Report on Murder in London Essays

Report on Murder in London Essays Report on Murder in London Essay Report on Murder in London Essay Lee Rigby murder trial: Michael AdebolaJo a soldier of Allah (12/9) The BBC as well as other news outlets have reported of the Fusilier Lee Rigby murder trial taking place in the I-JK. Michael AdebolaJo and Michael Adebowale both hit Rigby with a car and then attacked him with knives. Now AdebolaJo is denying the charges against him and viewing his actions as a military operation. AdebolaJo has also stated how much he loves the Islam extremist group, al-Qaeda. AdebolaJo shared graphic and disturbing details about the murder of Rigby and has also revealed that it was a remeditated murder (without an exact person). He continued by stating why he felt soldiers were a fair and easy target. He also made the remark that he was a soldier of the god of Islam, Allah. He continued the trial by stating what he feels his justification was and what his punishment should be. The trial will continue Tuesday. An average citizen must be aware of this trial and murder because this is a prime example of the members of extremist Islam groups that are present in the world. Although it has not been specified if AdebolaJo is a member of a particular group, he as still been highly effected by al-Qaeda and considers them close Islam brothers (even though he does not know any). This Just emphasizes how countries, or the religion itself, must put a stop to the extremist Muslim groups. Several people are being targeted and now they are targeting the bravest people in a nation, the soldiers. If a citizen is not aware of this, these groups will become larger and larger and more lives will be taken. If people take a stand against these groups and emphasize the harm they are doing to everyday citizens and future damage that can be made, then these groups will slowly be put to an end.

How to Amend the Constitutionâ€About the Process

How to Amend the Constitution- About the Process Amending the Constitution was never meant to be simple. Although thousands of amendments have been discussed since the original document was approved in 1788, there are now only 27 amendments in the Constitution. Though its framers knew the Constitution would have to be amended, they also knew it should never be amended frivolously or haphazardly. Clearly, their process for amending the Constitution has succeeded in meeting that goal. Constitutional amendments are intended to improve, correct, or otherwise revise the original document. The framers knew it would be impossible for the Constitution they were writing to address every situation that might come along in the future. Ratified in December 1791, the first 10 amendments- The Bill of Rights- list and vow to protect certain rights and freedoms granted to the American people and speak to the demands of the Anti-Federalists among the Founding Fathers by limiting the power of the national government. Ratified 201 years later, in May 1992, the most recent amendment- the 27th Amendment- prohibited members of Congress from raising their own salaries.   The Two Methods for Amending the Constitution Article V of the Constitution itself establishes the two ways in which it may be amended: The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. In simple terms, Article V prescribes that amendments may be proposed either by the U.S. Congress or by a constitutional convention when and if demanded by two-thirds of the legislatures of the states. Method 1: Congress Proposes an Amendment An amendment to the Constitution may be proposed by any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate and will be considered under the standard legislative process in the form of a joint resolution.  In addition, as ensured by the First Amendment, all American citizens are free to petition Congress or their state legislatures to amend the Constitution. To be approved, the amending resolution must be passed by a two-thirds supermajority vote in both the House and the Senate. Given no official role in the amendment process by Article V, the President of the United States is not required to sign or otherwise approve the amending resolution. Presidents, however, typically express their opinion of proposed amendments and may attempt to persuade Congress to vote for or against them. States Ratify the Amendment If approved by Congress, the proposed amendment is sent to the governors of all 50 states for their approval, called â€Å"ratification.† Congress will have specified one of two ways by which the states should consider ratification: The governor submits the amendment to the state legislature for its consideration; orThe governor convenes a state ratifying convention. If the amendment is ratified by three-fourths (currently 38) of the state legislatures or ratifying conventions, it becomes part of the Constitution. Resurrecting ERA? Clearly, this method of amending the Constitution can be lengthy and time-consuming.  However, the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that ratification must be completed within â€Å"some reasonable time after the proposal.† Beginning with the 18th Amendment granting women the right to vote, it has been customary for Congress to set a maximum time period for ratification. This is why many have felt the Equal Rights Amendment is dead, even though it now needs only one more state to ratify it to achieve the required 38 states. The ERA amendment was passed by Congress in 1972; 35 had ratified it by its extended deadline of 1985. However, in 2017 and 2018, two more states ratified it, concerned about the constitutionality of setting those deadlines. If Virginia would ratify it in 2019, people expected a battle to ensue in Congress over whether to accept the late ratifications. Method 2: The States Demand a Constitutional Convention Under the second method of amending the Constitution prescribed by Article V, if two-thirds (currently 34) of the state legislatures vote to demand it, Congress is required to convene a full constitutional convention. Just as in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates from every state would attend this so-called â€Å"Article V Convention† for the purpose of proposing one or more amendments. Though this more momentous method has never been used, the number of states voting to demand a constitutional amending convention has come close to the required two-thirds on several occasions. Indeed, the mere threat of being forced to surrender its control of the constitutional amendment process to the states has often prompted Congress to preemptively propose amendments itself. Although not specifically mentioned in the document, there are five unofficial yet legal ways of changing the Constitution  used more often- and sometimes even more controversially- than the Article V amendment process. These include legislation, presidential actions, federal court rulings, actions of the political parties, and simple custom. Can Amendments Be Repealed? Any existing constitutional amendment can be repealed but only by the ratification of another amendment. Because repealing amendments must be proposed and ratified by one of the same two methods of regular amendments, they are very rare. In the history of the United States, only one constitutional amendment has been repealed. In 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment- better known as â€Å"prohibition†- banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the United States. Though neither has ever come close to happening, two other amendments have been the subject of repeal discussion over the years: the 16th Amendment establishing the federal income tax and the 22nd Amendment limiting the president to serving only two terms. Most recently, the 2nd Amendment has come under critical scrutiny. In his editorial appearing in the New York Times on March 27, 2018, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens controversially called for the repeal of the Bill of Rights amendment, which guarantees â€Å"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.† He argues that it would give more power to peoples desire to stop gun violence than the National Rifle Association. Sources The Constitutional Amendment Process. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. November 17, 2015.Huckabee, David C. .Ratification of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution  Congressional Research Service reports. Washington D.C.: Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress.Neale, Thomas H. .The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress  Congressional Research Service.

Apple and Samsung Competitive Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apple and Samsung Competitive Strategies - Essay Example In order to identify the difference in corporate culture at Apple and Samsung, both the organization’s corporate culture would be assessed to elaborate the difference. The corporate culture of Apple and Microsoft is as follows;According to Tim Cook, Acting CEO at Apple, the company believes in providing its customers with innovative and simple products to provide its customers with the best product available in the market. Furthermore, the company believes in controlling and owning its primary technologies and to focus on only those markets where the company can make contribution. At Apple, importance is given only to the accomplishment of personal goals not 100 percent but 110 percent. This indicates that Apple value what is important for the organization (Tobak, 2011). At Apple, collaboration and cross-pollination are the source of its success and by doing so; the company is able to provide the customers with innovative products that other in the technological industry canno t. The greatest and the most interesting thing about Apple is that it does not care about its competitors and at Apple things are done when the company feels right. At Samsung, employees are provided with opportunities to pursue their dreams and the company takes full advantage of the talent and knowledge of its employees. In order to provide the customers with great and innovative products, employees at Samsung are encouraged to develop creative ideas that would attract customers. At Samsung, speed and adaptability are the center of focus of corporate culture. The company has extra-ordinary marketing campaign due to which it has a competitive edge over Apple; its fiercest rival in the technological industry. Diversity is another major part of corporate cult

