Best essay ever

David Segal argues in a New York Times article that the economic crisis will put the brakes on the American way of life, whether we like it or not. He seems to think that it is a good thing but says ending the “American urge” to upgrade will be difficult because flagrant spending “is so neatly woven into the double helix of our DNA that we hardly notice it.” Segal is right. Buying bigger and better things stops us from being financially responsible.

Greed is the primary reason we’re in this economic mess today. People kept buying things because they wanted more. They put it on credit and went into debt. Heavy debt hurt people financially. Many people have lost those bigger and better homes that they bought but could not afford. You can only upgrade so much. Eventually, the upgrades have to end. That’s economic gravity – what goes up must come down.

The end of the upgrading frenzy will teach people what is necessary. They will be forced to live within their means. For example, a woman might really like an Acura but the payments say she can really only afford a G6 – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Constant upgrading is wasteful. We keep buying brand new things over and over while people around the world cannot afford the basics.

If we end the constant upgrading, we will stop sending our money to other countries. A majority of our “stuff” is made in other countries. If we spent our money at home, we would create more jobs in America.

Some might argue that our economy should not be controlled and that it needs to flourish. It is true that spending money on newer and more expensive products creates jobs. But those jobs aren’t always American jobs. If I buy a Mercedes 500S, who benefits? A German.

Conclusion goes here.

Assignment for Thursday, April 23 -- updated

The class won't meet on Thursday, April 23.
Instead, find two sources that you plan to use for your torture essay and enter them here on the blog in APA style as reference list citations. Here's an example:
Kantor, J. (2008, April 6). Vocal on war, silent on son’s service. The New York Times. Pp. A1, A18.
(note the second line should be indented but Blogger won't let me.)

Another (from a searchable database):
Name, Initial. (Year). Title of the article; only capitalize first word. Title of the Journal in italics, 26(8), 110-112. Retrieved April 22, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere database.

Updated Error-Catching Honor Roll

Be the first to point out an error the professor makes, and turn a quiz grade into an A.

Ashley A., Kevin, Mike, Brandi, Sammy, Brittany, Lindsey, Elaine, Jimmy, Mary, James, Brian: April 21 (Caught in-text citation error)
Brian: April 21 (Caught missing attachment on e-mail)
Elaine: April 21 (Caught misspelling of Premiere)
Mary: April 11 (Discovered that the Blackboard site for uploading Essay 4 wasn't activated)
Treg: March 10 (Caught "lift/life" error in PowerPoint)
Neil: March 5 (Name is Neil, not Nick!)
Elaine: March 5 (Revision is due March 10, not March 11)
Brittany: March 5 (Bobby, not Barry Henderson)
Brittany: March 3 (the exact error escapes me)
Ashley M.: Feb. 17 (caught Friday-Thursday mistake)
Elaine: Feb. 16 (caught wrong page number for Langston Hughes reading)
Mary: Feb. 6 (caught a missing question mark in my lecture notes)
Lindsey: Feb. 3 (I called her by the wrong name -- twice!)
Jimmy: Jan. 29 (caught misspelling of friend's son's name)
Elaine: Jan. 28 (caught spelling error in lecture notes on Blackboard)
Elaine: Jan. 24 (David Sedaris story listed twice in class schedule)
Brian: Jan. 22 (LIttleton -- errant capital I)
Brittany: Jan. 21 (pointed out time-zone error on blog)
Moriah: Jan. 20 (18 students instead of 16)

More Torture News

The Daily Telegraph (a British paper) writes about the release of the "torture" documents, and includes a video portraying one of the interrogation methods:

Torture news, from CNN

Here's a story about a Bush-era torture memo that just became public.

Torture debate winners!

Meet the winners of the ENG 1051 Torture Debate: The Negative Team.
Mary, Elaine, Lindsey, James, Brandi, Neil, Brittany, and Treg.
As JJ points out (in the comments below), the Affirmative and Negative teams tied and settled the debate with an honorable Rock-Paper-Scissors duel.

Torture debate

A professor and a journalist debate torture on NPR.

Updated Error-Catching Honor Roll

Be the first to point out an error the professor makes, and turn a quiz grade into an A.

Mary: April 11 (Discovered that the Blackboard site for uploading Essay 4 wasn't activated)
Treg: March 10 (Caught "lift/life" error in PowerPoint)
Neil: March 5 (Name is Neil, not Nick!)
Elaine: March 5 (Revision is due March 10, not March 11)
Brittany: March 5 (Bobby, not Barry Henderson)
Brittany: March 3 (the exact error escapes me)
Ashley M.: Feb. 17 (caught Friday-Thursday mistake)
Elaine: Feb. 16 (caught wrong page number for Langston Hughes reading)
Mary: Feb. 6 (caught a missing question mark in my lecture notes)
Lindsey: Feb. 3 (I called her by the wrong name -- twice!)
Jimmy: Jan. 29 (caught misspelling of friend's son's name)
Elaine: Jan. 28 (caught spelling error in lecture notes on Blackboard)
Elaine: Jan. 24 (David Sedaris story listed twice in class schedule)
Brian: Jan. 22 (LIttleton -- errant capital I)
Brittany: Jan. 21 (pointed out time-zone error on blog)
Moriah: Jan. 20 (18 students instead of 16)