Working in a group

I find working in a group a bit harder than when working alone. Even though we all get a long great, it is still a hard to get everyone on the same because now the work is no longer just up to one person, but several people. I find that to be the hardest thing on the project because I am used to doing things all by myself. The assignments that we havecoming up, I believe should be easier though because, we have split the work pretty much where the majority of the decisions are left up to just one single person and the others are just like suggestions, which seems similar to the way we have done our papers throughout the semester.

Concession speech from John Kerry in 2004

John Kerry's concession was a lot more optimistic then Al Gores was in 2000. He did not seem as angry or upset like Gore did, occasionally, there were some signs of frustration that he had just lost the presedential election, but it never seemed like he held any grudge for losing. He recognizes and accepts his loss as he talks bout the votes in the state of Ohio. He seems very thankful of all his supporters, especially with the comment "I wish that I could just wrap you up in my arms and embrace each and every one of you individual all across the nation." Overall his speech is very emotional and very postive. However, he is a serious person which it shows in his speech so he does not try to use much humor in it. He is quick to deliver his point to his listeners. He uses the words "Our fight goes on" is meaningful in the speech. He uses the words repetivley to emphasize these sentences in the speech. He encouragest the unity of the people behind George W. Bush and "faith", that he talks about throught out his speech, the country moves on as the power it is known for.

Change in the topic

I think that my topic has changed a bit. I originally started with natural gas drilling and now I believe it to be to choose between oil and natural gas drilling depending on the pros and cons of each one of them. The trouble that I had with my sources is that they were all primary sources that just had bulletins with information that I found hard to do analysis on.

Research: sources

My sources are all primary sources. I have gotten information that I could use in my research from internet sources. I have found sources from the company's side, an article written by an organization against drilling, and I have been looking for an actual bill passed by the federal government in order to to get the the perspective coming from the government, but I have yet to be successful. I have not yet chosen on how to arrange them because I need more sources to cover that part.

Research

As I go through some sources that I could possibly use, I have narrowed my search to oil and natural gas drilling. This is because natural gas and oil go hand in hand and a lot of the sources refer to them as if they were the same thing so that is how I plan on using them on my research paper. People who have experience with this issue are politicians and and the companies that do the drilling. The people who are impacted by it is everyone. This is because it either effects us personally, economically, health wise, etc. The people talking about the issue are many politicians, average American citizens, and every once in a while the media. Some primary sources would be actual government bills, some documantation from actual companies, and possibly first hand experience.

Unit 2 Topic

For my topic for this unit, I have chosen to use the restrictions on alternative energy resources put on by the United States government.



People who would know about these restrictions would be government officials and people who work for the companies that provide alternative resources like natural gas, solar power, nuclear power, wind power. The issue would impact everyone in the country. The price for living the way we live now would decrease an enormous amount which would definitely make everyone happy, especially with the current harsh times.



I believe that everyone, including average people are talking about it since it does effect everyone that is part of the United States.

A primary source that would give me insight is the actual document passed by congress. Companies that work at trying to find resources may also give me some insight into this.

Comic Article Analysis

I found my humorous example on a website on the post below. This example is not made to be too funny. However, it does put in racists comments that are typically stereotyping many races to compare it to the situations in Governor Palin's life. The point in the criticism towards Governor Palin is to make people realize her incompetince to be in such an important position in this country, which is the vice presidency of the United States. The author sees the unstable life of the governor to be similar to how it would be if she were made vice president of the country.


