Tolls and Rage

Texas is doing a horrible job with toll roads. Nobody wants to pay money to drive on a road when there is a perfectly good free one. It seems lately toll roads are popping up everywhere. With a new toll road comes the increase moodier people.

            Sitting in morning traffic at eight am while they build a toll road right next to you with people bumper to bumper and reduced speed limit signs has created severe road rage in drivers. People are tired of sitting an extra 10-15 minutes because the government is building a road you have to pay on. So when the opportunity comes for you to go you scream at anyone who threatens to place you five seconds behind where you were.

            Continuing to build toll roads would be a great idea if the state was making money of it! They are spending a lot of money to build a road without making profit from it. Over 27 million dollars has been issued in unpaid toll violations. Texas needs to stop and evaluate, the profits or losses need to be assessed to see if, maybe, they should stop building more toll roads for people to drive on for free.

            Texas needs to create stricter punishments for those who decide to ignore their toll bill. One way for people to get rid of their toll bill could be through community service. They could perform tasks like: picking up trash, working at a food bank, or working at a state/ public facility. You could arrest that person for so many days but that would cost even more money having to feed them daily. However, something needs to be done.

            Toll roads and road rage are paving themselves for the future. In 50 years every road will be a toll road with even angrier drivers than before.

Religious Based Judges

            In Washington Monthly’s blog “Would-be Judge’s on a Mission From God” by Steve Benen, Steve discusses how certain judges, if elected,  in California would use religious morals as a basis for their judgment. Benen makes his claim to Californian voting adults. The author somewhat builds his credibility by referencing “the Taliban in Afghanistan” but he doesn’t build on the reference so that his readers understand it.  When reading this you can easily tell that Steve has strong opinion about this idea of judge’s ruling based on religious beliefs.

            The author could have done many things to improve his credibility which is relatively low. By referencing the Taliban he starts to build his credibility but when he doesn’t explain the reference, assuming we’ll understand, brings his credibility back down.  Benen does gain some credibility back when he uses quotes from Craig Candelore who is an attorney as well as a supporter for these judges.

            The argument is one sided. Steve makes his feelings very strong about how he feels about judges that will “promise to be biased, partial jurists, basing their decisions on a religious agenda.” From reading this sentence the reader develops a negative feeling towards these judge’s because of the author’s choice of words.  At the end of the blog Steve states that “organizers of this effort believe they have a reasonably good chance at pulling it off -- and they may very well be right” this statement seems contradicting to the blog. At the beginning he talks about how horrible it would be to have these judge’s elected and at the end he states that they will most likely win creates doubt towards the author.

            Steve Benen’s blog is packed with emotion, yet it lacks the credibility to really bring the blog full circle. Benen’s word choice and overwhelming emotion easily leads you in the direction he wanted. Using more sources and explaining the references will create an even stronger blog that the reader will have no doubt believing and understanding.