Texans support a Statewide "Clean Energy" Plan

    This article will be about an article from The Texas Tribune titled Survey: Texans Supporting a Statewide "Clean Energy" Plan.  After President Obama's Clean Power Plan was stopped in in tracks, a survey finds that most Texans want their leaders to draw up plans for a shift to clean or renewable power.  This is even if the state wins the carbon dioxide-slashing regulations. The article says that the survey was conducted by two Republicans who planed and conducted this survey with more than 800 registered Texan voters on behalf of the Texas Clean Energy Coalition which is a group that supports natural gas, solar and wind energy.  This survey offered interesting insight to how Texans view on the energy policies in this state versus the views of the states politicians on the issue of how Texas energy should be run. 

   The findings of this survey are as follows:  

- 85% of Texans (including 81% of Republicans) believe that Texas should create its own clean energy plan no matter what. 

- Texans define "clean energy" as wind, solar and natural gas sources. 

- Only 14 percent have seen, read or heard of the Clean Power Plan.

- "Most Texans opposed the federal regulation when informed of one of the basic sticking points in the debate: whether Washington or the states should shape energy policy.  In that case, just 41 percent said the Clean Power Plan was a good idea, and 55 percent considered it a bad idea. Only 17 percent of Republicans backed the regulation."  

- "Most Texans - 69% - believe leaders should construct a proposal to comply with the Clean Power Plan in case the state loses its court battle."

The CEC said that this should help with a push in the Texas Legislature to add more renewable and clean energy sources to the grid. 

Opponents to the Clean Power Plan said that the survey should have included more questions like how this shift would affect power prices and the reliability of the power grid. 

"The CPP (Clean Power Plan), is Obama's most ambitious effort to combat climate change, would require states to slash carbon dioxide emissions from power plants however they see fit."

If Obama's CPP wins it would mean that Texas would have to cut an annual average of 51 million tons of emissions. 

     Honestly I dont see how that is a bad thing.  Whats the point of continuing to provide us with energy if in the following years the earth is a barren wast land anyways.... I just love how big corporations will battle tooth and nail for every single penny they can get no matter what the consequences.  The funny thing is most of the public do not realize what has happened to us.  The big corporations have turned us all into consumers totally dependent on the government and the big corporations such as the energy corporation and make billions if not trillions in the process. 

 

EPA: Oil, Gas, Coal stop messing with Texas

I completely agree with what Michael Cash said in his blog called Government and Politics of Texas.  In Michael's recent blog he wrote about the EPA getting shut down many times while trying to protect Texas and it's environment.  Being repeatedly shut down by Texas and Greg Abbott. The fact that we can already see a difference in the air quality at Big Benn National Park should be a wake up call to many.  But the sad part is that change scares politicians.  I also agree with his statement that new environmentally friendly energy sources should be implemented here in Texas.  Because not only would this help bolster our energy production but it would create new jobs.  I think that until someone can get environmentally safe power production making way more money than oil and coal this sad trend of pollution will continue and the EPA will continue getting stepped on. 

Safety On Campus Grounds

In light of the recent tragedy that has happened on UT's Austin campus, I have decided that I want to write about one way that could possibly increase the safety of students on any campus. I believe that a safety briefing during a students orientation, or given intermittently during the school year should be given. To raise students awareness on how to be safe. This safety briefing could include helpful information on what to do in certain situations, facts like there is safety in numbers, always let someone know where you will be (even if its your parents) or your roommates.  

Students are not in the military and most if not all have never been in a life or death situation and hopefully never will be.  Therefore most hardly ever pay attention to their surroundings.  Most of the time students (everyone now days) are preoccupied texting on there phones or listening to music.  This leaves them vulnerable to any threat that could be lurking around.  Now most would say that we should not haft to be on alert for threats, this is America.

The sad truth has been made evident in recent news.  The Texas Tribune recently published an article which can be found (here) about an 18 year old freshman, killed on campus. Another article that shows that Violent acts are and have been happening on school grounds is also published by the Texas Tribune called, UT System Drafts Sexual Assault Investigation Training.  This article can be found (here).  While this article does not necessarily talk about a case in particular I wanted to use the information they wrote about.  This article states that " One study, released in September, found that more than 18 percent of female undergraduates at UT Austin had been sexually assaulted since arriving on campus."

While it might sound lame to most students to think about attending a safety briefing, think about this.  Soldiers are given safety briefings all the time.  They are given safety briefings before weekends exp how to have safe sex, how to be safe if your going to be doing water related activities ie if your on a boat use your flotation devices.  Soldiers are given safety briefings downrange exp always be with a battle buddy, always be aware of your surroundings.  They are given safety briefings before using different types of equipment and weapons.  So I think Students should be given safety briefings on how to be safe on campus, ex if you know your going to be drinking have a plan, If you know your going to be walking back to your room at night walk with a friend or let someone know where you are.

While UT might be stepping up their security they can only do so much.  Helping students be aware of whats out there and how to lower their risk of ending up in a dangerous situation is what I want to happen with these safety briefings.

Debtors prison and the Great Texas Warrant Roundup

Debtors prison and the Great Texas Warrant Roundup

This article which can be found here, is written by Grits For Breakfast. This article talks about how the justice system, and police, are being used and have been used for a while now to fill budget gaps by turning court rooms and police men into tax collectors.

It starts out by talking about another story that CBS did titled "How you could go to debtor's prison in the U.S.".  A piece of the story states, " An increasing number of states and localities look to close budget gaps through fees and fines accessed through the criminal justice system.  The scenario has created a cottage industry of for-profit probation companies like JCS, which oversee payment plans and collect fines and fees on behalf of municipalities."   This gives a good precedence to our story we shall delve into next.

