Freedom, Liberty, and Rights

This week we read Freedom, Liberty, and Rights: Three Cautionary Tales by Aryeh Neier and Neier mainly made the point about Bush's use of words, or as Orwell would call them, "meaningless words." He notes how many times Bush uses the words freedom, liberty, and rights and how he does not define these terms that are used almost everyday. Neier believes that rights serve as a limit on powers and that we are free because we exercise these rights. Later in his essay, he talks this term, rights, and says how it is just used any ol' way. Neier says there is such a "promiscuous use of the term rights" and we even have third generation rights, such as the right to development. I love the way Neier ended his essay, because I believe he made a great point! He said that "both sides diminish the value of these words in expressing the need to limit power, question claims to virtue, and foster debate." I think this is a point Orwell was trying to make when we mentioned meaningless words in his essay and this is a very important point that everyone should take into considerate when they write essays.

Reporters and Rhetoric

Reporters and Rhetoric, an essay written by Geoffrey Cowan, goes in a different direction from the other essays we have written. This essay shows that Orwell was correct when he talked about his six rules and how language matters with whatever you are talking about. By choosing to say two simple words that everyone is scared to mention or afraid to admit, such as "civil war," it opens everyone's eyes to a different perspective. As one of his main points, he says that "reporters 'do words' for a living. There are times when it is as important for the press to be as accurate about the use of language as it is about the reporting of facts." I definitely agree with Cowan when he talks about reporters. I do believe that their job is to report news honestly and correctly, using their language cautiously. Reporters do not have to repeat everything they hear. They have the choice to listen to whatever they hear and figure out what is the truth and what is false. Once they have the whole story, the reporters can write about the honest conclusion they came to.

The Limits of Language

Nicholas Lemann wrote the essay The Limits of Language describing how 60 years later, George Orwell was still right about the English language. Lemann's thesis states that "intellectual honesty about the gathering and use of facts and data is a riskier and more precious part of a free society than is intellectual honesty in language." He says that the information and facts that are gathered are valued more than in this society than the language that is used. He refers to George Bush's speech and the language that he uses. Bush is unspecific, using words such as "enemies of freedom" and "freedom" (freedom being a word Orwell felt had a cloudy meaning, but one that means something good). He, Lemann, moves on to politicians and their slogans. He mentions that politicians focus more on playing with the audiences emotions than clearly stating what the activity will do. Lemann gives a great example of this when he says that "the war in Iraq" is a good name to give it (since that is what the activity is) rather than the name "Operation Enduring Freedom" because that is only the feeling the government wants to trigger. I agree with Lemann in that today's society cares way more about the information and the amount of people following their information (I think that is the reason they play on the audience's emotions, just to get more supporters) than the language that is used to convey these messages.

Harris Chapter Five

In Rewriting, Joseph Harris discusses the different approaches that a person should take when attempting to write an essay based on another text. In chapter five, Harris covers the topic of revision and shows that revision is more than looking for mistakes such as misspellings and grammar errors, but asking a series of questions that not only allows you to edit but also add on. He says that when revising, the writer should not just focus on editing the misspellings and style (the bad things about your essay) but build to the areas that are well written to make your essay stronger. Harris wants the reader to come to terms (figuring out what your topic is asking of you), forward (decide what works best and add on to), counter (determine what else can be said), and looking ahead (what is something you haven't said yet that you could close strongly with). I feel this is an important chapter to read because it has such valuable information about ideas on how to improve your essay. Harris tells its reader that they worry about the little editing mistakes more than what works best in their essay, which is critical in the revision process. I have to admit I am guilty of committing this same act that he talks and I'm glad he mentions it because it helped me realize that I should build on my good parts and not just tear down the bad parts. The section he wrote about looking ahead really affected me because I have trouble with my conclusion paragraphs and he gave me tips on how not to be repetitive. Harris asks his readers to consider questions to ask themselves, such as what else could they add to the conclusion to make it sound new and how can the writer "develop a new line of thinking." I believe that Harris really understands the English language and what it takes to not just write an essay well, but to write any piece of text well. Not only dos he give examples of what to do, but he explains the common thought of people (such as the revision points he made) and how these are not the best way of going about creating a strong, well written text.

