Short Writing Assignment #4
For this assignment I looked to the online news offered by the Washington Post news website, specifically given by the link at the bottom. For my blog I chose Think Progress.
There did seem to be a definite difference in the types of stories that each of these organizations covered. The blog logs at Think Progress are almost always related to the latest political drama, and they mostly pertain to the political stage in America. Stories on this blog pertaining to wider international news ‘stretched’ as far as the war in Iraq, and to an issue with Romania withdrawing troops from Iraq, and even these were perhaps slanted so as to criticize the Bush Whitehouse’s handling of the situation. So, in total, the blog seems to be a laundry list of everything bad that republicans have done recently. Stories on the Washington Post website seemed to cover broader news, concentrating not only on the latest republican scandals, but issues such as the political situation with North Korea. In conclusion, the Think Progress blog had a much narrower scope, designed to decry the GOP, while Washington Post had other news to tell as well.
The Washington Post seems to be more of the ‘simply informative’ variety, simply stating, for example, how many casualties there were on any given day, without referencing the fact that the president started the war without international support, as Think Progress may be prone to do. Clearly the blog is disinterested with most foreign affairs, and very interested in bashing any republican they can get their sights on, while the Washington post seems to be more objective. Also, Think Progress makes their liberalism blatant by posting many articles under headings such as “Incompetent Establishment” or “Corrupt Establishment.” The articles featured therein are usually critical in nature to GOP members. So, the main difference between the two sources includes the evident lack of objectivity, as deduced by word choice and tone of articles. And also the blatant criticism that the bloggers post is very different from what one may find at the Washington Post website. However, one may say that the Washington Post is simply not critical enough of the current administration. It must be considered, however, that the authors of blogs have considerably more freedom to write about what seems to be on the minds of Americans with similar viewpoints. Nationally syndicated news organizations have many different aspects of news to cover. This may invariably lead to less bias, as this case would seem to reflect, or it may lead to a filching out of many opinions that should be considered.
So, in conclusion I would say that the blog news source, while concurring with my own opinions could lead to a more radically leftist viewpoint. It is never good to only listen to agreeing viewpoints. The Washington Post at least accomplishes this with greater success.
Washington Post website:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/NewsSearch?st=april+20&fn=&sfn=&sa=np&cp=22&hl=false&sb=-1&sd=&ed=&blt=
Blog site:
http://thinkprogress.org/page/5/
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Short writing assignment #3
April 10th: Bush’s immigration plan
Bush ventured to Arizona recently to talk about implementing his new immigration plan, declaring that, “This border should be open to trade and lawful immigration and shut down to criminals and drug dealers and terrorists.” This new plan is a response to what many people consider a growing illegal immigration problem. Last year the president tried to create a temporary guest worker program, but some in congress opposed the idea.
Now Bush states, “It is time for a comprehensive immigration bill.” The bill, proposed by President Bush, will include penalties for employers of illegal immigrants, and will attempt to require employers to verify the legal status of their employees. The plan will also include efforts to help new immigrants learn to speak English. In addition to this, two visas are a part of the plan. Temporary workers would be able to apply for Y-visas, which would grant them guest worker status. Current illegal immigrants may be required to pay fines for unlawfully entering the United States, but then may apply for a Z-visa, granting legal status after completion of an English and civics course.
Many immigrants oppose the plan and have demonstrated such. The senate is scheduled to take up the issue in May.
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/education/2007/04/09/sn.0410.cnn
April 4th: Standoff between Whitehouse and Congress over funding for troops in Iraq
A potentially dangerous political deadlock is brewing in the nation’s capital. While President Bush is constitutionally empowered to control the United States Military, congress maintains control of the funding that the president has at his discretion. This has led to a standoff between the president, who states that the war will require continued funding indefinitely, and a congress that wishes to spur the president to troop withdrawal.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed bills recently appropriating more funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there was more to the bill than just funding. It included a deadline for the president to begin troop withdrawal. President Bush has already stated that he would veto any bill including a troop withdrawal deadline, and he called Congress’s ‘delay’ irresponsible, “Congress’s most basic responsibility is to give our troops the equipment and training they need to fight our enemies and protect our nation. They are failing in that responsibility...”
