Minor Twerps

I found this article very interesting, since this is an issue that directly affects us even though little has been done about it in years. One of the biggest excuses citizens use for not voting is that they don’t believe their vote counts, and that may not be too far from the truth. Although we vote in popular elections for whom we want to be nominated, our vote isn’t individually counted. Rather, we vote to be represented by someone who promises to vote in our favor. Even then, in most states, majority vote rules who gets ALL of the electoral votes. If 40% of the population votes for a republican, and 60% votes for a democrat, the democrat receives all of the state’s votes. This doesn’t allow the individuals who voted for the republican to be represented. In contrast, Nebraska and Maine proportionally distribute their votes depending on citizen votes.

Pizza is the New Green

This past Tuesday, Congress passed The Spending Bill, which included an Agriculture Department provision that declared a slice of pizza a serving of vegetables. Congress was originally trying to subsidize governmental school lunches for school aged children in recognizing that they are dangerously obese. However, the American Frozen Food Institute spent $5 million convincing congress that the government-subsidized pizza was healthy.

Although Congress has set a regulation on proportion sizes and what kind of tomato paste and is included, it is still absurd to think that pizza has been declared a vegetable. I can just imagine pizzas growing in a garden, beginning with a personal pan size and growing into a 42’ pizza in its adult size. Shall we also include pizza when teaching children about vegetables? Rather than finding other nutritional sources of food to help with the growing obesity problem, Congress was swayed by the American Frozen Food Institute to avoid the issue, and just declare their product a vegetable.

I found a cartoon that portrays this situation:

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/congress-reaps-pizza-harvest/

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68206.html

Away With Old Teachers, In With New TV's

I very much agree with Katy's argument about budget cuts in the education system.
Less teachers means bigger class sizes, smaller private attention, less discussion time in class, and a slowly weakening education system.
I was unaware of certain details, like the fact that her high school laid off employees, but proceeded to buying high-tech gadgets and spending money on renovations. Shouldn't education be more important? While the fence does provide for higher security and safety in the school, and the tardy system allows administrators to more effectively keep track of students, there could have been other alternatives which allowed teachers to keep their jobs.
Perhaps we could find an alternative for cuts. Also, the Texas Lottery was originally meant to raise funds for our education system, but in recent years this money income has not been substantial.