Hit song about Sept. 11 truly misses the mark essays

Hit song about Sept. 11 truly misses the mark essays Hit song about Sept. 11 truly misses the mark This article is the authors opinion about a controversial song written by Toby Keith in the days following the September 11th attacks on America. Julia Keller, the author, describes "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American) as "odious" as well as "a crude caricature of true American values, as it snarls with schoolyard braggadocio and bristles with taunts and threats and coarse language". She is saying that this song does nothing but reflect the same ideas as the people who committed the heinous acts of terror on September 11th. She compares the "silly, chest-thumping antics" to two other songs written about the same thing, just with a different tone. The songs "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" by Alan Jackson and "American Child" by Phil Vassar, received a glowing retort from Keller by saying these songs are "thoughtful" and "a starker contrast to Keiths macho bluster". She states, "Do we need to punish those responsible for Sept. 11? Of course. A nd were doing that . But the idea that the only legitimate response to that terrible day is to become as blind, bloodthirsty, and bombastic as the terrorists themselves the essence of Keiths song is insulting. Our nation seeks justice, not vengeance." Keith received much publicity when ABC decided not to feature the song on its Fourth of July special. "He got to act all dissed and outraged, and got himself booked on radio and TV shows to whine about it", Keller says. She believes it takes men and women of sincere courage to assimilate a tremendous blow like the events of September 11th, feel a surpassing grief, and then use those emotions as fuel to make wisdom. When I read this article I was dumbfounded. Apparently the author doesn't know what true patriotism and love for your country is. Nor does she know how the majority of the American public feels about the events that t ...

Cleaning Staff ESL Dialogue

Cleaning Staff ESL Dialogue ​​Jared knocks quietly on the door in response to Ms. Andersons request. He offers help and provides some information about the services offered at the hotel.   Jared: (knocks on the room door) May I come in, madam? Ms. Anderson: Yes, thanks for coming so quickly. Jared: Certainly, madam. How can I help you? Ms. Anderson: Id like some fresh towels in the suite when I get back this evening. Jared: Ill get them immediately. Would you like me to also change the bed sheets? Ms. Anderson: Yes, that would be nice. Could you also turn down the covers? Jared: Is there anything else I can do for you? Perhaps you have some laundry I can take to be cleaned. Ms. Anderson: Now that you mention it, I do have some clothes in the laundry bag. Jared: Very good, madam. Ill have them cleaned and folded when you return. Ms. Anderson: Excellent. You know, it gets stuffy in this room. Jared: Id be happy to open the window while you are away. Ill make sure to close it before you return. Ms. Anderson: †¦ oh, I can never find the light switch when I get back in the evening. Jared: Ill make sure to leave the lamp on the bedside table  on after I finish cleaning up. Ms. Anderson: Are you going to vacuum? Jared: Certainly, madam. We vacuum our rooms every day. Ms. Anderson: Thats good to hear. Well, its time for me to see my friends. Today were visiting a vineyard. Jared: Enjoy your day, madam. Ms. Anderson: Oh, I will†¦ Just a second, could you also take out the trolley with this mornings breakfast? Maria: Yes, madam Ill take it with me when Ive finished tidying up. More Dialogue Practice - Includes level and target structures/language functions for each dialogue.

