Monday, April 28, 2014

      I read this article in the Texas Tribune  which discusses the  opposition surcharges program faces.
The surcharges program or the Driver Responsibility is a program that  is designed to extract money annually from drivers who committed a traffic offenses. People who are against the program that was created in 2003 will be asking the lawmakers to abolish this law in the next hearing according to the article at that time.


      I believe that the legislators should stop the surcharges program. The point of this program is to punish people who were caught driving without car insurance or were driving while intoxicated and maybe other offenses. While I strongly agree with following the law of having a car insurance and not driving while drunk, this program is just way too much. A person who for example were driving without insurance would have to pay more than  $260 for three years in a row after having to pay the fine at the court.

       People are forced to pay triple if not more the amount of the money of the bills they originally owe. And moreover, the system is just too slow and not flexible. I talk from experience five years ago unfortunately, I was driving without insurance and even though I paid a lot of money, I still had to pay around $270 for three years. You can make payments but still, I believe it's too much, and certainly not everyone can spare that kind of money to give it away for three years, especially after having to pay the original fine. Also, each time you failed to pay because you did not have enough money at the time or you forgot to pay, you driver license is suspended.  As suggested in the article it would be better do the point system in which they will take points off  the driver's licenses in case a person repeat the same offense. Even though I think people who drink and drive must be punished severely so they won't do again, .Taking point off  driver's license in addition to the the fines they have to pay seems a better way than the surcharges program.

Monday, April 14, 2014

This is a reply for my classmate’s blog laura Lazo.  “Texas same-sex marriage ban struck down” I totally I agree with her regarding the same-sex marriage ruling by the federal judge. It is indeed a surprise to finally see such ruling forcing conservatives to accept the fact that people should be with whom they love. Also, I agree with her that Republicans should stop telling other people who they may or may not marry. I believe that  Attorney General  Greg Abbott should redirect his attention to more critical issues in Texas than trying to appeal to higher courts to stop people from marrying the person whom they want to share their lives with.   I agree with every point she mentioned in her blog and, I would like to add that the reason for their apposition is religion. I think instead of them trying to control other peoples’ lives by regulating who they can or can’t marry or for controlling women’s choice to having babies, they should try to focus on more important things that benefit the people of Texas, like raising the poverty line or the minimum wage to try help so many people who are suffering in Texas.  Or find more productive programs for single mothers who can barely support their children! 

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

     
Religion Rules!

            I read this article in the KUT.org about the tough requirements that the Texas’ legislatures demanded from the entire clinics that perform abortion.  I believe that these harsh regulations are only being enforced to make it harder for women to get an abortion due a religious group of people in a conservative state. Texas legislators should  not have passed this law .  A person reading this might think that this is a personal point of view, but if we analyze the behavior and decisions of most of the Legislators in the the Republican Party, it is obvious to see that they just want to enforce their religious beliefs and traditions.

                     They are bending the constitution to work in their favor as much as they can even when it clearly says otherwise. Because these people are relying heavily on a religion as a background for laws, this is a big indicator that their opposition to abortion is based mostly on religious stand. This fact by itself should be considered. A woman who seeks an abortion now for whatever reason, has to travel hundreds of miles to be able to find a clinic that preform abortion  and not only that she has to go back and forth for at least two times before she can get the abortion.  I’m not saying let’s have no restriction whatsoever on abortion, but still these restriction that were enforced by the Texas legislators are just being made to make it impossible for women to have an abortion. Moreover, there's a big contradiction within this party. They damned that the National government should be less involved in peoples' lives while they want to regulate people on a personal level and abortion is a very personal decision! 

          As a woman who lives in Texas, I’m very frustrated by these rules, health insurance is expansive as it is, but now if women needed an abortion, she would have to pay even more money to be able to get an abortion. Forcing women to see a physician multiple times before getting the abortion and also the mandatory sonogram are just other obstacles to getting an abortion. Furthermore with these anti-abortion laws is requiring physicians to have admitting privileges to hospitals withing 30 miles from the clinic!  What's the point of forcing a family to have a child that they can not afford? Or making  a victim of rape suffer with having to carry a baby of the man who raped her?!   For any classmate who is going to read my work. I'm not saying it is okay to go a head and be irresponsible and get pregnant and get then go get an abortion. And for anyone who think it's just the women responsibility when it comes to getting pregnant ( sadly I read it recently, where a guy was blaming women for getting pregnant and then seeking an abortion)  getting pregnant takes two people, and the guy should be just as much responsible.