The cartoon we analyzed this morning took a somewhat cynical approach to Washington politics in general, leaving no victims with its caricatures and messages. Just in time for St. Patrick's day, this cartoon offers the reader a glimpse into the two-sided political problem of lack of funding for state subsidized Medicaid expansion. On the one hand, the briar-smoking Democratic donkey appears genuinely surprised that funding for such medicaid expansions isn't in the national "pot-o-gold" so to speak, yet on the other hand, the Republican elephant appears a little too glib at the misfortune of not being able to provide expanded coverage for people who need it--especially coming from a party that is patched together of many different groups with competing agendas and ideas of what is important and what's not. Overall, the message of emptiness at the end of the rainbow doesn't appear very flattering towards either political party, and one might just conclude that the creator of this political cartoon has deep dissent within his bowels.
New (or review for some) word: kairos: Greek for "the right moment"
The message here rides some of its import on the closeness to St. Patrick's day (hence the leprechaun getup). The message would loose some (not all) of its impact the further away from St. Patty's day we get and the more resolved our politicians become to fix the current disparity between goals and costs.
Overall, we got to see another example of the delightful claims we can make if we are careful with the analytic elements of the text. In other words, look not only at what is there (description) but also at what is being said (interpretation).
New (or review for some) word: kairos: Greek for "the right moment"
The message here rides some of its import on the closeness to St. Patrick's day (hence the leprechaun getup). The message would loose some (not all) of its impact the further away from St. Patty's day we get and the more resolved our politicians become to fix the current disparity between goals and costs.
Overall, we got to see another example of the delightful claims we can make if we are careful with the analytic elements of the text. In other words, look not only at what is there (description) but also at what is being said (interpretation).
Here's the chart that I want you to work on for homework (remember that it is a duplicate of what should be in your notes):