Financial Data Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Data Analysis - Assignment Example Based on the theory, rend in demand or its indicators can be evaluated based on trends in such factors as wealth, utility of the subject asset, risks in substitutes, liquidity position. Demand defines desire and ability to purchase a commodity at a given price and bears a direct relationship with price. Consequently, general changes in commodity prices, as observed in variations in consumer price index, indicates changes in general demand. Similarly, personal consumption expenditure, as a factor of gross domestic product that is also directly proportional to value of GDP is an indicator of consumers’ level of wealth. The theory of Portfolio therefore offers a basis for understanding historical effects of personal consumer expenditure on consumer price index. The personal consumption expenditure is further an indicator of economic factors such as inflation and unemployment rates (Barro 17). This analysis considers corresponding data of consumer price index and personal consumpt ion expenditure for the period between January 2009 and September 2013. The following is the considered monthly data set. consumer price index personal consumption expenditure 211.952 9877.1 212.823 9838.9 212.523 9814.9 212.657 9798.7 212.998 9807.1 214.791 9798.8 214.72 9831.1 215.442 9930.7 215.88 9826.2 216.482 9847.9 217.165 9847 217.365 9896.8 217.478 9881.2 217.356 9908.4 217.38 9956.8 217.281 9970.1 217.23 9997.3 217.329 10018.5 217.69 10027.9 218.02 10075.7 218.319 10087.6 218.996 10139.7 219.471 10179.3 220.468 10188 221.067 10197.8 221.908 10215.1 223.106 10251 223.879 10255 224.747 10252.7 225.07 10269.1 225.594 10301.9 226.187 10302 226.753 10331.9 226.728 10372.1 227.049 10374.9 227.137 10372.1 227.605 10409.5 228.253 10466.6 228.95 10467.3 228.951 10499 228.648 10497.9 228.924 10493.6 228.836 10533.2 230.026 10523.2 231.227 10566.6 231.623 10558.6 231.071 10593.4 231.137 10602.4 231.198 10614.3 232.77 10643.5 232.34 10674.2 231.485 10678.7 231.831 10689.4 232.944 1070 7.7 233.318 10711.8 233.526 10735.7 233.947 10749.4 (Economic Research 1) The following graph shows the trend in consumer price index and the personal consumption expenditure. Graph 1: Consumer price index and personal consumption expenditure The graph suggest a slight correlation in the change in values of the consumer price index and personal consumtion expenditure. Changes in consumer price index is however minimal and less significant as compared to changes in personal consumption expenditure. The range between the two variables is a factors to trend visibility from the graph independent analysis of the two trends is necessary. The folowing graphs shows the independent trends for consumer price index and personal consumption expenditure. Graph 2: Consumer price index Graph 3: Personal consumption expenditure The two graphs shows a general increasing trend with shapes that are almost similar. This suggests that avalability of wealth into personal consumption expenditure is a fact or of the consumer price index in the considered period. The data can further be inferred to other periods and other economy to the conclusion that availability of wealth and gross domestic product are determinants of consumer price index in economies. Another alternative measure for the analysis of effects of personal consumption expenditure and consumer price index over th considered period is the corelation coefficient, a measure of the degree of association

Is One Experience Enough Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is One Experience Enough - Essay Example The American population is a mixture of different people from all over the world, the country thus enjoys a rich cultural background, thus capable of accommodating any other new citizen as the essay below posits. The U. S is among the countries with one of the most liberal structures in the world. The county has a vigilant civil group that monitors and criticizes the activities of the government with the view of creating a constitutional environment. This way, the pressure groups ensure that the country maintains a high level of constitutionalism and the government respects and safeguards the interests and rights of every citizen. The American constitution protects the rights of every citizen from whichever background. The country is among the first countries to protect the rights and privileges of the gays and lesbians. The controversial move to embrace the sexually misconstrued group sought to offer a liberal society in which everyone enjoys a degree of freedom regardless of their sexual orientations. Several nations globally do not recognize the group, in fact some countries both in the developed and developing economies still shuns the rare sexual connotations thus compelling the homosexuals to live in fear and secrecy. With the view of respecting and protecting human integrity, the American government through its vigilant citizenship and dynamic constitutionalism sought to incorporate the rights and privileges of every citizen including the homosexuals. Currently, the country is a safe haven for thousands of homosexuals from different countries through out of such countries due to the unnatural nature of their sexual orientation. The American society does not consider the sexuality among other personal issues of an individual; people in the society interact on personal levels without the investigation of private issues. This way, the American

