Theories vs. Evidence

In the article Evolution Debate in Education, Chelsea discusses the dilemma in education regarding whether or not creationism should be taught alongside evolution and if evolution should be portrayed as absolute fact or a theory. I agree with Chelsea that intelligent design ought to be talked about in school but maybe not science class. It should be mentioned in social science classes such as history much like it currently is. As a scientific theory, intelligent design is not much more than a starting point that does not have to conflict with evolution.

Currently, evolution is taught in schools as a fact. The meaning of the word evolution is a change over time. Science believes that over millions of years life has changed from almost nothing to what we see today. Evolution can be shown to occur, every human has on average 3 genetic mutations in their DNA. A mutation is the vehicle for evolution; a genetic mess up not inherited from either the mother or the father but accidentally acquired when genes are crossed, only sometimes do these mess ups move the resulted organism in a positive direction. Evolution becomes a theory when scientists expand these mutations to explain every change between single celled organisms to humans. Evolution is a theory in the same way the molecular orbital theory is. Both are taught as the best known explanations for something we know to occur. But no one complains about general chemistry classes teaching M.O. theory.

I say the way we teach things now, at least throughout my education, is pretty good. The only thing that should be considered is science teachers telling kids that while evolution may be likely, it is still only the best known explanation for our current situation. Though I am religious, Baptist, I don't believe that scientists are cheating us out of anything. If anyone is cheating us, it's the whack-jobs in religion who attempt to control people through religion (much like the catholic church has been known to do throughout time) asking people to asking people to disregard evidence and take their word that the Earth is 6000 years old, which is false. The Bible never says this.

Guns Guns Guns

Everyone who lives in Texas knows that guns are one of our favorite toys. You also know that the 12 gauge shotgun is the state flower. Of course not everyone is as enthusiastic about guns as the stereotypical Texan and many wish that guns were not around. Some will say that beyond hunting, guns have no purpose and only create violence. To some degree, this is true. More often than not, if bad people didn't have guns then good people wouldn't need guns either. But sometimes a person defending their self needs a gun to overcome a physical disadvantage. For instance, a woman or elderly being attacked must have at least some type of weapon to fend off the attacker. In this case, I don't see any argument for outlawing either rifles or handguns.

In other states, when someone breaks into your house, you might not necessarily be allowed to shoot the person unless you are in real danger. This is why I love Texas. When someone is so completely out of line that they are breaking into your house, you can shoot them on the spot. No messing around. There is no justification for robbing a person especially at their home. As long as the castle law allows people to protect their homes and cars with deadly force, a burglar is much less likely to rob you. Once we make crimes not worth it, criminals will start finding other hobbies.

Taking Life

Commenting on Michael's article Abortion on the blog Red With A Little Blue:

In the article, Michael talks about abortion and his views of the act. He uses an analogy comparing abortion to another controversial type of killing, assisted suicide. The idea of a doctor helping you remove an unborn baby and a doctor helping you not have to suffer are very similar in the fact that you are deciding when life should and should not continue. Both practices are to ease some type of pain or struggle, whether it be a suffering patient at the end of their life or a mother who doesn't want to go through the burden of raising a child.

First off, I'll say that I am for physician assisted suicide. At least in this case the person is deciding for their own life and not another's. I view it unconstitutional and unfair to tell a person they must suffer until their time comes when the next door down a doctor could be using a machine to keep a person alive who should have died long ago. This is when "Playing God" comes into question. Which of the two, if not both, described above is playing God? Killing a person is one of the furthest things from playing God, man has been doing this for ages. One benefit of assisted suicide is that it reduces the rates of actual suicide. When a doctor helps, everything can be planned and clean. Relatives can say goodbye.

As for abortion... This is an issue I struggle with. I used to be hardcore pro-life. I didn't think it was fair to let some young girl sleep around with guys having no consequences along the way. The only sufferer in this case is the unborn baby who had no say in his/her own life. He/she was basically murdered. Then I came upon questions: What if it was rape? Ok, well, then that's not the girl's fault and she shouldn't have to raise a baby that is half her half a strange guy who raped her. In this case yes, but no more. What if the mom's life is in danger? Well, either they abort the baby or they both die. Sure, let's let them have the operation too. What if the baby was a result of incest? So, this is the girl's fault but at the baby's expense. Aborting this baby is almost identical to assisted suicide. Maybe not everyone agrees, but in the three cases described above and maybe a few other weird cases, the woman should definitely have the choice.

The golden question is, what about in the everyday scenario of a girl accidentally getting pregnant? I am undecided. There are still things that I don't know about pregnancy. But I will talk about a couple arguments. When a girl has a period and didn't get pregnant, isn't this the same result as an abortion? People will say there never was life or there never was the potential to be a baby. These are both wrong. The egg alone was life that went to waste. There was a potential for that egg. At the moment of conception, though, if left alone, this will be a baby. When a sperm meets the egg, is that automatically more life than either part separate? In a way, yes. But how much more? Is this more or less life than an animal? How about an insect you are about to swat for coming in your house? At the moment of conception, it is still only one cell. From there it will be two cells. At what point is the total more than the sum of the individual parts? All cells divide so all cells will be something more. In pregnancy, the fundamental difference is that these cells are not adding to an existing organism but creating a new one.

