Pledge of Allegiance essays

Pledge of Allegiance essays The pledge of allegiance is by definition a solemn swear of allegiance to the United States. But recently, it has been under attack by some for its use of the phrase one nation under God. This case was brought up by an atheist from Sacramento who didnt want his second-grade daughter to have to hear the pledge of allegiance. He took it federal court. After a self fought case to the Ninth Appellate Court, the court ruled that the phrase under God is an endorsement to monotheism, thereby in conflict of state and church separation. This ruling came at a tough time in America when everyone was still trying to find an answer to September 11. But, I do believe this to be the right decision. The state-sponsored use of one nation under God is a subtle, but intentional endorsement of religion. In so doing, the government is in breach of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The people who are fighting against the Courts decision to ban the phrase seem entirely to forget about the Constitution. A senior judge who disagreed with the ruling said there was only a miniscule risk that the use of the phrase under God would bring about a theocracy or suppress someones belief. Does something in there sound wrong to you? The judge implies the phrase could and would suppress small portions of Americans. Thats unacceptable. A Harvard professor predicted that the Supreme Court would overturn the decision. Our House of Representatives and the Senate were disgusted by the courts decision. The senate passed a resolution 99-0 showing support for the pledge of allegiance. The lawmakers of the United States are simply playing politics to appease the majority of Americans. We put our trust in these people's hands to represent us and defend the Constitution, not to appease constituents who support sta ...

Black July and the Fallout Thereafter

Black July and the Fallout Thereafter On July 23, 1983, Tamil separatists, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), stepped up militant attacks in northern Sri Lanka and killed 13 Sinhalese soldiers who reported for duty only a day earlier in Thirunelvely, Jaffna. The LTTE was fighting for a separate Tamil state in the northern and eastern parts of the country. This day became known as the beginning of Black July, an organized, ethnically-charged massacre of the Tamil people. After the incident in Jaffna, Sri Lankan soldiers killed 51 civilians in Jaffna. The violence in the country lasted for several days and approximately 3,000 Tamils were killed. The death of the 13 soldiers was propaganda used to justify violence against Tamils. Shops that Tamils owned were looted. People were stripped naked. Women were raped. Tamils were even burnt alive. In Colombo and provincial towns, soldiers stood by and even supplied gasoline to help set the cities ablaze. Thousands of Tamils fled to Jaffna, believing that staying in a Sinhalese area was not safe for them. To root out Tamils in the area, many Sinhalese would show suspected Tamils objects and demand to know the Sinhala word for it. There was government complicity and gangs operated at the behest of hardline ministers. On July 27, 1983, the then President JR Jayewardene made his first speech on the events, offering no sympathy to the minority and instead emphasizing Sinhala grievances. More killings followed. By the time the violence dwindled on July 31, 1983, tens of thousands of Tamils had fled to the northern and eastern provinces or abroad. Black July was a recruiting agent for Tamil militants. The incident started a civil war that lasted 26 years between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE. The Sri Lankan military forces finally defeated the LTTE in May 2009. Approximately 700,000 Tamils were sent into exile during these 26 years and at least 100,000 people were killed. Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict remains unresolved. Abductions, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence perpetrated by the military have not decreased. Military involvement in the North and East is still strong. Most military camps have become permanent and Sinhala colonization is on the rise. The idea of a separate Tamil homeland—an illegal as a political platform—became more powerful because so many Tamils fled to the areas of the island where they were the majority. Since 1983, many Tamils have not felt comfortable living in southern Sri Lanka, apart from the capital. Four years after the war victory, the government says there are no minorities and everyone is equal, yet Sinhalese nationalist sentiment and speeches are on the upsurge. There remains nervousness, not only among Tamils but also amongst Muslims who have seen their mosques attacked and their lifestyle under sustained assault from Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists, including monks. With the Tigers crushed i n 2009 and unknown numbers of Tamil civilians killed as the war ended, hardline ministers now advocate reducing devolution for the Tamil areas despite a constitutional clause meant to increase it.

