Balance Sheet and Accounting Standards

ANSWER SHEET STUDENT’S SURNAME   OTHER NAMES   STUDENT NUMBER   TUTORIAL DAY & TIME TUTOR’S FULL NAME   Test 1 – Version 2 Session 2, 2012 Course Code: ACCG 224 Course Name: INTERMEDIATE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING Time allowed: 55 minutes plus 5 minutes reading time Total No. of questions: Three Questions Instructions 1. You must answer ALL questions in the test booklet. No separate booklet will be provided to answer the questions. . This is a closed-book test. You are not allowed to refer to any text material for the test. 3. Show all workings. Handwriting must be legible. 4. Non-programmable and non-text retrieval calculators may be used, but dictionaries are not to be used. Question No. Marks 1 /15 2 /15 3 /10 Total /40 Question 1 – Multiple Choice (15 marks) (Please circle the correct answer) 1. The main functions of the Financial Reporting Council include: I. II. III. IV. V. a. b. * c. d. overseeing the process for the setting of accounting standard s of the AASB. determining the AASB’s broad strategic direction. onitoring and reviewing the level of funding for the AASB. directing the AASB in relation to the development or making of a particular standard. the power to veto a standard recommended by the AASB. I, II, III and V only I, II, and III only I, II, IV and V only II, III, IV and V only 2. The role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is to: I. II. III. IV. a. b. c. * d. 3. I, II, III and IV I, III and IV only I, II and IV only II, and III only Regulatory capture is said to occur in which of the following situations? a. b. c. d. * 4. Enforce and administer the Corporations Act.Inform the public about Australian companies, financial markets and financial professionals who deal and advise in financial instruments. Issue accounting standards. Improve the performance of the financial system. When the regulated entities ensure non-performance by the regulating body When the regulated entities co-opt t he regulators into a mutually shared perspective When the regulated entities control the regulations and the regulatory body All of the above Which of these theories could explain a move towards government control of accounting standards setting in Australia? a. b. . d. * 5. Public interest theory Regulatory capture theory Private interest theory All of the above The primary reasons for developing a conceptual framework is: a. * b. c. d. To enable regulators to develop accounting standards that are consistent and logical To provide guidance to accountants in areas where no standard exists To reduce the number of accounting standards needed To assist auditors 2 6. According to the AASBs Conceptual Framework an asset is: a. b. c*. d. 7. A company incurs significant costs in relation to a speculative project that intends to turn rocks into gold.In accordance with the AASBs Conceptual Framework the costs of this project are an: a. * b. c. d. 8. d. it is not necessary to restate the prio r period comparatives; the error may be amended prospectively; it may be deferred and recognised in the subsequent period; a retrospective correction must be made. When changing an accounting policy which of the following has to be applied retrospectively? a. * b. c. d. 11. Relevance, reliability, materiality, consistency, verifiability, understandability Understandability, timeliness, relevance, readability, timeliness, reliability Relevance, faithful representation, comparability, nderstandability, verifiability, timeliness Uniformity, relevance, reliability, consistency, faithful representation Where a fundamental error occurs in the recognition process: a. b. c. d*. 10. expense because there is little probability that future economic benefits will eventuate expense because the recognition criteria for an asset is not satisfied asset because the definition and recognition criteria for assets are satisfied asset because the company will control the future economic benefits. The qu alitative characteristics for financial reporting contained in the Conceptual Framework are: a. b. c. 9. a contingent item depending on another event occurs at some time in the future a future benefits controlled by an entity as the result of a future transaction a future benefit controlled by an entity as the result of past transactions or events an item that has a physical existence and can be converted into cash. a voluntary change to improve the relevance of information presented a change due to the adoption of a new accounting standard a change due to the adoption of a new interpretation all of the above. A company’s workforce went on strike for an indefinite period commencing on 5 August 20X1.The strike was expected to cause severe financial conditions for the company. The financial statements for the year ended 30 June 20X1 were expected to be completed by 7 August 20X1. In accordance with AASB 110 Events after the Reporting Date, the appropriate treatment regarding th e strike is: a. * b. c. d. disclosure as a note to the financial statements, as it is a non-adjusting event; disclosure as a note to the financial statements, as it is an adjusting event; to adjust the financial statements, as it is a non-adjusting event; to adjust the financial statements, as it is an adjusting event. 12. Differences between the carrying amounts of an entity’s net assets determined under accounting standards and accrual accounting, and the tax bases of those net assets determined under the Income Tax Assessment Act, are described as: a. * b. c. d. 13. CTT Limited has an asset which cost $300 and against which depreciation of $100 has accumulated. The accumulated depreciation for tax purposes is $180 and the company tax rate is 30%. The tax base of this asset is: a. * b. c. d. 14. temporary differences permanent differences tax losses the current income tax liability. $120 $220 $80 $20In jurisdictions where the impairment of goodwill is not tax deductible, AA SB 112 Income Taxes: a. * b. c. d. does not permit the application of deferred tax accounting to goodwill allows the recognition of a deferred tax item in relation to goodwill requires that any deferred tax items in relation to goodwill be recognised directly in equity requires that any deferred tax items for goodwill be capitalised in the carrying amount of goodwill. 15. Revaluations under AASB 116 Property, Plant and Equipment apply to: a. b. c. d. * all assets on an individual basis individual current assets only individual non-current assets only ssets on a class-by-class basis. 4 Question 2 – Short Answers (15 marks) Part a. The ASIC Act details that one of the primary accounting standard functions of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is to ensure that accounting standards serve the best interests of both the private and public sector. Why is it important that the FRC ensure that the interests of the public sector are met? (3 marks) One of the crucial roles of FRC is to assess the continued relevance and effectiveness of accounting and auditing standards to ensure that accounting standards serve the best interests of both the private and public sector.Relevant accounting standards lead to required and appropriate accounting information disclosure. Accounting information serves an important public policy purpose — namely improving the flow of information to investors in a country’s capital markets. Accounting information helps investors and other stakeholders make sound economic decisions, which will enhance the efficiency of resource allocation and fairness of wealth distribution in the society. With the development of a country’s economy, the social welfare will increase.The public interest means such social welfare. 5 Part b. You have recently graduated with your Bachelor’s degree and have applied for a position with the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) as a technical adviser. At the interview, the Chai rman stresses that they often have difficulties in determining whether the standards they draw up should follow a ‘principles based’ or ‘rules based’ approach. In particular they want to implement standards to overcome creative accounting practices.Knowing that you have recently completed studies in accounting theory and standard setting, explain the Chairman what are the three main differences between the ‘principles based’ approach as opposed to a ‘rules based’ approach to standard setting? (3 marks) Principles Based ? †¢ †¢ IASB follows a principles-based approach to standard setting. Constructed in a broad framework that is not focussed on specific rules under specific circumstances Allows for professional judgement in relation to substance rather than form Advantages of principles-based standards †¢ Principles-based standards are simpler. They supply broad guidelines that can be applied to many situations. †¢ They improve the representational faithfulness of financial statements. †¢ They allow accountants to use their professional judgement. †¢ Evidence suggests that managers are less likely to attempt earnings management. Disadvantages of principles-based standards †¢ Managers may select treatments that do not reflect the underlying economic substance. †¢ The judgement and choice involved in many of the decisions mean that comparability among financial statements may be reduced Rules-based †¢ Currently FASB follows rules-based approach. Constructed in a framework that is focussed on specific rules under specific circumstances. †¢ Misuse in corporate collapses means that FASB is reconsidering if they should move to principles-based standards. Disadvantages of rules-based standards †¢ Rules-based standards can be very complex. †¢ Organisations can structure transactions to circumvent unfavourable reporting. †¢ Standards are likely to be inco mplete or even obsolete by the time they are issued. †¢ Manipulated compliance with rules makes auditing more difficult. †¢ Rules-based standards can be confusing. Part c.Explain what a conceptual framework is and what are the benefits of having a Conceptual Framework for the accounting profession? (4 marks) Definition of a Conceptual Framework ? ‘A coherent system of interrelated objectives and fundamentals that is expected to lead to consistent standards’; ? Also, it is an attempt to provide a structured theory of accounting that prescribes practice. ? establishes concepts/ideas that underlie the preparation and presentation of financial reports; ? assists standard setters, preparers, auditors, users and those interested in the work of standard setters How the framework is used for the accounting profession? Explains the concepts/ideas that underlie the preparation and presentation of financial reports for external users – What is the purpose of finan cial reporting? – For whom should financial reports be prepared? – What qualitative characteristics should financial information possess? – What are the elements of financial reporting? – What measurement rules should be employed? It provides guidance to the accountants when there is no specific guidance given in the accounting standards.It also assists the accountants when they cannot understand the application of certain IFRS due to the complexity involved. 7 Part d. Barton Ltd uses tractors as a part of its operating equipment, and it applies the straight-line depreciation method to depreciate these assets. Barton Ltd has just taken over Deakin Ltd, which uses similar tractors in its operations. However, Deakin Ltd has been using diminishing balance method of depreciation for these tractors. The accountant in Barton Ltd is arguing that for both entities the same depreciation method should be used for tractors. Provide arguments for and against this pro posal. 2 marks) Para 50 of AASB 116 notes that depreciation is the systematic allocation of the depreciable amount of an asset over its useful life.. Arguments against the Proposal ? Depreciation is measuring the change in value due to the use of an asset over the period. It is possible that Deakin Ltd has been using the diminishing value as it was going to use the tractor more in the early years of the economic life and hence the choice of the depreciation method is justified. Arguments in Favour ? It is important that there is consistency in the type of the asset and depreciation method applied.Part e. a. Explain the difference between the cost model and revaluation model under measurement subsequent to initial measurement. (3 marks) Cost Model AASB 116 requires that measurement subsequent to initial measurement of assets could be carried at cost less any accumulated: – depreciation; – impairment losses. Revaluation model – As an alternative to the cost model AASB 116 allows the revaluation model to be used for classes of assets. Revaluation is an adjustment of PPE’s carrying amount so that it reflects its current fair value. Measurement basis is fair value (FV).Frequency of revaluations is not specified, but must be performed with sufficient regularity such that the carrying amount of assets is not materially different from their FV. Revaluation performed on a class basis. Accounting performed on an asset-by-asset basis. 8 Question 3 – Practical (10 Marks) Bravo Ltd began operations on 1 July 2011 and has provided the following information: 1. 2. 3. Pre-tax accounting profit for the financial year ended 30 June 2012 is $150 000. The enacted tax rate is 30%. Differences between the 30 June 2012 income statement and tax return are listed below: (a) b) (c) (d) (e) 4. Annual leave expense accrued for financial reporting purposes amounts to $15 000. The employees were not allowed to take annual leave in the first year of operat ion. Depreciation of property, plant and equipment for accounting purposes amounts to $120 000. Depreciation of these assets amounts to $80 000 for the tax return. Entertainment expenses of $6 500 were included in computing pre-tax accounting profit. Tax free government grants of $5 000 were recognised as income. As a small business, Bravo Ltd chose for taxation purposes cash accounting for their sales revenue.Accounts receivable regarding sales show a balance of $20 000 at year-end. There was no need to recognise any allowance for doubtful debts. Taxable profit is expected for the next few years. Required (a) (b) (c) Calculate taxable profit for the financial year ended 30 June 2012. (4 marks) Prepare the journal entry to record income tax expense, deferred tax and income tax payable for the financial year ended 30 June 2012. (4 marks) Draft the income statement beginning with ‘Profit before income tax’. (2 marks) (a) Pre-tax accounting profit $150 000 Permanent differ ences: Entertainment expenseTax-exempt revenue Adjusted accounting profit 6 500 (5 000) 151 500 Originating temporary differences: Annual Leave Provision Accounting expense Tax deductible Excess depreciation expense Accounting expense Tax deductible Excess Revenue Taxable profit (b) $ 15 000 (0 ) 15 000 > DTA 4 500 120 000 (80 000) 40 000 > DTA 12 000 (20 000) > DTL 6,000 $186 500 > Income tax payable 55 950 Income Tax Expense 45 450 Deferred Tax Asset 16 500 Income Tax Payable 55 950 9 Deferred tax liability 6 000 DTA = 4 500 + 12 000 (c) Profit before income tax Income tax expense Profit for the period $150 000 45 450 $104 550 10

