blog # 9

During the 1920's the Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was passed, prohibiting alcoholic beverages in the United States. Even though the sale of alcohol was illegal, alcoholic drinks were still widely available and many people had private bars at their homes in order to serve their guests. A large amount of alcohol was smuggled from Canada and overland. Limited amounts of wine was aloud inside one's house but people took it overboard. Whiskey could only be obtained through a doctor's prescription but doctors began to give them out without a reason. People had the urge to consume alcohol since they were not allowed to. The Great Gatsby has a correlation with the prohibition in the 1920's since it took place during the 1920's and the rich would serve a lot of alcohol at their extravagent parties. It was obvious that there were ways to go around the laws on prohibitng alcohol and Gatsby in the book had parties every weekend with an endless amount of alcohol for his guests even thought alohol was prohibited which meant that people with power were still able to get a hold of alcohol. The fact that there was alcohol at the party was emphasized greatly in the book showing how it was a popular topic at the time. People attended the weekly parties in order to have a good time since it was hard to get a hold of alcohol during that time.

Blog #8

An article called "Fifth Graders In Washington Accused Of Plotting To Kill Fort Colville Elementary School Girl," was posted on The Huffington Post on February 15, 2013. Two fifth grade boys admitted to plotting a little girl's death. The students were ten and eleven years old and they were arrested on February 7, 2013 because they were found with a knife, a pistol, and a full ammunition clip. A fourth grader noticed that one of the boys had a knife and he went and told one of the teachers. Their reason to why they wanted to kill their girl classmate was that she always made fun of them and their friends and she was rude. The older boy was going to stab her and anyone who tried to respond to what they did would be replied to with the pistol. The boys are facing charges of conspiracy for attempting to commit a first degree murder. An insult from a classmate may even drive children to think about killing a friend. These children should have consulted with a teacher about the girl's rude remarks instead of planning death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcKswwkTVyE

In this video, John Stewart satirizes negotiation tactics. He targets John Boehner who does not agree with Obama on the fact that taxes should be raised, because Boehner feels as if it is unacceptable. John Stewart's target is on the low level of negotiation skills and the house committee chairman's. John's purpose is to bring a recognition of common sense and to make people realize a change in the way decisions are made should change. He is trying to show people that there is something wrong. In order to reach his goal, he uses techniques such as innuendo, exaggeration, understatement and diminution. John Stewart responds to John Boehner's remark about taxes, by directly questioning his skills at negotiating on issues. His use of exaggeration, especially in his tone, makes the people realize the problem automatically. Understatement was used when the issue on the fact that the house is made up of all white males was brought up. John Stewart used understatement and diminution by completely down sizing the issue and trying to come up with ways to make the house look like it is diverse when it really is not. His use of understatement was used to draw attention to the truth and show its faults. The satirist wants us to know the idiocy behind some of the remarks politicians make and the faults in what they do by directly using satirical techniques.

"Procrastinating Surgeon Putting Off Coronary Bypass By Cleaning Entire Hospital"

The article "Procrastinating Surgeon Putting Off Coronary Bypass By Cleaning Entire Hospital" was written on January 13, 2013 in theOnion.com. Columbia University of Medical Center reported that Dr. Robert Klinge, who is a cardiac surgeon procrastinated when he needed to perform an important coronary bypass procedure. Dr. Robert did not putt of the surgery because he was on an important call, but he had the urge to clean the hospital mess. He vacuumed, recycled and made sure everything was aligned perfectly. He thought that if he did not clean it then he would worry about it all throughout the surgery, as if the surgery is just another task on the side. Dr. Robert thought it would not be a problem if he left the surgery for the next day. He was adding a coat of pain and due to that he did not hear the call that indicated a "code blue." A coronary bypass surgery is not a simple thirty minute surgery that can be put off, especially for cleaning. A doctor should not be satisfying his OCD needs when he is responsible for another human's precious life. People trust doctor's with their life and doctors like Robert Klinge should be caring and smart enough to know that a patient comes before cleaning the hospital. I thought workers are hired to clean the hospital and not a heart surgeon that is on call.