Frank Lucas involement with the mob in the movie American Gangster Essay

Frank Lucas involement with the mob in the movie American Gangster - Essay Example And in order to achieve that, he got his 100% pure dope directly from source in Bangkok, where opium plants were also cultivated. Accordingly, he could sell this high quality dope at a lower price. He branded his own product as â€Å"Blue Magic† which became the number one brand of heroin in Harlem and other cities in the US. Frank Lucas: The "Original American Gangster† 3 Frank Lucas: The "Original American Gangster† And His Conflict with Italian Mafia 1â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the State will show and you will hear that Frank Lucas is the most dangerous man walking the streets of our city† - Det. Richie Roberts. Frank Lucas is one of the most successful heroin importers in US. What made Frank being successful was his unique marketing strategy. He thinks and acts like an executive officer. He realized that he could only achieve success once he breaks the monopoly of Italian Mafia held in New York. In order to do that, he went to Bangkok, Thail and and directly contracted with the supplier. As a result, he was sure to have 100% heroin and he could even distribute it at a lower price by cutting off the middlemen. Frank Lucas was then one of the most intellectual US heroin dealers who also created his own business empire, a crime organization operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. 1 â€Å"He's structured his organization to protect him in the same way† - Det. Richie Roberts. Frank builds his empire with family, uprooting brothers and cousins. Frank Lucas branded his very own product as â€Å"Blue Magic† which he guaranteed to be 98 – 100% pure. â€Å"Blue Magic† which has a really good quality was sold at a cheaper price compared with the other products. It eventually became famous and even hit the top of the competition, which also distressed the monopoly of Italian Mafia. This was alarming for Italian Mafia. And so Dominic Catanno from the same gang met up with Frank to talk a bout the monopoly and the other dairy farmers or the other drug dealers who were left behind the competition. And so at the end of their discussion, they had a deal that Frank will consider distributing them his very own â€Å"Blue Magic† at $50,000 per Kilo. Frank Lucas: The "Original American Gangster† 4 In the film I didn't really see too many conflicts between Frank and the Mafia except for an issue on drug monopoly. Since the Italian Mafia do not want any competition as what Dominic Cattano said â€Å"1No, I just think monopolies were made illegal in the country, Frank, 'cause nobody wants to compete, you know. Nobody wants to compete, not with a monopoly.† Just as the nature of monopoly, where there is a single distributor to eliminate competition and prices are set and manipulated. However, Frank as free and fearless as he is does not like the idea. He rather dealt with Mafia being their supplier of â€Å"Blue Magic† rather than getting into monopol y with them. My perception of Frank Lucas base on his conflict with Mafia is he is not only fearless, but he is also smart and he knows what success means and how to get it right. He has a very strong will and a strong character that also attributed to his great success. And I think, this great success still turn Mafia as his enemies in the end as the group almost killed his wife. 1â€Å"Success. It's got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends.†

