Are Rising U.S. Tensions with Russia and China Signs of a Return to Research Paper

Are Rising U.S. Tensions with Russia and China Signs of a Return to the Cold War - Research Paper Example 4. The missile defense system has caused Russia to deploy its ballistic missiles across Europe. 5. China and Iran have a close eye on US movements in Afghanistan, and its trembling relations with Pakistan. There are negligible or no chances of a second cold war among US, Russia and China because: 1. The three nations are matured and developed to make a mistake they made long ago. 2. It is not in the strategic interest of the three nations that such a war takes place. 3. There is much at stake, and a lot to lose if the war eventually breaks out. 4. US has its hands full with Afghanistan and Pakistan, it will risk going to war with a super power which can cause irreparable damage. 5. Iran is of significant concern to US at the moment. Americans will not risk Iran becoming a nuclear power for notorious reasons. Let us consider the chances of another cold war erupting among the Three Titans. The first cold war started in 1945 and went on till 1991, with the eventual defeat of the Soviet Union. The named cold war comes from the ability of nations to be in a state of war without direct military involvement. Military action is to be avoided because of the fact that it would bring a nuclear catastrophe to the nations’ door step. ... War.1 The question in one’s particular mind would arise that if there is no military involvement, then how is it possible to be in a war situation? These battles are fought through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployment, and nuclear arms race. The rivalry is also seen at the level of sports and technology. The most famous technological competition between US and Russia is the Space Race. Military alliances such as the US led NATO and the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact agreements were enforced to display military might.2 Considering the current situation between the Titans, we can asses that an environment is being built towards such a catastrophe. China seems to be very upset with the US movements in Afghanistan and its influence in the political mainstream of Pakistan. On the other hand, Russians are strongly condemning the US movements on the European soil. Its move to deploy Missile shields have irritated the Russians to an extent that led to a Georgian pounding some time back. Georgia is an ally of the US, but at the time when Russia was all out thrashing it, the Americans could only sit and watch the show because any US move would have been at the cost of war with Russia. The story of conflict does not end with Europe or Pakistan, Missile Shield or the US movements in Afghanistan. The three nations are of very different opinion on the matter of Iran. The Islamic republic of Iran is accused by the US of developing nuclear weapons or the WMDs. Iran suggests that its nuclear program is for civilian reasons and it has the right to use nuclear technology for civilian reasons. The US has tightened its sanctions on Iran and is threatening it to go to any limit possible to stop it from developing nuclear weapons. The extent could be by bombing its

The Handmaids Tale Essay Example for Free

The Handmaids Tale Essay This book is a depiction of an anti-utopian future society, along with others like 1984 and Brave New World. It combines a futuristic reality, feminism and politics to create a very detailed novel considering many different aspects of Gilead. Offred is the complex lead character who draws us into the seemingly perfect but corrupt world of Gilead. Her pain is experienced by the readers who long to remember exactly what she has forgotten, and what she wants to find out. The experiences she goes through are strange, sometimes outright bizarre, and her world comes crashing down on us. The Handmaids Tale is very thought-provoking, the future of women and indeed the world lies in the actions of todays society, and Atwood uses her perceptions of the present world to support the background of her novel. Altogether The Handmaids Tale offers what all novels should: love, loss, action, comedy (ironic, but appropriate) vision, and plot. It plays with all emotions. Time In The handmaids tale (THT) the use of time is a key feature. Frequently throughout the book we experience time changes, from the present oppressive situation, and to the past of the handmaids, a happier time. In the gymnasium, time is used in reference. The narrator refers to a time gone, where the gymnasium was used for things other than sleeping. Dances would have been held there there was old sex in the room. There is reminiscence of the narrator; they call upon personal observations and experiences from the time gone by I remember that yearning. Later in the first chapter it becomes clear that the narrator, experienced the handmaids experience when she remembers how things were for her, when she slept in the army cots in the gymnasium as we tried to sleep in the army cots she uses words such as we had, then, were which all indicate its past tense. This usage of time goes on in the novel and is a way in which the writer can convey the feeling that the current situation has not always been that way, and that once this oppression didnt exist. As you read the opening chapter, the tone of the text comes across as sad, as reminiscent, as a longing for the times gone by, and a desire to return there. From reading the text, it becomes clear to me that this phantom narrator learned from her experience that she presumably had in Gilead, she learned the talent to be insatiable; she obviously didnt have it when she arrived how did we learn it, that talent for insatiability? The narrator of the text is left as something of a mystery to the reader. A name is never mentioned, but the text reads as if its somebody who is thinking back on their personal experience. This is somebody who has been there, experienced the oppression, had a yearning, this tells me that its being told by somebody who once was a Handmaid, I am sure they were a handmaid as they were being watched by Aunts and sleeping en mass in Gilead. If this person was a handmaid then surely they were a woman, I also think this because the language is quite emotional and emotive we yearned for the future.

