Argument for Increasing American Immigration Essay -- Argumentative Ess

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. This inscription, which is found on the Statue of Liberty, greeted years of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island to America. It describes the idealized view of the United States as a nation of immigrants, where anyone can achieve the American dream. However, does this accurately describe our immigration policy today? Our current policy is better described by this version, written by Chris Willey (Willey et al.): Give me your athletes, your scientists, Your artists, writers, and actors, Your politicians and businessmen. Send these, the best and brightest, to me. To these lies open the golden door: You can keep the rest. Under current U.S. immigration laws, it is not difficult for those immigrants labeled as desirable to receive admittance. The Immigration Act of 1990 created new categories of immigrants. "Within the employment category, first preference was given to aliens ‘with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, multinational executives'..." (Richmond 143). It may be true that these creative and skilled people have just as much of a right to pursue the American dream as anyone else. But do we, as Americans, have the moral right to exclude the needy from our country? Refugees have two basic choices. They can return to their home country, or they can try to settle in another country. Most refugees, however, cannot return home because conditions in their native country have not changed sufficiently to eliminate the problems from whi... ...ess, Boulder, CO, 1996. The Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1989. Hunter, Gordon, ed. Immigrant Voices. Signet Classic, New York, NY, 1999. North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance. Environmental Facts. http://ntbox.owr.ehnr.state.nc.us/earthday/facts.htm. Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill, Boston, 1999. Richmond, Anthony. Global Apartheid. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1994. Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1993. Social Contract Press. The Social Contract Archives. http://www.thesocialcontract.com Willey, Chris; Saunier, David; and Mendez, Garry. Reinscribing the Statue of Liberty. Horizon Magazine, Jan 1998. http://www.horizonmag.com/pictorial/liberty.htm

Universal Human Rights Essay -- Human Rights

Are Human Rights a phenomenon without merit or a crucial aspect of our inter-governmental/inter-societal system? Some would argue that the foundation of human rights contradicts the means. For instance, when discussing the use of the term â€Å"Universal Human Rights,† we often forget that the term â€Å"universal† instigates nations to follow under one set doctrine of particular principles (Ronin, Bruce, and Hurd, 2008). The contradiction lies within the entity which promotes said norms, the United Nations; within it, the international non-governmental entity seeks out ways of promoting their vision of a world bound by a code of conduct and a common goal of peace and co-existence. The problem is how does one go about doing implementing human rights on a universal scale while respecting a state’s right to sovereignty and direction of law (Orford, 2003)? And by extension, how does the international community as a whole work towards enforcing said principles if a s tate opposes it? These questions act as the foundation of an argument that is shared throughout the international community; who has the right to implement and enforce human rights norms and by what authority shall that entity utilize to complete such an objective? Argument/Analysis First of all, let us analyze the global political system in its current form as to fully grasp the convoluted nature of international politics. One could argue that the ever changing global political scene is directly attributed to the multilateral approach to dealing with issues relevant to state sovereignty and intervention. In this instance, nation states often take it upon themselves to directly address particular conflicts oceans away. In other cases, we notice that the United Nations, a non-go... ... it. Whether by the strength of an individual state or the wit of an international organization, upholding human rights must be the primary goal when determining the need for intervention. Works Cited 1) Valentino, Benjamin A. 2011. "The True Costs of Humanitarian Intervention." Foreign Affairs (6.60) 2) Daalder, Ivo H. 2007. Beyond Preemption: Force and Legitimacy in a Changing World. Brookings Institution Press. 3) Ronin, Bruce, and Ian Hurd. 2008. UN Security Council and the Politics of International Authority. Taylor & Francis Routledge 4) Orford, A. (2003). Reading Humanitarian Intervention: Human Rights and the Use of Force in International Law. Cambridge University Press. 5) Donnelly, Jack. 1984. "HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY: Law, Morality and Politics." Journal of International Affairs 37, no. 2: 311.

