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Sorry it's been a while since I've posted here. Texas football is about to start up, and part of my real job involves Texas high school football. And also there were two athletes from where I live competing in the Olympics. Whcih is pretty impressive since I live in a town of only about 20,000.
Neither did well. One wasn't expecting to, as he was a swimmer who's speciality is the 200M butterfly (also the speciality of Michael Phelps). But he earned his way to the Olympics in the 50M free, didn't get to the semis.
The other is a track athlete who by his own admission, choked.

The other thing I've been following is the presidential race. I am likely not going to vote, but Obama came close to earning my vote when the day before he selected Joe Biden to be his VP, we learned Chet Edwards was still in the running. I know Chet, and he's been my representative before. I'd vote for him in a second, even though theres' several issues I don't agree with him on.

Anyway, things have slowed a little bit, so hopefully I can catch up on some fun Texas topics.

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Texas sex education failing?

July 17th 2008 04:21

So Texas makes the news again for all the wrong reasons, sort of. A recent study has showed that the Texas Sex Education program is not reaching today’s teenagers.

Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms.

All that while Texas spends a nation-high $17 million on sex education.

Since Texas sex education focuses only on abstinence, the study has given liberals and advocacy groups leverage to say that sex education programs are not working when only teaching abstinence. And more people are suggesting that Texas is wasting money on sex education all together.

The entire thing is interesting.
Here’s the problems I have though, especially with the premise that money is being wasted.
Advocacy groups always claim abstinence teaching doesn’t work, and they’d rather go completely with a safe sex program (IE contraceptives, condoms, etc…) Yet, even they concede that abstinence is the only true way to prevent STDs or pregnancy. But they say kids are going to have sex anyway, so why not teach them to do it safely? The other side argues that’s basically the same, as saying teenagers will drink, so why not allow them to legally, etc. type arguments. Of course, the flaw being that sex isn’t illegal for teenagers anyway.

But the real flaw is to suggest the programs aren’t working. The Texas law doesn’t mandate that sex education be taught…it mandates that if it is, it has to be done with an abstinence theme. So not every school teaches it. Even so, the sex education law was written in 1995 (by a democrat no less…pointed out because they are the main ones crying the program is failing) and since it was written teen sex rates and pregnancy rates have dropped every single year until now. In fact as a nation, teen birth rates decreased 35 percent from 1991 to 2005 (It should be noted that 1990 was when the nation started pushing stronger sex education) and Texas led the way in that drop, with a drop in pregnancy rates almost to 40 percent, although the state still has the highest rate in the nation.

Additionally, the Texas system is taught by a third party. In other words, companies bid with school districts to come in and teach about sex education. My problem with that is that many times the students don’t know these people. They know their teachers and community leaders; they trust the leaders and teachers. It’d be like if a random stranger told me not to eat at Catfish Charlie’s. How do I know to trust this guy? If my friend tells me not to then I likely will listen. (By the way, this is an example as Catfish Charlie’s is excellent). No matter how convincing the arguments they make, I’m more likely to still take the advice of someone I trust.

Still, students have stories all the time about how they were planning to have sex until they hear a message in the school. At the same time, others tell stories that the sex talk actually got them thinking more about sex. It may not have been planted in their heads until they heard the story. (In the same way your mom may tell you not to touch a hot stove when you are young…well then you want to touch a hot stove)

I’m sure that ignoring the issue all together isn’t the answer, but I do think Texas still needs to do a better job of sex ed., and that may include a broad-based education plane that includes abstinence and proper protection. I’d make a stronger push for abstinence though, as I know too many teenage moms who struggled to raise a child, even more who have a hard time living with themselves years after they aborted that child, and a few who wonder if the child they gave up for adoption is enjoying a good life.

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Fourth of July and rodeo

July 2nd 2008 00:15

The fourth of July is about celebrating freedom for the United States of America. While there’s many here that celebrate the holiday, so many more just see it as a day off work, where people get together cook out, drink and shoot fireworks.
Yeah, that’s about right too.