Relationship Between The Sublime And The Beautiful Philosophy Essay

Relationship Between The Sublime And The Beautiful Philosophy Essay Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten is a very significant figure in the philosophy of aesthetics, as he invented the word aesthetic as we know it in the modern day. Baumgarten defined aesthetics thus creating a science of taste. Initially, in his first critique, the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Kant rejected Baumgartens account that aesthetic judgement is a form of taste. However, in the Critique of Judgement (1790), it is evident that Kant changed his mind, as it can be seen in his third critique that he indeed was influenced by Baumgarten, as he says that aesthetic judgement is a judgement of taste. This essay will begin by looking into a general account of Kants view on aesthetics, which will lead to examining his third critique the Critique of Judgement looking at the first book: Analytic of the Beautiful, of the first section: Analytic of Aesthetic Judgement, of Part I: Critique of Aesthetic Judgement. This will then lead to what Kant describes as the four moments of aesthetic judgement disinterestedness, universality, purposiveness and necessity. The essay will then discuss Kants notion of the sublime, looking at the main difference between beauty and the sublime and the types of sublime. This will then lead to the relationship between the sublime and the beautiful according to Kant and then will conclude by examining some criticisms of Kants aesthetic judgement. For Kant, there are two forms of the aesthetic the beautiful and the sublime. Although, Kants Critique of Judgement (CoJ) is the main source of his view on aesthetics, he also published another work on the topic in 1764 Observations on Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime, however, this is considered to be more interested in psychology rather than aesthetics (Kelly, 1998: 27). Douglas Burnham states in his book An Introduction to Kants The aesthetic judgement is the focal point in Kants third critique. It can be found that he began looking at judgement in the Aesthetic judgements are essentially judgements of taste according to Kant. The judgement of taste is aesthetic (Kant, 1790 in Cahn and Meskin, 2008: 131). When he says judgements of taste, he does not mean taste in sense of eating, but taste in the sense of whether someone has good or bad taste in something. There are four aspects of taste, which are as follows: quality, quantity, relation of the purpose and satisfaction of the object. These four aspects through which Kant expresses his aesthetic judgments are known as his Four Moments, which are most commonly known as: 1. Disinterest 2. Universality 3. Purposiveness 4. Necessity. Kant describes aesthetic judgements firstly as disinterested, saying that it only disinterested pleasure that can ground aesthetic judgements. There are three types of satisfaction in disinterest the agreeable, the beautiful and the good. The agreeable is subjective and so not universal; the beautiful is subjective yet demands that others agree and the good is objective but is based on concepts. Kant argues that it is only in the beautiful that we can be free and disinterested (Wenzel, 2005: 142). Kant begins his account of disinterestedness by defining what interest is ). There are two types of interest one is by sensation (in the agreeable) and the other by concepts (in the good). Sensation has got to do with the existence of a thing. When something exists we can feel it this is a common notion for everyone as we all say if we can feel ourselves pinching ourselves then we are not dreaming it is real (Burnham, 2000: 51). Burnham (ibid: 52) goes on to say that . This is indeed a Kantian claim, as Kants notion of disinterest is that of dismissing any interest when judging a thing beautiful. Aesthetic judgements are free from such interests. To be disinterested when judging art, means that interest is and as mentioned before, free from interest. Pure aesthetic judgements are unconcerned with the real existence of the object (Crowther, 2007: 68). Disinterest is at its most basic definition, an attempt to judge something beautiful, however remaining impartial while doing so. Kant talks about pleasure throughout his account of the beautiful, and to judge something aesthetically, a person is gaining a pleasure in something that they are disinterested in. Something must exist for it to be judged aesthetically, however, the judgement itself is a mental experience. As Burnham (2000: 52) says, it is the thing itself that is being judged, through the experiencing of it. This again is reminiscent of Kants notion of the thing in itself in his transcendental philosophy. (Kant, 1790 in Cahn and Meskin, 2008: 134). The second of Kants Four Moments is that of universality. Kant claims that in being disinterested about pleasure if the beautiful object, one can claim universal validity to judgement. As can be seen from the quote above, Kant says that a judgement is universal apart from concepts (ibid). Universality is not based on any concepts. If the judgement has concepts then it is suggesting that beauty is the property of the object (which it often is expressed as) that is being judged and this is not the case. Kant argues that subjective judgements are not universal, for example, if I said that the taste of chocolate pleases me and somebody else said that they did not like chocolate, then both of these are individual responses and both are correct. I do not expect everybody to like chocolate; neither does the other person think that everyone will not like chocolate just because they do not like it. Thus, subjective judgements are not universal. Obje ctive judgements are universal, however. Taking chocolate as an example once more, if one was to say that chocolate