Gas Prices

So while I was reading yahoo news, I came across this story that was unsettling to me. It's about retail gas prices, and how they are a highest in over a year. Gas prices are now up 17 days after a 0.4 cent rise overnight. This makes the price $2.695 now. The sad part about all of this is that oil and gasoline is in high supply! The supply is so plentiful that "producers are running out of places to put it and crude supplies are well above average levels." There are more details in the story. Check it out if you would like. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Retail-gas-prices-highest-in-apf-224722237.html?x=0.
The story seemed to be biased, but it could be thought of as unbiased to me. The writer did not have too many positive things to say, but with this topic, I don't think there were too many good things to say. The only thing that seemed to be missing from this article was when exactly would the prices stop climbing. An even better question to ask and be answered would be when the prices will go down and by how much would they go down. I have a strong opinion about this because it does affect me. I don't see why prices have to go up when we have plenty of gas to supply. The prices are going up like we have such a limited amount of gas when its the complete opposite. This price rise is going to affect me a lot because I commute to school, averaging about 130 miles each day or two hours, and with the prices rising, I'm going to be pulling money out of my already flat wallet or pulling money out of my parent's wallet about every three days! I hope they change their whole attitude and lower the prices, it would help everyone in these time!!

Bank Failures

We have officially passed the 100 mark. Usually, that's a good thing but in this case, 106 banks have failed. This number is the most in almost two decades, when it was 181 in 1992. Even though this number is high, there could be many more and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) expects to spend nearly $100 billion from their fund. Towards the end of June, the FDIC flagged 416 banks being at the risk of failure. Although so many banks have been flagged for failure, the rate at which they are being closed at is very slow. One reason the banks are closing slowly is because of the public. The FDIC wants to keep the public confidence in the banking system. If they close the banks too quickly, the public will go into a panic and it will also go against the FDIC's mission statement. Their mission statement is to "set up to create confidence and prevent bank runs." If you want to read more, in detail, the link is http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bank_failures. The article was very detailed, giving figures and reasons for what the FDIC was doing. I felt as though there wasn't really any important information missing, because the main question I had was answered at the end of the article. I wanted to ask how many banks would survive in the end of this crisis, and they stated that "ultimately, it's all about employment." Another question that I has was what was the plan for the next couple of years. Is the FDIC going to keep the slow pace mentality for the bank closures? What is Obama's plan? Will there be another stimulus plan? I feel this is an important issue that everyone should know and be fully aware of.

Diabetes Prevention?

I was looking online, at the yahoo news, and found this interesting article about how Chinese herbs show signs that could help diabetes prevention. Some researchers did a number of trials and it was shown that the Chinese herbs helped control the blood sugar levels in people on their way to type two diabetes. A person becomes a type two diabetic when their body does not produce enough insulin or the body can not use the insulin in the right way. The researchers found some astonishing results, such as when the participate added the herbal remedy to their lifestyle it almost doubled the likelihood of their sugar levels returning to normal. They also found that the participates were two-thirds less likely to progress towards the disease. There are side effects, as there are to many medication, but they haven't found any serious ones. The herbs are used for special situations and is not a "one-size-fits-all prescription." I think this is a fairly good topic to write about. This may not be a world issue, but it surely is a national issue that I'm glad someone is addressing. America has experienced a rise in obesity and most of them are on their way to diabetes. Finding a potential prevention for diabetes is great and a issue that could help numbers go down, even obesity numbers. I feel the story was a little bias, saying the negatives of this treatment in one or two sentences. I also had some questions about the treatment. I wondered if the herbal remedy was a pill or if the remedy could help people that already have type two diabetics in any way, but specifically with controlling their sugar levels. I have a few family members that are diabetic, both type one and two. I would love for them to test the Chinese herbs if it would reduce their chances greatly of having type two diabetes or controlling their levels.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091014/hl_nm/us_chinese_herbs

8 years later...

