Is Your representative the One Voting?

This past summer one of the news stations went into the Texas House of Representatives to observe a session. What they found was not only astonishing but also absolutely disgusting. When you elect your House Representative, you expect them to vote in your interests. However, in the House, they are not always voting. In the house they can vote on many bills each minute. In order for a Representative to vote he must put his key into his desk and turn it … and then press the appropriate button. There is a rule that no Representative can vote for another. However, this is exactly what the news crew caught on tape. Representatives would vote, then vote for any absent Congressmen (women) around them. There was even a case where someone voted for a congressman who was there voting for another congressmen at the time! The fun gets even better. Sometimes they even vote across party lines. Democrats vote for Republicans and vice versa! This is obscene behavior from our legislature. Each House Representative should only have ONE vote and ONE vote ONLY!! I never voted for another district’s Representative to make the decisions for MINE. There are rules of conduct for the Legislatures of the House. It seems that this Particular rule is not being enforced. I think that anytime a Representative leaves his or her desk they should take their key out and take it with them. No exceptions. I think that the Sergeant at Arms should enforce this rule. Every Member of the House should be checked for their key when they leave the room. This would help to eradicate the fraudulent voting happening in the Texas House.

Cheap Student Loans? Voter's Choice.

Our legislature has proposed two constitutional amendments. One of them will grant students $500 million dollars in very low interest student loans, and the other will move Angelo State from under Texas State’s system to Texas tech’s system. The only thing complicating this transition is the fact that Angelo State has unpaid bonds they owe to the Texas State system. While I am quite certain they will iron out the kinks in this deal (in the matters of money it will always get worked out in the end) I think this is just a change in school jurisdiction. Critics of this claim the switch is “too hasty and ill considered”. All it is a switch in which school system the college is under. There isn’t much to be “ill considered”.
The $500 million dollars being proposed for low interest student loan money is an excellent idea. Many students need loans for college, and having a student loan that won’t break their bank when they graduate is something ANYONE would want. The best part is how the state is going to provide the funds. They want to issue $500 million dollars in bonds with low interest to come up with the money. The beautiful part about this deal is, when it comes time to redeem you bonds, the tax payers are not paying for ANY of it. The state is going to use the money the students pay back to pay for the issued bonds. Everyone, taxpayers, students, and the people redeeming the bonds, win in this deal. The only people crying about this bill are the banks. Opposition to this bill was solely about the banks need to make money like any other business. I understand why they would complain. This would cut into their cash flow. However, most banks have ramped up interest rates. I, for one, won’t mind getting a student loan with an interest rate that won’t require me to sell everything but the dog to pay back once I graduate.
This proposition is an excellent one in my opinion. I strongly urge everyone to vote in support of the proposition.

Student loans or no?

Death's Hand stayed? Right now in Texas, yes.

Texas is infamous for havign the highest execution rate in the country. Howevver, Texas' death chamber has been suspended from active duty temporarily for the next several months. On Tuesday, September 25th, Michael Richard was put to death at 6:00 PM for the rape and murder of Harris County mother. Why is this such a big deal? His lawyers had tried to file a key appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Richards laywers could not file the motion before the courts closing time of 5 PM due to computer problems. When Richard's Lawyers called the court asking them to stay open later to hear the appeal, the court refused, citing that the courts close at 5. This decision was made by Presiding Judge Sharon Keller (she later claimed no one told her about the computer problems) without consultation of any other judges ( a few of which were working late that day) in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, including the judge assigned to handle any late motions for Richard's case, Judge Cheryl Johnson, who claimed had she known she would have happily stayed late to review the appeal. Normally, if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had denied the motion, Richard's layers would have then appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. Because the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied to even hear the motion at all, the appeal was routed through other procedural routes, which killed the effort to appeal the execution. This incident has sent shockwaves of dismay through the state, country and world.


This is the ultimate case of beaurocratic nonsense, and in this case it was a life or death situation. In the case of a death penalty case, EVERY measure possible should be taken to give the defendent the means to appeal. ABSOLUTELY NO court should ever refuse to stay open late to hear a motion of such importance. The Texas Court system needs to slow down, especially in a death case. Communication lines between courts, judges, and lawyers need to be broadened, refined, and put into standard practice.




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