was sweet in relation to it containing a lot of sugar and another person said it is not, then it is evident that they are not aware of what the other meant; as it is a universal fact that chocolate is sweet (again in relation to it being full of sugar) (Burnham, 2000: 46-47). Therefore, aesthetic judgements are like objective judgments in the fact that they are both universal. However, being sweet is a property of chocolate and beauty according to Kant, is not a property of any object. Kant overcomes this obstacle of beauty becoming a property of the object by using as if. Kant acknowledges that each individual has their own taste , however, he states that and as mentioned earlier, judging the beautiful is a different story. Following on from saying that each person has their own taste, he says that: This is a notion he repeats throughout defining and explaining universality (in ibid: 134-135) and it is how he surmounts the idea of beauty being a property of an object he says it is as if it is a property of an object, not actually the property of the object! So to sum up universality, when someone is judging something to be beautiful, they expect that when making this judgement, that when it is judged by others, they are expected to judge it beautiful also and gain pleasure in it (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005). Kants third moment is that of purposiveness (or finality or end, as Kant uses in his CoJ). Kant defines this moment There are three types of purpose: external, definite and internal. External purpose is if the purpose does what it is supposed to do. Definite purpose is what the purpose is meant to do and internal purpose is what the purpose is meant to be like. In this moment, Kant is trying to portray that things are judged to be beautiful if they are perceived to have a purpose, but not a particular purpose otherwise, the beautiful is something that is purposivenss without purpose. Kant is keeping with the no concept (from universality) here as the purpose of an object is the concept to which it was manufactured (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005). An example of this third moment would be that of nature. Beauty in nature appears to be purposive, however it is of no use to us and it is for this reason that the beauty of nature is pleasurable to us (ibid). The fourth and final of Kants Four Moments, is that of necessity. The following is how Kant describes the importance of necessity in his CoJ: Satisfaction of encountering a beautiful object is what Kant calls a necessary pleasure and hence (universality coming into play again here) a pleasure of all perceivers of it. Aesthetic judgements must be necessary according to Kant. Along with necessity comes common sense, however, Kant does not mean common sense in the normal everyday meaning of the phrase, he means the actual senses that we all have (Burnham, 2000: 55) taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell. Hence, the sense of pleasure that one gets from judging something beautiful is that common sense. Necessity is again linked to universality in that the as if concept comes into play again in his fourth moment. As if in necessity is linked to that of the condition of necessity. The condition of necessity is what it is saying about the people who are judging an object beautiful. As Burnham (2000: 57) states, For Kant, the beautiful is not the only form of the aesthetic the other is the sublime. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (year: 1214), It is this awe that differentiates the beautiful from the sublime. The sublime is something that is beyond beauty. Kant defines the sublime as . Kant divides the sublime into two types the mathematical and the dynamical (ibid)). The mathematical is concerned with when we encounter vast, extensive, large objects size is the key component here we cannot get our heads around something that is so monumentally extensive. Because of its size, we cannot grasp it sensibly and so it brings about a terror within us. We cannot take it all in at once so it becomes too overwhelming (Burnham, 2000: 91). It contains feelings of exhilaration and being overwhelmed. Take the example of a violent storm; if I am frightened by the storm, this inevitably leads to an interest in saving myself. Once I have expressed an interest, then I cannot experience the sublime as the s ublime, like the beautiful, involves disinterestedness. It is so great in size that we cannot comprehend it as it almost becomes so vast that our imagination runs away with itself (McCloskey, 1987: 98). The dynamical sublime relates to power. It concerns our experience of the mighty, the powerful, dangerous objects or phenomena which we regard from a position of safety. Take again the example of a violent storm a natural disaster. When we see something like this violent storm we know that it can crush and overpower us, however, we as rational beings can summon up enough moral courage to resist the terror and fear that the storm gave rise to. Summoning up this moral courage is something that only a rational being can do. Because we are experiencing the storm from a safe distance, we know that we are safe so that interest of saving ourselves does not exist and thus we can experience the sublime. For Kant, the sublime is essentially something we experience (influence of Heidegger here). The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich, is probably the best painting that represents Kants idea of the sublime. As can be seen below, Friedrich used nature to portray the sublime. The painting illustrates a man standing alone, looking out onto vast scenery of thick fog covering a mountain range, observing it from a position of safety suggests that this image is that of the dynamical sublime. Kant begins his Analytic of the Sublime (Book II of The Critique of