WMDA

WMDA instance surveyThe architectural house, West Midlands Designers and Architects Ltd. ( WMDA ) , was a profit-making and successful concern three old ages age. A closely knit group built a friendly and harmoniousness atmosphere under the direction of Russell Quinn. There are 10 staff working for this design and architecture house. However, the market collapsed and economic system is on crisp downswing. WMDA has less work to manage. Under this circumstance, the foreman decides to happen an acceptable and just method to lay-off four staff in order that the house can go on to last in this competitory market. There are four possible methods to hold decide-making, but, which manner can be a just determination and how to make up one's mind who would be excess will be analyzed and explained below. Russell Quinn has considered four possible methods: Last in – first out ( LIFO ) ; Voluntary redundancy ; Selection on virtue ; Peer choice included. Every coin has two sides, these four methods besides have their ain strength and failing. First of all, LIFO is the easiest, simplest, traditional method. Additionally, a steady and long history company should necessitate some gifted and full of new thoughts immature employee, non all old and experience employee to pull off the house. On contrast, the freshman came to the house in a short period, therefore, the house has input less money and preparation on them. For illustration, Paul is a no experience fresher in the company and have non created some value or major part for the company. Even though the house may blow recruit and advertisement money spent earlier, it is the best manner to salvage money than lay-off an experience labour remaining in the house for several old ages. However, the house besides need to see if makes the youngest designers redundant, they may see the house has age favoritism. Another method is Voluntary redundancy. Employees own the sentiment that they have the right to take, non oblige to go forth, furthermore, they think the house esteem them in this pick. Hence, this method can let go of concern and fright of the other employee. However, this may non be a good method. First, it is non just wholly. The company normally has a predetermined program who will be laid off so that the top direction will use some method to coerce some staff, such as conversation, deduction and exert force per unit area, etc. Additionally, to a certain extent, it may be a venture for the company. Sometimes the house will lose some superb staff or some you want to go forth buttocks. In comparing, Selection on virtue is much more just. Every house wants to hold superb public presentation and value staff who has the capableness to convey benefit to the corporation. However, merely to detect one staff ‘s result can non judge it is superior or non. Working procedure may be important, for illustration, new employees have less chance and clip to make value and outstanding design, we can merely judge them harmonizing to working procedure. Last, Peer choice is non really utile. Even though the communicating and apprehension among employees are much better than director to employee, therefore, to some grades, equal assessment has valuable mention. However, under this circumstance, staff may all desire the house to utilize another method ( slash wage, take a vacation, work rotary motion, etc ) than make staff redundant. Furthermore, fondness may be when they submit names. As what has been analyzed above, merely to do usage of one method is non just and unreasonable. Integrated attack should be an appropriate manner. Virtually, the house should hold known its nonsubjective, long-run development mark good and travel over every item ( hypertext transfer protocol: //uk.askmen.com/money/career_200/248_how-to-lay-off-employees.html, accessed on Dec 20 2009 ) , public presentation assessment is a important and most utile method to mensurate staff, equal assessment besides can be valuable mention to judge staff ‘ contribution.. Some people may non be leave behind if their end are non equal to the involvement of the house. For illustration, Henry wants the company to diversify into new countries, the house is at low tide that there is non adequate money to put in another concern, which ne'er has invested before. Additionally, Hiroshi wishes Nipponese companies to put up in Britain, yet the fiscal state of affairs is non allow. In decision, the company is loath to lay-off employee. Hence, ne'er make a determination before punctilious deliberation. Harmonizing to the house ‘s monetary status and corporate involvement to do a long-run aim, so remain staff who can assist company to win the conflict. I recommend that the house should do out a theoretical account for development in future and communicate with all employee in the company often. It can assist protect against staff anxiousness and avoid staff job-hopping. Reward superior designers besides be a good manner to promote and back up the remainder of them as a consequence of morale and coherence betterment. On the other side, the house should esteem and back up the staff redundant. Recommendation missive and friendly salutation besides can be a good manner to comfort. ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chinahrd.net/ZHI_SK/jt_page.asp? articleid=178823, accessed on Dec 2 2009 )Reference & A ; # 65292 ;1, ZhiZhong Chen, Face Layoff Employee Correctly ( 2009 ) , hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chinahrd.net/ZHI_SK/jt_page.asp? articleid=178823 & A ; # 65292 ; accessed on Dec 2 2009 2, Dimitri A.C. Ly, hypertext transfer protocol: //uk.askmen.com/money/career_200/248_how-to-lay-off-employees.html, accessed on Dec 20 2009

Analyzing The Outsider An Metamorphosis English Literature Essay

Analyzing The Outsider An Metamorphosis English Literature Essay In The Outsider by Albert Camus and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, both authors utilize the protagonist’s distinct characteristic and central theme to evoke sympathy in the readers for Gregor Samsa and Meursault, which will be explored in a deeper context in the essay. Both protagonists have their own characters which defines them as a person. Readers will be replete with sympathy knowing that the protagonists’ misfortunes were a result of their characters. Themes are used to express ideas and are employed by authors as a literary device to bring forth basic elements in any story. The main theme in both books bring into light the more significant context of what the story focuses on, hence drawing the readers closer to presiding events which affects the protagonist, and ultimately brings forth the sympathy we feel. When Meursault kills an Arab he is adjudicated not for his murder, but for â€Å"burying his mother like a heartless criminal† (p93) after discove ring he was enjoying and having fun on the day after his mother’s death. As it is common for people to mourn for the loss of a loved one, the lack of concern he has towards his mother’s death differ from the social norms. Meursault was punished for his insensitivity as the Prosecutor talked about Meursault’s attitude towards his mother â€Å"much longer† (p98) than â€Å"about his crime† (p98). He was tried for not expressing regrets or showing emotions during the trial simply because he did not feel any of it, staying truthful throughout even if it affected his fate. Therefore, this elicits sympathy in readers as he in incapable of relating to others, conveying how his nonchalance led to his downfall as the trial placed a sole focus on his character instead of the crime he committed. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s altruistic character is illustrated from the very beginning of the novella, portraying how he hates his â€Å"grueling job† (p3) as a travelling salesman, experiencing the â€Å"torture of travelling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours† (p4) when he actually desired to quit a long time ago. Yet, Gregor only has his job in mind as he has no intention of letting his family down. More notably, despite his sufferings he sacrifices his time and freedom of choice profusely by continuing with his job which he loathes so much just to provide his family with â€Å"such a life in so nice an apartment† (p21) and to pay off his parents’ debt. Sadly, when he transforms into a vermin, his family repays his devotion by neglecting him, and â€Å"swallow their disgust and endure him† (p38). His family feels the need put up with the revolting sight of Gregor and bear with his vermin form, thus exposing their ungratefulness. Gregor is no longer of any use â€Å"since his transformation forces him to stay in his room†Ã‚   [ 1 ]   He eventually dies from the guilt of burdening his family because of his inability to provide for them and also because he lost his final link to his family- Grete, his sister and closest family member-when she agrees Gregor is burdensome. Hence, we sympathize for him as Gregor is neither thanked nor appreciated for his selfless acts, but instead shunned by his family- his natural source of love and support.

