What The White Man Thinks Essay - 1374 Words

What the White Man Thinks Then came Negro riots near a scale of war in the ghettos of at least a dozen major American cities (pg. 224) The Armies of the Night, which is a dazzling artifact to read, shows the way of life and attitudes at a conflict with the prevailing social norm of the late 1960 s but also an encounter of nonfiction in its own extreme experience. The short chapters each portrays the observations and experiences that were made by the author Mailer. Nature and characters that are talked about scene by scene are developed through dialogue that Mailer overhears or dialogue that he himself participates in. Robert Lowell and Norman Mailer has some connections in their own individual writings over this period. Lowell pictures a nation that is lightheartedly mixed, in its own way to please others in materialistic interests and its disinterest regarding the historical sacrifice and its opposition to the racial equality. On the other hand, Mailer s ideology thrust on the strug gle for racial equality and the way blacks are represented in this era. African Americans in the 1960 s faced many challenges such as racial segregation and discrimination which the civil rights movement composed to end. Mailer begins his essay in The Armies of the Night by expressing his reluctance to attend this mass event of October 1967, a march on the Pentagon, in which hippies, Christians, feminists, and intellectuals all came out together to protest against the war in Vietnam. HeShow MoreRelated Racism in The Color of Fear Essay879 Words   |  4 Pagesdifferent races towards one another. Including also the idea that the white â€Å"do-gooder† feels that subconsciously racism is being taken care of, when in all reality it isn’t. The eight men in The Color of Fear candidly discussed racism not only as whites oppressing blacks, but also the less addressed sides of racial trouble in America. 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Baldwin, talks about the effects of slavery on a micro level, and talks about how it affectsRead MoreImperialism : Economic Benefits For Larger Countries1147 Words   |  5 Pagesof the colonists. Three shows a picture of a white man being pulled in a cart by two natives who seem to be in extreme pain . The whites controlled these poor people like slaves and treated them like dogs, pulling carts, little rations, terrible things done for the sake of imperialism. Four is a poem describing the toll taken on the families of the natives. The father was killed, the mother was seduced, the brother was worked to the bone, and the white man still needs more of the last brother. The actionsRead MoreThings Fall Apart and Chapter1699 Words   |  7 PagesOkonkwo bring honor to his village as a young man? 3. Page #______ What other achievements make him an important man? 4. Page #______ Why does Okonkwo have no patience with his own father, Unoka? 5. Page #______ What good qualities does Unoka have, that his son fails to appreciate? Chapter Two 1. Page #______ How does Okonkwo reaffirm his greatness as a warrior to the people of his village? 2. Page #______ What is the â€Å"normal course of action† when aRead MoreHills Like White Elephants: My Interpretation of the Play Essay examples1329 Words   |  6 PagesThis short story is about a couple arguing about abortion. The girl, Jig, does not want to, but the American man says that it is the only thing between them. The girl wants to continue on with her life of exploring the world with the addition of the baby, but the man says that it would take the world away from them. The man has experience in this, but the woman seems not to. She is reluctant, and does not want to talk about it any more after a point. 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Contract Formation Free Essays

string(384) " in the construction industry, as Adriaanse writes this is due to â€Å"a number of factors such as the length of the contractual chain stretching beyond the parties to their subcontractors and suppliers, as well as the system of competitive bidding meaning one party may under-price the cost of the work, raising the possibility that one party may wish to renegotiate the agreement†\." Part A Contracts are an integral part of business and everyday life, and are fundamental to construction as the industry relies on the formation of contracts for business agreements. â€Å"Contracts are based on the idea of a bargain, where each side must put something into the bargain. A contract may be defined as ‘an agreement which is binding on the parties’† (Galbraith, 1998, pg78). We will write a custom essay sample on Contract Formation or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are a number of key components which must be present in the formation of such contracts. Firstly, there needs to be an initial offer made by one party for the formation to begin. An offer exists when one party effectively declares his readiness to be bound by a set of terms without any further negotiation† (Galbraith, 1998, pg79). It is interesting to note also that there is generally no requirement that the offer be made in any particular form, it may be made orally, in writing or by conduct (McKendrick, 2007, pg33). The exception to this is with speciality contracts such as the sale of land or estates or when deeds are formed between parties giving them twelve years liability instead of the six on simple contracts, and are frequently used within construction (Owen, 1998, pg47). However there is a fine line between what constitutes an offer, and an invitation to treat. â€Å"An invitation to treat is simply an expression of willingness to enter into negotiations which will lead to the conclusion of a contract at a later date† (McKendrick, 2007, pg33). There is much confusion between the two, as shown in the cases of Gibson v. Manchester City Council [1978] and Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953]. An example of an invitation to treat in construction is the tendering process, in which the employer will invite contractors to make an offer based on the project information, which the employer can then choose to accept to form a binding contract. In terms of the enforcement of contract law, when cases are examined McKendrick (2007, pg32) states â€Å"the courts adopt the ‘mirror image’ rule of contractual formation, that is to say they must find a clear offer which is matched by an equally clear acceptance†. Acceptance is also defined as â€Å"an unqualified expression of assent to the terms proposed by the offeror† (McKendrick, 2007, pg43). Therefore a contract can only be legally binding if the offer includes clear terms and is declared to the offeree, with communication of a clear and firm acceptance to be bound by these terms given back to the offeror. These two factors combined culminate in the agreement of the contract. However contract formation is rarely simple, and often the offeree will wish to introduce their own terms to the agreement as part of the negotiations, communicating this back to the offeror. This is known as a counter offer. Galbraith (1998, pg80) points out that â€Å"the offer – counter offer situation arises frequently in business where each side in the negotiations may be trying to make the contract on the basis of their own ‘pro forma’ standard documents. This gives rise to what us known as battle of the forms† The battle of the forms scenario succinctly defines the rules of offer and acceptance, in that any counter offer destroys the original offer making it irretrievable, with agreement of contract resulting when the last offer is accepted by the offeree. An example of this is evident in the case of Butler Machine Tool Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corp [1979]. It is also important that there is an element of certainty to the terms of the contract, with the parties expressing their agreement in a form sufficiently certain for the courts to enforce (McKendrick, 2007, pg57). If there is an element of vagueness in the terms of the contract, it could be judged there is no valid contract at all, an example being the vague use of the term ‘hire-purchase’ in the case Scammell v Ousten [1941]. However if the parties have contracted with each other previously, it could be deemed as stated by Owen ( 1998, pg55) â€Å"a previous course of dealings will control some of the matters not expressly agreed in the present case, e. g. the amount of pay which could be the same as that paid on a prior occasion†. One particular problem in construction is the ‘letter of intent’, widely used between employers and contractors as a form of pre-contract agreement. Following on from the tendering negotiations, Adriaanse (2010, pg55) writes â€Å"the purpose of a letter of intent is to express an intention to enter into a contract at a future date†. These are the result of failing to negotiate on certain terms in time for the project start date, and are introduced to allow the commencement of work, keeping within the projects’ completion target. As these are often not legally binding contracts they cause disputes in the future if one of the parties does not carry out their duties, as in British Steel Corporation v. Cleveland Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd (1981). Owen ( 1998, pg50) writes that â€Å"all simple contracts must have consideration given by each party to the other as the price of each other’s promises. It may take the form of money, goods, services, promises not to sue etc. † For example party A must receive something from party B, in return for party A providing something to party B. However McKendrick (2007, pg88) states that â€Å"consideration must be sufficient but does not need to be adequate†, meaning for example something must be offered to the other party in return to satisfy the rules of consideration, but does not need to be of an equal value as shown in the cases Chappell Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd [1960] and Thomas v Thomas [1842]. Consideration given also cannot be past, stated by Owen ( ) in that â€Å"you cannot make a contract in which one person promises to do something for another in exchange for a consideration which has already been performed†. This is clear in the cases of Lampleigh v Brathwait [1615] and Roscorla v Thomas [1842]. Consideration is of huge importance in the construction industry, as Adriaanse writes this is due to â€Å"a number of factors such as the length of the contractual chain stretching beyond the parties to their subcontractors and suppliers, as well as the system of competitive bidding meaning one party may under-price the cost of the work, raising the possibility that one party may wish to renegotiate the agreement†. You read "Contract Formation" in category "Essay examples" This can lead to the question of whether consideration was given when the contract was formed and whether the party is legally entitled to expect renegotiation to occur. However even when consideration has been given by parties and agreement reached this does not mean there is an enforceable contract in place. For a contract to be valid there must also be present the intention of all parties to enter legal relations with one another. Galbraith (1998, pg91) explains there are two categories, â€Å"commercial arrangements where the parties are presumed to have intended to create a contract, and family, domestic and social arrangements where they are presumed to have not†. In the field of construction only the former is relevant, where the courts would initially look at a case between the parties and presume an intention to enter a contract exists. Conflict can occur when one of the parties seeks to rebut the presumption, in which the party will need to show evidence no contract was intended. An example of such a rebuttal is the case of Rose and Frank Co. v. Compton Bros where it was indicated the written document drawn up was merely a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ and not a legally binding contract (Galbraith, 1998, pg92). The legal capacity of the parties to enter into a binding agreement also must be present. Minors under the age of 18, and the mentally incapacitated are not able to enter into contracts to protect them from their own inability or inexperience (McKendrick, 2007, pg348). Companies are deemed to have full capacity to enter into legal contracts and are not restricted in any way. In conclusion, in order for the formation of a legally binding contract to occur there must be an offer from a party which is followed by acceptance from another party. Certainty must exist within the terms of the agreement, and due consideration must be given by both parties for the price of the promises received. The intentions of all parties to enter into legal relations must be present, as well as the capacity to qualify as valid party to the agreement. Part B a. ) When determining if there is a legal contract agreed between two parties there needs to be examination of whether the key elements of contract formation have been satisfied. In the case of Caroline v. A. W Electrical, the question is if at any point an offer was accepted and therefore a contract agreed between the two parties on the terms given. When A. W Electrical placed the advertisement in the newspaper for the ZR250 Smart Television at ? 80 via mail order, this is a clear invitation to treat and should not be classed as an offer. As discussed in part A, an invitation to treat is where a party will indicate they wish to enter into negotiations which may lead to receiving an offer and an agreement if they choose to accept. Advertisements are a prime example of an invitation to treat as they are an indication of what goods or s ervices that party may be willing to negotiate over, with the price of ? 480 an estimate to invite offers. Subsequently when Caroline saw the advertisement and sent in a cheque for the ? 80, this equates to an offer being made to A. W Electrical. As Galbraith (1998, pg79) states â€Å"an offer exists when one party effectively declares his/(her) readiness to be bound by a set of terms without any further negotiation†. Caroline has effectively done this by sending the cheque for the amount on the advertisement, the terms being if she gives ? 480, A. W Electrical will send the item without any further negotiation if they accept Caroline’s offer. Due to the nature of the terms, A. W Electrical will be judged to have accepted if they go ahead and send Caroline the ZR250 Smart Television. As explained in part A above, there needs to be communication of a clear and firm acceptance to be bound by these terms given back to the offeror. This will be deemed to be communicating via accepting by conduct, in which their actions equates to acceptance of the terms. However instead of sending Caroline the ZR250 model, A. W Electrical sent a ZR200 and a letter the following day with a cheque for ? 80 explaining the ZR250 was not available and unless Caroline returned the item within two weeks they would assume she was satisfied with the deal. A. W Electrical have not accepted Caroline’s offer, but introduced a counter offer which is binding to their terms and not Caroline’s. As explained by McKendrick (2007, pg43) â€Å"a purported acceptance which does not accept all the terms and conditions proposed by the offeror but which in fact introduces new terms is not acceptance but a counter-offer, which is then treated as a new offer which is capable of acceptance or rejection†. Due to not being able to reply as she was departing on a two week holiday, upon her return Caroline returned the item with a note explaining it was not what she ordered, however A. W Electrical refused to accept the item or provide any further refund as she had not returned the item within two weeks. This raises the question whether Caroline did actually accept the offer by not returning the item within two weeks. For this to be enforceable, the law of contract needs to govern that acceptance by silence is a valid form of coming to agreement. Galbraith states (1998, pg82) â€Å"the rule that acceptance must be communicated means that silence cannot usually amount to acceptance† This may mean that in the context of this case, Caroline did not accept the offer made by A. W Electrical and therefore is not bound by the terms. However, full clarity on the matter can be taken from a case law example of Felthouse v. Bindley [1862], where it was judged accepting by silence cannot equal a clear communication of acceptance, unless it is totally clear the offeree intended to do so. In Caroline’s case, it is most definitely not clear she wished to accept, due to A. W Electrical not providing the item she requested on the terms given in her original offer. Therefore, there was no contract formed between the two parties as at no point an offer was accepted, rendering the contract void and no terms binding on either party. . ) If however we were to assume a contract was formed between Caroline and A. W Electrical at the point the two week period elapsed, there would be terms binding and these can be separated into two types, express terms and implied terms. McKendrick (2007, pg184) explains that â€Å"express terms are the terms agreed specifically by the contracting parties and implied terms are those not s pecifically agreed but which are implied into the contract by the courts or by Parliament†. The express terms of Caroline’s contract included the price being ? 00 for a ZR200 television given that she sent a cheque initially for ? 480 with an ? 80 cheque sent to Caroline with the item, and that A. W Electrical reserve the right to repair or replace the goods at its discretion if any dispute over the quality of goods were to arise. The implied terms of the contract will include elements of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, which will enforce A. W Electrical to adhere to certain conditions relating to the quality of goods and defects, and the description of the goods sold. S. 4(2) of the Act states there is an implied condition that goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality. This is clearly contradicting the express term made by A. W Electrical regarding the right to repair or replace the goods, however in order to protect consumers rights the Unfair Contrac t Terms Act 1977 means that implied terms cannot be excluded in contracts with consumers (McKendrick, 2007, pg205). Therefore the express term is not valid in the contract, and A. W Electrical have broken this implied term by stating this. Furthermore the Sale of Goods Act 1979 s. 13(1) states an implied condition that goods sold by description shall correspond with the description. The advertisement was for a ‘smart’ television however the item provided to Caroline did not possess any ‘smart’ features, therefore this term has been broken due to the item not matching the description advertised. In relation to the right to return the item, when Caroline sent this back to A. W Electrical they refused to accept stating the two week period has passed. We are assuming the contract came in effect and was accepted by Caroline’s silence at the end of this period however the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 s. 10 and s. 11(1-2) explains she has the right to a seven day cancellation period starting from the date the contract was concluded, expiring seven days later. This is another implied term of the contract A. W Electrical have broken in refusing to accept the returned goods. c. ) There are remedies available to Caroline in order to resolve the fact A. W Electrical have broken the terms of the contract. The main issue to her is she is not able to return the television either in exchange for the model she asked for, or for a full refund. This breach of contract is likely to be classed as a breach of warranty, where a warranty is a term in the agreement not fundamental to its existence and therefore the contract cannot simply be terminated due to the breach. However Caroline could recruit the services of a lawyer or solicitor to take legal action against A. W Electrical in the form of a specific performance order, which will require A. W Electrical to perform their primary obligations under the contract (McKendrick, 2007, pg451). This would enforce the implied term from the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. Caroline could also contact the Office of Fair Trading to make a complaint, which could lead to an application to the courts for an injunction against A. W Electrical, ultimately resulting in the same effect of enforcing the contract (Office of Fair Trading, 2012). Bibliography Reference list Adriaanse, J. (2010). Construction Contract Law (3rd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Davenport, A. , Galbraith, A,. Stockdale, M. , Wilson, S. (1998). Galbraith’s Building Land Management Law For Students (4th ed. ) Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann 1998. McKendrick, E. (2007). Contract Law (7th ed. ) Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan 2007. Office of Fair Trading. (2012). Relevant Legislation – The Office of Fair Trading. Retrieved 28 November 2012, from http://www. oft. gov. uk/about- the-oft/legal-powers/legal/#. ULY4v8UTDwM. Owen, S. (1998). Law For The Construction Industry (2nd ed. ) Harlow : Longman 1998. Cases Gibson v. Manchester City Council [1978]. Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953]. Butler Machine Tool Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corp [1979]. Scammell v Ousten [1941]. British Steel Corporation v. Cleveland Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd (1981). Chappell Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd [1960]. Thomas v Thomas [1842]. Lampleigh v Brathwait [1615]. Roscorla v Thomas [1842]. Rose and Frank Co. v. Compton Bros [1925]. Felthouse v. Bindley [1862]. Statutes Sale of Goods Act 1979 Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 How to cite Contract Formation, Essay examples

