Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Only a matter of time
I think we can all agree that these days you need to save as much money as possible. If you agree with that it’s also safe to say that you agree its stupid to spend money fighting against something you could use to make money. That is our current situation in the legalization of marijuana debate. Our government is passing up on making profit. Like my classmate Emily Wenzlaff has stated in here blog “Puff Puff Pass Already Congress” it would not only bring income but reduce spending in our criminal justice system. According to her blog Texas has had over 500,000 arrests this year 237,000 of which being cannabis related. So if we are to stretch that statistic a bit further that would mean about half the people in our prison system are in there on cannabis charges. If marijuana was made legal those prisoners would be set free. This is turn would greatly help our problem of overpopulated jails. In addition to saving the money that would have been used to house, feed, and tend to those prisoners. Those are two very major benefits right off the bat. Not to mention the profit that would come off of the selling of legalized cannabis. It would be taxed in much the same way as tobacco and alcohol. She also brings up the money that will be saved by not having to hunt down Mexican drug cartels. With legalization there market will almost entirely go away. Why would you go to a shady drug dealer to get it when you could just walk to the corner store and pick it up with your soda and chips. Please do not get my wrong I’m not saying it will solve drug cartel problem just greatly reduce it. With all things weighed and measured I have to agree with Emily that we need to puff puff pass legalized cannabis.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Bad Bad Bikers
Ok before I even start this if you are a hard core bicycle activist you might just want to skip this post now. I myself enjoy riding bikes on occasion. It’s a very popular activity in our town since its to the ever famous Lance Armstrong. But because of the overwhelming amount of people biking it has caused some problems.
To many bikers forget that they are not equal to cars on the road. They are far slower and hard to see at times. Most bikers want to have the same rights to the road as cars, yet many of them don’t want to follow the rules of the road. I cant count the number of times I’ve seen them run a red light, run a stop sign, or ride in the middle of two lanes holding up traffic. I also cringe every time I see them on Capitol of Texas Highway, which is dangerous even for cars. I understand it’s a beautiful challenging ride but its not smart to ride on it. I’m not saying that bikes should not be allowed to ride on the road. I’m simply saying people need to be smart about how and where they ride.
For example Highway 620 is not a smart biking route. A few months back a woman was critically injured by a 18 wheeler when she veered into the 18 wheelers lane. Many people wanted to blame the driver of the 18 wheeler for this accident after reading it the news. But what most people didn’t know is that it was entirely her fault. She only had one and on the handle bars and was drinking a cup of coffee. There were several people to back the story when the driver of the 18 wheeler was asked by the investigators what had happened. This is why I think we need to pass laws requiring bikers to stay off more of our dangerous roads. I also think that people that want to use bicycles for commuting should have to take safety classes, and register there bikes just like cars. But on the other side of the argument I think we need to make more roads biker friendly, like what there trying to do on Nueces St. Bikes are great for cutting harmful emissions, saving fuel, and a cheep way of making roads less congested. So lets start making some compromises on the roads, for everyone’s safety and well being.
To many bikers forget that they are not equal to cars on the road. They are far slower and hard to see at times. Most bikers want to have the same rights to the road as cars, yet many of them don’t want to follow the rules of the road. I cant count the number of times I’ve seen them run a red light, run a stop sign, or ride in the middle of two lanes holding up traffic. I also cringe every time I see them on Capitol of Texas Highway, which is dangerous even for cars. I understand it’s a beautiful challenging ride but its not smart to ride on it. I’m not saying that bikes should not be allowed to ride on the road. I’m simply saying people need to be smart about how and where they ride.
For example Highway 620 is not a smart biking route. A few months back a woman was critically injured by a 18 wheeler when she veered into the 18 wheelers lane. Many people wanted to blame the driver of the 18 wheeler for this accident after reading it the news. But what most people didn’t know is that it was entirely her fault. She only had one and on the handle bars and was drinking a cup of coffee. There were several people to back the story when the driver of the 18 wheeler was asked by the investigators what had happened. This is why I think we need to pass laws requiring bikers to stay off more of our dangerous roads. I also think that people that want to use bicycles for commuting should have to take safety classes, and register there bikes just like cars. But on the other side of the argument I think we need to make more roads biker friendly, like what there trying to do on Nueces St. Bikes are great for cutting harmful emissions, saving fuel, and a cheep way of making roads less congested. So lets start making some compromises on the roads, for everyone’s safety and well being.
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