The Money in Texas has been very misdirected.

For so much money to go to serve the purpose of lobbying and paying the legislature while there are so many counties struggling for money in Texas is absurd. I know in Hays County they are very in need of money, the police department targets the college kids in the city because they are the ones that have money to pay the city or at least their parents do. While the students are doing their part in the community by spending money in shops and boosting the economy, they are being targeted to spend more.

Our Government instead of placing limits on the amount of political spending they make their money up elsewhere like in the form of taxes and fees. After studying lobbying it revealed the corruptness that exists in the under workings of the Government, now bribing is legal as long as you are a registered lobbyist. With the population growing especially in big areas such as Austin and San Antonio more and more schools are needing to be built and expanded on, but because a lack of funding for repairs some schools are being closed at the same time.

Most people don’t have a clue what the majority of the money they pay every year in taxes goes directly to, but for a candidate to reveal and repair these injustices would be a huge issue. Yes some of the money in campaigns is donated or raised but a lot of it is pulled from groups and different agencies that really shouldn’t have to be spending it. If you don’t play the game in Texas and spend the necessary money you and your policy goals will never make it. Texas candidates claim to need so much money to run a campaign in a state the size of Texas, but their name recognition could probably be raised by spending the money that would be used on the campaign to change the direction of big spending in Texas.

Injustices in America

"Judge accused of DWI still will rule on cases" by Guillermo Contreras and Elizabeth Allen in the San Antonio Express News refers to a current case pending concerning Judge Raymond Angelini. I feel as though this article has been published to reach out to the public and make them well informed of the injustices that exist in the world today. If I were a criminal in his court I would be livid when a judge who is no better than I, who shows the same respect for the law as any average criminal, tries to condemn me for my actions. If this case finishes up and this judge gets off because of his position as a judge or is allowed to keep his job it will only be further proof of how corrupt our judicial system is, I'm glad that Texas has some legitimate employees like the police officers that he attempted to convince into releasing him but refused.

It is ridiculous that somebody who is supposed to set an example for the public is allowed to break a very serious law and not only be allowed to keep his high municipal career position, but he has also received special treatment during the whole ordeal. More background information related to his case and arrest is available in this article also written by Elizabeth Allen.

Do they feel as though a tarnished reputation is enough of a punishment for someone with such a high status, because I sure don't. The punishment for a person in his standing should not be more lenient, not even held comparable to, but harsher that for that of an average citizen. How can he sit up on his pedestal and scorn someone who has broken the law possibly even a law more minuscule than a DWI or a similar charge like a DUI(driving under the influence) which some drunk drivers are given.

He has been disqualified to judge on any cases related to a DWI (driving while intoxicated) for the time being, but he will continue to reside over all other cases. In many school districts you are not able to get a job as a teacher if you have such a charge on your record, which doesn't make much sense because it has nothing to do with that career path, it's not like teachers are so high profile that an issue like a DWI would be made so public or be released to the newspapers. This judge is allowed to keep his job where he is responsible for accusing people of their wrong doings and punishing them for what they did, but this man is able to commit a severe, life-threatening crime showing his level of respect for the laws that our government has put in place, the very laws that he has been hired to enforce.

How will the recent minority majority effect Texas?

I know the targeted audience in which this article Battle for Texas Latino vote challenges conventional wisdom is referring to, this year I have been bombarded with information regarding all candidates whether I'm walking around campus or at work. As a registered Latina voter in Texas I plan on voting in my first presidential election, before this year I never even paid attention in the primaries and have always been fairly split on the whole Republicans versus Democrats. I've always been under the impression that in such a large state/country one vote can't really count for all that much, but this article gives not only Latinos but everyone it refers to a reason to believe that their vote counts. With new groups of voters to appeal to in a big state such as Texas this election is bound to be an interesting one, Texas' demographics have been changing in increasing numbers in the last several years, and the youth of today seem to be much more interested and active when it comes to politics. With Texas as a newly minority majority state, because of natural birth rates and immigration, the large numbers of different races will play a very active role in this election. Throughout the article the author Juan Castillo who has a typically Hispanic last name (though I would hate to make an automatic assumption that he is), did a good job at remaining unbiased by not particularly showing favoritism toward one ethnicity, nor did he discriminate between one candidate or the other. This article refers to an "antipathy" that they claim exists specifically between blacks and Latinos they say that this dislike may be a cause for Latinos not to vote for Obama, I believe this is an incorrect accusation. Maybe it's a generational thing but this "antipathy" is something that I have never know to exist, at least not anymore than the incorrigible battle of men against women which would affect Hillary, or the stereotypical racism between African Americans and Caucasians. This article is jumping to some conclusions about Clinton's lead with certain voters and the changing of the tides for Obama; the primaries haven't even arrived yet, only time will tell.

Legislature passes new animal bills

Laws have recently been instated to protect animals and their victims, by making the pet's owners more liable for attacks and making the punishments harsher. Also, stray animals will now be protected like the domesticated pets in animal cruelty cases. It's about time that justice is finally being delivered to the sick people that train animals to deliberately hurt/kill other innocents, or who starve and torture their pets. Man is paying his bestfriend back for years of companionship. It had previously been that if you were busted watching a dog fight in which dogs brutally tear each other to death you'd get a ticket for a class C misdemeanor, which is the equivalent of a speeding ticket, now it is a much more serious class A misdemeanor. This article "Legislature passes several animal bills" was interesting because it is surprising to find out that animals can affect the theme of a legislative session and get several bills passed.