Blog stage 3: Death Penalty Doubts??

I found this article by Austin American Statesman.  It's listed as being written by the Editorial Board in the Opinion section.   The article is based on the controversial subject of capital punishment.  The author of the article gives a clear indication of Governor Rick Perry's view on the death penalty, and even quotes his answers from a recent debate at the Reagan Presidential Library.  He's quoted as saying "I think Americans understand justice.  I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of cases, support of capital punishment". 
However, the argument that he's presenting in this article is, no matter how the public feels about the death penalty or how Perry feels about it is that there still remains some doubt as to whether any innocent people are put to death.  He questions whether death penalty supports believe there is an acceptable margin of error when it comes to capital punishment.
His intended audience I believe is those that support that death penalty, in order to gently suggest that they take a look at their stance on the matter.  He gives examples such as DNA evidence which as later found inmates to be innocent rather than guilty.   I believe that what he's saying is that we have proven that in the past to have wrongly convicted and terminated life...so we can not suggest that it will not happen again.  I do think he makes a very credible argument.  It's hard to deny that the process could be flawed by human fallibility.
I do believe in the death penalty as it pertains to heinous crimes.  I don't believe that someone who murders  rapes a child should deserve to rot their life away in prison.  Save the states money and serve justice.  However, I absolutely understand his argument.  If you support the death penalty, I think you should read this article!

School districts can use course materials of their choice

I found this article and was immediately drawn to the content of it.  The overall subject is a new bill by Sen. Florence Sharpio (R-Plano) which allows individual school districts to use state funds to buy textbooks and course materials, regardless of if the board of  Texas SBOE (State Board of Education) has approved the materials.  This has in return greatly weakened the SBOE's power to dictate which materials the classrooms use across the state.

The Texas Freedom Network was extremely happy with the passage of the bill.  They felt that school districts were being held hostage to politicians agendas.  Some of the controversial topics of the past have been censoring information on sex education, evolution, slavery and civil rights. 

There is also thought that this will help improve turn around time on new textbooks.  Local decision making can certainly speed up the process.  Decade-old textbooks can be a thing of the past once the local districts are able to make their own decisions based directly on their present needs.

I highly recommend taking the time to read this article!

Senate Bill 6 helps school districts