Jamar Dynamometer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Jamar Dynamometer - Assignment Example William A. Hammond MD sought after lifting up the condition of neurologists on top of that of universal practitioners, partially by the utilization of complicated tools like that of the handgrip dynamometer in addition to dynamograph. The community who invented these machines was time and again the individuals who utilized them, like that of the Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Dr. William Hammond and Sir Francis Galton. There is limited information in relation to early on potency evaluation tools. a large number of the prehistoric writings have been mislaid throughout the wars in which the libraries have been damaged, like that of the library within Alexandria, which at its climax around 330 B.C. is alleged to have infatuated more than 700,000 papyrus rolls . The main objective of this assignment is to be able to create a document containing details regarding the assessment of grip strength using a Jamar Dynamometer as a standardized tool and Manual Muscle Strength as a non-standardized tool. Lately the American Society of Hand Therapists signified that a consistent arm positioning for hand strength tests, accomplished that the position of the upper limit may manipulate measurements, moreover suggested that the patient ought to be sitting with his shoulder objectively revolved, elbow bend at 90' plus the forearm with wrist in neutral position. While checking the capricious of wrist position, (RW, 1990) established no important variation in grip strength by test positions at 0' also 15' ulnar variation, 0' with 15' dorsiflexion, or else whichever grouping of these. The Jamar dynamometer had the maximum calibration accurateness of all the instruments checked. In most of the cases the arm ought to not be sustained by the inspector or else by a support. For grip strength determination, the dynamometer is placed vertically also in stripe with the forearm to preserve the typical forearm also wrist positions. For reliability, the handle of Jamar dynamometer is fixed at the seco nd handle position 3.8 cm for all the subjects. The protocol: To reduce the influences of the body position upon grip strength assessments, the normal protocol recommended by the American Society of Hand Therapists was utilized. With reference to them, a subject must be sitting within a straight backside chair with no arm rests amid the feet flat on the flooring, the shoulder within a neutral rotation as well as flexion. The elbow ought to be contracted to 900 by the forearm also wrist within neutral position. The protocol for the management of the dynamometer in the estimation of the grip strength together with the description of how to formulate the finest utilization of the calculated indexes, for experimental documentation functions together with

Public Sector Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Public Sector Management - Essay Example The public sector company I am going to speak about is one of the prominent companies in the Caribbean region, the name of which has been asked not to be revealed. During the work in this company, I have become the witness of the way the corporate governance was performed. According to the information I had been by my colleague, the process of implementing new corporate governance strategy has been implemented since the year of 1981, when the word combination 'corporate governance' has not yet been implemented and has been known only to a few people. The need in implementing this strategy lied in the fact that the government has been facing the necessity of merging this public sector company with another one, which put under the threat the future of many workers. That's why the Board of Directors decided to combine various corporate governance initiatives. The first step in implementation of the governance initiatives was the issue of the limited stock meant for the managers of the c ompany as a part of their employment contract. Through this step the Board sincerely hoped that this would unite the managers with the company and would encourage them work for the benefit of this company, with building solid and long-term relations with the key shareholders. This set of initiatives was later followed by the granting the tag-along rights to all shareholders. From the critical point of view, tying the managers to the company as its shareholders may both work for the benefit and for the failure of the company. On the one hand - making managers shareholders of the company they work in may really encourage them for better achievements; on the other hand, people don't always understand the importance of being a shareholder, which means that not all workers, becoming shareholders will display better working results. However, it is very important for the managers to create solid relations with the investors and shareholders, which means that being a shareholder themselves will only help them in this process. The Board of Directors has implemented a new capital share structure. This new structure allowed involving the minority shareholders to the governance process, which also assisted in maintaining the new capital share structure. The governance structure of the company described, seek to align the interests of the executive employers and the shareholders. The main guidance of the corporate governance of the company lies in the belief that effective system of governance supports the confidence of the shareholders and becomes a proper basis for the correct functioning in any public sector. It does not matter, whether the enterprise belongs to the public or private sector. These laws are applicable to all spheres of business. For example, one of the most effective steps in improving corporate governance was equalizing the dividend treatment between the preferred and the common shareholders. In this process to align the interests of the shareholders and the executives made the Board of th e company establish a system of executive compensation which has been closely connected with the shareholder value creation. Since the year 2000, the bonuses which the executive workers received in their normal process of work, has been closely

