Texas Meningitis Vaccine

   I do not like the government to tell me that I am required to have a vaccine especially the meningitis vaccine.  I am not against vaccinations I am against the government telling me if I want to go to college that I must have a certain vaccine.  I believe this takes away my rights and freedoms.  In the Texas Tribune I read an article entitled Meningitis Vaccine Mandate Could Get Tweaked in 2013.  It is my opinion that they should just get rid of the whole thing.  I know that they are trying to prevent a disease that causes loss of body parts and/ or death but a lot of diseases can do the same thing and yet there is no law for those vaccines as well.  Also the Center for Disease Control states that meningitis risk is greatest up to the age of 22, so why is the law going all the way to 30?  So what may be well and fine for the younger population should not be pushed on people that are a little to a lot older.

  As the year progresses more and more changes and implementations are added to the law.  I am still confused on whether or not I am required to have one.  Regardless I refuse to receive the vaccine, mostly because I am well outside of the CDC age range, but unfortunately I am still under the Texas age range. Originally the law was to be applied to new college students only.  Then they added in students that took a semester off.  I am sure that it will soon be all inclusive that if one wants to attend college if they are under 30 they must receive the mmeningitis vaccine.  I am convinced that it should be an option that the student can say yes or no to regardless of first time college student of 45 year old college student.  I do not think that the immunization should be forced upon us.

Panhandling: Its Got To Go

The article Panhandling: Its Got To Go by Conner is a well developed and thought out argument.  I too constantly see people standing on the street with card board signs asking for money, work, and/or food.  I see them on my way to work, to school, back home, out shopping, they are everywhere.  But instead of making the leap to out right ban or make panhandling illegal, we should think of why they are standing there in the first place, and how we can get them off the street.  At Austin Homeless Shelters and Services for the Needy, displays all the local homeless shelters around Texas.  Some of these provide programs for transitioning from homeless to working class.  The problem comes from the homeless not having the resources to gather this kind of knowledge or know where to look.  It is not as though all of the homeless would like to remain living on the streets begging for money.  Giving somebody money of your own free will or even asking for money should not be considered a crime.  Instead of helping the homeless we would be filling up our jail cells and providing the same services as a homeless shelter but at a price on us.  Jail cells are funded by tax dollars where as homeless shelters rely on charity and donations.  If I had to choose between the two I would choose to help the homeless shelters and keep the homeless out of jail, rather than making Panhandling illegal.