Information Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Information Governance - Essay Example Information management deals with the formation, preservation as well as the outlook of information. A company’s records can either be in form of a substantial, tangible item or digital data such as application data, e-mail and database. Historically, the lifecycle of a piece of information was considered to be from the point it was created up until the time of its disposal. However, in the past few decades, formation of data has escalated as much as the issues associated with its regulations and acquiescence, rendering the traditional method of records keeping unable to keep up with the pace. Consequently, the need for a more inclusive platform for organizing data and records became apparent so as to tackle every stage involved the information lifecycle (Hovenga & Grain, 2013). Therefore, the emergence of Information Governance was as a result of a failed traditional method of record management and the need for a better way of keeping information. Many forms of information go vernance have been introduced and embraced by many organizations, internationally, as they have proven to be more efficient and effective than traditional methods. For example, in 2003, England’s Department of Health launched the model of wide based information governance into the National Health Service (NHS). In addition, it distributed version 1 of an online performance evaluation tool alongside a supporting guidance. Currently, the National Health Service Information Governance Toolkit is used by over 30 000 NHS and associated organizations, backed-up by an e-learning platform that has over 650 000 users. Another example is the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (The Principles), introduced in 2008 by ARMA International. The Principles is meant to recognize the vital features of information governance, and therefore, apply to any

Perils of Texting Essay Example for Free

Perils of Texting Essay Cell phones have become a staple of modern society. Nearly everyone has them, and people carry and use them at all hours of the day. For the most part, this is a good thing: the benefits of staying connected at any time and at any location are considerable. But if you’re like most Americans, you may regularly talk on the phone or even text while at the wheel of a car. This dangerous behavior has resulted in increasing numbers of accidents and fatalities caused by cell phone usage. The trend shows no sign of slowing down. In 2003, a federal study of 10,000 drivers by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) set out to determine the effects of using cell phones behind the wheel. The results were conclusive: talking on the phone is equivalent to a 10- point reduction in IQ and a .08 blood alcohol level, which law enforcement considers intoxicated. Handsfree sets were ineffective in eliminating risk, the study found, because the conversation itself is what distracts drivers, not holding the phone. Cell phone use caused 955 fatalities and 240,000 accidents in 2002. Related studies indicated that drivers that talked on the phone while driving increased their crash risk fourfold, and drivers that texted while driving increased their crash risk by a whopping 23 times. Since that study, mobile device usage has grown by an order of magnitude, worsening this already dangerous situation. The number of wireless subscribers in America has increased by around 1,000 percent since 1995 to nearly 300 million overall in 2010, and Americans’ usage of wireless minutes increased by approximately 6,000 percent. This increase in cell phone usage has been accompanied by an upsurge in phone-related fatalities and accidents: In 2010, it’s estimated that texting caused 5,870 fatalities and 515,000 accidents, up considerably from prior years. These figures are roughly half of equivalent statistics for drunk driving. Studies show that drivers know that using the phone while driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do on the road, but refuse to admit that it’s dangerous when they themselves do it. Of users that text while driving, the more youthful demographic groups, such as the 18–29 age group, are by far the most frequent texters. About three quarters of Americans in this age group regularly text, compared to just 22 percent of the 35–44 age group. Correspondingly, the majority of accidents involving mobile device use behind the wheel involve young adults. Among this age group, texting behind  the wheel is just one of a litany of problems raised by frequent texting: anxiety, distraction, failing grades, repetitive stress injuries, and sleep deprivation are just some of the other problems brought about by excessive use of mobile devices. Teenagers are particularly prone to using cell phones to text because they want to know what’s happening to their friends and are anxious about being socially isolated. Analysts predict that over 800 billion text messages will be sent in 2010. Texting is clearly here to stay, and in fact has supplanted phone calls as the most commonly used method of mobile communication. People are unwilling to give up their mobile devices because of the pressures of staying con nected. Neurologists have found that the neural response to multitasking by texting while driving suggests that people develop addictions to the digital devices they use most, getting quick bursts of adrenaline, without which driving becomes boring. There are interests opposed to legislation prohibiting cell phone use in cars. A number of legislators believe that it’s not state or federal government’s role to prohibit poor decision making. Auto makers, and some safety researchers, are arguing that with the proper technology and under appropriate conditions, communicating from a moving vehicle is a manageable risk. Louis Tijerina, a veteran of the NHTSA and Ford Motor Co. researcher, notes that even as mobile phone subscriptions have surged to over 250 million during the past decade, the death rate from accidents on the highways has fallen. Nevertheless, lawmakers are increasingly recognizing the need for more powerful legislation barring drivers from texting behind the wheel. Many states have made inroads with laws prohibiting texting while operating vehicles. In Utah, drivers crashing while texting can receive 15 years in prison, by far the toughest sentence for texting while driving in the nation when the legislation was enacted. Utah’s law assumes that drivers understand the risks of texting while driving, whereas in other states, prosecutors must prove that the driver knew about the risks of texting while driving before doing so. Utah’s tough law was the result of a horrifying accident in which a speeding college student, texting at the wheel, rear-ended a car in front. The c ar lost control, entered the opposite side of the road, and was hit head-on by a pickup truck hauling a trailer, killing the driver instantly. In September 2008, a train engineer in California was texting within a minute prior to the most fatal train  accident in almost two decades. Californian authorities responded by banning the use of cell phones by train workers while on duty. In total, 31 states have banned texting while driving in some form, and most of those states have a full ban for phone users of all ages. The remaining states are likely to follow suit in coming years as well. President Obama also banned texting while driving for all federal government employees in October 2009. Still, there’s more work to be done to combat this dangerous and life-threatening practice. Sources: Paulo Salazar, â€Å"Banning Texting While Driving,† WCBI.com, August 7, 2010; Jerry Hirsch, â€Å"Teen Drivers Dangerously Divide Their Attention,† Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2010; www.drivinglaws. org, accessed July 2010; www.drivinglaws.org, accessed July 7, 2010; Matt Richtel, â€Å"Driver Texting Now an Issue in the Back Seat,† The New York Times, September 9, 2009; Matt Richtel, â€Å"Utah Gets Tough With Texting Drivers,† The New York Times, August 29, 2009; Matt Richtel, â€Å"In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin,† The New York Times, July 28, 2009; Matt Richtel, â€Å"D rivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks,† The New York Times, July 19, 2009; Tom Regan, â€Å"Some Sobering Stats on Texting While Driving,† The Christian Science Monitor, May 28, 2009; Katie Hafner, â€Å"Texting May be Taking a Toll on Teenagers,† The New York Times, May 26, 2009; and Tara Parker-Pope, â€Å"Texting Until Their Thumbs Hurt,† The New York Times, May 26, 2009. Questions to be answered: 1. Which of the five moral dimensions of information systems identified is involved in this case? 2. What are the ethical, social, and political issues raised by this case? 3. Which of the ethical principles described are useful for decision making about texting while driving?