Debt in Australia, Monetary Policy Essay Example for Free

Debt in Australia, Monetary Policy Essay Introduction It is imperative that the Australian households’ debt have noticeably risen over the past two decades, and is currently rated high according to international standards. The sharp increase in housing debt has been the reason for the rise in the household debt. Increased availability of housing finance, strong demand for debt from investors, and lower interest rates are the main drivers of the rising housing debt. The households’ net worth and servicing ratios will be discussed in this paper as the impacts on the higher household debt levels. The impacts of the instability in global capital markets will be discussed in this paper in relation to the housing finance market in Australia. Lastly, the implications of the rising household debt will be discussed in relation to the financial stability and monetary policy. Trends in household debt It is important to note that Australian households had a fairly stable ratio of debt to disposable income at approximately 45% during the 1980s. However, rapid rise in the ratio of debt to disposable income was recorded since 1990, with it reaching optimum of 157% in December 2007. The bulk of the increase was accounted for by the housing debt, that is, over the period, the ratio of the housing debt to disposable income rose to 134% from 31%. It was also recorded over the same period, a rise in the ratio of personal debt to disposable income to 22% from 13%. A sharp rise in the ratio of debts to assets was recorded at 17% in December 2007, from 8% in December 1989 (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). A sharp rise in household indebtedness in a number of advanced economies has been witnessed over the last two decades. It is however, noted that the increase in household debt in Australia is pronounced. The Australia’s ratio in household debt to income was recorded as the highest in December 2007 despite Australia recording as one of the countries with the household debt lowest ratio to disposable income among advanced economies in the late 1980s. It is also imperative to point out that among advanced economies; Australia rose from the bottom position to the middle number in terms of the ratio of household debt to assets over the same period (Berry Dalton, 2009). Housing finance market Focus on the housing finance market is emphasized in this paper because the housing debt in households’ total debt is dominant. An average of 15% in the annual growth in housing debt was recorded since 1990. In the periods, 1988-1989, 1994, and 2002-2004 strong growth in housing debt was recorded. This strong growth in the growth in housing debt was faster than the growth in the disposable income of households over the same period that stood at an average of 6% only (Berry Dalton, 2009). Significant growth in house prices accompanied the sharp increase in the housing debt. Over the period 1987 and 1988, the house prices doubled, however, during the first half of the 1990s the house prices drifted slowly higher, with the house prices doubling more between 1997 and late 2003. Continuous increase in aggregate house prices was recorded since late 2003; however, the trend varies markedly across the country, for instance, house prices in Perth increased strongly, while the house prices in Sydney decreased over time. The boom in resources supports the varied trends in house prices across the country (Berry Dalton, 2009). A number of factors accounts to the rising house debt in Australia over the past years, with lower interest rates accounting for high borrowing by the households whenever they take their housing loan out. This trend has been responsible for the rise in the average size of new loans, which results into the rise in the average size of outstanding loans over time. The availability of housing finance has resulted into the rise in the capacity of households to borrow finances (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). Financial health of households It is noted that the historic sharp increase in the Australia’s disposable income in December 2007 was accounted by the strong rise in the housing debt in Australia over the past fifteen years. It was however, pointed out that only a few households had difficulties in repaying their debt obligations, despite the historic sharp increase in the housing debt in December 2007 (Berry Dalton, 2009). Impact of the turbulence in global capital market It is significant to note that the housing finance market in Australia has suffered greatly as a result of the global capital markets’ turbulence. This is because half of the total funding for financial institutions in Australia is accounted for by the deposits. The foreign and domestic capital markets the balance in the Australian financial institutions. There has been significant rise in the mortgage rates, and significant change in the markets shares from lenders, due to this, there is limited restriction to the overall supply of housing finance (Berry Dalton, 2009). Significant reduction in some forms of capital market funding as well as significant rise in the most of the forms of capital market funding have resulted from the turbulence