Employment Law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment Law - Coursework Example Also, the judiciary seems to have laid its focus on the substance of the relationship rather than its form for its characterisation in law. Thus, a mutuality of obligation, together with elements of control, is usually seen as a prerequisite for a contract of employment to exist. However, it is important to understand that all employees are workers but not all workers are employees. There are two main definitions of the term ‘worker’ currently in use and both of them put within their ambit individuals who work/seek to work under either a contract of employment or any other contract providing for personal obligation towards another party. In other words, a worker is anyone, who works for another person (not necessarily under a contract for employment) other than in a professional or business relationship. Thus the different types of workers are as classified by law, and this is bound to have implications for employment rights. This is because; employment rights and responsibilities are based on employment status, and certain rights and responsibility apply only to ‘employees’ rather than ‘workers’. The trend however, seems to be to widen the scope of law by extending legal rights to ‘workers’ and removing dif ferentiation between the two terms. 9 It is fundamental to employment law that one is able to identify the relationship, whether it be that of an employee or worker or self employment or of an increasingly new variety of relationships that are coming up in the contract of employment.10 This is so, because while the legal arrangements involved could be of mutual satisfaction to the parties involved, it might not be well defined, thus making it difficult to categorise for legal analysis.11 Thus, it becomes necessary to analyse the various work relationships, under which it is possible to undertake work and the means through which they can be distinguished in law. These relationships under which, it is possible to undertake work include: I. Employees: The term ‘employee’ is defined in S. 230, ERA.12 The primary requirement is a contract of employment. However, to determine the existence of an employee-employer relationship, it is necessary to look at the control test, organizational test and the mutuality of obligations, along with an obligation of personal service.13 II. Directors: Directors are officers of the company. However, there is nothing to prevent directors from being employees. They can be employees, provided they have a service contract with the company, either express or implied.14 Besides, it is also important to look at the work conditions, mode of remuneration, and other legal requirements.15 However, it would be necessary to note on whether there has been use of the corporate veil to gain undue advantage, and if that has been done, to disallow the status of an employee.16 Thus, the status of a majoring shareholder or a director as an employee is affected, only if the employment contract is a sham.17 III. Business Consultants: It is seen that people who work in an advisory capacity are not always, strictly speaking, employees. Instead, they fall under the term ‘retainers’.18However, depending on the factual and legal arrangements made, a business consultant can be classified as an employee.19 IV. Office Holders: While an employment contract was a requisite to the work described above, a special category exists, who are not employed by virtue of contract of employment, and are known as office holders.20 Examples of such positions would include trustees, police officers, magistrates

English - Writing Directions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English - Writing Directions - Essay Example The following flow chart will help to clarify the actions that will be described: Choose a paint color and buy it ? set up the equipment and lay down the drop cloths ?put blue tape for delicate surfaces against all the edges ? use an angled brush to outline all the close edges ? open the can and stir the paint ? use a roller brush to fill in all the spaces in an X pattern After considering this flow chart, these are the directions. Instructions for Painting a Wall Painting a wall can be a source of achievement and pride when the room looks dingy and needs to be made to look fresh and alive. The area around the wall should be cleared away so that access to all portions is made convenient and clear of items that could be in the way. Equipment must either be gathered or purchased, so the first thing to do once the wall area is clear is to make a list of everything that is needed, including the paint. Choosing the paint color is the first step in deciding to paint a wall. This can be don e before the process begins or during the initial step as the equipment is being gathered. The wall will need to be taped off so that the edge beyond what is desired painted is protected. A two inch angled brush is used to paint near the tape, allowing for a clean edge that has not bled into the space that is not desired to be painted. The walls are then rolled in an x pattern so that there are no roller marks. When this is done, it is allowed to dry and then the tape removed in order to check for bleeds. The equipment is cleaned up and the room put back into order. The following instructions will outline exactly how to do each of the steps involved in painting a wall. 1. The first step in painting a wall is in clearing away the items around the space in front of the wall. This means that there should be enough room in front of the wall to put up a ladder. The ladder should allow access to every space of the wall that will be painted 2. The second step is to make a materials list, g ather what is already on hand and go purchase the materials that are yet needed. Steps one and two are interchangeable, but it can be preferable to have my work space clear and to see exactly what will be required for the job. 3. A basic materials list includes screwdrivers, spackle, blue delicate surface tape, two inch angle brush, roller pan, roller, roller head, and ladder. Do not forget the paint! 4. The third step is to choose the paint color, again interchangeable with steps 1 and 2. A paint color can be chosen long before the job will be done or during the trip to the store when all other materials needed will be purchased. One method of choosing a paint color is gathering paint sample cards from a store and taping them to the wall. There are many ways to choose a color and that will be up to the buyer. When purchasing materials, purchase the paint and it is recommended to use one of the new paints that have primer in them in order to get good coverage on the wall. 5. Once th e materials are brought to the site of the wall they must be organized. First, tools required to take off electrical plates and to fix any holes in the wall should go to one side of the wall away from the painting equipment and placed securely away from the wall so they can be grabbed, but not in the way. The floor should be covered with drop cloths to protect it from spills and drops that might damage

Culture and costums of Korea Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Culture and costums of Korea - Assignment Example Culture refers to a set of socially transmitted human behaviors, beliefs, arts, among other thoughts and works of the human mind. The definition implies that culture is reliant on the interaction and integration of humans. Historically, regions had secluded boundaries owing to the numerous geographical barrier such as mountains, seas and rivers, which enclosed specific regions thus cutting off human interactions. At such times, regions had specific cultures defining their languages, arts, dietary and religion among many other aspects of human lives. However, with the onset of industrial revolution, the use of machines resulted in the invention of better ways of transportation and communication thus overcoming the previously existing geographical barriers. Located in North East Asia, Korea is an expansive territory currently divided into two political territories; North Korea and South Korea because of divergent political interests of both the leaders and the citizens (Kleiner, 2001). The use of the internet in the modern society and the advanced modes of communication such as mobile phones have resulted in the creation of a global village in which people can live anywhere and work anywhere. The intensified human interactions in the contemporary society have therefore revolutionized culture. A conflict between the previously definite traditional cultures and the modern culture has diverse effects depending on the type of the society. Whenever cultures conflict, the people abandon their previous cultural practices that they consider backward and adopt certain features of the new culture that they feel appropriate. Culture in the modern global society is relative and liberal with every individual and social institution choosing only the specific cultural practices that best protects their interests. Korea is one such region in which the conflict between the traditional culture and the modern culture is evident and the effects of the modern culture on the tradition al culture thus manifest itself. The division of the region into two might have affected the culture of the people in the region but since culture is reliant on the interaction of humans, the regions still share some of their cultural practices as they had throughout history with their neighbors in the eastern bloc such as China and Japan. Both the south and North Korea are developed economies and industrial hubs. South Korea for example is home to some of the leading electronics manufacturing companies such Samsung and HTC among many other local and international brands. With an internet infiltration of more than seventy percent, Korea is an active part of the global village as her citizens interact with others throughout the world. Korea has numerous international airports and attracts millions of tourists annually. Such features of both the economy and social structure imply that the intensified human interactions in the modern Korea presents numerous cultural conflicts as the mo dern culture through the revamped interactions and economic activities in the modern society. Previously, Korea had definitive cultural practices and arts. Such practices included specific languages, religions, arts such as ceramics and dietary among others. However, with time the region opened up for trade with the West and other parts of the world such as African and South America. Coupled with the concepts of urbanization, globalizations seamlessly turned the expansive Korean region into a metropolitan society habiting people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Korea thus forms an effective choice for the study assignment since the cultural conflict between the traditional and new culture is evident. The society is developed and industrial; the living pattern of the people has changed with time to the perfect urban settings in the modern Korea. Such a society thus exhibits diverse cultural patterns as native Koreans continue holding onto some of their traditional cultural practice s

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Good Man Is Hard To Find - Essay Example The grandmother in the book is a central figure in the extended family and most of what happens in the story is a direct result of the grandmother (Bonney, 1990). There is a strong sense of social status in the grandmother’s tone, which is particularly evident when she begs the misfit not to kill her because she is a lady. She also plays the role of mother during the trip and its aftermath. In addition, it is her decision to take the children on a trip to Tennessee that leads to their murder by the misfit. During the trip, the grandmother attempts to show her heroine side by attempting to draw the misfit away from his plan to murder the family. Social status is also apparent in the book as the author makes numerous references about fundamental traditions and values of the South. Flannery O’Connor in her book discusses cultural aspects via the role of the grandmother as the mother of the family, family relationships, and the family’s social status. The author disc usses the cultural role of the grandmother as the family’s mother as a way to understand the manner in which the misfit viewed the family. The grandmother believes herself to be a lady and does things she expects other motherly ladies would do. For example, she asks the misfit to pray in order to make a connection with him and to ensure he understood that she was not only a lady, but a respectful Southern lady who believed in prayer. She mutters â€Å"Jesus, Jesus† (O’Connor, 2011) to him as a way of telling him that it was only Jesus who could save him. Throughout the book, she makes references to her being a motherly lady, even telling him that she was her son as a way to stop him from killing her. According to her, the fact that she was a mother and lady would stop the misfit from killing her (Bonney, 1990). The misfit understood from the beginning that the grandmother wished to be treated as a mother and a lady, which is evidenced by his apology after he app ears shirtless in front of the family. The author discusses the cultural aspects of what it means to be a â€Å"good man† through the social status of the grandmother as a lady, as well as the misfit’s lack of adherence to social principles. While the grandmother expects the misfit and everyone else to treat her as a lady with grace and charm, this is, in fact, the opposite of what she is (Bonney, 1990). For instance, the grandmother evokes conscience at the start of the book, although she is conveniently non-committal when it comes to lying to the children concerning the car’s secret panel, sneaking pitty sing without their knowledge into the car, and opting to stay silent about her mistake with regards to the house’s location (O’Connor, 2011). While the grandmother attempts to appeal to the misfit’s conscience regarding mothers and ladies, she does not behave this way when the misfit begins to kill her family. Rather than beg the misfit to spare the life of her children and grandchildren as a lady would, she begs for her own life. She does not believe that the misfit would kill her since she was a lady and mother, attempting to appease his psych by appealing to what she considered as a male weakness for mothers and ladies. However, it seems that the misfit had already seen through her facade and goes on to kill anyway, contending that she would have been a good lady if â€Å"she had been shot every minute of her life† (O’Connor, 2011). The manner in which the book ends reinforce the book’s title that it is hard to find a good man since the misfit does not respect the grandmother’s social status as a mother or lady. Even though the grandmother makes her best attempts to mold him into a good man, telling him that, â€Å"if you pray, Jesus would help you†