Can you believe it?! We have been at war for 8 years now! October 7, 2001 is when our former president, George Bush, announced that we would be going to war and when our troops first started moving in. While I was watching the 6 o'clock news on channel 7, it took me by surprise that it has been 8 years and we are still at war! The news caster mentioned that Obama is looking for a middle ground, but the tone of the reporter didn't seem that hopeful at all. Many Americans were for the war in the beginning, believing Bush when he said that we would not be at war for long. 51% of Americans now no longer know what we are fighting for and the reasons why we have been at war for so long when we were supposed to be out a long time ago. The Iranians were so happy when the U.S. first came because they were able to do things they never could. They finally had freedom from their government! The men were able to shave their beards and the women could show some of their hair. As of now, they are mad at America because they feel we are putting more effort into fighting than helping out. They want the U.S. to prove they can provide security like they once promised 8 years ago. I completely agree with the Iranians. It seems as if we are just fighting to fight, and I don't understand why we are still at war or even the reasons why we are at war. I feel that there was some missing information in the story, like what exactly Obama plans on doing and how long will it be before we can start getting out troops out of the war. I think this was a good topic to put on the news and spend a bit of time talking about because we have been at war for 8 years, when we only intended on staying for a few years (I'm not completely sure how long we were supposed to stay, maybe 2 or 3 years). It made me wonder what we have been doing for these last couple of years, our reasons for staying, and when we will put more effort into providing security than fighting.

Medicare Changing...

The story that I read, "How health care overhaul could change Medicare," explains how the congress plans on changing things up with health care, and indirectly, effecting Medicare and the elders. The lawmakers have five different proposals, and each of them can affect the seniors in a number of ways. One of the proposals is potentially cutting back on Medicare Advantage, which about 10 million elders are covered by. This means sacrificing added benefits, but this change may also cause commercial insurers to back out of the plan and leave many elders switching their providers. Some positives to this new plan would be that the government wants to prevent illness, by giving free diabetes classes or paying in full for a mammogram, and keep elders out of the hospital, since one of five Medicare patients find themselves back in the hospital within the same month. I have strong feelings towards this change because my grandmother is on Medicare and I wouldn't like for them to change her plan, especially with things as tough as they are now. I think it is great that the government wants to address issues before they come up, and they show that with the prevention services they plan on having. I don't, however, understand why they want to cut back on the number of people that have Medicare Advantage. I would think that the more people that have some kind of health care plan would be good, even if they spend more money on the plan. The money would go to better use if it was put to health care services than bailing out failing companies. I think this story is important to everyone because we all grow old someday, but if they cut back on how much they spend, that will eventually lead to cutting some of the services that are already offered or some of the new ones that could cost a lot more than expected.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_re_us/us_medicare_seniors

Clinton's Change of Heart

I was watching KTLA at 5pm and they had a story of Bill Clinton's change of views on homosexual marriages. They stated that he had a change of heart, so to say, and now supports the issue. The news did not go into details but I was certainly interested in the story. I researched it on the internet, and found that he announced his change sometime mid-July. I found a website that gives quite a few details about the situation, but one that I found to be the most important was a quote from Bill Clinton saying, "I personally support people doing what they what to do." He then goes on to say, "...I think it's wrong for someone to stop someone else from doing that. That's what I think." I do not believe they left out any information, however, I would have liked them to give some information about when or even why Clinton had a change of heart on the issue. I would have also liked to know why he felt so strongly against it before, considering he signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act. I agree with Clinton now, supporting gay marriages. I feel that a person should be able to love anyone they want, and not be told who they should or should not love. I would not want to be told who to be with, as would many others, so why should we do it to someone else? I believe it is not in any one's place to say a person cannot be with another one because of something, such as race, sexuality, or even a small personal characteristic. This story does not affect me, but I do think it is an important story because it shows that at least one more person supports gay marriages.

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/news-bill-clinton-now-supports-gay-marriage-r-1248563364