1. Rhetorical Dirty Tricks

2. The animal rights people shouldn’t pick on rodeos about animal treatment. If they’d come out and see the clowns put smiles on kids’ faces and see horses buck off the cowboys and hear the crowd go “ooh” and “ahh” at the bullriding, why, then, they’d change their minds.
An irrelevancy brought in to “support” a claim or to distract one from the issue.

3. What’s wrong with socialism. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with socialism
What’s wrong with socialism? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with socialism. Americans don’t like it. That’s what wrong with socialism.
“Everybody or most people or many believe X is right/true/good, so X must be right/true/good.”
Why do I believe in God? I suppose because I was raised in a religious household.

4. Should I spend time doing more these logic exercises in class today when I could be surfing? Well, one this is for sure. Doing more a couple of more logic exercises today won’t make a difference to my grade, but surfing will a difference to my health.
Lying to ourselves about our real reasons for believing or doing something.

5. So you want to know why you should try to do well on these logic exercises in class today? I’ll tell you: because if you don’t, I’ll ask you to leave and not return.
Scare tactics and Argument by Force.
Threatening rather than reasoning.
Motivating by fear rather than reason.

6. I think we should give our Jack a raise
I think we should give our Jack a raise. He doesn’t have any spending money at all, and he’s always having to make excuses about not being able to go out with the rest of his friends because of that. Jill, on the other hand, seems to be getting along just fine on her salary.”
You know, our third grader’s friend Joe comes from an impoverished family. He looks to me as though he doesn’t get enough to eat. I think I’m going to start inviting him have dinner at our house one or twice a week.

7. Statistics show that flying is much safer than driving
Statistics show that flying is much safer than driving. So why put your family at risk? This summer, travel the safe way: fly United Airlines.
If you ask me, I think ending your relationship with Brittany is a big mistake. Remember that she stuck by you last year when you really needed somebody. Should you really repay her by dumping her?

8. Letter to the editor: “Your food section frequently features recipes with veal, and your ads say veal is a wholesome, nutritious food. Well, I have a different opinion of veal. Do you know how it comes to be on your plate? At birth, a newborn calf is separated from its mother, placed in a dark enclosure, and chained by its neck so it cannot move freely. This limits muscular development so that the animal is tender. It is kept in the dark pen until the day it is cruelly slaughtered.”

9. There are very good reasons for the death penalty
There are very good reasons for the death penalty. First, it serve as a deterrent to those who would commit capital offenses. Second, it is just and fair punishment for the crime committed. Third, reliable polls show that over 70% of all Americans favor it.
Why should I put a note on this guy’s car that I just dented? Do you think he’d put a note on my car if he put a dent in it?

10. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
--Sarah Palin, in a message posted on Facebook about Obama's health care plan, Aug. 7, 2009

11. I believe that when we die, we are all given new, young, perfect bodies, and we spend eternity with those whom we love.  I can’t imagine the point of life if it all just ends when we die!
“Historically, marriage has been restricted to heterosexual couples. Therefore, it’s right to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples.”
“You’re giving me grief for downloading music on a P2P network?? Please. Who doesn’t do that these days?

12. Hands off our freedom, atheists
Letter to the editor, Times Standard   08/29/2013
I agree with Dr. Lawrence's “My Word” (”Atheists' lawsuits disrespect our nation,” Times-Standard, Aug. 20, Page A4). I am so sick and tired of atheists attacking us Christians with idiotic lawsuits. We don't try to sue atheists because they don't believe in God. If atheists want respect, they should be respectful. They twist the Constitution claiming that separation of church and state means no prayer, and no religion at all in any government office. That is not what separation of church and state means! It was put in the Constitution so the government couldn't tell us how to worship. The pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution. My problem with atheists isn't because they don't believe like I do. My problem with them is their constant complaining and whining and filing silly expensive lawsuits. The only aim of such lawsuits has nothing at all to do with the Constitution but it is to take away the freedom of Christians. We are told by atheists that we can pray in church or at home but that we shouldn't pray in public. They tell us where we can display nativity scenes. They want prayer out of the schools. It wasn't very far back in history that schoolhouses were used as churches on Sundays. If atheists don't want to be labeled as negative then they need to keep their hands off our freedom! No, Dr. Lawrence, you need not apologize. The atheists need to give us Christians an apology.
Becky Payton , Eureka