Amtrak Travel Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Amtrak Travel - Scholarship Essay Example Already, I wish to look beyond seeing rugged coastlines, beautiful canyons, and unspoiled forests and majestic mountains. For me, train travel offers priceless social amenities as well, particularly as I travel with fellow Americans who patronize Amtrak for its safe, comfortable and affordable vacation, business or adventure packages. Together, we can experience while on route the freshness, breadth and buoyancy that characterize American lifestyle. Already, I have prepared a travel plan which starts with Amtrak’s historic multi-tour along the east coast strip where America as a country was born, then cut across for a coast-to-coast journey to the west along the footsteps of our early pioneers. Finally, I wish to try Amtrak’s awesome northeast route which will take me at 150 miles per hour bullet speed to the end of my roundabout journey of a lifetime, namely Washington, D.C. the nation’s hub (IndependentTraveler.Com). As a whole, I wish to see myself as having gone through the greatest railway journey I can experience.

Communist Revolution and Confucianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Communist Revolution and Confucianism - Essay Example In fact, culture is so compact in China that instead of considering China as a political State, a lot of reviewers regards China as a cultural State. In this regard, two major cultural eras (political regimes) can be identified with China. There could be more than two eras but for the sake of this essay, the Confucian and Communist eras are discussed. In the Confucian era, China was to possess the dynastic system, which was overturned in 1911 to make way for the second era, which was the communist era after a supposedly a weak republican form of government existed until 1949 and through the civil war. The communist era continues to exist in China it started. The coming of the communist government was actually informed by a number of factors against the Confucian era. However though, it is evident in present day communist rule in China that traces of fundamental Confucian ideas exist. This essay seeks to explore why the communist revolution originally sought to quell Confucianism and why it has recently changed its tack and encouraged the renewal of Confucian ideas. Why the Communist Revolution originally sought to quell Confucianism One kingdom overthrows the other with a mentality to the citizenry that the latter has better options in terms of political rule. In contemporary world, overthrow of governments come commonly with democratic elections. In the case of the communist rule in China however, it all started with a revolution. Political revolution is said to be â€Å"a complete overthrow of the established government of a country or state by those who were previously subject to it; a forcible substitution of a new ruler or form of government† (Calvert in, 1970 in Pleuger, 2009). Because political revolutions are accompanied with forcible substitutions, it has always been expected that the overthrowing government has convincing reasons as to why it is the best and most pressing option. With the communist revolution, two major reasons why it wanted to originally quell Confucianism can be discussed. Debate over classification and identity In the first place, there was a great debate and outcry over the classification, identity or otherwise, mandate of Confucianism. Right from the onset, Confucianism was thought by many as not having a clear-cut and straight forward mission of existence. Even in some circles, it was said that Confucianism was thought to be of a heavenly mandate instead of a political one (Hays, 2008). This is to say that Confucianism was not well placed either as a religion, political party or a social club. Because of this, communists argued that Confucian rule had no political authorization to rule China. Because of the seemingly unclear mandate of Confucianism, it was argued that they were not able to rule with clearly defined political system, program and agenda. The communist revolution therefore criticized several fundamental political ideas of the Confucianism including the following documented by Hays (200 8). "Govern for the benefit of the people, reduce taxes, and recruit 'superior men' of any origin† â€Å"Promote the straight and throw out the twisted and people will keep order.† â€Å"The powerful must be benevolent in treating the weak: the weak must be wise in dealing with the powerful† (Hays, 2008). The communist therefore had a general perception that Confucianism