Aesthetic Judgement) with the similarities between the beautiful and the sublime. What can be seen first is evident both are aesthetic judgements. Both involve disinterested pleasure; that is when making an aesthetic judgement, the person judging must remain impartial while judging the object beautiful; the sublime in the case of dynamical sublime, taking the example of the storm again, when experiencing the storm from a safe distance where the person knows no harm can be done to themselves, they can view the sheer effect that the storm is having and thus experience the sublime. Both the beautiful and the sublime also have a universal aspect to them the force of the storm and looking at its impact from afar, should indeed have the same effect on everyone. However, it can be established that the third moment purposiveness is not in common to the two types of the aesthetic. As Burnham (2000: 90) mentions, Kant desc ribes pleasure in the introduction to the CoJ, as However, the sublime does not allow an achievement of an end. Kants aesthetics has been criticised by many a philosopher since. Gadamer (who was highly influenced by Heidegger) criticised that Kants aesthetics was ultimately subjectivist. Gadamer stresses that Kants aesthetics is not linked to a proper knowledge. Gadamer says that Kant limits his aesthetic judgement to mere experience of the pleasurable. He says that by limiting our experience through the four moments, it does not challenge us enough in making the judgements  [1]  . Many critics have also tried to criticise Kant on what disinterested pleasure actually is. It has also been criticised that Kants notion of the aesthetic judgement say nothing about art as a developing concept. This essay has examined Kants four moments of aesthetic judgement of the beautiful, looking at aesthetic judgements as being made by a person who must remain impartial and not interested in the object of judgement; seeing all aesthetic judgements as universal, that is that if an aesthetic judgement is made then everyone will agree. Each aesthetic judgement is made with purposive but without an end in sight and all aesthetic judgements are necessary. It has then gone on to discuss the sublime, looking at the two types of sublime the mathematical and the dynamical; the mathematical concerning that which is so extensive in size, it overcomes us and the dynamical being that we are observing something very powerful from a position of safety and so are able to experience the sublime. The essay then looks into the relationship that the sublime and the beautiful have by looking at the similarities and differences that are in each; similarities being that they are both forms of the aesthetic , they are both reflective judgements, they both involve disinterestedness and are both universal. This essay has concluded by looking at a few criticisms of Kants aesthetics looking at Gadamer (and Heidegger) who thought that Kants view on the aesthetic was too subjectivist and has also looked at how Kants aesthetics shows nothing of how art in the aesthetic judgement as a developing concept. It is evident that Kant indeed influenced many aesthetic philosophers after him as his aesthetic theory can be seen in many a philosopher of art since then, both of influence and criticism.

Comparison of the Presentation of Seduction in the Poems To His Coy Mis

Comparison of the Presentation of Seduction in the Poems To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and The Willing Mistress by Aphra Behn Both Marvell and Behn wrote during the Renaissance period and had different styles. However, they explored similar themes. In 'To His Coy Mistress', Marvell uses a cleverly structured argument called 'syllogism' to persuade his lover to 'seize the day' and make love before their passion fades. In the first section, Marvell speculates how he would adore his mistress. He compliments his mistress saying she deserves such praise. He uses hyperbole to illustrate the extent of his love. He uses many vast geographical and biblical allusions to tell the vastness of his love. The tone in the second section is desolate and threatening. Time is personified to show it's inevitable conclusion - death confronts us all. He uses a blunt reminder that 'times winged chariot' is 'hurrying near'. Threatening images of graves and decay emphasise his point. The imagery becomes morbid and disturbing as he reminds his lover, manipulatively, that death will inevitably destroy her virginity. In the third section of the poem, Marvell draws his triumphant conclusion. His lover is young and beautiful and they desire one another. He focuses on the urgency of seduction. In contrast, Aphra Behn is revolutionary and our expectations are challenged as she writes her willingness to receivevher lover's attention in a female persona. She presents seduction from a woman's point of view. She was one of the first women to write about a woman's sexual feelings in pre-1900 poems. Aphra Behn's humorous poem follows a narrative structure in which ... ... them to consummate their love and savour her 'fleeting youth'. The metaphorical description 'iron gates of life' tells us that life is hard and full of though restrictions that ought to be and can be broken by them. 'Iron gates of life' describes boundaries as barbaric. The way in which he wishes to break such a strong boundary with just their love for each other represents his confidence at the success of his words. I preferred 'To His Coy Mistress' to 'The Willing Mistress' because it had hidden depths and meanings. I liked the way in which the poetic techniques were used to produce such a powerful effect. I also like the way in which the tone changes so often to portray his point. I did like 'The Willing Mistress' because it is playful and humorous but it is only a simple story and not a cryptic piece of poetry.