Civil War 9 Essays -- essays research papers

Many developments in social life and the constitution amounted to a revolution between 1860 and 1877. Some of the major events that took place during this time period were the secession of the southern states, Civil War, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendment, and reconstruction. In 1860, South Carolina declared their causes of secession. South Carolina was the first state to secede, and their main reason was that their powers were restrained by the federal government. They felt they were not sovereign, and therefore needed to secede. In the 1860’s, the nation continued to struggle to become united. Congress introduced the new banking and currency systems. Senator John Sherman commended this because he was a strong believer in national unity. He believed that everything should be nationalized because putting state authority above national authority would be "the main instrument by which our government is sought to be overthrown." The blacks at this time were persistently struggling for their civil rights. They declared that they should have the privilege of voting because they fought in the war to preserve the union. In a petition, American citizens of African descent stated that " It (the government) can afford to trust him with a vote as safely as it trusted him with a bayonet." At this time they did not have full protection from the courts, nor did the courts receive a black person’s testimony. In 1865, the blacks did not receive homesteads...

Many Forms of Plagiarism :: Cheating Writing Education Essays

Many Forms of Plagiarism missing works cited One of the main goals of teachers everywhere is to guide their students to write in a narrative style that carries the reader along logically. Their job is to teach writing skills to enhance this and to help them along their learning journey. In most cases, this begins at an early age with the typical, â€Å"What I did on my summer vacation† story that almost everyone wrote every September in Grammar School. Slowly but surely, the stories got longer and as time did not permit in the classroom, they were being assigned homework. Once the student was out of the watchful eye of the teacher, control over how a student’s story was written was lost. If a student isn’t too imaginative, or is lazy, or waits until the last minute and panics, he or she may look at an alternative way of doing a paper as opposed to doing it themselves. They could have a friend write it, get one from someone in a similar course or, now in the age of the computer simply download one in a matter of seconds. All these dishonest methods of obtaining a paper are forms of plagiarism. It’s when you sign your name to someone else’s work, either in full or in part and there can be severe consequences. To combat the increasing ease of committing plagiarism, educators have had to become just as innovative as their students. Plagiarism exists throughout the educational life of students. It is kind of a test to the student to not participate in this illegal and immoral activity. Though this is a tough challenge to resist, it will make you a better student if you don’t cheat. Not only will this resistance make you a better student; it will ultimately make you a better person later on in your life. This will be the case when you get a career in which you will be responsible to make your own decisions, without the aid of any help. Most jobs no matter what they are, require some type of independent work. If someone plagiarizes throughout their life they will be in a lot of trouble once they get out of University by being unable to perform their job on their own. Plagiarism exists in many forms. The following are examples of plagiarism cases according to Brock University.

Killing Animals for Food

#13 Fajardo, Jeanne Dagny ENGLCOM WC C39 Process of the Argumentative Essay Animals should have rights too. I do not mean the same rights and morals as a human being, but a right to be free from harm by human beings. Animals just like humans experience emotions and pain. In the wild, they must protect themselves, but when up against human beings, they do not have the power that we do, and often lose their homes or get killed without any other choice for survival. We should treat animals, as we would want to be treated.Animals cannot have the same rights as humans. They cannot enter our society or make moral choices. They do not know right from wrong, as we do. Killing animals for food is something we have practiced for many of years to survive. Many people like this is a part of our survival, just as animals do. There are several areas where there has been a lack of natural predators, to control the animal population, causing safety concerns by hunting. Many hunters feel they can con trol the ecosystem by hunting.Once hunters obtain a permit, there is no cost, they can hunt for food, or enjoy it as a sport without paying any money. However, humans are just another species of animals and should share the right of freedom. Animals are defenseless and we control them. Even if animals are being hunted or used in slaughter homes, they should be able to live a natural life during their limited lifetime. Animals do not volunteer to tests that can be done using alternative methods. Using an alternative method will also speed up the process, allowing drugs to be approved faster, as well as using fewer animals.Animals should be treated with love and compassion. Many people get pets for their children or maybe it just sounds like a good idea at the time. Animals that people receive for free are more likely to get abandoned because the people thinking they have nothing to lose. When you bring an animal home, you are bringing home a life, a living creature. This is a big com mitment that you should be willing to make. Animals require just as much love and attention as children do.When people leave their pets outside, this is unfair when people keep them locked up on chains outside, they cannot go and find a warm place to sleep when it is cold, or a safe place to stay, they cannot use their natural instincts when we restrict them. Animals are just like humans experiencing the same pain and emotions. They rely on us for the comfort and safety. We should not harm animals. They should have the right to freedom, just as we do. Animals should not be used in testing. They should not be hunted, and should be treated with love.

