Rays v Red Sox

I was extremely disappointed that the Red Sox lost the pennant to the Tampa Bay Rays. Just a year ago the Rays were the laughing joke of baseball giving up the most runs out of their bullpen and having the worst record in baseball. I have two reasons that I hate the Rays. First is that even when the Rays were bad, they still would always beat the Orioles. The Orioles could sweep the Yankees and then get swept by the devil rays the next week. They had our number always and anytime the Orioles were doing well the Rays would knock them back down. The second reason why I hate the Rays is that they have the ugliest stadiums in baseball and before this postseason is made watching baseball against the Rays boring. I don’t understand how you can have a stadium in St. Petersburg Florida and have a closed in dome. Some domes I don’t even mind but this one has to be the ugliest one of them all. The lighting is terrible and dim and the astro-turf is a puke green color. The crowd before this post season would show up 5 thousand strong and it would be silent in that stadium. I really thought that the Rays would fall apart this year and when they made it to the ACLS I was sure the Boston Red Sox would win the pennant. Yet the Rays won it in game 7 of the ALCS and now I refuse to watch the world series. I am sure the sponsors are now dropping out because not many people will watch this boring world series.

21 isn't cutting it

I am running out of this to write about so I thought I would write about the ridiculous drinking age in the United States. 21 is an absurd drinking age and the U.S. has the highest drinking age in the world. It amazes me that you can go off to war at the age of 18, and have the responsibility of holding weapons that take other peoples lives yet you cannot have a drink. You can fire a weapon and take other people’s lives as well as risk your own life at war, yet some young soldiers will never legally be able to have a drink. Another thing that you can do at the age of 16 is driving a car. We a trusted driving a two ton car that can induce mass damage yet we are not socially responsible enough to drink alcohol.
Equally as industrialized nations in Europe all have drinking ages of 16. Some of these nations include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Sweden. In my opinion by setting the drinking age so high in the United States it causes the opposite effect in that there is more under age binge drinking than any other nation in the world. If so many other nations have showed us that minors can be socially responsible with alcohol, why can’t Americans? Our government needs to lower the drinking age to atleast 18 and I truly believe that it will reduce binge drinking and fewer Americans will die of alcohol intoxication and learn how to be socially responsible with alcohol.

Vacation

Phew, done with my exams but I can’t relax yet! I still have a math test and an English paper to worry about. I want to get my entire English paper done before this homecoming weekend. This weekend I am driving home to get my best friend who is meeting me in Baltimore from Penn State and then we are coming back to Maryland for the football game. My brother is also flying down from Boston for homecoming here at Maryland and I cannot wait to see him either. My brother and I have already been extremely close yet last summer is the last summer he will spend at home. Next summer he will get an internship up in Boston and will only come home for a possible vacation.
Speaking of vacations, my parents left for Italy yesterday and I am so jealous. Italy is my favorite European country. I have been to Italy five times, France twice, Switzerland twice and Germany once. I am actually a French citizen and have a French passport and I.D card. My grandfather tried to leave the country on a U.S. passport and enter France on a French passport once and he was snagged by the French intelligence agency. They thought he was a Jason Bourne and kept him in an interrogation room for hours on end. He has many good traveling stories.

