Affrimtaive Action essays

Affrimtaive Action essays After the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, it became apparent that certain business traditions, such as seniority status and aptitude tests, prevented total equality in employment. Then President, Lyndon B. Johnson, decided something needed to be done to remedy these flaws. On September 24, 1965, he issued Executive Order #11246 at Howard University that required federal contractors to take Affirmative Action to ensure that applicants are employed . . . without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin (Civil Rights). With the signing of that order, and without knowing it, President Johnson created reverse discrimination. Affirmative Action was created in an effort to help minorities leap the discriminative barriers that were ever so present when the bill was first enacted, in 1965. At this time, the country was in the wake of nationwide civil- rights demonstrations, and racial tension was at an all time high. Most of the corporate executive and managerial positions were occupied by White Males, who controlled the hiring and firing of employees. The U.S. government, in 1965, believed that these employers were discriminating against Minorities and believed that there was no better time than the present to bring about change. This action, that started with good intentions, would later lead to a different and more complex form of discrimination. When the Civil Rights Law passed, Minorities, especially African- Americans, believed that they should receive retribution for the earlier years of discrimination they endured. The government responded by passing laws to aide them in attaining better employment as reprieve for the previous two hundred years of suffering their race endured at the hands of the White Man. To many people the passing of these laws was an effort in the right direction. Supporters of Affirmative Actio...

Ethical Dilemma about the Same Sex Marriage Research Paper - 2

Ethical Dilemma about the Same Sex Marriage - Research Paper Example Over the years many states have started to embrace the idea of same-sex marriages especially the controversial gay marriages. There are many controversies which surround the issue which ranges from ethical concerns to religious issues. The stigma created by the people on the people on the individuals embracing the idea has left many who practice it to hide for the fear of being subjected to social discrimination and stigmatization in the society. Many churches have not accepted the idea and they strongly advocate for its shunning citing various scriptures in the holy books that state against the practice. This has stirred a big debate on the acceptance of this behavior which was initially not acceptable but currently gaining so much popularity and many people including celebrities coming up and confessing of having been in same-sex relationships for a long time. The people involved have been fighting for their freedom of expression and interaction and this has pushed many jurisdictions to bow to their demand and allow the marriages. One of the ideas that arise when the issue of same-sex marriages spring up is what should come first, the right of the individual or morality. The constitutions that govern many states are categorical when it comes to the issue of human rights. Therefore the people who engage in this actions are guarded by the clauses that give them the right way to interact with whomever they want to. Therefore it would be against the constitution to impose a rule on them that would subject them to following a line of thought that they are not ready to subscribe to While advocating for their rights, the people championing stated that every person should respect each and every one's uniqueness and so say that they support the idea is their own choice of their life anyway.

Legacies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legacies - Essay Example It wanted to free itself from the United States. This led to a bloody war between these two parties for four years. The Confederacy  was disadvantaged  in this war. This is because the U.S. government had  support  from twenty five  free  states from the north and the borders. They had a tremendously strong population base that helped them to  defeat  the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party was against the promotion of slavery into other states that it never existed. The Republicans were victorious in their campaigns. This led seven states to  declare  secession from the U.S. federal government. These states united and formed the Confederacy States of America in 1860. The war began in 1861 after a U.S. military base  was attacked  by Confederate forces.  The U.S. federal government called on other states to  volunteer  their armies to fight back.  Both parties formed strong armies that fought against each other. There was a bloody  war  for four years (the American civil war). After the war, slavery  was brought  to an end. Slaves from the border and other Confederate slaves  were freed  by the state. There were numerous and tireless efforts to  reconstruct  the U.S. All in all, many historians today are of the opinion that the reconstruction was never a  success. It was a complete failure because many issues still remain unresolved.

