fitting response despite framing...

I heard something today and I couldn’t help but think about how the media continually frames the way that we think about things in this country. On CNN’s Newsroom this afternoon, the comment was made that for some people, the oil spill is being viewed as Obama’s Katrina. The problem for me is that everyone has a different image of exactly what that means.

Katrina means a lot of criticism. There were a lot of critics who argued that the Bush administration did not do enough to help the victims of Katrina. This thought was particularly prevalent in the black American community. This is a view that is still a stigma of the administration to this day.

The media is trying to shape this catastrophe as a similar situation. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), the Obama administration is working alongside BP in order to ensure that there is an appropriate response; specifically they are working to ensure there is a fitting response. Seeing as BP is offering compensation for the fisherman that are affected, one could argue that the Obama administration is working to ensure that this happens.

Leno, Obama Compete for chuckles at Annual Dinner

I found this article on www.usatoday.com, and it wad based on Jay Leno and Obama. It states in the article that Jay Leno can tease the president all he wants, but Barack Obama is likely to offer some barbs of his own. It continue to talk about how in the past year and a half, Leno has invited Obama, the first lady and even senior whitehouse advisor David Axelrod to appear on his show for some friendly chats. But like entertainers at previous dinners, Leno was expected on Saturday to make some jabs at Obama and other politicians. The article also states that Obama was coming with own set of jokes, but he wanted to be more careful this time. Since Obama last time on the tonight show Obama compared his own clumsy bowling skills with those celebrated in the special olympics. However Obama, did apologize later for his remarks. I thought this article was interesting, because I remember how talk about in class how sometimes comedy can play into poltics. I thought it was also intersting how Obama and Jay Leno both can joke with one another, but know when they have taken it to far. I felt that Obama felt that he took the joke to far, and later apologize which I thought was great.

A Few New Hybrids

When I say a few new hybrids, I'm not speaking of those very eco-friendly expensive Japanese vehicles. I'm speaking of these new animal hybrids that are being reported in the news as of late. The article talks about ligers which are a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. They can grow to be up to 700lbs and about 10 ft. tall. Grolar bears were also included and they are a cross between polar and grizzly bears and are very vicious animals. This interbreeding may be occuring due to the polar bears' natural habitat shrinking due to the effects of global warming. The other hybrid animals were wolphins, a cross between a killer whale and dolphin, a zebroid, a cross between a zebra and horse or donkey, a savannah cat which is a cross between a domestic and wild African cat, and lastly a beefalo which is a cross between domestic cattle and an American Bison. These animals are truly amazing but in some cases they can't mate and reproduce due to changes in their DNA. Earlier in the semester we learned about what makes something newsworthy and there were about seven characteristics, one was uniqueness. This article would be considered newsworthy by the press because these are truly unique and new animals. Its not too often that you get interbreeding like this and that's what make this article "newsworthy", according to the press.

Too fat? Not news...

For some time now, we’ve been hearing about how the United States’ citizenry is too big and, frankly, too fat. But to take it one step further, two retired generals are now stating that our youth are so fat that it is causing a national security crisis. Essentially the generals argue that the fat spread is undermining the future of the US military, citing that 25% of the young people today are “too fat too fight.” The BBC article discusses how over the years, it will only continue to get worse unless Congress enacts laws that forces for more strict diets with less sugar, salt, and fat.

In looking at how this is applicable to our course studies this semester, we can’t help but to note how this can analyzed through classical rhetoric. In terms of topoi and kairos, this is both a special topic and this is an opportune time for this topic to be discussed. As topoi, the discussion of this topic continues to come up over the course of more recent years. It’s apparent that it is something that is becoming increasingly important to people across the globe. But in addition to this reality, it being such a topic makes this the best time to discuss solutions. Overall, the generals have selected the most perfect time to bring this up. Yet, it’s not only in application to the actual topic itself. It’s also the fact that the United States is currently deploying troops all over the world. And if the cream of the crop is going to be too creamy in the future, then there’s nothing that is going to be able to be done.

Ohio GOP Primary Election this Tuesday...

The Ohio primary election will be held this upcoming Tuesday, and could be a very important one at that. This election has been a dog fight since the beginning; it comes down to the newfound activism of the Tea party vs. the Ohio Republican Party. The GOP or grand old party has two main candidates up for State Auditor which are State representative Seth Morgan, and Delaware County prosecutor David Yost. Both candidates have stepped up their efforts of campaigning these past few weeks; the article discusses the importance of using television spots on the conservative news channel. The GOP’s primary battle for secretary of state is also up for grabs, Sen. John Husted vs. Sandra O’Brien. Both of these candidates have used Fox News, to help advertise themselves to the general public. With the election so close these next few days will be important for the teams to create positive information for each candidate.
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/01/copy/election-will-test-strength-of-revolt.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Obama Works Hard to Adress Oil Spill

President Obama will be making an appearance to Louisiana coast today, to visit the site near where the oil spills are occurring. Obama stated that he does not want to create a distraction to the recovery of the spill; therefore he will be traveling in a small group. Many of the Gulf Coast residents will have to brace themselves for the arrival of the oil which is expected to hit the shoreline sometime today. The oil spill started April 20th, as a result of an explosion on the BP-operated deep water drilling platform, just off the Gulf Coast of Mexico. A total of eleven oil rig worker are missing and at the moment are presumed dead. Two days after the explosion, the rig sank, and the untapped well head is spitting out about 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf. After reading the article, I felt very assure that our government is doing everything they can in order to stop this issue, some of which include placing 6,000 national guard troops along the shores of the Gulf Coast. BP is also doing everything in its power to stop the leaking oil, that way the government can put more focus on cleaning up the mess that was created. Obama has done a great job of controlling the situation, which might include assigning officials to review what might have caused this explosion. This way we can prevent further explosions in the near future.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/01/louisiana.oil.spill/index.html