Hard News - Arizona Congressional Delegation Speaks Out Against Anti-Gay SB 1062

This article that I'm reviewing is about a legislation that if passed, will allow business owners to refuse services to same-sex couples based on religious freedom. Two prominent senators, Jeff Flake and John McCain urge the governor, Jan Brewer to veto the bill. There are also a lot of people around the world that are contesting the bill and beg the governor to veto it without a doubt.

            The article is well written and really follows the set up of a hard news story. I really liked how the reporter used quotes from different people from different aspects of the political spectrum. She interviewed people from both political parties, the Republicans and Democrats.

            She should have gathered more information about the people in support of the bill. This view would have been more insightful because I don’t really understand why people would be in support of the bill. I mean it passed both the House and the Senate.

            She also used the Internet and social media in her article. Right when you start reading the article, you see two screenshot tweets from both senators, Jeff Flake and John McCain.

            The reporter also mentioned the fact that Arizona is currently in slot to host the Super Bowl in 2015, which brings up a good point in the economic standpoint if this bill were to pass. Consider the number of people that would boycott the Super Bowl if this bill were to pass. I certainly wouldn’t attend.

            I don’t really think this bill should be passed because I feel we would be taking steps back from the civil rights movement. This is the same discrimination that African Americans were facing back when the civil rights movement was in full swing. I do not understand why we are still facing discrimination like this nowadays.

            There are others that argue with the “religious freedom”. I think it’s utter bullshit. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. It’s a great rule of thumb. Seriously, if we just ran the world with that quote, we wouldn’t have problems like this.  

            It’s just really sad that we live in a world where this is acceptable. Governor Jan Brewer should be ashamed of herself if she signs this bill into law.

CVS No Longer Selling Tobacco Products

The article that I have read covers the news on a major corporation, CVS, will no longer sell tobacco products in their stores, nationwide. I believe this article is set up in an inverted pyramid. The lead describes perfectly what the article is about. It tells the reader the gist of the article without having to read the entire page. The second paragraph goes on and talks about CVS and the reason why they want to make the change. These two paragraphs depict the 5 W’s. There isn’t really a chronological order to the story, which an inverted pyramid usually isn’t. The style is very effective because it gets the information quickly to the reader. The story continues on by saying how the company plans to lose $2 billion but it would only be “a mere dent in its overall sales of $123 billion”. As you read more and more into the article, it provides more details that wouldn’t necessarily be extremely important. The article ends with a quote from the chief executive of CVS, Larry J. Merlo, “We came to the decision that cigarettes and providing health care just don’t go together in the same setting”. Leaving the end as a quote is very effective in my opinion, especially having a quote from the chief executive of the company. It shows the company is serious in being more of a health care provider than just another retail store. I really think that CVS did a good job by deciding to remove tobacco products from their stores. I admire them as a company that is willing to turn down a $2 billion profit just for the well-being of their customers. We can’t really say that for a lot of companies these days. It really disgusts me that products like tobacco are even legal. I don’t understand how our government allows such a thing. The fact that they refuse to legalize marijuana baffles me, especially since marijuana is not responsible for a single death. If anything is a gateway drug, it’s definitely cigarettes and anything tobacco related. They are literally the number one cause of death in the US. Marijuana has a 0% death rate. What does that say about our government? I really commend CVS for taking the step that our government neglects to take. I think they are brave in what they are doing, and I would hope more companies’ follow in their footsteps.