Mother Jones FEC: We Won't Treat Tea Partiers Like Jim Crow-Era NAACP Supporters

     This article by Andy Kroll appeared in Mother Jones online, today, November 21, 2013. The work presents the topic of the 3-2 rejection vote that was issued by the FEC (Federal Trade Commission) in response to an earlier request by the Tea Party group that their donors not be exposed by name to the public. Specifically, the filed petition was made on behalf of the Tea Party Leadership Fund which has received millions in private donations by around 600 individuals in just the past few years. The  demand was predicated upon a much earlier concession that was made for the NAACP years ago when it was feared that under the Jim Crowe laws, individuals who gave money to support causes could be at risk for racial hate crimes or other types of assault on their reputations or persons. Citing the potential for “harassment, threats, and reprisals,” the group claimed they should be due the same consideration. However, the argument failed to sway the FEC who rarely gives this type of exemption, and generally only for extreme situations. In essence the policy claim by the petitioners failed to convince the committee. By way of counter-argument and or rebuttal, opponents of the filing by the Tea Party pointed out that the evidence given to support their claim of threats to their personal safety and or actual damages was meager and failed to reach the level of requiring protective measures.      

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/11/fec-tea-party-exemption-jim-crow-naacp

a letter to Abercrombie

This article is mainly focus on the claim declared by A&F’s CEO - Mike Jeffries. In the pervious interview, he had affirmed that the clothing in A&F stored only designed for the pretty and thin people but not for the larger group. His affirmation implied that the larger group are not deserved to wear his clothing. This aroused considerable opposition and discontent from the public. Some people formed the facebook group to isolate this brand – A&F together; while others posted many article and video to criticize the claim of Mike Jeffries. This article uses the verbal irony, which is a discrepancy between the written meaning and the intended meaning, to criticize the claim of Mike Jeffries and ask the public to isolate the brand. I think using the irony is better then criticizing other directly since we can prevent using some meant and rude word, as well as some space can be leave to the audiences and readers to develop their imagination. 

http://redemptionpictures.com/2013/05/16/abercrombi/

A Modest Proposa - Keeping Higher Education Out of Reach

Dear Secretary Of Education Duncan:                                              November 21, 2013

                I am writing to you today with a plea that I know will hit close to home for you as a true American educational elitist. As a man who breathed the rarefied air of Harvard University, you also know better than most what a danger the status-seeking working proletariat poses to our blue-blooded Bourgeoisie life style. Your custom-made navy blue suits and bright red power neckties are the mark of a true aristocrat and I can tell by your recent verbal assault on whiney American soccer-moms and their pathetic plea to hold on to their meager education subsidies for their special needs children: that you know what is really important in America. What is important is maintaining the status quo, and keeping women, minorities, and yuppies away from the best America has to offer. After all, we know that the best educations, the best jobs, and the memberships in the top country clubs around the U. S. of A, belong to people like you and I. What would become of this great country if every poor schmuck with a Harley Davidson t-shirt addiction, a Walmart credit card and an affinity for Big Macs could actually presume to achieve post-secondary educational success? What would happen to the land of Wall Street and Brooks Brothers if everyone could afford to drive a BMW?! Well, I am sure that you agree that the connotations are too horrific to even ponder. We simply cannot have it. No we must take a stand and we are depending on you Mr. Duncan and your delicious disregard for all things common to send a message and do it now. We beseech you Mr. Secretary to do the right thing and be true to your ivory-tower roots. Help us keep “Class,” in the American collegiate classroom, and keep post-secondary educational options out of the hands of the working class. We both know that this  is for their own good and even more – the good of our America.

                                Sincerely,

                                Michele Malone (Dobin)

                                Chairwoman – KHEOOR (Keeping Higher Education Out of Reach)  

  

A modest proposal

The government shutdown was needed, they work too hard in Washington, heck they do not even spend much money. I’m sure the NSA did not take any time off though, and I am positive the United States citizens don’t want them to have any time off. The people find it critical that the NSA is watching every conversation they have, how could they take a week off from their very own reality television show. They couldn’t go a day without knowing my personal schedule and what I am going to eat for lunch. I guessing they have nothing better to do than watch all of our personal lives. I’m sure during the time off the government officials spent all their time making sure everything was going to be perfect once they got back to work. They obviously worked their tails off to get Obamacare going, I mean they had a lot of time. Unfortunately, they forgot to do one minor thing. They didn’t make the website completely operational. To me that does not seem like a terribly important thing, but I guess some Americans were disappointed when they could not get there health insurance figured out, and possibly spent a day or so uninsured. While it seems people are always blaming the government for things like taxes, health care, wars, and spending, I don’t think we should get mad at least their trying right? It should be like kindergarten, they didn’t win, but they should still receive a participation trophy. Everyone deserved a few days maybe even a few weeks off, but not everyone could get one, so naturally the Government took the vacation time. What could happen anyway, it’s only the government?