Performance Measurement Systems Essay

Performance Measurement Systems Performance measurement systems are an integral part of the management control systems. Management control is a process through which management ensures that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in accomplishing the organization’s goals. To be most effective performance measures should be tied to the strategic objectives of the organization. Two key principles of performance measurements are; measurement of performance and compensation based on measured performance. The goal of performance measurement system is to implement strategies. A performance measurement system is simply a mechanism that improves the likelihood the organization will implement its strategy successfully. Any performance measurement system blends the financial information and non-financial information with each other. In setting up such systems, the senior management selects measures that best represent the company’s strategy and these measures can be seen as current and future critical success factors. Uses of Performance Measurement According to Behn (2003) the uses of performance measurement are as follows: 1) To evaluate. To evaluate performance, the senior managers need to determine what a business unit manager is supposed to accomplish. 2) To control. Performance measurement can ensure the senior managers that their subordinates are doing the right thing. 3) To budget. Sometimes budgets increase could be the answer to improving performance. 4) To motivate. Performance measurement systems give people significant goals to achieve and then use performance measures—including interim targets—to focus people’s thinking and work and to provide periodic sense of accomplishment. ) To celebrate. By achieving specific goals, people gain sense of personal accomplishment and selfworth. 6) To promote. To convince the stockholders that their organization is doing good, manages need easily understood measures of those aspects of performance about which many stockholders personally care 7) To learn. Learning is involved with some process, of analysis information provided from evaluating corporat e performance (identifying what works and what does not). By analyzing that information, corporation able to learn reasons behind its poor or good performance. 8) To improve. In order for corporations to measure what it wants to improve it first need to identify what it will improve and develop processess to accomplish that. Performance measurement systems develop a feedback to assess with plans to achieve improvements and to determine if those processess create forecasted results (improvements). Limitations of Financial Control Systems 1. It may encourage short-term actions that are not in the company’s long-term interests. . Business managers may not undertake useful long-term actions, in order to obtain short-term profits. 3. Using short-term profit as the objective can distort communication between a business unit manager and senior management. 4. Tight financial control may motivate managers to manipulate data. Comprehensive Performance Measures Comprehensive performance measures must address: 1. Financial performance 2. Custome r satisfaction 3. Internal business process developments and 4. Allow an organization to learn and grow. Financial Performance can be measured by: 1. Residual measures (accounting profit measures) such as net income, operating profit, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) 2. Ratio income (accounting return measures) such as Return on Investment (ROI), Return on Net Assets (RONA), or Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC). Customer-related measures 1. Bookings 2. Back orders 3. Market share 4. Key account orders 5. Customer satisfaction 6. Customer retention 7. Customer loyalty Internal Business Process Measures 1. Capacity utilization 2. On-time delivery 3. Inventory turnover 4. Quality 5. Cycle time Learning and Growth measures 1. Learning and growth identifies the infrastructure an organization must build to create long-term growth and improvement. 2. Growth comes from: people, systems and organizational procedures. Implementing a Performance Measurement Systems Implementation of a performance measurement system involves four general steps: 1. Define Strategy: * The BSC builds a link between strategy and operational action. * Therefore, it begins with the strategy first, to achieve the goals and objectives. 2. Define Measures of Strategy: The next step is to develop the measures to support the formulated strategy. * The organization must focus on a few critical measures and should not overload with the measures. * And importantly, the measures should be linked with each other in a cause and effect manner. 3. Integrate measures into the management system: * The scorecard must be integrated with the organization’s formal and informal structures, cultu re and human resource practices. 4. Review measures and results frequently: once the scorecard is implemented and running, the senior management should review is constantly. The organization should look for the following: * How the organization is is doing according to the outcome measures? * How the organization is is doing according to the driver measures? * How has the organization’s strategy changed since the last review? * How has the scorecard measures changed? Difficulties in implementation Performance Measurement Systems 1. Poor correlation between non-financial measures and results 2. Fixation on financial results 3. Measures are not updated 4. Measures are overloaded 5. Difficulty in establishing trade-offs