J&L and Hedging Essay Example for Free

JL and Hedging Essay JL Railroad should take a long position. They need to purchase diesel fuel in the future, they don’t produce diesel fuel, so they would want to take a future to be able to lock in the price of diesel fuel for future purchases. 2. What problems could the use of heating oil futures for hedging create for JL? Note: I assume this question is asking about heating oil specifically not futures in general. As heating oil is not the same product as diesel fuel, therefore there could still be some exposure (risk) for JL. There has been a historical correlation between heating oil prices and diesel fuel prices, but this might not be true for the future. The futures for heating oil are contracts for delivery of 42,000 gallons – the amount of diesel fuel needed in any month is unlikely to equal 42,000 gallons or a multiple of that amount. As the heating oil futures mature on the last business day of the preceding month and therefore the purchase would have to occur on that day. 3. Explain why the daily settlement of futures contracts can create cash-flow problems for JL? If JL purchases a long future contract, they have to provide the initial margin for each contract. If the price of heating oil goes down (even for a short period) to bring the margin to below the maintenance margin, JL would be required to top up the margin to the initial margin amount. If they don’t have the ready funds to do this their futures contract would be cancelled. This could require JL to maintain a substantial amount of cash or the availability of a line of credit they can draw on, as needed. The costs to hold this much cash or the interest on a line of credit may exceed the value of the hedging of diesel fuel prices. As the contract hasn’t closed yet (and it could be a while until it does depending on the length of the contract) these daily settlements could affect the interim cash needs of the company. If the price goes up there isn’t an issue with cash needs (other than the initially required margin). 4. How do options on futures work? Why can trading options on futures can be preferable than trading options on the physical heating oil? An option on a future is the ability to purchase the future (or sell the future) at a given price. If the future doesn’t reach that price, you don’t have to buy it. An amount called a premium is charged for the options. If instead of trading options on a future, JL could trade options on heating oil. Exercising an option on a future only requires the cash margin to be deposited, exercising an option on heating oil would require the total value of the heating oil exercise price to paid.

Are Human Rights a Western Concept?