Enron Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Enron Corporation - Essay Example Apparently, companies in the present day scenario emphasise more on developing themselves as an improved unit both in an ethical and legal manner. Observably, business focuses more on confirming that their operational activities cause minimal negative impact on people of the external business environment (Jennings, 2010; Blythe & Zimmerman, 2005). However, with the emergence of high profile corporate breakdowns in the recent years, questions have been raised on the present rules and frameworks along with the effectiveness of the corporate governance practices amid the companies. In this regard, the corporate collapse of Enron is one of the prime example where the ineffectiveness of corporate governance practices is largely visible (KPMG, 2010; Baijal, n.d.). In order to acquire a comprehensive understanding with regard to the failure of the company i.e. Enron, this essay will highlight the corporate issues and gaps of the company prior to its downfall which ultimately resulted in its total collapse. The essay will also ensure a thorough discussion about how the laws of corporate governance have strengthened aftermath of the Enron downfall. As depicted above corporate governance is one of the most vital aspects that are associated with the operations of the business units in the modem day business context. In today’s scenario the reputation of any business is largely determined by its ability to assure appreciative performance in the domain of corporate governance. However, with the increasing number of accounting fraud and failures of companies to adhere to particular legal and ethical standards in conducting business, the aspect of corporate governance has emerged as one of the major issue in the business sector today. The issue of corporate governance has mostly gathered strength especially after the collapse of Enron owing to accounting frauds in the year 2001. However, in order to depict the actual reason

US Presidents and the Presidency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

US Presidents and the Presidency - Essay Example The most outstanding leaders in American history include the founding fathers or early leaders: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson; those who presided in times of internal and external conflict: Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt; intercontinental political leaders like James Monroe who declared the American hemisphere off-limits for European colonialist invaders; Woodrow Wilson and his isolationist and international concepts. Erstwhile stately global leaders presiding throughout the Cold War period like Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy. Other notable presidents are those who rebuilt the American economy including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. The 21st century has heralded the threat of international terrorism particularly against American interests in addition to the current global financial crisis. The 43rd president George W. Bush was the first president of the new millennium who has been accused of inciting and provoking the wrath of the Islamic terrorists. The current president, Barrack Obama is also remarkable historically in being the first African American president in addition to have being the only one born outside the continental USA. One of the most outstanding American presidents is Abraham Lincoln the 16th US president, who has been credited for his significant leadership, preserving the United States union when it was threatened by bitter internal turmoil from the breakaway southern Confederate states. The main cause of the conflict was the latter opposition to the abolition of slave trade in the US intended to grant African Americans freedom; hence, he is accredited for ending slavery in America. Lincoln successfully consolidated his power base within the Republican Party by integrating the moderate Copperheads faction and the abolitionist Radical Republicans as well as gravitating public opinion to his favour. During his famous Gettysburg

