Another loophole in the Law

Wow! If it wasn't for Erin's commentary Texas Loophole in the Judicial System I would have never known criminals were doing this. I thought the commentary was well put, and to the point. Erin should have provided more information about the loophole, so that the reader has more of an idea of how the loophole is being used. Instead, she just made general statements about the topic, and did not say how the illegal immigrant can post bail. Then, be able to get deported even though they have a criminal charge. But, all in all the article had great voice, and passion. This is a great issue that Erin has brought to light. I do not understand how these men can post bail, and then choose to get deported. How can they basically choose to have their freedom in their country , and not pay for their crimes? The only thing I can think of is that the different branches of law, immigration enforcers and the police, are not communicating. There should be a system in place to check for citizenship , as well as crimes before a person is deported. The whole system seems to be corrupt. The bail bonds men are no better, and are contributing to the crime of the accused. In no way should these bondsmen be able to collect money , and set free these criminals. This is a criminal act in itself; adding and abetting. I can not wrap my head around how this can happen in the first place. There will be people that say well they are illegal , and let their country take care of them. But, where is the justice for the victims and their families. These criminals are able to walk free in their country, after they have caused destruction in America. How is that fair?

Death to Escobar

The Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg will be seeking the death penalty for Areli Carajal Escobar. Escobar is accused of sexually assaulting, and killing a 17 year old LBJ student. The victim was mother of a one year old son, and was attacked just minutes after her family left for work. But the real question is should this man get the death penalty? I say Yes. Escobar seems to be a cold blooded killer. He planned the attack so that the victim's family would not be there. This 30 year old man took the life of not just a teenager, but a mother. The evidence shows that that the accused use an extreme level of violence on his victim, and has a history of violence. Why does someone this violent need to be wasting space in our prison system. Escobar level of violence and his age makes me feel like there is no chance for any rehabilitation in prison. The mother of the victim has called for his death, and feels like there will be no peace within her until he has died. The DA is doing the right thing in seeking the death penalty, but life in prison without the possibility of parole is not bad either. Both of these options stop Escobar from striking again. Escobar's attorney stated that the charge “isn’t consistent with the kind of person that he’s been.” Well, Mr. Brittain what kind of person his your client? The kind of law abiding citizen that has a history of violence, or the kind of person that comes home to his mother with bloody t--shirt. I know you are just doing your job, but find a better excuse. Why won't you just admit to the crime. All of the evidence points to you. I am not a strong believer in the death penalty, but when I see cases like this it makes me angry. How dare you be so selfish to use someones body for a few minutes then stab them to death, and you know they are a struggling teen mother. What kind of person is that? The man killed this poor girl, and now he needs to face the music. The music for him may just be death.

Ruff'n Tough Texas

I really enjoyed the commentary "Texas Tough Hid" on Brenetta's blog. She had some good points about how the Texas government is . When I first got here, I surprised at how the government is ran. The state of Texas, like Brenetta stated, seems to be a big bully towards the people. If you are not apart of big business , then policies do not benefit you. The homes are extremely over priced , especially downtown. How is a 900 square foot run-down home $400,000? I think the worst part of home ownership in Texas is the high property tax. The high property tax is what has been kicking the elderly out of their already paid for homes. The whole situation is so sad. These people have lived in their homes for decades. Then, the government is resistant to pricing the homes at market value, and continue to hold prices high.
with that 10% rule.
I never really thought that having to give blood for a DUI was an invasion of privacy.Then, it could be argued that the breathalyzer test is an invasion of privacy. I am against the practice of giving blood strictly due to health reasons for both the diver and the police officer. It is not safe to be drawing blood in the dark, with a drunken volatile person in front of you. The police officer could get stabbed with the needle , and get a blood borne pathogen. For the driver it is not safe for them to get stuck with a needle in the dark without proper sanitation of equipment.

I totally agree with the Bernetta's argument about the tollways. Those tollways are very tricky and I have found myself on many that I got on, and then had to get off immediately and pay 75 cents. It is ridiculous! The whole purpose of the tollways is to pay for them , so that in time the tollway would become a regular road for everyone to use for free. Why are we still paying for them. Texas seems to have never ending tollways.

C'mon not in Texas, don't steal from the people

Tenaha, Texas is a town in the great state that has been abusing the law to seize motorist's assets who are coming from the casino in Shreveport. When, I first heard this story break I was shocked that in American this can still happen. The law enforcers of this town have been pulling over minorities, and “seizing” all of their assets, but that is not the bad part. There is a loophole in Texas law that allows for this practice to occur. The sneaky loophole in the law does not mandate that a person be convicted of a crime or even charged with one before the government the police could seize the assets. Thus, the police can pull you over, and “seize” your casino wins without you being charged or convicted of a crime. Without the victim being charged there are no formal records of the incident or an account for why the person is being pulled over, and no record of assets being seized to criminal misconduct. The police would then use intimidation by threating the unsuspected driver with jail time, turning children over to foster care, and even prosecution for money laundering. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. How is this a practice in America? More than 140 victims surrendered their assets out of fear. The police were taking thousands of dollars from motorist who just came from the casino. There are cases were motorist gave $4000, and $6000 dollars to the crooks. The motorist could even account for their whereabouts, but they still were given the same options of give of the money or pay.

