Other than stating the reasons why Meg Whitman lost the election to Jerry Brown. This article shows how there is great social capital in California because it generally is a Democratic state and that “California voters stayed true blue and kept doing what they usually do on Election Day -- elect Democrats.” This article shows how most Californian’s share a bond of being Democratic. It also states that the unions “really delivered for Brown, especially in terms of direct mail -- in both English and Spanish.” So this helped bring together the Democratic voters of California and gained Latino votes which brought more social capital and bonding. This opinion piece could have sited more sources. Overall, it wasn’t very ... More »

This article talks about the loss of seniors, whites, and women in the Democratic Party. The author explains the Democratic supporters of Obama in the last presidential election, are currently lessening by showing statistics of past elections. I don’t think this story is very original or insightful because of course social capital has decreased since the election of President Obama. One of the reasons why there was more social capital at the time when Obama was running for president was that he was the first African-American man to run for president. Citizens probably felt they could relate to him somehow and citizens felt a bond during that significant election. You could say there has been a lost in social capital now ... More »

I felt this article wasn’t informative, it didn’t tell me anything I don’t already know. It wasn’t original because it seems like just another opinion piece before the elections. This seems to show selective exposure. People like the author of this article want to expose themselves to the news they want like the negative things about their opposing political groups. Also, t he seems to say that Obama is blaming and sort of badmouthing others, when the author seems to be blaming and badmouthing Obama. It really shows the selective perception and exposure that the election seems to be bringing. It could have been written more professionally and actually cited some rational quotes.

This article was informative because it brought forth a new point to the issue of immigration reform in Arizona. It gave an intelligent perspective of the issue by showing how Arizona is welcoming to refugees but not illegal immigrants. The point was well supported by using quotes from people the work and lives in the state, and showing part of the hypocrisy of the situation. It really shows the selective perception that Arizona has on illegal immigrants and refugees. They want to believe that refugees come here more legally than illegal immigrants. But in reality, according to this article “many refugees illegally cross borders overseas.” Although I believe this article was original and insightful, it could have gone more ... More »

At the start of this opinion piece the author goes into how it’s difficult to judge candidate Meg Whitman about her previous immigrant maid. Then toward the end it talks about how if she was so against immigrant amnesty then why didn’t she try and deport her former employee. It is hard to understand the relevance of this piece because it goes back and forth on their opinion of Whitman. To me this is just another story about Meg Whitman’s maid scandal. If someone were to write about this, they should at least give some factual information and give sources. I’ve read many articles about this scandal and everyone says something different, so not stating sources just causes more gossip and spreading information that might be ... More »

The main focus of the current election for governor of California is the issue of immigration reform. The media conveys the candidates’ focus on the idea of whether or not there should be stricter immigration policies and how this concerns the votes of Latinos. The master narrative of Hispanic voters is that their main concern in this election is immigration reform. This article informs that most Hispanic voters in fact consider other issues as higher priorities. This article starts by showing the percentage of Hispanic voters that voted republican. This points out that Hispanics don’t have their “own issues.” This article states that immigration policy ranks at number five for Hispanic voters after other issues such ... More »

The article explained the issue very poorly. The article states that 200 jobs were lost but does not clearly explain why, and what area of occupations. For example, were they professors? janitors? This article only raised questions. The article mentions that eliminating jobs could save $75 million a year. Why does the school need the money for and why cut jobs in the first place? This article doesn’t really have much information to back up it’s statements, except for quotes from the U.C Berkeley chancellor. It doesn’t go in depth nor provides excellent sources. I think this wouldn’t impact public dialogue as much because most of the public is already aware of tuition increases and job losses. I think it would raise more ... More »

This article clearly explains the complexities of the issue at hand. The article was informative in the sense that it thoroughly brought forth the awareness of the number of contractor’s deaths exceeding the number of soldier’s deaths by providing excellent statistics. It compares the number of deaths from the start of the war in 2001 to now and telling the percentage of contractors deaths in the total amount of deaths in Afghanistan. It also goes really in depth by proving a chart so the reader can visualize the number of deaths of contractors from different companies. What makes these statistics eloquent is that they are all clearly sourced. This article makes it easier to interpret how this issue is happening by ... More »