Standardizing Arguments.

Standardizing Arguments
I wasn't sure if I was doing it right so I decided to standardize three editorial/opinion pieces. I figured I could use the extra practise.

1. The race factor's symbolic power
Globe editorial
Barack Obama's election as the first black (or, more accurately, biracial) president in the United States will not rescue black children from poverty, or sound the death knell for racism or inequality. Yet it is a profound and moving achievement. In the year he was born – 1960 – his parents' marriage would have been illegal in more than half the country. Everyone of middle age in the United States remembers, or should, the terrible violence that enforced those rigid social codes. “In many parts of the South, my father could have been strung up from a tree for merely looking at my mother the wrong way,” Mr. Obama wrote in his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father. His very existence, in other words, was legally forbidden in parts of the country where he is now the president-elect.
It is tempting to say that his race or skin colour doesn't matter any more. The election, after all, was not really about race. It was about the best person for the job. And the symbolism – compelling though it may be – won't fight al-Qaeda, or bring home the troops from Iraq, or ease the financial crisis. Role models for black children, though helpful, are no substitute for creating the conditions that breed success in large numbers.
And yet, as president he will be not only the chief executive but the head of state. He is the world's most powerful man. He is, in other words, no ordinary symbol. He will drive cultural change simply by being who he is.
His presence should, for instance, galvanize black communities to become more engaged in the federal political process. More subtly, it may alter the culture of expectations within black communities. “We just assume that young people in our communities won't aspire to higher education and we are not surprised when they drop out,” he said in a 2004 speech, as he ran for the Senate. “We are not shocked that there are more African-American men in prison than there are in college. And when it comes to Washington, we just assume that the game is fixed for the powerful, for the special interests.” The essence of his campaign, he said, was to “no longer accept the unacceptable, to raise the bar, to set a new set of standards, to start thinking differently about what is possible in our communities and in our politics.”
This son of a Kenyan father and a white mother also has no ordinary grasp on the politics of identity. There is nothing insular about him. He spent many of his formative years outside the U.S., allowing him to see it more clearly. Thus, in his speech distancing himself from some extreme comments of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother, who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.” Black or white, to be flawed is human; but human beings are much more than the sum of their flaws. Here was a vision of acceptance and reconciliation.
The United States at a difficult moment in its history voted in a black man as president because he was the best candidate. That's why people all over the world celebrated, and shed tears. Because race didn't matter, at last.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081105.werace06/BNStory/specialComment/home
Standardized Form:
1. Barack Obama's election as the first black president in the United States is a profound and moving achievement.
2. The election, after all, was not really about race. It was about the best person for the job.
3. Thus, Barack Obama wa the best person for the job.
4. Therefore, race does not matter anymore.



2. Can Diet and Exercise Beat a Tummy Tuck?
SEVERAL dozen would-be cosmetic-surgery patients gathered at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan recently to hear a lecture on the latest procedures by a prominent plastic surgeon.
But the surgeon, Dr. Gerald Pitman spent the first 20 minutes of his talk trying to discourage the audience from having cosmetic operations in the first place.
“Ask yourself ‘Can you avoid it?’ ” Dr. Pitman said to the audience last month. “What kind of lifestyle changes can you make?”
Dr. Pitman often asks the same questions during initial consultations with patients at his Upper East Side office, to find out whether they have tried diet and exercise to improve satisfaction with their appearance before choosing surgery.
In fact, he has asked some patients whose extra weight could make surgery risky to get in shape before he operated on them. He has referred some patients to a swimming coach.
“Some people think liposuction and tummy tucks are alternatives to diet and exercise,” Dr. Pitman said. “They are not.”
During the lecture, he endorsed a number of behavioral changes that might improve both health and appearance.
For example, resistance exercises, which help retard osteoporosis, may have a secondary benefit. “You will look better because your posture is better,” he said.
Ditto for aerobic exercise for heart health. “When you do aerobic exercise, you release endorphins,” Dr. Pitman said. “You feel better, so you look better.”
He added: “If you have dark circles and bags under your eyes, maybe you are not getting enough sleep.” His prescription: eight hours a night. He also suggested updating hairstyle, makeup or wardrobe and staying out of the sun to protect the skin.
Those who do choose surgery can take some measures to help reduce the possibility of complications. For example, he might tell patients with high blood pressure to eat less salt.
Uncontrolled high blood pressure is “the most common cause of bleeding after a face-lift,” Dr. Pitman said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/fashion/06skinside.html?ref=health


Standardized Form
2. Exercises such as resistance exercises help retard osteoporosis
3. Aerobic exercises release endorphins. “You feel better, so you look better.”
4. Sleep may also play a role in a healthy lifestyle.
5. Thus dieting. exercise and a change in lifestyle are more beneficial than surgery to improve appearance.
1. Therefore, people considering surgery to improve their appearance should first look into dieting, exercising and making changes in their lifestyles before going under the knife.






