Humor

I found an interesting political cartoon on humor in the newspaper. It was Palin and Obama in a boxing ring, and it showed Palin with five different boxing gloves, not just two, and on each one of the gloves it said something that Palin has the "upper hand" at with Obama. One of the gloves says "hockey mom," "working mother," and "woman politician." And then it shows Obama worn out and obviously defeated while Palin is still standing proudly holding up all five of her boxing gloves.

I feel like this argument does well to be humorous, still taking risks but not being offensive.

Obama not bringing family into the public eye more like Palin, is going to hurt him

Authors Note: This is a first draft of my op-ed. I still need to conduct further research and provide more evidence for my claim in this Op-ed. I also need to organize my thoughts and revise this paper, and elaborate on the quotes I have. But for the most part this piece has direction and makes a claim that I am passionate about.

If you were to go up to a random person on the street and ask them, “whose family can you tell me more about, Obama’s or Palin’s?” My thoughts were, most people would probably be able to say more about Palin’s family since they are in the public eye a lot more than Obama’s. So, I decided to find out for myself. I asked four random people this question. Two of them told me that they plan to vote Republican, and two told me that they plan to vote Democrat. In response to Palin’s family, a respondent told me “[Palin] has five children, a son, Track, is nineteen years old, and was just deployed to Iraq, she also has a seventeen year old daughter, Bristol who is five months pregnant and her youngest child has down syndrome.” I then asked what they could tell me about Obama’s two daughters, and her response was, “Obama has two daughters?” And this person was one of the two planning to vote for Obama! The other three responses from the people I asked were similar. Clearly, Obama is not making an effort to have the country he wants to run one day get to know his family. I researched on the internet and I visited several websites until I found out that his daughter’s names are Malia Ann, who is nine years old, and Natasha who is seven years old.
Sarah Palin is proud to show off her family and wants the nation to get to know her family and her. With all the work she is doing with the campaign, she still has time to raise five children, while Obama is only raising two. Most of America knows about her children and husband’s interests. This type of information is easily available on the internet. Things such as her husband’s interest in professional snow mobilism and her son’s interest in playing Hockey and his recent deployment to Iraq. America is really getting to know Palin’s family. Does Obama say anything about what his daughter’s like to do for fun? No. It took me at least twenty minutes of researching to even find out these girl’s names and ages!
“I think people’s families are off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance of governor or her potential performance performance of vice president” says Obama at a campaign in Monroe, Michigan.
“How a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics and I hpe that anyone who is supporting me understands that is off limits.”
“we don’t go after people’s families; we don’t get them involved in the politics, its not appropriate, its not relevant.” Is he kidding? The way a president raises and interacts with their family and their families life is very relevant. This amount of devotion a candidate is devoted to their family, they will be devoted the same to their country.
“Sarah Palin has been portrayed as the very model of the working mother. She answers her blackberry while pumping breast milk for her infant, keeps a playpen by her desk, and manages a state while cooking hot dogs for her family,” says
Despite her daughters pregnancy, Palin believes that schools should teach “abstinence only, and not be so explicit about contraceptives and birth control.” Obama has not said his views on contraceptives, but all the liberals how dare they to say “what kind of nurturing mother lets her daughter get pregnant,” Obama does not even state solutions on what to do for the pregnancy.
Barack Obama talks about her putting her kids in the public eye, but he doesn’t because he plays the dirty games of politics unlike Palins.
The Clinton’s tried to shield their daughter Chelsea from the public eye because she received a lot of criticism for being “unattractive.” It was almost as if the Clinton’s were ashamed of their daughter. It is not that Obama is ashamed of his daughters or anything like that, it is more of he does not want to bring them into the public eye because he is afraid it will hurt his campaign. While he says things such as families should be off limits, the real reason he is saying this is because he is threatened that Palin has already made such an impact by bringing her family into the public light, not making excuses for her daughter’s pregnancy and not being afraid to be down to earth and identify with the millions of other mother’s in America who are dealing with the same issues. Just goes to show that Palin is not out to play the dirty games of politics like Obama.

Argument of Definition

My argument of definition is actually in the form of a forwarded e-mail that I received about some of Obama's claims about himself personally. I thought it was so interesting and just had to use it as my argument of definition!

It is interesting to see how Obama made so many of these claims and manipulated them so that people would read them and interpret them differently. This article, based on the information of various researchers who have followed and studied Obama closely, including interviews with his grade school teachers, questions and clears up some of the claims Obama has made.

One example of a claim Obama has made in reference to his "humble beginnings" is that his father was a goat herder. After the article states this claim it says "NOT EXACTLY he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went to work with the Kenyan Government.