Educating Texas

Education is one of the most important things in society. Middle schools and high schools are probably the biggest part of education because they are where it all starts. Starting in middle school and ending when you graduate high school is the foundation for the rest of your life. If a child is not motivated by then, they will most likely never be successful. It is highly important for our grade-schools to do their part in encouraging and preparing the state's youth for the rest of their lives.
With the economic downturn and budget cuts widespread, our government has to make some crucial decisions that will affect Texans in great ways. One of the big budget cuts is to our public education system. Since Texas education is already rated among the country's lowest, this is a very poor decision. If education isn't a high priority then we need to seriously take another look at our priorities. I'm not saying I've saddled up and reviewed the entire Texas budget; I fully understand that when budget cuts are made, everyone suffers. Education cannot be the only exception to this.
If budget cuts must be made, then I think the number one cut should be athletics. Before everyone goes all hating on me, I must say, I participated in athletics in middle school and high school and enjoyed it. I was even on JV when our varsity football team, not me, I wasn't very good, won state in 2006 but quit before they won again in 2007 (any guesses what school? It's near Austin). I just think that for many high school students, intense athletic programs actually take away from academics, monetary-wise and attention. Currently, we have this no pass no play rule where kids can only play sports if they pass their classes, but I have seen that this does not work because teachers will pass a student so that they can play. What it takes to actually fail a class in high school is disgusting (no offense to anyone who might have actually managed, maybe you should have been a star athlete).
What it comes down to is, what is important? Is high school athletics really that important at the cost of a good education?

Dirty Coppers

Everyone knows that cops can be total scum-bags. Where I'm from, cops will pull you over for almost no reason at all just to give you a hard time or make themselves feel like they still have power over something in their pathetic lives. In this article on Grits for Breakfast, the author talks about a video in which a cop greatly abuses her power by walking over to a detained suspect and punches him right in the face ("A 'split-second decision' to be a sadistic jerk", Grits for Breakfast, July 16, 2011). The author wants to show the general public, who probably already know of police brutality, a case of even a female officer being unreasonable on duty. The video clearly shows that the lady officer had no reason to approach a handcuffed man and hit him. I totally agree with the author, no matter how bad of a person the suspect was, cops cannot abuse their power in this way. The officer replied that cops are forced to make split second decisions but this was purely her lashing out, she couldn't say anyone was in danger. I, for one, am sick of cops. Sure we need them around to stop gangs from rising up and taking over cities or to help the people in danger but when I see this, I just hate cops more. If a cop wants to ruin your day because you didn't stop at a sign for 3 seconds or because you were in a rush to work and traveled 3 mph over the speed limit, they can. There is no loss on their part. Most of the time, they are not held responsible for the crap they pull. This needs to change. We need to come down harsher on cops who are only serving and protecting themselves; hold them accountable for what they do.

Rick Perry's Prayer

Recently, the Austin American Statesman published an article discussing a Prayer event that Governor Rick Perry has planned for August 6th at Reliant Stadium in Houston (Suit over Perry's Prayer Event Misguided, Austin American Statesman, July 14, 2011). This article, intended for the general public, explains how Rick Perry and the American Family Association are being sued by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The FFRF doesn't believe that Rick Perry should be able to endorse any one religion because that would in turn mean that our government is endorsing that religion. As an editorial for the Austin American Statesman, I would say that their opinions are very legitimate. The author argues that unless Rick Perry uses tax payer money or take away from any person's rights, he is justified. Whether or not the FFRF likes the same religion as Rick Perry is promoting is beyond the debate, he can use his personal time and energy to be a part of the event.

I totally agree with the author in this case. Easy for me to say, right? I'm also a Christian. I understand that I may be slightly biased but legally Rick Perry is not doing anything wrong. The prayer is not being held on government property. Additionally, no person is being forced to come to the event; everyone attending is willing. What one group does on their own, as long as it does not affect others, is their business. The only issue here is that one of the members is our Governor who represents our state. Would people make the same argument if it were someone below the Governor, maybe a Senator? Probably not. Rick Perry is not only the face of Texas, he has his life beyond his official duties just as anyone else.

Texas Jobs

The past decade has been very rough for many Americans. We suffered an economic downfall that left many without jobs. A huge part of rebuilding the economy is creating valuable jobs for Americans. The article LoneStar Strong explains how Texas has created over 700,000 new private sector jobs in the last decade while no other state has created over 100,000. California performed the poorest in the same time with over 600,000 fewer private sector jobs. This article is very interesting because we hear so much about how the unemployment in the country has risen dramatically during the recession. To know that Texas, the state we live in, is not only contributing to the unemployment problem but possibly even reducing it is very reassuring.