Vanity: Need Ideas for English Paper

FreeRepublic ^ | July 16, 2014 | beaversmom

[beaversmom]

For my English 121 class I have to do a research/argumentative paper.

I don't want it to necessarily be about something like guns or abortion. I want something a little creative. It has to be something I can research. Something I feel passionate about (I know you all don't know what I'm passionate about, but I am passionate about conservatism). It doesn't have to be politically related/controversial, but those are the terms I generally think in. It can be something from the past or present. Also, I have to give the opposition's side.

Any serious/creative ideas, please post.

BTW, shockers of all shockers, my teacher is liberal. I don't think he will grade me harshly, though, for coming down on a conservative side of an issue. I think he will be fair.

[fella]

Write it in Spanish and if you don’t get a good grade call the teacher/professor a hater and a racist and start demonstrations. /sarc

[Vince Ferrer]

and making it interesting.

My paper was on the planet Mars and some of the theories of its past history. I got an A+, with a note thanking me for coming up with an interesting topic he had never heard of before. and making it interesting.

oops, misplaced that text.

[GraceG]

How much meddling in other people’s lives too much?

Are freedom and responsibility linked?

[Stand Watch Listen]

Red Skelton's Pledge

VIDEO: Red Skelton Pledge Of Allegiance, 14 January 1969

I: Me, an individual, a committee of one.

PLEDGE: Dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self pity.

ALLEGIANCE: My love and my devotion.

TO THE FLAG: Our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever she waves, there's respect because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job.

UNITED: That means that we have all come together.

STATES: Individual communities that have united into 48 great states. Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose; all divided with imaginary boundaries yet united to a common purpose, and that's love for country.

AND TO THE REPUBLIC: A state in which sovereign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people, and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.

FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION: One nation, meaning "so blessed by God."

INDIVISIBLE: Incapable of being divided.

WITH LIBERTY: Which is freedom, the right of power to live one's own life without threats, fear, or some sort of retaliation.

AND JUSTICE: The principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.

FOR ALL: For all, which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.

And now, boys and girls, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: "under God." Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer, and that would be eliminated from schools too?

Red Skelton, 14 January 1969

[cynwoody]

You’re already on a great place to practice English Composition in near real time. New topic ideas (threads) appear continually. Why pay for a course in same?

[beaversmom]

Nice and good advice. I do want something a little creative/different. Wasn’t necessarily thinking of the teacher’s point of view, but I think you raise a valid point. My class is at community college and it’s a summer class so we have about 15 students in there. Want it to be interesting to read.

[PastorBooks]

“Never once has mentioned government involvement. I wish I had more knowledge of the issue.”

Thomas Sowell, Applied Economics

[Ray76]

Some jumping off points

http://www.academia.org/the-origins-of-political-correctness/

Willi Munzenberg
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/charles-burris/useful-idiots-2/
http://www.conservapedia.com/Communist_front

“Propaganda” by Edward Bernays
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/bernprop.html

[beaversmom]

Excellent ideas!

[Stand Watch Listen]

Elementary Lesson on Your Social Security

Just in case some of you generation X, Y, Boomers) didn't know this. It's easy to check out, if you don't believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what’s what and it doesn’t matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. FACTS ARE FACTS.

Social Security Cards, up till the 1980s, expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.

Here’s an old Social Security Card with the “NOT FOR DENTIFICATION” notation.

Our Social Security
When Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised

1. That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary,
---------No longer voluntary.

2. That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program.
---------Now, 7.65% on the first $90,000

3. That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductable from their income for tax purposes each year.
---------No longer tax deductable

4. That the money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Fund, and not into any other Government program.
--------- under President Johnson the SS monies were moved/comingled to the US General Fund and spent on the War on Poverty and Vietnam

5. That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
---------Under Clinton & Gore, up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.

Since many have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month—and then now finding that we are taxed on 85% on the monies we had paid to the Federal Government to ‘put away (lock box / Trust Fund)’—you may be interested in the following:

Q: Which political party took Social Security from the independent ‘Trust Fund’ and placed SS into the general fund so that the Administration/Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democrat controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which political party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democrat Party

Q: Which political party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democrat Party, with Al Gore casting the ‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while Gore was Vice President of the US.

Q: Which political party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A: President Jimmy Carter and the Democrat Party. Immigrants moved into this county, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments. The Democrat Party gave these payments to them, even though MANY never paid anything into SS.

Then, after violating the original SS contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and attempt to convince the US populace that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away! Similar to the Democrats misdirecting, lying about the truth how the Democrats really opposed the Civil Rights movements/laws. And the worst reality about it is uninformed citizens (low information voters) believe these incessant lies, enabled by an elitist media and limousine liberals

[beaversmom]

It’s definitely helped in this class for me to have been on here over the years..and to be somewhat of a reader. Plus, I used to be a listener of talk radio.