Compare and Contrast Great Depression Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Great Depression Essay The 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent ‘great depression’ was the biggest economic crisis that the world has experienced. The depth and length of the crisis and the suffering that it caused is legendary. Therefore when the global financial crisis struck in 2007, many rushed to proclaim that we were about to experience another depression on a similar scale, or at least what some have termed a ‘great recession’. This essay will compare and contrast the two economic crises to analyse the key similarities and differences between the two. To do this, the essay will firstly provide an outline of the conditions that led to the 1929 crash in the economy. Moving on from here the essay will then look at the policy responses that were implemented to tackle the crisis before analysing the conditions that precipitated the 2007 financial crisis and the policy responses, to draw out the similarities and differences of each of the crises, and to ascertain were any lessons learned during the current global crisis from the policies of the great depression era. Finally the essay will conclude with a discussion of the main points raised by the analysis of both crises and a look at the future prospects for recovery. Capitalism is a system of economic development that has crises as an inherent feature. Many crises have occurred both before and after the 1929 stock market crash, however the length and depth of the great depression has made it the point of reference for judging the severity of a financial crisis. Much debate has occurred over the causes of the great depression. While many see the late October 1929 New York stock market crash as the defining feature of the crisis, the reality was much more complex and multifaceted. As (Teichova 1990, p.8) suggests, the great depression was â€Å"the deepest, all embracing (agricultural, industrial, financial, social and political) and longest crisis with catastrophic consequences†. As well as this, although the United States led the way, this crisis was global and the rest of the world also experienced depression. So, any analysis of the great depression must look at the various factors that caused and perpetuated it. The 1920s in America hav e been described as the roaring twenties. After the devastation of the first-world-war, during the 1920 to 1925 period US and international economies were experiencing a boom. During that period, world mining and manufacturing output grew by nearly twenty percent (McNally 2010, p.63). However, in terms of inequality the poor were less poor but the rich were  getting richer at a rate of four to one. As well as this, four fifths of American had no savings compared to twenty-four thousand families at the top who held a third of all savings combined (Canterbery 2011, p.13). During the boom, ninety percent of all Americans saw their incomes fall in relative terms (McNally 2010, p.64). A factor in this was an increase in union-busting and anti-labour laws which increased income inequality. As well as this, agriculture, coal mining and textile industries were suffering from a post-war hangover which saw their profitability decline and in many instances wiped out. This inequality which concentrated wealth in so few hands led to a huge increase in consumer credit which in turn sparked off rising levels of private debt and a massive speculative bubble in the form of a property boom in Florida (Canterbery 2011, pp.13-14). The mania of speculation was not confined to proper ty and between May 1924 and the end of 1925, there was a huge eighty percent rise in stock prices. The trend continued and as Galbraith (2009, p.16) has suggested, â€Å"in early 1928, the nature of the boom changed. The mass escape into make believe, so much a part of the speculative orgy, started in earnest†. During 1928, the Times Industrials (a pre-cursor to the DOW) gained a huge thirty-five percent, from two-hundred and forty-five points to three-hundred and thirty-one points. To maximise their gambling profits, many investors financed their purchase of stocks with borrowed money, with speculators buying one-thousand dollars of stock by putting down one-hundred dollars (Canterbery 2011, p.15). Of course, capitalism’s bubbles must always burst, and this was no exception. The US real economy was showing signs on a slowdown long before the stock market crash. However, on Wednesday October 23rd 1929, a drop in the stock market lost four months of previous gains and the following day panic selling began. This was briefly halted by a meeting of the nation’s biggest bankers who promised to pool their resources to halt the slide. Their efforts however were futile and on ‘Black Tuesday’ October 29th the bottom fell out of the market, giving up all of the gains of the previous year (McNally 2010, p.65). Most economists agree that the great depression that ensued lasted for over ten years. Its economic impact was striking as GNP fell from a peak of $104.4 billion in mid-1929 to $56.6 billion in 1933. Its social impact was even more harrowing as twenty-five percent of the US civilian labour force was unemployed by 1933, the worst point of the  depression (Canterbery 2011, p.18). There are a number of competing explanations as to why the crisis was so severe. Explanations can be grouped into the two categories of monetarist and non-monetarist. For example, in a mixture of the two Ben Bernanke (1983) suggests that there were three interlinked factors that propagated the great depression. The first was the failure of financial institutions, in particular commercial banks. The percentage of failing banks in 1930 was 5.6% jumping to 12.9% in 1933 and this left a situation whereby in 1933 there were half the number of banks that had been operating in 1929 (Ibid, p.259). Bernanke goes on to cite defaults and bankruptcies as key, with the ratio of debt service to national income going from nine percent in 1929 to nearly twenty percent in 1933. This was pervasive across all sectors with home mortgages; farm mortgages, personal debtors and even state governments defaulting on their obligations (Ibid, p.260). However, key to Bernanke’s view was the correlation of the financial crisis with macroeconomic factors. The crux of this view was that the financial crisis affected the macro-economy by reducing the quality of certain financial services, primarily credit intermediation (Ibid, p.263). In line with the monetarist view, it could also be argued that the Federal Reserve did not help matters. Its policy at the time was only to increase the credit base in line with requirements of trade, which essentially meant that as businesses were afraid to borrow, the Federal Reserve did not increase the money supply. Somewhat similar to the monetarist elements of Bernanke’s analysis is that of Friedman and Schwartz (1971,pp. 359-60) who argue that the crisis that originated in the United States was a domestic construct which was prolonged and deepened by a failed policy of failing to cut the discount rate, which meant a failure to provide credit and expand the currency. Kindleberger (1986a) taking a similar monetarist position but focusing more on international factors suggests that the world depression stemmed from reparations and war debt, the overvaluation of the pound, the return to the gold standard in Britain and an undervalued French franc. These factors were aggravated by a fall in commodities and a rise in stocks in New York. From a non-monetarist perspective US government actions were no better, with the introduction of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in mid-1930, sparking of a wave of protectionist tariffs around the world and a trade war which saw world trade figures nosedive (Canterbe ry 2011, p.19). The  deflationary process was exacerbated by the huge levels of unemployment, which combined with other factors to initiate the ‘multiplier/accelerator’ interaction, reinforced by wage-cut enforced under-consumption as wages fell for manufacturing production workers by at least thirty-one percent between 1929 and 1933, as well as debt deflation and international interactions (Devine 1994, p.166). While this was happening, consumer prices only fell twenty percent during the 1929-33 period. This, as Devine points out helps to explain that falling consumption was a major factor in the decline in GNP during this time, more so than previous or subsequent recessions (Ibid). There are others such as Temin (1976) who suggests that monetarist explanations are wrong, and it was consumption and spending that declined first, therefore leading to a tightening of the money supply. Therefore, it was not monetary factors alone that caused the depression. Taking a different approach to explaining the depth and length of the depression, Kindleberger cites the lack of a lender of last resort as the major factor preventing any form of fast recovery (Kindleberger 1986b, p.4). This he suggests was due to Britain’s inability after the First World War, and the United States’ unwillingness to act in that regard. What each of these arguments above show is there is still no consensus on the policy responses that would have prevented such a deep depression occurring. Such a lack of a consensus has also been a feature of the current global crisis. Since the global financial crisis broke out, many have rushed to make comparisons between it and the great depression. However, before one makes these comparisons, an analysis of the fundamental differences in the nature of the capitalist system between now and then must be undertaken. After the World War boom in output and the post-war move to Keynesian economics, which essentially saved capitalism from self-implosion, the emergence of neoliberal capitalism in the latter 1970s in the form of Reaganism in the US and Thatcherism in Britain ushered in a new era of capitalist development that was distinctly different from its previous incarnations. This period of capitalist modification saw the creation of the era of what Canterbury has termed ‘casino capitalism’ (Canterbery 2011, pp.83-121). He suggests that this era began with three powerful forces converging. These were; monetarism, which Milton Friedman advised Regan would bring down inflation with minimal effect on employment or production, the influence of the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœneo-Austrians’ who sought to reduce state influence over entrepreneurs through deregulation and finally, the pervasive idea that less taxes on the rich produced the trickle-down effect (Ibid, p.83). Regan’s policies during this era, continued under the Clinton administration gave huge power over to Wall St through deregulation, and contributed to a huge shift from production to financial services. As the financial sector grew its asset base, it became a much bigger part of the national economy. This can be seen in the fact that between 1978 and 2005, the financial sector grew from 3.5 percent to 5.9 percent of the US economy in GDP terms. To put this in perspective, from the 1930s to around 1980 the rate of growth for the financial sector was roughly the same as that of the non-financial sector. However, from 1980 to 2005 financial sector profits grew by eight-hundred percent, compared with two-hundred and fifty percent for the non-financial sector (Ibid, pp.116-117). This form of capitalism, where value and profit are not ‘produced’ but the result of speculation is a form that gives huge power to unelected rating agencies and bankers to set the agenda, which even governments and international institutions find difficult to alter. It was under this system of capitalism that the global financial crisis emerged. Many different arguments for the causes of the global crisis exist and whilst it can be difficult to pin down the exact causality because of its global nature, there is agreement on a number of factors. Just like its sister crisis the great depression, before the global crisis struck, the global economy went through a boom period with the world economy growing at a faster rate between 2001 and 2007 than in any other period in the past thirty years (Wade 2008, p.23). Most agree that the crisis was sparked by the subprime mortgage bubble collapse in the United States. However this spark was not the sole cause of the crisis. Just l ike the great depression, the factors that caused the crisis were numerous. Although signs of an emerging crisis first appeared in 2006-7, it was not until 2008 when banks such as Lehman Brothers were going to the wall and financial assets were crashing that the full extent of the crisis was realised. As a result, flows of credit dried up and economies the world over started to suffer. However, this crisis was not solely a monetary crisis and had deeper dynamics at play. In particular, the financialisation of capitalism being built upon debts as a means of making profit (McNally 2010, p.86). The subprime  mortgage crisis is illustrative of this. For example, in the year 2000 there was $130 billion of subprime lending in the US, backed up with $55 billion of mortgage bonds. Yet by 2005, those figures had jumped to $625 billion in subprime loans backed by $500 billion in securitised bonds (Ibid, p.103). The ‘speculative orgy’, as Galbraith termed it speaking on the 1929 crash, was back with a bang. What exacerbated the orgy more was the creating of innovative financial instruments in the form of credit default swaps (CDS) and other debt securities. For example, by 2006 the CDS on mortgage bonds was eight times the value of the bonds themselves, so when the crisis hit, that wealth was wiped out (Ibid, p.103). The European context experienced similar problems as contagion spread throughout the world economy. Trade imbalances within the Eurozone created by the power of the German economy, in particular its exports produced vast wealth within Germany, generating credit that was more than was required for domestic demand. The result was an outflow of cheap and easy credit to peripheral European states. This in turn with low interest rates created the basis for a speculative property bubble in places such as Ireland and Spain, and a rise in consumer debt across Europe (Avellaneda and Hardiman 2010, pp.4-5). This, coupled with the ECB having light regulatory practices and liquidity responsibilities, and the fact that the Euro project created an quasi-federal state with a centralised monetary and exchange rate policy, but had no fiscal control over individual states led to a disaster of structural design in the Euro which prevented adequate policy responses from individual states, who instead we re burdened with a one size fits all, centralised Franco / German led response. It is clear that the immediate causes of the crisis were centred on â€Å"excessive debt leverage or imprudent lending† (Wade 2008, p.27). Much of this debt leveraging was in the form of the complexly structured credit securities, like the CDS, and when market panic set in following the collapse of Lehman, and this huge default risk pushed investors towards the tipping point. However, as Bernanke (2010) has pointed out, many factors were at play. Although the most prominent was the prospect of losses on the subprime market when the housing bubble burst, the system vulnerabilities as well as shortfalls in government responses explain the severity of the crisis. For example, the â€Å"sudden stop† in June 2007 of syndicated lending of asset backed securities to large borrowers. Other factors included the  overreliance of banks on short-term wholesale funding, deficiencies in private sector risk management, an over-reliance on ratings agencies, excessive leverage on the part of households, businesses and financial firms, statutory gaps in regulation on special purpose vehicles and a failure of existing regulatory procedures worldwide (Bernanke 2010). Although causality had similarities between the United States and Europe, the policy responses to deal with the crisis have been markedly different. Quite early into the crisis, perhaps learning from pa st mistakes from the great depression, the US government approved various Keynesian inspired fiscal stimuli and financial and auto sector bailouts. In particular, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a $700 billion rescue fund for the banking sector which bought toxic loans at reduced rates (Nguyen and Enomoto 2011). This policy has been seen to be a relative success with an estimated final cost of $32 billion to the United States taxpayer (Congressional Budget Office 2012). In contrast to this, the European solution has been overwhelmingly austerity based, and the cost of the crisis being mainly burdened by the taxpayers of Europe. In particular, the Irish taxpayer’s bill for the bailout of one bank, Anglo Irish will cost the taxpayer more than the total final cost of the TARP program in the United States. In this regard, it does not seem that lessons from the great depression have been learned in a European context. When we look to the rates of unemployment over the past number of years, it seems like the American policy of stimulus may be working slightly better than the European austerity agenda. For example, in the US unemployment rose sharply after the onset of the financial crisis going from 4.6 percent in 2007, to 7.2 percent in 2008, 9.3 percent in 2009 and 9.7 percent in 2010. However, in 2011 there has been a decline in unemployment to 9 percent (Index Mundi 2012). The European Union (twenty seven members) on the other hand has seen its unemployment rate grow from 8.3 percent in 2006, to 9 percent in 2009 and 9.7 percent in 2011(United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 2012) to a current figure of 11.7 percent (Eurostat 2012). So, how does the global crisis match up to the great depression? It is obvious that there are a number of similarities between the two crises. For example, with both crises there was an extended period of economic growth preceding the crashes. Each of the crisis periods also saw speculative bubbles based on the flow of easy credit  which fuelled both property based and stock market excess. Both crises also saw staggering drops in Industrial production and increases in unemployment. However, there are also key differences between the great depression and the global crisis. Primarily, the nature of the capitalist system has cha nged fundamentally from productive industrialisation to financial capitalisation. The policy responses of governments have also showed that lessons have been learned, especially in the American case, where Keynesianism and central bank intervention has been preferred to the Laissez-faire attitude during the great depression. In a European context, the decision to make taxpayers foot the bill for the losses of financial speculators marks a departure from the policies of the great depression where speculators suffered heavy losses. There are of course other key differences between the two crises in-so-far as although initially the global crisis seemed every bit as bad, if not worse than the great depression, there are now signs that this may not be the case. For example, by measuring from the peaks in industrial production the decline in industrial production in the nine month period from April 2008 was at least as severe as in the nine months following the June 1929 peak (Eichengreen and O’Rourke 2009). Similarly, in that initial nine month period, global st ock markets were falling even faster than in the Great Depression and World trade was also falling much faster than in 1929-30 (Ibid). However the authors of this study have revised their analysis for 2012 and it paints an altogether different picture. The levels of industrial production had shown shoots of recovery over the past couple of years but growth of global industrial output now appears to be slowing. The upturn had been promising, but this follows months when production was essentially stagnant. Notably in the Eurozone, industrial production declined (Eichengreen and ORourke 2012). Since initial early forecasts, global trade had showed signs of recovery â€Å"But trade is now also fluctuating without direction, at levels barely higher than those of April 2008† (Ibid). As the authors also point out, while equity markets have recovered to a large degree compared with their initial drop, â€Å"it is worth observing that world equity markets remain considerably below pre-crisis levels† (Ibid). The somewhat gloomy outlook is confirmed by the latest United Nations ‘World Economic Situation and Prospects’ pre-release document which states; Four years after the eruption of the global financial crisis, the world economy  is still struggling to recover. During 2012, global economic growth has weakened further. A growing number of developed economies have fallen into a double-dip recession. Those in severe sovereign debt distress moved even deeper into recession, caught in the downward spiralling dynamics from high unemployment, weak aggregate demand compounded by fiscal austerity, high public debt burdens, and financial sector fragility (United Nations 2012, p.1). So, although there are signs that the global crisis may not be as severe as the great depression, recent economic forecasts do not suggest that there will be a clear path to recovery in the near future. Capitalism has been proven to be susceptible to crises and cycles of boom and bust. The two cases here have been the most high profile of those crises. It does seem that some of the lessons of the great depression have been learned to reduce the severity of the global crisis. However, only time will tell if these lessons will ultimately stop a double dip global recession and if lessons can be learned from the global crisis for the inevitable next financial crisis that will come down the line.

