Commentary On My Fellow Classmate

       I decided to read and do a commentary post on my classmates blog "Football, Oil, and Guns- The Great State of Texas." Reading Juan's post on his blog was enjoyable because he has a great way of writing. He shows links and examples to the article he has chosen, while giving criticism in an intelligent way. He also chose a pretty interesting article that I was glad to read myself. Juan does a good job of presenting the reader with the overall message of the article, the authors core audience, and the authors attempted reasoning. He then ( and he gets brownie points for doing so) contributes a fair logic on the reasoning of the targeted Lieutenant Governor's lack of moral stance against the extremely sexist, misogynistic, and illegal acting Republican President Donald Trump. I agree with Juan's view points as well as the authors. The problem that the public and especially women have with Trump's words are not the use of "crude" diction. Women don't care that he used the word "pussy." This is 2016.  We care that a presidential nominee and a citizen in our community has bragged about his past and future attempts at sexually assaulting women on the basis that he is wealthy and would get away with it. This coming from a candidate in a party that diligently attempts to override any constitutional rights with moral and "Christian" values. The hypocrisy is outstanding and disappointing. Dan Patrick is being labeled a "pussy" for not standing against those who violate them.
       However Juan is intelligent enough to understand that in politics a sort of game must be played in order to stay in power or achieve certain power. So all though Dan Patrick may try to soothe certain backlash by tweeting (not acceptable in my opinion for an official if he or she wants to make a stance on an issue, by the way) instead of actively and formally expressing his disdain and withdrawal of support from such a morally incompetent ass-hat, he is doing it in a way that keeps his political career as a Republican safe. There is a reason why politicians have a stereotype of being liars. They have to sometimes hide from the truth. Abandoning his morals and values may be worth it to Dan Patrick in order to progress in his career. Or maybe as a man, he does not feel the same level of passion and anger as many of us who have pussies that don't need to be grabbed. Either way the original article brought to light the hypocrisy and lack of support in the whole scandal, and Juan's commentary on that did great in providing information, and the possible point of view of the other side.

Texas May Be Fracking Its Way Into Extinction.

        So my title may be a bit dramatic, but fracking and oil production is a huge problem to our environment. And Texas Government doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. Fracking is the process of drilling into the ground either vertically or horizontally, and uses fluids and high pressure to push out oil and natural gases. All big oil companies claim that fracking is harmless. They say that the technology and equipment that is used makes it impossible for any harmful substances to pollute any water or air. The problem is that the big oil companies also said that about off shore fracking, which is done in the ocean. And we all know how frequently there are huge oil spills that damage and impact the water life as well as the land around it in many ways. However Oil companies have lots of money to spare on advertising, political agendas, and pimping out government officials as "political prostitutes."
        The most recent "political prostitute" for the big oil companies is Texas Governor Greg Abbot. Abbot signed legislation recently that would allow Oil companies to drill and frack all over the state of Texas with barely any regulations. Abbot then claimed....

“This bill is so incredibly important,” the Republican said at a state Capitol ceremony. Flanked by the measure's sponsors, he said House Bill 40 does a “profound job of protecting private property rights.”

        Critics have said that the "House Bill 40" does not protect local cities and is so broad that it makes a way for Texas government to over ride local government on this topic. Fracking has been said to create multiple earthquakes and produce pollution to both water and local land, as well as adding to global warming. It is an environmental disaster. It seems no matter how many documentaries and Leonardo Dicaprio cameos that advocate against putting our environment in harms way, big oil companies and greed always stop progression.
         In 2011 the New York Times showed documentation that the oil companies and government are fully aware that the "waste water" that comes from fracking in highly radioactive and pollutes the water and soil from the surrounding drill site. Ninety percent of water used from fracking also never returns to the surface. That means drought ridden states like California and Texas have great amounts of water permanently removed from their natural water cycle. Fracking produces killer gas, fracking produces earthquakes from drilling into the earth, gas is leaked into the atmosphere creating more heat, and the list goes on and on. Fracking has been proven to be extremely detrimental to our environment. This practice will kill wildlife, plants, and millions of people in the long run. So why isn't our government doing every thing they can to slow the pace of global warming and eminent natural disasters? Because politician love money. So many laws are passed, or not passed because big business persuade our government officials to do so. Thanks to officials like Gov. Abbot, Texas will be on the list of places that allowed our world to be destroyed for the generations to come, all for money.