SWA #16

N/A. "Residents of ANWR Support." ANWR.org. N.p., 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. 
     <http://www.anwr.org/People/Residents-of-ANWR-Support.php>. Residents 
     of ANWR Support Drilling: 
      
     Provides tax base for local drilling 
     Provided jobs and funding for schools, water, and sewage 
     systems 
     Local governments have voice in permitting and environmental 
     regulation 
     
Demer, Lisa, and Richard Mauer. "U.S. House OKs Opening ANWR to Oil Drilling." 
     The Miami Herald. The Miami Herald, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. 
     <http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/17/2646370/ 
     us-house-oks-opening-anwr-to-oil.html>. "Backers of drilling stress 
     that only a portion of the refuge would be developed -- the bill requires 
     the Interior Department to put up at least 200,000 acres for lease and no 
     less than another 200,000 if there's interest by industry, totally roughly 
     3 percent of the refuge. And some development could be done with extended 
     horizontal drilling from state lands, a proposal in a different bill 
     sponsored by Murkowski and co-sponsored by Begich." 
      
     "The latest effort emerged as a House energy strategy 
     filled with Republican talking points: cheaper energy, more revenue. 
     Democrats countered with: unbridled development, environmental 
     risks." 
      
     There are multiple debates going on, one of which is to 
     convince Dems that drilling in ANWR is a good idea. One argument is that a 
     percentage of the revenue that comes from drilling can go towards projects 
     that Dems decide, such as renewable energy development.

SWA #15

ANWR Oil and Gas Development:
I did research on Google Scholars and this is a very debated topic and I think would be a great topic to look into.  There are multiple articles and points of view on drilling in ANWR.  Some of the different perspectives are from environmentalists to the people living in Alaska and near the area in question to oil companies.  I am leaning more towards researching this topic over my other two topics.  There is a good number of articles to read and use in my research but they are not so numerous as to make it difficult to decide where to start.

Voter ID Laws:
There are not many articles to be found on voter identification laws that I could find and there really isn't much information on this topic.  It was difficult to find multiple perspectives on this and I know that this will not be my topic for my essay.

Gun Control Laws:
This is such a controversial topic that I found almost too many articles on it.  It would be difficult to narrow down my search to a specific aspect of this issue, simply because all of the aspects of gun control merge together somehow and you really can't write about one part without writing about other parts.  In terms of research, there are so many articles to sort through that it would be too time consuming to complete before the deadline.  However, I would choose this topic over the voter ID laws.

SWA #12

a.)   Waters, Alice. "A Healthy Constitution." The Nation, 21 Sept. 2009.

Waters believes that schools should not only have school lunch reform but also include food education throughout the curriculum.  She claims that having food edu. will teach students "values that are central to democracy" and that organizations such as the Chez Panisse Foundation will help to teach students those values.

b.)   Walters claims that food can be used to teach democratic values such as responsibility, sharing, and stewardship.  Responsibility through growing and preparing the food and helping to set the table and cleaning up afterwards.  Sharing through helping provide for everyone and learning how to work together to provide meals.  Through food education, they also learn that "cooperation with one another is necessary to nurture the community."  Walters also claims that healthy food leads to better performance in classrooms.  She uses Central Alternative High School in Appleton, WI as an example of how, when student are given locally grown and fresh food, they did better in class and had less disciplinary issues.  I think if Waters had included some statistics to back up her claim it would have made a stronger argument.

SWA #13

Issue #1:

a.)   Gun Control Laws

b.)   Some believe that there should be extremely strict regulations on gun ownership and the use of firearms while others believe that the current regulations are too strict as they are.  The constitutionality of these laws have been debated for years.

c.)   I believe that many states, such as Illinois, have laws that are too strict towards gun ownership.  Some regulations are necessary but many people have gone overboard with those restrictions.

d.)   Statistics on the effectiveness of gun control laws (in the US and in other countries), reasons for different viewpoints on this topic

Issue #2:

a.)   Many states have voter identification laws that require voters to provide a photo ID at the polls.
b.)   Supporters claim that it prevents fraud while opponents claim that the "poor, minorities, and seniors" are less likely to have government issued ID's ( http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=174743 ).
c.)   I think voters should be required to present a photo ID at voting booths.
d.)   Statistics on voter fraud, stats on government issued ID's (who has them, break down into race, social class, etc.)

Issue #3:
a.)   Should the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) be open to oil and gas development?
b.)   Supporters claim that only a very small portion of ANWR will be affected by the drilling and the section that will be affected is basically an arctic tundra.  Opposition claims that the drilling will greatly affect the wildlife and ecosystem in the area.
c.)  I support oil and gas development in ANWR.
d.)   Research how much of ANWR will be affected, what wildlife will be affected, how much oil is contained in the reserves.