in the financial market. It is however, noted that the impact of the financial market turbulence have been felt in a number of securitization markets. Securitization markets over the past decade or so, have established itself into as a significant source of funding for housing loans in Australia. In mid 2007 for example, outstanding securitization housing finance loans had accounted for 23% (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). This was a significant rise from the mid 1990s 5% housing finance loans that were securitized. A number of loans from mortgage originators were being securitized. Institutions like credit union, regional banks, and building societies had adopted securitization of their loans since it was a cost effective way of wholesale funding (Wilkins Wooden, 2009). The onset of the global financial turbulence in July 2007, led to significant close of the securitization market. There were significant rise prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to 75 basis points in December 2007 from approximately 15 basis points in mid-2007. It is imperative to point out that Australia’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) accounted for the issuance of a number of Australian Asset-backed Securities (ABS) that extends on AAA-rated senior tranches (Berry Dalton, 2009). There was significant spread in the subordinated AAA-rated tranches that increased to approximately 110 basis points from approximately 20 basis points. It is significant to point out that despite the sharp increase in the spreads, investors in Australia has never encountered losses on rated Australian RMBS, coupled with the housing market in Australia remaining healthy. The investors have become more concerned with the product itself, as discounts are attached to all the sales of securitized products. The selling of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by several structured investment vehicles (SIVs) has also created excess supply in the secondary market (Berry Dalton, 2009). Implications for financial stability and monetary policy It significant to point out the access to credit by the household sector has greatly increased courtesy of financial innovation and deregulation. The households in Australia have become more comfortable to take loans owing to the ongoing strong performance of the economy (Berry Dalton, 2009). Â  The balance sheets of households have remained in good health despite the significant rise in the household debt; this has resulted into significant rise in asset-value capable of offsetting the rise in debt. It is also significant to note that macroeconomic conditions in the economy are also favorable. References Berry, M., Dalton, T. (2009). Mortgage default in Australia nature, causes and social and economic impacts. Melbourne: AHURI. Wilkins, R., Wooden, M. (2009). Household Debt In Australia: The Looming Crisis That Isnt. Australian Economic Review , 42(3), 358-366.

The Punishment Of Murder In The Uk Criminology Essay

The Punishment Of Murder In The Uk Criminology Essay A crime specifies that there are constantly changing ideas, perceptions, and conceptions regarding what constitutes criminal behaviour. The topic that is a constant treat to the United Kingdom is what generates a murder to form, what kind of people be liable to perform these unlawful acts and furthermore other characteristics that may be the causation of the crime. Theses are the questions that the UK is prompt with at the moment and looking at these through a criminologist prospective we shall reveal what are the characteristics of unlawful crime of murder and furthermore the if capital punishment that should be indulged upon a murder. Murder is defined as The unlawful killing of another human being under the queens peace with malice forethought  [1]  . This definition provides an understanding of what the law states of murder; and furthermore shows that a person needs to have intention of committing murder. But the issue that constitutes is what makes a murderer to commit violent and unlawful acts. A criminologist would state that the background of the murderers comprise in a murder killing, but there is mainly a combination of factors that help perform these unlawful acts and they are biological, psychological, social, and economic. A criminologist would state that a lower class group or an lower class individual at the age of 16 20 tend to commit murders outstanding to the monetary or the social backgrounds and society they perpetrate in but issues are taken into account for mandate is the background reasons that build up unlawful acts of a murderer are a result in a combination of anger, jealously, revenge, pride or greed. But furthermore some murderers of a lower class mandate are a desire for control, revenge, and power. Frequently these factors when endorse is a potential of criminal activities of an individual. A criminologist would state that an incorporation of these factors is behind a person who has the mens rea in committing a crime. Also a murderer shall be classe d in accordance to the manner of how the murder was performed and inflicted upon another human being. The categorical area a murderer is put into is a serial killer, mass murder and spree killer. A serial killer is defined as individuals who have a history of multiple killing of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. Their crimes are committed as a result of a pressure that consistently has roots in the killers; a serial killer tends to commit a murder crime in one location and it was stated by Holmes and De Burger  [2]  .  [3]  Whereas a mass murderer commits murder of multiple numbers of people, this may be performed by a one person or a group of people.  [4]  The last form of murder killing is spree killing, spree killing is stated as a killing of two or more killing and commit murder in more that one location unlike serial killing and furthermore there is no break between the murders.  [5]  A murderer tends to commit crimes against a certain individuals for purposeful reasons. The types of people a murderer would target to victimisation of murder are pensioners for valuable items, it is mainly a sociological reason being money and the reason they may be murdered as they can not be seen as fighting back for they life. A lowers class person between an age group of 16-20 year old are likely to commit crimes and are helpless to getting murdered depending on the crimes they are committing and babies are a constant treat as the current British official statistics on babies changeability increasing from a total of 15% in the period of 2008 and 2009  [6]  . This shows that babies are targeted as vulnerable victims. Furthermore The British crime statistics show that homicide has been at a high but is dramatically dropping, through out the period of that 2000-2009. The official statistics illustrates the figures decreasing from 1,047 to 615 homicides this shows that most murders have decreased but the factor that needs to be taken into account is that capital pu nishments were at a high death ratio within that period and the punishments of death penalties have changed dramatically as there are more helping public bodies providing support towards the police stopping a crime of murder before it transpires. Looking at the homicide statistics of crime it is categorised into manslaughter, murder and infanticide, so this does not provide an understanding on how murders tend to be committed without the two categories and does not distinguish how much murders are happening each year. The other factor that is raised from the statistics state that men are mainly being killed at a high level that women as the percentage of men being killed for homicide is 39 % whereas female victims homicide are at a percentage of 11%  [7]  . This illustrates that men are more likely to be killed than women regarding to murder. Some theorist would state that the results of these deaths come from sociological, biological functionalism theories. The history of theor ies helps distinguish what is the causation of crime and furthermore the performance of crime. The theory of functionalism is a theoretical perspective of sociology.   Sociology examines the situations in which people live and how these situations affect them. Some writers may state that the way a person lives should not affect the way a person reacts towards a high crime of murder. Sociology examines the question of why the world is the way that it is.  Functionalism looks at society through a functional framework which stresses on everything; the functionalism method is an objective social world with similarity between the individual human being and society. Functionalisms look at the positivity of the society and always see the good in everything  [8]  . Some theorist may look at the point at looking at society as a positive way, this quote may not please peoples views towards positivity depending on what problematic issues people have been through in the past and furthermore people may not like the way society as treated an individual. The biological positivist looks at the offenders persons characteristics, this was popularised by the work of Lombroso  [9]  . Lombroso attempted to distinguish between different types of human individuals with classification of racial and biological differences. Lombroso wanted to establish a link between criminality by particular traits which correspond to various stages of human evolution. Lombroso stated that a criminal can be identified through a stigma of physical attributes such as, low intellect, high cheekbones and large ears, extra nipples, fingers or toes, an asymmetric jaw and finally tattoos, Lombroso had also stated that these criminals behaved in a different way for example low inability in the following factors, no social and moral issues, no differentiate between right and wrong, no guilt or remorse, no feelings towards other people and no form of any relationship.  [10]  So if a criminologist would look at Lombroso factors, there would be disagreements to th e issues raised by the theorist as the physical features of a human should not be predicted or labeled when born of them physical attributes. This may amount to people being sentences do death without the need of any evidence enclosure. Furthermore people may get the physical features of what was stated by Lombroso as to accidents, which may label a person as being a criminal. So it was tested by Goring  [11]  on a group and there was no significant behavior but it was criticised that Goring did not have a proper control group and the criminal samples contained mostly mentally disturbed people but he also accepted the fact that the environment does contribute to the growth of criminal behaviour.  [12]  the legal theorist basically stated that the attributes lead to murder killers, as a result the tattoos where seen has being a issue that was raised and it shows that it as a affect on murders as it provided a understanding of how society use tattoos telling how much murders t hey have committed and what gang culture they are from for example, the Thailand gangs tend to use tattoos as a symbol for distinguishing what gangs they are from and furthermore the gang reputation. In conclusion, after looking at the approaches of theorist and why people commit such crimes, it should be considered in real cases on whether or not punishment in the UK is effective or should consider using more fatal punishment similar to Capital punishment. Q2. Robert Mochrie was a middle class worker, whose occupation was taking family photograph, taken when his wife Cathy was awarded a degree at Cardiff University, and also had four children in school. Robert Mochrie had realised that his Mrs Cathy was having another affair with another male sex named David Osborne from south Wales. He had stated that he had an intimate and sexual relationship with Mrs Mochrie. This caused the murders to result in murdering the family as it emotionally and mentally affected Mr. Mochrie to commit an unlawful act of murder. Mochrie himself, killed the whole family in a hotel, Haverford west in South Wales because he hanged himself after murdering his wife, Cathy, along with Bethan, 10, Luke, 14, Sian, 16, and James, 18, in July last year. It shows that Mr Mochrie had affected the mental thinking which resulted in the actus rea of the crime  [13]  . Looking at a criminologist prospective this case distinguishes that Robert Mochrie falls in the definition of a mass murder as an individual committed multiple killing one and if a theorist was to approach this scenario he or she would look at various theories to see what the causation of the crime. A theorist would firstly look at it form the prospective of functionalism theory as it states that as a couple they should stay together and work together, it shows relating back to the scenario that the situation that Robert Mochrie was the issue of Mrs Cathy indulging with someone else whilst in the presences of Mr. Roberts. This had an affect on the mental state has it resulted in committing the brutality of the family annihilation. It shows from the theory that it should look at things in a positive way, but in relation to the scenario Mr. Robert in this case could not take the issue that had happen in a positive way as it affect the thinking of what his wife had done and the mental t hinking of Mr. Robert had not been take it into account that his wife would ever sleep with another man after being married and having four children which resulted in not allowing is wife to sleep with another man and in stopping this he committed the unlawful act. Whereas looking at another killer like Roaul moat who was a serial killer, Raoul Moat, was 37-year-old man and his occupation was a tree surgeon, bouncer and panel beater but it furthermore stated that Roaul Moat had injected himself with steroids which produced anger problems and had issues with old wife. He was from Newcastle upon Tyne, shot three people with a shot gun after two days after his release from Durham prison for previous convictions he had killed, his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, her new partner Chris Brown, and police officer David Rath band. Brown was killed after a man hunt was taken out in Roth bury after and the police tasered Roaul Moat which resulted in him committing suicide with his shotgun.  [14]  . If a theorist was to examine Roaul Moat scenario it would be looked at the prospective of biologist as it mainly complies with the theory of Lombroso has the murderer Roaul Moat had the physical characteristics of low intellect, high cheek bones as he was a bodybuilder, who had taken steroids which resulted in him having anger management problems to influence a murder or commit a crime. Hes suitable in the terms of the theory and furthermore Roaul Moat also is adequate with the functionalism theory as there was lack of positivity in Roaul Moat as a criminal record from previous shows and furthermore a previous relationship may have started the chain of causations. Having looked at what may have caused the chain of causation, it should be suggested on whether or not they should be given an imprisonment for life or capital punishment to death. Capital punishment is a punishment to death and since ancient times it has been used for a wide variety of offences. In England, only major offences carried the death penalty treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson and it was stated in Waltham Black Acts, where it increase in the number of people being put to death each year. The statistics the peak year was 1785 with 307 people given a death penalty and furthermore in the year 1800 the population was just 9 million. The reform of death penalty was criticised in Europe 1750s, by French philosopher Cesare Beccaria and the English law reformer argued that the punishment of death was needlessly cruel has it was irrelevant to crimes like rapes has rehabilitation or other forms of method may have mentally have changed on committing unlawful crimes and looked at a more rational alternative a life imprisonment. But some writers would state that capital punishment was a preferable way in removing the worst criminals forever from society and helps provide a much safer place for other society users of Britain. Furthermore the dead criminals cannot commit any further crimes. Furthermore the issue that arise towards death penalty is the issue on monetary being spent on murders and the concern that are raised is the UK does not have an unlimited service, furthermore the government is exploiting money on murder killers rather that people with bigger issues like helping old, young and other people with a illness like cancer, rather than on the long term imprisonment of murderers. Spending money for life time imprisoned murders is not seen has being a real punishment whereas an execution is seen acceptable as retribution is seen by many member states of other countries after seeing the results of the death penalty has had a deterrence on the criminal activity. Issuing a death penalty is much more likely to be a deterrent and it shall have an impact on potential criminality has time to think