Gratis is not Free

Christmas is a time of sharing and giving. Where the lines should be drawn may be the question of the day. Parents coming here to the United States from other countries illegally should be aware that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Sure kids often suffer because of decisions made by their parents. If you want to live in America do it and be lawful about it and do what it takes to become either a lawful permanent resident or be seriously working towards becoming a legal resident of this country.
Some people who are all for giving toys to the families that are here illegally may change their minds if their own love ones were not receiving toys because of a non legal family got what would have been their much wanted or needed toy.
Helping someone who is not trying to help themselves is such a turnoff for me. America is a great country and we do have our faults. I am by no means against helping people in need. Everyday I see many people, which includes some non legal residence take advantage of free services offered to anyone living in Travis County. A lot of undocumented people seem to know when and where to go to obtain these services. When I say services I mean Women with Infant Children (WIC), Medical Assistance Program (MAP), Blue Santa, Fresh Fruit give away at the Travis County Neighborhood Centers, School Supplies give away at the beginning of each school year, flu shots, immunizations for children and countless other free services. Many parents at these functions just let their kids run wild until I say something to their child and then they want to discipline them. If you have children corral them in public.
If the parent or child is legal then by all means give them the toys. Again, I am not against helping those truly in need. The must put forth some effort towards helping themselves. Perhaps the toys can be distributed to the legal residents first and then to the non legal residents.

Crime Rate In Killeen

While living in Austin in 2000 I was seriously considering moving to Killeen, Texas. When I mentioned this to my mother who at the time was living in Missouri she told me that there was a lot of crime in Killeen. I had heard this but was surprised that my mother knew this while she was living in Missouri.
According to the 2000 Census the crime rate in Killeen is higher than the national average. The median age in Killeen is 27 years of age. Click here to see which crimes are being committed in Killeen.
What is the reason for the high crime rate in Killeen? What is being done to reduce crime in Killeen? Why are there so many unsolved murders in Killeen? Who is committing these crimes? Currently there are over thirty unsolved murder cases in Killeen. There are plenty of questions without answers. Click here to see the Killeen Police Department website. With Fort Hood Army Base near Killeen and many service personnel and their families living in Killeen, could this have an effect on the high crime rate? Many soldiers return from war and are expected to “return to live as usual.” Soldiers are young and kill the “enemy” while at war and again they are expected to return to life as though nothing had happened to them while they were at war. When soldiers return home they are not getting the treatment that they need before returning to day to day life with their families and friends. They are fighting so we here in the states can continue to live and enjoy our freedom. There are some serious side effects of the war that need to be examined. Could there be a direct correlation between the war soldiers and their family members and the crime rate in Killeen? Soldiers should be treated better upon returning home so their transition back home into society will be smooth. Perhaps then the crime rate in Killeen and many other cities near military bases will be greatly reduced.

Beyond Catching Up With The Civil Rights Train

Our country thrives on the diversity of different religious views and beliefs. I agree that the state and religion should remain separate. However the ultimate goal should reach further than mere ”legalization” of gay marriages, just as we should not be satisfied just because we have the legal system that mandates equal protection and/or treatment in terms of race,
Many people say one thing and do another. Such as, there are those who say they believe that people are born gay. However their attitude towards the gay population tells a much different story. Even if gay marriage become the norm across this nation those people who oppose the gay lifestyle for whatever reason will not change in their heart of hearts. From time to time, not often, I encounter someone who does not like me just because of the color of my skin. I cannot change the way that they think or feel about me or others of my race. I worked a job once where there was a guy that let it be known that he did not like Black people. After working alone with this guy for about four months he said to me one day “you are pretty cool for a black guy but I am still prejudice.” I had no comment. What could I say to that?
Will legalizing same-sex marriages reduce the divorce rate in America? Can two men or two women do a better job of raising children? I know a lot of heterosexual and homosexual couples. Many of my heterosexual married couples have divorced and remarried and yet there are still plenty of them that are still happily married to their one and only spouse. Most of my homosexual couple friends have been in and out of relationships long before we met and have since moved on to other relationships. There are too some homosexual couples who have been together faithfully for years.
The ultimate goal should be to truly change the attitudes of the general public towards same-sex marriages.

Take Me Off The Back Burner

There is so much talk about the swine flu lately that many people are unaware of how dangerous an airborne bacterium is that has been around for thousands of years. It kills at least two million people per year worldwide. That infection is called tubercle bacillus more commonly known as tuberculosis or TB.
TB is airborne, which means an infected person with active TB can cough, sneeze, or spit on people around her/him and the chances of them becoming infected are greatly increased.