One Act Play

There is a card table, folding chairs, newspapers, trade magazines. TERESA is sitting on a folding chair at the desk , talking to JAKE, who is consulting THE JOB FINDER'S GUIDE and taking notes in a notebook from his briefcase. DEBBIE enters, looks around. TERESA I wear an extra sweater and a hat. That's what my mother did when she was a girl, during the Depression. The kitchen stove was their heat. (notices DEBBIE) Can we be of help, dear? DEBBIE Group's supposed to be at 10:30, isn't it? TERESA Yes, but– DEBBIE I'll wait. ( DEBBIE sits, takes out newspaper, begins reading. ) TERESA (to JAKE) How is Janet doing?JAKE Better. Takes her a couple weeks to bounce back from chemotherapy. But she's up and around, now. Cleaning out the kitchen drawers. TERESA And your boy? JAKE I told Park School I was going to have to pull Jason out of there. (sits) They came up with a scholarship. TERESA (pats JAKE's shoulder) Well, now. That's good news. JAKE Is it? Jason's grades are dropping. He 's out too late, comes back with bullshit –sorry. You'd think that being out of work I'd have time to ride herd on him, but with hustling a job and taking care of Janet–. TERESA A boy that age can be a real pill. Especially at a time of crisis.JAKE You're telling me this is normal? TERESA I saw it my boys. There's stress, and a boy feels he ought to be pitching in to help. But there isn't much he can do, really, is there? JAKE He can at least not add to our worries! TERESA That's true, but at his age– . Probably the guilt is driving him wild. JAKE School's Jason's job. Seems to me it's that simple. DEBBIE Maybe your kid's just not the kind who can block out the real world. JAKE (rises, turns to DEBBIE) Seems to me a person can at least try! (pause. DEBBIE hides behind newspaper) TERESA ( brings JAKE back) It was a real shame about that position in Nashua.JAKE Yeah. I thought they'd–. But–. You know –I could never mention this to Janet, it'd kill her— but I wonder. Can a personnel office find out about cancer? Go though medical files? TERESA Doctors' records are confidential. DEBBIE (lowers paper) Ha! Sure. And Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. (pause) Sorry. S'none of my business. JAKE Maybe it's my age. I'm fit, but — do you think I should get a hairpiece? DEBBIE (laughs, loud. JAKE and TERESA look at her. She holds up the comic page) Dilbert. (they turn back) MERRIK (enters ) Good morning. JAKE (goes to Merrik) Hey, look, it's Merrik back!How's it going, big guy? MERRIK (shaking hands) Good. It's going good, praise the Lord. JAKE I thought you had a job. MERRIK I did. I mean, I do. Just taking longer than we figured. JAKE Georgia, wasn't it? MERRIK Right. Georgia for training, and then traveling between the territories. TERESA But your wife's career–. MERRIK Secretarial stuff. A woman can do that anywhere. DEBBIE Anywhere there's a job. MERRIK There's secretarial in Georgia. Alice says,  "At $5. 15 an hour? † But money goes farther down there. No oil bills, housing's less than half. †¦ JAKE I'd say, sell while you can!This market is so overpriced– MERRIK Alice says the company will fold: a job that can be done cheap in Georgia will be done even cheaper in Pakistan or Prague. JAKE Well, if you do put your house on the market, give me first shot at the listing, will you? (KIM enters, stands silently) MERRIK You're still part time at real estate? JAKE Me and everybody else who's run out their unemployment. KIM Is this Bright Horizons? DEBBIE That's what they call it. KIM I had trouble finding– TERESA Don't worry, you're not late. DEBBIE You are, but the Counselor's later. MERRIK What's going on? crosses to phone) When I called, the overnight message was still on the answering machine. (fusses w/ machine) TERESA Oh, dear. KIM What does that mean? TERESA People have had to give up their phones, sometimes, or they may even be homeless. Being able to use this answering service makes them– JAKE Seem normal. TERESA Employable. Able to return calls. MERRIK â€Å"Executive Offices†, it says. After ten, and nobody's here? ( DEBBIE laughs) TERESA Can we reset it? JAKE How hard can it be? Half the unemployed people here used to be in high tech. TERESA If you can't change the message, at least turn it off.DEBBIE (unplugs machine) Off with the bullshit! (to MERRIK) Your Georgia job — Did you get it through this office? MERRIK Not really- DEBBIE (goes back to her chair and paper) Now, how did I guess that? KIM How did you get it? MERRIK I heard about it from my cousin, a friend of his– DEBBIE My Dad ‘ s cousin got him work in construction, once. In Jersey. He'd only get home about every third weekend. Meant he and Mom never had time to work things out. All they did was fight. TERESA That sounds so like my mother's stories of the Depression. When my grandfather went looking for odd jobs, weeks at a time †¦..MERRIK The job's like auditing, but there's a sales aspect, too. First our team has to convince the company that we can save them money. JAKE Sales ability! Now, that doesn't surprise me, Merrik. I can see that in you. MERRIK You think so? I can do it, I have the– . JAKE 90% of any job is sales. KIM Is that really true? I'm terrible. Couldn't even sell girl scout cookies. JAKE Got to market your personality as well as your skills. MERRIK As soon as interest rates rise, real estate will be in the toilet– JAKE Depends on what market. I mean, it's not the class of people who can afford a couple million bucks who are hurting, is it?But those sales take time, those people are choosey– MERRIK The Georgia job, I don't get paid until the adjustments come in. It can take 6 months, 9 months– I tell my wife, have