Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas or Merry X-mas?

I am personally not a very religious person per say but I do believe people have a right to express their holiday cheers. Whether they use the words "happy holidays", "merry Christmas", or "merry x-mas" it's all about personal preference. This is the United States of America is it not? The land of the free and proud American’s who were given the right of speech by the United States Constitution. In this article by Eileen published by "In The Pink", bashes on businesses trying to appeal to the public and not just Christians by saying "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas." Wasn't Jesus Christ believed to be Jewish and quoted from this article, "The naughty businesses don’t say Merry Christmas. Instead, they say Happy Holidays. That just makes me sick. The last time someone said Happy Holidays to me, I screamed I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WAS A JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT and promptly took my business elsewhere." This quote makes absolutely no sense to me and is completely absurd to affiliate a business with the Jewish people. I'm sorry Eileen but the way you come off in this article you chose to write for the world to see makes you sound like a complete idiot. The Christian religion is not the only religion who believes in "God" and Jesus Christ and Eileen's quote, "Well, that is fun. Sure, businesses might be trying to appeal to all their customers, and not just Christians, but if you’re not Christian, what are you doing buying presents anyway? Why don’t you go back to worshiping nature or some other bullshit?" is completely unnecessary. I know the Constitution gave us the right of speech but Eileen is abusing it.

Knowledge is a Gift

I don't believe we should omit anything from our past text books, but I do believe we should add any information that has been recently discovered. Not only do our youth of the today get to learn about our rich history that we have learned, but they also get to discover many other important facts that have been dug up. Now everyone has their opinion on what is relevant to our history, but that does not mean we should just start marking out whatever information we feel is irrelevant. I do believe teachers have the free will to teach what is relevant to them just as long as they meet the education standards set by law. If you are a student who has a teacher who does not always follow the book, you have the book and if you choose to enlighten yourself further, you also have the right to do so. Knowledge is everywhere and how you choose to attain it, it is all up to you to take the initiative and feed your mind.

Texas' Unemployment Situation

When the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published their monthly regional and state employment report on unemployment for September, Texas was one of 23 states whose unemployment rate decreased, but only by .2 points(8.1%) as of October 2010. The BLS(Bureau of Labor Statistics) classifies someone as unemployed if they “do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.” By this definition, the Bureau rashly concludes that the unemployment figure covers more than the number of people who are actually out of work.

When you read about these statistics, you wonder if everyone that is counted by these statistics is actually following by these guidelines. As we all should know in the real world not everyone follows the rules completely. Some individuals find ways to bend the rules, whether they are too lazy to do so or just given up looking for work in this economy, after having been unemployed or without decent work in more than a year. Others use the “unpaid family workers,” which includes people who worked without pay for 15 or more hours per week in a family-owned enterprise operated by someone in their household. These individuals are out of work and collect unemployment on top of being paid by their family. Whether you're following every rule or finding ways to bend them, everyone in this national economic crisis is just trying to keep their heads above water and hoping for things to take a turn in the right direction soon.

Less Negative and More Positive

What Cherish has said here is very blunt and right to the point about our politics. Now I do not watch television on a daily basis, I just usually get away from the real world through my computer and my many other multimedia devices I own. Whenever I choose to turn on the television and it happens to be during the election races, all I usually see is politicians telling us what the other politician has done wrong. I am totally with Cherish when it comes to informing the public about each politician, we would like to hear more positive statements rather than trash talking on our television sets. Although, we do need to hear the "truth" about the people we are placing our trust in, to doing what is best for our community.

The race for Texas Governor

Governor Rick Perry spoke in the same spot on the Friday before the Republican primary. Then, he was coasting in his race against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, having found a winning theme in pushing back against the invasiveness and intrusiveness of the federal government. Now, Perry’s running against former Houston Mayor Bill White, but he makes no mention of the man considered the strongest Democratic gubernatorial candidate in recent memory. “I’ll let him do that,” Perry says to reporters. “I’m all about me and Texas.”

By November 2, 2010 if Governor Perry re-elected, which after looking at the polls he is in the lead and will be Texas’ longest standing governor. As it stands now Texas debt has gone up by two and a half times while Perry has been governor. Also, during his tenure as governor, Texas unemployment rate is now almost double what it was when he took office. Being that the state of Texas is Republican majority state it will be very hard race for White to win; even with millions his campaign has spent Perry will be backed by almost every republican in the state.

These two candidates never appeared on stage together. White was willing, but Perry refused to debate him unless he released his tax returns from his days as President Bill Clinton’s U.S. deputy secretary of energy and as the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. White was reluctant to do so, so Perry didn't. The message, White says, is simple: “People are ready for a new governor, somebody who will run state government as a public service, not as a political machine. Somebody who’s in it for Texas, not in it for himself.”

Whether you choose to vote for either the incumbent Rick Perry or the challenger Bill White, please vote for who you think is the more honorable candidate and not just by their tags which say Republican or Democrat.

Elementary Fitness Program

In this article by a staff member from the Austin American-Statesmen speaks about the health and fitness of the youth of our state. I believe this article was very well done, as it not only takes the percentage of over weight and obese children among third through fifth graders from University of Texas Elementary School, they also compare it to the nation rate as well. When seeing the percentage comparison between the University of Texas Elementary School percentage at 51 percent and the national rate at 32 percent, it is quite astounding to hear how much of our elementary children are considered over weight or obese. Not only do we receive raw data, we also get a quote from the Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement Dr. Gregory J. Vincent. Now I've never known what it is to be over weight or obese, mainly because I've always been an active child and been able to keep my metabolism up, but not every individual is raised the same way as I was.

While working for the YMCA I have worked with my share of elementary children, ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. I have noticed with the increase speed at which technology has advanced, especially mobile gaming devices kids have been more reluctant to participate in more physical challenging activities. The Healthy Families Initiative has created the WellNest program, which is a free after-school program and has been in effect for the past three years, and has been responsible for lowering the prevalence from 63 percent to 51 percent. After reading this article I am very pleased to hear that the state of Texas is providing funds to help aid children to live a healthier lifestyle at a very young age rather than later. This not only promotes a healthier lifestyle during their attendance at the University of Texas Elementary School, but also a healthier lifestyle in their futures.

Closure of Benji’s

On September 14, 2010 a state-appointed Board of Managers for Benji’s Special Education Academy, Inc. in Houston on Monday determined that the school is no longer financially viable and voted to close it at the end of the school day. I know that our country is in a recession and capital is hard to come by for certain special schools such as Benji's Special Education Academy, Inc. Though this article did not go into great detail of why the financial funds were pulled for this establishment but our countries recession has to play a big part in the closing of this school. Whether the cause of the closure was entirely due to the state not seeing fit to continue to provide financial funds to the academy, I believe that these types of schools are a vital part to providing education to the individuals who need the necessary attention from qualified teachers.

I currently work for the YMCA After school program and have personally come into contact with such children who need the one on one attention from a certified teacher. After viewing the Benji's Special Academy website and reading about the types of individuals who are accepted to attend their school, it's a shame to see this type of school is being closed due to the state claiming the school is no longer financially viable. The school has an enrollment of approximately 550 students and not but 2-3 weeks at the beginning the school year the state decides to have the school shutdown. At the school I work at I know of two teachers who are certified to take care and educate mentally challenged children. I am not a certified teacher but just being a counselor for four hours of these kids lives a day, I can say for certain theses kids needs more schools like Benji to be able to get the necessary attention and quality education they deserve.