Dirty Harry Meets Dirtier Edgar

Dirty Harry meets Dirtier Edgar
Maureen Dowd used Clint Eastwood's new movie to essentially address gay pride and freedom. she shows how the definition of gay has changed. she wrote “For a much older generation, gay is the act of having sex with someone of the same gender. But the post-sexual-revolution, post-Stonewall generation defines gay or lesbian as someone’s nature. Who they are attracted to, who they connect with. It’s something much deeper than just a sexual act. And when you define it like that, Hoover is a gay man.”. she essentially helps redefine "gay". in addition, she addresses the movie's plot line about gay FBI agents ans that whole scandal. not to mention that Adlai Stevenson was mentioned in the article as one of the men Hoover had tried to say was gay. she also found lots of information from the screenwriter concerning what it was like to be gay at different time periods.

Silence is Golden

NY times: Silence is Golden
Maureen Dowd wrote “I compare it to the zero in mathematics. People think it’s nothing, but actually it’s not. It can be very powerful.”; she uses this piece to discuss the wonder and beauty of silence. she explains how technology can so easily dominate our lives and stop use from "stopping and smelling the roses". she is really trying to use this piece to make her audience see that they have been taken over by technology and "sound". she uses a silent movie that was made this year to show how silence truly is golden and we never really get the chance to experience it very often. she uses a quote from the movie's director to show what an impact silence can have, “They thanked me for letting them hear the silence,” he said. “It was touching to discover that these young people, always with their iPods, could like real silence". however, she also uses this piece to explain how silence has changed. not only have the sounds changed over time, but what was once silence is ow just quiet. it is very difficult to actually ind complete silence our buy world. she quotes Max Picard, a Swiss philosopher, “Nothing has changed the nature of man so much as the loss of silence,”. Dowd appreciates silence and wants her audience to too.

Fire and Ice

NY times: Fire and Ice
Maureen Dowd uses this column to give an overview of what Newt Gingrich is doing with his campaign. although she finds it interesting when he and Obama debate, mostly because their debates are similar to those that Douglas and Lincoln had during Lincoln's first campaign in 1860. however, she also demonstrates how drastically different these two men are and what that does for the campaign. the immense difference between the men makes for a very interesting campaign. she tries to show how different these men are by using parallel syntax and presenting numerous analogies: "One hot, one cold. One struggles to stop setting fires as the other struggles to get fiery. One who’s always veering out of control, one who’s too tightly controlled. One reining it in, one letting it rip. One tamping down his pugilistic side, the other rampin it up. One channeling Ronald Reagan to seem more genial; the other channeling Harry Truman to have more spine.". these two men are total opposites: fire and ice. however, Dowd doesn't respect Gingrich as much as she does Obama. throughout the vast majority of the piece, she addresses Gingrich by his first name, Newt. she also uses numerous quotes from fellow Congressmen to show how Gingrich isn't ready to run a country yet and needs to gin some self control. Congress men have said Gingrich is “a human hand grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin, saying, ‘Watch this!’ ”,  “Let me just say, if Newt Gingrich is the smartest guy in the room, leave that room.”, and “He’s a guy of 1,000 ideas and the attention span of a 1-year-old.”. although Gingrich may have potential, Dowd doesn't believe he is ready or the presidency just yet.

Animal Rights Synthesis

Animal Rights is an issue that is often pushed aside so that everyone can focus on "more important" things lik the economy. however, in my opinion, animal rights is more of an issue than people think. Animals are a huge part of our lives. they are our food, sometimes clothes, and you can almost always see one just about anywhere. some people believe that animals don't think or act the same way people do, so therefore it's ok for us to do science experiments on them, or make them into clothes and food. however, whether human or animal, all creatures should be treated with kindness. i'm not saying animals should get voting rights, simply that if they are being killed for food, they are killed humanly. that they aren't used for meaningless science experiments. Animals deserv rights just like all of us.