Motivation of nursing staff in a private care home Essay

Motivation of nursing staff in a private care home - Essay Example There are nursing homes with special care units for people with disorders such as Alzheimers. Nursing homes can be used by anyone who needs a constant care and special nursing needs. The needs for skilled nurses are on the rise and the availability is fairly scarce. Therefore it is necessary to understand the factors affecting the nurse’s motivation and their performance to retain them in service. Administrators of Nursing Homes/Hospitals need to know the critical significance of motivation for the performance of health workers and skilled nurses in the context of this scarce resource. Motivation at work is extensively supposed to be a key issue in the performance of individuals and organisations and is also an important predictor of intention to give up the workplace (Hasselhorn, et al. 2004). The challenge for the policy-makers and health care executives is to be able to motivate people to join an organization, stay there and carry out their work to a certain standard. It is well-known that worker performance is the outcome of three factors (Bennett and Franco, 1999), which are the as following: Incentive is one way of motivating people to perform. Linking incentives and performance is important. Incentive may be explained as an unambiguous financial or non-financial reward for performing certain act. The World Health Report defines incentives as all the rewards and punishments that providers face as a result of the organizations in which they work and the exact intervention they give. Those can be constructive or harmful, financial or non-financial, tangible or intangible. Normally incentives comprise pay, bonuses, allowances, vacation, work independence, transportation and flexible working hours. Incentives are used as a means to favour certain behaviours in order to reached defined goals such as improving performance (Hicks and Adams, 2003). Incentives are important for the reason that they can power the key

Cuban Missile Crisis Essay -- History, Russian Nuclear Weapon

The discovery of the nuclear missiles in Cuba was a vast turning point in the way that the world would progress in terms of communication and various entertainment and political positions from that point forward. Before the assumptions of the United States were proved about the Soviet Union holding nuclear weapons in Cuba, there was a great lack of communications between the nations that caused major conflict between these two nations. The moment the nations got connected many problems could be solved, but until that point in time, there was misunderstanding and an apprehension of the unknown among many people who inhabited the United Sates. The Cuban missile crisis was the beginning of a revolution in communications between nations, but the spark to a great deal of worry among the people of the United States and other surrounding nations. People just did not know what to believe when it came down to the effects that these nuclear weapons were going to have on the nation and the world as a whole. There was what could be considered a revolution as advancements showed up and new ideas and even cartoons came out, all with the universal basis of nuclear weapons. The positives outweigh the negatives on many levels and show that something that seemed so terrible really brought about many positive changes for the nation. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962 when U-2 flight crews took photos over Cuba that were then analyzed meticulously by experts, who in turn found that there were in fact Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba (Compston, 228). The Soviet Union and the United States were exceptionally close to an all out nuclear war that could have wiped out the entire human population. Photos were taken from a spy plane... ..., there was a huge need for the Cuban Missile crisis to occur and for the missiles in Cuba to be discovered, for the reason that if it had not happened, then there would still be a lack of communication to this day, or there would have been for numerous years to come, and the nation as we know it may not still be standing. This event in history was significant because it in fact did lead to the connection of the world to each other and therefore eliminated abundant tribulations. The nations would never have been connected by something as necessary as a hotline as early as they were at the time. Ultimately, the positives outweighed the negatives in that the only true negative was fear, and this fear was the fear of the unknown. Even something that has the skin or cover of destruction and disaster can have an underlying reassurance of a positive ending or outcome.

