Theme Blog #7- Todd Willingham- Is He Guilty or Innocent?

Theme Blog #7

Todd Willingham: is he guilty or innocent, why or why not??

            Being that I moved to Texas last year, and had not heard about this in the news, I had some reading to do about the case.  However, I found an article that was extremely informative about the case, but was impartial on their views, just gave me the information and was not biased. 

            When I read about the case, I was shocked by what I read.  Probably due to the fact that my husband is a police officer, my theory is, if the evidence shows guilty, the man or woman is guilty.  Our science has come so far (I am a nursing student), that there is little room for error.  Notice I say little room for error, because NOBODY is perfect, although science has made it so that they can bring matches to perfection in science.

            From reading two articles, the following comment stood out to me:

            Dec. 9, 2004: The Chicago Tribune publishes its investigation of the case. In addition to examining all the evidence, the newspaper asks fire scientists from around the country to review the evidence. All find that the original investigation relied on indicators of arson that have since been disproved. The conclusion: The fire might well have been an accident (Chicago Tribune, 2011).

            When I look at this statement, fact is fact, when I see the word MIGHT, I do not believe that Todd Willingham was innocent, I fully believe he was guilty and deserved the punishment that the court thought was required.  “Someone had poured liquid accelerant throughout the children’s room, even under their beds, then poured some more along the adjoining hallway and out the front door, creating a “fire barrier” that prevented anyone from escaping” (Grann, 2009).  From reading the articles that were available and were without bias, I came to my own conclusion that Mr. Willingham was the only person home at the time that was capable of setting the fire, it was not an electrical fire, and there were things that happened that show that it was set on purpose and the intention was to harm people.  “A prosecutor later suggested, the refrigerator in the kitchen had been moved to block the back-door exit. The house, in short, had been deliberately transformed into a death trap” (Grann, 2009).  The older daughter would not been able to move the fridge to block the door, and the mom was not home at the time the fire was set. 

            People need to take responsibility for their own actions, and Mr. Willingham was put to death as a result of his actions.  Scientific evidence can be proven, and you cannot fight with evidence!

Works Cited

"A Timeline of the Cameron Todd Willingham Case." Chicago Tribune [Chicago] 25 07 2011, n. pag. Web.     8 May. 2012. <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-25/news/ct-met-perry-execution-2-20110625_1_fire-investigation-willingham-home-texas-forensic-science-commission>.

Grann, David. "Trial By Fire." New Yorker. 07 09 2009: n. page. Web. 8 May. 2012.

      <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all>.

Freeblog #6

Free Blog #6

                Warehouse stores have always been stores where one could go in with a list and come out with three times more than they intended in purchasing.  I believe that is part of the psychology of the store, in the way that they have the samples out at the end caps of the aisles, and the “special deals” that they have where you can get a cheaper deal at the warehouse store than at the regular grocery store.    Some of these stores include Costco, Ikea, etc (Lee, 2012).  One factor that draws patrons inside the store is the tremendously inexpensive food court that these stores have, and some people don’t even do shopping, they just go and eat in the food court (Lee, 2012).  “Bob Collins, Costco’s director for the food court and bakery, said that the company expects to sell more than 300 million hot dogs, pizzas and other items at its food courts this year” (Lee, 2012).  This number seems astronomical to me, but if you think about it, the number of hot dogs that just a family of four purchases, in addition to drinks, etc, is a regular sample of how much is sold.    

                Another store, Ikea, forces patrons to walk past their café on the route to the check-out  counter, giving customers the “opportunity” to purchase lunch or dinner with the enticing smell of their meatballs or salmon (Lee, 2012).  I have been to both Costco and Ikea, and I would have to say that Costco is my eatery of choice.  It happens to be cheaper, and more convenient. 

                When thinking about convenience, and cost, those two things are very important when a family with several (sometimes) children are going to make a large purchase.  One generally knows that they are going to spend more than they plan when going to the warehouse stores, so if they know they are going to either get a snack or a meal at the café, they want to get a great deal.  Costco is the way to go!!!  With the way the economy is, people need to watch their money and pinch their pennies, therefore they should do whatever they need to do, Costco it is!

Works Cited

LEE, ELLEN. "CHEAP EATS A BIG DRAW AT WAREHOUSE STORES." MSNBC.COM 25 04 2012,  www.msnbc.com n. pag. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/25/11308412-cheap-eats-a-big-draw-at-warehouse-stores?lite>.

TB #5

My Texas representative for the Texas House of Representatives is Jeb Hensarling.  I live in Alto, Texas, which is in the 5^th District.  I moved here from Houston, Texas, which is in a different district.  Before this class, I would not have even known to look and see who my representative is…..  So, this is a first, I am being more politically active in this respect. 

I am pursuing my degree in Nursing, and I have my Bachelors Degree in Communications, so one of my main focuses is health care.  I went to Representative Hensarling’s website and saw what he had to say about his stance on health care.  I was happy to see that Rep. Hensarling wants to ensure that one can “gets the health care that they need, when they need it, and at a price they can afford, without the federal government coming between them and their doctor” (Hensarling, 2012).  In my opinion this is going to take a lot of work to get to this point, but I think with work, we can get closer and closer to making this happen.  A question I would like to ask Rep. Hensarling is: As a future nurse, I will be working in the health care field.  My career will be dedicated to helping patients and doing everything I can to make them well.  But, I do need a paycheck as well.  What can Rep. Hensarling do to make sure we can accomplish all this??

