Vilified

     In his blog post "Keep e-cigs from being villianized in Texas" S. Singh pleads for e-cigs to not be viewed as harshly as cigarettes, and that they should be available for use in the public setting. However, I disagree with the de-vilification of e-cigs. Regardless if it's not killing you anymore, nicotine is still a very addictive drug that has had many problems through the years with teens getting a hold of it. With the state of de-vilification, vapor companies can begin targeting youth once again, also; with numerous people walking around vaping their e-cigs, it would only make it easier for the young to believe trying e-cigs isn't all that bad. From a young age if children become desensitized to the thought of nicotine, we could be dooming some youth from the start to a addictive, dependent life. I think that e-cigs should still be vilified in the public setting, but I will agree that it doesn't seem terrible to have at a bar, where everyone is of age and can make decisions for themselves.

All Roads Lead To... Unfinished Construction

     It's nothing new that Texas roadways are generally left unfinished once construction starts on a segment, and not only that, but; a lot of roads are getting very old and are in desperate need of updating. Well, for those who are sick of highly congested traffic because of small outdated roads (most growing cites should know the plight) or those who are sick of looking at unfinished projects on the roads commonly used (looking at you I-35 outside of Austin) are in luck because on November 4 an amendment to the Texas Constitution will be voted on which will redirect funding from the Economic Stabilization Fund to the improvement of Texas roadways everywhere. The Economic Stabilization Fund is basically a GIANT savings account only to be used for when the Texas economy gets in trouble. 

     I welcome this amendment with open arms as a Texas driver, and hope it is passed come November. Since this is just a redirection of current funding tax-payers will not see a increase in taxes because of this. Also, with more than 9 billion dollars in the ESF already, I think it is fine that the amendment will rout half of the money going to the ESF to some much needed road improvements. Additionally as a precaution, this money cannot be used for toll roads, ensuring that every driver will have an opportunity to benefit from this. One reason we see so much unfinished road work is that Texas is short 5 billion dollars on current production, this amendment will add 1.7 billion in funds in the first year alone allowing us to finish the job, in a timely manner, and get started on new work (stats according to Move Texas Forward). Being the state with the largest highway system and having a huge influx of new people moving in, I believe we Texans need this funding now more than ever and hope that we will get this amendment passed.

Justified

     In Jake Moser's blog post "Charge the Troops to your Campaign Fund Instead, Mr. Perry" he writes about Governor Perry's actions to send 1,000 National Guard to the border to alleviate the deficiency of border patrol personnel. In his post he takes a unfavorable stance toward Perry's action. His big focal point for the post was that crime rates have not risen since the crisis, and that the National Guard should only be invoked to help control crime.

     The issue I have with this argument is that, at the time, we didn't know the crime rates were not rising because the entire point of illegal activity on the border is to not get caught. If people are not getting caught then it's obvious that we can't say crime is higher now. With drastically less people patrolling the border (because they are having to care for these children and do a lot a of paper work for them) it's even easier for criminals to not get caught, thus; it means that the rate of crime would not go up because we simply don't know that the crime has happened. The National Guard was invoked to get manpower back to the border to ensure that crime has not increased and that it won't increase in the future. Accordingly, I believe it is short sighted to say, since crime didn't go up we should just wait for the national government to handle it, because if there are deficiencies in the border patrol it would only be a matter of time before the border is taken advantage of. Thus, I believe that Perry's call for the National Guard was justified.