Nevertheless, don’t worry readers there will be some change. The Texas Legislature introduced a bill in March that would close this loophole. The police would have to go before a before a judge before attempting to seize property under the assests-foriture law. Way to go! There needs to be something in place to stop this type of activity. It is sad that the police that are suppose to protect us from thieves, are the people doing the robbing.

Combat of the Backlog

“State OKs staff to ease food stamp backlogs, finally,” by Lisa Falkenberg, located in the Houston Chronicle, is a piece about how Texas is trying to ease the backlog of food stamp recipients. Texas is finally attempting to correct the issue due to pressure from the national government to cut funds, and class action law suits filed against the state. The plan is to hire at least 650 employees to begin tackling the backlog. The state also plans to use this leeway to keep open positions to account for turnovers, or another surge in caseloads. The large caseload is due to the failing economy, and more people turning to aide to make ends meet. The intended audience of the piece is for people who have wanted Texas government to do something about the backlog. Ms. Falkenberg seems to be a credible source, she explains why backlog is such an issue, and also provides facts of why there is such a backlog. She writes “Last month alone, 371,475 Harris County residents received $48.1 million worth of food stamps. Most of the recipients were children. Nearly 62,000 more Harris County residents are getting food stamp help today than two years ago before the economy turned sour,” this show the reader that she factually knows how many people are on assistance, and why more of the population is looking to assistance. The author also proves her credibility by stating that even though the passed measure is a good thing it will still take time to completely get over the mounds of backlog. By the author saying this, the reader is not tricked into thinking that this is an immediate change, but one that will take several months to a year to correct. The audience can defiantly conclude that the author is for this change simply by the title “State OKs staff to ease food stamp backlogs, finally, “and also the comment “It appears the state leaders made good on their word.” The words “made good” and “finally” suggest that this is something that the author wants that is finally going to go through.

I agree with the author that the backlog and errors need to be tackled. The aid needs to be readily available to the people who need it. Also, with backlog comes more need. Possible recipients of the aid fall deeper and deeper into poverty as they cannot excess the proper funds. The funds that are supposed to boost them out of a bad economic time become more dependent on the funds because they continue to deplete their own funds to survive.

Privatize This!

“Privatization and its lesson,” located in the Austin Statesman is about the pulling of IBM election system for Texas voting. The author is defiantly gearing this piece to opponents of privatization. The author seems be a credible a source, he provides statistical data to make his claim that voting poles should not be privatized. He states that 27 agencies expressed dissatisfaction with IBM’s service. The author tells how an IBM server crashed causing a 13-day outage at the secretary of state’s business records filling statements. He expresses is views when he says, “Dillard said the election system will remain independent until at least through 2011. Good move.” The “good move” is the author saying this is what he thinks should be done. His basic argument is that if you privatize the electrical system in Texas with faulty IBM software, then the quality of the election would be altered. The people’s true vote will be lost with the software.

I very much agree with the author. I do not believe that we should privatize the electoral system with faulty software. The fact that all 27 state agencies that are using the software are dissatisfied with the products, just proves that it is not worthy of the Texas election. It is very important that all votes be accounted for, and you cannot have each vote count if the server is down. In addition, that makes for an extremely upset population, when they cannot go to the poles and cast there votes due to computer error. Just look at the 2001 presidential election when the voters in Florida were in an uproar over the format of the election equipment. Let us just make sure every vote is counted for, and that would be without the privatization of Electoral College.

COBRA for ALL, but not really COBRA.

In the article " City of Austin expands same-sex benefits," located in the Austin Statesman, shares the new development that domestic partners will now be able to access Cobra like benefits. This benefit is expanded to City of Austin employee's " in case of employee's termination, divorce, or death"(Statesman). Austin Manager Marc Ott released the news today to the Austin City Council. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act(COBRA) is a Federal program that requires employers to extend health care coverage due to certain events. The problem is that COBRA defines spouse as a wife or husband of the opposite sex. This is why the City of Austin will have to make a version of COBRA to extend to same-sex families. Austin will be the first city in Texas to extend such a benefit.
I think this article is defiantly worth reading, although it maybe a little short it is packed with information. Everyone should know about what the progression of same-sex rights so that people can either cry in victory, or cry in opposition. This piece simply lays out the facts of this new extended right.