interlopers :: essays research papers

In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Karpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision, and, later, of his rifle. But the game for whose presence he kept so keen an outlook was none that figured in the sportsman's calendar as lawful and proper for the chase; Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled the dark forest in quest of a human enemy. The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide extent and well stocked with game; the narrow strip of precipitous woodland that lay on its outskirt was not remarkable for the game it harboured or the shooting it afforded, but it was the most jealously guarded of all its owner's territorial possessions. A famous law suit, in the days of his grandfather, had wrested it from the illegal possession of a neighbouring family of petty landowners; the dispossessed party had never acquiesced in the judgment of the Courts, and a long series of poaching affrays and similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three generations. The neighbour feud had grown into a personal one since Ulrich had come to be head of his family; if there was a man in the world whom he detested and wished ill to it was Georg Znaeym, the inheritor of the quarrel and the tireless game-snatcher and raider of the disputed border-forest. The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised i f the personal ill-will of the two men had not stood in the way; as boys they had thirsted for one another's blood, as men each prayed that misfortune might fall on the other, and this wind-scourged winter night Ulrich had banded together his foresters to watch the dark forest, not in quest of four-footed quarry, but to keep a look-out for the prowling thieves whom he suspected of being afoot from across the land boundary. The roebuck, which usually kept in the sheltered hollows during a storm-wind, were running like driven things to-night, and there was movement and unrest among the creatures that were wont to sleep through the dark hours. Assuredly there was a disturbing element in the forest, and Ulrich could guess the quarter from whence it came. < 2 > He strayed away by himself from the watchers

Absolutism under Louis XIV

Louis XIV lived from 1638- 1715 and became the king of France in 1654. At the time he became king, France was financially ruined, politically corrupt, and divided between warring nobles and private armies and under the threat of riots from the people, especially in Paris. Louis XIV was an absolute monarch. Absolutism is the system of rule that allows one or more rulers to maintain absolute power over everything in the land. There is no higher power and even the Parliament could not overrule Louis’ decisions.As absolute monarch, Louis XIV set about reforming the state politically, economically and culturally. Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy had three components: †¢ Centralization- this meant that the monarchy was the center of everything. All decisions from the monarchy were undisputable and final. All counties and villages were expected to follow this rule to create a united state and a centralized leadership. †¢ Economic reforms- â€Å"Under the guidance of Je an-Baptiste Colbert (1619-83) a â€Å"modern† system of accountancy and yearly state budgeting was introduced.Colbert also supervised systematic attacks on corruption, removing, punishing, or paying off office holders. He also introduced tax reforms – ending exemptions, tax-farming, and military collection of taxes – and state support for industry, science, trade, and the arts. As regards the operations of the state, Colbert raised government income to the point when it could pay for quite massive expenses. Government subsidizing and directing of industry and manufacture increased productivity, raised wages, and brought France into the trade wars with the English and the Dutch.Colbert, like many French officials, repeatedly remarked that the inhabitants must pay the tax not only because it would raise additional funds, but also because paying the levy was ‘the obedience which is due His Majesty. † †¢ â€Å"Theater of Monarchy†-this is the public representation of royal power and glory. Under the theory of absolutism, sovereignty is grounded in God, not the people. The glory of the monarch is, as it were, the earthly point at which is expressed both the glory of the state – as a social whole ordered around and dependent upon the monarch – and the glory of God from whom the monarch derives power and role.It was therefore important to show, through royal events and presentations, the state as personified by the king. Louis XIV distinguished between â€Å"nature as it ought to be†, as ordained by God, and â€Å"nature as it is†, disrupted by human activity. As the new, distant and mysterious God no longer intervened directly in the natural order, it fell to the monarch to uphold â€Å"nature as it ought to be† and prevent it disintegrating into disorder. One of his reforms began with the acquisition of the providence of Roussillonnais in 1659, which was inhabited by a specific ethnic g roup known as the Catalans.Louis XIV understood that there can be no shared political allegiance without shared cultural values. Thus a government, if it is to exercise its political authority in an area, must first make the region culturally homogeneous with the ruling nation. Louis XIV undertook to replace the Catalan ethnic identity with the French one, mandating the foods, clothing, legal system, language, educational institutions, and religious traditions that should be used in the province. The Catalans did not agree with Louis and made it clear with smuggling, legal battles and even open rebellion.They wished to maintain their own culture and laws and did not want to accept the monarchy as their ruler. Like all peasants, they were reluctant to pay taxes to the monarchy and many turned to smuggling as an alternative. By the 1680’s, however, Louis XIV and his government were successful in achieving their goal of political assimilation. The Roussillonais had accepted Fran ce as their political rules but continued to conduct their legal, commercial, judicial, and religious business in the Catalan language, continued to dress as Catalans, to give their children Catalan names, and to celebrate traditional feasts.They were quite firmly French in a political sense, and equally firmly Catalan in their culture. A trend that began in the 17th century was for the ruler to govern from one location versus the many homes and palaces of the past. Louis XIV was one such ruler, moving from the royal palace of the Louvre in Paris to a permanent home in Versailles. It was from this location that he ruled France for his entire reign. Louis XIV was also known