about the possible consequences. But when a crime is committed on a stand still there is no likelihood that any punishment will act as a deterrent. A criminologist would specify from the statistics that death penalty really affected Britain economically as a whole, as the death penalty reduced the population of Britain which affects productivity, human kind and furthermore socially but on the other the statistics shows when the act of parliament abolished capital punishment it had a dramatic impact on the numerical people given life on imprisonment. The official statistics show unlawful killings in Britain have more than doubled since abolition of capital punishment the figure for homicides in 2007 was 734 and 6,300 people are currently serving sentences of life in prison for murder. From the statistics it shows that life in prison does not really deter people from committing murder as the figures tend to be rising but looking at the reform act it looks at the people closeness between the family and friends taking the impact. Having Looked at the for arguments towards capital punishment for unlawful killing, some writers would state that there are validated consequences on why a state should not provide capital punishments but more rational punishment. The first issue that a writer may constitute is a person may be innocent and may be executed and there is no possible way of compensating them for this wrongfulness of justice. There is also another significant, a person convicted of the murder may have actually killed the victim but does not admit it is a murder charge it then comes down to the skill of the prosecution and defence lawyers as to whether there will be a conviction for murder or for manslaughter. A second reason, that is often overlooked, is family and friends of criminals are the time leading up bring of the execution. It is often very difficult for people to come to terms with the fact that their loved one could be guilty of a serious crime and no doubt even more difficult to come to terms with their death in this form. The family should not be affected for the crime someone else committed and should further look at the prospective of the criminals as they are real people too who have right to life and furthermore they incorporate pain, fear and the loss of their loved ones.  [15]  . Relating back to the two scenarios of the murderers it can be stated that Roaul Moat should be given capital punishment having killed innocent people of the public and showed no remorse as he carried his criminal activity and furthermore as Roaul moat had already served an prison sentences for previous convictions for a period of couple of years, it shows that Roaul Moat is person who is not changeable if being sent to life in imprisonment, so it would be preferable for a murder of his caliber to be sentenced to death. Looking at the mass murder Mr Mochrie it can would not be relevant to send a person like him to capital punishment as he had a issue of domestic and the life of imprisonment would have rehabilitation his mental stability but him getting a charge of life it could.

The Ethics of Student-Faculty Business Deals :: Argumentative Persuasive Teacher Essays

The Ethics of Student-Faculty Business Deals The Akamai Corporation has meant big money for one Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and one of his students. Back in 1995, Tom Leighton, a professor of applied mathematics at MIT, started playing around with ways to use complex algorithms to ease congestion on the Web. He enlisted several researchers, including one of his graduate students, Danny Lewin. At the time, they weren't thinking about starting a company. But Mr. Lewin, following the keen instincts of a cash-strapped graduate student, suggested they enter the project in the Sloan School's annual business-plan competition. They won the software category in the preliminary round and then entered the finals, where they finished among the top six. Mr. Leighton and Mr. Lewin were still interested in the technology mainly as an academic exercise, but the possibility that their work could have real-world applications pulled them inevitably into business. They launched Akamai Technologies Inc. in the fall of 1998, and took it public the following October. Opening day saw the stock soar from $26 a share to more than $145, giving the company a day-one market cap of $13.13 billion. This sounds like a great business venture, but there still is a small problem. Mr. Lewin was one of Mr. Leighton's students when they formed the Akamai Company. This brings about the moral question of the case. Should students and professors be allowed to start companies together? Although there is no clear answer, there is widespread agreement among administrators that schools need to address the question. As a result, many M.B.A. programs are in the process of reviewing and, in many cases, implementing policies and guidelines governing student-professor business collaborations. The burden of this moral question falls mostly on professors since student is not an establish profession and thereby has no formal code of ethics. On one side of the issue are those who point to ethical considerations and insist that schools can't tolerate the possibility that students may perceive any conflict of interest on the part of a professor. On the other side are those who've invested substantial time and money in a business-school education specifically to gain access to professors. These people don’t want to consider any restriction on their ability to conduct their business lives as they see fit. Caught in the middle are administrators, who must protect their schools' academic integrity while trying to accommodate students and faculty alike.