The Great Texas Warrant Roundup is the latest manifestation of this practice.  This operation is timed to tap debtors around the time they may be getting a tax refund.  One way that this practice works is like this.  Starting with traffic tickets, (have you noticed how many police have been trolling for speeders lately) which can gravely harm low income families.  The story gives an example of how depending on the jurisdiction, a ticket for failing to signal a lane change will cost you around $66.  Then the State adds an additional $103 in court costs and other fees.  Add the fact that some may not be able to afford these fees Texas will add another fee to put on on a payment plan, also an administrative fee just for handing money over to the court.  That $66 dollar fine for a simple signal infraction can grow into a fee of over $500 dollars!

Sadly this is just the start of the poor victims problems if they fall into this.  If you can't and don't have the means to pay these fines the state will suspend your renewal of your driver's license (add another $30 dollars for this) when this happens you will not be able to renew your register your vehicle, making it illegal for you to drive to the job you need to make a living let alone pay all those ridiculous fees.  Also if you risk trying to drive to work with an expired registration your sure to be pulled over and start back at square one.  

One example of this given by this article is: "Valerie Gonzales, one of the original plaintiffs represented by the Texas Fair Defense Project in a class action lawsuit against the City of Austin.  Valerie is a 31-year old mother of five children with disabilities. She and her family live in poverty.  After receiving two traffic tickets nine years ago, not only had Valerie's tickets multiplied and her fines ballooned into the thousands of dollars, she lost a job after she was unconstitutionally jailed without the benefit of a court-appointed attorney."

Finally here is the real kicker to this whole story.  When The Great Texas Warrant Roundup begins people like Valerie are arrested and judges across Texas will Demand payment in exchange for liberty.  The judges will not ask questions about how their finances are or what their circumstances are like, the judges will literally ask you for whats in your pockets and if you don't have enough you get sent to jail.....

I think the intended audience for this article is for most of us, middle class to lower class.  Those who live paycheck to paycheck.  I think what is happening here is very wrong.  They are literally trapping people in a losing battle.

As for the author Scott Henson, aka, Grits for Breakfast Credibility he was a former journalist and a political opposition researcher and has had years of experience under his belt.  For his full credentials you can click (here) 

The article I chose to do my assignment on is from the Texas Insider and is titled Apple's Involuntary Servitude.

The audience that the author is trying to reach is really everyone who uses a cellphone.  I think the author Judge Andrew Napolitano is in shock at how this situation was handled and not only how it was handled how the outcome turned out.  

The Judge in his article states that the DOJ argued that apple has a legal duty to help solve the mystery of who knew about the San Bernardino attacks so that the guilty can be prosecuted and the rest of of protected from future harm.  

Because Apple denied to help them the DOJ made a key of there own to access the perps phone. 

The warrant was granted although improperly because Apple was not given notice of the DOJ application.   Indeed the Judge states that " this is the most unique search warrant I have ever seen in 40 years of examining them."

The article goes on to say that "essentially, the DOJ wants apple to hack its product, thereby telling anyone who can access the key how to do the same. Apple also knows that if it does create a key for the government that the key itself is at risk of being hacked and therefore jeopardizing all Apple Products and negating the privacy of tens of millions. You know but the lawyers asserted that the government would protect the key apple creates.....

The Judge also goes on to say that the DOJ knows where the data is on the killers cellphone but does not want to make it look like it does because then that would put the lie that the government's denials that it spies upon all of us all the time moot.  

At the end of the article the judge states that more than just the security of our phones are at risk here. He says that he says that " A government that stays within the confines of the constitution is at stake."

So I agree with Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.  I think that the way the DOJ handled itself is wrong.  I dont think that Apple should need to compromise the integrity of there security systems and protocols in order to help the DOJ with an investigation.  Because not only would this compromise Apples security but it would just be one step closer to the government having full access to all our information.  Also like the article said if the key gets out there hackers surely will find a way to access it and then they will also have full access to everything. 

U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Obama's Clean Power Plan

On Wednesday,  February 9, 2016 THE TEXAS TRIBUNE published an article titled,
U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Obama's Clean Power Plan.

The article states that on Tuesday the U.S. Supreme court granted a request from Texas and more than two dozen other states to block President Obama's Clean Power Plan. Texas along with West Virginia are leading the charge against President Obama's plan.  The reason that Texas and other states are fighting this is because they say that this plan will push electricity costs too high and that the alternative source of energy would be unreliable.  Not only that they are saying that many jobs would be lost.

"The Clean Power Plan is stayed pending disposition of the applicants' petitions for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,"  Without the stay States would have until Sept. 6 to submit final compliance plans or apply for an extension."

Obviously environmental groups are upset about the decision.  While people like Ken Paxton (Texas Attorney) see this as a victory.  The reason Ken Stated that this is a victory is because of the Americans who feared for the jobs and electric bills sky rocketing.

First of all I can understand that following this Clean Power Plan would put some Americans out of the job.  While I understand this, change is always hard.  But the fact of the matter is Coal power is one of the main causes of major pollution today.  I would rather live in a clean world that is not affected by climate change and pay a little higher bill than the alternative... no world at all.

I would be very interested in finding out exactly how expensive our electricity bills would be after the alternative energy grids were up as well.  They could simply be saying our bills would sky rocket simply to scare us into agreeing with them.  Also these new grids could work well with Tesla's new powerwall ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Powerwall).  My point is there is always new and better ways of doing things.

Overall I think this is a very interesting article to read and follow up on because this has consequences for all of us.

Hello!