Denny Will Pass free essay sample

What are some of the general challenges of starting new business in another country? What specific challenges did Copy General face in Eastern and Central Europe? Starting a new business from another country will have some general Challenges faced as follows: 1. Language barriers 2. Cultural diversity 3. Ethical problems and concerns 4. Political and economical conditions 5. Methods of doing business 6. Strategy formulation and implementation 7. Labor relation and industrial democracy 8. Adaptations to new trend and technologyCopy General also faced some specific challenges in Eastern and Central Europe. 1. Language difference will make serious problems during communications. 2. As Budapest was new place for them, they faced difficulties in choosing location for their business. 3. Accommodation problem for the employees of Copy General 4. Distrust of banks towards new business 5. Difficulty in searching for supplier 2. How important was Paul Panitz’s vision to the decision to go into Hungary? How would you characterize his leadership and management style and his commitment to ? doing well by doing good’?The Hungarian Erno Duda was a much concerned only of his country and culture but the US. We will write a custom essay sample on Denny Will Pass or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ken Chaletsky was not helpful about the business ideas of  Paul. But as a good friend of his, he signed on to with him. 4. What lessons (if any) can you derive from Copy General’s successful experience in Eastern Europe and beyond? From Copy general’s successful experience in Eastern Europe and beyond, we can derive that To gain success in international business, administrator must have knowledge about host country, strong leadership, analytical ability, forecasting power and mentality to face hard challenges.

Is the Constitution Still Relevant Today Essay Example

Is the Constitution Still Relevant Today ? Essay Is the constitution still relevant today? Some would say that it is not and never has been. However, I happen to think otherwise. The constitution was written to establish our rights and freedoms as citizens. In my opinion the constitution is still relevant today. When you think of the different parts of the constitution it all makes sense. We have the amendments and our rights, the amendments clarify the duties of the government and branches. The bill of rights is focused on the people and their freedoms from the government. The rules in the constiuton are still used by our national government today. And our people are still excercising their rights, such as the right to vote and the right to bear arms. Under the amendments you have three specific branches and they are; Judicial, Executive; and Legislative. The executive and legislative come up with different rights and either branch has the right to allow or dismiss the law. The judicial branch is in charge of enforcing those laws and making sure they are withheld. Even today the president is under the executive branch, the congress and house is under the legislative, and the judges and law enforcement is under the judicial. We will write a custom essay sample on Is the Constitution Still Relevant Today ? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Is the Constitution Still Relevant Today ? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Is the Constitution Still Relevant Today ? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Today in our country the president, congress, or house will come up with a law and either say yay or nay . And the judicial makes sure citizens like us follow through with these laws. The bill of rights gave us citizens certain freedoms such as the freedom of speech, right to bear arms, double jeopardy, etc. Today we excercise those rights in our everyday lives. Such as the news media, they have the freedom of speech so they voice their opinions on our government and how it is being ran everyday.

Compare Justinian, Charlemagne essays

Compare Justinian, Charlemagne essays Emperor Justinian ruled from 527-565. He was born in an Illyrian village to a peasant family and joined the army at an early age. He quickly rose in rank, as his uncle Justin was the emperor at that time. He married an actress named Theodora and shortly before his uncle died he claimed the throne. He is noted for various achievements throughout his unusually long reign (there were a whole string of short-lived emperors between Theodosius and him). These included the recapture of many of the western provinces of the empire, the collection of all Roman law, and the building of the Hagia Sophia. These achievements were not however, universally admired, one of his biographers, Procopius, gives us an entirely different view of events and when his accomplishments are mentioned are it is only in a spiteful manner. So there are distinctly different views of his success. It is not doubted that Justinian did achieve a few important things throughout his thirty-eight year reign. He collected together all of the Roman law codes into three parts. Such a feat had not been attempted for over a hundred years, Tribonian and a commission were assigned the task of producing the first comprehensive collection of Roman law since that of Theodosius II in 438 This collection obviously showed his political foresight and earned him respect as a leader, because all of the rulers over the previous hundred years had been military men, interested solely in the art of war and with a poor understanding of politics. Thus in admitting that war was not the only way forward, but in fact internal political affairs were also of consequence Justinian shows us one of his virtues. To say that Justinian did not promote war is not however, true. In fact he commenced an ambitious campaign to retake the territories in the west and Africa that were lost to the barbarians. These acti ons did much to enhance the peoples view of him, as ...