My Texas Senators are Senator John Cornyn and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.  Some fun facts about John Cornyn are that he was raised all over the world, his father was in the Air Force (Cornyn, 2002).  He met his wife on a blind date and they were married two years later… (Cornyn, 2002).    I thought knowing some general information about the Senator makes him a “normal person” just like us.. J    One thing I found that I liked when looking at Senator John Cornyn’s topics is that he takes a strong stance on Law Enforcement.  Since my husband is a police officer, this topic is very important to me.  One comment he made was that “law enforcement must be given the legal tools and funding resources necessary to do their jobs well” (Cornyn, 2002).  This gives me confidence that he will do whatever is in his power to give the police officers what is necessary to do their jobs.  One question I would have though is if it were to cost more money than is allotted in the budget for equipment, how would he go about attaining the money??

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was “elected into office in 1993, in a special election to fill the position due to the resignation of Senator Lloyd Bentsen” (Hutchison, 2012).   “Senator Hutchison's effort is to support research and development and promote Texas as a science state” (Hutchison, 2012).  In college education and nursing programs, Texas is known for their science.  This is a state that has some of the top teaching hospitals, and many students come to Texas, just like I did.  I would ask Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison how they are going to keep the funding coming so that these schools, teaching hospitals, and specialty hospitals remain so important like they currently are.

Bibliography

Cornyn, John. John Cornyn. United States. United States Senator for Texas. 2002. Web.        <http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=CrimeLawEnforcement>.

Hensarling, Jeb. Jeb Hensarling. United States. Member of Texas House of Representatives. 2012. Web. <http://hensarling.house.gov/>.

Hutchison, Kay Bailey. Kay Bailey Hutchison. United States . United States Senator for Texas.     2012. Web. <http://hutchison.senate.gov/?p=home>.

FB #4

Free Blog #4

            This government class has given me a chance to think about political topics and the way that our government works more than I would if I were not taking this class.  One thing that comes to mind is the welfare system.  When I was living in California, I was extremely bothered by a specific situation that I saw when I was in college in Chico, California.  I was sitting in a county office, where a woman was filling out her paperwork for welfare and I was changing my address when I moved.  Anyways, she was told that her money was going to run out soon and that her benefits were going to be reduced from what they currently were.  Her comment was, “well, I guess it’s just time to have another kid.”  I was so disgusted at what I heard; I finished my business and left the office.  I am afraid that is how too many people take the welfare benefits.  When I moved to Texas, I worked at a doctor’s office, and I had a lot of people who were on Medicaid.  They received all their visits for free, but if they had a no-show fee, they would have to pay a $25 fee.  So, when I asked to collect the fee for some of those patients, they said they couldn’t pay it because they had to buy their beer or their cigarettes.

            My recommendation to try and stop the abuse for the welfare system is to require those who are not working and collecting money to volunteer 40 hours a week (to simulate a 40-hour a week job), and also to require bi-monthly drug tests.  This would mean that in order for the welfare recipients to pick up their money, they would have to turn in a “time sheet” of their volunteer hours and also take a negative drug test.  I think this would make sure that people are not abusing the system and doing essentially a “checks and balances” on the system.    Checks and balances, according to our textbook, are “an arrangement whereby each branch of government has some power to limit the actions of other branches” (Newell, p. 524).    If these two recommendations were put in place, it could be possible that the program could be cleaned up a bit and there might be less fraud in the program. 

            I appreciate the opportunity for these free blogs.  It gives me the opportunity to put my ideas out on paper whereas I probably would not have done so otherwise.

Bibliography

Newell, Prindle, Riddlesperger.  Texas Politics, 11th edition.  Wadsworth Cengage Learning.  2011.

Themed Blog #3

Themed Blog #3

            An interest group, as defined by our textbook, Texas Politics, is a “number of people who are organized to defend an interest they share or wish to promote; the interest can be narrow (rice growers, for example) or broad (consumers, for example)” (Newell, p. 526).  There are interest groups for almost everything you can think of.  When I was thinking about my life, it was obvious to think about what type of interest group I should research.  I am going into nursing, and there are so many medical interest groups, it was difficult to pick just one, so I randomly looked into several, and looked and their standpoint on issues.  The interest group that I would be interested in joining would be the American Public Health Association.  When I looked at the 23 new policies that they adopted at their 2011 Annual Meeting, I agreed with many of them, which made me think that if I were to join any interest group, this would be the one.  In my personal opinion, I do not think that there would be a group that it would be possible for me to agree on their standpoint 100%, so if I agree on a majority of their views, that would be good.  For example, the American Public Health Association (AMPA) supports the reduction and supervision for prescription medications.  This is called the LB-11-03 Policy Reducing Prescription drug overdoses (American Public Health Association, 2012).  I especially agree with this because way too often do patients who are prescribed painkillers not only get medication from one doctor but from multiple doctors.  I used to work for a primary care physician, and patients would come to see our doctor, and I would often have to call specialists and have to check if the patients were receiving pain medication before the doctor would prescribe more pain medication.  If we had a more controlled system, I believe that less prescribed drug abuse would occur. 

            I also agree that over-the-counter contraceptive should be available as well.  This is outlined in P olicy 20111 (American Public Health Association, 2012).  In my opinion, if a woman wants to have access to contraception, she should be allowed to.  Some states, etc do not allow contraception to be freely allowed to women, which causes the thought that women will do what is necessary to either get contraception, or get an abortion if they get pregnant.  In my opinion, it is much better to provide contraception freely and over the counter to women so the latter option is not needed, because that opens up a whole new bag of worms.

Based on just two policies, I feel very strongly that this interest group would be one that I would join.

Bibliography

"American Public Health Association Adopted 23 New Policies at 2011 Annual Meeting." APHA: American Public Health Association. 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.apha.org/about/news/pressreleases/2012/2011aphapoliciesrelease.htm>.

Newell, Prindle, Riddlesperger.  Texas Politics, 11th edition.  Wadsworth  Cengage  Learning.  2011.