faith– TERESA If you can be sure– MERRIK My kids are all the time after me, they want stay here where their friends are, but I tell them have faith. The church down there's strong, s'got real spirit. They'd make new friends– KIM My brother was sent South for basic training. He said the people treated him like dirt. DEBBIE (reading, exclaims aloud) Jesus Christ! MERRIK Young lady! DEBBIE Sorry. I didn't mean — this story, did you see it?Unemployed postal worker in St. Louis, shot up his boss and three carriers and a cop. At his house, he'd already killed his wife and kids. MERRIK Let me see. (takes newspaper) TERESA I heard about that. On the radio. JAKE There were a rash of these things 10, 12 years ago. DEBBIE During the last round of lay offs. MERRIK The Post Office must be hiring straight out of the loony bin. TERESA Veterans get extra points on the exam, so there may be a lot who are trained in firearms. MERRIK Combat flash back, you think? JAKE Post traumatic. DEBBIE Postal traumatic. MERRIK Well, they'd better weed out the crazies, and fast.DEBBIE Oh, the crazies are being weeded out. Along w ith the alcoholic, lazy, and the ones who can't put in enough overtime. MERRIK About time! DEBBIE Good thing they didn't start weeding till my uncle Adam took the pension. He'd have been mad crazy enough to get down his shotgun. course, he drank, some, and he was certainly slow. But neither rain nor snow– MERRIK Four days, for a letter from my wife! If the mail went private– DEBBIE There'd be no mail on Saturday, carriers would be green carders getting $5. 15 an hour– KIM And no veteran's preference points? MERRIK What's your point?KIM My brother enlisted to get training for a good job. TERESA â€Å"Be all you can be†? KIM I've thought about enlisting too. But Buddy lost the fingers off his right hand: what's he going to do when he gets out? He can't go back to meat cutting. MERRIK Don't expect the VA. They're shutting down, one by one. TERESA This office could find him something, dear. Helen's a lifesaver. DEBBIE Something â€Å"Executive†? TERESA Education. Retraining. This is a really good program, at least for young people. Oldsters like me, nobody wants to hire us whatever we can do. KIM They'd better find Buddy something. Cause he's so angry, he might–MERRIK So it's OK to shoot people? If you lose your job? DEBBIE No, it's not OK. But I understand it. Don't you? At least a story like this one makes more sense to me than the crap that's in the business section: DOW up; GE announces more layoffs; the Technology Council wants more â€Å"flexibility† in the visa program, to meet the overseas competition Do they really think all these computer whizzes who used to make a hundred thou a year are going to go quietly into burger-flipping? KIM What else can they do? DEBBIE How many Luddites does it take to unscrew all the light bulbs? JAKE God knows there's a lot of frustration.MERRIK (to KIM) God knows, that's a true saying. If we cleanse our hearts, and trust Him, He answers our prayers. JAKE I've had bosses it wo uldn't break my heart to see bleed. But shoot his own kids? MERRIK Now, that makes sense, in a certain cock-eyed way. If a father's desperate enough to kill, but he loves his kids, how could he leave those kids to face it? I'm not saying he's thinking right, but– ! TERESA I wish Helen would get here. With two new clients– DEBBIE I'm not new. This is lay off number 5. Or maybe 25, depending on how you count it. TERESA Temp jobs? I don't think those count. KIM They'd count for me!I can't find anything at all. TERESA Substituting, temping, you know from the start it's not going to last. JAKE Nothing lasts, these days. You got to plan ahead. Train or re-train. KIM Sure, train. But for what? DEBBIE Train, they told me. So now I'm in debt up to my ears for what it cost me to learn programming. JAKE Programming used to be hot. DEBBIE And now it's not. JAKE Still. In a downturn, that's the recommendation. Retrain, add new skills to your resume. DEBBIE Keep paying tuition. Dang le that â€Å"good job† carrot, the old donkey keeps plodding along. TERESA Education is a person's best investment.DEBBIE Oh? Where's it got you, lady? You just here to write a book? TERESA I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't left teaching to raise my boys, I'd be retired on a pension by now. But as a substitute, I– DEBBIE I started out in the tool shop, with my dad. $12. 50 an hour, 18 for overtime. After the 3rd layoff I took the Expert Advice. Went to college. Got my 2 year certificate. Officially qualified to do scut work for some creep in a suit at seven fifty an hour. Seven fifty! With which I'm supposed to buy all this fashion shit and â€Å"look professional† for Chrissake!But even in drag, all I could get was temp work. So then it's back to school for Programming†¦. KIM I can't even get part time Walmart! I thought anybody could get that. TERESA As soon as Helen gets here she'll help you. She has a comprehensive list: openings, training programs, subsidies, scholarships†¦.. (phone rings) JAKE Should we answer it? DEBBIE Well, they can't leave a message, we unplugged the machine. MERRIK (answers) Executive offices. KIM (to TERESA) I hope you're right. This feels like it may be my last chance. DEBBIE Everybody's last chance. JAKE You're young, you're healthy.It's not the end of the world. MERRIK Yeah. I'll tell people. (hangs up) This office is closed. TERESA Oh, my dear God. Are you sure? This office? KIM Should we go to some other one? MERRIK Nobody knows. They've all been laid off, here. Budget's gone, the governor vetoed the restoration. JAKE That was Helen? TERESA But what will we do? MERRIK Leave, she says. And lock the door behind us. THE END home | bio | resume | blog | contact GL Horton monologues | one-act plays | full-length plays reviews | essays | links | videos Made on an by . ————————————â €”—————————————–

