This is the comment i posted on Allisons commentary of reliance on oil and impact on the environment:
I definitely agree to many points that Allison illustrated in he post. However, before I can go into that I have to disagree with her reasoning as to our presence in the Middle East. Now, this is a topic that can be discussed forever but my main point is that our initial presence was a direct result of the attacks on September 11th, 2001. Whether we are in the right countries today or if we are abiding by our initial goals over there, finding Osama Bin Laden and other taliban leaders, is another topic all together. As a resident of Austin and its surrounding areas for most of my life and the past ten years all together I have seen the drastic increase in construction. When I first moved from Austin to Pflugerville I thought the growth in the suburban areas was a good thing Now as I pass places that used to full of trees and other vegetation and see subdivisions put up in such a weak housing market; I see it more as a waste. We should all do our part to give back to the environment and I believe that cities should play a big part in starting up organizations that go out and replant tress. Hybrid cars don't seem to be so popular because few companies have put out models that intrigue us as buyers. Aside from the hybrid versions of popular Honda models and the TDI versions of Volkswagen models, its been only up until recently that we've seen hybrid models of popular SUVs such as the Escalade and Tahoe. Allison made an interesting point at the end of the blog. I think that it's a result of this greed and effects on the nation lately that have caused some companies to open they're eyes and try to undo some of the damage. Unfortunately for us, the working class, there aren't enough companies that have begun to work towards a better economy.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Actively Involved
What is there REALLY to say about the government? I, myself, am a nineteen year old student taking a government class at my local community college, and still is not able to explain to anyone what it is or what exactly the government does on a regular basis.
I understand the roles of the major players and more frequently mentioned members in Congress such as our senators, Representatives , the President and Chief Justice's in the supreme court. The aforementioned member of our government are all very important parts of our nations government that help create, enforce, and interpret the laws of our country, and are all elected to their positions by the people, but this is where it starts to get tricky. Senators, representatives and even state governors are all elected by popular vote, but the President is chosen by an electoral college. This institution is designed to vote according to the will of the people; when you live in a red state like Texas you soon learn any votes placed in favor of a Democratic candidate or soon short-lived and in a sense, wasted. The President is then given the duty of selecting a Chief Justice to the supreme court is the need ever be. It turns out that when everything is said and done we don't have any direct control in two-thirds of our federal govern,or the most popular part anyway, and then we all wonder why there are so few of us actively involved and knowledgeable to our government's agenda.
In order to write this blog I decided to do a bit of Internet research and happened upon our governments main website, http://www.usa.gov/index.shtml. Upon my arrival to this site I began to do a little browsing and at first saw a host of links that all seemed to be offering information of government services something like a FAQ or reference page you would find on almost any other site listing various services being offered. Then I made my way towards the part of the site that lists the government by its organizations according to level of jurisdiction: federal, state and local. I was slightly aghast by the multitude of organizations, departments, agencies, and courts that make up the various levels and branches of our government. It makes me begin to wonder how some people got to be in charge of something like Health and Human Services without knowing.
I start to wonder how many of these people got their jobs. Even members of Congress whom we directly elect can be seen as out of touch with the true need of the people when 44% of them are millionaires as opposed to a 1% of the general population. To me its just things like this that make me wonder if it is truly worth voting for any major official or whether they will be honestly working in favor for me and my community. I believe that our government was created with good intentions but times have drastically changed, and some it wouldn't be to far fetched to say that some things in our government, like the electoral college, need to be revisited or maybe even reconsidered.
I understand the roles of the major players and more frequently mentioned members in Congress such as our senators, Representatives , the President and Chief Justice's in the supreme court. The aforementioned member of our government are all very important parts of our nations government that help create, enforce, and interpret the laws of our country, and are all elected to their positions by the people, but this is where it starts to get tricky. Senators, representatives and even state governors are all elected by popular vote, but the President is chosen by an electoral college. This institution is designed to vote according to the will of the people; when you live in a red state like Texas you soon learn any votes placed in favor of a Democratic candidate or soon short-lived and in a sense, wasted. The President is then given the duty of selecting a Chief Justice to the supreme court is the need ever be. It turns out that when everything is said and done we don't have any direct control in two-thirds of our federal govern,or the most popular part anyway, and then we all wonder why there are so few of us actively involved and knowledgeable to our government's agenda.
In order to write this blog I decided to do a bit of Internet research and happened upon our governments main website, http://www.usa.gov/index.shtml. Upon my arrival to this site I began to do a little browsing and at first saw a host of links that all seemed to be offering information of government services something like a FAQ or reference page you would find on almost any other site listing various services being offered. Then I made my way towards the part of the site that lists the government by its organizations according to level of jurisdiction: federal, state and local. I was slightly aghast by the multitude of organizations, departments, agencies, and courts that make up the various levels and branches of our government. It makes me begin to wonder how some people got to be in charge of something like Health and Human Services without knowing.
I start to wonder how many of these people got their jobs. Even members of Congress whom we directly elect can be seen as out of touch with the true need of the people when 44% of them are millionaires as opposed to a 1% of the general population. To me its just things like this that make me wonder if it is truly worth voting for any major official or whether they will be honestly working in favor for me and my community. I believe that our government was created with good intentions but times have drastically changed, and some it wouldn't be to far fetched to say that some things in our government, like the electoral college, need to be revisited or maybe even reconsidered.
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