Identifying The Child Readiness for Independent School Essay

Identifying The Child Readiness for Independent School - Essay Example His brilliance in Mathematics has many times been highlighted by the praise that he has received from his teacher as well as his colleagues. He performs very well in the subject and is very active in the classroom in helping out his classmates as well. In the case of Humanities, Jazz tries to understand the subject with proper concepts. He shows great interest in the understanding of human history and the importance that history lays on our lives today. He always strives to learn more with regard to the early human developments as well as the important events that have taken place in the history of the world. Jazz is an active member of the school sports teams. He enjoys playing sports and has the potential to greatly contribute to the school sports community. He has been actively involved in playing sports which include basketball, soccer, badminton, swimming, and golf. Jazz has a very healthy lifestyle and he is actively engaged in extracurricular activities. He is also a very good observer and loves to appreciate the beauty of nature. Apart from playing sports, Jazz is very considerate and helping and it is for this reason that he became a member of the Boys Scouts. He always wishes to contribute to society and be of assistance to people who are in need of help. I do not have any concern with regard to the admission of Jazz in Independent School. I am a proud parent owing to the high achievements of my son in all fields of education. He is an all-rounder and will be able to cope up with the educational environment. I believe that my son will actively contribute to the school community and perform well in his academics as well.

Social Problem Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Problem - Research Paper Example This essay is a critical evaluation of crime as a social problem in the society a well as the measures that can be put into place to ensure that the vice is contained for the welfare and the security of citizens in the world. The rate of crime has risen significantly in the society. To some extent, this can be attributed to the invention of lethal weapons such as guns and ammunition especially during the world wars whereby the various super powers were battling over military superiority (Mednick, 2001). This saw the invention of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs, assault rifles, and grenades as well as other small arms such as pistols and bayonets. Whereas the initial intention of these discoveries was for the protection of the nation’s sovereignty through military empowerment, the end result was that the equipment found their way into the civilian hands either accidentally or through illegal means. For example, it is approximated that 190,000 weapons issued to Iraq forces in the year 2007 can not be accounted for by the US department of defense (Dunbar, 2006). Probably, the arms found their way into the wrong hands of illegal forces who pose a great risk to the security of civilia ns as well as government forces that are out to maintain law and order. People commit crimes due to a variety of reasons. These reasons are for example peer pressure (Mednick, 2001). This refers to the influence that people may have on the conduct of their friends who could be of the same age group as they are or even older who may decide to follow the habits of others without questioning the moral aspect of what they intend to do as long as it satisfies their worldly fantasies. Such groups introduces their friends to crimes such as drug trafficking which is a well paying but risky vice bearing in mind of the consequences that one would face once he is arrested.

The Effect of Parental Involvement in Academic and Behavioral Success Research Paper

The Effect of Parental Involvement in Academic and Behavioral Success of Students - Research Paper Example The paper shows that parents prepare their students for school, walk with them to middle school and monitor their behavior when they reach the maturity stage. However, the entire process meets challenges that hamper the extent to which a parent would go to fulfill the behavior and academic expectations of a student. There are schools that do not engage parents in the academic learning process. Teachers and school administrators assume that parents and families do not want to get involved and fail to provide an efficient communication platform. In addition, the barriers to communication such as lack of proficiency in the official language and lack of adequate time for the parents could result in a student life that does not involve any parental element. He wroteâ€Å"when children develop a reputation for exhibiting challenging behavior their parents can be reluctant to go into schools for fear of getting bad news. In fact, there is a negative correspondence between rapid parental involvement and children’s behavioral problems†. It is evident from the discussion that parents want to get involved in the academic and behavior success right from the time they join the school to the time they attain the age of majority. Parents want to be involved, and it is wrong for institutions to assume that they do not want to offer support for learning and behavioral development of their students. The relationship between parents and students should be stable at all times to ensure behavioral and academic success.

Games Theory Essay Example for Free

Games Theory Essay In game theory, Nash equilibrium (named after John Forbes Nash, who proposed it) is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his own strategy unilaterally. If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute Nash equilibrium. Stated simply, Amy and Phil are in Nash equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phils decision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amys decision. Likewise, a group of players is in Nash equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. However, Nash equilibrium does not necessarily mean the best payoff for all the players involved; in many cases, all the players might improve their payoffs if they could somehow agree on strategies different from the Nash equilibrium: e.g., competing businesses forming a cartel in order to increase their profits. The prisoners dilemma is a fundamental problem in game theory that demonstrates why two people might not cooperate even if it is in both their best interests to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W. Tucker formalized the game with prison sentence payoffs and gave it the prisoners dilemma name (Poundstone, 1992). A classic example of the prisoners dilemma (PD) is presented as follows: Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated the prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies for the prosecution against the other (defects) and the other remains silent (cooperates), the defector goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only one month in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act? If we assume that each player cares only about minimizing his or her own time in jail, then the prisoners dilemma forms a non-zero-sum game in which two players may each either cooperate with or defect from (betray) the other player. In this game, as in most game theory, the only concern of each individual player (prisoner) is maximizing his or her own payoff, without any concern for the other players payoff. The unique equilibrium for this game is a Pareto-suboptimal solution, that is, rational choice leads the two players to both play defect, even though each players individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperatively. In the classic form of this game, cooperating is strictly dominated by defecting, so that the only possible equilibrium for the game is for all players to defect. No matter what the other player does, one player will always gain a greater payoff by playing defect. Since in any situation playing defect is more beneficial than cooperating, all rational players will play defect, all things being equal. In the iterated prisoners dilemma, the game is played repeatedly. Thus each player has an opportunity to punish the other player for previous non-cooperative play. If the number of steps is known by both players in advance, economic theory says that the two players should defect again and again, no matter how many times the game is played. Only when the players play an indefinite or random number of times can cooperation be an equilibrium (technically a subgame perfect equilibrium), meaning that both players defecting always remains an equilibrium and there are many other equilibrium outcomes. In this case, the incentive to defect can be overcome by the threat of punishment. In casual usage, the label prisoners dilemma may be applied to situations not strictly matching the formal criteria of the classic or iterative games, for instance, those in which two entities could gain important benefits from cooperating or suffer from the failure to do so, but find it merely difficult or expensive, not necessarily impossible, to coordinate their activities to achieve cooperation. Strategy for the classic prisoners dilemma The classical prisoners dilemma can be summarized thus: Prisoner B stays silent (cooperates) Prisoner B confesses (defects) Prisoner A stays silent (cooperates) Each serves 1 month Prisoner A: 1 year Prisoner B: goes free Prisoner A confesses (defects) Prisoner A: goes free Prisoner B: 1 year Each serves 3 months Imagine you are player A. If player B decides to stay silent about committing the crime then you are better off confessing, because then you will get off free. Similarly, if player B confesses then you will be better off confessing, since then you get a sentence of 3 months rather than a sentence of 1 year. From this point of view, regardless of what player B does, as player A you are better off confessing. One says that confessing (defecting) is the dominant strategy. As Prisoner A, you can accurately say, No matter what Prisoner B does, I personally am better off confessing than staying silent. Therefore, for my own sake, I should confess. However, if the other player acts similarly then you both confess and both get a worse sentence than you would have gotten by both staying silent. That is, the seemingly rational self-interested decisions lead to worse sentences—hence the seeming dilemma. In game theory, this demonstrates that in a non-zero-sum game a Nash equilibrium need not be a Pareto optimum. Although they are not permitted to communicate, if the prisoners trust each other then they can both rationally choose to remain silent, lessening the penalty for both of them. We can expose the skeleton of the game by stripping it of the prisoner framing device. The generalized form of the game has been used frequently in experimental economics. The following rules give a typical realization of the game. There are two players and a banker. Each player holds a set of two cards, one printed with the word Cooperate (as in, with each other), the other printed with Defect (the standard terminology for the game). Each player puts one card face-down in front of the banker. By laying them face down, the possibility of a player knowing the other players selection in advance is eliminated (although revealing ones move does not affect the dominance analysis[1]). At the end of the turn, the banker turns over both cards and gives out the payments accordingly. Given two players, red and blue: if the red player defects and the blue player cooperates, the red player gets the Temptation to Defect payoff of 5 points while the blue player receives the Suckers payoff of 0 points. If both cooperate they get the Reward for Mutual Cooperation payoff of 3 points each, while if they both defect they get the Punishment for Mutual Defection payoff of 1 point. The checker board payoff matrix showing the payoffs is given below. These point assignments are given arbitrarily for illustration. It is possible to generalize them, as follows: Canonical PD payoff matrix Cooperate Defect Cooperate R, R S, T Defect T, S P, PWhere T stands for Temptation to defect, R for Reward for mutual cooperation, P for Punishment for mutual defection and S for Suckers payoff. To be defined as prisoners dilemma, the following inequalities must hold: T R P S This condition ensures that the equilibrium outcome is defection, but that cooperation Pareto dominates equilibrium play. In addition to the above condition, if the game is repeatedly played by two players, the following condition should be added.[2] 2 R T + S If that condition does not hold, then full cooperation is not necessarily Pareto optimal, as the players are collectively better off by having each player alternate between Cooperate and Defect. These rules were established by cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter and form the formal canonical description of a typical game of prisoners dilemma. A simple special case occurs when the advantage of defection over cooperation is independent of what the co-player does and cost of the co-players defection is independent of ones own action, i.e. T+S = P+R. The iterated prisoners dilemma If two players play prisoners dilemma more than once in succession and they remember previous actions of their opponent and change their strategy accordingly, the game is called iterated prisoners dilemma. The iterated prisoners dilemma game is fundamental to certain theories of human cooperation and trust. On the assumption that the game can model transactions between two people requiring trust, cooperative behaviour in populations may be modelled by a multi-player, iterated, version of the game. It has, consequently, fascinated many scholars over the years. In 1975, Grofman and Pool estimated the count of scholarly articles devoted to it at over 2,000. The iterated prisoners dilemma has also been referred to as the Peace-War game. If the game is played exactly N times and both players know this, then it is always game theoretically optimal to defect in all rounds. The only possible Nash equilibrium is to always defect. The proof is inductive: one might as well defect on the last turn, since the opponent will not have a chance to punish the player. Therefore, both will defect on the last turn. Thus, the player might as well defect on the second-to-last turn, since the opponent will defect on the last no matter what is done, and so on. The same applies if the game length is unknown but has a known upper limit. Unlike the standard prisoners dilemma, in the iterated prisoners dilemma the defection strategy is counterintuitive and fails badly to predict the behavior of human players. Within standard economic theory, though, this is the only correct answer. The superrational strategy in the iterated prisoners dilemma with fixed N is to cooperate against a superrational opponent, and in the limit of large N, experimental results on strategies agree with the superrational version, not the game-theoretic rational one. For cooperation to emerge between game theoretic rational players, the total number of rounds N must be random, or at least unknown to the players. In this case always defect may no longer be a strictly dominant strategy, only a Nash equilibrium. Amongst results shown by Nobel Prize winner Robert Aumann in his 1959 paper, rational players repeatedly interacting for indefinitely long games can sustain the cooperative outcome.