NASCAR: Not Just for Rednecks Essay -- Racing Entertainment Sports Ess

NASCAR: Not Just for Rednecks Generally when someone mentions NASCAR, one perceives a stereotypical image of mullets, beer bellies, or in easier terms a â€Å"redneck.† Societies’ general perception of a redneck is low income, rowdy, no civic interest, and someone who is not very intelligent. Little do they know this image is not exactly what you see at a NASCAR race. NASCAR includes a very wide variety of people. This is not fair for NASCAR fans to be put in this banal category. NASCAR has several non-redneck attributes. NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was born in 1948. Bill France, the creator, had a dream. His dream was to create such a race that people for all over would come to see. In the beginning, they would have races on Daytona Beach and on other small tracks located throughout the south. Eventually, people became interested and the audience grew. Now, there are over twenty racetracks located all across the United States NASCAR fans are unlike any other enthusiast you will see. On average, a ticket to the Bristol Motor Speedway will cost you well over eighty dollars. Then you must consider the added expenses such as gas, lodging, food, souvenirs, and for some a few alcoholic beverages. Also, for your avid race buff you may invest in a scanner. This will cost you on average about one hundred and fifty dollars. With this scanner you can listen to the drivers and crewmembers communicate throughout the race. Personally, for a one day or weekend event this can get extremely expensive. Not, just anyone can afford a weekend at the races. Most people do not realize that NASCAR is a family oriented event. The pre-race activities are generally directed towards children. Se... ...ns, there always needs to be a villain. This is what keeps your audience satisfied. We have our good guys and bad guys in just about every organization such as professional sports teams or even our own government. I want people to realize it is not fair to bash something before you try it. Yes, NASCAR has their rednecks but there is also a non-redneck category. Lets think about our other professional sporting events, do we not have rednecks here too? Yes, I believe we do. So next time you hear about a NASCAR event check it out, it just may be worth your time. Works Cited Camncho, Ron, and Helton, Max.†Earnhardt’s the Man.† From the Heart of Racing. Walnut grove Press, 2000. Smith, Marty. Earnhardt Jr. Radio Spot Supports Jeb Bush.† Turner Sports Interactive.5 Nov. 2002 http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/headlines/wc/11/05/dearnhardtjr_jeb/