Silver Trade Essay Example for Free

Silver Trade Essay In the early modern period, silver became the currency of the world. Never before had any good been so zealously sought after or acquired. Not even the grand spice trade routes over Asia could compare with the enormous scale and complexity the discovery of deposits of silver in Spanish America and Japan brought to global commerce. The silver trade initially brought extravagant, even opulent, wealth to Europe, China, Japan, and the traders in these nations, but in the end resulted in one of the most extreme cases of global inflation ever recorded, ruining the economies of Spain, Portugal, and China. Socially, the silver trade (and Spanish colonization) ended the native way of life in South and Central America; the inflation brought on by it broke the backs of Chinese peasants and allowed for even more European conquest all over the world. When the Spanish founded Potosà ­ in 1545, they discovered a mountain that seemed to be made of impure silver. Since precious metals were what the conquistadors had come looking for, Potosà ­ was (pun intended) a gold mine of wealth. He Qiaoyuan, a Ming court official, mentioned, in one of his reports to the emperor that, â€Å"the Spanish have silver mountains, which they mint into silver coins.† Though it may have seemed to the emperor that Qiaoyuan was exaggerating, in reality, he was entirely correct. Antonio Và ¡zquez de Espinosa, in his Compendium and Description of the West Indies, writes that between the years 1545 and 1628, â€Å"326,000,000 silver coins have been taken out,† not including â€Å"the great amount of silver taken secretly from these mines to Spain†¦ and to other countries outside Spain,† taken out without paying the mandatory 20 percent tax/registry fee. Và ¡zquez also notes that during his visit more than 3,000 Native Americans worked in the mines at one time in horrendous conditions. To better understand the conditions at Potosà ­, it would be very helpful for one to have a detailed description of both the living and working conditions at Potosà ­. Xu Dunqiu Ming in his The Changing Times discusses methods of payment in his contemporary city of Hangzhou, saying: â€Å"In the past†¦ customers could pay for dying the cloth with rice, wheat, soybeans, chickens, or other fowl. Now, when you have your cloth dyed you receive a bill, which must be paid with silver obtained from a moneylender.† The Spanish discovery of silver in America and subsequent purchasing of luxury Chinese goods.

Rwandan Genocide of 1994 Essay -- essays research papers

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 lasted only for a brief period and lasted for approximately a hundred days. During that time, an estimated amount of 800 000 people were slaughtered. Beginning on April of 1994, massacres were held on a daily basis with the intent to eliminate an ethnic group known as the Tutsi by another ethnic group known as the Hutus. This genocide was overlooked by the United Nations, and the superpowers of the time offered very little or no assistance at all to Rwanda. The civil unrest between the Hutus and the Tutsi has been in place since the Belgians segregated the two groups after being handed Rwanda after World War I. The Tutsis were favoured and placed above the Hutus and identity cards were distributed to distinguish the two different groups. The hatred linking the ethnic groups is evident from the very conception of segregating the Hutus from the Tutsis. The civil turmoil had remained relatively dormant for almost a century until the assassination of Presiden t Habyarimana of Rwanda in 1994. This act prompted genocide and a century’s worth of quiet hatred suddenly erupted into massacres in the country’s capital of Kigali. Blockades would be set on roads and bands of Hutu youths with machetes and sticks would go door to door to kill Tutsi families. The United Nations could not physically intervene as they were merely monitoring the situation and were acting as peacekeepers, and not as peacemakers. Soldiers watched while civilians were brutally murdered and were unable to respond because their mandate refrained them from doing so. It was not until months after the initial killings that the United Nations finally acted and sent soldiers to protect civilians. In their absence, hundreds of thousands of people we... ...d the two groups after World War I, they created a civil rivalry between the by favouring the Tutsis and the disregarding the Hutus as inferior. This rivalry would remain relatively dormant for almost a century until President Habyarimana would be assassinated in 1994. This act would initiate the genocide and the suppressed feelings of animosity would erupt into massacres all around the country and would even spill into neighbouring countries such as Burundi. The genocide was disregarded by the United Nations and few countries would offer assistance to Rwanda. Beginning in April of 1994, the Rwandan Genocide lasted only around a hundred days and eliminated almost a million Rwandans. With the lack of action taken by the United Nations, its mandate should be changed to provide immediate protection to civilians and citizens who are at risk because of a national crisis.