Are Human Rights a Western Concept? Do you agree that human rights are a western or modern concept, if not please cite two imperial examples of universal Human Rights in practice during pre-historic times. And the unending challenges in conflict with diversity, culture and religion in contemporary times? This essay will defined, explore and analyse the historical, theoretical and philosophical concept of universal human rights with comparative analysis of international instruments and its applications of human rights both in theory and context with empirical examples from different countries, culture and religion. The evolution of Human Rights in terms of its enduring challenges and successes will also be explored. The crux of this essay will focus on the controversial clash of culture and religious in practice against the backdrop in adapting to the concept of universal human rights. For example, this essay will attempt to present both opposite views and justification from a cultural and religious perspectives and against the practice of Female Gentile Mutilation (FGM) in Sierra Leone, and the violation of certain womens rights in Saudi Arabia, from a universal human rights perspective, which others tend to view as western liberal ideology. The first part of this essay will focus on the historical and theoretical aspect of human rights with comparative analysis of contemporary challenges and success in an attempt to juxtapose universal human rights against national laws and its direct challenge to cultural and religious justification in national defence with respect to these controversial topics, with an example of which both national activists and International actors continue to campaign against cultural practice such as FGM around the world with a direct focus on Sierra Leone. The Third section will explore and analyses human rights in Saudi Arabia and the cultural and religious influence with respect to the conflicting laws and individual rights challenges, particularly women. The fourth section will draw comparative analysis with Western countries like UK and USA in an attempt to explain cultural relativism with respect to the differences and common accepted human rights practices among these states. Human right history has been a long and controversial subject that stem from little known concept and history of human rights before 1945 around the same period the United Nations was established. Before then, certain intellectuals tend to hold the view that contemporary human rights history stems from the United Nations concept. The international convention on Economic, Social and cultural rights, is known as one of the fundamental declarations adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in the Declaration of Human Right, with provision for everyone to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefit of scientific progress and its applications, and to enjoy the protection of scientific, literary or artistic works. Article 13 points the rights of everyone to education, which shall be directed to the development of human personality and the sense of its , (UNESCO: 1998; 1). Although cultural rights are also indicated in numerous UNESCO conventions and recommendations, likewise in severa l other international documents, there is yet an unending challenges to implement cultural rights to its full potential. There is a clear evidence to suggest that there is a common relation between cultural rights and fundamental freedoms and individual rights such as freedom of belief and religion, the right to education, freedom of association and freedom of expression. (1998; 1). On Lockes view in his famous and influential Letter Concerning Toleration 1689 the state is concerned with external acts of human beings and not with the care of their souls and hence has no right to restrict individuals liberty in matters of faith. Churches are to be be understood as a voluntary societies for the public worship of God. Their members do not surrender their natural liberty in matters of religion to their church and so the church has no right to coerce its members beyond that of expelling them for appropriate reasons. (Charvet and Kaczynska- Nay: 2008; 29) The major theorist of the seventeen century who invented the individualist doctrine of natural rights were all Northern European protestants: Hugo Grotius of the Netherlands, Thomas Hobbs and John Locke of England and Samuerl Pufendorf of Germany. They developed a new understanding of the idea of natural law that was to serve as the foundation of a legitimate social and political order. Hugo Grotius who is widely known as the founder of modern natural law theory is also accepted as the originator of modern theory of international law, which is grounded on the law of nature, which is also grounded of the domestic theory. However, there is also a more inquisitorial common view of a long human right history way beyond contemporary history of human rights, which many refers to as a much better approach. Even though it is plagued with controversy, but it gives an opportunity to search beyond 1945 and challenge the former position with respect to the historical and philosophical aspects and concepts of human rights. Some argues that the concept of Human has a universal history in the various religious and philosophies of the world. The code of Hammurabi (c.1792-50 BC), King of Babylon, is said to be the oldest surviving text establishing the rule of law, Cyrus the Great (died 529 BC), King of Persia, proclaimed a policy of religious tolerance and abolished slavery. The Buddhist King Ashoka of India (c.264-38 BC) also proclaimed a policy of religious tolerance, provided for the health and educations of his people, and appointed officials to prevent wrongful punishments (Weeramantry 1997: 7-8). (Freeman 2011: 15-16). There are numerous challenges towards the view that human right is a western concept, such as the self evident of protections with non western cultural settings, which weakens the position of those claiming human rights to be a western concept. In1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the realization of this document stemmed from a cummulation of over three dacdes of work by the UN Commission on the Status of women including years of efforts by Womens rights activist and governments. This was initially commission in 1947 under the Commission of Human Rights as a sub-commission, with unending demands from women activists it was eventually promoted to a full commission, This is seen as the authoritative instrument of Womens bill of rights, which seek to protect women around the world. The Convention defines discrimination against women as: Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field (Article 1), (2008;201) Whiles most states have ratified CEDAW, there have been an exceptionally high number of reservations made to it by states ratifying, several countries have entered reservations to Article 2 and 16 in particular; for example, Bangladesh and Egypt on grounds that they conflicts with Sharia law (Bangladesh subsequently withdrew its observation to Article 16). Saudi Arabia entered a general reservation stating that: [i]n case of contradiction between any term of the convention and the norms of Islamic law, the Kingdom is not under obligation to observe the contradictory terms of the convention. An Elimination of Discrimination Against Women stated: Article 2 and 16 are considered by the committee to be core provision of the convention. Although some states parties have withdrawn reservations to those articles, the committee is particularly concerned at the number and extent of the reservations entered to those articles. The commission holds the view that article 2 is central to the objec ts and purpose of the Convention. States parties which ratify the Convention do so because they agree that discrimination against women in all its form should be condemned and that the strategies set out in article 2, subparagraph (a) to (g), should be implemented by States parties to eliminate it. Neither traditional, religious or Cultural practice nor incompatible domestic laws and policies can justify violations of the convention. The