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto Book Critique Essay

McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Subway, Jimmy Johns, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Popeye’s and countless other food places are visited by thousands of Americans each day. Sadly, because of the convenience and price I am one of these people who give in to the endless fast food options we have in America today. Grocery shopping for most Americans is buying food that is the â€Å"best bargain,† or something you can get your moneys worth for. Quantity over quality is the mindset that a lot of people have in today’s society and how can you blame them? With rising costs in every aspect of living, a lot of people cannot afford to purchase organic, better quality food. Reading Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto has surprisingly helped me in becoming a better consumer and to make healthier choices in what I eat on a regular basis. As the title suggests, throughout the book the author tries to get the reader to take common sen se approaches in improving the way they eat. The main argument he points out is that having science incorporated into the way we eat (especially the additives and chemicals put into foods) has vastly decreased the quality of our food and increased diseases and health complications in America. The â€Å"Western diet† compared to other regions of the world is obviously not the best diet and it would be in the best interest of everyone to go back to a more traditional diet. Pollan also wants us to remember to â€Å"Eat food, not too much. Mostly plants.† Interestingly enough while I was writing this paper I was drinking Mango Passion Fruit Juice from Welch’s and I thought I would read the ingredients because there is a section in Pollan’s book that says to not eat or drink things with ingredients you don not know or cannot even pronounce. My juice contained high fructose corn syrup, filtered water, apple juice concentrate, mango puree concentrate, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, ascorbic acid, gum acacia, beta carotene (color), and ester gum. Most of the ingredients listed sound like they are from a science laboratory experiment and not the ingredients needed to make simple fruit juice. Pollan discusses many methods an d guidelines of how to eat healthy and what foods to avoid and to eat more of. Throughout the book the main arguments that I thought were the most important and that I agree with was that having science dictate what we deem is healthy or nutritious in our diet should be changed and have us go  back to traditional diets, that foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts, nutritionalism (the history of the isolated nutrients in our diet) is not a good approach to eating and the food manufacturing industry does not help the consumer’s health because all they really care about is marketing their products and increasing yields, and that our mindset when eating and purchasing food should be quality over quantity. The first main argument from In Defense of Food is the one that says having science dictate what we deem is healthy or nutritious in our diet should be changed and we should go back to traditional diets (versus a Western diet). An article by Livestrong.com compares a specific Asian diet versus a western one. The traditional Japanese diet includes fresh fish, rice, soy, vegetables, fruits, and green tea, while the Western diet relies heavily on red meat, poultry, fried foods, and processed foods that are high in salt or added sugar (Campbell). Looking at the two diets from a broad perspective and not from a narrow scientific view, it seems that the Japanese diet seems much more healthy to the consumer. Another few guidelines he lays out is that people should eat whole foods, purchase free range meats, buy from fair and local farmers markets or even directly from the farmer, savor your meals at the table with friends or family, avoid foods your great grandmother would not recognize, and to grow a garden to get the most fresh, ripe produce. I whole-heartedly agree on all of these points. It seems that the most natural and close you can get your food from the original source itself, the better quality it will be. There are many health claims and benefits about eating free-range meats, which include less cruelty inflicted on the animals, being able to obtain better nutrients from the meat itself, and to help local farmers. Compared to free range meats, conventional meats are fed a specific grain diet that increases rapid weight gain (Walls-Thumma). There actually is a difference in the meat that comes from rapid weight gained animals from the slow free-range animals. Slow growing animals produce meat with lower lipid content and higher proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids, making this type of animal attractive from a nutritional point of view (Bianchi et al. 318). In today’s world, science and technology are a part of our everyday lives and has improved our quality of life tremendously. With such improvements in our well being due to science, it seems silly that there would be a drawback to having â€Å"too much science† in one’s life. However,  with the increase in health conscious consumers, most food products that are currently sold have added ingredients in them to make them more nutritious. Jennifer L. Pomeranz writes that health and nutrition claims have been shown to increase consumers’ perception of healthfulness and willingness to purchase the products. However, studies indicate that these claims are misleading and confusing, detract from the use of the Nutrition Facts Panel, generate inaccurate references and often convey healthiness for products that do not meet objective nutrition standards (2). Minute Maid’s Cranberry Apple Cocktail advertises that it is â€Å"all natural† but in actuality contains citric acid, while Thomas’ Hearty Grain English Muffins claim the muffins are â€Å"made with the goodness of whole grain† but is mostly unbleached enriched wheat flour (white flour) (Center for Science in the Public Interest). This goes along with not eating anything your great grandmother would not recognize as food. Too many people are informed on diet by untrustworthy marketing with little knowledge of real science, and even scientists cannot agree with each other. One report would claim that saturated fats are bad while another claims they are healthy (Parker-Pope). Pollan writes that in response to the 1977 and 1982 dietary guidelines, animal scientists genetically bred for leaner pigs and beef. A pork chop could now compete with chicken and be advertised as having â€Å"reduced saturated fat intake.† Genetically modified foods have been ever increasing in our supermarkets and grocery stores because they can be produced in greater quantities and at lower costs. Alcaraz, Bellows, and Hallman reports that by 2004 the U.S. accounted for 59% of the total area cropped with genetically modiï ¬ ed varieties worldwide. This proportion could grow in the coming years due to the increasing rate of adoption of genetically modified crops by U.S. farmers (541). Several health concerns have been raised by researchers on genetically modified foods including not having enough research done on the long and short-term effects on our bodies, how the changes may mutate within our bodies, and the loss of natural seeds (taken from native wild plants) from be ing replaced by genetically modified seeds (Domingo 722). The ideology of nutritionalism (isolated nutrients in our diet) is not in any means a good approach to eating. Throughout the book there are several examples of how overall a particular diet is great for a group of people, but when the nutrients are isolated and added to other  foods, the achieved health effects are not the same. Nonessential and essential nutrients cannot be considered to operate in isolation; rather, they work in a dynamic, constantly changing milieu. Greater attention to all components of the diet and elaboration of their interactions should make possible specific and appropriate recommendations for the general population and allow for recommendations tailored to specific subgroups or individuals (Milner 1658). Also, the food manufacturing industry promotes false health advertising in order to market their products and increase yield. They have helped to justify â€Å"foods† such as vitamin enriched Diet Coke and bread with Omega-3 fatty acids (Pollan 53, 80). Similar to nutritionalism, reductionism also takes complex things and reduces them to simpler constituents. Reductionism as a way of understanding how certain foods or drugs work may be harmless and quite beneficial, but when it comes to actually practicing it by applying to the way we eat (reducing foods and plants to their most salient compounds), can lead to problems. Nutrition scientists especially those involved with conveying health messages should adopt as their primary public health perspective one which recognizes that the influence of diet on health and diseases likely results not only from the subtle effects of a vast multitude of individual food components but from whole foods and the interactions that occur among t heir constituents (Appel et al. 1417). By isolating nutritional elements from the whole foods package in which they originate, food manufacturers can convince us that their highly-processed and nutrient-poor products are heart healthy, rich in omega-3’s, contain zero trans fat, provide daily fiber requirements, or contain no cholesterol. Lastly, I thought that one of the more important arguments Pollan talked about in the book was how we should consume and purchase food that chooses the value of that product over the amount of what we are purchasing. However, in today’s world where our food system is organized around quantity rather than quality, the more low quality food one eats, it seems that the more one wants to eat in a unsuccessful but highly profitable quest for the absent nutrient (Pollan 124). Farmers have doubled or tripled the yield of most major grains, fruits and vegetables over the last half-century. American agriculture’s single-minded focus on increasing yields over the last half-century created a blind spot where incremental erosion in the nutritional quality of our food has occurred. The concentration of a range  of essential nutrients in the food supply has declined in the last few decades, with double-digit percentage declines of iron, zinc, calcium, selenium and other essential n utrients across a wide range of common foods. As a consequence, the same-size serving of sweet corn or potatoes, or a slice of whole wheat bread, delivers less iron, zinc and calcium (Halweil 5). Understanding not just what to eat to obtain our nutrients in the best way possible, but in how to eat will help to improve people’s lives that are on the Western diet. Many health problems, avoidable deaths, and other negative factors that have come from the way they eat will be eliminated if we take into consideration the many valid points that Michael Pollan lists in his book. The few arguments Pollan listed that I was able to validate from other sources were the ones that I thought were the most important but by no means were they the only ones.