The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Link to Comic Article

http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo/?review=1#url=http://f-ckingc-nts.com/politics/white-privilege-keeps-palin-mccain-running/

Op-Ed Draft

Looking Into the Future

The economy is down, the War on Terrorism seems to have no end in sight; the majority of the world seems to hate the United States for what it has become. If this is our situation now, where are we hoping to be in a few years?
Everyone in the world seems to be looking onto the U.S. 2008 Presidential Elections for answers to not only the problems of the United States, but of the world as well. They look onto Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama as if they have all the answers to world’s problems. However, when looking at both candidates, neither one really seems to have a great solution to solve the great majority of any of these problems. Senator McCain seems to have the views of fellow Republican, George W. Bush, on many issues. Of course, we all know where President Bush has gotten us over the last several years. As bad as Senator McCain’s stands on issues may be, it is better to have an opinion period. Senator Obama seems to be indecisive on the issues that just seem to come up. For example, lately, a big issue on the media and the American people are worried over the decline in the United States economy, but there are many issues that he has not stated his stand on. He has been very indecisive during the presidential campaign even though in the fight for the Democratic nomination, his position seemed to be clear for everyone to see. Neither one of these candidates seems to have prepared themselves for the difficult decisions that they would have to make even before they would be in office. Even when both of these candidates make a decision, it really never builds it from its root. The root to the majority of our problems seems to be due to our international relations.
The United States relationship with other countries doesn’t seem to affect the way things are, but by looking at it very closely it is the root to many problems. The war that we are currently involved in is a big part of our problems. We are not at war with a country in particular, but we are at war with a group in a several countries. It seems as if this cannot possibly hurt us in any way, but it does.
Trillions of dollars have gone to the troops for supplies to fight the war annually since the war began. All of this money has put the country in debt for nearly 11 trillion dollars. So much debt has finally hit the U.S. economy hard and put it in a vulnerable position. The reason for so much debt is that we have not only supplied our troops, but we have also helped supply our allies. Even though a lot of those “allies” have turned their backs and decided not to help fight our cause even though we provide aide to many of these countries for one reason or another. The aide that the United States has supplied countries and stationing in many others has caused hatred by others to grow. It has even pushed some countries like China, Cuba, and Venezuela to ally and plan to take oil from the gulf coast, since oil has become one of the biggest commodities needed in many prospering countries and large energy consumers like the U.S.
Relationships with countries are the beginning of most major issues in U.S. Presidential Elections. However, neither party seems to provide any solution that would take care of any of these problems. They want solve the problems diplomatically when it looks as if that is not going to be possible to accomplish. The U.S. Government has as well as the people have forgotten that not everyone in the world thinks like the people here. Others do not believe in fighting fairly, using reasonable tactics, nor in the rights of others. If the United States hopes to end the war soon, bring back the economy from its decline, or keep the respect of the great power it once had, it has to play the same game as others or it will never happen.
Where do we expect to be in a few years? If things continue the way they are now, the United States will no longer exist. Like Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said ‘“The American Empire" is nearing collapse. "American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road.”’ Nobody knows if he is right or not, but only the future will tell.


The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Tuesday Assignment

Argument of Definition:

The article I chose is called "Obama Carries Uneven Record to First Contest", by John M. Broder. It was published by The New York Times(link below).The article decides to categorize Senator Barack Obama as a good or bad orator after several months of witnessing his public speeches and debates. In order to do this they have to explain their definition for calling him either one, which brings in the argument of definition.

Op-Ed:

I have chosen my op-ed to cover the international relations with other countries during the war. I decided to focus my article towards the audience to make them realize the impact that the war has had in the international relations. I would like for it to be near the front of the newspaper where the international news are located.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/us/politics/23obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Fact Article

My article for fact called "Commentary: 2008 campaign attack ads hit an all-time low" is from the CNN Politics website(link below). The author, Darrell M. West, argues that campaign ads have gotten worse over the years, but this election has stooped lower then it ever has before. They compare the ad campaigns from the very first election to the one now. It gives examples of the candidates of the first elections saying bad things about each other. It then gives examples of the same acts by the candidates and the 2008 election to show how much the integrity has declined. However, the author does comment that the alot of the negative ads towads candidates are made by individual supporters and not the candidates themselves. The ads made though are covering a lot of the media and are hiding what the candidates really stand for in the election.

I think the author makes a great argument. A lot of his logos examples give him a lot of credibility. The camparison between the first lection with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams makes a strong point on how bad elections have gotten when it comes to ad campaigning.

Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/15/west.negative/index.html

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

First Draft

Letter to the Editor

To Whom It May Concern:

In regards to the article “Real wars and the U.S. culture war; Globalist” by Roger Cohen released on September 8, 2008, I believe that you have brilliantly spoken for thousands, possibly millions of Americans that believe the same thing. Many believe that the war in the Middle East is nothing but a cultural war, as you stated, began by the Bush administration. However, I would have to disagree with you on the policies on the war presented to the people by the presidential candidates.

You seem to be completely against both policies. I applaud you for the evidence you present for your argument because it does affect NATO, it does affect other countries besides ourselves, and we are dealing with Al Qaeda in countries like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. However, you make wild assumptions on each of the policies for the future. You predict that with McCain’s policy we will be in the war for about another thirty years. You criticize Obama for wanting to end the war diplomatically with the hostile conditions in all of the countries mentioned. And you criticize both of the policies because, according to you, they do not take in account all of the obstacles that could occur while trying to put these policies into action.

First off, meaning no disrespect, but you have no experience in the field to criticize policies of that sort. Your field is in writing about international events not national policy and especially not war matters. Yes, the article is an opinion, but it seems that you are demanding that these policies be changed and a man with your stature could influence thousands possibly even millions of people. You cannot speak of something that you have no experience over.

You know plenty on events across the world, but that does not give you enough credibility to criticize policies like the one we speak of. That is why you should stick to your writing and leave the making of policies to the people responsible for it.



The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Topic 1

The topic that I chose to focus on is on international relationships. This is the topic that I feel most passionate about then any other issue that has come up in this campaign. Another reason why I chose this topic is because it is a very broad subject. The international relationships topic of the election also links itself with nearly every other topic that has been up for discussion. Whether the topic is the economy, the war, national security, dependency on natural resources, and many others, it all comes back to the topic of international relationships.

I found an article coming from the New York Times as my article for this first assignment. The aricle (link below) talks about the presendential candidates failure to address the issue of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It criticizes the candidates for their "plan" on the war if they are elected. Plus it focuses on how the U.S. relationships with both countries plus Pakistan have, are, and could effected even more without a great plan to end the war. The author gives several ideas to use as a plan on pulling out of the war.

The author's criticism on the candidates through out the article is extremely harsh, making it seem as if he is wanting to make them seem idiotic when it comes to the topic of the war in the Middle East. He does this by using diction that makes fun of them. He puts facts about the war to establish credebility with the audience to make himself sound like reliable source. He uses the logos to set the audience up to give his own opinion on the way the war should be handled. By giving his opinion on the way the war should go, he is pretty much telling the audience, "Look at my plan, its a lot better then theirs. If I can make a plan like this, why can't they?".

http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T4536375429&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T4536375432&cisb=22_T4536375431&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8357&docNo=5



The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Presidential Election

During election years, there are always topics that are to be discussed by the presidential candidates. There are several issues in this election which I find important. These issues are important to me although I am not voting in this election because of personal reasons on which I do not wish to discuss.

China has been a big topic on which the candidates have debated back and forth about. However, it is not just the topic of China that is important to me. I find the topic of the United States' international relationship at the top of my list as far as important topics are concerned. The reason it is at the top of my list is because everything the United States is now depends on international relationships. The economy, the War on Terrorism, our entire future depends on the way these relationships are managed. This is an important topic to me, but I do believe that the United States needs to get away from the dependency on foreign countries because it could lead to the fall. We see it happening right now as the economy slowy falls, the national debt increases, and we fall back to countries that we once were superior to.

The economy is also a topic I find important in election. I am certain that I am not the only one concerned for the economy. Our entire way of life depends on the state of the economy. This topic ties back to the first topic. My opinion is that the United States depends way too much on other countries to supply us with everything we need and that is including money. They might not give us the money directly, but foreigners do purchase a piece of the economy every time they buy bonds, which also increases our debt. The economy is slowy headed towards rock bottom and the next president needs to stop it on its tracks and turn it back around.