Attachment in the United States and Amae in Japan Essay

Culture enables people to adjust to their physical as well as social environment. Culture enables the members of society to develop ways of coping with the exigencies of nature as well as ways of harnessing their environment. People also have to learn to relate themselves with others in order to survive. As Schwartz (1998:48) pointed out, the culture of any society represents an adaptation or adjustment to the various conditions of life, including their physical, social, and supernatural environment. No culture is completely static. Every culture is in constant flux; and the changes represent adjustments to the environment. Culture changes at different rates. The changes occur as a result of discoveries, inventions, and cultural borrowing. In some areas, control of the natural environment has been pursued to a point that the society has become endangered. Natural resources, such as bodies of water, forests, plant and animal life and minerals, have been so exploited that the environment is close to destruction. The acceptance of change depends on the exposure of the members of society to new ideas and ways different from their own and their opportunity to accept ideas and ways through diffusion. United States and Japan are belonging to different continents, locations and have different set of people; however, these two countries have similarities in some ways. Its people adapt and practice different cultures. Its culture shapes the behaviors and characteristics of its people that will make them noticeable that these groups of people are come from United States and Japan. Thesis Statement: This study will conduct a cross cultural psychology comparison of Attachment in the United States and Amae in Japan; thus, describes its functions, similarities and differences. II. Discussion A. Its culture, similarities and differences o United States There are a lot of groups of people that reside in United States; whites made up 83. 2 percent of the populations; blacks 11. 7 percent; American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts 0. 6 percent; Asian and Pacific Islanders 1. 5 percent; and other nonwhites 3. 0 percent. The nonwhite groups are concentrated in various parts of the country. Freedom in matters of education and the right of every child to have an education are basic principles in the United States. Unlike many other nations, the United States does not have a central or federal system of education, Establishing and administering public schools is one of the powers exercised by each state (Fritsch, 2001). The state, in turn, delegates much of this responsibility to local school districts. Literacy in the United States is high just like in Japan. In comparison to Japan (which only has two major religions), no other country in the world has a greater variety of religions, communions, denominations, and sects than the United States. More than 220 religious bodies report membership figures. Nearly all branches of Christianity and almost all Protestant denominations are represented. Japan and United States has the same views when it comes to religion (Katzman, 2003). The United States also believe that religious freedom and separation of church and state should be made. Government cannot interfere with religion or show preference for one religion over another. It cannot set up an official, or established, church, nor give support to any religion or to all religions. In the early days of the republic, United States artists and writers were generally regarded as inferior to those in Europe. Be the end of the 19th century, however, an independent national literature of high quality had been established by renowned writers (O’Neill, 2004). Music in the United States was strongly influenced by European music, and study in Europe was considered a necessary part of musical training far into the 20th century. America’s most influential contribution to music was jazz, a form originated by blacks and based on African rhythms. The musical which evolved from burlesque and operetta, was another American innovation. For many years, architects in the United States simply adapted European styles to American climate, landscape, and materials. The favorable economic position and amount of leisure enjoyed by the people of the United States give them unusual opportunities for recreation. Paid vacations became the rule for most industrial and office workers. The most popular outdoor spectator sports are football and baseball. Horse racing and automobile racing have large followings (Kurelek, 2005). o Japan The Japanese people are largely of Mongoloid stock, but little is known about their specific origin. Successive groups of migrating Asians from the mainland are believed to have settled on the islands some time before 300 A. D. Confronting them were the islands’ earliest known inhabitants— the Ainus, a Japanese people have developed from the mingling of these different ethnic groups. Only a few hundred full-blooded Ainus remain, on Hokkaido. Japanese culture is partly of Chinese origin and partly indigenous, for the Japanese adapted and did not merely imitate the culture of the mainland. Since