Another claim says "My Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter-NOT EXACTLY, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had."

"I never practiced Islam- NOT EXACTLY, you were registered as Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until your wife made you change, so you could run for office."

Although O'bama refers to himself as "black," according to this e-mail, he is actually 50% caucasian, 43.75% Arabic, and 6.25% black. His father's birth certificate also states that his father is Arab, not black.

You can't argue the facts...or can you?

I found in interesting article in The New York Times, "Gasoline Prices Rise, but at a Slower Pace." The article is arguing that the damage from Hurricane Ike to "[oil] refineries [appear] to be minor." Thus, arguing that any spike in gas prices should not be blamed on Hurricane Ike, but rather on the "growing perception" that the U.S. economy is in a recession. The article also points out that "the rebel attacks on oil operations in Nigeria and two other major hurricanes have shut down 20% of the nation's refining capacity," and this is what is to blame for the ridiculous increase in gas prices.
The article also quotes several refinery owners and experts who say that a lot of the refineries that have been shut down, should be fine soon.

The author used several percentages and quotes from experts, refinery owners as well as the president and chief executive of Carrizo Oil and Gas, Chip Johnson. I think this article did well to present any argument of fact.

Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

In your September 11^th article “Palin Bids Goodbye to Her Son,” Monica Davey made an excellent point that Governor Palin takes a genuine stance on her political platforms and is not just here to play the games of politics.

Palin is supporting her son’s decision to go Iraq by speaking at the deployment ceremony. She is there not only to support her son, but she is also there to stand behind the other soldiers and their families. Palin speaks to the soldiers as if they are her sons also when she says (as Davey quotes in her article), “if we hold you just a little closer once more before you’re gone because we’re going to miss you […] we can’t help it.” She is speaking to those soldiers as if they are her own sons. Palin spoke this way because she sees this nation as a united one. She sees those young soldiers as her own sons because they are apart of her nation, our nation. Palin is able to identify with the mothers of those soldiers because she is sending her son off to Iraq knowing that it is a possibility that he could die, just as these mothers do.

Palin cares about identifying with the people of this nation on a personal level. For example, she is anti-abortion, most presidents have not had to deal with this issue first hand, obviously since they have all been men, and if any of their wives or daughters have ever had an abortion, no one has heard about it or it has not been publicized at least. Palin however did not try to hide her teenage daughter’s pregnancy in fear that it would hinder her campaign. Palin’s family is apart of who she is and she is not ashamed of her daughter’s situation. The fact that her daughter has chosen to keep the baby proves that Palin is genuine in her stance on political issues. Palin was open and honest about this to the entire nation. If Palin is honest with our nation about this type of issue, she will be honest with us about everything.

With her daughter’s decision to keep her baby, and her sons decision go to Iraq to serve his country, it is evident that Palin has raised her children with patriotic morals foundation. Palin sees this entire nation as her family, she made this clear when she spoke to the soldiers at the deployment ceremony. If her family is built on a patriotic foundation, she will no doubt run the nation this way. Palin’s family is apart of who she is, and her nation is apart of who she is. She this nation and all of us in it, as her family. If John McCain is elected president, she will stand behind him and be fully supportive of him, the way she is supportive of her family and the way she has shown support for our troops and their families.

People in this country say that they want a change. Palin is doing this better than other person in politics right now. She is doing her best to identify with the people of this nation on a personal level. No one else has done that. This is the type of change that needs to take place.

Davey does a great job here to point out Palin’s efforts in taking geniuine stance with her political platforms.

Article

Palin Bids Goodbye to Her Son

By Monica Davey

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska – Along a brisk airstrip here, Gov. Sarah Palin, now the Republican vice presidential candidate, on Thursday sent off her son, Track, and thousands of other soldiers during a deployment ceremony as they prepared to leave for Iraq.

Gov. Sarah Palin at a ceremony Thursday for soldiers, including her son, who are going to Iraq. (Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times)

Calling the efforts in Iraq a “righteous cause,” Governor Palin told the soldiers, who stood stiffly in endless lines here, to allow for a few tears from family members now. “Or if we hold you just a little closer once more before you’re gone because we’re going to miss you,” she said. “We can’t help it.”

Ms. Palin appeared to connect the 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington, which occurred seven years ago to the day, to the soldiers’ current mission in Iraq.

“You’ll be there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans,” she told the soldiers. “America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001.”

Private First Class Track Palin, 19, the Palins’ eldest child, and his unit - the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division’s Combat Team (also known as the Arctic Wolves) - will leave in the coming weeks for northern Iraq. Private Palin, an infantryman who enlisted on Sept. 11, 2007, will work, mainly, providing security for the deputy commanding officer while he is deployed, according to Major Chris Hyde, an army spokesman at Fort Wainwright.