“With Liberty and Justice for All”

An opinion of the social inequality that exists as it pertains to Gay Marriage Aimee L. Vroman Strayer University Online Introduction to Sociology SOC 100-015016 Professor Paul Humenik August 22, 2010 Abstract In recent years, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown from an issue that occasionally arose in a few states to a nationwide controversy. Indeed, in the last five years, the debate over gay marriage has been heard in the halls of the U. S.Congress, at the White House, in dozens of state legislatures and courtrooms, and in the rhetoric of election campaigns at both the national and state levels. Moreover, the battle over whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to wed shows no signs of abating. In the last year alone, three states have banned same-sex marriage and four states have legalized the practice. The time for debate is now over. The issue of gay marriage is not one of religious degradation, social erosion, or even ethical breakdown. It is an issue of inalienable rights guaranteed to all citizens of this country.The fact that our federal government does not recognize gay marriages is an atrocity and shameful at best. â€Å"The foundation to gay rights will ultimately be seen as the right to marry, because with that right firmly established in law, most other forms of discrimination could not be justified. † (Bidstrup, Why Gays Should Be Allowed To Marry, 1996) When we as a society look outwards, we see everything that we can do to help other societies attain our level of justice, personal and financial success, freedoms, and everything else that comes with our knowledge and perseverance.However, if we as a society were to look inward at ourselves (something that I am confident that only a small percentage of our society is willing to do) and at our society as a whole, would we see it in a different light? Would we see that even after fifty years of civil rights and equal opportunity that we still oppress and treat some groups of our society as second class citizens? Our country’s Bill of Rights has been modified by Constitutional Amendments to say the each and every American citizen has certain inalienable rights.The right to be married is one that we Americans hold near and dear to our hearts. Why then, is this particular right denied to the gay community? One of the biggest and loudest arguments against gay marriage in this country is that it is against God and that it is against what it says in the Bible (The Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve argument). Yes, this country was founded on Christian principles and laws that were perceived to be fair to all of its citizenry. However, this is not the seventeen hundreds nor is it the time of the Inquisition.This is the so called Modern Era, in which not only technology and finance are supposed to be upgraded and ever changing for the better but also societal acceptance of people that are different from what we perceive as mainstream and the societal norm. How can there be societal justice for the gay community when we as a society, who proclaim ourselves to be enlightened and forward thinking, deny even this most basic of rights to the gay community? The answer is simple; there can be no societal justice for the gay community in this aspect.What if we were to turn the tables on society and tell everyone that is not a part of the gay community that their marriages, civil unions, and other forms of partnership were invalid and no longer existed in the eyes of the government? There would be a societal upheaval. Anarchy would ensue and the government would be dismantled by the people. Later, when the people had decided that there had been enough chaos, reformed by the people and for the people. The only reason this has not happened with the gay community is because they are the minority in this case.For centuries of our country’s history, we have been guilty of oppressing and even enslaving the minorities within our society, to say n othing of denying them the inalienable rights called for in our own Constitution. Over time, those minorities that have fought and fought hard for these rights have eventually been afforded these rights by Constitutional Amendments. Yet still, here we sit in the twenty-first century, and we still cannot see past our own biases and our deep rooted fears of anything that is different or contrary to us.At the end of the day, our opposition to gay marriage stems ultimately from a