as the â€Å"sun king† due to his use of the symbol as his personal emblem.As the highest star, now accepted by science as the centre of the universe, the sun was an obvious choice to symbolize absolutism’s claim to constitute the political centre of earthly life. The sun was both terrifying and awe inspiring, dazzling through its brightness, yet also warming and beneficent, and without its presence all life would whither away. One of the ways a monarch distanced himself from his subjects was to show his magnificence and largesse. This came in the form of elaborate operas, lavish banquets and court music.It was not uncommon to have fountains with slowing wine, roast oxen, coins minted for the occasion and bread handed out to the masses. This was to show the generosity and benevolence of the ruler and assure the people that their trust in the monarchy was well placed. It also served to reiterate the idea that the monarch was the center of everything and should be respected as such. Not everything regarding absolutism was beneficial, especially for the peasants of the land.The taxes imposed by Louis XIV and his government went far to provide funds for the monarchy and various military skirmishes, but The accumulative effect of these taxes was well observed by the royal commission ers sent to investigate the collection of taxes in the Orleanais and Le Maine in 1687 who observed that: there are hardly any peasants that own property†¦there are only small farmers who own nothing. The proprietors must furnish them with cattle, advance them money on which to live, pay their tallies and take in payment the peasant’s entire portion of the harvest. Even this is sometimes insufficient to cover his debts.Thus the small farmers earn nothing; they leave the land as destitute as they came to it. What cash was left they said went into paying taxes so that there was almost no money left for individuals; from this comes the decline of commerce. As a result, riots and rebellions by the peasants were common. Tax collectors met with violence or even death in some instances. It was not until Louis XIV’s General Controller of Finance†, Jean-Baptise Colbert changed the way things were done regarding the taxes. Colbert's everyday management of the taxes was intelligently conceived precisely to reduce the difficulties experienced earlier.Much effort went into collecting existing taxes as equitably as possible, into preventing the accumulation of arrears (those of the final years of the war being formally cancelled), and into making the most unpopular forms of coercion a last resort. 94 Although the revenue from indirect taxes was greatly increased this was achieved without creating new levies. The significance of this policy was emphasized when financial pressure was increased after the renewal of war in 1672, with the new duties of 1675, the marque d'etain and the papier timbre, setting off the last major rebellions of the ancient regime.Under Louis XIV’s absolute rule, France enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous era. Colbert reformed the taxes and they dwindled down to custom duties, a tax on salt and a tax on land. He also encouraged trade and commerce by the merchants and inventors of the land and sought to decrease the Frenchà ¢â‚¬â„¢s dependence on foreign goods. These acts stopped the internal civil wars until almost a hundred years later. During Colbert's ministry the position of the laborers was doubly affected, by more stringent tax assessment and by a sequence of good harvests which resulted in low grain prices.Since these trends favored the mass of poor peasants, there was little prospect of uniting communities in revolt behind an unpopular minority of the rich, whose difficulties were in any case only relative. It was not until Napoleon that France had internal discord again. Other areas of improvement were the legal reforms Louis XIV implemented. The major legal code instituted at this time was the basis of the Napoleon Code which in turn is the basis for the modern French legal codes.The War of Spanish Succession began when the King of Spain, Charles II, bequeathed all his possessions to Philip duc D’anjou, who was the grandson of Louis XIV. This made Philip the king of Spain. Aside from the fact that others wanted to claim the throne for themselves, the crowning of Philip assured Louis XIV of a Spanish alliance in his quest to expand. Other countries joined the side of the Holy Roman Empire, who wanted to stop France from expanding any further. Philip and Spain sided with Louis XIV and France. The war was fought both in Europe and in North America, where it was known as the â€Å"Queen Anne’s War.† The war lasted for over a decade and as a result, Philip was removed from the line of succession for the throne of France. This made the opposition happy since a union of France and Spain was now impossible. In the end, Louis XIV’s numerous wars and extravagant palaces and chateaux effectively bankrupted the State (though it must also be said that France was able to recover in a matter of years), forcing him to levy higher taxes on the peasants and incurring large State debts from various financiers as the nobility and clergy had exemption from payin g these taxes and contributing to public funds.Yet, it must be emphasized that it was the State and not the country which was impoverished. Before his death in 1715, Louis XIV determined that his five year old grandson, Louis XIII would succeed him to the throne. He is alleged to have told the child â€Å"Do not follow the bad example which I have set you; I have often undertaken war too lightly and have sustained it for vanity. Do not imitate me, but be a peaceful prince, and may you apply yourself principally to the alleviation of the burdens of your subjects†.Although Louis XIV did make some mistakes during his reign, he had many victories as well. His display of absolute monarchy set an example for many of the European princes, who followed his examples of art, food and political systems. Absolutism fell out of favor among the monarchy not long after Louis XIV died but the gains that he made provided a stable base for France to prosper in the future. Louis XIV had been ma rried twice and fathered both legitimate and illegitimate children, none of whom followed in his footsteps of absolutel rule.Works Cited Briggs, Robin. Communities of Belief: Cultural and Social Tension in Early Modern France. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Parker, David. â€Å"French ‘Absolutism'. † History Review (1997): 14+. Stewart, David. Assimilation and Acculturation in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Roussillon and France, 1659-1715. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Wilson, Peter H. Absolutism in Central Europe. London: Routledge, 2000.