3. Hospitals seeing drop in paying patients
In another sign of the economy’s toll on the nation’s health care system, some hospitals say they are seeing fewer paying patients — even as greater numbers of people are showing up at emergency rooms unable to pay their bills.
While the full effects of the downturn are likely to become more evident in coming months as more people lose their jobs and their insurance coverage, some hospitals say they are already experiencing a fall-off in patient admissions.
Some patients with insurance seem to be deferring treatments like knee replacements, hernia repairs and weight-loss surgeries — the kind of procedures that are among the most lucrative to hospitals. Just as consumers are hesitant to make any sort of big financial decision right now, some patients may feel too financially insecure to take time off work or spend what could be thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses for elective treatments.
The possibility of putting off an expensive surgery or other major procedure has now become a frequent topic of conversation with patients, said Dr. Ted Epperly, a family practice doctor in Boise, Idaho, who also serves as president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. For some patients, he said, it is a matter of choosing between such fundamental needs as food and gas and their medical care. “They wait,” he said.
The loss of money-making procedures comes at a difficult time for hospitals because these treatments tend to subsidize the charity care and unpaid medical bills that are increasing as a result of the slow economy.
“The numbers are down in the past month, there’s no question about it,” said Dr. Richard Friedman, a surgeon at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, although he said it said it was too early to call the decline a trend.
But many hospitals are responding quickly to a perceived change in their circumstances. Shands HealthCare, a nonprofit Florida hospital system, cited the poor economy and lower patient demand when it announced last month that it would shutter one of its eight hospitals and move patients and staff to its nearby facilities.
The 367-bed hospital that is closing, in Gainesville, lost $12 million last year, said Timothy Goldfarb, the system’s chief executive. “We cannot carry it anymore,” he said.
Some other hospitals, while saying they have not yet seen actual declines in patient admissions, have tried to curb costs by cutting jobs in recent weeks in anticipation of harder times. That includes prominent institutions like Massachusetts General in Boston and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, as well as smaller systems like Sunrise Health in Las Vegas.
“It’s safe to say hospitals are no longer recession-proof,” said David A. Rock, a health care consultant in New York.
A September survey of 112 nonprofit hospitals by a Citi Investment Research analyst, Gary Taylor, found that overall inpatient admissions were down 2 to 3 percent compared with a year earlier. About 62 percent of the hospitals in the survey reported flat or declining patient admissions.
Separately, HCA, the Nashville chain that operates about 160 for-profit hospitals around the country, reported flat admissions for the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with the period a year earlier, and a slight decline in inpatient surgeries.
Many people are probably going to the hospital only when they absolutely need to. “The only way they are going to tap the health care system is through the emergency room,” Mr. Taylor said.
And now, as the economy has slid more steeply toward recession in recent weeks, patient admissions seem to have declined even more sharply, some hospital industry experts say. “What we have not seen through midyear this year is the dramatic slowdown in volume we’re seeing right now,” said Scot Latimer, a consultant with Kurt Salmon Associates, which works closely with nonprofit hospitals.
While the drop-off in patient admissions may still seem relatively slight, hospital executives and consultants say it is already having a profound impact on many hospitals’ profitability. As fewer paying customers show up, there has been a steady increase in the demand for services by patients without insurance or other financial wherewithal, many of whom show up at hospital emergency rooms — which are legally obliged to treat them.
“It’s disproportionately affecting the bottom line,” Mr. Latimer said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/business/07hospital.html?ref=business


Standardized Form:
2. Hospitals are seeing less and less paying patients.
3. The loss of money making in hospitals has led many hospitals to close down.
4. Many jobs have been loss because of the low income of hospitals.
5. Thus, healthcare in the united states is becoming less and less promising.
1. Therefore, the downward spiraling economy in the united states is not only taking its toll on everyone’s spirits, but their health also. Many hospitals are seeing less and less paying patients because no one can afford to pay for hospital bills anymore.