deep-seeded homophobia in our culture and society, borne almost entirely out of religious prejudice. While many of us do not realize that homophobia exists to the extent that it does, it is a very real part of every gay person's life, just like racism is a very real part of every African American’s life. It is there, it is pervasive, and it has far more serious consequences for our society than most of us realize, not just for gay people, but for society in general.This religious prejudice comes from sev eral well known entities. Those entities include, but are not limited to, the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, the American Family Association, and Focus on the Family, and the most conservative of Protestant sects. Together with their various political subsidiary groups, a whole host of smaller right-wing political and religious organizations, and a few out-right hate groups, they are shaping national and local policy towards the gay community.They spend millions of dollars twisting and deforming referendums, propositions, and other local instruments of law solely for the purpose of fear mongering to scare the populace into line at the polls. It is these kinds of tactics being employed that are outdated and flat out wrong in the moral and ethical sense. They say that money corrupts; well the proof is in the proverbial pudding. The fear mongering turns into unparalleled hate and it is fueled by these so called â€Å"Christian† organizations. This is contrary to the Christi an way of life and contrary to the convictions of a Christian.Hatred by itself, dressed up as religious dogma has been used for so long that it is beginning to lose its effectiveness (eventually people begin to figure out that it is mostly a tactic for filling pews, collection plates and campaign coffers more than it is a way of reforming lost souls and improving society), so the more clever of these organizations have begun to move onto a slick propaganda effort based on that long-time favorite winner, fear (Bidstrup, Gay Marriage: The Arguments and Motives, 2009). The time for rhetoric and Bible thumping is over. Our country had its time of religious revolution.It is now time for every person, regardless of gender, race, religious belief, or sexual orientation, to be given the rights that our laws and traditions provide. This idea has been the cornerstone of our society and our nation for hundreds of years. â€Å"We cannot accept the view that Amendment 2's prohibition on specifi c legal protections does no more than deprive homosexuals of special rights. To the contrary, the amendment imposes a special disability on those persons alone. Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint. (Kennedy, Stevens, O'Connor, Souter, Ginsburg, & Breyer, 1996) In the Supreme Court opinion that this quote is taken from, it says very plainly that a state (Colorado in this case) cannot prevent any group of persons from taking part in any public or private transaction. Though this case was hotly debated over the next fifteen years, Colorado in 2007 passed a law prohibiting any discrimination against homosexuals. Now if one state can do this and then another and then another, why is it so hard for our federally elected officials to do the same thing?The only answer that I can give is the activists, hate groups, and church lobbyists that throw millions of dollars into the coffers of our Senators and Congressman. This dirty money en sures that once again they will get elected and that once again they will vote to keep the gay community as second class citizens. This state of affairs is unacceptable. The time for change is now. Freedom is the right of every American regardless of gender, race, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation. It is high time that we, as a society, stand up and say in one unified voice, â€Å"This is wrong and we are not going to stand for it any longer!Works CitedBidstrup, S. (2009, June 3). Gay Marriage: The Arguments and Motives. Retrieved August 19, 2010, from Bidstrup. com: http://www. bidstrup. com/marriage. htm Bidstrup, S. (1996, December 4).Why Gays Should Be Allowed To Marry. Retrieved August 18, 2010, from Bidtrsup. com: http://www. bidstrup. com/hawaii. htm Kennedy, A. M. , Stevens, J. P. , O'Connor, S. D. , Souter, D. H. , Ginsburg, R. B. , & Breyer, S. G. (1996, October 20).Supreme Court Bound Volume 517. Retrieved August 18, 2010, from United States Supreme Court : http://www. supremecourt. gov/opinions/boundvolumes/517bv. pdf