Rhetorical Journal # 2

The article entitled Illegal Immigration written by Peter Katel focuses on the number and history of illegal immigrants flooding into this country and the issue of reforming the current immigration policies. In this article they are trying to lay down the facts using the Ethos and the Logos. There is little Pathos involved because they are not trying to sway your opinion one way of the other.
The author builds up his credibility or ethos by stating facts that cannot be disputed. They are numbers such as “more than 10 million illegal live in the United States and 1,400 more arrive every day”. By starting out with this fact it builds up the authors creditability. He does tend to make claims after his facts that might or might not be actually true. For example he says “While illegal immigrants make up only about 5 percent of the U.S. work force, they are rapidly making their presence known in non-traditional areas such as the Midwest and South”. He starts the sentence off with a fact about the exact percentage of illegal workers in this country and follows it up with a point that they are rapidly making their presence known. That might or might not be true but by building up his credibility he is able to make these claims.
There is little to no pathos is this article. The only possible pathos is when the author talks about Maria and Juan Gomez’s journey and illegal status in the U.S. He remotely tries to play on the audiences that they get up everyday and are extremely hard workers in this country and that if the audience continues to want cheap labor from Maria and Juan they have to accept illegal immigration in this country. There is little pathos in this article because once again, the author is not trying to sway your opinion one way or the other, he is just trying to present the argument. That is why logos is the dominant rhetorical appeal in this article.
Logos is all over this article, stating facts and numbers about illegal immigrants in this country. He is able to back up his facts by stating that they are from bureau censuses and government data. For example he says “About 96 percent of the 4.5 million illegal immigrant men now in the country are working, concludes Jeffrey Passel, a former U.S. Census Bureau demographer who is now senior research associate at the Pew Hispanic Center”. This article is driven by facts and that is why I would say that dominant appeal of this article is logos. There are a few logical fallacies. He time after time states that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from residents in the United States. This is confusing cause and effect. The jobs are still out there, the immigrants are the ones who are willing to work for less though. Americans still have the opportunities to obtain these jobs but chose not to work for such little pay. Yet overall I would say that this is an extremely valuable source to obtain facts about immigrants coming into the country.

Fooled Me!

I have to say that the Ravens fooled me at the beginning of the season. Their 2-0 start gave the city of Baltimore hope that this would be a redefining year with this new Quarterback and head coach. Yet after the last three weeks of losses I can officially say ‘yep, they are still the Ravens of old”. After this weekends loss they looked exactly like the Ravens of previous years. They turned the ball over 5 times, had a terrible offense and finally couldn’t defend against the pass. Their 31-3 loss on Sunday was an exact mirror of the previous few years.
If it were up to me I would make some vital changes. First I would get rid of Chris McAllister because he continues to fail at defending against the deep pass without the help of Ed Reed. Secondly I would get rid of Todd Heap who continues to struggle this year with a total of four catches all year long. For those two players I would pick up two wide receivers such as Chad Johnson. We need a big name receiver on our offense that can really lead it. We used to have this in Todd Heap but since he got injured in 2006 he has been a lot more cautious on the field and has failed to pick up that leadership roll on the field. The worst thing about the Ravens losing is that I am surrounded by Redskins fans and they are having an extremely successful year and are rubbing it in our faces.

Officially Voted

I officially sent in my absentee ballot today and it feels so great that I am taking part in this historic election. I have wanted to vote for my entire life and especially in the last few years. The one thing for certain is that no matter who wins we will have a new president in around 5 months and we will be able to get our current idiot out of the white house. I have no clue how he got elected for not one but two terms. He has the lowest approval rating of any president in history and that is hard to come by because Nixon had a pretty dam low approval rating after Watergate. Bush had more than doubled our entire nations debt in only 8 years. Something that President Clinton took great measures to actually decrease.
I think I wanted to cry the other day when I watched him give a speech about the current bailout plan. Millions of people have lost their life savings in this crisis and he gets up there, leaning on the podium with that smirk on his face and give some bull speech about Americans need to wait for this bailout to hopefully work. We need a president that reinsures the people that the bailout will work not ‘hopefully will work’. I have hated Bush every since he stepped into the white house and will after he leaves.

rough week

This week is going to be extremely tough, well actually the next two weeks. I have 3 midterms and two essays to complete. Over the next two weeks I have midterms in my Business Management class, my math class and finally my History class. I am most worried about my History exam because we have covered extensive material. Also this exam counts for a large sum of my final grade so if I do not prepare for it extremely well it will severely impact my final grade. I feel prepared on most terms but dates are going to kill me. My TA told me to define the term as who what where when and most importantly why. I will have to go back and review the why part for each of the terms.
In terms of my essays I hope that I do not push them off due to these midterms. They are equally as important. Luckily the experience with other evidence essay is only a rough draft so it does not have to be perfect. Unfortunately my history essay has to be perfect or else I will not receive credit for it. My history essay is about this movie that I went to see concerning the semesters theme on war. I am already half done but it seems choppy and I don’t think I will get around to turning it in for another two weeks. I hope I can make it through these two weeks alright, I will be ready for a break after them.