Animal Rights- Animal Testing

Animal Labs

This is a blog written by a college student that states her opinion of and many facts about anima labs in school. she says that although the animls are already dead when they reach the lab, many of them were mistreated while being transported or were inhumanly killed. in addition, some labs performed on live animals, although they say are not harmful to the animal, could have lasting effects on the creature or make it extremely agitated or uncomfortable at the time. she also makes the claim that no one would view the "painless" death of a person for educational purposes as right, so why is it any different for pigs or frogs or any other animal? furthermore, animal labs do not really teach students anything other then how to disect (everything else can be learned in other ways and only one animal would have to be harmed to get that information and not hundreds).

Animal Rights - Christianity and Animal Rights

religion and animal rights

A minister wrote this passage arguing that it is not anit-Christian to responsibly kill animals and that not being a strict animal rights activist does not mean you are not Christian. He defines an animal rights activist as someone who believes that animals have simalr rights to humans and that they should not be interfered with. He then explains the difference between animal rights activists and protectionists, who he believes are much more reasonable because they believe that if it is justified, than killing an animal is ok. This minister also uses direct Bible quotes to state that God gave the earth to people, not animals. God wanted man to protect different species from extinction, not the rights of each individual animal. Furthermore God gave man the right to eat animals and if killing and eating animals were wrong, then Christ himself would have been a sinner...

Animal Rights - is eating meat wrong?

NY times

 In China, the Jinha Hutou Dog Meat Festival (which consists of the slaughter and eating of thousands of dogs) was canceled because of an online campaign started by animal rights advocates. each year thousands of dogs would be brought to the city and slaughtered to be eaten. this year, what started as a small internet campaign to raise awarenss for animal rights, ended in the canlcelation of a thousand year old festival. Similar events involvg nimal rights have also taken place and been stopped- a truck taking 500 dogs to a slaughter house was stopped by 200 people and all the dogs were saved. this rising awareness maybe related to the rising amount of Chinese own pets.

Animal Right - is the sale of fur wrong?

ny times fur sales

 In the small town of West Hollywood, people are trying to symbolically show their suppor for animal rights. they are banning the sale of fur coats and other pieces of clothing made from fur. Although this decision may ave a major effect of the financila state of the town, that isn't really a mjor concern. Residents of West Hollywood can easly go buy furs at surrounding towns, the ban is merely proving a point. This ban isn't actually thw first this town has passed. other animal rights related actions, such as declawing cats, buying cheap handguns, and the sale of companion aimals in pet stores have all already ben banned. Again these actions were ot meant to actually caue major change just yet, but merely to cause awareness. they are trying to make a differencce on the national scale

the memorial

9/11
This image shows the twin towers in New York before they were destroyed. the lighting in the image shows the power that these towers signified. It is almost as if there is light shining down from the heavens onto the towers. The towers reaches towards the sky, almost as if they themselves were striving for a better future and for more power and respect. the American flag that is over the image of the city shows the American spirit. The flag is there, but not entirely covering the image. This could be because on November 11th, the American spirit was somewhat shaken. People got scared and temporarily lost faith. However, the phrase on the bottom, "Septeber 11th, we will never forget", showshow Americans have risen above what happened and are learning to become stronger because of such a terrile event.

NYC Shut Down

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/nyregion/new-yorkers-warned-of-possible-electrical-shutdown.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=hurricane%20irene&st=cse&scp=6

• Hurricane Irene has caused most of New York City to be shut down (subway, streets, bridges)
• the city experienced some serious flooding, as well as tornado warnings in many areas
• many homes and buildings were left without power and many residents were asked to leave their homes as well.
• Overall, the city is handling the hurricane in an organized manor and there have yet to be any serious issues

The Show Won't Go On

the show won't on
On August 26th all on and off Broadway shows were shut down due to weather concerns from Hurricane Irene. Although the storm wasn't to rough on Manhattan and shows began running again on the following monday, the entertainment inustry in New York City was slightly damaged from having to stop all productions. Tickets had to be sold back and shows lost valuable perfrmance and rehearsal time. However, not only was Broadway shut down, but anything being fimed (movies, tv shows, etc) was forced to stop production as well. No stages or studios were seriously damaged and the show will once again go on.