To Test or Not to Test?

Drug testing recipients of welfare has been a topic of conversation over the past several years. The first place that I ever saw the idea was on a social networking website as a poll that was being passed around and voted on. When I last saw the poll it had an overwhelming number of votes in the "FOR" category. I'm not sure if enough people voting or talking about it is what originally started the legal ball rolling, I'm just glad it got rolling in the first place.
That's right, big surprise, I'm one of the people that voted "FOR" people being drug tested if they were to receive any sort of government benefits. I feel like Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst really summarized well when he said, "We owe it to Texas taxpayers to structure our welfare and unemployment programs in a way that guarantees recipients are serious about getting back to work." The biggest argument that we have in our corner is the fact that drug tests are required when you start a new job. I am required to be clean and drug free when I WANT to get out there are work for my money and not just be given a handout. So why has it been okay for so many years for people to be helped out by our government and not have to give the same proof?
 It seems that Texas has now (finally!) joined the ranks with other states such as Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, and Utah. It seems as though our votes have been worthwhile, leaving me to ponder the idea if social media is the future key for our government.

Spanking: A parent's job

I recently read an editorial by one of my fellow bloggers called A Pass On Spankings; and my

initial thought was, "Finally! Someone who believes that spanking is an essential part of

parenthood!". I responded as such because it is becoming less and less common to see or

hear of people spanking their children. I will unofficially say that the thought of "spanking is

cruel and unnecessary" turned into a fad about ten years ago; and from what I've seen of the

pre-teens out there, I don't believe the theory worked. It is well known by now that I am a

person who deeply believes in respect and I'm seeing hardly any traces in today's youth.

From results that I have personally seen, children who were spanked respected their parents

much more than those who weren't disciplined. Now that I have gotten my beliefs clear on the

topic of spanking I will finally refer back to the original editorial, which is about spanking in a

school environment.

I learned about five years ago that there was even such a thing as spankings in schools. I

grew up in California where such a thing wasn't done; respectfully avoiding the Catholic

schools and stories of nuns and rulers. When I first heard of this topic it didn't seem anything

more than interesting on how different my childhood had been from my husband's. Now,

however, it leaves a certain bad taste in my mouth; it just doesn't quite sit right with me. The

main reason for that is very well explained by my fellow blogger, stating that "This particular

area of education is territory that should be cultivated at home--in a loving, respectful,

controlled, and sober environment--where TRUST is a foundation that's been firmly laid." In

other words, it is MY job as a responsible parent to make sure that the child I brought into this

world is being raised properly.

Getting arrested for skipping jury duty

Recently, in Corsicana, a District Judge commented on how not enough people were showing up for their jury summons. A solution that he is proposing is to send a sheriff’s deputy to the homes of these people and picking them up to come to jury duty or to pick them up and take them to jail. We all know that jury duty is a mandatory thing, and I always believed that not responding to a summons was a big offense. As that is very well the case, apparently not many places care to enforce the issue, however in the case of Corsicana a trial had to be cancelled because not enough people showed up. I try to place myself in the shoes of some of these people who don’t show up for this legal obligation. Lack of transportation? Lack of childcare (which in most cases will allow you to be exempt)? It seems that, ultimately, these people just don’t care enough. Why is it that some people just don’t understand the definition and importance of civic duty? I completely agree with this District Judge’s attempt to fix the problem. Now some people might suggest that this is a waste of our tax payer’s money to have the local law enforcement drive to individual houses and pick these people up. However, there is a big thing that people should remember; making an example of those that don’t abide by the law. It might take a week of hard work to accomplish the task, but say in that week 104 are arrested and brought to jail on the charges. The local newspaper writes an article, word gets around, and people begin to take the summons seriously. Before you know it the problem will have taken care of itself. The thing is that if being a juror isn’t an important part of the justice system then would it really still be in place? Keeping in mind that, yes sometimes it takes a while for changes to happen, I think that something would definitely change if it could. The thing is that I haven’t heard a recommendation for an amendment of some kind to jury duty. There just used to be so much more respect for the system.