One of the classmate posted something very interesting in his blog stage seven. He talked about the child poverty increasing exponentially in Texas. He said that there is 47% increase in the rate of Texas children living in poverty from 2000 to 2011 while the grow rate in population is only 18%. He mentions that child poverty rate has been growing so high due to the unemployment rate. He also mentions that raising the minimum wage will not ultimately fix the poverty.

I lived in Indiana for about 2 years before I moved to Austin, Texas.
While I was in Indiana for about 2 years, I worked at Target as a cashier, earning minimum wage. I had no parents support at all at the time. I have never had experience as such and I can say that it is honestly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life so far.
First, I was not able to get the 40 hours a week as I wanted. Less hours, less money for me. I was paying the rent, cell phone bill, car insurance, etc all alone and money was a pretty desperate thing for me. Every month, I would have about maybe $100 left after I pay all the bills I need to pay. I remember thinking, if I only had a higher minimum wage.
So I guess I disagree with the classmate that raising minimum wage wouldn't work. I think it would work just fine. Also, I understand that the issue is about the child poverty, not adults. My opinion on this matter is that if parents are not financially well to grow a kid, why have one? I think everyone has a general idea on how expensive it is to have a child.

I moved to Austin just about a year ago. At the time, all I could think about was my future; what I'd do in Austin to further improve my life. I never realized that this one tiny problem could smudge all over my dream though. The traffic.

I have been to many places in my life such as South Korea, Indiana, Maryland, New York, and small towns in Texas. I never knew traffic was such a thing in the Austin, Texas.
For a little bit of extra credit points, I was researching the rank of traffic congestion in different cities in United States of America and Austin, Texas was among the top ten cities to have the worst traffic congestion. Let's just say traffic is dreadful nightmare. City planners obviously did not think ahead to put the railroad in the right place. I did not even know that there was a railroad until just about a month ago. Well, I've seen the railroad tracks but I didn't know it was being used as a transportation for people.

Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ted Houghton said "You'd move the free lanes out to 130 and the toll lanes to I-35." I believe that this is a terrible idea. So so so so so many people depend on I-35 to get to places in the first place already. I mean this whole debate is going on BECAUSE so many people are using I-35 already and they are going to make the drivers pay them now? Since the day I arrived in Austin, Texas I have been using the I-35 to everywhere and I cannot be paying toll each time I go somewhere through I-35. First of all, this I-35 wasn't built for tolling so it would be wrong for the Texas Department of Transportation to suddenly change the rule and make us pay. If anything. Honestly, I don't even know where 130 is.

I believe one way to fix the problems in Austin is to fix the transportation system. Robert Spillar, Transportation director for the city of Austin has said "The key is giving people more options other than a car to reach downtown," He knows what we have to do already. Why do we have to charge innocent people who are paying enough taxes already out of their checks? I believe the public transportation system such as buses could improve the traffic congestion. When I was in South Korea, I could get to anywhere, and I mean anywhere, with just a public buses. The bus system is amazing there that my family barely drove anywhere. I didn't need a license at all. To get to other part of the city, it costs just about 1 dollar. The price probably went up while I was gone but still, it is cheap and it works. If they try to move the free lanes on 130 and toll lanes to I-35, whichever company owns the toll will probably go debt and just die out. There are many other options to solving the traffic of Austin, Texas. I think we just have to do what is best for our environment, and mostly our people in Austin, Texas. We are the ones residing here, and we should make the decision to ease the traffic congestion, not just the authority.

Ileana wrote an article called "Voter ID Laws - The Troubles are There" and I could not agree more with her. 

For blog stage 5, I wrote on the same issue that the voter ID laws will be troubling for people. 

Ileana points out all the facts that I've listed in my article. 

First, yes, as long as the name matches the voter ID card, one will be fine to vote. But if there is just a slight difference in any part of the name, voters will have to sign an affidavit to confirm that they are who they are. This is the problem for the women as Ileana mentions. Many women who have just gotten married or divorced will have different last name, causing them a hard time to vote. 

Second, as Ileana mentions, some people just do not own some sort of identification with them and I totally agree as some people I know just generally do not own any kind of IDs with them. Maybe they carry a school ID but the voter ID law says that people will not be able to vote with school ID. 

Ileana points out a great point that I haven't thought of before. "Why were the hours extended after the law was passed, and not before?" I totally agree with her in that it would be more sensible to take care of people who do not own IDs before the law was passed. Taking care of people who do not own IDs after the law has been passed would just be a total frustration for the voters AND the government. And as the November the 5th election mentions, some people did have frustration over their names not matching or not having the voter ID card. 

