Pig Sickness

With the grand fear of a national pandemic coursing through peoples minds and Texas’ close proximity to Mexico, it is no wonder that swine flu is receiving the majority of attention from every news source in the state of Texas. All this outrage is causing the state’s local governments to overreact and feed the ever growing monster that came from Mexico. So far there has only been one confirmed death in Texas, also the only one in the entire United States, caused by H1N1, otherwise known as swine influenza. Is this single death really causing all this madness? There have only been six confirmed cases of H1N1 in Texas, a state with 24 million plus inhabitants. To me those seem like pretty weak statistics compared to all the attention swine flu is receiving from various school districts in Texas.
Is all the fear due to the fact that swine flu is relatively uncommon in humans and people are freaking out because they are ill-informed about this strain of influenza? Possibly, however they should fear not because according to the Center for Disease Control there are a couple of different medicines that do effectively treat H1N1. More likely though, I believe that the actions taken by many different governing bodies in the state of Texas is only playing to the crowd and essentially making the situation worse. Closing multiple school districts for an “outbreak” of six cases of swine flu is a little outrageous. This is only reinforcing people’s fears because it is rare that schools close because of an illness.
All in all Texas, and the U.S., is doing more harm than good. Instead of reinforcing people’s fears they should be suppressing them with the facts. From what I have read swine flu is just a different strain of the common flu that hundreds of thousands of Americans become infected with every year, accordingly H1N1 should not be built up more than necessary.

Response to classmate's blog

While sifting through my classmate's articles I came across Bob Law's article about trans-fats. In the article Mr. Law makes an argument in favor of a bill that would ban restaurants, in the state of Texas, from selling foods with trans-fats. I do agree that banning trans-fats in restaurants could help reduce the obesity level in our state. However, I believe this would be a great infringement on our freedom. Yes it would be wise for restaurants to have nutritional information available to the public so they can make an educated decision on what to eat, but for the government to make a decision for the consumer is absurd. If the government is going to ban trans-fats then they might as well ban tobacco because it caused cancer, ban alcohol because it can cause kidney disease, and ban products containing lead because it is thought to cause birth defects. It should be up to the individual what they eat, if they chose to eat unhealthy then so be it. I do not believe that our society's increasing obesity levels are the fault of the food industry. There are healthy alternatives to fried chicken. The majority of obesity is a personal choice, it is not the fault of anyone other than the individual. Banning trans-fats in restaurants isn't going to change the fact that people are not willing to put forth the effort to be healthy.

Guns on Campus

On April 16, 2007, a student at the University of Virginia Tech went on a shooting spree, killing 32 before finally taking his own life. This tragic day proved to be the very worst shooting that has occurred to date at an American college. However the Virginia Tech massacre is not the only instance of a gunman killing innocent students and teachers at an institution of higher education. This incident was only one of more than a half dozen that have occurred since the early 1990’s.
With the tragic Virginia Tech shooting still remaining in people’s minds, it is no wonder that pieces of pro-gun legislation have surfaced in Texas’ 81st legislature session regarding firearms on college campuses. Currently HB 1893 and SB 1164, if passed, would allow licensed individuals to legally carry concealed handguns on campuses of institutions of higher education in the state of Texas.
The only state that currently allows guns on college campuses is Utah. Last year 17 different states presented similar legislation and it failed in every case. It is no surprise that allowing guns on college campuses is a very debatable topic. However, I cannot see a logical reason against licensed carry on campuses of higher education. One common argument against guns on campus is that teachers and administrators alike would be fearful of every student who is upset by a bad grade or questionable policy. To me this idea is ridiculous. First off, the majority of college students are under the age of 21, which is the legal minimum age required for a concealed handgun permit in the state of Texas. Therefore, HB 1893 and SB 1164 are more likely to affect the professors than the student body. Secondly, if a student is willing to shoot a teacher over a bad grade then I seriously doubt that the student is going to be deterred because guns are not allowed on campus. People are going to do what they want regardless of the law. Another argument is that shootings and gun related accidents would increase on college campuses if guns are permitted on them. I don’t quite believe this would be the result. Currently Texas citizens can legally carry firearms in all public places not licensed to sell alcohol, with a few other exceptions. This amounts to a large number of public places. In these carry-friendly places you do not see scenes that resemble the wild west where handguns are being discharged on every corner. Rather these places, such as malls and bookstores, are relatively quiet and safe. I believe college campuses would be no different. There are approximately 24 million citizens in the state of Texas, of that only about 315,000 have concealed handgun licenses. I do not believe that there would be a huge influx of guns on to college campuses, it would be a very small percentage.
To me this issue is a no-brainer. Why on earth would the state of Texas want to prevent law abiding citizens from protecting their own life and the lives of loved ones? I cannot possible conceive a reason why. If properly licensed college students and teachers had been allowed to carry handguns at Virginia Tech then the gunman might not have inflicted as much damage as he did. Lives could have been saved.