The War Crimes of Iraqs Saddam Hussein

The War Crimes of Iraqs Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was born on April 28th, 1937 in al-Awja, a suburb of the Sunni city of Tikrit. After a difficult childhood, during which he was abused by his stepfather and shuffled from home to home, he joined Iraqs Baath Party at the age of 20. In 1968, he assisted his cousin, General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, in the Baathist takeover of Iraq. By the mid-1970s, he had become Iraqs unofficial leader, a role that he officially took on following al-Bakrs (highly suspicious) death in 1979. Political Oppression Hussein openly idolized the former Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, a man notable as much for his paranoia-induced execution sprees as anything else. In July 1978, Hussein had his government issue a memorandum decreeing that anyone whose ideas came into conflict with those of the Baath Party leadership would be subject to summary execution. Most, but certainly not all, of Husseins targets were ethnic Kurds and Shiite Muslims. Ethnic Cleansing: The two dominant ethnicities of Iraq have traditionally been Arabs in south and central Iraq, and Kurds in the north and northeast, particularly along the Iranian border. Hussein long viewed ethnic Kurds as a long-term threat to Iraqs survival, and the oppression and extermination of the Kurds was one of his administrations highest priorities. Religious Persecution: The Baath Party was dominated by Sunni Muslims, who made up only about one-third of Iraqs general population; the other two-thirds was made up of Shiite Muslims, Shiism also happening to be the official religion of Iran. Throughout Husseins tenure, and especially during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), he saw the marginalization and eventual elimination of Shiism as a necessary goal in the Arabization process, by which Iraq would purge itself of all perceived Iranian influence. The Dujail Massacre of 1982: In July of 1982, several Shiite militants attempted to assassinate Saddam Hussein while he was riding through the city. Hussein responded by ordering the slaughter of some 148 residents, including dozens of children. This is the war crime with which Saddam Hussein was formally charged, and for which he was executed. The Barzani Clan Abductions of 1983: Masoud Barzani led the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), an ethnic Kurdish revolutionary group fighting Baathist oppression. After Barzani cast his lot with the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq War, Hussein had some 8,000 members of Barzanis clan, including hundreds of women and children, abducted. It is assumed that most were slaughtered; thousands have been discovered in mass graves in southern Iraq. The al-Anfal Campaign: The worst human rights abuses of Husseins tenure took place during the genocidal al-Anfal Campaign (1986-1989), in which Husseins administration called for the extermination of every living thinghuman or animalin certain regions of the Kurdish north. All told, some 182,000 peoplemen, women, and childrenwere slaughtered, many through use of chemical weapons. The Halabja poison gas massacre of 1988 alone killed over 5,000 people. Hussein later blamed the attacks on the Iranians, and the Reagan administration, which supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, helped promote this cover story. The Campaign Against the Marsh Arabs: Hussein did not limit his genocide to identifiably Kurdish groups; he also targeted the predominantly Shiite Marsh Arabs of southeastern Iraq, the direct descendants of the ancient Mesopotamians. By destroying more than 95% of the regions marshes, he effectively depleted its food supply and destroyed the entire millennia-old culture, reducing the number of Marsh Arabs from 250,000 to approximately 30,000. It is unknown how much of this population drop can be attributed to direct starvation and how much to migration, but the human cost was unquestionably high. The Post-Uprising Massacres of 1991: In the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, the United States encouraged Kurds and Shiites to rebel against Husseins regimethen withdrew and refused to support them, leaving an unknown number to be slaughtered. At one point, Husseins regime killed as many as 2,000 suspected Kurdish rebels every day. Some two million Kurds hazarded the dangerous trek through the mountains to Iran and Turkey, hundreds of thousands dying in the process. The Riddle of Saddam Hussein: Although most of Husseins large-scale atrocities took place during the 1980s and early 1990s, his tenure was also characterized by day-to-day atrocities that attracted less notice. Wartime rhetoric regarding Husseins rape rooms, death by torture, decisions to slaughter the children of political enemies, and the casual machine-gunning of peaceful protesters accurately reflected the day-to-day policies of Saddam Husseins regime. Hussein was no misunderstood despotic madman. He was a monster, a butcher, a brutal tyrant, a genocidal racist - he was all of this and more.But what this rhetoric does not reflect is that, until 1991, Saddam Hussein was allowed to commit his atrocities with the full support of the U.S. government. The specifics of the al-Anfal Campaign were no mystery to the Reagan administration, but the decision was made to support the genocidal Iraqi government over the pro-Soviet theocracy of Iran, even to the point of making ourselves complicit in crimes against humanity . A friend once told me this story: An Orthodox Jewish man was being hassled by his rabbi for violating kosher law, but had never been caught in the act. One day, he was sitting inside a deli. His rabbi had pulled up outside, and through the window he observed the man eating a ham sandwich. The next time they saw each other, the rabbi pointed this out. The man asked: You watched me the whole time? The rabbi answered: Yes. The man responded: Well, then, I was observing kosher, because I acted under rabbinical supervision.Saddam Hussein was unquestionably one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century. History cannot even begin to record the full scale of his atrocities and the effect they had on those affected and the families of those affected. But his most horrific acts, including the al-Anfal genocide, were committed in full view of our government - the government that we present to the world as a shining beacon of human rights.Make no mistake: The ouster of Saddam Hussein was a victory for human rights, and if there is any silver lining to come from the brutal Iraq War, it is that Hussein is no longer slaughtering and torturing his own people. But we should fully recognize that every indictment, every epithet, every moral condemnation we issue against Saddam Hussein also indicts us. We should all be ashamed of the atrocities that were committed under our leaders noses, and with our leaders blessing.

DS Assignment 7 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DS Assignment 7 - Coursework Example This has been worse on countries that have benefited greatly on the monetary policies of the Fed. Higher levels of international liquidity relative to short-term liabilities and lower balance sheet vulnerability to currency depreciation have enabled most countries in the Latin America to withstand any financial breakdowns (Franko, 2006). The fact that Latin America expects to experience an increased economic growth in the current year, reforms geared towards increased productivity have been enhanced and are expected to dominate the forthcoming international talks. The policymakers’ attention has to shift to other macroeconomic aspects given that financial risk problems seem to have been adequately dealt with such as fiscal policy evaluations as well ensuring that the interest rates remain low so as to encourage investments as well as consumption and the exchange rate. This will aid economies that had been badly affected by tapering of the Fed in the previous year provided that they take control of huge current account deficits and reduction of labor costs as well as assets’ valuation (Blair, 1999). The recent financial crisis have triggered new debate on the impact of gender on the economic cycle as well as making policymakers to reconsider earlier studies by (Bullock, 1994) who tried to explore the effect of women in employment on recession. He had earlier suggested that the vulnerability of women could be viewed in three dimensions namely demand side in which the recessionary effects are triggered by the pattern and form of gender segregation. The second dimension is about how women are committed to participation in the labour market and the common belief that women may act as a flexible reserves in who are willing to quit their positions in times of low economic demand. The final view is about a keen consideration of the role played by the

Acid Rain Part I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Acid Rain Part I - Essay Example According to the Federal Monitoring Data report, Pennsylvania, since 1987, has been ranked as the first state that experiences an excess of the acidic rainfall. However, the level of acidity varies from place to place that are located in Pennsylvania. The highest acidic content in rainwater is found in Leading Ridge located in Huntingdon County. The average rainfall pH is 4.08. This particular pH value is considered to be 33 times more in concentration of acidity than the normal rain water that is unpolluted. Any value that is below the pH value of 7 is considered to be acidic. The lower the value the more the acidity of the rainwater. The normal rain water is considered to have an average pH value of 5.6 (Park, 2013). Lewistown Pennsylvania is therefore affected by the coal-fired power plants, large number of automobiles and factories that emit pollutants to the atmosphere. The resultant effect of these pollutants in the atmosphere therefore form acidic rain, fogs, snow and other particulate matter (Park,

Integrating school safety data for the purpose of safe school program evaluation Essay Example for Free