A History of Flag-Burning and Flag Desecration Laws in the U.S.

A History of Flag-Burning and Flag Desecration Laws in the U.S. Flag-burning or desecration isnt unique to the 21st century. It first became an issue in the U.S. after the Civil War. Many felt that the trademark value of the American flag was threatened on at least two fronts in the years immediately following the Civil War: once by the preference of white Southerners for the Confederate flag, and again by the tendency of businesses to use the American flag as a standard advertising logo. Forty-eight states passed laws banning flag desecration to respond to this perceived threat.  Heres a timeline of events. The First U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Flag Desecration (1907) Most early flag desecration statutes prohibited marking or otherwise defacing a flag design, as well as by using the flag in commercial advertising or showing contempt for the flag in any way. Contempt was taken to mean publicly burning it, trampling on it, spitting on it or otherwise showing a lack of respect for it. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld these statutes as constitutional in  Halter v. Nebraska  in 1907.   The Federal Flag Desecration Law (1968) Congress passed the Federal Flag Desecration Law in  1968 in response to a Central Park event in which peace activists burned American flags in protest against the Vietnam War. The law banned any display of contempt  directed against the flag, but it didnt address the other issues dealt with by the state flag desecration laws. Verbal Disparagement of Flag Is Protected Speech (1969) Civil rights activist Sydney Street burned a flag at a New York intersection in protest against the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith  in 1968. Street was prosecuted under New Yorks desecration law for defy(ing) the flag. The Court overturned Streets conviction by ruling that verbal disparagement of the flag - one of the reasons for Streets arrest - is protected by the First Amendment, but it didnt directly address the issue of flag-burning. The Supreme Court Rules Against Laws Banning Contempt of the Flag (1972) After a Massachusetts teenager was arrested for wearing a flag patch on the seat of his pants, the Supreme Court ruled that laws that ban contempt of the flag are unconstitutionally vague and that they violate the First Amendments free speech protections. The Peace Sticker Case (1974) The Supreme Court ruled in  Spence v. Washington  that affixing peace sign stickers to a flag is a form of constitutionally-protected speech. Most states revised their flag desecration laws in the late 1970s and early 1980s to meet the standards set in Street, Smith, and Spence. The Supreme Court Strikes Down All Laws Banning Flag Desecration (1984) Gregory Lee Johnson burned a flag in protest against President Ronald Reagans policies outside the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984. He was arrested under Texas flag desecration statute. The Supreme Court struck down flag desecration laws in 48 states in its 5-4 Texas v. Johnson  ruling, stating that flag desecration is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. The Flag Protection Act (1989-1990) The U.S. Congress protested the Johnson decision by passing the Flag Protection Act in 1989, a federal version of the already-struck state flag desecration statutes. Thousands of citizens burned flags in protest of the new law, and the Supreme Court affirmed its previous ruling and struck down the federal statute when two protesters were arrested.   The Flag Desecration Amendment (1990 through 2005) Congress made seven attempts to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 through 2005 by passing a constitutional amendment  that would make an exception to the First Amendment. This would have allowed the government to ban flag desecration.  When the amendment was first brought up in 1990, it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority in the House. It has consistently passed the House but failed in the Senate since the Republican congressional takeover of 1994.   Quotes Flag Desecration and Laws Justice Robert Jackson  from his  majority opinion  in  West Virginia v. Barnette  (1943), which struck down a law requiring schoolchildren to salute the flag:   The case is made difficult not because the principles of its decision are obscure but because the flag involved is our own ... But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. Justice William J. Brennans  from his 1989  majority opinion in  Texas v. Johnson:   We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving ones own, no better way to counter a flag burners message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by - as one witness here did - according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents. Justice John Paul Stevens from his dissent in  Texas v. Johnson  (1989):   The ideas of liberty and equality have been an irresistible force in motivating leaders like Patrick Henry,   Susan B. Anthony, and   Abraham Lincoln, schoolteachers like Nathan Hale and Booker T. Washington, the Philippine Scouts who fought at Bataan, and the soldiers who scaled the bluff at Omaha Beach. If those ideas are worth fighting for - and our history demonstrates that they are - it cannot be true that the flag that uniquely symbolizes their power is not itself worthy of protection from unnecessary desecration.