SWA #11

The use of nostalgia is a major factor throughout the article in making the author seem trustworthy to the audience.  He speaks of the "geek culture" of the 1980's, bringing up games such as Dungeons & Dragons, books written by Stephen King, and even movies or TV shows like Monty Python.  He tells of the cliques created by these things, the cliques that received the title of "nerd" or "geek" but claims that those were "thin descriptors."  Oswalt incorporates many movies, games, and books in order to speak to those people who enjoyed the same things, bring about a feeling of happiness in remembrance of those times, and to pull the reader into a trust that can only be forged through the knowledge that both have gone through similar experiences.  It can also cause a feeling of trust because, although he states he had no shortage of friends, some readers could have only gotten through their adolescent years by immersing themselves in the "geek culture."  However, there can also be a downside to his reminiscing of the past: while he pulls some readers into a feeling of trust through happiness of past times, he can also push some away because those times might have caused unhappiness for them.  Some might look back on those times with contempt and cause them to stop reading.

SWA #10

Title: Rhetorical Analysis of Print Articles
Thesis: In Patton Oswalt's "Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die," the use of humor and nostalgia bring readers to believe that in order to allow pop culture's continued existence, we much first let it almost "die."

I.   Nostalgia is a major factor in the author's argument.
   A.   Goes back to "geek culture" from the 1980's to appeal to his audience
      1.   brings up old movies and games (Dungeons & Dragons, Monty Python, Star Wars, etc.)
   B.   Nostalgia concerning childhood memories
      1.   speaks of the social life of the "nerd"
      2.   brings back memories of grade- and high-school times
II.  Humor also plays a big part
   A.   Self deprecating humor
      1.   "waist deep in the hot honey of adolescence"
      2.   "I was never going to play sports, and girls were an uncrackable code"
   B.   Humor about pop culture
      1.   "The LOTR used to be our and only ours simply because of the sheer goddamn thickness of the books"

Conclusion:  Through the use of nostalgia of childhood, humor, and the emotional ties to losing the specialness of loving something that others do not help Patton Oswalt make his case in "Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die."

SWA #9

http://www.naturalnews.com/029854_factory_food_health.html

Central Claim: America needs to revert back to small-scale farms instead of factory farms in order to make our food healthier and preventing more damage to the environment.

Reasons: The quality of the food produced has been reduced greatly, there have been sky rocketing numbers of contamination outbreaks and food recalls due to these outbreaks, and new diseases appearing.  There is also contamination of water sources near factory farms and the food produced by small farms is much healthier for humans than food grown at factory farms.

Values:  Healthy food for humans in America and less impact on the environment.

Unstated Assumption: Factory farms are bad for the people of America.

SWA #8

1. Scully builds his case that animal cruelty in factory farming should be a conservative cause on the lack of morals and honor in the whole system.  He claims that there is "bad faith, moral sloth, and endless excuse making" rampant in factory farming and that these things go directly against what conservatives claim they believe in (360).  Scully also mentions how conservatives are supposed to rely heavily on tradition and he makes the statement that there are "no traditions, no codes of honor, no little decencies to spare for a fellow creature" in factory farming (360).  Scully plays on the emotions and morals of conservatives to make them realize that there is no morality to the cruelty that animals face in factory farms.

    3.  Scully believes that humans are superior to animals, as he states that "animals themselves are secondary and man must come first" (362).  However, it is because of this that he feels people should treat animals with respect.  He makes the claim that "reason and morality must always guide us in how we treat [animals]," and condemns companies that use factory farming as cruel (362).  Scully believes that since humans are superior, we must act like we are, meaning our morals should guide us away from cruelty and towards respect, even to lesser creatures.


Blackboard Question:  Scully does, in fact, bring animal activists' opinion into the article and agrees with them, to a certain point.  He mentions PETA and their belief in human compassion towards animals.  He quotes Jonah Goldberg saying that "'what the PETA crowd doesn't understand, or what it deliberately confuses, is that human compassion towards animals in an obligation of humans, not an entitlement for animals," (355).  Scully includes PETA's opinion in order to state that while he does believe that human compassion is necessary, he believes it for different reasons than PETA.  However, this inclusion helps him seem unbiased and willing to listen to the other opinions on the topic of animal cruelty and factory farming.

Peer Review #1

• Overuse of the word "advertisement"
• Not enough analysis on stereotypes shown through ads
• Weak conclusion
• Slightly redundant