Integrating school safety data for the purpose of safe school program evaluation Essay Abstract This paper addresses the issue of school safety and what should be done to enhance it. The need for all stakeholders; the government, the school administrations and community to facilitate safe school planning and thus essentially enhance school safety are equally taken into consideration. The paper further provides some of the indicators that are considered while implementing an effective safe school plan and how to assess and evaluate the proven programs. This in essence, provides a general picture of promoting school safety so that incidents of crime can be lessened. In addition, the need to create an enhanced safe environment needs to be sensitized in every school since it has a direct impact to the performance of schools. Introduction This paper considers data that will provide the way best practices and proven programs can be used to enhance school safety. Such a program that has been considered is Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block grants (JAIBG). This kind of a program considers the underlying premise that young people who violet the laws need to be held accountable for the offenses if society is to improve the quality of life in the nations’ communities. It is to this effect that the paper goes beyond and evaluates the accountability of the juveniles in relation to the environment they live in and other surrounding factors. Consequences or sanctions that are applied swiftly, surely, and consistently and are graduated to provide appropriate and effective responses to a varying levels offense seriousness and offender chronics work based, in preventing, controlling and reducing further law violations. There is, therefore the need to use best practices and such like proven programs to enhance school safety. Further more, the safe school planning procedures have to involve all the stakeholders including parent, teachers, government and the community and of course the students. Safe Schools and School Planning In most cases statistics and the government reports determine safe schools but this ought not to be an end by itself. Various questions are raised in defining a safe school due to the difficulty that comes along with the definition. A safe school is considered one in which guards patrol the halls, metal detectors protect all entrances and all violent incidents are reported to the police. Creating a safe school goes beyond eliminating knifing, fighting and shootings. Violence is also subtle things such as name calling; fear of being ridiculed; teasing; offensive touching; racial, ethical, cultural, or sexual slurs; and bullying (Hernandez, 2004). This shows that most violence in school does not occur overnight but it develops over a period of time. According to (Stevick and Levinson, 2003), â€Å"violence is the most extreme manifestation of range of behaviors that run contrary to schools’ expectations and purposes† A safe school is the one in which the total climate allows students, teachers, administrators, staff, and visitors to interact in a positive, non-threatening manner that reflects the educational mission of the school while fostering positive relationships and personal growth. In addition a safe school is one, which repeated absenteeism, inadequate performance, or dropouts, withdrawals or transfers due to feeling afraid in school are progressively reduced. Incidences of disruption, crime and violence are progressively reduced too. Safe school planning is a clear and concise plan for creating a safe school climate. This requires collaborative efforts of parents, students, school personnel, and communities. The plan should contain a written conduct and discipline code, and policy for annual building inspections to eliminate barriers to safety and a policy for annual written report regarding learning environment to be submitted to the relevant authorities. These are proactive measures that should be taken to reduce if not eliminating school-based crimes. A comprehensive planning process based on state law, gives a guideline to a school and the community at large in developing a plan that is relevant and effective. Best practice and Proven Programs Best practice is a management ideal, which asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity incentive, or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. These are essentially the most efficient and effective ways of accomplishing a task. They are based on repeated procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. On the other hand proven programs are those have shown success in their repeated use. Though this is the case, proven programs have to adjust depending on the rising challenges in our society. The proven programs are bound to come up with positive results that are manifested by safety school environment. Purpose of the proven programs is to promote school safety by increasing student accountably for their behavior. This facilitates the development of constructive well-conserved† accountability based programs that work with either juvenile offenders who are referred by law enforcement agents, or which are designed in corporation with law enforcement officials to protect student and school personnel from drug, gang and youth violence. It must be noted, however the accountability based programs operate most effectively when they are part of a comprehensive collaborative approach involving a wide range of partners including students, parents, school faculty, and staff, community residence, members of communities organization, law enforcement justice authorities. Partnership with local juvenile justice systems and schools to establish and maintain accountability based programs, and students’ accountability must work in concert with institutional accountability that addresses the underlying causes of students’ violence and misconduct. School safety programs that emphasis student accountability can be build on the experience of successful community-based delinquency prevention and intervention programs. Comprehensive strategy for serious, violent and chronic juvenile offenders and safe futures program are examples that have proven effective in addressing juvenile delinquency (Wilson, 1993). The comprehensive strategy provides a blue print for establishing a continuum of care to meet the needs of at-risk or delinquent youth while protecting the public from harm. It promotes a systematic approach to prevention and the use of graduate sanctions in dealing with the offenses committed by such individuals and advocates the developments of partnerships between the juvenile court, law enforcement and community. Some of the programmatic strategies derived from the comprehensive strategy and the safe futures programs are applicable to accountability-based school safety initiatives include emphasis on juvenile accountability, develop an expanded and integrated network of social services. In provision of comprehensive strategies there is involvement of law enforcement as a stake holder in community-based efforts to prevent and respond to delinquency. Accountability in a school environment means expecting students to comply with school rules and regulations that reflect community standards or behavior and where necessary, addressing students misconduct with appropriate conduct including school discipline. Programs can take a comprehensive approach to reducing delinquency and misconduct in schools by building student accountability into the school culture. Efforts to enhance school safety should be fully integrated into all aspect of school operation including the learning environment curriculum, administration, staff selection and staff training. Enhancing School Safety through Assessment and Evaluation In enhancing school safety there is the need to understand all the indicators that distinguish a safe school from unsafe schools. One of the indictors that characterize a safe school is the orderliness of the school. This involves a creation of a climate of mutual respect and responsibility. This can be evaluated by the way students relate to others, teachers and staff. Expectations about this amicable relationship are what are accepted and consequences for unacceptable behavior are known and applied where appropriate. Another parameter to measure, evaluate and enhance school safety is to ensure that the school has existing plans, and implement the plans progressively. In addition there should be policies and procedures that address the safety of the school. When these issues are put in place the schools safety is enhance and evaluated. Measures that check the number of trespassers, incident of vandalism, reasons for absenteeism and number of firearms and other weapons have to be taken into account to enhance safety in schools. The environment in which an individual lives in has one to one relationship with the criminal or non-criminal behaviors. In considering the environment there is the need to use Crime Prevention Environment Design to ensure that safety at school is enhanced. This design takes into consideration the relationship between physical environment and the users of that environment. It is equally important to acknowledge that the users of the environment both criminals and honest alike are conscious their environment. They therefore can know and recognize a safe and unsafe environment. In doing so, the environment can be made safe by ensuring that buildings are built in an well-organized way. The doors and windows should not be obstructed. The streets and routes in the school should be well labeled and directions shown. Apart from this these routes and buildings should be under twenty-four hours surveillance to monitor intruders and strangers. Equally important is the lighting system, which should be checked to ensure that criminals do not take advantage of the dark alleys. If all this is taken into account then there is high possibility of enhancing school safety. In this sense there is also need to consider the orderliness of the school by taking measures to ensure this. Taking measures in considering the referrals the school gets and the reasons enhances orderliness of a school. Also the orderliness of a school is reflected by the number of suspensions both in-school and out of school and the performance index of the school. It is inevitable to consider the orderliness of a school because it has one to one relationship with the safety of the school. The more orderly the school is the more safety it tend to be and the vice versa is correct. A caring school also does a lot of good in enhancing its own safety. Schools, which care, are characterized by taking caution of the rate of and reasons for absenteeism in the school. A caring school should consider their staffs turn over-we have had of cases where the students have been incited by their teachers to do crimes for example going on strikes. This can be so when the teachers are against some of the management policies. It is therefore important for schools to care for the se issues and also the rate of students’ transfer. It is when the management put their efforts to enhance the discussed issues that the school safety is realized in the long run. To evaluate a school’s safety assessment, safety concerns of members of the school community should be done through surveys, for example. The information gathered from the survey ought to be used in the creation of the safe school plan so that safety concerns can be addressed. Continuous measurement of safety concerns need to take place so that actions can be adjusted to address concerns. On the hand to evaluate orderliness of a school, assessments of reasons of disorder need to occur. From these assessments, a code of conduct reflecting behavioral expectations can be established as part of the safe school plan. Review of the reasons for disorder should help establish the code of conduct. Adjustments to the code should be made based upon continuous review of the school orderliness. This in essence, the use of the available data will enable the concerned parties to enhance school safety. School Safety Data in the Evaluation of Programs Data is vital in evaluation of the programs that reduce insecurity in school. Data from Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2005 shows that, 17 percent of students in grade 9-12 reported they carried a weapon anywhere and six percent reported they had carried a weapon in school. Though the data show that this is a decline from the previous year, it is still shocking and calls for collective responsibility to all stake holders. The data collected in this report also identified other indicators of unsafe school like drugs availability in school and violent incidents at school. The data found in the Indicator reports for the five consecutive years has been used or integrated in the safety programs for the purpose of enhancing school safety. The data equally highlights reported of other actions which are frequently neglected but have a direct impact to the eventual safety of the school like use of hate-related words. Safety school data collected reported incidents what could be classified or determined if a school is safe or not. The data ranges from possession of weapon, sex offences, use of alcohol and drugs, vandalism, burglary among others. The safety of schools in this case is determined by the rates of transfers, suspensions and expulsions. The data shows that there are no incidents of unsafe schools in this state. All the stakeholders, the teachers, school administration, the community and the state can attribute this to the measures that have been taken. The data used reflected the percentages of students who smoked cigarettes and marijuana in a period of six months. This was considered alongside the strategies for prevention and creating a safe school. The effects of mental health from the use of drugs are equally indispensable. Another source of data was the community. The communities that care survey of student levels of risk and protective factors were also considered. The data used was from survey carried out about students from grade 6-12. The data from the Kansas department of Education was used. The set data includes information regarding the numbers of felonies, expulsions, suspensions, misdemeanors and violent acts on school grounds for various schools. This data was from the year 2000 to 2004. School years were included in this database in order to establish a baseline by which to compare data from the school years in which the safe school initiative will be implemented. Conclusion The issue of safe schools is an issue that should be taken with a lot of seriousness bearing in mind the number of criminal related incidents that occur in the school. It is the obligation of all the stakeholders to ensure that they work towards the betterment of school environment in terms of surveillance- it should be a collective responsibility. Educators should consider physical safety as well as intellectual and emotional safety. To promote truly safe schools, educators must understand the culture of all their students and the communities they serve, and help all the students understand and respect the culture and the climate of the schools they attend. On the other hand, the state and the educational authorities have to come up with policies that the school safety is enhanced. Thorough scrutinisation of these policies will at least ensure that the school and the community do not neglect their roles in enhancing safety in schools. References Aspy, C. (2004) Adolescent violence: The protective effects of youth assets. Journal of counseling and development, 286-277 Hernandez, T (2004) A safe school climate: A systematic approach and the school counselor. Professional school counseling 7 (4): 256-62. Stevick, E. (2003). From noncompliance to Columbine: Capturing student perspectives to Understand Non- compliance and Violence in Public Schools. Urban Review 35 (4) 323-49 Vail K. (2004) Troubling rise in school violence. American School Board Journal 191(1): 9-10 Wilson, R. (1991) Violence Prevention for Young Adolescents: A Survey of the State of Art. New York: Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. Witt, P. (1996) Public Recreation in High Risk Environments: Programs that Work. Arlington, AV: National Recreation Park.

Childhood Obesity Essay -- essays research papers

It is a shame that so many children are obese. I am shocked that 2 million deaths each year can be contributed to physical inactivity (Wharry, 2002). The "How we Grew so Big" article is about the evolutionary reasons behind obesity. I worked in a factory this past summer where there was very physical labour. I ate way more food than I had before I started working there but was a lot slimmer by the end of my contract. Even though the sudden increase in activity in my life reduced my body fat, most of the other workers there were overweight. This leads me to believe that obesity is more of a societal issue than an evolutionary issue. I've had friends who were morbidly obese; one of whom would tell me "I know when I'm full because it gets hard to breathe". Last time I checked, that means you're over full! I have personally struggled with body image issues and am now exactly the correct and healthy BMI, yet by many people's standards would be considered "festivel y plump". I think that conflicting messages sent to people through media and healthcare providers over what "healthy weight" is, is a cause of obesity. Part of esteem in our society has to do with power, possessions and high luxury. Part of luxury is being catered to, having food made for you. It is hard to achieve this luxurious life style of drinking, partying and eating out all the time when we are also crash dieting so to meet the unattainable standards set out by advertisements and celebrities. If our lives are filled with inactivity and overeating, why are our pets so fat too? "Twenty-five % of cats of dogs are heavier that they should be" (Lenonick, 2004). It seems to me that if one is so lethargic as to not play with their pet, to the point that said animal is overweight, there is more than an evolutionary explanation to obesity. Though it may seem Marxist of me to write, people would be happier and probably slimmer if they were more connected to their places of work and community and had some kind of tangible association with the food they were putting into their mouth. The move from farms to urban areas in industrialized nations has reduced physical labour and also changed the way we relate to food. Lenonick, Michael D. 06/04/04 (Online). How we grew So Big. TIME magazine. Available at: http://www3.open.uoguelph.ca/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.... ...ar accidents which is 16 in 100 000 (Harte 2002). I couldn’t believe that! I have a higher risk of dieing from a tummy tuck then getting hit and killed by a car, yet millions or people walk the streets everyday. The fact about it is that the greater the volume of fat and tissue fluids, including plasma, that are sucked out, the greater the chance of severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalances (Greeley 2000). Daniel Morello, M.D., president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery points out that liposuction is not for weight loss but for contouring of the body. "It is designed for removing localized areas of fatty tissues--not as a substitute for proper dietary management and exercise."(Greeley 2000). So either way we look at it we still have to exercise to maintain a fit body. I guess if you have the money, anything is possible or pretty close to being possible. Harte, J. 2002 May. Tumescent Liposuction. Available from: http://www.health.state.mn.us/htac/lipo.htm Accessed 2005 Feb 20. Greenly,A . 2000. Planning To Look Flab-u-less? Know the Facts About Liposuction. Available from: http://www.fitnessmba.com/childrens_fitness.html Accessed 2005 Feb 20.