Explore how Jane Austen presents the themes of love and marriage in volume 1 of Pride and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Explore how Jane Austen presents the themes of love and marriage in volume 1 of Pride and Prejudice Essay It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. The novel begins with a satirical quote, representing many peoples opinions on love and marriage at the time of writing. To many, marriage was a way of bettering themselves socially and economically, but seldom for happiness and love. Throughout the novel there are numerous and frequent references to this way of thinking, and Austen makes characters who think of love and marriage in this way appear ridiculous. One character made to look absurd is Mrs. Bennet. Most find her intolerable, and even her own daughters and husband are embarrassed by her regularly. In chapter one she says, A single man of large fortune What a fine thing for our girls! Nothing of Mr. Bingleys character is mentioned, but the fact that he is wealthy seems reason enough for Mrs. Bennet to approve of him. As will be future explored, Mrs. Bennet is derided throughout the novel, clearly showing that Austen herself does not approve of her way of thinking, as it is centred around the material rather than being centred around love or moral reasons. Despite being under constant pressure from her mother, due to the details of the entailment on the Bennets estate, Jane Bennet desires to marry for love, and eventually does so. The ever-important matter of money, however, does lie at the back of her mind. In chapter four, Elizabeth says, I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person. This suggests that Jane has courted men before, but they have either been lacking in character or in money, so she has not pursued their affections. In chapter four following the first ball a conversation between Jane and Elizabeth Bennet takes place. Rather than mentioning Bingleys fortune, Jane states that she admirers him due to his being sensible, good humoured, lively and states that she has never seen such happy manners. Throughout the book Jane is described positively, which influences the reader to think highly of her and views on marrying for love as just. Elizabeth, too, is presented as sensible and likeable. Though she mentions that the moment she fell in love with Mr. Darcy was after first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley, she also mentions that she fell in love with him gradually, ensuring that his wealth was not the only factor taken in to account as she accepted his second proposal of marriage. Her primary interest seems to be in marrying for love, as she turned down a proposal from Mr. Collins which would have ensured her money, a home and a good reputation. With all of this taken into account, Eliza refuses due to Mr. Collins personality and the fact that she does not love him. In chapter nineteen Mr. Collins another ridiculed character makes his first proposal to Elizabeth. He makes it clear that he only makes the proposal due to Catherine DeBurghs advice. He also thinks it may benefit his happiness, though mentions nothing of hers. Much of the proposal is an insult to Miss Bennet as he retells Lady Catherines exact words (let her be an active, useful person, not brought up too high). Mr. Collins obviously does not love Elizabeth, nor is he pretending so. He seems to think that, due to the fact that he has good connections, Elizabeth would jump at the chance of marrying him. She refuses politely, yet Mr. Collins cannot see why she would refuse his offer. He is a prime example of someone who doesnt think love is a necessity for a successful marriage. He sees his proposal as an honourable gesture; as a way to compensate the Bennet family for the fact that he shall inherit the house upon Mr. Bennets death, but somewhat selfishly to better his own status and comfort. Soon after this, as Mr. Collins retreats with a slightly bruised ego, we learn that Miss Charlotte Lucas, a close friend of the Bennets, has accepted another proposal from Collins, presumably one of the same type. After Elizabeth confronts her on the news of their engagement Charlotte justifies her thoughts with the following: I am not romantic I ask only a comfortable home connections, and situation in life, I am convinced my chance of happiness with him is fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state. This, as well as her earlier comment relating to Jane fixing Mr. Bingley (almost as though discussing an animal, or assuming Bingley is broken due to his being unmarried). Perhaps Charlotte only seeks the above, or perhaps she is worried about what her peers would say about her being unmarried at such an age. In this period in time, women were talked about if unmarried in their late twenties. Someone with an opposite view to Charlotte is Caroline Bingley. Where the Bennet sisters and Charlotte Lucas aim to marry high and ensure their financial security, Caroline seems to scorn them for wishing to do so. She disapproves of Jane and her brothers relationship, which can be gathered from her trying to keep the fact that Jane was in London at the same time as her brother a secret. She seems convinced that her friends marrying anyone of a lower rank would be shameful, and that anyone wishing to marry her brother of Mr. Darcy must be after their money. While chasing the hope of gaining a desirable social status and money, Caroline Bingley may well forget about love and, even if it ever came along, may well suppress it in hopes of something better. The issue of indipendence may also be one that Miss Bingley considers. She lives with her brother and has to up and leave when he does so. The security and indipendence a marriage would bring is surely something she would have looked forward to. Her friend, Mr. Darcy, is well aware of womens attitudes at the time. He even goes as far as to warn his best friend against Jane Bennet, as he fears that she doesnt love Bingley as is only showing an interest in him for his wealth. This cynical attitude may have grown due to his pride and perhaps the effect of spending too much time with Charles Bingleys sisters. This seems evermore the case when listening to the piano at Netherfield; he thinks to himself that it may become dangerous to pay too much attention to Lizzy. He makes it clear that he regards her of a lower class in his refused proposal (He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed His sense of her inferiority of its being a degradation of the family obstacles.) and is obviously concerned about other peoples opinions. Despite the fact that the story ends happily and both Elizabeth and Jane marry for love, the underlying theme of the novel is, predictably, pride and prejudice. Lydia, though eager to marry Wickham for love, runs the risk of being ostracised due to her living with him outside of wedlock. This, in turn, would ruin the reputation of her sisters. Despite being in love, would Darcy and Bingley want to get married to the siblings of a disgraced woman? If Darcy had not have been able to persuade Wickham to marry Lydia, would he in turn have abandoned Elizabeth? Though Austen strongly hints that she approves of marrying for love rather than money (through satirising some characters and not others), it is clear that reputation and etiquette were still as important, if not more important than love in ones marriage.