[donna]

Forgotten view of Social Security:

“The very existence of Social Security has convinced tens of millions of
people that government-mandated savings are utterly necessary for security
in our later years. …

“The cultural effects are profound. Before Social Security was created in
the late 1930s, it would have been equally crazy to suggest that the government
provide a secure and stable income for the aged by siphoning from their
paychecks in the early years. Indeed, the program has had a profound effect
on the way we view the role of government in society.

“Just as parents care for their young now, it was once well understood that
the middle-aged have a moral responsibility to care for their aging parents.
This establishes a social link between the generations, an interdependency
which is essential for the continuity of values and habits of a mature people.

“Social Security has also contributed to the crowding out of private charity,
an old and very serious problem associated with all state benefits. Why should
private associations bother to solve social problems widely understood to be
the responsibility of government?

“The great tragedy of our age is that we have forgotten how to imagine the
practical workings of a free and virtuous society. We have lost faith in our
ability to solve difficult social problems on our own and have instead
transferred our faith to public officials to solve our problems for us.”
- Rev. Robert Sirico, Acton Institute

[BradyLS]

Dr. Walter E. Williams (who sometimes substitutes for Rush) recently posted a great article about “Spending and Morality.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2014/07/09/spending-and-morality-n1859549

You might ague in favor of a strict interpretation of the “General Welfare” clause of the Constitution versus the loose interpretation that politician’s use to justify all sorts of wonton spending.

Basically, argue against wasting tax-payer’s dollars and show the ways how it happens today. Argue why its bad and, for the other side, argue why politicians think it’s necessary.

Another interesting topic might be an argument paper against interventionist foreign policies versus what past administrations have followed since World Wars One and Two. Pat Buchanan often writes about this subject. His latest about it is here:

http://buchanan.org/blog/heres-barack-obama-richard-nixon-common-foreign-policy-6667

These articles are meant to get your thoughts going on a couple interesting topics. Remember to cite your sources! Don’t plagiarize! (You have to tell even the professionals not to do that these days! :-D )

[Jemian]

Following up on SWL’s idea, malaria death’s world-wide since the ban of DDT. You could also throw in the devastating effects of dengue fever.

[beaversmom]

You guys are great! That would be very interesting and unique. I didn’t know what to do the paper on, and after this thread I’m still not going to know because I’m going to have too many good ideas!

[beaversmom]

You guys are too smart! Thank you.

And yes, learning about MLA, and how to do all that.

P.S. I do like Walter!

[Stand Watch Listen]

Thinking along the welfare line of thinking...maybe the school lunch program would be another.

There have been numerous articles since October 2013 setting forth that many school districts around the nation are up in arms about the self appointed 'lunch lady' Michelle's lunch dictates.

Many school districts are even contemplating foregoing receiving government commodities (to supplement the lunches) in order to CUT the Government draconian controlling strings.

[Razz Barry]

I like to argue with liberals. Here's an argument, if you believe in man made climate change, you should be against amnesty. Studies show people from poor countries increase their carbon footprint when they immigrate to a wealthy country. So, deporting illegal aliens is good for the environment.
You could argue that illegals don't do jobs Americans won't do, they do jobs Americans on Welfare should be doing. We have government housing projects full of low skilled Americans, and our schools pump out more every year.
Here's another, the federal government borrows 40cents of every dollar it spends. This will have to be repaid by future generations who have had no voice in how it was spent. Is this not taxation without representation?

[lee martell]

There are American Teenagers who are taking their Science Classes seriously. Some have designed potentially life saving devices. For instance; Jack Andraka was 15 years old when he devised a test for Pancreatic Cancer. Jack was given an assignment in digital arts class to create something. He ended up winning the $75K Grand Prize in 2013 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

18 y/o Eesha Khare of Saratoga, California won Intel’s Young Scientist Award 2013, by building a Supercharger that slides into your mobile phone’s battery, recharging it within 30 seconds. Eesha built a tiny super-capacitor and demonstrated it at a Science Fair. She won the $50K prize.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani school girl who was shot in the head by Taliban for the crime of seeking an education as a female child. Miraculously, she has recovered, and now speaks publicly in support of education for both boys and girls.

[beaversmom]

Basically, argue against wasting tax-payer’s dollars and show the ways how it happens today. Argue why its bad and, for the other side, argue why politicians think it’s necessary.

I'd have to look no further than FR for all my sources. So infuriating. What did I see just today...something about a $500K study on mother-daughter dancing or something weird. I can't remember.

This was it:
Feds spend $500,000 to study whether mother-daughter dancing can cure obesity
FR Link to article