Organizational behavior in Southwest Airlines Essay

Organizational behavior is a tool that any organisation that wants to be successful must use in order to attain its goals and objectives. Organizational behavior interprets all the relationships in an organization and manipulates them in order to attain the organizational objectives. The relationships that are assessed include the relationships between the organization and a person, people, groups and the society in general. The major goal of organizational behavior is to improve all these relationships so that in the process, the organizational objectives can be achieved. It is a broad concept that can be viewed from different dimensions. Organizational behavior has many elements which are dictated by the management’s approach to operations of an organization. The approach used determines the culture in an organization. Culture is the way in which an organization carries out its activities, including the communication links, leadership style, and other dynamics which workers derive their motivation from. The motivation determines the performance and growth of the organization. Four models are usually used within organizations, and the model used is determined by the management strategy. The first model is the autocratic model and it vests power with the management, according to Davidson (2003). He says that the employees are required to obey the chain of command and that this approach does not usually yield high performance results. The second model is the custodial model and it is geared towards rewarding the employees according to the performance. This type of approach does not yield optimum performance results as employees cooperate with the management passively. The third model, he further explains, is the supportive model and this model stresses the need for a leadership structure that supports employees in terms of performance. This approach motivates the employees to achieve optimal performance. The last model is the collegial model and this emphasizes team work among employees in performance of their duties. It encourages discipline and responsibility thus achieving moderate performance results. It is important to note that most organizations use a combination of the models to achieve their goals. Organizational structure Southwest airlines was started in 1971 by Herb Kelleher and Rolling King, according to Harris (2001). The reasoning behind the idea, he says, was that passengers would use an airline if the airline reached the destination on time, was reasonably priced and if passengers enjoyed their flights. That idea is what has propelled Southwest airlines to be the among the top four largest airlines in the United States. Every year, the airline transports over 60 million passengers across 30 states using over 300 air-crafts (Cohan, 2003). The airline specializes in the low-fare transport and it has a model that is so impressive that it is being emulated by other airlines. The success of Southwest Airline can be attributed to the organizational approaches that are used in the daily operations of the airline. The organization uses certain concepts of organizational behavior that help the management achieve the goal of the airline. One of the concepts that Southwest Airline uses is the organizational structure. This is the nature of relationships along the hierarchical structure of the organization. The organizational structure usually determines how the operations of the airline are carried out. This is because it guides the sharing of responsibilities among the employees according to their ranks. In the Southwest Airline, some people describe the organizational structure as a pyramid that is inverted. This implies that the people that are at the top levels of management go to the bottom levels to motivate the employees. This is a characteristic that is featured in the supportive model. When the managers talk to the people at the lower levels of management and listen to their views, they end up motivating their employees. Herb Kelleher, one of the founders of Southwest Airlines is reported to have stayed in a bar until the wee hours of the morning so that he could talk to his mechanic and hear his views concerning the airline. His leadership style ensures that everyone participates in the making of a decision. This is important since it ensures that everyone is bound by decisions they make as opposed to decisions being imposed upon them. Kelleher tries to motivate his employees to be open minded and to express themselves freely without constraints such as ranks between themselves. Kelleher is at the forefront of practicing what he believes in and is said to know names of almost all of his employees. This organizational structure is reflected even in the board where the directors are elected by shareholders. This enables all stakeholders to have confidence in the running of the airline as they have a right to choose the people who run the airline. The management of Southwest Airlines is very keen to reduce bureaucracy as it is aware of the negative effects it has in an organization. This is done through decentralizing responsibilities to the employees. The Southwest Aviation organizational structure is in such a way that employees have access to information. The rationale behind it, is that it is important for employees to have unlimited information so that they can make independent decisions, which is vital in a dynamic industry like aviation. This structure also takes care of the needs of the clients. There are links available in the airline’s website that address any complaints and suggestions that the clients may have. There are also avenues where customers write letters expressing the same, and the management makes sure all the letters are replied to. In fact, customers write over one thousand letters every week and each letter gets a reply within one month. At times, the schedule of flights may be changed in order to cater for the needs of frequent fliers. Motivation. This is the focus of energy towards the achievement of a certain goal. The motivation of someone to do something may arise from internal forces such as interests and beliefs or external forces such as danger. There are several things that the management can do to motivate employees. One, the management should align the goals of the organization with the needs of the employees. This means that the nature of jobs that the employees do should be aligned with their beliefs. For example, if the company conducts its affairs in a fraudulent manner, the employees are also likely to perpetrate fraud against the company. The company should also reward good behavior since it will motivate the employees to work harder. The rewards need not be big, a ‘thank you note’ is sufficient. The senior managers should set good examples to their employees by obeying the rules they set so that the employees can also do the same. Another factor that brings motivation to employees is development of morale and team spirit. This means that the working environment should be pleasant to the employees and they should look forward to going to work. The employees should also identify with the company. Participation is another factor that can increase motivation. This means that the employees participate in the making of decisions and solving of problems to ensure that they feel as part of the process and are thus bound by it. Southwest Airline was the first airline in the United States to begin a profit sharing plan, with its employees. It began sharing its profits with its employees in 1974 and has done it since then. In the year 2000, Southwest Airline offered its employees $138 million in the profit sharing plan (McConnell, 2002). This is a major motivation to the employees since they feel appreciated by the airline. This incentive also motivates them to work harder so that the following year they can get higher benefits. Besides these benefits, there are other incentives and awards, like ’employee of the month’ award. However, an unusual way of praising employees is visible in a bill board at Southwest Airline’s headquarters in Dallas. The billboard praises the employees of Southwest Airline for making Kelleher’s dream come true. The corridors are further lined with photographs of parties that employees attended in order to complete the picture. In case of illnesses or child birth, the employees are given presents by the airline (Cohan, 2003). All this demonstrates to the employees that they are the most important assets of the the company. Southwest Airline goes a step further and trains over twenty thousand employees every year in its own university. The university teaches the employees values of the airline and encourages open minded thinking. Southwest Airline is also very supportive of its employees in terms of encouragement to come up with new ideas or doing the same things, differently. An example is ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ program where co-workers exchange jobs with their colleagues from different departments for one day in order to experience what the other employees go through. Lastly, the greatest motivation from the airline comes from Kelleher. He has a great sense of humor, he has ‘hands on’ style of leadership and has a vision that inspires employees to work harder to achieve. Some people actually regard Southwest Airline as the most friendly airline in the United States. Power and politics Politics is present in all aspects of society. Politics creates power and thus an impact that is felt by everyone in the society. It is virtually impossible to separate politics from society (Hessian, 2000). Politics is present in educational institutions, in religion and other elements of a social network. Eventually, politics finds its way into the business world. It is important to prevent politics from interfering with the operations of a company as this prevents the company from achieving its goals and could lead to its downfall. There are however positive aspects that come about as a result of power and politics in an organization. Large companies are able to seal deals, merge with other companies, acquire the smaller companies and so on. Others are the economies of scale, that include the ability to acquire loans from banks, discounts from suppliers due to buying in bulk and the goodwill that attracts customers to the company as a result of being a brand name. Southwest is a very big airline, and the fact that it is among the four largest airlines in the United States guarantees that it is powerful. Its strategy to cater for low cost customers has seen it grow and own over three hundred air-crafts, all Boeing models. The power means that the airline is susceptible to political interference. This is something that the board should guard against. Unfortunately, there have been a few weaknesses in the airline as a result of power and politics. Southwest Airline offers coach seats and it does not offer in-flight meals, it just offers snacks. This is as a result of the growth that it has experienced due to investment in the low cost model. Unfortunately, other airlines have imitated the model due to its popularity. This is unfortunate since in the near future, the model will have become so common that passengers will no longer associate it with Southwest Airline. Another problem associated with the lack of in flight meals is that other airlines are taking full advantage of it when advertising since that is the only area that they are superior to Southwest Airline. Either due to power or politics, the airline does not pay attention to these perceived minute, but major details that may lead to its downfall. According to Brown (2001), regulators allowed Southwest Airline to violate safety regulations, on numerous occasions, without facing consequences. This arose because of the power that the airline has that enables it to have a close relationship with Federal officials. The report by the inspector general revealed that Southwest Airline had violated more regulations than it had been thought. The report also revealed that managers of the Federal Aviation Administration had negligently given the airline a pardon. It finally became clear that the airline violates safety regulations repeatedly. Further investigations revealed that the airline has violated at least eight regulations including an error that cost $10 million in fines. The fine led to some employees facing compulsory leave but that in many people’s opinion, is a case of ‘too little, too late’. This cannot be acceptable since flouting such regulations is not only gambling with the airline’s goodwill that has taken years to build, but it is gambling with people’s lives. Such negligent acts can be attributed to power and politics and should be avoided at all costs. The airline has also faced numerous lawsuits ranging from accusations of failure to inspect the plane before take off to negligently allowing a crash landing, in Illinois in 2005 which led to fatalities. It is important to note that before passengers choose an airline, they check the safety record. This is the reason that passenger traffic reduced after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In light of this, regardless of whether the airline is a major player or not, it will lose its customers if these kinds of allegations continue being reported. That will be the downfall of an airline whose reputation took years to build. The airline should be very wary when dealing with the lives of its passengers and should not take its power and support for granted. Conclusion. Southwest Airline has been transformed from being a simple idea to being one of the top players in the aviation industry. It has become evident that for an airline to succeed, it should target a specific class of customers and that it should take the welfare of its employees very seriously. Some of the best ways of motivating employees are inexpensive, a pat on the back can do a lot in raising the self esteem of an employee in an organization. Motivating the employees will help them achieve their potential. Bureaucracy should be eliminated to ensure free flow of information. Managers should work with the lower cadre employees in order to make them feel appreciated. Lastly, politics and power should be regulated to prevent interference with the workings of organizations. Southwest Aviation should correct the few weaknesses that it experiences and it will hopefully become the biggest airline in the United States in future.