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/education/2007/04/03/sn.0404.cnn
April 8th: Tax system overhaul? In 1969, the federal government created an “alternative minimum tax” to keep millionaires from exploiting a loophole in the tax code that would essentially allow them to avoid federal taxes altogether. It required certain people to perform a second tax calculation without claiming certain deductions. However, Democratic leadership in congress feels that the system is outdated, and the whitehouse agrees. The president seems comfortable with letting Congress handle this issue, since it will lead to an enormous loss of revenue over the next decade that will have to gathered by other means.
Congress has no choice but to make this tax cut, a stereotypically rare move for Democrats, since the existing code has not been adjusted for inflation and no longer only targets the people it was meant to affect. In the coming years it could affect people with incomes as low as $50,000. In the coming year the tax would affect approximately 23 million people, as opposed to the 3.4 million that were affected last year. Previously, a republican congress and the president have only mitigated the problem with a series of one-year fixes, but a Democratic congress wishes to tackle the problem head on with a permanent solution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/business/09tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Bush ventured to Arizona recently to talk about implementing his new immigration plan, declaring that, “This border should be open to trade and lawful immigration and shut down to criminals and drug dealers and terrorists.” This new plan is a response to what many people consider a growing illegal immigration problem. Last year the president tried to create a temporary guest worker program, but some in congress opposed the idea.
Now Bush states, “It is time for a comprehensive immigration bill.” The bill, proposed by President Bush, will include penalties for employers of illegal immigrants, and will attempt to require employers to verify the legal status of their employees. The plan will also include efforts to help new immigrants learn to speak English. In addition to this, two visas are a part of the plan. Temporary workers would be able to apply for Y-visas, which would grant them guest worker status. Current illegal immigrants may be required to pay fines for unlawfully entering the United States, but then may apply for a Z-visa, granting legal status after completion of an English and civics course.
Many immigrants oppose the plan and have demonstrated such. The senate is scheduled to take up the issue in May.
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/education/2007/04/09/sn.0410.cnn
April 4th: Standoff between Whitehouse and Congress over funding for troops in Iraq
A potentially dangerous political deadlock is brewing in the nation’s capital. While President Bush is constitutionally empowered to control the United States Military, congress maintains control of the funding that the president has at his discretion. This has led to a standoff between the president, who states that the war will require continued funding indefinitely, and a congress that wishes to spur the president to troop withdrawal.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed bills recently appropriating more funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there was more to the bill than just funding. It included a deadline for the president to begin troop withdrawal. President Bush has already stated that he would veto any bill including a troop withdrawal deadline, and he called Congress’s ‘delay’ irresponsible, “Congress’s most basic responsibility is to give our troops the equipment and training they need to fight our enemies and protect our nation. They are failing in that responsibility...”
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/education/2007/04/03/sn.0404.cnn
April 8th: Tax system overhaul? In 1969, the federal government created an “alternative minimum tax” to keep millionaires from exploiting a loophole in the tax code that would essentially allow them to avoid federal taxes altogether. It required certain people to perform a second tax calculation without claiming certain deductions. However, Democratic leadership in congress feels that the system is outdated, and the whitehouse agrees. The president seems comfortable with letting Congress handle this issue, since it will lead to an enormous loss of revenue over the next decade that will have to gathered by other means.
Congress has no choice but to make this tax cut, a stereotypically rare move for Democrats, since the existing code has not been adjusted for inflation and no longer only targets the people it was meant to affect. In the coming years it could affect people with incomes as low as $50,000. In the coming year the tax would affect approximately 23 million people, as opposed to the 3.4 million that were affected last year. Previously, a republican congress and the president have only mitigated the problem with a series of one-year fixes, but a Democratic congress wishes to tackle the problem head on with a permanent solution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/business/09tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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