Interview with an Asian American Woman

Interview with an Asian American Woman The Long Journey Towards The American Dream The Vietnam War ended in 1975, which caused many Vietnamese people to be driven out of their homes and immigrate to America, seeking a safe life away from the affects of war and political turmoil (Ojeda-Kimbrough Lecture June 7, 2012). My family was a part of these refugees searching for a way out. I interviewed my mother, Huong Carter who was born and raised in Vietnam and came to the U. S. with the second wave of immigrants after the war had ended.The second wave of immigrants, including my family, could not speak English very well and traveled by boat, which was one of the most dangerous ways of travel during this time (Ojeda-Kimbrough Lecture June 7, 2012). With the threat of pirates, theft, illness, and drowning, my family faced these dangers in order to gain their freedom. Analysis of interview My mother felt frustrated throughout the interview, trying to get her point across but maybe couldnâ₠¬â„¢t find the right words.She wanted to make sure that I knew everything that happened was because of how brave my grandfather had been to leave absolutely everything he had worked his whole life for behind just to keep my mother and her siblings safe and provide a brighter and safer future for them. I was trying to focus on how she felt during these times, and how she felt about being Asian in a predominantly White culture in America. The issues that we had learned in lectures did come up, but she didn’t want to focus on that.She wanted to focus on how hard her father had worked, and how hard each of them had to work, in school and in their jobs so that they could succeed in America where they had freedom and were safe from war. They saw coming to America as a great escape from the dangers of the political turmoil in Vietnam and worked hard every single day to obtain better jobs, more money, and a decent and safe future for their children. The interview gave me a better ins ight of how the â€Å"boat people† traveled and what kinds of dangers they faced, as well as the challenges faced absorbing life in America without fully understanding the language and culture.Early Life For some people, life was easy and comfortable in Vietnam. Huong was brought up in a wealthy family with four other siblings and had a maid and a chauffeur. As kids they didn’t have to do too much to help around the house and usually got what they wanted. Her father was a business man, and owned his own business. They lived in a big house an hour outside of Saigon in South Vietnam. Huong and her four siblings went to a nice public school in the area, and attended private lessons in Math and English. However the war brought on hardships for everyone.The effects of the war and the bombings happening all around where Huong’s family lived made her father decide it was time to leave. With it being much safer to live in the city, Saigon was their first choice, and the whole family made the move into Saigon. The Long Journey to America After the war, the communists took over Vietnam. In my mother’s words they â€Å"brain washed† children into believing in their way of communist life. The government started recruiting children to test out the mine fields from the war for any remaining mines.Huong’s oldest sibling ended up on this list, and it was at this time when their father decided it was time to leave Vietnam. He did not believe in the communist theory and wanted his children to grow up in a safe, free environment. Of course he knew that this meant he would have to give up everything he had worked for in Vietnam, and he knew the difficulties involved in moving to America, but after the communists won the war, their normal way of living was over. Huong’s family started their travels to America with the second wave of immigrants or the â€Å"boat people† (Ojeda-Kimbrough Lecture June 7, 2012).Her father had dec ided to give up everything they had in Vietnam to move to a safer place for his family, and most of all he wanted freedom. The proper legal papers were signed and their cousins in Georgia, USA who had immigrated earlier were their sponsors. They gave all of their money to guarantee space on the boat that would take them to America, and they had to pay with gold bars. The money used was just passage out of Vietnam; they had no idea where they were headed to. They were also told that it was a passenger ship, but it was in fact a freight ship.The government had lied and misled them, took all of their money in gold bars to only send them as far as Hong Kong. The boat ride was long and treacherous. Luckily my mother’s family had paid to get onto one of the bigger boats, meaning it was less likely that they would be attacked by pirates on their journey. What they did endure was extremely cramped conditions and rough seas. For freight ship that could have held maybe 1000 people, 300 0 people were squeezed onto this ship. Their journey to Hong Kong took about one month. During this time, people would commit suicide, die from sickness, or starve.The captain of the ship ordered people to toss over their only possessions and the food they had brought in fear of capsizing the boat during storms. After this, some people would try and steal food from their neighbors. When the boat reached Hong Kong, the government there wanted to send them back to Vietnam. They were not supposed to be there, and they surely didn’t want to take them in. After a month of consideration and more waiting on the boat for the passengers, a camp was set up by the harbor for these thousands of passengers after their long travel on the sea.In this camp, my mother and her family would stay in Hong Kong for an additional 8 months before going to America. For her family of seven, they were given one bunk bed to share. Conditions at the camp were as cramped as on the ship, and very dirty. Th e refugees would be given rice and water every day for food, which they had to line up for. However, they were allowed to get small jobs outside of the camp, so my mother, all of her siblings and her parents would get these jobs so that their family could save enough money to buy a little extra food. After doing even more legal work and consulting with their relatives and sponsors in the U.S. , my mother and the rest of her family all finally got to leave Hong Kong, straight for America. The American Dream My mother arrived in Georgia, USA in 1979, at age 17. She left all her friends and family in Vietnam and the comforts of their old home. She was always so excited to go to America because everyone would talk about this rich land and when they finally got here, it was very overwhelming. At first she was confused. What my mother found in America was not what she expected. There was a lot more poverty and not at all like she had dreamed.Here they were immediately put into high school . Her father held back his children