Mass Media and New York

Racism and Ethnic Bias in the Media Is a Serious Problem Mass Media  ,  2010 â€Å"Journalists who think they know communities of color end up writing stereotypical stories. † In the following viewpoint from her interview with Lena-Snomeka Gomes, Elizabeth Llorente states that unequal and inaccurate representations of minorities still persist in the media, and media professionals who are minorities continue to face prejudice in the industry. In Llorente's view, reporters of color often feel unwelcome when entering white communities. In addition, she claims other journalists continue to draw upon harmful ethnic and religious stereotypes.Diversity and opportunities for minorities in newsrooms also are lacking, she contends, compounding these problems. Llorente is an award-winning senior reporter for  The Record  in Bergen, New Jersey. A former newswriter, Gomes is a program support specialist at the Homeless Children's Network in San Francisco. As you read, consider the following questions: 1. According to Llorente, why is covering one's own ethnic community not necessarily easier? 2. What barriers do reporters face when reporting on immigrants, in the author's view? 3. Why are there still very few minorities in newsrooms, in Llorente's opinion?Elizabeth Llorente, senior reporter for  The Record  in Bergen, New Jersey, was recently honored with the Career Achievement Award from the Let's Do It Better Workshop on Race and Ethnicity at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Llorente was honored for her more than 10 years of reporting on the nation's changing demographics. Her series, â€Å"Diverse and Divided,† documented the racial tensions and political struggles between Hispanic immigrants and African Americans in Patterson, N. J. Llorente spoke with  NewsWatch  about the nuances of reporting on race and ethnicity.Lena-Snomeka Gomes: What are some of the major barriers journalists face, especially journalists of colo r when writing about race and ethnicity? Elizabeth Llorente: Well it depends on what they look like. For example, I know that some of the African American reporters that I have worked with have spoken about feelings of being unwelcome, especially when they're covering white areas. And there are also other reporters who feel different because they stand out from the time they walk into a room. People make assumptions about them. I have been told that it's hard to tell what my race is.Is this positive or negative? Maybe it helps when I'm doing a story about tension and whites are part of the tension. Sometimes, I suspect, they open up more because they don't know that I am Hispanic. Perhaps, they would not have been as candid had they known. However, it's not necessarily easier to cover stories in your own ethnic community or communities similar to yours. If you criticize people and they didn't like it, they are usually less forgiving. They take it personal and see you as a traitor, e specially when the stories involve a politically charged group.Do you think journalists of color are resistant to writing about race and ethnicity because they don't want to be typecast so to speak? There are people who believe that and I don't blame them. Sometimes that's all the papers will let them do, and the papers don't value their work. In that regard, it's a thankless job. When you come back with a great story, they don't see the skill and the talent it took to report and write that story. They think, of course, you wrote well because you're one of them. They automatically assume it was easy for you to get the story.They may even question your objectivity. But, when [Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist] Rick Bragg went to the South to write about the life he knew, no one said, of course its easy for him because he's from the South. No, they said, wow he's a great writer. Do you think stories about race and ethnicity still face being calendared for special events or has there b een more sustained coverage and focus? It's gotten much better. Stories used to be covered for Black History Month or Cinco de Mayo, but now beats have been created around race and ethnicity.Beat reporters have to write all year. Reporters are interested in writing about race and ethnicity. They want to cover these issues. Now the next level journalism needs to go to is to spread the responsibility of covering race and ethnicity among all reporters, in all sections of the paper, business section, education, transportation, and municipal. Coverage has to be more comprehensive. It cannot be reserved for certain reporters, because race and ethnicity is such a huge area. Immigration Stories How do stories about immigration differ from other stories about race and ethnicity?If you're writing about second or third generation Cubans, you're writing about Americans, a minority group that has some stake here. With immigrants, you're writing about people who are newer, who don't necessarily f eel American. They are still transitioning into this national culture. They are rebuilding their identities. For example, they may not have a sense of (their) civil rights here or of American racism. What skills do journalists have to master in order to report fairly and accurately on immigrant communities? First of all, you need to have a completely open mind.This is especially important when you're covering immigrant communities. So many of us think that we know the immigrant groups, but many of us only know the stereotypes. Too often we set out to write stories that end up marginalizing people in harmful ways because the stories tend to exacerbate those stereotypes. Or we ignore the stories that do not conform to the stereotypes. For example, if we're going to write about Hispanic communities, instead of looking for Hispanics in the suburbs, we tend to go where we can most readily find them, in Miami, Spanish Harlem, and in the Barrio.We keep telling the same stories and giving i t the same frame, because it's an easy thing to do when you're on a deadline. The result is an ok story. But immigration stories are diverse. They are not only in enclaves, but also in places we never thought about finding them in, such as in once exclusively white suburbs and rural America. Perhaps Hispanics in the barrio is a valuable story, but that is no longer the Hispanic story. It is a Hispanic story. Okay, once you find (immigrant communities) how do you communicate with them? It's tough.Not knowing the language can be difficult. But the key is to start out with the attitude of not settling for less. Start out speaking with the leaders, but only as a vehicle to reach the other people who are not always in the papers. Too many of us stop with the leaders and that is not enough. Ask them to introduce you or ask them if you can use their name to open up a few doors for you to speak with others in the community. However, covering immigrant communities doesn't mean encountering a language barrier. Many people have a basic knowledge of English.You can still conduct an interview with someone who only speaks survival English. But, you will also run into a lot of people who don't speak English. If you make the effort, if you're patient, if you speak slower and are conscious of the words you use, if you make sure they understand what you are asking them, if you tune in, you'll make the connection. Finally, if language is a barrier and you're not comfortable, find someone who is bilingual to help you interpret. How can journalists write balanced stories if they operate from the stereotypes?Ask the person you're interviewing to break down those stereotypes. You can tell the person that there is a particular stereotype and ask them if it is true or not. Journalists have the unique role and power to help break the stereotypes down. What does receiving the Career Achievement Award mean to you? I was hoping that it would mean that I could retire and go sailing and wri te my novels from a log cabin. After I checked my retirement savings, I realized, that ain't gonna happen for a long time. Its nice to get awards, but when you get one it's usually for a certain story or project.This is like a wonderful embrace that says, you know, you hit the ball out of the park again and again. You set a standard in this business. At a career level, you have done great work. It's just a nice sweeping kiss and hug to me. The Culture of Journalism Tell me some of the successes Let's Do It Better has had and some of the ways in which it has impacted the culture of journalism. I think one wonderful thing they did, under Sig Gissler (original founder), was that they targeted the gatekeepers. His model approach was to go directly to the top management.Gissler wanted to show them good reporting that reached a higher level and how stories about race were more nuanced. He wanted them to read the stories and then to talk to the folks who wrote them so they could learn how to do these types of stories. Did the top respond? Yes! I saw conversions. People who started out cynically were changed by the last day. They were beginning to look at race and ethnicity stories critically. They were going to raise their standard. They left the workshops believing that their news organizations needed more diverse voices.Why, are there still so few people of color in newsrooms today? Too many employers are prejudiced. Too many minorities are still being hired under a cloud of doubt. I don't think many minorities are hired with the notion that they will be star reporters. They are not nurtured. Then when minority journalists leave it's seen as a betrayal, but when whites leave, it's considered a good career move. I have worked with many white reporters who have had many opportunities in training and promotions, and nobody says they're ungrateful s. o. b. ‘s when they leave.Can we keep doing it better? Of course. There are still so many stories we are not gettin g that are out there. Journalists who think they know communities of color end up writing stereotypical stories and they use photos to make people look exotic. In fact, we need to pay more attention to photojournalism. A story can be fair and balanced, but if that picture projects the exotic stereotype, the story loses its value. Don't bypass a photo of a person because they don't look ‘ethnic enough. ‘ Take a picture of the blonde Mexican or the Muslim women wearing Levi jeans.Further Readings Books * Bonnie M. Anderson  News Flash: Journalism, Infotainment, and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcast News. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. * Ben Bagdikian  The New Media Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. * Michael A. Banks  Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, 2008. * Pablo J. Boczkowski  Digitizing the News: Innovation in Online Newspapers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. * L. Brent Bozell  Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005. Asa Briggs and Peter Burke  A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Polity, 2005. * Thomas de Zengotita  Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. * David Edwards and David Cromwell  Guardians of Power: The Myth of the Liberal Media. London: Pluto Press, 2006. * Robert Erikson and Kent Tedin  American Public Opinion: Its Origins, Content, and Impact. Updated 7th ed. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2007. * Dan Gilmore  We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People.Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2006. * Tom Goldstein  Journalism and Truth: Strange Bedfellows. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2007. * Doris A. Graber  Media Power in Politics. 5th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007. * Neil Henry  American Carnival: Journalism under Siege in an Age of N ew Media. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007. * Henry Jenkins  Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press, 2006. * Steven Johnson  Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter. New York: Riverhead Trade, 2005. Lawrence Lessig  Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin, 2004. * Charles M. Madigan, ed. 30: The Collapse of the American Newspaper. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2007. * David W. Moore  The Opinion Makers: An Insider Exposes the Truth Behind the Polls. New York: Beacon Press, 2008. * Patrick R. Parsons  Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008. * Neil Postman  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. 20th anniversary ed.New York: Penguin Books, 2005. * Metta Spencer  Two Aspirins and a Comedy: How Television Can Enhance Health and Society. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2006. Periodicals * Dennis AuBuchon â€Å"Free Speech and the Fairness Doctrine,†Ã‚  American Chronicle, March 19, 2009. * Greg Beato â€Å"The Spin We Love to Hate: Do We Really Want News Without a Point of View? †Ã‚  Reason, December 2008. * Jeffrey Chester â€Å"Time for a Digital Fairness Doctrine,†Ã‚  AlterNet, October 19, 2004. * Edward W. Gillespie â€Å"Media Realism: How the GOP Should Handle Increasingly Biased Journalists,†Ã‚  National Review, April 6, 2009. Nicole Hemmer â€Å"Liberals, Too, Should Reject the Fairness Doctrine,†Ã‚  Christian Science Monitor, November 25, 2008. * R. Court Kirkwood â€Å"What Did or Didn't Happen at Duke,†Ã‚  New American, September 18, 2006. * Richard Perez-Pena â€Å"Online Watchdog Sniffs for Media Bias,†Ã‚  New York Times, October 15, 2008. * Eugene Robinson â€Å"(White) Women We Love,†Ã‚  Washington Post, June 10, 2005. * Joseph Somsel â€Å"Me gaphone Envy and the Fairness Doctrine,†Ã‚  American Thinker, March 19, 2009. * Adam Thierer â€Å"The Media Cornucopia,†Ã‚  City Journal, Spring 2007. * Evan Thomas â€Å"The Myth of Objectivity,†Ã‚  Newsweek, March 10, 2008.