"The problem lies not in the law itself, but in the way it was enacted. If a law had been passed first, that required Texas of the age of 18 to have an ID, there wouldn't have been so many reasons to be against the law of voter ID." I could not have said this any better. I'm glad that there are someone else who dislikes the voter ID law as much as I do. 

Why the voter ID law is wrong.

First of all, what is voter ID law?

Voter ID law is a law that requires people to have some sort of identification in order to vote or receive a ballot for an election. Currently, voter ID laws are placed in 30 states, in the United States of America. Voter ID law was passed in Texas by the Governor Rick Perry in 2011. Texas law recognizes government issued photo ID  and weapons permits but not college ID which raises a problem that the law is not favorable to the young voters when there is so less amount of votes from young voters in the first place.

Now that we have covered the base ground, I will share my opinion on this matter. I believe that the voter ID laws will even lower the amount of votes all around the America when it is low already unless it is a presidential election. I believe that the voter ID law should be gone. 

I understand that this law was passed so that we know the registered voter is who he says he is and not an impersonator trying to cast a ballot in someone else's name. But I strongly oppose against this law. I believe that this law affects negatively on elderly, minority, and low-income groups. As the class mentioned, obtaining photo ID can be costly to some people. Even the documents like birth certificate can cost up to $20 to receive and $20 can be very costly to some people. I have been to a position like this and I can honestly say that every penny was important to me at this time and had I still been in that environment, I wouldn't give a crap about voting. The problem is that people are already less likely to vote in the first place especially in an occasion like tomorrow which is an election on Joint General and Special Elections. In class today, only 3 people raised their hand who said they would vote tomorrow. 3 out of about 40 people is less than 10%. I can't assume that it will be like this all around the Texas tomorrow but the amount of votes tomorrow is probably not a lot at all. If this is the case, I don't get why the government of Texas is restricting even more people from voting with their stupid voter ID law. If anything, I think they should come up with a solution that will help people of the United States be more enthusiastic about voting more than anything else. I especially don't get why they're restricting college students from voting with their college ID. It costs to get college IDs first of all, but the poor students who owe millions of dollars in debt have to pay extra to get the voter ID? I don't think so. 

Another problem with this voter ID law is that it makes harder for women to vote. Women who have changed their name, after marriage or divorce, will be discouraged from voting. If the voter's name does not precisely match the name on the list of registered voters, apparently it is up to election officer at the station to determine whether she can vote or not.  These women will either be turned away or allowed to vote provisionally with their ballot set aside. They have a week to return to the registrar's office with a proper document such as birth certificate. Imagine elderly lady who doesn't drive anymore and who stays at nursing home. They will probably come in buses or taxis with just their voter registration card because that was all they needed until this year. Imagine them having to go back home sadly, having achieved nothing. How much pain must people go through to make the country better by voting? 

When I was in South Korea, I learned that the United States of America was about freedom: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, right to vote, etc. If we do not have the total freedom to vote for our own people, who we vote so that our lives might just be better and safe, then is the United States of America really standing up for their freedom as they say? 

On Monday, October 14, 2013, the Dallas News published an article titled Thinking about Drinking: Beer sales at college stadiums worth considering. The article had a picture of Texas A&M Aggies fans preparing for the tailgate prior to the game against Alabama Crimson Tide. This article caught my attention because I did attend Texas A&M for a year and I have been to the tailgate and I guess I'm leaning toward the opinion of the author, Tod Robberson.
Tod Robberson has a degree in bachelor of science in communications/journalism from Texas Tech University and has a master's degree in arts in Arab studies from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He spent 10 years as foreign correspondent and assistant foreign editor at the Washington Post and have worked in many countries such as Lebanon, Cyprus, Iraq, Syria, and El Salvador.
This article mentions how several Texas universities are considering of allowing the sale of beer at their football stadiums. Tod Robberson says "It could be a major moneymaker." I believe that selling beer at football stadiums can and will be a major moneymaker. Tod Robeberson mentions "The big fear, of course, is that this would somehow corrupt our youth, lead to underage binge drinking and send the wrong message to college students, who otherwise would not even think about drinking alcohol or even think about thinking about drinking alcohol until they were 21. If only there were that much thinking going on to begin with."
Let's face it. There is underage binge drinking happening every weekend in Texas A&M anyway when there is barely anything to do in College Station to begin with. During football game season, it gets worse as students all go out to north gate after the game to either celebrate with drinking or get over the misery with drinking. I believe that the real big fear is students dying due to car accidents or something worse.
The article mentions how easy it is to access alcohol outside the stadium and it is very true. Just drive 5 minutes and spec's is right there with every kind of alcohol you could possibly need. Tod Robberson mentions that students are not looking for beer but hard liquor because getting drunk with beer is just hard. "The bigger deal is what colleges and adult enablers already are failing miserably to do: stopping kids from getting access to hard alcohol outside the stadium. Crack down on tailgate parties, and the vast majority of your problems will be solved. Then let the vendors do their jobs inside the stadiums, and punish them severely if they violate the law." I don't necessarily believe that kids should be stopped from getting hard alcohol outside the stadium since if they are over 21, then they have the right to get hard alcohol. It's just the kids, who are under 21, are the problems.
I believe selling beers at the football stadium would be a great idea. Students will not need to get alcohol outside the stadium then get drunk then drive to stadium to enjoy the football games. Plus, beers will hardly get you any drunk compared to hard liquor. Plus, school will be able to make money off of beers they sell. Just about a week ago, I went to the Union in University of Texas at Austin to play some bowling with few friends and I noticed that they were selling cans of beer. It was $3 a can, but it still gave us joy that we were able to drink and have fun.