in school to allow them to catch up and make up for the year they had missed. He did this, so that his children would also have a chance to catch up on their English language skills, and do well in school. Their education was a priority and he wanted them to do their best. The language was the hardest part of coming to America, everything was new and unfamiliar. They only stayed in Georgia for two months before my grandfather contacted some of his old neighbors from Vietnam who were now living in California.He didn’t like the weather in Georgia and felt California would probably be a better fit for him. So after only a few months, my mother finally got to California. The children were put back into high school immediately; however times were tough for my mother and her siblings. Their high school consisted of mostly white American, Hispanic and African American children. Her English was not very good at this point, so it was hard communicat ing with other kids, and socializing. Everywhere she went, she had a dictionary with her. She took beginners English class, where it consisted mostly of Hispanics.This class she felt was the nicest because she was with other kids who, like herself, could not speak the main language very well, and had difficulties expressing themselves. Luckily my grandfather’s old neighbor had a daughter, Phuong, attending the same high school, who became friends with my mother and her siblings. Phuong helped make them to make friends and understand American society and culture a little easier. Phuong had been in California much longer than my mother, having come over with the first wave of immigrants. Her English was much better, and she already had a small close group of friends.Huong didn’t have a long high school career, and she often felt isolated, and alienated from other kids. She would be ignored because they knew that she didn’t speak English very well and didn’t want to bother. She was the only Asian besides her siblings and always felt different from everyone else. Going into stores, the clerks would follow her around because they thought she would steal something. Huong felt cheated from having a real high school experience. She never got to go to prom or buy a year book because their family didn’t have enough money.She also felt she didn’t accomplish as much as she could have with her grades due to the language barrier, even when she would spend most of her time studying instead of making friends. However, she still obtained A’s and B’s through her hard work and perseverance, but was disappointed as she always had straight A’s in Vietnam. So she never felt like she was achieving as much as she potentially could. She was too busy trying to understand what everything was. College Getting into college was Huong’s and her sibling’s first priority.Most of the children actually got scholarships , and financial aid to help finance their college funds. Even though, Huong was actually embarrassed to ask for financial aid and have welfare and food stamps, it was the only way to attend college, and further her education. By this point in their lives, college was much easier because they understood the English language a lot better and there were more Asians in college than there were in high school. My mother got a job in the Financial Aid office at her college to help support her family.Her family was still struggling to make ends meet, so everyone had to work. Huong felt frustrated sometimes with her life, she wanted to accomplish as much as she could, but also had to help pay the bills for her family and work. Life was easy in Vietnam with their maids and chauffeurs, and here they had to work hard for everything they had. They lived in a small apartment and took the bus to school because they couldn’t afford a car. Everyone in the family had part time jobs, and would work and study hard every day to help better their careers and education.My mother felt she would study even harder than everyone else because of the language barrier. She had no time to party or date, or to buy nice things, because their lives only consisted of work and studying. Towards the end of her college life, my mother was hired as a data entry clerk with a local Real Estate company. She always felt like she was being treated nice, but maybe not necessarily equally. Management would yell at Huong for mistakes that were not her fault. She was never trained for the job, and was expected to do things that she needed training for.She felt that she wasn’t given any respect what so ever, and had to try her hardest to learn from her mistakes when they were yelling at her. Despite the disrespect and the yelling, she managed to earn a promotion to Assistant Controller with a raise from all her hard work. Huong didn’t have a lot of friends in the work place, but was alwa ys nice to everyone and tried to get to know each colleague. When my mother met my father Jeff in college, things became easier for her. Jeff was from England, and also immigrated to California. He came from a poor family, and also had to work hard to provide for his family and help pay the bills.With all of the things they had in common, Huong felt like she could relate to someone else, and he helped her understand more about American society. He would help her with her homework and her English. With this, life became much easier for Huong, because she understood a lot more about the American way of life. With the extra help, she had more time to go out, have fun and do things that Americans do, like going to the movies, dancing, and eating out. Life Now After being here for 33 years my mother is comfortable with life in America. She never got to go back and visit Vietnam yet, but she wants to when life isn’t so busy.She still misses the food, the culture, and her family in Vietnam, but not only is she living easily, her parents and all of her siblings are also living comfortably in California now. Her parents have a small house in Garden Grove, the center of the Vietnamese community, where they have retired next to other Vietnamese people. She realizes now just how much her father had given up when bringing his family to America, but she knows it had to be done, for their safety and their freedom. She is more than grateful of her father’s decisions, because she got to live in a free country and become a citizen.The main thing is they got to come to a country where there is no war. Her entire family still keeps close to each other by calling one another often, even the relatives still in Vietnam, and they have many family gatherings throughout the year for holidays, birthdays, and also to celebrate Vietnamese traditions. They keep up with their culture, and how they prepare their food, and when they are all together they still primarily speak th e Vietnamese language. Their old customs and traditions are important to everyone in the family.

The Media †Difference between entertainment and news.