Molecular Aspects of Biofilm Essay -- Aquatic Engineering Systems

Biofilms occur extensively in aquatic engineering systems, where they are implicated mainly in biofouling and corrosion. Biofilm cause nosocomial infections by forming persistent growth in catheters and other body implants and medical devices; they also increase drug resistance and dental caries (Donlan, 2001). On the other hand, biofilm development followed by biofouling in cooling water system causes serious blocking of the coolant pipelines in power plants thereby increased load on pumps, microbial induced corrosion and substantial economic loss (Boffardi, 2005; Flemming, 2002; Oliveira, et al, 1993 and Rao et al. 1993). In waste treatment systems such as trickling filters, wet biofilms are used for catalyzing pollutant transformations (Wyndham, 1995). Microbial world is extremely diverse and so is their life style and adaptation to survive in any environment (Staley et al, 1997). Different bacteria acquire different mechanism to adhere and initiate the biofilm development depending upon their environment. Some bacteria use their pili or flagella to establish primary attachment (Virji et al. 1993). In the present work we investigated the role of a surface protein (Bap) in S. aureus in establishing biofilm on glass surface and the topological changes in response to Ca2+ concentration from 1 mM to 20 mM on the biofilm morphology. Earlier work by Arrizubieta et al. (2004) showed that expression of Bap is not affected in presence of Ca2+. We provide information on changes in surface protein mediated growth in the presence of various concentrations of Ca2+. Calcium is an environmental variable which influence the biofilm formation of certain bacteria (Geesey et al. 2000; Patruchan et al. 2005). In a previous report Arrizu... ...erent environment containing varying calcium concentrations. Conclusions: From the present investigation we established the following salient points; (1) Bap mediated biofilm development in S. aureus V329 is inhibited ï‚ ³ 5 mM Calcium (2) Other bap negative strains of S. aureus, SA7 and SA33 do not show any inhibition due to the presence of calcium even up to 50 mM. (3) Structurally similar BapA harbouring A. baumannii did not show any inhibition in biofilm formation in response to calcium. (4) CSLM study showed that varying Ca2+ concentrations significantly influenced the architecture and topology of the biofilm. CSLM study also shows that chelating of calcium by EDTA can inverse the effect calcium on biofilm development. (5) This study also specifies that the presence EF hand motif in Bap makes V329 strain responsive to Ca2+ presence in the milieu.

Business Communication Trends Paper

University Of Phoenix Introduction to Business Communication Trends Paper Business Communication is a tool that allows you to improve the performance of your employees, performance of teams within the company. It also allows you to improve the performance of the entire organization, with the common goal helping company to fulfill it’s mission. (http://www. skills2lead. com/definition-of -business-communication. html). Business Communication plays a major role in my daily activities at work. I work for a cellular phone company and in this business things change daily. We constantly have to come with ways to rely this information effectively to the agents on the floor. For example we have a section called new and changed, the agents are supposed to read this everyday. This section tells them about the latest updates or about any changes that have been made. For some reason the agents were not reading this everyday like they should so that made the company think what can we do to make the agents read the material? The company decided to do simulations that the agents had to interact with, which kept their attention, and the at the end there were questions that had to be answered about the reading, and you have to score a 80% or better to pass. By communicating with my agents, and fellow managers I am able to keep my daily work activities organized. This way I stay organized is by putting everything on my calendar such as lunch, meetings, etc†¦. For example when i go to lunch I send out an email to everyone in the office letting know I am gone and when I return, this lets the make the other managers aware of how many of them are left on the floor, and if we are short or not usually if another manager is gone I will hold off on lunch until they get back to ensure there is enough coverage of the floor. By communicating this helps me to let everyone know when I am available and when I am not. If I did not communicate it would make things very difficult this helps me to not be double booked for two interviews at once and not to have anything scheduled during my lunch break. The trend that I am seeing the most in my current work place is team work. Team work is very important because you want to get everyone’s opinions and different views on situations. When working in customer care there are a lot of issues that may arise one of the most common issues is when a customer returns a phone but still gets charged for it on their bill. It can be frustrating at times because it takes up so much time to look up this information, and agents are logging off of their phones to do research, which is taking money away from the company. My company gets paid by billable hours so if an agent is not on the phone we lose money. So my boss started communicating with his bosses to see what could be done to get the problem we were having under control, and still bring in more money. So my boss started thinking how can we resolve this problem, and still make more money. He ended up getting with other directors from other sites to get ideas on how this can be resolved. And they all came up with getting a equipment department internally. By doing this the regular agents no longer had to get off of their phones to research equipment, and since we would have special trained agents that meant more money for the company. So they pitched the ideas to their boss and six months later we have our own equipment department within the site. By communicating their ideas and thoughts, and showing how this would benefit the company the directors got what they wanted, and they did it by working together. Communication is in almost everything we do rather it is in a marriage, at work, or at home just to name a few. In order to improve and move forward we have to communicate. In a Business communication is key each and every department is working towards particular goals to help the company achieve what they set out to, but the ultimate goal is to make more money for the company.

Free Online GED Practice Tests