Judiciary in a democracy

Judiciary in a democracy What is the role of the judiciary in a democracy? This work is going to examine the way judiciary works and operates in a democracy. Judiciary has definitely a very significant role in a democracy as it shapes and interprets the laws. Key roles and features of the judiciary will be discussed in this work. There will be some theories looked over at and some real life examples as well. First of all, the meaning of the term ‘judiciary needs to be established. Judiciary is ‘the branch of government that is empowered to decide legal disputes and adjudicate on the meaning of the law (Heywood, 2007:452). Democracy on its hand has the roots in Ancient Greece as even the word itself has Greek parts e.g. demos for ‘the people and kratos for ‘power. The word democracy has a lot of meanings nowadays and may not have any meaning to some people at the same time (Heywood, 2007). In this essay the word ‘democracy is going to be used in the context of ‘a system of government that serves the interests of the people regardless of their participation in political life (Heywood, 2007:72). As it was discussed in class the role of the judiciary is as follows: * Protect the constitution * Look after government and parliament * Expound the constitution and laws The key feature of judiciary in a democracy is its complete independence from government. For judges being nonpolitical is essential as well. They must be neutral in order to be legal (Heywood, 2007). Neutrality is ‘the absence of any form of partisanship or commitment (Heywood, 2007:329). Often not only the judicial independence in a democracy is the case, but the external pressure can sometimes take place. Heywood argues that in this case it ‘is not so much how judges are recruited, but who is recruited (Heywood, 2007). Judges may sometimes be the subject to internal bias and external bias. Internal bias occurs when judges may have personal preferences and cant be neutral in their decisions. External bias may occur when someone else may put pressure on the judge or put at risk his/her employment, it is said that the external bias is controlled by the principle of ‘judicial independence. It gives a suggestion that judges cant be dismissed and that the amount of cri ticism towards judges work is constrained. In reality judges tend to be dependent on certain circumstances as political bodies often have control over certain key issues e.g. judge recruitment (Heywood, 2007). As it is seen from Heywood, judges are not always neutral and therefore in a real democracy can influence the final decision in both ways. Kathleen Sullivan, the past Dean of the Stanford Law School, agrees to the statement of judiciary being the protector of constitution: ‘ It seems obvious that the court system especiallyjudicial review of the acts of the legislative and executive branches of government is, in one way,a bulwark of our constitutional democracy. The court protectscertain minority rights from being trampled by the majority, protects the basic liberty and participatory rights of all, and checks the excesses of the other branches of government.Thats all well and good and crucial for democratic self governance (http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html). Kathleen adds another point about judiciarys role in a democracy that we did not look at during the class: judiciary protects minorities and makes them less vulnerable to the majorities choices. Judges expounding the law and constitution have a very important role in a democracy. Many things and even lives depend on the way a judge interprets the law at that moment. Heywood states that every judge uses law in his/her own way, interprets and builds up the argument in court: ‘†¦judges impose meaning on law through a process of ‘construction that forces them to choose amongst a number of possible meanings or interpretations. In this sense, all law is judge-made law (Heywood, 2007: 330). In real life judiciary can be very contradictory. It can be observed from different angle and be seen in a different ways by different parties. For example the X case in Ireland caused a lot of confrontation. The case was about a 14 year old girl who was raped and got pregnant and wanted to go to England to have an abortion. However, she was refused to go by the High court. Later the case was solved by the appeal from the Supreme Court which stated that if there was a risk to mothers life as the result of pregnancy as there was a suicide possibility. As the result there were three amendments proposed to the constitution of Ireland. One of them argued to remove suicide threat from the grounds for the legitimate abortion and was then rejected. Other two were ratified and these are thirteenth and fourteenth amendments (http://www.ifpa.ie/eng/Hot-Topics/Abortion/Abortion-in-Ireland-Legal-Timeline). This case shows how different judges can build their arguments and interpret the law in di fferent ways and, for sure, influence the final decision. Some people have mixed feelings about the way how judges are elected in a democracy. First of all they are elected just like politicians, so it makes judges political what interferes with judges being ‘strictly independent and nonpolitical actors (Heywood, 2007:328). It is thought that appointing judges is better than electing them as they are maybe more independent than the elected ones (http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html). Another case is the demographical representation of the judges in democratic countries. As it was discussed in the class about 80% of all the judges in Ireland attended UCD. Most of the judges in Britain are white young males with private education (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). There was an attempt to change this pattern and encourage women and members of the minority groups to become judges to have a more diverse judiciary. The launch of the independent Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) in 2006 was meant to herald an end to the old tap on the shoulder method of recruitment and secret soundings among existing judges, which produced a senior judiciary that was almost exclusively white and male (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). Unfortunately, this new method of recruitment did not work as well: ‘But a Guardian review of selection shows that those appointed since last September are remarkably similar to those selected under the old process (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). Diversifying of the judiciary is not easy, so it will take some time, but it will certainly get to the point. In the conclusion I would like to say that judiciary certainly works in a democracy. The question is if it works fairly, correctly and totally neutrally like it must work. Judiciary protects the constitution and judges interpret the laws in court and expound constitution. Real life examples can be very contradictory and be seen in different ways by different judges e.g. the X case. Bibliography. Heywood, Andrew (2007) ‘Politics. Third Edition, Palgrave. http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html http://www.ifpa.ie/eng/Hot-Topics/Abortion/Abortion-in-Ireland-Legal-Timeline http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1

Abortion :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Types of abortion†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is a common practice that may be performed for several reasons, all sharing the same end result, the termination of an unwanted pregnancy. In cases such as rape, incest or a simple lack of responsibility when having sex, having an abortion is a choice that some women may encounter. There are different types of abortion in today’s society. Some which are too scary to even dream of. There are two types of abortions: Spontaneous abortions; miscarriages and Induced, this is the deliberate termination of the fetus. If the fetus weighs less than 18oz or is less than 20 weeks into the pregnancy, it is usually considered an abortion. These usually occur during the first three months of pregnancy. It is estimated that 25% of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (Epner 725). The very early stage of the pregnancy, up to 49 days after conception, the woman has two choices. The first is to take a combination of drugs. The embryo is then passed out. The other method is to use a syringe, and gently suck the embryo out. The next type can be preformed six to fourteen weeks after conception. The method the doctor’s use is to insert a tube in the vagina, and then hook it up to a suction machine. The fetus is then removed. This procedure takes about ten minutes. The second trimester abortions are called D&E, which stands for dilation and evacuation. These are preformed up to the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy, and usually take ten to twenty minutes. The way they are preformed is the woman is giv en absorbent dilators, which open up the cervix and absorb the fluids. After this is left in overnight the woman then is ready for the evacuation stage. The fetus is easily removed with instruments and suction. In the last trimester of the pregnancy abortions are preformed mainly if the woman’s life is in danger or the fetus is severely deformed. Only one out of every ten thousand abortions are preformed this way. The main way that is used is by injecting a salt solution into the vagina, causing contractions. The baby is then born stillbirth (Epner 724).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second form of abortion is induced abortion. There are four main types of induced abortions. The first takes place up to 12 weeks. It is called vacuum aspiration. This is where a tube attached to a vacuum is inserted into the uterus and sucks out the embryo and all other material.

Siddhartha :: essays research papers

Monday Theology First off, let me start by saying that Siddhartha is a book that I never would have voluntarily chosen to read. A book based on Indian culture (dot, not feather) and set in a period of many years ago didn’t sound like my idea of a fun evening’s read. But now, after completing it, I can say that I was 100 percent incorrect and pleasantly surprised. This book was just chocked full of all kinds of symbols, signs and ideas, two of which really seemed familiar to me. Not because they are novel or revolutionary, but more because they are beliefs that I have held for sometime now. And the interesting thing is that I am not exactly sure where they came from. The first and probably most dominant theme was that of where Siddhartha was trying to find his enlightenment. He began by following a strict regime and belief structure that he was born into. He then â€Å"rebelled† and started to follow the Samana’s and their practice of self denial. Later, he went 180 degrees and indulged in â€Å"the sins of the flesh†. Not finding contentment in either of these, he finally settles on living on the river and becoming a ferryman. This is where he found the true meaning of Nirvana. He realized that true enlightenment cannot be reached through teachers because it cannot be taught- enlightenment comes from within. This is where I step into the picture. At the start of this semester, we were asked to tell something about ourselves, and where we were spiritually. I stated that I was a â€Å"Ten Commandment Kid†, being raised on bible movies on Sunday morning TV. I also stated that I had no formal biblical training, and that I went with my grandfather on â€Å"Sunday morning road trips† to his newest church of the month. Or week. I think that he was like Siddhartha in the fact that he was never satisfied with the answer that anyone ever gave him, so he moved on, still searching. This was his gift that he gave to me. The places that I attended and the movies that I watched asked many more questions than they ever answered. Even as young as eight I realized that while knowledge was good, true enlightenment, or wisdom, wasn’t going to come from any one pulpit or preacher. I have since found that the best church is on top of a hill, looking over a pasture with a gentle breeze blo wing the clouds slowly by.

New York City A Diverse Area :: essays research papers

New York City is a diverse area. It contains hundreds of different tracts with one different from the other. I am going to be comparing Hunter's tract, which is 120 with my tract, which is 721. After comparing these two tracts, I am going to compare them both to the entire city of New York. The pace where I live in is Forest Hills, Queens. NYC contains Demographic Characteristics such as total population. In all of New York, to be exact, there are 8,008,278 people in all. Hunter's tract contains 3,965 people. In my tract there are 5,243 people. By looking at this data, it shows that there is a larger population in my tract. Sex and Age in my tract is similar to Hunter's tract and NYC. In all three there are more females than males. Tract 721 has 46% males and 54% females. Hunter's tract has 43.6% males and 56.4% females. NYC as a whole has 47.3% males and 52.7% females. The difference in all three is the median age. Hunter's tract is the oldest one with 51.1 years. The second oldest one is my tract with a median age is 41.9 years. NYC has a median age of 34.2 years. I believe it is so young because, a lot of babies are being born. Educational Attainment and Income are very important. It matters how much education you have in order to have a good job and a higher income. Hunter's tract is more educated then the tract where I live in. There is an enormous difference between the two. In Hunter's tract, people with no high school diploma are only 3.4%. My tract's calculation for no high school diploma is 17.9%. That's almost 6 times as much. With bachelors degree or higher in my tract, there is 38.7%. In Hunter's tract it is 74.8%. That's almost double. This shows that there are greater amounts of educated people in Hunter's tract then my tract. NYC as a whole has almost the same percentage with no high school diploma as to people with bachelor's degree or higher. No high school diploma is 24.7% and bachelors degree or higher is 27.4%. This shows that there are less educated people in New York. Income is the same as educational attainment. There is a much greater income in Hunter's tract than in my tract. The median household income in tract 721 is $33,402.