The Media – Difference between entertainment and news. Free Online Research Papers The media is powerful; with that statement, no one can disagree. However, many differ when debating the alleged liberal bias of the media. Now, before you start deeming CNN the â€Å"Clinton News Network,† hear me out. The media is biased in both directions, right and left, and more often than being politically swayed, the media is influenced by money. However, the biggest problem with the media is the kinds of programming and writing that are considered news and what sources are considered journalists. Take the O’Reilly Factor, for example. Bill O’Reilly, the host of the show, is not, I repeat NOT, a journalist. He is a commentator/TV and radio personality. However, because his show is broadcast on news stations, suddenly his opinions and convenient statistics are called news. The media watch group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, even published a book called â€Å"The ‘Oh Really?’ Factor† criticizing him for his biased reporting, which would normally end a news career, but Fox continues to broadcast his biased little show and write it off as news even though his show and most of the programming on Fox make references of an intended audience: Republicans. The other thing about the media that bothers me is that the owners of huge media corporations can self-censure reports about their subsidiaries. Think of it this way: Time Warner owns CNN, a news network, but also owns companies such as HBO, AOL, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune Magazine, and New Line Cinema (to name a few). Because they own such wide array of media outlets, CNN isn’t going to rip on Sports Illustrated if a huge scandal explodes as relentlessly as Fox News would have. Does that make CNN less credible? The amount of time people are willing to devote to watching or reading news is becoming slimmer these days, so the juiciest facts instead of the whole story are presented to fit within the short attention span of the average American. Pressure from advertisers is another ways in which our capitalist society actually causes bias in reporting. If Dodge contributes millions of dollars in commercial advertising to ABC, how might that effect a story about Dodge recalls? Government influence, whether its public or covert censorship, biases the media as well. Who knows what kind of information the Bush administration or the CIA is hiding in their back logs of files or what bits of information are withheld to avoid tarnished reputations. The moral of the story is that you have to realize that the news you’re being fed isn’t always cold hard fact. Unless you are reading or watching an actual journalist, the tidbits of â€Å"news† that you hear most likely have an opinion behind it and it most definitely serve a purpose for whatever media outlet you’re hearing it from. In the end, all you can do is realize you’re being tricked and be smart enough to not believe everything you hear. Don’t allow yourself to be a puppet. Look to multiple sources for your news, and be aware that money influences what is broadcast just as political views could affect reporters and editors. Research Papers on The Media - Difference between entertainment and news.Relationship between Media Coverage and Social andEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductHip-Hop is ArtTrailblazing by Eric AndersonStandardized TestingWhere Wild and West MeetResearch Process Part One

Essay Sample on Wealth Pros and Cons of Social Welfare

Essay Sample on Wealth Pros and Cons of Social Welfare Redistribution of Wealth Tocqueville once stated, â€Å"The wealthy have little desire to govern the working people, they simply want to use them.† Social Class is defined as a social stratum whose members share certain economic, social, or cultural characteristics: the higher, middle, and lower-income classes. Redistribution of Wealth is the ‘Robin Hood’ of the real world, where the government â€Å"steals† from the rich and gives to the poor. I believe that Redistribution of Wealth can help benefit our country, so that we can all hope for a better tomorrow. I will discuss the pros and give my opinion as to what they can do to help benefit society, and I will discuss the con side and refute the points. Types of Redistribution of Wealth are Welfare, Medicaid and Social Security. I will discuss Social Security. Medicaid, Welfare, and state what they really are, and how they are used as Redistribution of Wealth. There are also many books that have certain views on Redistribution of W ealth, class, and socialism, and I will go more in depth as I progress throughout this paper. One of the main points for the Con side, brought on by the upper class, can be summed up in metaphor’s which state that, â€Å"Public Welfare is a type of redistribution of wealth put forth as a ‘safety net’ to catch anyone that’s ‘falling through the cracks†, or a â€Å"Tax on the successful to support the unsuccessful (Landaeur, 2001).† There are also many views for the Pro side, which are: it can help prevent premature deaths a year, it can help reduce crime rates in the United States, and more. Pros Redistribution of Wealth can help better our society in many ways, ways that can help the United States finally be the â€Å"perfect† country that everyone would like it to be. Redistribution of Wealth is said to â€Å"help eliminate high unemployment rates, which would prevent another 2,500 premature deaths a year.† The government has always tried to get rid of child poverty, and with Redistribution of Wealth we can save the lives of 1,400 children under the age of fifteen every year. â€Å"Lowering premature deaths would be concentrated on the most disadvantaged areas. A combination of all three policies would get rid of more than half of the ‘excess’ deaths in constituencies with above average premature mortality rates.† (John Carvel, September 26, 2000) â€Å"A spirit of generosity in a world of not enough.† This is what some people think that Redistribution of Wealth represents. What this is stating is that the United Stated contributes a lot to its people, but not enough. Helping out the â€Å"non-wealthy† has always been a problem that the United States has always had to face, because most of the â€Å"wealthy† people claim that they are being robbed of their money, and that their money is being given to people who don’t work for themselves. That can be far from the truth, because there are people out that do have low-paying jobs, people that try to contribute as much as they can to society, even though they really can’t, as opposed to people that do have the money to contribute but don’t. (Sara Stratton, 1998) â€Å"Suffice it to say that the U.S. sets itself apart from other western, industrial democracies not only in our outrageous levels of income inequality and poverty but also in our incredibly high incidence of violent crime. This is no strange coincidence or accident. A more equal distribution of wealth would go a long way toward solving one of Americas most stubborn and pressing social problems.† What this statement is offering is that with Redistribution of Wealth, somehow, crime rates will drop. I’m not sure I agree with this, the only time that crime rates will drop is in our dreams. If somehow this does happen, then I will strongly support this even more, and I will try to contribute as much as I can. I believe that this is trying to state, that if the lower class gets money then they will have no incentive for committing crimes. Some people have failed to realize that the ‘poor’ aren’t always the people committing the crimes, but yes, in a way , I do believe that crimes committed by the lower class will decrease. In general, since the ‘poor’ aren’t always the culprit’s I don’t believe that crime will go down that much. It will definitely benefit the United States, because people will learn that the United States is a stable country to be in, if this were ever to happen. (Nathan Foell, February 2, 2002) Some say that with Redistribution of Wealth you can, â€Å"redistribute work through a shorter workweek, longer holidays and additional sabbaticals so that all may share in productive work and also have more time for relaxation, family and friends†. With Redistribution of Wealth you can get more time off to spend time with family and friends, and I am not saying that people should quit their jobs, I am just saying that when given money by the government, people can actually have a social life; meaning not being at their minimum wage paying jobs all day every day. If you are going to have a job to support your family, don’t you think that you should actually consider spending some time with them? (CEJI Web page, 2001) â€Å"The poorest fifth of the worlds population saw their share of global income fall from 2.3% to 1.4% in the past 30 years. Over the same period the share of the richest fifth rose from 75% to 85%.