Global Soy Commodity Chain

Brazil is the second largest producer ot soy in the world Brazil's soy production mirrors the US and ADM's agribusiness production model. Genetically modified plants are used and pesticide protected. The soy industry has been profitable helping to strengthen Brazil's economy. However, soy production in Brazil has been the source of contention from groups like Greenpeace due to the destruction of Amazon Rainforest lands to grow soy as a commodity crop. Numerous active protests by Greenpeace to draw attention to forestation losses have led to laws in Brazil directed at this problem. PPA†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœs or Permanent Preserve areas have been instituted as Sustainability Law requirements for soy farms in Brazil. Europe was Brazil's top soy buyer until protests and attention came to the fact that the Amazon was affected by this industry. Ships carrying soy to Europe from Brazil were blockaded by Greenpeace. The European market for Brazil's soy also hinges on the use of Monsanto's geneticall y modified product. European soy consumers have banded against these products outlining their case against genetically modified soy. Their purpose is to keep Brazil's soy products GMO free.Increasingly, Brazilians do produce Monsanto GMO soy products and can sell this product easily to China. European response to this is to partner with farmers in Brazil, who do not produce GM products, much like fair trade organizations. Soy and Agribusiness have come under a great deal of criticism. Much of this is environmental, political, economic, and social. ADM's founders formed the industry with seemingly good intentions. â€Å"Solving the world's hunger† and â€Å"Supermarket to the World† are motto's that demonstrate the intention of the corporation.They have enjoyed a great deal of success and profitability churning out products that do, in fact, feed the world. However utilizing genetically modified plants and pesticides reduce the gamble a farmer makes; degrading the envir onment and employing less people to care for plants. Due to agro-industrialization â€Å"soybean production is almost entirely mechanized†. People are not employed in the task of farming but rather the science of genetic modification in the US and Brazil. ADM manages almost every part of the soy commodity chain their corporation constitutes over 70% of US soybean production.They work with US soy farmers and are involved with Latin American soy production. They have more than two hundred sixty five processing plants for raw materials like soy. Soy is sold and shipped by ADM, but it is also processed into many component products. Novasoy, a trademarked product of ADM, is a non GM derivative. Clarisoy is a protein product also marketed to manufactures like General Mills etc†¦ In their cosmetic marketing of soy ADM describes: â€Å"Nature provides some of the world's best personal care ingredients.ADM taps that potential, offering vegetable-based lipids, natural antioxidant s and soy ingredients that can give your products enhanced erformance†. Scientific advancements with agricultural products like soy are American staples of industry. Genetic modification for better or worse was an early advance and became successful economically. Now the science for agricultural products is geared to sustainability issues. Industry support for education and scientific advancement led to the development of the soy crayon that is better for the environment. Soy is a more sustainable resource than petroleum.The same can be said of soy derived fuels. This lessens the use of petroleum. Ford has a history of interest in plant derived resources for industrial products in the forties Ford built what is sometimes reterred to as a â€Å"soy car†. Soy ?ber was part ot a polymer ne developed for the body of this vehicle. It was not popular at the time, due to taxpayer dollars being invested in this type of research, and WWII insured that his agricultural industrial plans were put aside, however the modern day company picked up on this cue and developed foam for car seats that are used in new models.They have also egun using soy in place of petroleum on tires and expect to have a more sustainable car tire. The social trend and movement in soy agriculture is opposition to genetic modification and agribusiness. ADM has responded with organic and non GM products, they are a business and their success is contingent upon consumer demand. For those who consume soy products packaging and advertising like that of Silk soymilk products announce that they are free of GMO. The market for this type of product is growing as the issue of agriculture and agricultural products becomes more prominent.The historical context of the development of the soy commodity chain is interesting because the plant is Chinese in its origin and had little place in the Western world until this century. Currently, it is almost entirely produced in the Americas and exported in l arge quantities to its place of origin. As a Northern American, I am familiar with agribusiness. I saw ADM's â€Å"Supermarket to the World† commercials every Sunday in my childhood. I accepted that that this was a wholesome company, after researching this I understand the criticisms and consequences although I do elieve the founders of this system had good intentions.

Life of Constatnine essays

Life of Constatnine essays In the year 324 CE Constantine became the ruler of the entire Roman Empire. For the first time a Christian emperor had ascended the throne, although there is some dispute about the depth of his faith. Some see him as a statesman who exploited Christianity for political purposes, while others maintain that the emperor believed wholeheartedly that the Christian God had chosen him, and that Jesus was his protector and guardian, and the cause of his victories in battle. Although proclaiming tolerance for the old religions, Constantine asserted that ritual purity and sanctity were conditional on obedience to God's sacred laws that is, within the church. Constantine uncovered the site of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem, and built on it the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As a result of his policy combining legislation and impressive building projects Jerusalem was transformed from a pagan town into a flourishing Christian city and became a powerful magnet for pilgrims from the whole Roman Empire. Constantine died at Nicomedia on May 22, 337. It is believed that he was baptized a Christian on his deathbed. The book Eusebius of Caesareas was sort of an autobiography of the way of Constantine. It spoke of the divine authority of a monarch, meaning that the leaders words (in turn his words) came directly from God. God was the supreme authority, and his word was to be spread throughout the land, through himself. Eusebius stated that the status of the emperor was that of a Universal sovereign monarch, with authority from the co-ruler, God. Eusebius duty to God, was to ensure the laws of the land, were installed into the Holy Roman Empire, and to ensure that the joyous word of Gods benefits, binds the race of mankind to the Ruler of All. Bringing the news that God is gracious and loving to his sons on earth. His duty to his subjects was to ensure safety, and allow the free...

