OPINION

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has lobbied to change our state driving laws for underage drunken driving. These laws are now destroying teens' lives instead of helping them.

The laws in Texas now state that if you are charged with an underage DWI, license suspension, probation, community service, fines and a felony charge are mandatory. Deferred adjudication is no longer an option. For teens, one bad decision results in a lifetime of punishment.

On every application they fill out, these teens will have to put the felony charge, essentially ruining any chance of getting into a good college -- or any college at all -- or getting a good job. They are not even allowed to apply for some jobs.

Deferred adjudication would have given teens a chance to grow up and accept what they had done, and, by completing probation, community service, paying the fines and staying out of trouble, they could have the felony charge taken off their record.

We need to stand up for our children. We need to give back to our teens the incentive to take responsibility for their choices and learn from them, not let it be a life sentence for a first-time offense.

Re: "Obama budget hit from both sides -- Some proposed cuts upset Democrats; GOP wants deficits addressed sooner," Wednesday news story.

The Obama administration is killing the initiative to put man back on the moon by 2020.

Its "bold new initiative" for NASA is tantamount to turning our back on U.S.-sponsored manned space flight. It is egregious, short-sighted mismanagement of our nation's space policy.

By killing the Constellation program, it is ruining our near-term prospects for a U.S. government-operated means of putting men and women on the International Space Station. We will instead be relying on Russia, the sole remaining nation with astronaut delivery capability, to be our taxi service.

Like most everything else President Barack Obama has done in office, his "bold, new initiative" for NASA is a disaster in the making. We are now spectators in the space race, while Russia, China, India and Japan overtake us with both the will and capital to reach for the stars. In the U.S., we'll continue to reach into our pockets.

We've been to the moon already

I was one of the millions worldwide who watched in awe as our astronauts landed on the moon for the first time. For some years, I continued to be avidly interested in our space program.

I don't question the experiments going on at the space station, as I don't know enough about them. I do question spending billions of dollars to go back to the moon. Been there, done that.

That money could be put to better use on domestic programs, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment or a host of other items. I believe another moon shot would be a waste of taxpayer money.

Re: "Migrants return as a burden -- U.S. economy sends many home where situation is more dire," Tuesday news story.

Teresa Cadena Moreno expresses frustration and concern that a number of people have arrived in her small Mexican town looking for public services. She says that the newcomers come with high expectations and have added to the strain on her community, including competing for jobs that were hard to find for those already living there. Finally, she reports that her community doesn't have enough room in its schools or bilingual teachers for the newcomers' children.

It seems that what goes around has finally come around -- to Mexico.

Re: "A Marshall Plan for Mexico?" by Bill Banks, Thursday Letters.

Banks says a Marshall Plan for Mexico is in order. Since mass corruption is Mexico's No. 1 problem, sending more money there would only increase the problem.

Re: "High traffic surcharges uncollected -- Motorists owe more than $1 billion; many on road without license," Jan. 31 news story.

This article was a one-sided assessment of the Texas Driver Responsibility Program. The program provides $75 million per year to offset losses at the state's trauma hospitals, which reported nearly $210 million in uncompensated trauma care in 2008. Since the Driver Responsibility Program began, Texas has added more than 60 designated trauma hospitals, in part because of the additional funding provided through the program.

The Texas Hospital Association supported legislation passed last year that will exempt indigent drivers from certain surcharges. This exemption should not have a negative fiscal impact on the state, because the majority of these violators are not paying the fines anyway. But other violators such as habitual speeders and those who break the state's mandatory insurance, driver's license and DWI laws should pay their fines as required by law.

We all have a responsibility to obey the state's traffic laws, and repealing the Driver Responsibility Program would be poor public policy. Instead, the state should invest in a public awareness campaign and improve enforcement of the law.

Re: "Barton's stake in gas wells raises questions -- He defends purchase from donor, says it won't affect votes," Wednesday news story.

I am appalled by the way The Dallas Morning News reported Rep. Joe Barton's investment in a gas well.

If Barton actually did something wrong, he should pay the consequences. But if he invested with someone he trusted -- on the same basis as the other investors -- then The News is guilty of unethical journalism.

Ukrainians go to the polls Sunday to elect a new president as a bitter political battle between Yulia Tymoshenko (the current prime minister, who is a dead ringer for Princess Leia) and Viktor Yanukovich (the guy who tried to steal elections in 2004, launching the Orange Revolution) draws to a close.

I don't blame you if your reaction is: "So what?" With all that's going on in the world, it's easy to forget about Central and Eastern Europe. But in my Sunday Points column, I explore why the region deserves more - not less - of our attention.

Sweating profusely, Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi opened the Munich Security Conference this afternoon with an interesting little speech in which he made a big deal about Chinese relations with EU, but didn't even mention the U.S. until asked about Taiwan during the Q&A.

This could signal a new push by Beijing to court the EU, which is feeling slighted after President Obama announced he would not be attending an EU summit in Madrid. But I doubt China is going to get far flirting with the EU -- Europe has its heart set on the U.S.

Plus, the China on display here in Munich isn't likely to make many friends.

A proud Yang spoke of a China ready to have a say in how the world is run, adding: "Does China feel stronger? Yes." He also blasted the U.S. sale of arms to Taiwan: "The Chinese government and people feel indignant about this."

I've posed this question on our Southern Dallas blog and I'm reposting the link here in the hope that we can have a thoughtful, respectful and broad-based discussion of this subject. Please post your thoughts in the comments section of the Southern Dallas blog.

Among the topics we'll be tackling on our upcoming weekend pages ... feel free to chime in with your own point of view in the comments section:

1. MILITARY -- We support the Obama administration's effort to end the 16-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law, arguing that no one should be punished or denied the opportunity to serve the country based on sexual orientation. We recognize that within the ranks of the military as well as in Congress there are serious reservations about this. We address those reservations with a clear admonition to the military that it must maintain discipline across the ranks regarding overt expressions of individual preference, whatever the issue. Whether it's politics, religion or sexual orientation, it is the service member's obligation to keep the military's and the nation's interests first, and it is the command's obligation to halt any drift toward a free-for-all atmosphere of individual expression. We argue that this change in law can be done without altering the military's overall approach to how it has traditionally regulated all personal issues involving its recruits. Tod writing on behalf of the board.

2. TRAFFIC -- Pegged to a recent DMN investigative piece, we explain why the surcharge program has proven to be a disastrous example of bad public policy. Our reasons include: imposing fines based on Treasury needs, administering fines by mail after the fact rather than from the bench and enlisting the DPS (which hates the program) to oversee it. We urge the Legislature to kill this program or drastically overhaul it in 2011. Rodger writing on behalf of the board.

3. JUAREZ -- The murders of 16 young people at a teen's birthday party in Juarez strikes us as a pivotal moment for the Mexican government, which needs to find better tactics for fighting the drug chaos and carnage. We repeat our assessment of this violence moving from criminals on criminals to outright terrorism, a theme that the Mexican press is beginning to pick up on. We also note that while there are calls for the Mexican people to stand up and protest, that seems a no-win for residents against this level of violence. In a country where there's a 95 percent chance that a person won't be convicted of any wrongdoing, the government has to step up its efforts and take charge. Everyone seems largely stuck in "shock mode," which is helping no one. Tod writing on behalf of the board.

4. 10 DROPS -- Coming Monday, the latest in our "10 Drops in a Bucket" monthly series in which we shine a spotlight on specific quality-of-life problems in southern Dallas.