Joe and the Yankees

I really hope that the dodgers make it to the world series for two main reasons. First is because I want to see Manny Ramirez face his old Boston team (also saying they make it to the world series). Manny left Boston earlier this season leaving much bad blood and it will be interesting how he handles coming back there. The second and more important reason I was the Dodgers to make it to the World Series is because I love Joe Torres and I hate how New York treated him. He made the playoffs 15 straight years and won 4 titles yet that was not good enough for George Steinbrenner and the stuck up Yankees. It gave me great satisfaction that the year after they fired Joe Torres the Yankees did not make the playoffs and Joe was able to make the playoffs with an entirely new team that in the past few years have struggled. It shows Joe’s great character, that he leave New York after 15 years with no bad blood and go to another team and make them great. I think that the Yankees made the worst mistake of possibly their lifetime by firing Joe Torres and I don’t think that it will go un noticed. I think it will be decades maybe even centuries before they get a coach back that had as much talent as Joe Torres. I will always be a fan of Joe Torres no matter where he goes. The Yankees screwed up badly on that deal.

Ronald Jenkees

It is amazing what you can find on Youtube and what amazing stars can be born on Youtube. For example just a few weeks ago I ran across this guy who creates his own beats and jams to them on the keyboard and he has gotten national attention through Youtube. He is now selling albums like none other and he has blown my mind. He has convinced me to buy his first album and I am eagerly waiting for his second. His name is Ronald Jenkees and he taught himself how to play the piano at the age of four. He now produces his own music.
It is amazing that just two years ago he was in some completely other field of work to make money and through youtube he has been able to focus strickly on music and make a decent living so far. I am just waiting for a big time label to sign him, he is that good. I listen to his music everyday. He said that he will have his next album out by December and I cannot wait. Who knows, without youtube he still may have been sitting in his room producing insanely good beats without anyone every knowing. Thank god for the age of technology and the age of youtube.
Here is one of my favorites

Rhetorical Journal Assignment

I chose the Volkswagen GTI car commercial for my rhetorical analysis. This commercial is set in a warehouse and there are two actors who play host to this game show and one contestant. The contestant’s old car is destroyed and replaced by a new Volkswagen GTI. This commercial emphasizes pathos with little to none emphasis on ethos and logos. This car commercial is targeted towards the younger crowd and tries to toy with their emotion. There is no emphasis on exact facts or reasoning.
This ad is targets a younger crowd, doing so by advertising a car for a younger generation. The first technique used in this advertisement would be the snappy techno beat in the background. This is normally not the music that an advertising agency would use to target an older crowd. The second technique that Volkswagen does to characterize the ad towards the younger crowd are the short sayings. Sayings such as “representing Deutschland”, “dropped it like its hot” and “we are going to un-pimp it” plays towards communicating to a younger crowd.
This advertisement loves to play with the viewer’s emotions. The first technique that this ad uses is the writing on the back of the old car. It says “The Flame” and within seconds this somewhat ‘sexy’ blonde woman takes off the F on the car so it says “The Lame” and she sticks the F on the cars owner. The viewer’s first feeling is that maybe their own car that they once thought was the ‘hot’ thing is no longer. Also the fact that the ‘sexy’ lady slapped an F on your clothing symbolizes that your care fails her tests and you will not get the women in your old car. The next theme is the idea of having a ‘pimped’ car. The main character in this commercial says they are going to ‘un-pimp’ his car and quickly a new Volkswagen with no after-market products replaces his old car. This plays on the emotion that you do not need after market products such as this guy had before to have approval from this ‘hip’ guy and ‘sexy’ blonde. By far the focus of this advertisement is for the pathos. There is only one time where exact fact or logos is used in this commercial. The only direct fact that they state is that the car is pre-tuned by German Engineers.
The only possible fallacy in commercial is the miss-conception that you must upgrade your car to upgrade your status. This is a post hoc fallacy where there is a confusing cause and effect. There are a couple of examples of exaggerated uses of pathos though. The first is the false need, this commercial expresses to the viewer that you need this new GTI in order to maintain your cultural status with friends and family. This leads to the next exaggeration that is the slippery slope. They are trying to make the viewer feel that without this new car they will lose their status as “The Flame” and their social status will collapse. In the end, this commercial is trying to toy with ones emotions while advertising this car. They have little to no credibility and fail to even mention a starting price. It is simply a fun way for consumers to look at replacing their own car based strictly on their own social standing.