Anthropology of Tattoos

He repeated this several times as a ceremonial pot was filled with gathering soot from the burning fire. After the artist finished his tedious design, he rubbed soot from the pot bottom deep into the slits, planting the bacteria that would infect the skin, raising the scars into their meaningful design. She felt accomplished that she withstood the agonizing pain while other members of her clan could not. Her newly inherited body art signified the birth of her first son, and left her with a renewed sense of beauty. This is the way of life common to people indigenous to the motherland of Africa. Scarification, however, is not the only form of body art that is used. Body painting, tattooing, and branding are all similar forms of body art, which can be found in Africa and other cultures throughout the world. The word â€Å"tattoo† comes from the Tahitian word â€Å"tattau†, which means â€Å"to mark†. Tattoos have evolved from being symbols of punishment that were given to identify criminals and slaves in the early ninth-century Chinese culture, into a pop-culture trend of using he skin as â€Å"a way of describing the exotic uncivilized other† within ourselves (Schildkrout 2004:324). For centuries, the body has been used as a â€Å"visible way of defining individual identity and cultural difference† (Schildkrout 2004:319). This cultural difference becomes apparent when studying the evolution of body art over time, especially when focusing on the differences between the Western and Non-Western cultures. People have been adorning their body with tattoos and piercing for centuries, but until recently, the thought of tattoos in ancient Egypt had been pushed aside. It has now been discovered that, without a doubt, tattoos did exist in that time period. Although miniscule, a group of enormously important tattooed mummies serve to help prove this point (Bianchi 1988:21). The first mummy to be discovered was one f a woman named Amunet, whose mummy was found in an excellent state of preservation, â€Å"most likely due to the fact that she served as a priestess of the goddess Harthor at Thebes during Dynasty XI†(Bianchi 1988:22). The tattoos on her body were comprised of a pattern of dots and dashes in an elliptical shape on her lower abdomen. The thighs and arms adorned the identical parallel lines of the aforementioned pattern. Two more women mummies, who were discovered and believed to be from the same time period, also had similar tattoos on their lower abdomen (Bianchi 1988:22). This group of woman represents an exclusive group of Egyptians who received tattoos in that time period, because there is no other evidence that shows tattoos to be a part of the Egyptian culture until the time of the Middle Kingdom. These abstract patterns associated with ritualistic tattooing survived into the New Kingdom. The Egyptians, more then likely, borrowed a form of tattooing from the Nubian civilization. Unlike the Nubians, whose purpose for tattooing is unknown, â€Å"the Egyptians appear to have regarded the tattoo as one of several vehicles by which the procreative powers of the deceased could be revived† (Bianchi 1988:27). Substantiation proposes that only women were associated with the decorating of their bodies and the ritualistic activities that went along with it. The art of tattooing began with the grouping of bluish or black dots and/or dashes forming abstract geometric patterns; that system of body art lasted for over two thousand years in ancient Egypt. Just like other ideas and goods, the idea of tattooing began to travel to several different societies, and has evolved into extremely different forms of art all over the world. In northeastern Zambia, the Tabwa â€Å"once covered themselves from head to foot with scarification† (Roberts 1988:41). The women of the Tabwa began receiving elaborate marks on their face, chest, and backs when they were young girls; it sometimes was continued at other points in a woman’s life (Roberts 1988:43) such as courting rituals and for woman wishing to bear a child. Male sculptors would trace designs and make incisions on the lesser intimate parts of the body; they left the rest for the women to do. ‘Tabwa women used razors to slit skin [that had been] plucked up with a fishhook or arrowhead. These incisions were then rubbed with soot from a pot bottom, an irritant that produced the desired raised cicatrices† (Roberts 1988:44). There were several reasons that this tradition was done, different to every age and gender in the tribe. Young women went through this process in order to achieve a state of perfection, which was required for those wanting to marry and have children (Roberts 1988:45). Scarification is a form of body art that was used in several tribes because according to their customs â€Å"beauty is not physically innate, but rather a function of the girl’s inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:45). Not only the Tabwa, scarification was used in such tribes as the Ga’anda and the Tiv; all the tribes have distinctly different purposes for doing this, but the process and effect of the body are the same. Another form of body art is body painting, which the people of the Southeast Nuba begin at a young age; but the meanings, and time frame from when they begin decorating the body are very different between males and females. The males paint themselves from the ages of 12 to 27 (Faris 1988:31). Typically, they only paint during the down time after the harvest season and before the next years planting begins. This is the time that the males are less involved in mandatory and productive activities; they spend their supplementary time with festive activities such as dance and sport participation. The restrictions placed on the men by their age, most importantly deal with the color that they use on their body—for example â€Å" only the older age groups are eligible to use the greatest elaboration in color, including the deep black and yellow [colors, that are] prohibited to younger grades†(Faris 1988:32). The change in elaboration allowed on the body does not coincide with any physiological changes, rather, it corresponds with changes â€Å"in productive status or sport† (Faris 1988:32). As they move up in grades from young laborers that answer to the elders, to mature men that own their own property, farm and family, their elaborate painting ability increases. The elders though, do not decorate their bodies; rather, they delegate and lead rituals for the younger men and enforce the rules of allowed color use. Therefore, the male body painting shows their progression thru ones life stages. The women of Southeast Nuba, â€Å"from the age of six years, until consummation of marriage, oil and ochre [their bodies] daily, in colors [that are] appropriate to their patri-clan section† (Faris 1988:34). After childbirth, they may continue to wear some oil and ochre on their shoulders. The personal body art of women is strictly related to the physiological changes that occur as a women goes through life, and are fixed around body scarification as a way of showing her changes. A woman’s scarification is so important, that â€Å"if a husband refuses to pay for a scarring specialist, a woman may seek a lover who will do so, and her first marriage will end† (Faris 1988:35). Unlike the males elaborate body art, a woman’s body art is simple, but it accumulates over her life-span and is very standardized, while a male’s body art is constantly changing. Body painting, tattooing and scarification thus far had been tools used by individuals to beautify their body and elevate their status within their tribe; this is not the case with all societies. In several other cultures, tattoos have been used in a form of branding, which is quite the opposite. Though tattooing and branding are â€Å"similar in that both involve the insertion of pigments under the skin to create permanent marks†, branding is implemented in order to lower an individuals status, to punish for crimes committed, to identify slaves, but most importantly, to eliminate personal identity (Schildkrout 2004:323). â€Å"The immutable alteration of human skin by branding needs to be considered in relation to, but ought not be confused with, tattooing† (Bianchi 1988:27). Two recent studies originating in South Africa elaborate on this subject, reporting on the political influence of tattooing â€Å"as a means of social control† (Schildkrout 2004:330). They site examples from Zambia in which a medical practitioner travels around to villages â€Å"in which witch craft accusations have been common†¦to inoculate people against people against witch craft† (Schildkrout 2004:331). The villagers would â€Å"submit to bodily inspections†, they were then treated â€Å"by getting numbers tattooed on their arms† (Schildkrout 2004:331). This is disturbingly reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps when an unfathomable number of Jewish people lost their personal identities and became known as only a number in the system to be disposed of. This â€Å"symbolic denial of personhood† served as a system â€Å"of control and surveillance† (Schildkrout 2004:323). This system of control was also imposed by â€Å"authoritarian regimes† in Southeast Asia (Schildkrout 2004:323). The Zhou and Ming Dynasties branded criminals as a form of punishment with â€Å"extensive, often full-body tattoos, with elaborate pictorial imagery as well as written inscriptions† (Schildkrout 2004:324) portraying their crime. This form of tattooing is definitely contrary to traditional methods. Similarly in Brazil, branding was used to mark convicts by the penal authorities. Penal tattoos derived their power from subjugation of the marked convicts. The humiliation of being visibly branded was a significant component of the convict’s punishment. In an act of resistance, those that had been branded â€Å"were known to reclaim their bodies by writing over the inscriptions or by displaying them in new social situations† (Schildkrout 2004:324). The branded, therefore, became the empowered, restoring the function of the tattoo to being personally-motivated. This personal motivation is perhaps most notable in Western cultures, specifically North America. In America, the Native Americans used body painting in many ways, usually connected with ethnic identity, social roles or marital status (Rubin 1988:179). The Natives also used the body as a canvas in ritualistic ceremonies, on warriors going into battle and for the beautification of their women. When the Europeans discovered America, they brought with them slaves from Africa and they introduced branding of the slaves into the American culture. After the civil war, when the slaves had been freed, branding was still embedded in American culture through groups of people including gang members and convicts. Though â€Å"branding is often associated with involuntary marking and the denial of personhood†, it has also â€Å"been adopted in contemporary Western body culture as an assertion of group identity, for example in college fraternities† (Schildkrout 2004:323). Tattoos were also prevalent in other parts of America, including Alaska. Among the Eskimos â€Å"[t]he function of these art forms [was] – essentially manifesting one’s place or role within the hierarchy of hunting life† (Gritton 1988:190). With the introduction and adaptation of the western civilization in Alaskan culture, â€Å"the marks of a hunter or hunter’s wife served no purpose in their new lives and were understandably abandoned† (Gritton 1988:190). The function of body art and tattooing has been Americanized, evolving from its native origins to incorporate self expression. This self expression has mushroomed from a manor of identifying oneself to a way of gaining attention through shock value. Though ever-changing, all forms of body art mentioned play enormous roles in the lives of people. Certain non-Western cultures are based around the ability to use skin as a visible way of defining status or bettering their self-image, in order to attract companions. So the artists who are allowed to perform the act of adorning bodies with different designs are regarded as having a very important place in the society. They are â€Å"scarring specialist† (Faris 1988:35), â€Å"body artists† (Drewal 1988:84), but most importantly, they are known as â€Å"[the] one-who-creates- art† (Drewal 1988:84). In the non-Native American culture, however, the general attitude towards tattoo artist in present-day American culture is less than appreciative. Extreme critics even characterize tattooist as opportunist, exclusively seeking monetary gain (Sanders 1988:229). â€Å"The tattooist interest in artistry and control is often in conflict with his profit orientation†, revealing the major flaw within the American society (Sanders 1988:229). This is the major difference in western and non-western cultures. Body tattoos in western society are an object to be purchased. Americans obtain tattoos in the same manner that they acquire a new Louis Vuitton handbag. They purchase them as accessories, which is in stark contrast to the non-western cultures, who acquire tattoos as an essential ritual in their society. With this is mind, the process in which American’s purchases body art seems slightly ridiculous. Tattoo artists often complain of the unwillingness of customers to spend the quoted amount of money for â€Å"a tattoo [they] are going to wear for the rest of [their] life† (Sanders 1988:229). It is more acceptable in American culture to invest in short term materialistic purchases, therefore the legitimate tattoo artists are constantly being monitored and regimented under strict laws imposed by the government. Despite the absurdity of the purchasing process, the reasoning that propels the American society to obtain tattoos is just as flawed. Some reasons people give to explain permanently marking their skin include, â€Å"they were drunk, it’s a macho thing, to fit in with a crowd or even worse, for no reason at all† (DeMello 1995:42). Western society seems to have a complete disregard for the spiritual origins of body art. Tattoo artist are even witness to clients’ apathy, avoiding â€Å"working on people who are obviously under the influence of alcohol† (Sanders 1988:225). Where once there was a ceremonious celebration deeply rooted in spiritualism, in American society the only ritualistic ceremony is the receiving of a piece of paper on how to care for the recently acquired body art. This apathetic attitude of Americans is perhaps derived from the renouncing majority of the population. This bias stems from â€Å"very early ‘regulations’ [including] Moses’ remarks in Leviticus 19:28 forbidding any cuttings in the flesh or the printing of any marks† (Armstrong 2005:39). Since tattoos â€Å"were not sanctioned by the church† the profile for the tattooed archetype became unconventional (Schildkrout 2004:325). Christian belief has been adapted to the masses, forcing those who are tattooed into rebellion. The majority of people adopting body art include â€Å"bikers, convicts, and other ‘low lives’† (DeMello 1995:40). In Western society â€Å"the idea that the unmarked body as a sign of God’s work was linked to the Protestant reformation† and â€Å"the idea that body markings were a sign of savagery goes back even earlier† ( Schildkrout 2004:324). This is ironic considering tattoos in earlier cultures signified positions of high status. Perhaps the only entity that ties these drastic cultures together is the desire to increase their inherited beauty. â€Å"If the body is – metaphorically – a site of inscription to various degrees for various theorist, then cosmetic surgery can be seen, at one level, as an example of the literal and explicit enactment of this process of inscription† ( Schildkrout 2004:320), which is also seen in the aforementioned tribes with the rituals of scarification. DeMello also agrees that along with tattooing and piericing, that cosmetic surgery is seen as a form of â€Å"body modification† (DeMello 1995:37). â€Å"Not only does the tattooed skin negotiate between the individual and society and between different social groups, but also mediates relations between persons and spirits, the human and the divine† (Schildkrout 2004:321). Body art is a tradition that extends throughout the barriers of the world and although the forms in which they are found may be different, the idea of using your body as a canvas is universal. Although recently, several anthropologists agreed and have begun to examine body art more closely, looking at it â€Å"as a microcosm of society† (Schildkrout 2004:328), Roberts still believes that â€Å"there can be no ultimate explanation of symbolism† (Roberts 1988:51). He claims that â€Å"the blazes on trees in the Ndembu forest will remain many years after their purpose and meaning are forgotten. So it is with other inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:51). This is exemplified in the woman who endured the agonizing pain of her scarification to instigate a new chapter in her life. Nevertheless, soon after her body is placed into the ground, her skin will no longer be a visible indication of who she once was. She will become a memory and her body will no longer be used as a