Article Evaluation: Oprah Plays Obama Race Card from the Canada Free Press Website (also discussed on Fox News)

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/59279

While traveling, I saw a snippet on the news (believe it was Fox News) discussing Obama’s current approval ratings and how some believe his lower ratings are due to Obama’s race, being African American.  I wanted to hear more so found an article in the Canada Free Press which reports that Oprah Winfrey, during a recent BBC interview commented on a recent statement made by Republican Congressman (Joe Wilson-South Carolina) who called the President a “liar” due to the recent Affordable Health Care Act issues.  Winfrey stated, “…there is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs and that occurs in some cases and…maybe because he’s African American”.  The author of this article took the stance that comments like this is “pure hogwash” and Obama has “…received preferential treatment from the media because of his race and liberal policies”.  I believe the article had a majority of value claims as he makes statements around the fact that the President’s race has nothing to do with how his approval ratings are and how many republican presidents had to do with constant attacks from the Left, such as Regan and W. Bush.  Another opinion he states which leads me to believe this is a value claim is that he says the president, “…fumbled the rollout of ObamaCare.  Clearly, he did not fumble because of racism in the country; it was due to his administration’s utter incompetence and the waste, fraud and abuse that characterize ObamaCare and every government program.”

 

 

 

Australian kangaroo exporters look to hop into meat-hungry China

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/us-australia-china-kangaroo-idUSBRE9AI07820131119

Australian officials are claiming there is a great market for selling kangaroo meat as a luxurious and exclusive product to China. Grounds are China has a fast growing middle class with a growing meat consumption with the increased personal cash flow in that middle class. Warrant being most Australians will not eat it and usually has just been seen as a pet food ingredient. This also factors in a little bit of an argument by dilemma. Kangaroos are not farmed-not allowed to be in Australia. They are hunted only from the wild (except for those ones in sanctuaries and zoos) and right now there is a lack of grazing area, due to drought,  between the healthy populations of kangaroos and cows. There are already some Chinese buyers willing and ready to accept this new delicacy(for them) although it is not official and legal yet. As I see it in the way it was explained, it is like hunting a deer and if there is a place the meat can go to be beneficial rather than wasted why not as long as I don't have to eat it.

Terrified Obama Trapped Inside Healthcare.gov Website

http://www.theonion.com/articles/terrified-obama-trapped-inside-healthcaregov-websi,34615/


This article uses satire to point out the flaws in the Healthcare website by saying that Obama was trapped inside the mainframe when he was trying to figure it out. They used the cluttered mayhem occurring inside the website to serve as a symbol for the confusion that people are facing when they are trying to navigate through it on a daily basis. They use adjectives such as "indecipherable"to describe the information that is flying past the trapped President, actually representing the information that is presented to the American public. After searching through the website, the author stated that Obama found a "crumbling" core, possibly referring to the core of the Healthcare act, even though it is a good idea.

A Modest Proposal

As I rolled out of bed this morning, I did what any college aged girl would do; I checked my phone to see if anything drastic had transpired online from the hours of 2:00 to 9:00. And, as usual, something groundbreaking and downright earth shattering did occur. Miley Cyrus shaved her eyebrows. I am unsure as to how the earth today is still going on as planned, since all if could see scrolling down my newsfeed was sheer panic and confusion as to why she would do something to drastic.  Then again, things of this magnitude of importance happen every day in our society, we need to start getting used to it. I am unsure as to what the world is coming to these days, I mean, the older generations had life so easy. Everyday I have to stomach through the tragic stories of one celebrity breaking up with another, or someone having a stain on their designer dress during the premiere of the fourth sequel of a movie. Forget the Cold War or any of the World Wars, the war of greatest importance was the feud between team Aniston and team Jolie, fighting to see who would win the heart of Brad Pitt. The celebrities that we invest so much time in are genuine and reliable role models and it is of vast importance that we spend the majority of our time worrying about them and their taxing lives. After all, thats all anyone should inspire to me.