About six years ago I had come in contact with an infected person with TB. I had an exposure which means I had a reactive TB skin test. I took isoniazid, one of the recommended medications for the next nine months which greatly reduced the odds of my contracting active TB for the next two years. The classic symptoms of tuberculosis are a chronic cough with blood-tinged, sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.
Let us hope that the swine flu does not get put on the back burner for some other infection be it viral or bacterial. In 2007 Travis County had 55 new cases of TB and Texas had 1510 new cases.*

World wide to date the swine flu has killed 5,000 people. Five thousand deaths so far from the swine flu compared to the more than two million deaths due to tuberculosis per year. Travis County had two TB deaths in 2008.

I have been exposed to TB and next week I will be getting my swine flu vaccine compliments of the City of Austin.

For more information on TB and the swine flu vaccine click on the following for the links.

TB FACTS

SWINE FLU UPDATES

William Wayne Justice

I was not familiar with William Wayne Justice before writing this article about his recent death on October 13, 2009 and what he stood for in life. I can imagine that many people did not care for his views on Civil Rights. When appointed as a U.S. district court judge in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson things for minorities in the United States were not looking good. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April and Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June of that year.
My mother grew up in East Texas and the segregated high school that she went to had to use hand-me-down books from the white schools. William Wayne Justice is evident that one person can make a positive impact on his/her community. No doubt he had his share of enemies however he did what he felt was the right thing to do to help bring equality to all races. William Wayne Justice made things better for Texas prisoners of color. Perhaps the writer is trying to suggest that if one person help bring about change for those who at the time were being mistreated in so many way, we today can champion the cause of helping others achieve their civil rights in areas that have not been chartered. William Justice almost single-handedly remade Texas’s criminal justice system.

Sanders: 2010 Census Count Important For Local, State Government

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Bob Ray Sanders is often criticized for writing about things he could not have experienced because, some readers say, "he can't be that old." The truth is Bob Ray has been a professional journalist for 40 years and in three media: newspaper, television and radio. A Fort Worth native who knows and cares about his community, and those with whom he shares this planet, this is a columnist who is not afraid to speak out on behalf of downtrodden people or the abused Earth.
I found that Bob Ray Sanders’s article on the 2010 Census was very informative. Bob serves on the Fort Worth Complete Count Committee, whose job it is to get every resident counted. Bob’s intended audience is the Hispanic community. Their fear of being deported is perhaps one of the top reasons that many undocumented immigrants do not allow themselves to be counted in the census. They may also fear that the government might retaliate in some way if the true number of undocumented immigrants is known. The actual number just might shock all of us, even the immigrants.
It is clearly pointed out that there is a benefit in being counted. In March 2010, there will be ten questions or less to be answered on the census and that information is kept confidential. There are many people who do not trust the government no matter what is said. Another benefit to being counted is Texas may get more seats in Congress. After the 2000 count, Texas was awarded two additional seats in the House of Representatives. If the Hispanic population stands up and gets counted, then perhaps Texas can again gain more seats to the House of Representatives.
Of course you will have those people who will not fill out and return their 2010 census forms by April 1, 2010. They may feel that the government has no business knowing the information asked on the census. Those people will be getting a knock on their door sometime between May and July to be asked those questions face to face.
One thing that might help people to be more open to the census is if it were a required class before one can graduate from high school. Census 101 to be taught to every student attending high school would be one of those classes that students would either love or hate.

The Tim Cole Act

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Tim Cole died in prison on December 2, 1999 suffering a heart attack while serving a 25 year prison sentence. He had refused parole because that would have required him to admit he was guilty of raping a fellow student at Texas Tech University. In 2007 another man confessed to the crime and Cole was declared innocent.
The Texas lawmakers came up with one of the most generous and supportive programs to compensate those wrongfully convicted: the Tim Cole Act.
The Tim Cole law provides $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration and adds free college tuition, and financial and personal counseling. The new law also sets up an investigative panel, the Tim Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions.
This law makes Texas one of the most generous states in compensating wrongfully convicted and imprisoned inmates in the country.
While reading this article I can’t help but wonder how many other inmates are or have been wrongfully convicted of a crime or crimes that they did not commit. I would hope that this new law will shed light on some of the flaws in our criminal justice system.
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent person suffers. (Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law)