† This has to stop, while the poor are getting poorer; the rich are getting richer. Redistribution of Wealth can prevent this from getting worse than it already is, I am not saying that the rich should get poorer, I am saying that the poor should get some help. Now, I am not saying that I am rich, but I am for sure not â€Å"poor†, my home gets a fair amount of income, and my parents contribute a lot to our society. They do as much as they can to help our growing city; my parents want to help our city succeed. Getting rid of poverty will benefit out city and our country in the long run. If the wealthy help out just a little then the poor can get food, clothing, homes, and jobs. Then everyone in our society will contribute evenly and it will succeed. (CEJI Web page, 2001) Cons Redistribution of Wealth is said to ‘punish’ the rich by taking away some of their wealth, this is a ‘gross exaggeration of the truth’. â€Å"Most wealthy people would never have needed the money taken from them for taxes and dont lose anything tangible in parting with some of their money because there is nothing they would ever have needed that money in order to buy.† I believe that this states that the money that is taken away from them in taxes is not needed, because they usually have so much money they don’t really need the little money that is taken away from them. The bottom middle and the lower class will get the money and they will benefit a great deal from it, and the wealthy class will have less money and they will learn the meaning of a dollar. (Nathan Foell, February 2, 2002) Some people state, â€Å"Redistribution of wealth by the government, for example Welfare or Social Security, is egalitarianism put into practice at the point of a gun.† This is true in some sense, the government wants to redistribute wealth because they want all the citizens to feel equal, and there is no superior. â€Å"At the point of a gun†, I can refute that by saying that everyone is taxed; it’s just that people with more money get taxed more. You are have to pay taxes and that money goes to the government, so that means that the money is the government’s and that they can do what they choose with it. (Jeff Landauer, 2001) Many rich people didn’t earn their money, some may inherit it and others may get by life with charm, good looks, and intelligence. What this means is that there are some people that don’t agree with Redistribution of Wealth and they say that they wont give money to people who don’t work for it, when they themselves didn’t work for it. I am not claiming that every wealthy person out there didn’t earn their money; I’m just saying that there is a portion of everyone’s income that they didn’t earn. I think that it is fair to take a percentage of their income and give it to people that really need it, the ones who weren’t blessed by the ‘natural luck of the draw’. (Nathan Foell, February 2, 2002) People that are against Redistribution of Wealth state that the people that are getting the money are lazy people that can’t work for themselves. That is far from the truth, some of the so-called ‘lazy’ people do have jobs, but most are stuck with low-paying jobs. Yet these people with the low-paying jobs have troubles supporting themselves because of how little that they make, but they still try to benefit all that they can to our society. Which is more than what I can say about the people who do have money that think of no one but themselves. (Nathan Foell, February 2, 2002) Welfare Social Welfare is defined as receiving regular assistance from the government or private agencies because of need. The key words for that definition â€Å"because of need†, now why would a person use Public Welfare if he didn’t need it? It isn’t possible, the government isn’t dumb, and they know if a person needs the money or if the person doesn’t need the money. There are some people that don’t work because they know that they will get money, that is true, but the government will find out and they will pay, and not with money. I don’t see why the wealthy claim that they are giving money to ‘lazy’ people because that is not what they are at all. Appearance reflects a lot on what a person is, and if a person goes into an office with rags or torn pants, I don’t believe that he will even get the application. If you give them the money that they need, maybe they can buy decent clothing so that if they do have the qualif ications for the job, they might have a chance of getting it. If we don’t give them the money that they need then why should they even bother with applying to jobs that they are qualified for, when there are always fast food restaurants that hire anyone. What the wealthy fail to realize is that money isn’t everything, especially for them, they have it all. If I were wealthy I would do everything that I can in order to help someone that isn’t as lucky as me. There are many charities out there that people can contribute to; just twenty dollars from almost every wealthy person can help benefit our society for the good. Public Welfare is said to be a type of Redistribution of Wealth that brings forward a â€Å"safety net† to catch anyone â€Å"falling through the cracks.† That is true in a sense; Welfare will always be there to help people that lose their jobs or the ones who cant get jobs. Welfare helps out our society because it helps the lower class believe in themselves, because the poor of today can be the rich of tomorrow. If every lower class person can just realize that they can change, then they will get up and work toward something that will benefit them in the long run. (Jeff Landauer, 2001) Medicaid If I had to choose between Social Security, Welfare, or Medicaid; I would choose Medicaid. Medicaid is defined as a program in the United States, jointly funded by the states and the federal government, which reimburses hospitals and physicians for providing care to qualifying people who cannot finance their own medical expenses. Medicare is there for people who don’t have insurance or money to pay the hospital in case of emergencies. According to the Medicaid Web page, â€Å"Medicaid is a jointly-funded, Federal-State health insurance program for certain low-income and needy people. It covers approximately 36 million individuals including children, the aged, blind, and/or disabled, and people who are eligible to receive federally assisted income maintenance payments.† People in need of help are just that, they are also people that don’t have enough funds to pay. No one is perfect, and there will be happenstances where someone will get hurt, and with Medicaid the lower-income people don’t have to worry about finding the funds that they need to pay for the help. â€Å"Medicaid was first enacted in 1965 as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. Today, Medicaid is a major social welfare program and is administered by the Health Care Financing Administration.† According to the Legal Information Institute, â€Å"Among the services that Medicaid covers are: in-patient hospital services, out-patient hospital services, laboratory and x-ray services, skilled nursing home services, physicians services, physical therapy, hospice care, and rehabilitative services.