The Unjustified War in Iraq Essay -- Politics Political Essays

The Unjustified War in Iraq History has many times been tainted with the blood of war. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed, and families have been torn apart. Once again, our nation is about to witness a terror that no one can really comprehend. We are on the threshold of an unjustifiable war. The United States should refrain from war with Iraq because of the lack of concrete evidence in regards to weapons of mass destruction. Instead, they should be working towards peace. Following September 11, Bush claimed Iraq to be connected with Al Qaeda in Prague or Kurdistan (Alter 29). This was played up even though the CIA and FBI determined that "evidence is fragmentary and inconclusive and that the administration is exaggerating information to make a political case for war." (Heuvel) Later, the Bush Administration stated that Iraq possessed terrible weapons of mass destruction. Secretary of State Colin Powell was sent to the United Nations, to make the Bush administration's case for preemptive war against Iraq. His case presented several accusations but very little new information or proof that weapons of mass destruction are actually present in Iraq. "Nearly all of his evidence was largely circumstantial or speculative"(Heuvel). Not only will this war take the lives of a nation where over 50% of the population is children under the age of 15, but it will also endanger our own troops because of inexcusable negligence by our government. The pentagon was finally forced to admit, last October, that 250,000 faulty battle-dress over garments (BDO) suits have been lost among 800,000 usable BDO suits, and they are unable to determine which are the damaged suits. With the type of chemical warfare our soldie... ...st option but as a distant final option. "Let us declare peace a civil right in a democracy, and a human right in this world." (Kucinich) Works Cited Alter, Jonathan. " 'Trust Me' Isn't Good Enough." Newsweek 3 Feb. 2003: 29. Byrd, Robert. Senate Floor Speech. U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 12 Feb. 2003. Dickey, Christopher. "Perils of Victory." Newsweek 3 Feb. 2003: 30-32. Heuvel, Katrina Vanden. "Powell Fails to Make Case." The Nation. 6 Feb. 2003. 10 Feb. 2003 <http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml> Kucinich, Dennis. Peace as a Civil Right. Martin Luther King Day Celebration. Ministerial Alliance. Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Lakewood, OH. 19 Jan. 2003. Wolfe, Richard and Hirsh, Michael. "War and Consequences." Newsweek 3 Feb. 2003: 22-28. Zakaria, Fareed. "Looking on the Bright Side." Newsweek 3 Feb. 2003: 33

Artwork Essay

The â€Å"Self-Portrait with a bandaged ear† by Vincent Van Gogh and â€Å"The Two Fridas† by Mexican painter Kahlo Frida are depicting the artists’ deep hurt and emotional breakdown at losing their special person in life. However, the portrait â€Å"The Two Fridas† is representing the artist’s conflicting psychological mind more into details and straightforward than Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait â€Å"The Bandaged Ear. † In â€Å"The Two Fridas,† she uses various actions and clear setting to help viewers the theme of painting easily. The background is filled with the agitated clouds on the stormy dark sky and it obviously reflects her inner pain. Frida who sits on the left side portrays rejected Frida by her husband Diego Rivera. On the right, it represents loved and respected Frida by him. The two Fridas hold hands each other as if loved Frida tries to join unloved Frida’s suffering. It also implies her only companion is herself since she was six years old. She was isolated from other people due to her health problems. In â€Å"The bandaged ear,† Van Gogh pierces the viewer’s feeling using the facial expression rather than actions. His pale and thin face like Jesus Christ in a late medieval painting and every brushstroke that he made on the canvas tells his pitiful presence at the time. In fact, it is not easy to catching the purpose of the Japanese painting on the wall behind Van Gogh. For late 18th century, European artists considered the traditional Japanese art as a utopian aestheticism. So, he uses the Japanese painting for representing his lost paradise. Frida utilizes many symbolic and striking objects to illustrate her turmoil. The two hearts express her pain. The abandoned Frida’s heart is dying while the other Frida’s heart is whole. The unloved Frida is holding the surgical pincer to cut off a vein that travels through both Fridas’ hearts. Frida tries to stop the flow of blood from loved Frida on the right. Therefore, the blood is dripping on her white dress and it is the sign of danger of bleeding to death. In addition, her white dress is ripped open and it refers her broken relationship between Diego. Van Gogh simply uses fewer objects than Frida’s portrait. In combination of wearing a bandage across his ear to under his chin and his sallow skin imply his health condition is unwell. He may be shivering inside because he wears a coat and hat. Frida Kahlo has been associated with the surrealist movement which is the most influential movement in early 1900’s. This movement is influenced by Sigman Freud and Karl Max and they are well known psychologists. The surrealists believe the conscious mind repress the power of imagination so they are willing to depict their unlimited imagination. They expose the uncensored feeling as if in a dream. Also, they use many different kinds of symbols and colors to make art more details and straightforward. Unlike surrealist Frida, the impressionist artist Van Gogh conveys the subject of his art by demonstrating the techniques of loose brushstrokes that barely forms the figure and it makes his piece sort of like a sketch or â€Å"unfinished painting. He uses not many different colors but instead he focuses on putting shadows or highlights in color. Both of great self portraits portray the artists’ mental and physical collapse in their own stylistic and unique techniques. However, Kahlo Frida’s painting is easier to analyze the subject of artwork than Van Gogh’s painting. Because, she chooses varieties of symbols and colors to express her strange and violent imaginations and it definitely helps viewers easy to define her painful heart through her painting.