Public Speaking – Friends and Friendship.

HPD 111 – PUBLIC SPEAKING ENGLISH MOHD HAFIZAN BIN MOHAMAD SAH 2010319793 OUTLINE TOPIC: Friends and friendship. OUTLINE Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about who are friend, and what is friendship. Central Idea: friends are people whom will always be at your side whenever you need to express or share your feeling and do some activities with them. Introduction I. It was a few years ago when I saw a group of teenagers do some bully to a teenager. However, that teenager didn’t report their activities to police but he got back up by some other teenagers whose are his friend came to elp him out. II. When I saw this incident, I have learnt that friends are essential whenever we are in pinch. III. They could help us out whenever we in serious trouble. IV. Today, I would like to inform you about friend and friendship. (Transition: Let’s start with the first point about friendship. ) Body I. Friendship is a blessing for us. A. Friends will help us whenever we are in a pinch. 1. True friends will help us from any trouble. 2. Friends will challenge us to attain our original limits with encouragement when we allow ourselves not to go beyond our easonable boundaries. B. They will cheer us when we’re sorrowful or depressed. 1. Friends will motivate us when we’re ready to give in, and they can provide for us when life falls apart. 2. Friendship is a blessing, and a friend is the channel through whom great emotional, spiritual, and sometimes even physical blessings flow. (Transition: Now you knew that friendship is like blesses to us, let’s look about the other meaning of friendship. ) II. Friendship is everlasting relationship. A. Friendship is the only everlasting feature in the world. 1. Friends will try to find new ways to make you not to fall into depression. 2. Friends can also make us realised that depression won’t help us from solving any trouble. B. Friendship will grow slowly as we experienced new things with friends and it will not be removed easily. 1. They will find innovative ways to stop us from falling, failing and try to get help to lift us up. 2. They will give us some good advice to rebuild strength on facing any troubles. (Transition: Given there about everlasting friendship, I’m sure you want to know what’s next. ) III. Friendship will give us courage to go through life. A. Friends, they are the only source of our brave hearts. 1. Friends will make us show more efforts and spirits when doing something that we can’t do before. 2. Friends will come to us to help us solve our problems. B. Friendship is one of our sources to become brave while making some activities that need more courage. 1. Friendship gives courage to our mind and body. 2. Friends will help us to escape from big troubles. Conclusion I. As we have look through there are lots things to consider about friends and friendship. II. Friends are the most precious treasure to us and we need to keep it in good condition. III. In case of getting some friends, you need to find the loyal friends in your life so that your relationship will become worthy at the end. Bibliography Albert, Prakash (2010). Friends and Friendship – Who are friends, and what are friendship. Lepp, Ignace (1966). The Ways of Friendship. New York: The Macmillan Company. L'Abate, Luciano (2007). Friendship, social support, and health. Low-cost approaches to promote physical and mental health: Theory, research, and practice. (pp. 455–472). xxii, 526 pp. New York.

Henry Ford Essay

Henry Ford made many contributions to the American economy during the 1920’s. He was a very skilled and intelligent man at that. Henry was born into an Irish immigrant family on a farm in Wayne County, Michigan. He became Chief engineer of the Edison Company in Detroit during 1888. In 199 he organized that Detroit auto mobile and in 1903 he introduced the ford motor company model T manufactured in 1908. He was believed to sponsor the development of the moving assembly line in 1914. Henry Ford made a major contribution to American society with several things such as the car industry, assembly line, and the way he treated his workers. After several trial of building cars and companies in 1903, Henry established the Ford motor company and introduced the Model T in 1908. During Henrys explosion of success he said â€Å"There are two ways of making money- one at the expense of other, the other by service to one another† (Burg 39). This quote by Henry showed that henry didn’t care about just making money, he cared about giving the people what they wanted then making money of the idea of that. Growing up and understanding the ways of life, I have come to the conclusion that you get absolutely nowhere in life without having a set career that you will love and enjoy. I have come to like various types of careers that I will enjoy and that I am good at as of right now. I would like to start off by telling you all of the careers I would like to acquire. Since I’m good at talking to people and helping them, I have chosen my first choice as a psychiatrist. I, also, love animals and would love to become a veterinarian. Because I want to make a difference and help others, I would like to become a surgeon. I will start off by telling you about each description with various information. I would love to become a psychiatrist. They have everything there is to offer if you shared the same interests as me. They analyze a patient’s medical history from the beginning, their medical allergies, physical condition, and examination results to make sure the patient is to have the most proper attention. They examine patients to obtain information on medical conditions. Most importantly they diagnose their patients with the correct diagnose. The counsel patients and analyze their mental disorder to discuss with psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and other professionals. The education to become a psychiatrists it is requires to graduate college, get your master’s degree, Ph.D., M.D,, or J.D. The most a psychiatrist will make in a year would be up to a median of $180,000. This occupation employee on an average of 1,700 people in Pennsylvania. From all of the information I shared with you from above, becoming a psychiatrist is definitely number one on my list. What is a veterinarian? A Veterinarian is a doctor who diagnoses and treats diseases and dysfunctions of an animal. They research develop certain things of the animals. They could inspect livestock. Veterinarians exam and determine that diseases or injuries of the animal. Provide care to a wide verity of animals such a horses or exotic birds. They also educate the public about diseases that can be spread from animals to humans. Being a veterinarian seems like a tough job. From having to attend tons of meetings, lectures, conferences, and still having to continue education courses. To becom e a veterinarian you must graduate college, get your master’s degree, Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. you would making between $55,820 and $148,290 a year. In 2008, this occupation employed at least 2,700 people in Pennsylvania. To become a veterinarian would be so wonderful just because I love and care about animals so much. Helping a person is the most important thing a person can do. I don’t know about anyone else but when I help someone it makes me feel so much better about myself just because I know that person is happy because I helped them. That’s why I chose to become a surgeon. There are so many pros to becoming a surgeon. I would say the only consequence on becoming a surgeon would have to be having someone die while they’re in surgery. A surgeon treats diseases, helps the injured and most importantly keeps a person living. They always analyze a patient’s medical history, medication allergies, physical condition, and exam the patient to get the corr ect results before surgery. To become a surgeon you have to have active listening, I think for someone to have active listening is the most important thing just because if you’re not paying attention to one thing a person says, that could mess up your whole surgical procedure. You have to have critical thinking, use logic and reasoning to identify strengths and weakness of solutions when it comes to problems. All of the reasons above explain everything I’m good at or at least want to become good at that’s why I want to become a surgeon. While researching all of the possible careers I could acquire I have come to realize that not only is  having a career so important to the society, but you also have to enjoy the career you choose. If you do not choose the career you are fond of you will most likely end up miserable having to go to work every single day. That is why I have chosen three careers, I have about every quality or hope to have that these careers need. I would love to become a psy chiatrist. Becoming a veterinarian would be important to me because I care so much for animals. Also, if I was to become a surgeon it would be a job I would enjoy just because I would be saving lives and helping the common wealth of people. Prohibition began on January 16, 1920 and went on until the early 1930’s. During the Great Depression whiskey could be prescribed from a medical doctor. It was meant to just be for medical purposes, and if not the use of alcohol was illegal. In October 1929 the stock market crashed. A lot of people lost a lot of money. Most people also lost their houses. Marriages were torn apart, because of the lack of money. During high school everyone should at least have a vague idea of the career path they chose to take. In my perspective of life, it is all about risk. If you are not taking risks and doing something out of the box, you are not having fun, you are just an average ordinary person. As Jane Goodall has always said â€Å"If you really wan t something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way. â€Å" I have lived off of that quote because there is always something that everyone wants in life, and if you do not take advantage of your opportunities how are you supposed to accomplish what you want? There is one certain career that I want and I know that I would enjoy and love doing. Growing up I have always had a strong love for animals and I have always wanted to travel to extraordinary places. I could not imagine life without animals; they make the world a better place. Not only do I love just domestic animals, I’ve always have been intrigued by exotic animals. Have you ever wondered how exotic species act in the habitat that you are not familiar with? I think it would be a magnificent job to be an exotic veterinarian traveling the world bringing animals back to health one by one. Since I plan to become an exotic veterinarian there are several of things I will need to accomplish and require before getting licensed. I must have tons of knowledge. For example, you must know biology, customer and personal service, medicine and dentistry, mathematics – arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics; chemistry, English language. Also  the skills that are required to become a veterinarian are as such; science, active listening, critical thinking, speaking, judgment and decision making, also reading comprehension. In my personal opinion everything should be basic knowledge. During my years of high school I should be taking all of the science classes that are available, I should also be taking tons of math courses and all should be hi gher level courses. Because I took higher level courses in high school, once it is my time to attend college I will have the basic knowledge of the classes that I am required to take in order to become an exotic veterinarian. It is required that you have a 4 year bachelor’s degree as well as your veterinarian doctorate degree. Exotic veterinary hospitals also offer residency programs for those interested in specializing in the discipline. Veterinarians must obtain state licensure to practice medicine on domestic, farm and exotic animals. That means that you must pass the Veterinary Licensing Exam in order to become a veterinarian. There are many job offerings to become an exotic veterinarian every year. There are tons of colleges that are recommended for this type of career or occupation. The University of Kentucky is known for what a great veterinarian program that they have. That would be a wonderful university to attend. There are many other universities that are just as g ood as Kentucky University; however that is the college that I want to apply to. Approximately 80 percent of admitted students in veterinary schools are female. Veterinarian came from the Latin word meaning â€Å"working animals†. In the life of an exotic veterinarian working with wildlife animals, every day is a surprise with a new adventure included within the day. Approximately 80 percent of veterinarians work in private clinical practice. Any ordinary veterinary hangs out in an office all day every day with the likely hood of the most craziest thing he/she would do in one day is deworm a dog. The types of countries that I would like to travel would be Africa, Australia, India, etc. I would like to have a life worth living with people recognizing who I am and what great things I have accomplished. The starting salary for a Specialist is US$ 150,000. I would be making tons of money as well as enjoying my job. After researching and finding more and more knowledge about an exotic veterinarian I have become much more aware of the career I would like to  further in. Not only do I have more knowledge but a better understanding of the classes, people, and things I might see and do in the near future. I wouldn’t want to change my career for anything; I have my mind set on becoming and exotic veterinary. I also am much more excited about different information I have come to realize about an exotic veterinary. There is not one normal day in the life of an exotic veterinarian, and that’s what I would want my life to be like. You’re not realistically living if you don’t have an exciting adventurous life, in my opinion.