Committee also remains convinced that reservations of article 16, whether lodged for national, traditional, religious or cultural reasons, are incompatible with the Convention and therefore impermissible and should be reviewed and modified o withdrawn. (2008; 204) In 1517, Martin Luther pinned his famous ninety-five these stacking Catholic practices and beliefs to a church door in Wittenberg, which eventually led to the unbelievable split of the Christian Church in the West known as the Reformation. Because of the anxiousness exhibited by leaders who were desperate to free themselves from the interference of the pope and emperors, they seized the opportunity to affirm their total independence by embracing the new protestant version of Christianity, which had achieved wide spread popularity. During this period the liberty of religious conscious was never acknowledged by the Medieval Catholic Church, violent persecution of heretical beliefs was frequent by the state. This eventually led series of suppression and war in the West. It has to be said that Protestant were not really reacting to the persecution by the Catholics. The main reformed churches, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglecan, were as ardent persecutors of those who did not accept the true faith as the catholics. The indirect influence of the Reformation on the movement for the huge and continuing scale of the religiously inspired carnage and the direct influence of the Reformation on support of toleration came from the radical protestant sect such as; the Anabapitists and Baptist, Socinians and Unitarians. The main natural rights theories were directly involved in these concerns. Their main argument was that the naturalness of radical disagreement between human beings over religion and their idea of natural law was that it constitutes common ground in abstraction from areas of disagreement. Thus, they supported a minimalist view of Christian dogma and both Pufendorf and Locke wrote widely read works specifically on toleration using an argument from natural liberty. (Charvet and Kaczynska- Nay: 2008; 29) The complexity and contradiction of human rights law is nothing new when it comes to the human rights law and the relationship with the subject of culture and religious with respect to oppression and injustice, which is not always compatible. Human Rights law may have operated and practice around the world, but there is a disparity in terms of its universal acceptance and approaches different member States, which sometimes operates more or less in the same context, but sometimes produce inconsistent results. The process of ratification or legalizing human rights law have proved to be challenging, especially the subject of Womens rights and its relationship with religion, Culture and traditional resistance. Particularly the parochial world that view such move as threats to male privilege or centuries old practices, which others interpreted as an attempt by Western liberal to subjugate their culture, religion or traditional heritage. The 1993 Vianna World Conference on Human Rights can be noted as another defining moment in the struggle of Womens rights history to gain the recognition of womens rights and Human rights, which is another result derived from the complex and contradictory quagmire of legalizing womens rights. It is a heterogeneous project which precludes any formulation of grand theory. Its commonality lies in providing critical and necessary challenges to explanations about womens subordination that have been furnished by liberal and Western feminist positions, especially those that come to occupy the international human rights arena in their understanding and articulation of concerns of Third World women. Post colonial feminism furnishes the tools for exposing the imperial and essentialist assumptions about the Third World women and culture and a reliance on a centre-periphery model or world culture that have come to inform lrgal responses to womens human rights concerns. (Kapur 2005). (Meckled-Garcia and Cali: 2006;103) Women and the veil However, the cantering of a womens claims to social justice to human rights, the law has also have some serious limitation. The pursuits of women human rights has come to focus on laws and legal strategies, encouraging the view that the law is the exclusive language in which to express claim to social justice and emancipation and consequently marginalize the benefit of others/emancipatory and vocabularies (Kennedy 2004; 5). It encourages the belief that freedom and emancipation lie in the objectivity, universality and rational basis of human rights laws. (106) These claims made in and through Human rights law ultimately rely on a universal subject: a subject that resembles the uncomplicated subject of liberal rights discourse. Cultural essentialism tends to reinforce the notion of human rights as a primary concern with relation to the law, with main focus on the consequences and effects of violence against women in third world countries. Alhough they are invariably portrayed as victims of their culture, reinforcing stereotyped and racist representations of that culture and privileging the culture of the West. Many human rights law textbooks address the issue of violence against women in other contexts, primarily in a chapter on universality and cultural Relativism implying that universality is not a cultural concept that emerged from a specific historical and political context, and reinforcing the inaccurate assumption that the primary wary in which women in the Third world experience violence is through some particularly egregious cultural practice. This portrayal of women in Sierra Leone that practice FGM or (Bondo society) for example is encouraged by traditional and some influential members of that country, even though others vehemently opposed this practice as proposed by some feminist and human rights activist particularly in the international realm, which reminiscent of imperial interference in the lives of na tive people, which they often interpret as the backwardness of African culture and women society and uncivilized culture. It recreates the imperialist move that views the native subject as different and civilizationally backward (Sinha: 2000). And this culture is cast in opposition to the universal project of human rights. Some Cultural practices have come to occupy our imaginations in ways that are totalizing of a culture and its treatment of women, and are nearly always overly simplistic or a misrepresentation of the practice. For example, the multiple meanings of the veil, through different cultural and historical contexts, get subsumed in the legal arguments that focus on almost exclusively on veiling as an oppressive and subordinating practice that typifies Islam and its degrading treatment of women. It is read in a uniform, linear manner as an oppressive practice because it erases womens physical and sexual identity and is symbolic of the subjugation of women in Islam. For som e it does not represent honor, and an effective mechanism on avoid tempting men. More significantly, the veil has also been a very empowering symbol for muslim women in some countries. In Iran it was the sign of rebellion and rejection of the shah and Western imperialism. Amongst immigrants communities in the West, it is the symbol of an exclusive cultural space, where women are often marginalised. (Merinissi: 1994; 112-22). This complexity has been obscured in several recent attempts to ban or uphold the ban on headscarves. The European Court on Human REoights in Strasbourg has recently upheld the ban on the wearing of headscarves in class at University of Istanbul. It upheld Turkish Constitutional Courts ruling that wearing of a headscarves was in contravention of the principle of secularism and gender equality and that the upholding of such a ban did not violate rights to religious freedom and practice. One of the factors considered by the Court was the fact that there were extremist political movements in Turkey which sought to impose on society as a whole th eir religious symbols and conception of a society founded on religious (Meckled-Garcia and Cali: 2006;106) Conclusion