Cubs

Part of me has to just sit back and laugh at what is going on with the Chicago Cubs. Everyone denies that the cubs are cursed but I am not going to lie, I am starting to believe in it. The Cubs were the best team in baseball this season yet as soon as they step foot on field in the post season they fall apart. Last night they had four errors and the first night walked seven guys. Those statistics were unheard of during the regular season. Also the Cubs scored more runs than another other team in the league this season yet over the last two nights have a combined four runs. It is normal to see a team struggle in one aspect of the game during the post season, but not totally fall apart. The Cubs offense, defense and pitching has completely collapsed over the last two games and I have to ask myself, why does this happen season after season? A few years ago I found have said that they have too much pressure on themselves to win a world series but I just don’t see how that can happen year after year. If they get swept this year, the Cubs will truly be the laugh of major league baseball and I think that more and more Chicago Cubs fans will turn to the ‘dark side’ and start cheering for the White Sox.

War

Last night I went to view the movie All Quiet on the Western Front for part of my history grade and I was surprised at how well it conveyed some of the images of World War I. I wouldn’t say this is the best movie for demonstrating war though which I believe is what they were going for. I think that series like Band of Brothers or movies like Saving Private Ryan or Apocalypse now really demonstrate the hardship of war. Yet this movie got me thinking about what it is really like to fight in a war. This movie shows a clear enemy charging towards Paul (the main character) while he is firing within the fortifications of a trench. Is there a clear enemy charging at our soldiers in Iraq? Who exactly is the enemy in Iraq? I wonder what is more terrifying, having a clear enemy charging towards you giving you a clear target at who to shoot at or walking down the street of an Iraqi town and not knowing weather the civilian standing next to you is friend or an enemy. I guess this tactic is why we lost in Vietnam and we will lose in Iraq. Guerilla warfare is far superior to fighting against another known army in uniform. I wonder when we will finally admit to our defeat in Iraq though, how many more lives and how many more billions of dollars do we have to spend before we can admit that they are victorious.

Ravens

I was so disappointed with the Ravens on Monday Night Football. It seemed to me that we controlled that entire game offensively and defensively yet it one was stupid player that made us lose the game. Jared Johnson should be suspended for the rest of the season for what he did. Jared Johnson’s anger got a hold of him and he lashed out on a Pittsburgh player and cost the Ravens a 15 yard penalty which set up for the next play which was a 40 yard touchdown for Pittsburgh. Of course after that the mentality of the Ravens was wavering and on the next play Joe Flacco fumbled the ball and Pittsburgh ran it back for another touchdown. Two touchdowns in 15 seconds that most likely could have been avoided without the Jared Johnson 15 yard penalty. We would have easily won the game if not for Jared Johnson, which is why, I would take serious action against him.
If I were coach of the Ravens I would make sure the team knows that stupid penalties such as unnecessary roughness will not be tolerated. For every unnecessary roughness penalty I would fine the entire team fifteen thousand dollars and suspend the player for the next two games without pay. I would make sure that the player knows that he is hurting the entire team when he decides to lash out on the field and maybe that player will think twice before doing it again in the future.