On Sunday, October 6, 2013, the Dallas News published an article titled Do we need a stand-your-ground law for schools? I thought it was a very interesting article because I wonder what would have happened if such a terrible shooting event happened in Texas. This article was written towards the parents, the students, professors, and everyone else who wants extra security in their lives. I believe that this columnist can be trusted as she has skills in many areas such as journalism, ghostwriting, public speaking, etc. Also the columnist, Esther Cepeda, has written and edited everything from website copy to marketing assets, blog posts, speeches and thought leadership pieces for company executives.
I am always heartbroken whenever I hear about a shooting especially when the shooting takes place in schools. I can not even imagine what it would be like to go through that. The last major shooting event occurred in Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This shooting was the second event I have heard of after the shooting that happened in Virginia Tech University back in 2007. I really don't know why these events happen nor why the innocent are the ones that go through these hardships. Again, if such an event like shooting happened to ACC I go to everyday, I would not know what to do. I have lived in texas about 5years now and yes, I have heard the phrase that Texas is full of guns everywhere. However, I have never seen nor even touched a real gun in my life. I am not even interested in seeing or touching the guns soon. The columnist, Esther Cepeda, did not directly answer whether she supports the stand-your-ground law for schools or not. But it seemed like she was leaning toward supporting it since she said "it's reasonable to at least debate whether to offer some legal refuge to teachers and staff members who make the decision to protect others from a perceived threat." Also, her evidence that made her write this piece is "an article about an Indiana proposal to expand the castle-doctrine-law - that state's stand-your-ground law - to school grounds, to protect any person who might resort to deadly force to prevent a school massacre." The columnist even "suggested that such a topic at least merited a level-headed conversation." Whether the columnist agrees or not, I fully agree that schools should have a stand-your-ground law. I believe that extra knowledge for professors and staffs could never hurt anyone when saving others' lives. This article was worth reading because it refreshened me how tragic it was for the Sandy Hook Elementary school students and because it taught me a new word: stand-your-ground law. I learned that it is a law that allows people to stand their ground instead of running away if they reasonably believe that doing so will prevent deaths for themselves or others. Also, I learned how important it is to have a good security not just for myself, but to others. I think it is about time we pass the stand-your-ground law for schools in Texas before anything tragic happens.

On Wednesday, September 18, 2013, the Texas Tribune published an article titled Texas Again Has Highest Uninsured Rate in Nation. This article was interesting to me because I am also one of those who do not have health insurance. The article states "In addition to having the highest rate of people without health insurance in the nation, Texas also has the largest number of children without health insurance and the highest rate of poor adults without health insurance, according to 2012 American Community Survey estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau late Wednesday." Honestly, I have never felt the need to get health insurance. But this article is not just about me; this article represents the people of state of Texas and I understand that people need health insurance in order to pay their bills in a small amount. I have been to the hospital in the United States of America one time in my whole life and the bill came out to be $250,000. I am sure the amount have gone down quite a bit with the health insurance but fortunately, I did not have to pay the bill. 

Article also states "If Texas had chosen to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act to include impoverished adults below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, the program could have extended coverage to an additional 2 million people, according to a report by Billy Hamilton, former deputy state comptroller and fiscal consultant." If expanding medicaid eligibility could cover an additional 2 million people, why hasn't Texas chose this option already? I do not know anything about health insurance nor Medicaid so I can't say anything about it but if it could help 2 million people, not just few, I would totally go with expanding Medicaid eligibility. I believe that helping people will mean better Texas when it's already a great state to live in.