Texting and Driving Don't Mix

A recent post by one of my fellow colleagues about Don’t Text..just Drive is absolutely right. We live in a world with a million distractions and now with the ability of text messages it can turn a simple car trip into a very dangerous situation. There are already enough accidents happening everyday, but with the distraction of text messages this number is climbing drastically. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m perfect because I definitely have my moments where I’ll make a call and have a conversation, but I avoid texting while driving at all costs.
There are many people that use the hands free set in their car and think it’s the safer way to do it, but studies have been shown that any sort of multitasking while driving a vehicle is potentially dangerous. I believe that we gave cell phones a good shot, but in the end it is too distracting in a car and should be against the law to use it in the car. Driving is a responsibility because the choices you make behind the wheel affect everyone else on the road so we want to make it as safe as possible. There are already nine states that have made it illegal to be talking on cell phones while driving which I believe is the right step towards safer roads. Driving a car is already one of the most dangerous things we do in our day so let’s try and focus on the road a little more and less on our cell phones. I think the Texas Legislation needs to look into this issue with some urgency before more innocent lives are lost on the road.

Always Under Construction

I’m commenting on Mike Luong’s blog about Austin’s road construction because it definitely effects me everyday when I have to drive to school on Mopac. It always seems like there is some kind of construction project going on and it never ends. Mike also had a project by his house that he said took about four years to finish and that seems like a ridiculous amount of time. I agree that the city needs to speed up its progress on our roads and move on. These projects are never moving at a good pace and cause a lot more inconveniences than they should. I have been witness to several accidents because of people being confused about lanes and hitting other cars. The construction workers need to at least try to speed things up so that things can return to normal. The traffic in Austin is already bad enough for everyone we don’t need these things to go any slower. I really think the city needs to be more aware of the troubles it is causing its citizens and see if they can put more effort into getting them done.

Police and Your Blood

I have decided to comment on Adrianna's blog about the local Police in the Austin area being able to draw blood from any one driving that is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol. I definetly believe this is a good idea because it is a pretty big scare to a lot of people underage and will probably prevent quite a few of them from going out and getting drunk and getting behind the wheel afterwards.

Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of deaths in our nation and if this scare tactic can have even the smallest effect then I believe it is worth it. Each year many people are killed by drunk drivers and its our responsibility to try to keep drunk drivers off the street.

I totally agree with Adrianna on this subject because being drunk out on the streets is extremely dangerous to not only the driver, but also to everyone on the road. She was really convincing on why this was ok and I am right there with her. Everyone wants to go out and have fun on their weekends, but they should all know their limits and if their underage they shouldn't be on the roads if they have had anything to drink.

Boo! for Proposition 2

During this year's election Austinites will be voting on many propositions for the city and state and it's a good idea to know exactly what you will be voting for. Doing a little bit of research I found out that Proposition 2 is not one that we want to get approved. In this proposition it is aimed primarily at the Domain in North Austin. The Domain was built under an agreement whereby the city rebates some of the mall's sales and property taxes back to the owners if they meet development, sales and hiring targets. With this agreement brought a good amount of increased tax revenues and even spurred new development around the area. If this proposition is passed it would terminate the agreement and eliminate a successful tool to attract development in our city. I strongly recommend voting no on this proposition because too much tax money would be put into these lawsuits and it would be very damaging to the Domain and other projects using the same sort of agreement. Proposition 2 should not be passed because it would force the city to break its word with the Domain, guarantee expensive lawsuits and would get rid of a useful tool for bringing businesses and jobs to Austin. I believe the city should honor its original agreement with the properties and shut down this effort to change how it works. So when you go and cast your vote on November 4th be sure you know what your really voting on and think to yourself whether or not this proposition is worthy of your vote.

A Small Breeze for Perry

As I was looking through the Austin American Statesman I found this article named "Selby: Ike puts wind in Perry's sails," and it seemed funny to me. Governor Perry has called for the kind of national aid that Katrina was given and he says he is doing everything he can to help reconstruct the Texas coast. The reason why I thought this article seemed funny was because the author of it, Selby, is acting like just because Perry is showing some decent leadership in the hurricanes aftermath, he thinks Perry will win a third term as Texas Governor. Now in my opinion Perry would have to get real lucky to be nominated again because if you remember the 2006 election Perry won with only 40% of the vote and I know some one will run against him and changes will be made. It's pretty obvious that Selby is targeting the Republican base in order to shine some good light on Perry. Selby is an American Statesman Staff, but his logic in thinking that he has already secured the 2010 election is just plain wrong. There is still two years till that election and there is no way it is already decided. Right now there is still a lot to be done on the coast and it is moving way to slow. Perry needs to make sure that we get those people taken care of and get a move on with the reconstruction so that those people can return to their lives. If Perry can turn things around and get the job done I might change my mind about him, but until he makes some changes I'll be waiting for someone to come along to challenge him.

Poor Perry

I found an article in the Austin American Statesman that really caught my eye called, “Poor Rick Perry: He’s stuck in a great big house with a swimming pool.” In this article about Governor Rick Perry, columnist John Kelso is pretty angry about how our governor compared himself to the victims of Hurricane Ike just because he had to spend some time away from his mansion. Kelso talks about how Perry had to be moved out of the Governor’s Mansion into a million dollar back up home which includes a swimming pool. It’s obvious that Kelso is pretty upset about Perry’s comments about how he can relate to the hurricane victims because he has no idea what those victims are really going through. This makes me pretty angry too because Rick Perry has it real easy compared to actual people who have lost their homes and other things that are valuable to them. Perry complains about the inconvenience of having to temporarily move and be out of his regular mansion. There are many people who can’t even return to Galveston because there is no electricity and there is also the worry that when they return they won’t even have a house anymore. For Perry to even compare himself with these evacuees is naïve and just plain wrong. To add just one more thing that really bothers me about this article is that our state is paying for Governor Perry’s rent on this temporary house and the monthly rent is just about 10,000 dollars. I’m glad that Kelso wrote this article because I like to know when tax dollars are going to people who don’t need it and who definitely don’t deserve it.

Aid Arriving for Ike Victims

I saw this article in the Austin American Statesman and it made me proud to see that many people are doing whatever they can in order to help those in need and it also made me want to do my part because even with all the help these survivors are given they still need tons more. In the aftermath of Hurrican Ike, relief efforts are finally beginning to get into Houston and Galveston. Along with food and water there are also many hopefull search and rescue operations going on. State and federal officials set up between 16-20 aid stations in Southeast Texas to help out and they plan on setting up atleast 20 more as soon as possible. Relief efforst by FEMA have been really helpful to many people, they've handed out more than a million bottles of water, a million meals and about 600,000 pounds of ice in less than 36 hours after Hurrican Ike. Right now there are still between 15,000-20,000 people still in Galveston, but our aid services just can't handle that amount of people with the resources that they have. There are a lot of people doing great things and this really shows us all how Texans can always come together to pick eachother up.