† Basically Medicaid is a savior, it can help you in your time of need. (Medicaid Web Page, www.hcfa.gov, 1999; Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu, 2002) Social Security Social Security is defined as A government program that provides economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability, or agedness, financed by assessment of employers and employees. â€Å"Social Security revenues are derived virtually exclusively from a payroll tax levied at a flat rate on annual earnings up to a specified limit called the â€Å"taxable maximum† or â€Å"earning base;† half of the tax is deducted from the employee’s paycheck. The taxable maximum was 37,700 in calendar 1983 and is indexed to rise in the future at the same rate as average earnings rise. Currently, about 90 percent of all earnings in covered employment are subject to taxation, and about 6 percent of the covered work force earns more than the maximum† Social Security goes to your retirement, the keyword is ‘your’, don’t worry about being taxed because of Social Security because in the end all of the money will go back to you. Every person tha t I know that has retired couldn’t be any happier, they got all the money that they gave, and now they have their happy lives ahead of them. Retirement is supposed to be a time after a person has worked hard throughout their lives, and it is time for them to rest; they deserve all of the money that they work towards too. â€Å"Social Security is financed on a ‘current-cost’ or ‘pay as you go’ basis, meaning that the revenues collected in any given year are used mostly to finance the benefit payments that year. The proceeds of the payroll tax are deposited in special treasury accounts – the trust funds; all benefit payments and administrative costs for the program are charged to these accounts.† This is proof that in the end all of the money that you had to pay those years goes directly to you, when the time comes. (Lawrence H. Thompson, Journal of Economic Literature December 1983) Book Views The New Class War by Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward states that the people in the United States didn’t quite agree with social programs, which give money to the needy. In the beginning it talks about how the Regan Administration took a lot of money away from social programs. It states that the Regan Administration declared a New Class War on the unemployed, unemployable, and the working poor. ‘In 1980, voters themselves wanted the social programs to be cut. By the close of the 19th Century in the United States, property rights prevailed over Subsistence Rights.’ It discusses how most working people had become wage laborers, and within the wage-labor relationship, owners were dominant, not because of their economic power, but because of their political power. It also states that in the 20th Century, Capitalism itself contributed to the demystification of ‘laissez-faire’ ideas, for the economy and changed in ways that progressively exposed the reliance of capital on the state. ‘Working people once looked to the market place as the arena for action in their economic grievances and aspirations now look often to the state.’ What I learned from this book is that the United States has gone through a major change since the 19th Century. People’s views have hardly changed though and many people still rely on money. (Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, The New Class War, 1982) Liberalism and the Limits of Justice written by Michael J. Sandel states that a liberal society seeks not to impose a single way of life, but to leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends. Liberalism is defined as A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority. This books thesis states, â€Å" Society, being composed a plurality of persons, each with his own aims, interests, and conceptions of the good, is best arranged when it is governed by principles that do not themselves presuppose and particular conception of the good; what justifies these regulative principles above all is not that they maximize the social welfare or otherwise promote the good, but rather that they confirm to the concept of right, a moral category given prior to the good and independent of it.â⠂¬  Michael Sandel, in this book, is influenced by Kant and John Rawls, in the most important challenge yet to Rawls’ theory of justice, Sandel ‘traces the limits of liberalism to the conception of the person that underlines it.’ (Michael J. Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, 1892) The American Class System: Divide and Rule written by Paul Kalra â€Å"presents a picture that may differ from the conventional one but reveals for the first time the bare reality of American society. The American Class System reveals the various tiers of American Society- the upper class, a middle class, a working class and an underclass.† What this book states is that people don’t want to see America divided into classes, but it is. In the beginning it starts of by giving quotes by former presidents, which is titled U.S. presidents on the American Class System. Thomas Jefferson stated that, â€Å"Money, not morality, is the principle of commercial nations.† John F. Kennedy stated that, â€Å"If a free society can not save the many who are poor, it cannot save the few that are rich.† George Bush Sr. stated that, â€Å"Class is for European democracies of something else it isn’t for the United States of America. We are not going to be divided by c lass.† I have got news for you Bush Sr., I’m sorry to say but America is divided by class, and it will stay like that until we finally get a president that can stand up and say â€Å"No More!† I have read many things about presidents wanting to get rid of the class system, and unfortunately we still have them, and this is because our past presidents didn’t stand up. (Paul Kalra, The American Class System: Divide and Rule, 1995) Money, today, is literally taken for granted. The morals of the United States were high and people always believed in equal rights. Our founding fathers were the ones who believed that this country is worth living in, that this country is worth fighting for, that this country is priceless. Today, this country is worth so much, money I mean. This countries morals, I believe, have went down due to the fact that if you have money you have power. I know that in only my dreams will this country once again care about morals, but we have to face the truth. Money is what makes a country and money is what breaks a country. With Redistribution of Wealth our country could do so much better, in the sense that there will be equal rights throughout America. Poverty throughout America can change, some may say that Redistribution of Wealth leads to socialism, if that’s what it takes for our country to become what it once was, then I say lets do what our founding fathers did and help our count ry succeed. (Nathan Foell, February 2, 2002) In conclusion, we all want America to go back to the way it was, and we have to wake up, because the only way this will ever happen is if we all agree with Redistribution of Wealth. I have just brought up the pro views and explained them thoroughly, and brought up the con views and refuted them. I also brought up the views of Redistribution of Wealth, socialism, and class, which were brought up in the books that I have read. I also explained to you the reasons for: Welfare, Medicare and Social Security and how these are parts of Redistribution of Wealth. I believe that Redistribution of Wealth can better our society so we can all hope for a better tomorrow. William Sumner once stated, â€Å"In every economy there are dinners without appetites at one end of the table, and appetites without dinners at the other.† Well, I say, with Redistribution of Wealth we can ALL have an enormous feast. You can also order a custom research paper, term paper, thesis, dissertation or essay on wealth from our professional custom paper writing service which provides students with high-quality custom written papers at an affordable cost.