canvas. Anthropology of Tattoos He repeated this several times as a ceremonial pot was filled with gathering soot from the burning fire. After the artist finished his tedious design, he rubbed soot from the pot bottom deep into the slits, planting the bacteria that would infect the skin, raising the scars into their meaningful design. She felt accomplished that she withstood the agonizing pain while other members of her clan could not. Her newly inherited body art signified the birth of her first son, and left her with a renewed sense of beauty. This is the way of life common to people indigenous to the motherland of Africa. Scarification, however, is not the only form of body art that is used. Body painting, tattooing, and branding are all similar forms of body art, which can be found in Africa and other cultures throughout the world. The word â€Å"tattoo† comes from the Tahitian word â€Å"tattau†, which means â€Å"to mark†. Tattoos have evolved from being symbols of punishment that were given to identify criminals and slaves in the early ninth-century Chinese culture, into a pop-culture trend of using he skin as â€Å"a way of describing the exotic uncivilized other† within ourselves (Schildkrout 2004:324). For centuries, the body has been used as a â€Å"visible way of defining individual identity and cultural difference† (Schildkrout 2004:319). This cultural difference becomes apparent when studying the evolution of body art over time, especially when focusing on the differences between the Western and Non-Western cultures. People have been adorning their body with tattoos and piercing for centuries, but until recently, the thought of tattoos in ancient Egypt had been pushed aside. It has now been discovered that, without a doubt, tattoos did exist in that time period. Although miniscule, a group of enormously important tattooed mummies serve to help prove this point (Bianchi 1988:21). The first mummy to be discovered was one f a woman named Amunet, whose mummy was found in an excellent state of preservation, â€Å"most likely due to the fact that she served as a priestess of the goddess Harthor at Thebes during Dynasty XI†(Bianchi 1988:22). The tattoos on her body were comprised of a pattern of dots and dashes in an elliptical shape on her lower abdomen. The thighs and arms adorned the identical parallel lines of the aforementioned pattern. Two more women mummies, who were discovered and believed to be from the same time period, also had similar tattoos on their lower abdomen (Bianchi 1988:22). This group of woman represents an exclusive group of Egyptians who received tattoos in that time period, because there is no other evidence that shows tattoos to be a part of the Egyptian culture until the time of the Middle Kingdom. These abstract patterns associated with ritualistic tattooing survived into the New Kingdom. The Egyptians, more then likely, borrowed a form of tattooing from the Nubian civilization. Unlike the Nubians, whose purpose for tattooing is unknown, â€Å"the Egyptians appear to have regarded the tattoo as one of several vehicles by which the procreative powers of the deceased could be revived† (Bianchi 1988:27). Substantiation proposes that only women were associated with the decorating of their bodies and the ritualistic activities that went along with it. The art of tattooing began with the grouping of bluish or black dots and/or dashes forming abstract geometric patterns; that system of body art lasted for over two thousand years in ancient Egypt. Just like other ideas and goods, the idea of tattooing began to travel to several different societies, and has evolved into extremely different forms of art all over the world. In northeastern Zambia, the Tabwa â€Å"once covered themselves from head to foot with scarification† (Roberts 1988:41). The women of the Tabwa began receiving elaborate marks on their face, chest, and backs when they were young girls; it sometimes was continued at other points in a woman’s life (Roberts 1988:43) such as courting rituals and for woman wishing to bear a child. Male sculptors would trace designs and make incisions on the lesser intimate parts of the body; they left the rest for the women to do. ‘Tabwa women used razors to slit skin [that had been] plucked up with a fishhook or arrowhead. These incisions were then rubbed with soot from a pot bottom, an irritant that produced the desired raised cicatrices† (Roberts 1988:44). There were several reasons that this tradition was done, different to every age and gender in the tribe. Young women went through this process in order to achieve a state of perfection, which was required for those wanting to marry and have children (Roberts 1988:45). Scarification is a form of body art that was used in several tribes because according to their customs â€Å"beauty is not physically innate, but rather a function of the girl’s inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:45). Not only the Tabwa, scarification was used in such tribes as the Ga’anda and the Tiv; all the tribes have distinctly different purposes for doing this, but the process and effect of the body are the same. Another form of body art is body painting, which the people of the Southeast Nuba begin at a young age; but the meanings, and time frame from when they begin decorating the body are very different between males and females. The males paint themselves from the ages of 12 to 27 (Faris 1988:31). Typically, they only paint during the down time after the harvest season and before the next years planting begins. This is the time that the males are less involved in mandatory and productive activities; they spend their supplementary time with festive activities such as dance and sport participation. The restrictions placed on the men by their age, most importantly deal with the color that they use on their body—for example â€Å" only the older age groups are eligible to use the greatest elaboration in color, including the deep black and yellow [colors, that are] prohibited to younger grades†(Faris 1988:32). The change in elaboration allowed on the body does not coincide with any physiological changes, rather, it corresponds with changes â€Å"in productive status or sport† (Faris 1988:32). As they move up in grades from young laborers that answer to the elders, to mature men that own their own property, farm and family, their elaborate painting ability increases. The elders though, do not decorate their bodies; rather, they delegate and lead rituals for the younger men and enforce the rules of allowed color use. Therefore, the male body painting shows their progression thru ones life stages. The women of Southeast Nuba, â€Å"from the age of six years, until consummation of marriage, oil and ochre [their bodies] daily, in colors [that are] appropriate to their patri-clan section† (Faris 1988:34). After childbirth, they may continue to wear some oil and ochre on their shoulders. The personal body art of women is strictly related to the physiological changes that occur as a women goes through life, and are fixed around body scarification as a way of showing her changes. A woman’s scarification is so important, that â€Å"if a husband refuses to pay for a scarring specialist, a woman may seek a lover who will do so, and her first marriage will end† (Faris 1988:35). Unlike the males elaborate body art, a woman’s body art is simple, but it accumulates over her life-span and is very standardized, while a male’s body art is constantly changing. Body painting, tattooing and scarification thus far had been tools used by individuals to beautify their body and elevate their status within their tribe; this is not the case with all societies. In several other cultures, tattoos have been used in a form of branding, which is quite the opposite. Though tattooing and branding are â€Å"similar in that both involve the insertion of pigments under the skin to create permanent marks†, branding is implemented in order to lower an individuals status, to punish for crimes committed, to identify slaves, but most importantly, to eliminate personal identity (Schildkrout 2004:323). â€Å"The immutable alteration of human skin by branding needs to be considered in relation to, but ought not be confused with, tattooing† (Bianchi 1988:27). Two recent studies originating in South Africa elaborate on this subject, reporting on the political influence of tattooing â€Å"as a means of social control† (Schildkrout 2004:330). They site examples from Zambia in which a medical practitioner travels around to villages â€Å"in which witch craft accusations have been common†¦to inoculate people against people against witch craft† (Schildkrout 2004:331). The villagers would â€Å"submit to bodily inspections†, they were then treated â€Å"by getting numbers tattooed on their arms† (Schildkrout 2004:331). This is disturbingly reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps when an unfathomable number of Jewish people lost their personal identities and became known as only a number in the system to be disposed of. This â€Å"symbolic denial of personhood† served as a system â€Å"of control and surveillance† (Schildkrout 2004:323). This system of control was also imposed by â€Å"authoritarian regimes† in Southeast Asia (Schildkrout 2004:323). The Zhou and Ming Dynasties branded criminals as a form of punishment with â€Å"extensive, often full-body tattoos, with elaborate pictorial imagery as well as written inscriptions† (Schildkrout 2004:324) portraying their crime. This form of tattooing is definitely contrary to traditional methods. Similarly in Brazil, branding was used to mark convicts by the penal authorities. Penal tattoos derived their power from subjugation of the marked convicts. The humiliation of being visibly branded was a significant component of the convict’s punishment. In an act of resistance, those that had been branded â€Å"were known to reclaim their bodies by writing over the inscriptions or by displaying them in new social situations† (Schildkrout 2004:324). The branded, therefore, became the empowered, restoring the function of the tattoo to being personally-motivated. This personal motivation is perhaps most notable in Western cultures, specifically North America. In America, the Native Americans used body painting in many ways, usually connected with ethnic identity, social roles or marital status (Rubin 1988:179). The Natives also used the body as a canvas in ritualistic ceremonies, on warriors going into battle and for the beautification of their women. When the Europeans discovered America, they brought with them slaves from Africa and they introduced branding of the slaves into the American culture. After the civil war, when the slaves had been freed, branding was still embedded in American culture through groups of people including gang members and convicts. Though â€Å"branding is often associated with involuntary marking and the denial of personhood†, it has also â€Å"been adopted in contemporary Western body culture as an assertion of group identity, for example in college fraternities† (Schildkrout 2004:323). Tattoos were also prevalent in other parts of America, including Alaska. Among the Eskimos â€Å"[t]he function of these art forms [was] – essentially manifesting one’s place or role within the hierarchy of hunting life† (Gritton 1988:190). With the introduction and adaptation of the western civilization in Alaskan culture, â€Å"the marks of a hunter or hunter’s wife served no purpose in their new lives and were understandably abandoned† (Gritton 1988:190). The function of body art and tattooing has been Americanized, evolving from its native origins to incorporate self expression. This self expression has mushroomed from a manor of identifying oneself to a way of gaining attention through shock value. Though ever-changing, all forms of body art mentioned play enormous roles in the lives of people. Certain non-Western cultures are based around the ability to use skin as a visible way of defining status or bettering their self-image, in order to attract companions. So the artists who are allowed to perform the act of adorning bodies with different designs are regarded as having a very important place in the society. They are â€Å"scarring specialist† (Faris 1988:35), â€Å"body artists† (Drewal 1988:84), but most importantly, they are known as â€Å"[the] one-who-creates- art† (Drewal 1988:84). In the non-Native American culture, however, the general attitude towards tattoo artist in present-day American culture is less than appreciative. Extreme critics even characterize tattooist as opportunist, exclusively seeking monetary gain (Sanders 1988:229). â€Å"The tattooist interest in artistry and control is often in conflict with his profit orientation†, revealing the major flaw within the American society (Sanders 1988:229). This is the major difference in western and non-western cultures. Body tattoos in western society are an object to be purchased. Americans obtain tattoos in the same manner that they acquire a new Louis Vuitton handbag. They purchase them as accessories, which is in stark contrast to the non-western cultures, who acquire tattoos as an essential ritual in their society. With this is mind, the process in which American’s purchases body art seems slightly ridiculous. Tattoo artists often complain of the unwillingness of customers to spend the quoted amount of money for â€Å"a tattoo [they] are going to wear for the rest of [their] life† (Sanders 1988:229). It is more acceptable in American culture to invest in short term materialistic purchases, therefore the legitimate tattoo artists are constantly being monitored and regimented under strict laws imposed by the government. Despite the absurdity of the purchasing process, the reasoning that propels the American society to obtain tattoos is just as flawed. Some reasons people give to explain permanently marking their skin include, â€Å"they were drunk, it’s a macho thing, to fit in with a crowd or even worse, for no reason at all† (DeMello 1995:42). Western society seems to have a complete disregard for the spiritual origins of body art. Tattoo artist are even witness to clients’ apathy, avoiding â€Å"working on people who are obviously under the influence of alcohol† (Sanders 1988:225). Where once there was a ceremonious celebration deeply rooted in spiritualism, in American society the only ritualistic ceremony is the receiving of a piece of paper on how to care for the recently acquired body art. This apathetic attitude of Americans is perhaps derived from the renouncing majority of the population. This bias stems from â€Å"very early ‘regulations’ [including] Moses’ remarks in Leviticus 19:28 forbidding any cuttings in the flesh or the printing of any marks† (Armstrong 2005:39). Since tattoos â€Å"were not sanctioned by the church† the profile for the tattooed archetype became unconventional (Schildkrout 2004:325). Christian belief has been adapted to the masses, forcing those who are tattooed into rebellion. The majority of people adopting body art include â€Å"bikers, convicts, and other ‘low lives’† (DeMello 1995:40). In Western society â€Å"the idea that the unmarked body as a sign of God’s work was linked to the Protestant reformation† and â€Å"the idea that body markings were a sign of savagery goes back even earlier† ( Schildkrout 2004:324). This is ironic considering tattoos in earlier cultures signified positions of high status. Perhaps the only entity that ties these drastic cultures together is the desire to increase their inherited beauty. â€Å"If the body is – metaphorically – a site of inscription to various degrees for various theorist, then cosmetic surgery can be seen, at one level, as an example of the literal and explicit enactment of this process of inscription† ( Schildkrout 2004:320), which is also seen in the aforementioned tribes with the rituals of scarification. DeMello also agrees that along with tattooing and piericing, that cosmetic surgery is seen as a form of â€Å"body modification† (DeMello 1995:37). â€Å"Not only does the tattooed skin negotiate between the individual and society and between different social groups, but also mediates relations between persons and spirits, the human and the divine† (Schildkrout 2004:321). Body art is a tradition that extends throughout the barriers of the world and although the forms in which they are found may be different, the idea of using your body as a canvas is universal. Although recently, several anthropologists agreed and have begun to examine body art more closely, looking at it â€Å"as a microcosm of society† (Schildkrout 2004:328), Roberts still believes that â€Å"there can be no ultimate explanation of symbolism† (Roberts 1988:51). He claims that â€Å"the blazes on trees in the Ndembu forest will remain many years after their purpose and meaning are forgotten. So it is with other inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:51). This is exemplified in the woman who endured the agonizing pain of her scarification to instigate a new chapter in her life. Nevertheless, soon after her body is placed into the ground, her skin will no longer be a visible indication of who she once was. She will become a memory and her body will no longer be used as a canvas.