Classmate Critique #2

The post Congestion In Austin was written be Lonestar State of Affairs. This post makes a brief summary about the traffic congestion in Austin. The author supports the idea that the city needs to implement a plan for the traffic issue.

I was so glad to read this post because the traffic issue is such a trouble here in Austin and it affects everyone. However, I have some questions that were not answered in your post. I feel you could of elaborated more on the proposal of the ground rail system and why it failed. Was it due to a lack of traffic of riders in a certain areas or just in general. What were the other solutions to reduce the traffic congestion? If i could make a suggestion, maybe add more statistics about Austin's congestion and about the rail system. For example, how long was the rail system in effect and what were the numbers? How close or far was the vote to shut it down.

Overall, this was a very interesting article and i look forward to researching to see what plan the city puts in effect to help alleviate or solve the traffic issue.

To Wear That Controversial T-shirt Or Not, That Is The Question...

On Friday April 20, 2012 a junior named Seth Groody, wore a t-shirt that depicted a rainbow with a slash through it. The other side showed a male stick figure and a female stick figure holding hands above the legend, "Excessive Speech Day."This same day was designated a Day of Silence at Wolcott High School as part of a national movement to raise awareness of bullying and harassment of gay, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-gendered people. According to Seth, he was ordered to remove the t-shirt and did so under protest. Seth intended the shirt to express his dislike for gay marriage and his opposition to the school's perceived message during the Day of Silence. The Groody family did not proceed to file a lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut sent a letter to the principal of Wolcott High School on behalf of Seth Groody. In the letter, legal director Sandra Staub, points out that to Seth's knowledge, there's no rule or policy that prohibits the wearing of expressive attire. By him wearing the shirt, he did not "materially or substantially interfere with...the operation of the school," or cause "invasion of rights of others," as these terms have been defined in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District; 393 U.S. 503 (1969). The school's action in requiring Seth to remove his shirt, absent of evidence of material or substantially interference, or invasion of the rights of others, violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article First, Section 4 and 5, of the Constitution of Connecticut.

In my opinion, I think to a degree, both parties are correct for what they did. Seth has a right to wear what he wants to wear, as long as he is not harming anyone, according to the First Amendment. However, the school did the right thing also by asking that Seth to change his shirt and no further punishment. The school has to worry about the environment that they create, so restricting outside influences and what they are trying to promote whether they personally agree or not, is a good thing. 

The Patriot Act was passed six weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Patriot Act allows security agencies of the government to track potential terrorist threats by gaining access to the financial, telecommunications, business, library, and other records of American citizens who may be plotting or be in contact with other plotting attacks. Section 215 of the Patriot Act records searches, it allows the FBI to force anyone at all to turn over records on their clients or customers. I think The Patriot Act policy counters the efforts of the Supreme Court when it comes to civil liberties. Section 215 of the Patriot Act violates the Constitution in several ways, for example, it violates the Fourth Amendment, which says the government cannot conduct a search without obtaining a warrant and showing probable cause to believe that the person has committed or will commit a crime. There are two violations for the First Amendment, the guarantee of free speech by prohibiting the recipients of search orders from telling others about those orders, even where there is no real need for secrecy. The other being by effectively authorizing the FBI to launch investigations of American citizens in part for exercising their freedom of speech. Lastly, it violates the Fourth Amendment by failing to provide notice-even after the fact- to persons whose privacy has been compromised. Notice is also a key element of due process, which is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. 

After reading both civil liberties and the Patriot Act, I do not believe there is a simple solution. I think if we modified either one it it would make it less effective. We would have to do away with one entirely and i'm not so sure that is the right decision. We have had success in both cases that it would be hard to decide which one was better for our society. I, personally, have nothing to hide so i do not mind them both. I do understand there is a feeling on violation, but if we do not have a watchdog kind of system then we would be in a lot worse situation than we are now. 

Classmate Critique

Youth Empowerment Services Waiver is the post of the blog Govern Us wrote. The post makes a brief summary of what the Youth Empowerment Service waiver is, which is a program set to help parents get care for their children that have advanced emotional disturbances and how to help them cope while still staying at their own homes, as opposed to going to a mental hospital. The author supports the push for this program to be implemented in Texas Counties for numerous reasons. 

I found the post to be very interesting, yet I feel that it lacked in some areas. For example, the author could have elaborated more on the conditions the children have to have in order to qualify for this program. Would children of Autism/Asperger's Syndrome qualify? Also, the requirements for the parents financially or if there are any. Lastly, what are the barriers that the Texas counties have been experiencing? The title, if i may make a recommendation, was straight to the point, which is not bad but lacks that quality to grab your attention. I would recommend something along the lines of "Say YES to the waiver for the kids." 

Overall, I found the post to be good and look forward to researching how this could help the youth of today.