An Overview of the Motorcycles History

An Overview of the Motorcycles History Like many inventions, the motorcycle  evolved in gradual stages, without a single inventor who can lay sole claim to being the inventor. Early versions of the motorcycle were introduced by numerous inventors, mostly in Europe,  in the 19th century. Steam-Powered Bicycles American Sylvester Howard Roper (1823-1896) invented a two-cylinder, steam-powered velocipede in 1867. A velocipede is an early form of a bicycle in which the pedals are attached to the front wheel. Ropers invention can be considered the first motorcycle if you allow your definition of a motorcycle to include a coal-fired steam engine. Roper, who also invented the steam-engine car, was killed in 1896 while riding his steam velocipede.   Around the same time that Roper introduced his steam-powered velocipede, Frenchman Ernest Michaux attached a steam engine to a velocipede invented by his father, blacksmith Pierre Michaux. His version was fired by alcohol and twin belt drives that powered the front wheel.   A few years later, in 1881, an inventor named Lucius Copeland of Phoenix, Arizona developed a smaller steam boiler that could drive the rear wheel of a bicycle at the amazing speed of 12 mph. In 1887, Copeland formed a manufacturing company  to produce the first so-called Moto-Cycle, though it was actually a three-wheeled contraption.   The First Gas-Engined Motorcycle Over the next 10 years, dozens of different designs for self-propelled bicycles appeared, but its widely acknowledged that the first to use a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine was the creation of German Gottlieb Daimler and his partner Wilhelm Maybach, who developed the Petroleum Reitwagon in 1885. This marked  the moment in history when the dual development of a viable gas-powered engine and the modern bicycle collided. Gottlieb Daimler used a new engine invented by engineer  Nicolaus Otto. Otto had invented the first Four-Stroke Internal-Combustion Engine in 1876, dubbing it the Otto Cycle Engine As soon as he completed his engine, Daimler (a former Otto employee) built it into a motorcycle. Oddly,  Daimlers Reitwagon did not have a maneuverable front wheel, but instead relied on a pair of outrigger wheels, similar to training wheels, to keep the bike upright during turns.   Daimler was a prodigious innovator and went on to experiment with gasoline motors for boats, and he also became a pioneer in the commercial car manufacturing arena. The company bearing his name eventually became Daimler Benz- the company  that evolved in the corporation we now know as Mercedes-Benz. Continued Development From the late 1880s onward, dozens of additional companies sprang up to produce self-propelled bicycles, first in Germany and Britain but quickly spreading to the U.S.   In 1894, the German company,  Hildebrand Wolfmà ¼ller, became the first to establish a production line factory to manufacture the vehicles, which now for the first time were called motorcycles.  In the U.S., the first production motorcycle was built by the factory of Charles Metz, in Waltham, Massachusetts.   The Harley Davidson Motorcycle No discussion of the history of motorcycles can end without some mention of the most famous U.S. manufacturer, Harley Davidson.   Many of the 19th-century inventors who worked on early motorcycles often moved on to other inventions. Daimler and Roper, for example, both went on to develop automobiles and other vehicles. However, some  inventors,  including William Harley and the Davidsons brothers, continued to exclusively develop motorcycles. Among their business competitors were other new start-up companies, such as Excelsior, Indian, Pierce, Merkel, Schickel, and Thor. In 1903, William Harley and his friends Arthur and Walter Davidson launched the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. The bike had a quality engine, so it could prove itself in races, even though the company initially planned to manufacture and market it as a transport vehicle. Merchant C. H. Lange  sold the first officially distributed Harley-Davidson in Chicago.