Overworked Americans :: Materialism Materialistic Society Essays

â€Å"There is the constant pressure from our materialistic society to get nice cars, big TV’s, and brand-name clothes. So, what if we can’t afford the nicest cars and other items? We can now use financing and credit cards to get thrown deep into debt,† Michael*, a financial consultant from Northeastern Pennsylvania said. He said people are forced to work longer hours and get multiple jobs to pay off their debt. The expensive products create stress and lead to family problems, including verbal and physical abuse, he said. Americans are overworked and recognize the need for reduced job hours, but are addicted to spending money, he said. Michael said he has difficulty juggling his high-pressure job with a personal life, yet still insists on creating time for his family and friends. â€Å"There should always be time to try to relax and cool off after tough days, and I consider it imperative to do so,† he said. He said that people need to recognize that work correlates with their family and friends, and it is important to balance work with a social life. Kristen Randall, 22, of Rumson, New Jersey is a recent college graduate at the beginning of her career. She said she has minimal expenses at this stage in her life and works 40 hours each week. Randall said she would need an additional job if she had more bills to pay. â€Å"A lot of Americans need to work overtime because they have minimum wage jobs and these jobs don’t pay enough for them to make a living,† she said. Long work hours lend little time for leisure, which Randall said is an essential aspect of a person’s overall health. She said that people who repeatedly work overtime are too tired to exercise or spend time with family members. â€Å"When a person doesn’t have enough time to relax or participate in activities that they are interested in, they tend to be in a bad mood and take less care of themselves,† Randall said. She said that households with two working parents are sometimes forced to send their children to daycare, where they sacrifice quality time together and lose some control in raising their children. â€Å"If people are sacrificing a great deal because of their job, they are probably more likely to be unhappy. They may be tired and stressed out. This makes them less likely to be productive, pleasant employees,† Randall said. Daljinder Mann, a sales employee in Somerville, MA, attributed Americans’ increased working hours to the rising cost of living.

