care of the problem in a professional fashion. If guns were allowed, and if something happen then in some cases would not be able to identify who is the gunman since other student may have taken their guns out and may injure somebody. Also sometimes, a person has some strong emotion for many reasons and may want to use a gun, but if the gun is in the backpack, there is more chance to use it. Instead of allowing guns, I would rather concentrate on providing diverse help to keep stress down for the one who needs, providing some kind of hotline to take calls for the one who want to talk about personal issues. Emergency system such as mass texting and shelter preparedness are better solutions. No guns in campus is the way it is suppose to be, but in Texas it is not surprising that such debate will rise since owning guns seems to be deeply installed in the Texan tradition.