Gay Right and Gay Marriage Essay

The Gays Rights Movement has existed for over 89 years in counting since the development of the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. During the early years of the Gay Rights movement (1924-1973) it was very difficult to identify as a member of the same sex loving community because during this time it was illegal in the United States. Society didn’t accept the concept due to it being against traditional customs and norms. â€Å"The period since the late 1960s has been a time of gay liberation, more accurately, the movement of gay men and lesbian woman to overcame discrimination and gain rights in society.† (Collins & Coltrane, 2001) During the early years the LBGT community was a private and out of sight lifestyle. The history of the movement reports homosexuality was previously identified as a mental disorder of American Psychiatric Association until 1973 when it was removed. (â€Å"The American gay,† 2000-2013) According to World of Sociology (2001), â€Å"Conf lict theory emphasizes the role of coercion and power in producing social order.† (pg.118) (â€Å"Conflict theory,† 2001) â€Å"This perspective is derived from the works of Karl Marx, who saw society as fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources. When consensus exists, it is attributable to people being united around common interests, often in opposition to other groups. According to conflict theory, inequality exists because those in control of a disproportionate share of society’s resources actively defend their advantages. The masses are not bound to society by their shared values, but by coercion at the hands of those in power.† (Crossman, A., 2013) â€Å"There is also an expansion Marx’s idea that the key conflict in society was strictly economic. Today, conflict theorists find soci al conflict between any groups in which the potential for inequality  exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on. Conflict theorists note that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete against one another. The conflict theory ultimately attributes humanitarian efforts, altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic designs to control the masses, not to inherent interests in preserving society and social order. This perspective emphasizes social control, not consensus and conformity. Groups and individuals advance their own interests, struggling over control of societal resources.† (Crossman, A., 2013) After 1973 it appears that homosexuality became identified as LGBT. Nationwide legal system and religions organization felt the need to challenges and felt these acts was a constitutional violation. Sometime around the 1974, gays and lesbians were becoming present in â€Å"positions of power† like Harvey Milk who was City Commissioner of San Francisco. They were also seeking and granted domestic-partnership benefits by 1984 in California. These obstacles for the LGBT community were met with rejections and oppressions by American governments and its supporters. In 1993, many men and women were discharged from the armed forces due to â€Å"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.† By 1996 the issue of homosexuality and lesbianism had reached the Supreme Court with some achieveme nts but mostly â€Å"knock downs†. ABA Journal published an article â€Å"The Stonewall legacy: ABA Commission creates an award commemorating a key moment for LBGT rights â€Å"on February 2013. The article explains how in the late hours of June 27, 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York at the Stonewall Inn a number of patrons fought law enforcement after numerous experiences with polices raids and other forms of harassments by authority. The articles explained how the Stonewall Inn was a â€Å"well-known† gathering spot for gays in the low-profile area of New York. The patrons throw beer cans, bricks and other objects at arresting officers as they interrupted their only opportunity to socialize with other gay individuals. After experiencing countless riots, arrest and beating the patrons developed a protest known as the Stonewall Riots (movement). The individuals involved in the riot were not only gay males but lesbian (same loving females), bisexual (both sex loving) and transgender (opposite sex identifying) individuals. After about one years of the establishment of the movement gay prides were started in Chicago, Los Angles, New York and San Francisco. The progress in the  movement encouraged the LBGT (lesbian, bi, gay and transgender) individuals to begin to assert their civil rights. James J.S. Holmes, chair of the Commission of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identify/ABA reports, â€Å"The riots were a very visible and public display where the LGBT community finally made it clear it wasn’t going to accept any more repression and poor treatment.† (Filisko, 2013) As the gay bar was for many whites a refuge from homophobia, so family and church were refuges from racism for lesbians and gays of color, including racism in the white lesbian and gay community. Rather than â€Å"smashing the church† and turning their back on family, lesbians and gays of color needed to find ways to negotiate or confront homophobia in those places while at the same time negotiating racism within the gay community.† Many couples like Jack Baker and Michael McConnell or Phyllis Marshall and Grace Thornton fought so hard to fight the â€Å"coercion and power† and â€Å"the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources† specifically the church and other opposing LGBT groups who felt that their movement was either too soon or out of mainstream (outside of box). (Chenier, 2013) The current issues being address now by society and LGBT individuals seeking matrimony rights. (â€Å"The American gay,† 2000-2013) Most recently on June 26, 2013 the Supreme Court ruled that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. In a 5 to 4 vote, the court rules that DOMA violates the rights of gays and lesbians. The court also rules that the law interferes with the states’ rights to define marriage. It is the first case ever on the issue of gay marriage for the Supreme Court. (Johnson, 2013) Johnson reports that â€Å"the DOMA decision was a huge psychological and legal boost for the gay and lesbian community, but it left same-sex couples in 37 states wit h half a loaf†¦only thirteen states and the District of Columbia allow such marriage.† (Johnson, 2013) In 2000, Vermont becomes the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between gay or lesbian couples. It was stated that â€Å"couples would be entitled to the same benefits, privileges, and responsibilities as spouses.† The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide published an essay by author Elise Chenier that reported, â€Å"for the past ten years, same-sex marriage has dominated the American political landscape, but this is not the first time in history this issue has made front-page news. In 1971, The San Francisco Chronicle declared that a â€Å"gay marriage boom† was under way. In the first  few years of that decade, The New York Times, Life magazine, Jet, and other periodicals ran feature articles about a handful of couples who launched America’s first battles for legal recognition of same-sex marriage.† Chenier states â₠¬ ¦liberationists’ critique of marriage and family did not make sense for people of color, who relied on family and church for their everyday survival, even as they battled homophobia within them. Gay marriage is a topic that I have had to experience in my personal life when my two childhood friends of twenty years decided to have a marriage ceremony/party in Washington, DC. This party was held about three year ago and they have been dating for two years. After college both of my friends attended Morris Brown College in Georgia. They sent out invites and made announcements for the gathering of friends and love one. My family and I were not aware that they were a same sex couple let alone seeking marriage equality. When we all arrived in Georgia we thought it was a celebration party because they both are successful defense attorneys in Georgia. I was very surprise to see an altar, ceremony minister, flowers and a detailed tuxedo for me. They pulled me and my wife to the side and asked if I was willing to participate in their special day. We were really good friends in high school so against my strict Christian upbringing I participated in the ceremony. Unfortunately, before the grooms could exchange vows and commit themselves to one another the media busted into the location and started taking pictures and causing issues. I felt this was a private and interment ceremony for my friends and it would not end well. A crowd of protestors and media gathered outside. Law enforcement was contacted and some protestors and ceremony members including one of my friends were arrested. My couple plans to get married in the 2014 after ruling of unconstitutional of DOMA and I plan to be front and center. I was enraged at the disrespect these two successful guys had experience at the hands of inequality. After speaking with my friends about the aftermath, experiencing the inequality first-hand and completing this assignment. It is definitely obvious that the progress the Gay Rights Advocates has made toward demanding equal and I feel obligated to promote equality for all people. Reference Chenier, E. (2013). Gay marriage, 1970s style. The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, 20(2), 19+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA321900004&v=2.1&u=lom_kentdl&it=r&p=GRGM&sw=w Cohen, L. (2013). The federal role in the family. Commentary, 136(2), 7+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA341125184&v=2.1&u=lom_kentdl&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=30b2787a87635f60db13fe9df042a70a Coltrane, S., & Collins, R. (2001). Sociology of marriage & the family, gender, love, and property. (5th ed). Canada: Wadsworth Pub Co. Crossman, A. (2013). Conflict Theory: Overview. About.com online. Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Conflict-Theory.htm. Filisko, G. M. (2013, February). The Stonewall legacy: ABA Commission creates an award commemorating a key moment for LGBT rights. ABA Journal, 99(2), 57+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA318106223&v=2.1&u=lom_kentdl&it=r&p=GRGM&sw=w Johnson, F. (2013). DOMA Didn’t Go Away–It Just Went Local. National Journal. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA344159967&v=2.1&u=lom_kentdl&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=7d18e04c20680c7230095f8f3e1baab5 Palmisano, J. (Eds.). (2001). World of sociology, (vol. 2). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline. (n.d.). Infoplease.com online. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html.