One longstanding Texas tradition is Belton’s Fourth of July PRCA Rodeo held at the Bell County Expo Center. This year marks the 84th annual Belton rodeo, and will run Thursday, July 3 through Saturday July 5, featuring all the top events from Bull Riding to Barrel Racing and all the top Cowboys and Cowgirls.

Bullriding is the most popular event at the Belton PRCA Fourth of July Rodeo

What makes this rodeo so special isn’t so much the July 4th celebration, but rather its longstanding history. It just started as a way for Bell County farmers and residents to get together, celebrate and help show off their livestock. It grew quickly from a somewhat unorganized gathering in an empty rocky area to a more organized event in its own arena.
The rodeo was a nighttime event (likely because of the summer heat), one of the only nighttime rodeos at the time. And when the Expo Center was built and the rodeo went under the air conditioning, that tradition didn’t change, as the event remained at night.

Now it’s a long weekend celebration with parades, carnivals and other events along with food, yes lots of wonderful bbq and goodies, so the entire family can enjoy it. And just as they did back when it first started, people still come from all over to celebrate. In fact, organizers estimate that at some point each year up to 30,000 people participate in some event (watching or participating in the rodeo, watching or participating in the parade, etc…). And that’s pretty big considering the population of Belton itself is about half that.

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More casino issues in Texas

June 20th 2008 00:37

Texas gamblers got some bad news recently when Texas Treasures Casino Cruise became docked for repairs. Docked for repairs as the summer tourist season gets underway, nice.

But that's not the only bad news. The bad news is that the owners aren't sure that the ship will even return. According to a story in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the ship operator and the ship owner are in dispute over repair money and have the dispute in court. Since the boat is leased to the operators, the operators are responsible to keep the ship in the state they got it. The operators docked it with the owners for general maintenance, an the owners then claimed that their were generators that had been damaged and needed repair. That's the dispute in a nutshell

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good barbecue

June 16th 2008 08:09

Texas Monthly magazine recently released its list of Top 50 barbecue places in the state. Impressive list. I've scanned the list and off the top of my head only know that I've eaten at 3 of these places. I plan to get to the other 47 eventually, but there are just so many to choose from...heck my four favorites aren't even on the list.

But I will heartily recommend the three that I've tried that are on the list

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tips for saving money

June 11th 2008 08:09

Texas heat. Rising gas prices. That’s a pretty bad combination in a hurting economy.

Texas hasn’t really suffered as much from the sagging economy as much of the nation has, but now that gas is up to $4 a gallon, Texans, who love to drive trucks, may feel the hurt real soon. But as always there’s some sensible things everyone can do to save a few dollars over the summer

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Texas casino flop

June 5th 2008 06:44

I took a little vacation this week. Not far, just to Texarkana to visit some old friends. But along the way I stopped off in Louisiana and on the return home stopped off in Oklahoma. The initial reason to go to Louisiana was to meet up with some friends and catch an Arena Football League 2 game. The friends never showed and they missed a heck of a game.

But the main thing I did in both Louisiana (Shreveport) and Oklahoma was visit casinos. See, Texas doesn't have any so I take advantage when I’m close to one

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Take me out to the ball game

May 27th 2008 06:26

There’s not much like an exciting finish to a good game. That was the case Monday night in Fort Worth at the Cats game against the Shreveport Sports. The Cats were down 5-3 in the eighth and came back to win 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth.

But this isn’t so much about sports as it is about the thrill of the ball park. Initially this summer I had planned to take a tour across Texas and visit all the Minor League ballparks. I’ve been to several, and while the talent may not be as strong as it is at the Majors, usually the experience is much better

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Waco fights back

May 23rd 2008 00:57

After being listed as one of the 10 worst places to raise a family in the United States, Waco officials decided the best thing to do was to ignore the news.

Waco chamber of conference chief Jim Vaughn admitted to the Waco Tribune-Herald newspaper that had "Best Life" magazine ranked Waco as a top city, then they'd use it in propaganda promoting the city. But since it was ranked in the bottom 10, they will just ignore it, stating lists are arbitrary

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Texas best

May 21st 2008 23:42

Want to find a great place to live in the United States? How’s Honolulu sound?
Pricey.
But it was ranked by Best Life magazine as the best place to raise a family in the United States

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August 2008

1 Posts

July 2008