Blog stage 8

My comment on "Tipping is Not a City in China" from the Lonestar State of Mind:

I agree! I think we should eliminate the "tipped minimum wage" all together.  My wife's family owns a restaurant where she works as a server, most of the work she does during her shift is before or after the restaurant even opens, so she isn't getting any tips during the majority of her shifts when she opens or closes the restaurant.  $2.13/hr doesn't even cover a gallon of gas anymore!  Honestly, I think we should raise the minimum wage as well, and due away with tipping all together.  I read an article recently about a few restaurants doing away with tipping and just paying their servers more hourly and it really improved their business and customer service.  Not only is $2.13/hr plus tips way too little for anyone to live off, that is only assuming everyone tips, at least 15% which rarely happens anymore anyway because, as you said, most people don't realize these servers are paid so little.

Blog Stage 7

A few weeks ago, I posted a critique of an article that covered some of the issues that arose from the passing and implementation of Texas' recent abortion legislation, House Bill 2.  Well, in the past few weeks this bill has been the catalyst of discussion throughout the state once again. 

              On April 17^th, two doctors, who operate two separate facilities that provide abortions for women in the Dallas area, filed a lawsuit against University General Hospital Dallas for revoking their admitting privileges to the hospital.  These privileges are now required by the state of Texas in order for the facility to legally be able to provide abortions, as a result of the aforementioned HB 2. 

The two doctors are alleging that University General Hospital Dallas discriminated against them by revoking their admitting privileges simply because the physicians provided abortion services at their facilities.  Unfortunately for the hospital, HB 2 has recently been the center of attention in a federal court case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made the following statement in their opinion: “Both state and federal law prohibit hospitals from discriminating against physicians who perform abortions when they grant admitting privileges.”

Furthermore, some reports suggest that the hospital merely revoked the doctors' admitting privileges as a result of protestors threatening to, well, protest in order to save face with the community.  I’m not sure what I think is worse, the fact that the hospital may have caved to the demands of the protestors or the fact that they listened to and were concerned with the opinions of a few people in the community as opposed to being concerned with, oh I don’t know, providing the best healthcare they can to said community regardless of their beliefs.

As of now the Dallas County District Judge has temporarily reinstated the admitting privileges for the two facilities and is scheduled to have a hearing over the merit of the case at the end of the month.  Personally, I think these physicians should and will win the lawsuit, especially when you take into account that courts typically look to past cases and rulings when making their decisions.  Seeing as how this exact issue was just addressed so recently, I don’t even see the need for a case in the first place.

Commentary #1

I commented on Hunter Maddox's blog post about Texas' new high-speed rail system:

I agree! I think Texas could really benefit from having a better public transit system. As it stands, it seems like most of the public transit within the state (which isn't much to begin with) is focused on moving people within the boundaries of their respective cities, but I'd like to see more focus on connecting at least the major metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, I think in order to have a well functioning state-wide public transit system, it is inherent for the major cities within the state to have a good handle on their public transit system, which in our (Texas') case we are not doing so well at quite yet. Also, I don't get the impression that trains, railroads, or public transit is very, if at all, prevalent right now when it comes to Texas politics. Not that people are against it, I just think there are more "pressing issues" that unfortunately take away from things like this which could benefit the state as a whole.

Blog Stage Five

In the weeks preceding the primaries and even more so now that they’re over, Texas politicians across the state have been taking swings at one another in order to gain the upper hand in their respective races for public office.  Naturally, the media has mainly been focusing on the more popular races, primarily the Governor and Lt. Governor races, until recently.  One of the lesser talked about races set for the November elections is the battle for Texas Comptroller, the office which is essentially responsible for collecting taxes as well as certifying the amount of money the Texas legislature can appropriate in their budget (basically telling them how much they can plan to spend) has been in the headlines lately thanks to the nominees.  The story goes like this.  Glenn Heger, the Republican nominee for Texas Comptroller, says he wants to do away with property taxes in Texas and instead focus more on “consumption-based” taxes, for example sales tax.  His opponent and the Democrat’s nominee for Texas Comptroller, Mike Collier, is using Hegar’s comments against him in order to generate support for himself in the race.

While I do agree with Hergar on the notion that property taxes are something I could live without, (personally, I’d save about $200 a month) I don’t feel like we need to raise our sales tax, seeing as how we already have one of the highest sales taxes rates in the nation, possibly to offset the fact that we don’t have an income tax.  I think we have already just about whittled down all the existing tax avenues our state government can utilize and I don’t really think we can take away much more with out adding some in another area.  Not to mention, if we were to do away with property taxes, we would be taking the money away from our counties, municipalities and school districts, which rely on it as their primary means of funding.

Another One Bites the Dust

    I read an interesting article from the Burnt Orange Report, written by Genevieve Cato on Tuesday, March 18, 2014.  The article is titled “El Paso Clinic Next On House Bill 2 Chopping Block” and is actually a continuation, of sorts, from another article posted on the BOR about another set of clinics closing earlier in the month.  Both of these articles cover the effects of the somewhat recently (July 2013) passed House Bill 2. 

    House Bill 2, if you haven’t heard, is Texas’ most recent piece of legislation to be passed regarding abortion in Texas and is set to be in full effect as of September of this year.  This bill set some of the toughest restrictions on abortion we have in the country and is causing many of the women’s health clinics throughout the state to have to jump through hoops if they want to stay open and continue to provide their services.  Most of the reports talking about this particular issue seem to agree that come September, when the bill is set to become effective, there will only be about 6 or so women’s health clinics left in the entire state that are able to meet the new requirements.  Before the bill passed, there where over 40 clinics throughout the state providing much more than just abortions to countless men and women who don’t have health insurance, (in a state that has one of the highest percent of uninsured citizens) and now many of those people will have even less access to health care than before.

    Anyway, back to the article: the particular clinics featured are the only two left in this area (El Paso) that provide abortions.  One, Hilltop Women's Reproductive Clinic, is closing for sure because they can’t afford to make the changes required by the new bill, and the other, Reproductive Services, is planning to renovate their clinic to meet the new standards.  However, if for some reason (after all, they are a business), Reproductive Services decides it isn’t cost effective to make the required updates and decides to close their doors, it would leave the entire western half of the state without a clinic that provides abortions, among many other services provided to both men and women. 

    Seeing as how the article came from a more liberal blog, I would say that is the intended audience, as well as anyone else keeping up with how the laws we pass affect our lives and the services we have the ability to take advantage of, if we choose.  There isn’t much in the article in the way of an argument, but the sources and quotes provided are all from people working for the clinics in question and I’d say the author’s logic is sound.