Separation of a Mixture of Solids Essays

Separation of a Mixture of Solids Essays Separation of a Mixture of Solids Essay Separation of a Mixture of Solids Essay The mixed solution contained benzene acid, iron, table salt, and sand. When separated using water, fuel, or a magnet, their characteristics and properties changed. The mass of the entire mixed solids was 6. 6 grams. When the magnet was used, the iron was immediately picked up. The mass for that was 1. 7 grams. The table salt was 1. 2 grams. Benzene acid mass was 0. 8 grams and the sand was 1. 4 grams after being separated. Introduction The objective of this lab was to separate and examine different solutions within a elution. In order to separate each element different methods and techniques were used. Separating the Iron filings wasnt difficult or lengthy; however It did require patience and a steady hand. Separating the benzene acid and the table salt took the longest because it needed to air dry causing the water to evaporate. Methods While the water was boiling with the table salt, sand, and benzene acid, the water got thick. It was difficult to separate the solids because they would get stuck to the bottom of the Styrofoam cup. In order to separate the iron flings a magnet was used. The solution first needed to be spread out on a piece of paper. As the magnet was ran over the solution, the iron filings were picked up. It took several tries to get all of the iron picked up. To separate the sand, the burner and distilled water was used. As it boiled, it had to be stirred to make sure it was completely dissolved. Having done this twice ensures that the salt and the benzene acid are completely removed from the sand. An Ice bed was necessary to observe the benzene acid crystallizing. The Ice deed allowed the burning benzene acid to cool down and change appearance and texture. The sand had to be over low heat to be completely dry. No sand splattered which made it effective for the data. To separate the benzene acid, filtration was used. The mass of the filter paper was 1. 1 grams. The ice bath was used again to chill the distilled water in the cylinder. The table salt and benzene crystals were poured into the funnel filter paper. This had to be left to air dry overnight. To separate the sand, the Styrofoam cup had to also be left aside overnight for It to be completely dry. Results After each solid was separated, they were able to be weighted. The solids weighted were iron filings, sand, table salt, and benzene acid. Data Table: Experiment Data Grams Percent of mixture Iron flings 33. 3% Sand 1. 4 27% Table salt 1. 2 23. 5% Benzene acid 0. 8 15. 7% Total 5. 1 99. 5% Discussion This lab concluded that properties are contributory when it comes to separating solids. Using the magnet to gather all the iron filings was very effective, though it did take several tries. Solubility played a huge part in this lab. Each solid took a different amount of time and a different method to become separated due to solubility. This lab did bring up a few questions. For example, would the mass of the table salt or the benzene acid be different if it was boiled rather than air dried? What would happen if the sand was actually air dried rather than boiled? I wonder if their properties would have changed as well. The disadvantage with my data table is the totals. It does not equal 100, though it is very close. Solubility was definitely key in this lab.