Storytelling in Homer’s Odyssey

Tall Tales Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten. –Neil Gaiman The escapades of wily Odysseus are ingrained into the hearts of countless children. The bedtime story of one man’s journey home and the obstacles he faces along the way forever lives on in youthful imagination. Alas, a problem arises when mythology-loving children grow up. Vocabulary and comprehension matures slowly over time, and, at some point, the youth is ready to delve into the feast that is Homer’s unabridged poetry.As the reader devours book after book of The Odyssey, he or she finds comforting familiarity in the stories, the characters, and the monsters, but something is not quite right. While hearing of Odysseus’ adventures as a child, the action was spoken from the steady voice of a omnipresent narrator, but in Homer’s work, the poet often speaks through Odysseus as a storyteller recounting his glorious past. This is when the disillusioned youth comes to a devastating conclusion: Odysseus is a liar.Homer distances himself as the poet from the more fantastic tales that the reader recognizes from youth: the Lotus eaters, the Laestrygonians, the Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis, Circe, Aeolus and the winds. All these wondrous tales are told from the deceitful, crafty mouth of Odysseus. To the Phaeacians, he is a illustrious adventurer ready for derring-do at all times. To the knowing Athena, he claims to be a Cretan fugitive. And to Eumaeus and Telemachus, he in all his craftiness asserts that he is (while still a Cretan) a beggar who fought alongside the great Odysseus on the Trojan shore.Odysseus adopts these facades for different motives, but the response to his stories are unanimously positive. Through his stories, Odysseus does not sacrifice his integrity, rather he gains honor. When the eager reader reaches Book IX, he or she reaches some of th e most familiar events in Homer’s lore. Homer, through Odysseus’ account to the Phaecians, crafts some of the most thrilling action in the poem. Daring escapes, clever plans, and terrifying beasts are woven into a tapestry of wonder and enchantment. Yet for the great storyteller that he is, Odysseus s hesitant to relate his tale. â€Å"But now you wish to know my cause for sorrow / and thereby give me cause for more† (Homer 158). As exaggerated as the following account is, Odysseus seems to be truthful about his grief. Whether or not his men perished as he claims is not certain, but death was the end to their stories nonetheless. Odysseus honors the memory of these men by spinning a yarn so great that his men become immortal in his story. This does not, however, mean that he wishes to present his shipmates as faultless.He freely lays blame on the crew for releasing King Aeolus’ winds. By doing this, Odysseus proves his skill as a raconteur by showing manà ¢â‚¬â„¢s greedy nature and the consequences that are a result. Odysseus’ goal is not to raise himself up as the greatest of heroes either. He freely admits to his follies and to the deaths that heavy his heart with guilt. Odysseus confesses to his own human weaknesses saying, â€Å"Now, being a man, I could not help consenting† (189), when tempted by Circe to forgo his return home to Ithaca, putting his men in danger in the process.He even tells how one of his men, Eurylochus, blamed Odysseus for the death of his shipmates at the hands of the Cyclops, â€Å"That daring man! They died for his foolishness! † (190). He willingly admits to being overpowered by lust in the case of Circe, but he also tells of his tactical genius concerning the Sirens. Odysseus’ story is not a matter of boastfulness, rather a matter of honor, his own and that of his fallen comrades. Clearly, the Phaecians are satisfied with the narrative, â€Å"He ended it, and no one stirred o r sighed / in the shadowy hall, spellbound as they all were† (241).So impressed by the story and empathetic to Odysseus’ losses, in fact, that King Alcinous almost immediately loads his ship and has a Phaecian crew sail him back to Ithaca. The Phaecians are so entertained and enamored by Odysseus’ eloquence that they believe any word that flows from his lips, no matter how ludicrous. Odysseus does not set out to deceive his hosts, quite the opposite. When King Alcinous asks him to relate his travels, he does not want facts, he wants a story. After incurring the wrath of Poseidon one last time, Odysseus awakens on an Ithaca that he does not recognize thanks to Athena’s deviousness.When confront by the goddess in disguise, Odysseus â€Å"†¦ answered her / with read speech–not that he told the truth, / but, just as she did, held back what he knew, / weighing within himself at every step / what he made up to serve his turn† (250). After clai ming to be a Cretan fleeing his homeland after murdering a courier, Athena reveals herself to her favorite Odysseus. Then, surprisingly, she does not chastise him for lying, instead she praises him for his gift of deception, â€Å"Whoever gets around you must be sharp / and guileful as a snake; even a god / might bow to you in ways of dissimulation. You! You chameleon! † (251). Athena is not condoning Odysseus deceit, she is commending him. This