Comment on classmate's blog

This is my comment on one of my classmate's blog about Children living in poverty

I read about this article days ago. It does hurt every resident here in TX and maybe the whole U.S when hearing about this fact. Children are the future of the country. Having them lived in the poverty is not what we want. I'm originally a Vietnamese. Thanks to that, I had some chances to visit that country several times with my family. I think there are a lot more children living in the poverty in Vietnam and other developing countries than in the U.S. They do not even get any help from the government. It is still better here where the government has much more responsibility with children than others. If they are not sent to school, it's their parents' problem. They are living in poverty, lacking of daily foods or whatever, it's the whole country's duty. I agree that raising the minimum is not the only way we can do, and also, it's not a main issue of all when the rate of unemployment of Texas is still high. And it is even harder when the employer has been cutting off their employee's hours or having them get laid off. For example that I'm single and having a job paid $9.00 an hr. With that money in a month, I have to pay all my bills and my own living expenses. I cannot imagine that if I have children, and what will happen to them if I get laid off?!? However, taking the government's side. They are a part of taking care of children from education to healthcare. Children can live in poverty but not stick with it. They still can be educated, taken care, and provided what they need when the government has an eye on them.

Gun Ban

As we all know that there have been many shootings during this year, 2013, not only in TX but throughout the whole U.S. Living in the freedom country does not mean that we can use guns to hurt anyone. If we are at least 18, we are able to buy guns. The more people have guns, the more dangerous this life becomes. I totally agree with the "Gun Ban". I think now it is not specifically just gun control, but also is about people control.
In Austin, TX, according to this post, that Democrat does support the gun ban law which may take place in Texas. I think is a must, not just a need. Guns cannot do anything without people's controls. People say that having guns can protect themselves from being harmed. However, it can kill or hurt others. People can lose their mind easily, and it leads to an action: using gun to shoot someone. Nearly, Houston had a shooting at a house party which killed 2 people and hurt 20 others attending. Moreover, there is no limit on buying guns. Just have a look back on last Black Friday, guns were on sale, so we could not know how many people went out and got themselves a gun. Guns are not totally dangerous, but they will be when under people's uses. Sometimes, they do not have any reason to shoot someone. They just want  to use theirs for once in life. It is so unfair to people that have been dead from any shooting, children, elderly, adults, anyone.
If guns are banned, it could be not a hundred percent that we are going to leave in peace in TX or in the U.S, but it can prevent from having people dead from shootings.

Comment on classmate's post

Here is my comment on one of the classmate's blog about Abortion.

Firstly, I do not want to mention anything about politics. Several years ago, I used to have the same thought like yours, but now, it stays away from my brain. For whatever reason, when people are pregnant, they are carrying a life, and they have to be responsible for that. Although at the very beginning of the pregnancy time, nobody is served any right to steal a life from a baby; moreover, they are their children. People just regret after the serious things really happen to them. If they do not want having babies, they know that they absolutely can prevent it from "loving" someone. Why do they have to wait until the certain things happen?! 

Back to politics, Texas is not the only one that prohibits abortion in the U.S. It shows that they do care about the future life of the babies. People should think that their offspring is equal to any other live on earth. It is illegal when they kill a person, so is abortion. It is no choice, it is responsibility. If everyone can do whatever they want, how many babies will be killed every year? Not only that, there is not a hundred percent sure that abortion is safe for anyone. Banning abortion is saving others' lives, not only the children's but also the mothers'. Letting people have freedom in abortion is like giving their chances to use a gun and shoot anyone whenever they want.

LGBT rights in Texas

The topic about LGBT rights still has been  a very hot one for a long time because it is different from state to state in the U.S. Specifically, in Texas, nothing is a-hundred percent sure. Those people are able to adopt child when they become adults just like any other, but they cannot get married, and cannot be considered as domestic partners. Moreover, they are not provided any protection from discrimination, hate laws based on their sexual and gender identity.
I totally do not agree with how Texas works on LGBT rights. The U.S is a country of freedom, and the same to its states. I have no idea that if people's real gender can affect on any side of the economy, the society, nor the developing of the country in general, and Texas in particular. With the narrow chances that Texas gives to the LGBT, it is like we are forcing them to have an unfair life. Whenever I walk by any same-sex couple, I feel so sorry for them that I cannot do anything to help. There were some House Bills which were discussed to help them through years, but still ended up with none of positive actions. I do not know what they really think, but they are so stubborn on giving those a better life living with their real sexual and gender identity. For example, when they adopt a child, but they are unable to tell their kids that they are their parents officially, neither they show their children wedding photos nor their marriage license. It also shows that the law is not connected to other advantages. They have unsafe, unfair life while living in the state which is supposed to provide the best things to their residents.
At the moment, some localities do provide legal benefits to LGBT although they are limited. I think this is a good sign to hope the same thing could happen in the whole Texas.

Independent nation?

Barry Smitherman stated last month that Texas could become an independent nation one day although the country collapsed.  To prove Barry was wrong, Paul Burka gave his opinions on Texas Monthly with some particular reasons. 
The definition of "independent nation" of Barry just only contains food, energy, water and roads. In the other hand, Paul has a wider explaination, and it seems quiet true to me. Any independent nation needs more than those. They need to stand on their own economy, education, agriculture, finance, and so on. If just like what Barry said, it is so easy to become an independent country for any other states not only Texas. In my opinion, the reply of Barry is exactly what I really want to say. Maybe in other content, Barry's idea can be true, but in this situation, I agree with Paul. Food, energy, water are not stable resources, they could be change in time. Just like what Paul mentioned, oil can be decreased in price as same as the way it is increased. Moreover, there are still some public services that are using funds from federal, not from the state's funds. What will happen if they are stopped funding? Could we be able to stand alone after that?
Becoming an independent nation is a very serious problem that we could not decide just by saying. It requires a lot of aspects to fullfill from the easiest to the hardest ones. We might survive after the U.S falls apart, but so not stand alone as a country.

Big city means big population?

Jody Seaborn made an opinion writing to comment on the article  of Juan Castillo about the new ranks of big cities in the U.S.
Austin is ranked 11th at the moment. Jody pointed out that Austin's population has been increased steadily for years. However, he made his idea that population cannot tell about the size of the cities. Moreover, he leaded to the point that even how fast Austin has been growing, it still cannot beat the other cities within 10 years. I agree with this idea. At the time Austin is increasing, we cannot tell that others are increasing the same way or not, it depends on the immigration and moving in and out of residents. With his explanations on San Francisco and Austin, I think it is true. Austin and San Francisco are both on the list of important cities in the U.S, which attract people to move in for jobs. So there is no proof to show that when Austin gets the bigger population, the others do the same or opposite way.
Big city does not only count on the population, it needs to count on more than one aspect, such as population, annual income, living condition, rate of employed and unemployed, immigrations, available jobs, and so on. Even though Austin is getting higher in population,  but at other aspects, it is still lack of, we cannot call it at a big city. However, we can give a future on it not so far from today.

Texas' uninsured rate is on warning.

It has been not the first time that Texas' uninsured rate reaches the highest out of the U.S. According to the article on The Texas  by Becca Aaronson, Texas does have the largest number on poor adults, and children living without any insurances. That means by any ways, the government needs to expand the limit of people can be eligible for insurance, such as Medicaid. This article also makes a warning on what is going on in our state. It shouts out a notice that the living quality that we are having right now is not secured. We can see that not all employers provide coverage on insurance for their workers; and the ones with low income cannot get themselves insurance. However, the thing is we do not have enough jobs for the large number of immigration into Texas every single year, and more people get laid - off throughout months. This is completely a serious problem if this rate keeps being high like now.