The Tragic and Shocking Assassination of JFK

The Tragic and Shocking Assassination of JFK On November 22, 1963, the youth and idealism of America in the 1960s faltered as its young President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby during a prisoner transfer. After researching all the available evidence about Kennedy’s assassination, the Warren Commission officially ruled in 1964 that Oswald acted alone; a point still greatly contested by conspiracy theorists worldwide. Plans for the Texas Tour John F. Kennedy was elected to the presidency in 1960. A member of an illustrious political family from Massachusetts, the World War II  naval veteran Kennedy and his young wife, Jacqueline (â€Å"Jackie†), charmed their way into the hearts of America. The couple and their beautiful young children, three-year-old Caroline and infant John Jr., quickly became favorites of every media outlet across the United States. Despite a somewhat turbulent three years in office, by 1963 Kennedy was still popular and thinking about running for a second term. Although he had not officially announced his decision to run again, Kennedy planned a tour that resembled the beginnings of another campaign. Since Kennedy and his advisers were aware that Texas was a state where a win would provide crucial electoral votes, plans were made for Kennedy and Jackie to visit the state that falls, with stops planned for San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin. It would be Jackie’s first major foray back into public life after the loss of her infant son, Patrick, in August. Arrival in Texas The Kennedy’s left Washington, D.C. on November 21, 1963. Their first stop that day was in San Antonio, where they were met by a welcoming committee led by Vice President and Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. After attending the dedication of a new aerospace medical center at the Brooks Air Force Base, the President and his wife continued on to Houston where he delivered an address to a Latin American organization and attended a dinner for Congressman Albert Thomas. That night, they stayed in Fort Worth. The Fateful Day in Dallas Begins The following morning, after addressing the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy boarded a plane for a brief flight to Dallas. Their stay in Fort Worth was not without incident; several of Kennedys Secret Service entourage were spotted drinking in two establishments during his stay there. No immediate action was taken against the offenders but the issue would arise later in the Warren Commission investigation of Kennedy’s stay in Texas. The Kennedys arrived in Dallas just before noon on November 22 with approximately 30 members of the Secret Service accompanying them. The plane landed at Love Field, which would later serve as the site of Johnson’s swearing-in ceremony. They were met there by a convertible 1961 Lincoln Continental limousine that was to take them on a ten-mile parade route within the city of Dallas, ending at the Trade Mart, where Kennedy was scheduled to deliver a luncheon address. The car was driven by Secret Service agent William Greer. Texas Governor John Connally and his wife also accompanied the Kennedys in the vehicle. The Assassination Thousands of people lined the parade route hoping for a glance at President Kennedy and his beautiful wife. Just before 12:30 p.m., the presidential motorcade turned right from Main Street onto Houston Street and entered Dealey Plaza. The presidential limousine then turned left onto Elm Street. After passing the Texas School Book Depository, which was situated at the corner of Houston and Elm, shots suddenly rang out. One shot hit President Kennedy’s throat and he reached up with both hands toward the injury. Then another shot struck President Kennedy’s head, blowing off a part of his skull. Jackie Kennedy leapt from her seat and started scrambling for the back of the car. Governor Connally was also struck in the back and chest (he would survive his wounds). As the assassination scene was unfolding, Secret Service agent Clint Hill jumped from the car following the presidential limousine and ran up to the Kennedys’ car. He then jumped onto the back of the Lincoln Continental in an attempt to shield the Kennedys from the would-be assassin. He arrived too late. Hill, however, was able to help Jackie Kennedy. Hill pushed Jackie back into her seat and stayed with her the rest of the day. Jackie then cradled Kennedy’s head in her lap all the way to the hospital. The President Is Dead As the driver of the limousine realized what had occurred, he immediately left the parade route and sped toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. They arrived at the hospital within five minutes of the shooting. Kennedy was placed on a stretcher and wheeled into trauma room 1. It is believed that Kennedy was still alive when he arrived at the hospital, but barely. Connally was taken to trauma room 2. Doctors made every attempt to save Kennedy but it was quickly determined that his wounds were too severe. Catholic priest Father Oscar L. Huber administered last rites and then chief neurologist Dr. William Kemp Clark pronounced Kennedy dead at 1 p.m. An announcement was made at 1:30 p.m. that President Kennedy had died from his wounds. The entire nation came to a standstill. Parishioners flocked to churches where they prayed and school children were sent home to mourn with their families. Even 50 years later, nearly every American who was alive that day can remember where they were when they heard the announcement that Kennedy was dead. The President’s body was transported to Love Field via a 1964 Cadillac hearse supplied by Dallas’ O’Neill funeral home. The funeral home also supplied the casket that was used to transport Kennedy’s body. When the casket arrived at the airport, the President was loaded onto Air Force One for transport back to Washington, D.C. Johnson’s Swearing In At 2:30 p.m., just prior to Air Force One leaving for Washington, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office in the conference room of the plane. Jackie Kennedy, still wearing her blood-splattered pink dress, stood at his side as U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath. During this ceremony, Johnson officially became the 36th President of the United States. This inauguration would be historical for many reasons, including the fact that it was the first time the oath of office was administered by a woman and the only time it occurred on an airplane. It was also notable for the fact that there was not a Bible readily available for Johnson to utilize during the swearing in, so instead a Roman Catholic missal was utilized. (Kennedy had kept the missal on Air Force One.) Lee Harvey Oswald Although the Dallas police closed down the Texas School Book Depository within minutes of the shooting, a suspect was not immediately located. Approximately 45 minutes later, at 1:15 p.m., a report was received that a Dallas patrolman, J.D. Tippit, had been shot. Police were suspicious that the shooter might be the same in both incidents and quickly closed in on the reported suspect who had taken refuge in the Texas Theater. At 1:50 p.m., police surrounded Lee Harvey Oswald; Oswald pulled a gun on them, but the police successfully arrested him. Oswald was a former Marine who was identified as having ties to both communist Russia and Cuba. At one point, Oswald traveled to Russia with hopes of establishing himself there; however, the Russian government believed him to be unstable and sent him back. Oswald had then attempted to go to Cuba but failed to get a visa through the Mexican government. In October 1963, he returned to Dallas and procured a job at the Texas School Book Depository through a friend of his wife, Marina. With his job at the book depository, Oswald had access to the eastern-most sixth floor window where he is believed to have created his sniper’s nest. After shooting Kennedy, he hid the Italian-made rifle that was identified as the murder weapon in a stack of boxes where it was later discovered by police. Oswald was then seen in the depository’s second-floor lunchroom approximately a minute and a half after the shooting. By the time police sealed off the building shortly after the assassination, Oswald had already exited the building. Oswald was captured in the theater, arrested, and charged with the murders of President John F. Kennedy and patrolman J.D. Tippit. Jack Ruby On Sunday morning, November 24, 1963 (just two days after JFK’s assassination), Oswald was in the process of being moved from the Dallas Police Headquarters to the county jail. At 11:21 a.m., as Oswald was being led through the basement of police headquarters for the transfer, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald in front of live television news cameras. Ruby’s initial reasons for shooting Oswald were because he was distraught over Kennedy’s death and he wanted to spare Jackie Kennedy the difficulty of enduring Oswald’s trial. Ruby was convicted of killing Oswald in March 1964 and given the death sentence; however, he died of lung cancer in 1967 before an upcoming re-trial could occur. Kennedy’s Arrival in Washington D.C. After Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base just outside of Washington D.C. on the evening of November 22, 1963, Kennedy’s body was taken via automobile to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy. The autopsy found two wounds to the head and one to the neck. In 1978, the published findings of the congressional House Select Committee on Assassinations revealed that JFK’s brain had gone missing at some point during the autopsy. After the autopsy was completed, Kennedy’s body, still at the Bethesda Hospital, was prepared for burial by a local funeral home, which also replaced the original casket that had been damaged during transfer. Kennedy’s body was then transported to the East Room of the White House, where it remained until the following day. At Jackie’s request, Kennedy’s body was accompanied by two Catholic priests during this time. An honor guard was also stationed with the late President. On Sunday afternoon, November 24, 1963, Kennedy’s flag-draped casket was loaded onto a caisson, or gun wagon, for transfer to the Capitol rotunda. The caisson was pulled by six grey horses and had previously been used to carry the body of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was followed by a riderless black horse with reversed boots placed into the stirrups to symbolize the fallen President. The Funeral The first Democrat to lie in state at the Capitol, Kennedy’s body remained there for 21 hours. Nearly 250,000 mourners came to pay their final respects; some waited up to ten hours in line to do so, despite the cold temperatures in Washington that November. The viewing was supposed to end at 9 p.m.; however, a decision was made to leave the Capitol open overnight to accommodate the throngs of people who arrived at the Capitol. On Monday, November 25, Kennedy’s coffin was taken from the Capitol to St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where dignitaries from over 100 countries attended Kennedy’s state funeral. Millions of Americans stopped their daily routines to watch the funeral on television. After the service concluded, the coffin began its final procession from the church to Arlington Cemetery. Black Jack, a riderless horse with polished boots turned backward in its stirrups, followed the caisson. The horse represented a warrior fallen in battle or a leader who would lead his people no longer. Jackie had her two little children with her and as they exited the church, three-year-old John Jr. stopped for a moment and raised his hand to his forehead in a childish salute. It was one of the most heart-wrenching images of the day. Kennedy’s remains were then buried at Arlington Cemetery, after which Jackie and the President’s brothers, Robert and Edward, lit an eternal flame. The Warren Commission With Lee Harvey Oswald dead, there remained many unanswered questions about the reasons for and the circumstances surrounding John F. Kennedy’s assassination. To answer these questions, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11130, which established an investigatory commission that was officially called the â€Å"President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.† The commission was led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren; as a result, it is commonly referred to as the Warren Commission. For the remainder of 1963 and most of 1964, the Warren Commission intensively researched all that had been discovered about JFK’s assassination and Oswald’s assassination. They carefully examined every aspect of the case, visited Dallas to examine the scene, requested further investigations if facts seemed uncertain, and poured over the transcripts of literally thousands of interviews. Plus, the Commission conducted a series of hearings where they heard testimony themselves. After nearly a year of investigating, the Commission notified President Johnson of their findings on September 24, 1964. The Commission issued these findings in a report that ran 888 pages. The Warren Commission found: Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin and conspirator in the death of President John F. Kennedy.A single bullet caused non-fatal wounds to both Kennedy and Connelly. A second bullet caused Kennedy’s fatal head wound.Jack Ruby acted alone in his assassination of Oswald and did not conspire with anyone to commit this act. The final report was highly controversial and has been questioned by conspiracy theorists through the years. It was briefly revisited by the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1976, which ultimately upheld the major findings of the Warren Commission.

Current state-of-the-art in one of the EECS Research Paper

Current state-of-the-art in one of the EECS - Research Paper Example The move is driven by the existing gap between designer’s productivity and DSP increased complexity. As microprocessors, digital signal perform data manipulation and mathematical calculations and are characterized by real time digital signal processing competencies as data is processed in real time, high throughput, software re-programmability and deterministic operation. Despite appearing in the market in the early 1980s, DSP have numerous applications and have become key enabling technology for numerous electronics products in fields like automotive, instrumentation and military, multimedia and electronics products. Since the 1980s, DSPs have undergone extreme evolution namely in terms of hardware features, software development tools and integration. Hardware evolution occurred in two phases which are the development phase and the consolidation phase. The development phase took place until 1990 when DSP was characterized by fixed width instruction set. From 1990 to date, DSP hardware consolidation has seen development of parallel architectures, multiprocessing support, fewer manufacturers, specialized families and improved debug potential. Very Long Instruction Word VLIW and Single Instruction Multiple Data or SIMD emerged during DSP consolidation period and introduced parallelism that enhanced DSP performance. Conversely, DSP software tools have improved in a spectacular way as code compilers have evolved to effectively deal with the underlying hardware complexity and increased DSP architecture. The enhanced code compilers enable the developer to efficiently use high level languages to program more and at improved efficiency. Today, advanced programming tools like Matlab and LabView DSP module, enable the graphical DSP programming through interconnection of pre-defined blocks that are later converted into DSP code while high performance simulators, debugging and emulator facilities provide the developer with high DSP visibility with little or no inter ference on the execution of program. Through their recent associated numerous changes, programmable DSPs have become not only a rising star but also one of the fastest growing segments within the industry of processors. New developments in DSP that will influence future chip designs Today’s automobiles are experiencing a revolution that has seen gradual elimination of systems that are purely analog electronics and mechanical. Consequently, the automobile industry is gradually turning digital and incorporating dozens of embedded processors whose connection is through multiple digital networks that are optimizing and controlling nearly all operations. Hori (1) reveals that the automobile industry will experience more advancement in future car generations while the development of complex algorithms for signal processing will contribute in advancing emission and engine control, safety, driver interfaces, and in-cabin information and entertainment or infotainment. Despite the incr easing applications of DSPs in automotives, the selection of automotive processor is influenced by factors such as automobile qualification, on-chip integration, prices, performance, and efficiency of energy use. The automotive DSPs selection is also