The third and last topic imortant to me in this election is the war. I myself have been against the war since the beginning, but since it is not up to me if the troops stay or go, I cannot do anything but show my support. I have to admit that this topic is important to me due to emotional appeal. I have family and friends in different branches of the military and I would hate for any one of them to have to go fight a way in which I, along with millions of others, see no point in fighting.

I am not an expert in any of these fields. I cannot say what should be done in order to solve them because the solutions could have several things effecting it that are beyond my understanding. I am simply stating the topics that are important to me in this election and my opinion on them.

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Logos

Arguments that utilize logos are based on facts. A lot of arguments use logos in order to build up credibility with their audience. The argument for logos is an article from the New York Times (link below). The article talks about the turmoil that the Detroit mayor has gone through the past eight months. The mayor had been on trial for comitting two felonies, obstruction of justice and assault on an officer. However, what had brought him to court was not the felonies, but a sex scandal that was revealed at the beginning of this year. Just by looking at the title, it is easy to see what the article is about. The mayor decided to plead guilty to the charges and resign from his position as the mayor of Detroit.

The argument is based on logos because it is an argument based on testimony. It may not speak of any testimonies from specific people, but in order to make a case in court, there must be witnesses. I think the article is written to inform, as most media is. However, in certain way, it is also made to persuade. Persuading comes in when the the article brings names of people in and how they stood up for what was right against the mayor. In a way it is telling people to stand up for what they believe in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/05kwame.html?hp

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those of Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Ethos/Pathos

There is no doubt that just about everything in our world meant to be an argument has at least a little bit of ethos and pathos. Pathos is used in argument to the capture the attention of its audience with emotional appeal. Ethos is used to capture the attention of the audience by using ethics. Sometimes there is more of one and sometimes they are about even.

A good example of the use of both ethos and pathos is the propaganda for the War on Terrorism such as the one on the link at the bottom. The picture of "Uncle Sam" gives the picture an patriot feel for Americans. By adding the words, "To support the War on Terrorism", it brings in a very strong emotional appeal to the audience. The reason for this is because the War on Terrorism was started because the war began due to the events of 9/11, which is a very emotional moment for the American people. Combining both the ethos and very strong pathos appeal to the argument makes a strong argument to gain the support of the American people for the war.

http://www.jessemichaelbarr.com/uploaded_images/war-on-terror-711779.jpg

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those of Texas Christian University or of its administration.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Hector V. Arellano. I am from Mineral Wells, Texas. I am a sophomore engineer major. I have not decided which field to pursue or what I want to do with it once I graduate. I am a proud member of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity Incorporated and of Amnesty International. I am a very open minded person, which I think greatly contributes to my interests as well as the way my life is headed.

There are two main reasons for why I chose to take this course. One of those was because it is a requirement. The second reason though is because a teacher that I had my junior year of high school got me to love argumentative writing so when I saw the opportunity to expand on her teachings, I jumped on it. Although I have never been a good writer as far as grammar and organization goes, I hope to get better as the course progresses.

As an engineer major, the opportunity to write does not come around very often. The most writing I do is in text messages. Texting is probably the reasons why my grammar is so terrible since I am so accustomed to not having any boundaries on what I write. There are times when I have to send e-mails that are written in a professional manner, but I struggle a lot because i often doubt my grammar and the structure of the e-mail. The same thing happens to me whenever I am writing a paper that is to be turned in for a grade, which is really bad for me because I have to spend a lot of time correcting it. Very often I have doubts on what I turn in because I feel as if it is not good enough yet, but since there is no more time, I turn in what I have and hope for the best.

I am very interested in politics, especially national and international politics. I might not always be up to date on what is going on, but I try to keep up with the news. What interests me the most in politics are the decisions made by governments that affect me as well as the rest of the world.

The argument that the blog is making is stating my opinion and point of view on things that are hopefully are at least tolerated by the rest of the class. The choices that I made make me seem very random, which I am. As far as the participation in the class, I say that I am going to be working hard in the glass because it is something of great interest.

I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus.

The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those of Texas Christian University or of its administration.