“He’s a super patriotic kid,” said Major Hyde, who said he had spoken with Track Palin last week, as well as members of his unit. “He wants to make his own route in life. He doesn’t want to just be the son of the governor.”

No special instructions or changes in assignment had been made for the unit or Private Palin, Major Hyde said, because of his presence and the new found attention on his mother.

“It’s definitely a concern, but there’s nothing different that we’re doing,” Major Hyde said. Major Hyde said he had not heard of any concern from other members of the unit either. “If anything they just think that it’s kind of cool,” he said.

The notion of doing the deployment ceremony on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the terror attacks on New York and Washington, came long before Gov. Palin’s selection as the vice presidential nominee, Major Hyde said, and was the choice of the commanding officer. Governor Palin, who has spoken at such ceremonies here before, was asked to come months ago.

Some 11,000 military members and their families live on Fort Wainwright, one of three army bases in the state. In 48 degree temperatures, thousands of troops stood at attention in lines as the leaders spoke, and a handful of babies, bundled in fleece and wool, wailed from strollers.

While media was allowed by the Army to attend the ceremony, officials set firm limits. Among the rules reporters were required to agree to abide to before being allowed on the base: No interviews with Ms. Palin.

Ms. Palin’s voice seemed to turn emotional and shaky at moments as she addressed the soldiers and her son.

“This is one of the moments when we have to face the fact that you may not need our protection anymore,” she said. “In fact you’re the ones who will now be protecting us, protecting America.”

Palin's postion on the war

My topic for Unit 1 is going to be about Palin's stand on the war in Iraq. I have chosen an article about how her son is going off to Iraq. I chose this article because the war is without a doubt one of this biggest issues in this election. I have friends in the Marines who have been to Iraq and I have several family members who are military veterans and so this issue is important to me.

Important Issues

As election day gets closer, and since this is the first election that I am able to vote, I have lately been giving more thought to the types of issues that are important to me in this upcoming election.
One of the issues is obviously our nations economy. We are in a recession right now, and gas prices have sky-rocketed over the last couple of years and it seems as though everything has become more expensive. Over the next couple of months, I will be paying close attention to which candidates I think have better solutions to our economy which needs change desperately. When listening to Barack O'bama speak, a lot of his ideas sound similar to communism, which is scary. This is not what we need. I do not agree with things such as universal health care, affirmative action, or increase in taxes to fix these types of problems.
Another important issue to me is security. I believe that given our nation's circumstance, war is necessary right now, and we need to support our troops.

LOGOS

I found abortion statistics online for the year 2008. These statistics are an example of a Logos form of argument. The argument contains strictly facts with no bias towards pro-life or pro-choice
However, with statements such as "Fifty percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 17%" while this statement shows no bias, it is still presenting an argument that abortion, and in turn teen pregnancy is still a problem among young girls.
Another statistic stated that "Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic" roughly 70% of women that have abortions are Christian; Christians are supposed to be the ones "against abortion." Once again, this presents an argument without a biased statement.
I think it is interesting how an argument can still be made just by stating facts.

Argument used in class

On Thursday's class, my group chose to use the argument that I brought in. The argument was in the form of a magazine article about a rise and fall of a supermodel, Gerren Taylor, who started modeling when she was only twelve years old.

The article is written in Ethos. The article's credibility comes from quotes from the teen model, Gerren Taylor, now eighteen, who describes her personal experience being a model alongside who were much older than her in retrospect. The goal argument of the article is to convince readers that having a young girl model alongside a 21-year-olds, is a mistake.

The article provides photos, one is of Taylor during a runway show when she is only thirteen, but she clearly looks much older than that in the photograph, and then on the same pages, there is Taylor in a picture where she is eighteen, but she actually looks younger in the picture where she is eighteen than she does in the picture when she is only thirteen. Here the author argues that it is unethical to have such a young girl look that way at only thirteen.

Further into the article, Taylor tells how at age fourteen, six feet tall and a size four, she was criticized by the modeling industry for being, "too fat" and because of this, she could no longer get modeling jobs. In the photograph that the article provides, it is as if the photo argues, "look, obviously this girl is not fat," which furthermore argues how corrupt the modeling world is toward young girls.

At the end of the article, Taylor tells how she no longer does modeling but instead, her 6-ft., size-4 frame has helped her become "an asset to her school volleyball team." Arguing that modeling was not everything to her, and that just because "someone" told her that she was "not right for modeling anymore," did not mean that it was the end of the world and she still is doing great things with her life. This article also argues that young girls should not listen to negative influences about their appearances from someone who has experienced being apart one of the most cut-throat industries on appearances possible.