the middle of the 19th century, Japan has been influenced more by the culture of Western countries than by that of its neighbors (Morton, 2004). Adoption of many Western ways produced sharp contrasts between the new and the old. Buildings and clothing, for example, are now seen in both traditional and Western styles. Among forces that have helped to mold the Japanese character are Buddhist, Shinto, and Confucian religious beliefs, the effects of a long feudal period, and the influences of the Japanese industrial revolution. With industrialization came a change from rural to urban living. American influences have been particularly strong since World War II (Smith, 2005). Moreover, its art has been strongly influenced too by Chinese art. From the mainland came the technique of ink painting on silk and the Buddhist influences in sculpture and painting. Flourishing throughout Japan are no, classical plays in which the actors wear masks depicting their character; bunraku, puppet plays; and kabuki, drama with stylized chanting and dancing. An important part of Japanese culture is the tea ceremony, a highly formal ritual, of which there are many variations. As a way of entertaining guests, it is regarded as the best expression of traditional etiquette. Some of the traditional arts—especially classical Japanese music and dance and the tea ceremony—are part of the repertoire of geisha, female entertainers who perform for groups of men. In addition, the family is a traditional and strong institution in Japan. It has a formal structure with authority vested in the male head of the family. The wife is expected to be subservient. Children learn discipline and their respective roles in the family at an early age. Sons are given preference over daughters, and the eldest son is superior to all others (Elkin, 2004). However, many of the more repressive aspects of the family, such as that of parents determining marriages, have weakened since World War II. Japanese homes are noted for their simplicity. Nearly all are built of wood. In many homes, paper-covered wooden frames, called shoji, are used for windows and doors. Being light and easily moved, they allow much of the house to be opened to the out-of-doors. Some homes are adjoined by landscaped gardens. Rooms usually have thick mats, called tatami, on the floor and very little furniture (Elkin, 2004). With regards to Japanese language and religion, the Japanese language is unrelated to other Oriental tongues. However, it is written in characters that originally adapted from Chinese writing. Furthermore, like in the United States, the Japanese constitution provides for freedom of religion and separation of church and state. The two major religions are Shinto and Buddhism. Many Japanese adhere, in varying degrees, to both. With regards to their education, six years elementary education and three of lower secondary school are free and compulsory for children 6 to 15 years of age. At the three-year upper secondary schools, tuition is charged. Education in Japan is highly competitive, and admission to upper secondary school and to college is determined by rigorous entrance examination. As a result, many Japanese children spend their after-school hours attending jukas, â€Å"cram† schools that specialize in preparing students for entrance examinations and other school tests. Japan has virtually no illiteracy (Christopher, 2003). III. Conclusion In conclusion, as I study the two different cultures, I have realized that United States and Japan have some similarities when it comes to their origin. Japan was most influenced by the Westerners and its origin was contributed by other indigenous groups and so is with United States. Everything that we can see from the Japanese and American culture are already been modified by other influences. However, in spite of the strong adaptation of different culture, Japanese remained their being family-oriented. They value the essence of having a united family; thus, a well-structured family role is formed so that each member can have its function. Unlike with the United States, it is very much influenced by the European settlers and based their competencies in European countries. Its culture is more focused on its development to the extent that internal competencies are suffered. I would say that Japanese culture is superb compared to United States because Japan is able to maintain their traditional ways in spite of economic development. Reference: 1. Fritsch, A. J. (2001). The Ethnic Atlas of the United States (Facts on File). 2. Katzman, D. M. (2003). Plain Folks: the Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans (University of Illinois). 3. O’Neill, Thomas. (2003). Back Roads America: a Portfolio of Her People (National Geographic Society). 4. Kurelek, William (2005). They Sought a New World: the Story of European Immigration to North America (Tundra Books). 5. Morton, W. S. (2004). Japan: Its History and Culture (McGraw-Hill). 6. Smith, R. J. (2005). Japanese Society: Tradition, Self, and the Social Order (Cambridge University). 7. Elkin, Judith. (2004). A Family in Japan (Lerner). 8. Christopher, R. C. (2003). The Japanese Mind: the Goliath Explained (Linden Press).