Learning to Become Literate :: essays research papers fc

Learning to Become Literate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"In any literate society, people constantly see the best way to teach children how to read and write so that the younger generation can become fully functioning members of that society.† (Savage 15) This is obviously an important goal of any society that wants their children to be well educated and succeed in the world. Learning to be literate is a very important developmental milestone that is recognized cross-culturally. Its social importance is shown in the fact that in school; literacy makes up 2/3 of the three â€Å"R’s†. (Savage 15)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When becoming literate the most important thing a child can learn is that they can in fact learn in the way their school wants them to. They can be part of the school society and feel like they fit in with their friends who use literacy to communicate and play. â€Å"The bond between the teacher and the taught is strengthened; exploration, discovery, ambition and achievement expand and flourish.† (Meek 1) Reading and writing opens up a new world of opportunities for children and therefore is continuous research being done in order to ensure that the best methods of teaching our children are implemented. However studies show that a large portion of this milestone occurs before formal education is ever begun. (McLane and McNamee 4) 2 The fact that we wait so long to start to teach our children literacy is absurd. Teaching reading and writing should be done to all children in day care facilities, child development centers as well as head start programs and preschools. We cannot however just take the programs currently used in first grade classes and apply them to children in day cares and preschools. These would be developmentally inappropriate. (Strickland and Morrow 5) The program used for these younger learners must be based around â€Å"meaningful activities that involve reading and writing in a wide variety of ways.† The children should want to participate in the literate society that they are surrounded by everyday in their classroom, home and community. If this is accomplished there will automatically be a connection between literacy and experience, which is very beneficial to the learning process. Most importantly in the early childhood literacy curriculum that we apply the focus should always be on the child’s learning and not on the teaching. (6) Since a large portion of learning to become literate occurs prior to formal education parents need to be aware of what they can do before their children reach school age.

Trifles Play Essay

Trifles Essay The play â€Å"Trifles† is a murder mystery, which takes place in the kitchen of the Wrights home. In the beginning of the story, Glaspell sets the murder scene in the audiences mind by having Mr. Peters and Mr. Henderson interview Mr. Hale on his discovery of Mr. Wright’s body. Mr. Hale then begins to talk about the condition of Mr. Wright, and then continues on and talks about the behavior of Mrs. Wright The rising action in the story begins after the men leave the women, and go upstairs to potentially find evidence, or a motive.The women began to ask many questions, and examine the kitchen, and how it was left after the murder. The men then overhear the women pondering on whether Mrs. Wright was to knot or pierce the rope. The men laugh at the women because they found such matters to be of little importance. The rising action continues with the women finding the bird cage, and the nervous stitching. All through the rising action, ironically, the women w ere shown inadvertently finding evidence to solve the murder case.Just after these discoveries, the climax of the play is signaled. The women find a dead bird inside of a box placed in the sewing basket. The women then notice that the bird’s neck was wrung, similar to how Mr. Wright had died. Glaspell then narrates that there was a look of growing comprehension between the two. This line is important because, their questions were answered, and the women know who murdered Mr. Wright. It is also ironic because the women find little ‘trifles’ that the men just deem as unimportant, which ironically solves the case.This is also because the men and even the women themselves wouldn’t expect to be capable of aiding in the murder investigation. Inadvertently, the women solve the murder case. It is also interesting that the discoveries were all found inside of the kitchen where the men tend to go very little throughout the play, but also just in general. The purpose of doing so was probably done in order for Glaspell to empathize on the theme of the play: Women are not appreciated by men, and seen lowly by them. This can also be supported because the men thought of what Mrs.Peters brought in was something that was harmless, and couldn’t possibly hold the main evidence that they would need in order to prosecute Mrs. Wright. After secretly and accidently solving the murder case, the women decide to not tell the men that Mrs. Wright did indeed murder her husband. The women mainly resolved to do this out of sympathy. The women’s decision is the resolution and beginning of the falling action of the play. The falling action of the play becomes intensive because the reader thinks that The Attorney will find the dead bird, and the women will be caught.The falling action of the play also achieves the purpose of the plays structure because it shows that women are actually useful in tasks other than housework, which is a sub-topic of the th eme. Also, it achieves it because the women hold the key to the one piece of evidence that the men needed in order to find Mrs. Wright guilty. â€Å"Trifles† was a murder mystery with a dramatic structure, but also an ironic twist to it. The women unknowingly find all the evidence, inside of the kitchen.Glaspell structured the play, so that the women and men would think that the women’s findings would be such small trifles, but in actuality were the clues to solving the case. Also, that was done so that Glaspell could place the theme of men believing that women are unhelpful, and unappreciated. Glaspell supports this theme by having the women solve the case, but not tell the men. The structure of this play also gave a underlying truth in the theme. â€Å"Trifles† ironically was structured off of dismissed trifles.