prioritization of wit and cleverness over straight honesty is harder for modern readers to fully grasp than it would have been for the Greeks hearing the lovely recitation. Using the guise of a Cretan once more (fittingly because as the famous Cretan Epimenides once said, â€Å"All Cretans are liars,†) Odysseus tests the swineherd’s, Eumaeus’, loyalty and hospitality.Odysseus hints that Eumaeus’ master may be closer than he expects (263). In direct contrast to the Phaecians response, Eumaeus does not let hi mself believe the words of the stranger, how ever silver-tongued he may be. Eumaeus responds to the hidden Odysseus’ message of hope with pessimism concerning lonely Penelope, old Laertes, and absent Telemachus. In the manner of Greek hospitality, Odysseus and Eumaeus share a meal, wine, and stories, and while Eumaeus’ origin may not be as mythic as Odysseus, who is to say it is factual?His background is shared gracefully enough that even the esteemed Odysseus complements Eumaeus’ skill, â€Å"That was a fine story, and well told, / not a word out of place, not a pointless word† (275). When Telemachus returns, Odysseus carries on his charade. In the guise of a old beggar, Odysseus tests Telemachus’ valor saying, â€Å"If my heart were as young as yours, if I were / son to Odysseus, or the man himself, / I’d rather have my head cut from my shoulders / then to suffer the pestilence that is the suitors† (304).In rebuttal to this harsh in sult, Telemachus explains that Odysseus left him too young to prevent the suitors from swarming to Penelope. It is then that Athena deems it time to reveal Odysseus’ true form. This revelation and reunion is not only touching, but it also fills Telemachus with a pride and hunger to face the suitors. Odysseus disguised himself on Ithaca for almost four days before enacting revenge on the suitors who dishonor his home. Why would he wait so long? Why not burst through the doors right away and start cutting down men one by one?Odysseus never claims to be the strongest, the boldest, or even the bravest, but everyone knows that Odysseus is the wiliest. It is Odysseus, the master tactician and master of disguise, not a rage-filled berserker that reclaims his throne. It is safe to assume that Odysseus’ stories are not factual, but that in no way justifies the statement, â€Å"Odysseus is a liar. † His purpose in the story to the Phaecians is not to recount his travels v erbatim, rather he only wishes to convey the bravery of his men and the sadness in his heart. By the end of his tale, the hall is silent with grief.His reason for acting as a Cretan outlaw is not treachery, but an exercise in his great skill. He hides himself to his friends and family not out of malice, but so his intellectual stratagem banishes the suitors to Hades, not brute strength. Odysseus’s slyness and wit are to be admired, not admonished. When he announces his identity to the Phaecians, he does not cite his brute strength or skill in warfare as his gifts. He exclaims proudly, â€Å"I am Laertes’ son, Odysseus / Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: / this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim† (158).While heroes such as Achilles and Heracles establish their place in legend and eternity among Elysian fields with force and passion, Odysseus forever immortalized himself in the epics of the Ancients and the storybooks of children because of he is a â€Å"man of twists and turns† who knows how to tell a good story.Works Cited Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country. New York, New York: DC Comics, 1991. Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. Garden City, New York: Doubleday ; Company, 1992.

The Surveillance Programs Prism, More Insight Into Fisa,...

From the massive amount of information Snowden leaked to the world came three revelations regarding the specifics of three surveillance programs: Prism, more insight into FISA, and XkeyScore. In simple terms, Prism is an example of the US government using its corporate power to force major communications companies, including Google and Apple, to create a backdoor that could be opened regardless of whether those companies were ever notified. A constant point of access such as Prism facilitates the free collection of everything from emails, internet searches, or documents shared using those mediums, thereby making nearly all internet activity subject to the scrutiny of the government. As for the case of FISA, the public learned that the court had used its power to extend their capability in terms of cellular surveillance. During one of his first interviews after the leak, Snowden described the Verizon document, which detailed the FISA court ruling which forces Verizon Mobility, among other providers, to share all of their data with the NSA, as an example of the NSA â€Å"using an authority that was intended to be used to seek warrants against individuals, and applying it to the whole of society.† And finally, there’s XkeyScore: a program best described as a search engine for intelligence community. Frequently described as the NSA’s â€Å"widest-reaching† program, XkeyScore is a â€Å"program [which] allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing