A late Commentary/Critique

Well. I totally let this assignment slip past my mind. So I'm doing it now rather than never!

I sat down to read through some of my classmates blogs, yet, I didn't get past the first one. P.B.'s post about Gay Marriage stopped me dead in my tracks. I began reading through it, and found myself agreeing and laughing quite a few times. So I decided to just go with this one for my assignment.

To begin, the author opened up the blog post with quite a funny hook. The use of this small couple of sentences definitely draws in the readers by making them laugh. However, after this, P.B. blatantly states the topic that is going to be discussed at hand. Which makes you take it seriously.

As I read through the blog, P.B. went on to explain how idiotic, mindless and pointless it is for people to follow certain ideas about homosexuals. How "sheeple" look down on things that they don't even make an attempt to understand. P.B. goes on to quote scriptures from the Bible and pointing out the flaws in those writings. Flaws that "gay-bashers" don't ever really pay attention to. Most of these flaws are things that people commit quite often, yet, there is no constant condemnation of them. 

Doing this, P.B. explained that "gay-basher" pick and choose between what they want to use against people.

Also, the way P.B. ended this post is so freaking true. Just saying.


Now, the only problem I had with P.B.'s post is that (s)he never mentioned the major fault with this situation. A lot of people bring this to the table, and it does get kind of knocked down every time. The separation of church and state.

Basically, one of my major points is, the decision to allow gay marriages to take place should be up to the Priest/Pastor/etc asked to perform it. The Marriage Ceremony is not a government issue, and never should be. Many of the State's governments have chosen to completely ignore gay marriage. Some settle in between by allowing civil unions, or by recognizing their rights.

I personally, as a gay (Christian) male, don't care too much about the damn rights. It's more about the banning of the ceremony that gets on my nerves.


So, that's that. I wanna say thank you to P.B. for that entertaining and wonderful post!

- Blake

The Chopping Block

Today, as I started searching for something to write about, I learned about the states lawmakers plans to cut a big chunk of funding out of an the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). This program makes outrageously expensive drugs used for HIV and AIDS available to low income Texas civilians.

Just hearing the title of this news report made me cringe. Out of all programs and businesses to cut, it sickens me to see they could even think about possibly cutting something like this. The report stated that nearly 15,000 people in Texas use this program to afford their NECESSARY medication. Not medication that just makes them feel better, but medication that keeps them alive. The proposed $20 Million dollar cut would in turn take away these services from 3,000 needy people. This, in turn, would directly kill them.

Now, further into the article, it is reported that the Senate Finance Committee has voted for ADAP to be saved from the budget cuts. However, the battle to save the program is far from over. The House of Representatives now have to vote on what to do with the situation. So far, it seems that the battle will favor in ADAP's direction. But even just the possibility of a program like this getting cut is horrible. Apparently, ADAP has had battles like this before in the year 2005. They were eventually rescued and had their funding replaced. So, hopefully, this time around they can be saved once more.

I swear this state needs to get it's priorities straight.


- Blake