Passage 1: The Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Passage 2: Letter to the Editor from Deseret News (Jan. 20, 2009)"Coke-fired plant bad idea" by Emily Buhrley, Provo
Yesterday my daughter said her school stayed inside at recess because of the air quality. When we have a winter inversion, my daughter starts to cough as soon as she goes outside in the morning. I've seen the gray haze over the valley, and when we have an inversion things can really get nasty. I want to keep as many good days as we can.
Consolidated Energy is trying to get a permit to build a petroleum coke-fired power plant in West Bountiful. The plant will add air pollution equivalent to 10,000 more cars on the road, as well as heavy metals that are not safe for human consumption. Even transporting the material here is a pollution hazard. Why should we bring in this dirty power source, when there are so many other options we could pursue?
Fallacy Assignments:Alyssa -- Begging the Question
Jacob -- Complex Question
Cara -- Equivocation
Jordan -- Hasty/Sweeping Generalization
Spencer -- False Analogy
Kristy -- Post hoc
Lance -- Slippery Slope
Russell -- Oversimplification
Steve -- Stacking the Deck
Sean -- Appeal to ignorance
Kyle -- Non sequitur
Anu -- False dilemma
Nicole -- Strawperson
David -- False Authority
Jose -- Poisoning the well
Aaron -- Ad populum
Scott -- Red herring
