Texas 10% Rule

Students in Texas who graduate in the top 10% of their high school classes would get a scholarship worth around $1,500 per year to any state university but would not be guaranteed admission to the school of their choice under a plan approved Friday by the Texas Senate.

The state Senate voted 28-2 to cap at 60% percent the portion of a university's freshmen from Texas who must be admitted under a 10-year-old policy that guarantees a spot for students who finish in the top 10% at Texas public high schools.

The top 10 percent rule, passed in 1997, requires state universities to accept any Texas applicant who graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class and I think this is good as the law offers a fair method, not based on race, for admitting a diverse freshman class of high-achieving students.

I believe it's a good rule for a lot of reasons because it's a more objective standard than what's been used in the past. It's been said that students in rural settings are helped greatly. There are arguements that the law unfairly hurts good, had working students from the top 20 percent of graduating classes at competitive high schools.



s/localnews/stories/DN-braindrain_26met.ART.State.Edition2.4a67ed0.html

Texas Infanticide Law

Lawmakers just approved the post-partum depression measure and now Texas is first state to have an infanticide law. I'm a strong proponent of the legislation. The only thing that will change public attitude is education about postpartum issues.

The bill, introduced earlier this the month by Representative Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, applies to women who commit the crime within 12 months of giving birth. If jurors find a defendant guilty of murder, they can take testimony about postpartum issues into consideration during the trial's punishment phase which I think is good. If jurors believe that the woman's judgment was impaired as a result of childbirth or lactation, they can find her guilty of infanticide – a state jail felony that would carry a maximum punishment of two years in jail. Postpartum depression is recognized as a legal defense in at least 29 nations, including Britain, [as well as Australia and Canada] which has had an infanticide law on the books since 1922.

Of course, there are a lot of people on the internet and talk radio in Texas who is pretty upset about this bill, many concerned that it would give women carte blanche to go around committing infanticide and not having to take responsibility for their actions. They don't care one whit that most Western countries around the world already have such laws. I can see their point. It's a difficult concept to grasp that some who commit violent crimes may not be responsible, while others are surely responsible. How do you decide who is and who isn't? And then there's this: "Isn't anyone who would kill their child crazy? Does this mean they'll all get away with it now?" Before I had the opportunity of losing my mind for a brief period, I would have agreed with all of them wholeheartedly, so I understand their perspective. At the same time, I'm not a fan of some of the more ignorant and even downright mean statements being made around the state. As I've said before, it is very difficult for people who haven't "lost their minds" to understand how anyone could. We can choose to pretend it doesn't happen, and watch as more crimes are committed that could have been prevented. Or we could try to create better programs to help these people, and when we don't help them, we could take a little responsibility on ourselves.

http://www.postpartumprogress.com/weblog/2009/09/a-rare-enlightened-look-at-the-infanticide-defense.html

Tea Party on the Rise

I wonder if next political session will be the most conservative ever.

I believe the Tea Party movement is sweeping across America and conservatives are celebrating too. It was recent that conservative (Texas) state house and senate members acknowledged the Tea Party and gain their trust.

Governor Perry is riding high with the tea party types. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is the Senate's presiding officer, gives every appearance of wanting to be right there with him. Even House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican who was elected mostly with Democratic backing, has new support in the chamber's GOP caucus -- and leeway to tilt rightward, if the Republicans hold and expand their majority.
Once again conservatives are wildly celebrating the conservative citizen movement that is sweeping across America this is echoed by," Sen. Dan Patrick, the Houston Republican and talk-radio host who founded the group, said on its Web site.

Last year, Gov. Rick Perry found his re-election groove when he was at a presser by House member and Republican, Rep. Brandon Creighton, of Conroe. The purpose was to support a resolution hailing the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states powers not delegated to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution.

Also joining the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas were 12 Dallas-Fort Worth House members and four area senators, including Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. She was quoted in a press release as saying, "The voters placed their trust in us because we share their values." That puts the onus on conservatives to govern that way, Nelson said.

It seems to me that Texas lawmakers are in step with the tea party in a nut shell.


Texas GOP Vote 2010
http://www.texasgopvote.com/blog/reflections-precinct-convention-03153

H1N1 Surging

Here is something alarming, state officials for Texas are closely monitoring an upward swing in swine flu cases in the Southeast United States and having people who have not been vaccinated to get immunized.

I as well as many others believe that a lot of people who have become ill have not had the H1N1 shot. "What we've seen are upticks in other parts of the country, and we're concerned because our illness has tended to follow what happens in the Southeast," Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said Thursday. "We think it could affect Texas next."

Georgia is seeing the largest influx of H1N1, or swine flu, cases since last fall, when the illness peaked. No deaths were reported, and federal authorities, who called a news conference Monday because of the Georgia situation, said they saw no evidence the virus had changed.

The Department of Health recently issued a news release (Wednesday) encouraging vaccinations. Also, officials are it is said that illnesses will probably increase and is highly unpredictable as the H1N1 epidemic has caused a lot of uncertainty. "People should be vaccinated because it's better to prevent an illness than to have it."

The H1N1 flu activity in Texas has continued; however the rate has been relatively low to moderate. “There was a wave in April 2009 when the pandemic began and another wave in the fall, one official said. Texas continues to have hospitalizations and deaths from H1N1.

“As of March 20, 230 Texans were reported to be among an estimated 12,000 Americans who have died of H1N1 since the pandemic started a year ago. Of those deaths, about 11,000 were in people younger than 65”, another official quoted.
"That's much more deaths in a particular year among younger people than what we typically see with seasonal flu," she said. "We estimate that the rate of death in young people is probably five times higher than what we would typically see with seasonal influenza."

“Travis County has had seven swine flu deaths since the outbreak, according to state data. The most recent was reported to health authorities in late January: The death was of a 63-year-old woman in November”, according to Carole Barasch, spokeswoman for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department.

Texas among lowest for participation for H1N1 vaccine
http://news8austin.com/content/headlines/269947/texas-among-lowest-for-participation-for-h1n1-vaccine