Author: chris

How do conspiracies and conspiracy culture contribute to the forming of our political structure in this country?  Is this a trend that is disappearing or increasing?  What are some of the best ways to utilize access to enormous amounts of information/disinformation?

2-      What is mob mentality?  How does it invade aspects of our lives?  How can entertainment options influence mob mentality for good/bad?  What are some of the best ways to combat mob mentality?

3-      Outline the evolution of gay rights in America.  Where do you think those rights are headed?  How do the rights of homosexuals in America relate to other countries around the world?

4-      What do you feel are the greatest struggles that our culture faces today?  How do our world changes affect those struggles?  What are the greatest benefits that could result from those struggles?  What would be the dangers of not engaging in the struggles going on around us?

5-      Outline your perfect political structure.  Define its laws and its governing body.  Answer as best you can the problems that we face right now in education, economy, social and legal areas.  Build your utopian government and describe its workings in detail.

It all should be centered on the page (right to left AND top to bottom)  Be sure and use valid sources to back up every statement you make in your paper.  I don’t need a works cited page.  You should use the comments that are being made in class by me to help you with the structure of these papers.

YOU CAN CHOOSE ANYONE YOU’D LIKE TO DO.

Basic Guidelines
Please include your field of study next to your name in the heading.

Style:  You will write your paper using Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines.  For further information, you may need to review MLA guidelines online.

Additional factors:
Report is to be double spaced
Length should be 3-4 pages (not including Works Cited Page)
No cover or title sheet is required (based on MLA style)
Since this is an academic paper, only use third person language throughout.

Thesis: While this can be a strictly informative paper, I would recommend writing a paper with a more persuasive thesis statement, as these papers are generally easier to write and more interesting to read.

Sources: You should have at least three outside sources (2 scholarly sources + 1 credible web source). Scholarly sources are journal articles (online or print) and nonfiction books (ebooks or print). Do not use outdated sources (more than 5 years old) for a current topic unless you are providing vital historical background. Find your scholarly sources through the library databases (which may be accessed from home via the LTC Web page). You may incorporate more than one credible web resources to supplement your scholarly research, but papers that solely use websites (even credible sites) will not receive passing scores. Wikipedia, blogs, and “.com” sites are not credible sources for this assignment. However, “.org,” “.gov,” and “.edu” sites are typically credible. See page 20 of your MLA book for information on evaluating sources.

Incorporation of Sources: While the entirety of a source that you select does not have to support your thesis, make sure that the information that you use from the given source does directly support the thesis of your paper. While you may use block quotations, it is recommended that you paraphrase long quotations instead of having them represent a significant portion of the paper. Use quotation marks if you are using the exact words from a source.
*In order to receive a passing grade for this assignment, outside sources (paraphrases, direct quotations, and block quotations) cannot comprise more than 40% of the paper. The best papers utilize outside sources for 5-20% of the text.
Please avoid stand alone quotations. Use signal phrases to help introduce your direct quotations.

Documentation:  All specific facts and statements that are not your own personal thoughts/commentary or information known to be common knowledge MUST be documented within your paper (i.e. in-text citations). Merely listing your sources in a Works Cited Page is NOT sufficient documentation. All works on the works cited page must appear somewhere in the text of the paper with an in-text citation. Use the Trimmer book or one of the MLA websites to help you with documentation.

If you are unsure if you are documenting correctly, please ask for clarification.
**FAILURE TO DOCUMENT YOUR INFORMATION CORRECTLY WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC “F” on your research paper—due to plagiarism.** (For additional information on plagiarism, see the related online document on this topic.)

A few of the problems that will result in an automatic “F” for plagiarism:
1.    Used a source in the paper with an in-text citation but did not include that source on the works cited page.
2.    Included a source on the works cited page that does not appear in the paper.
3.    Failure to use quotation marks around a direct quotation—even if an in-text citation is present.

Level 4, Mini Block 3, Contemporary Design Practice
Essay Brief:  Analysis of contemporary design
1800-2000 words

In mini block 1, you were asked to choose a variety of objects to create your own mini exhibition, following one of the themes of the lectures as a point of reference.  In mini block 2 the assignment brief required you to select an object that was on public display in a museum and consider it according to the lectures.
For this mini block we again ask you to focus on an object and once again using the themes of the lectures as a basis for that selection.  However, this assignment, you do not need to choose an object on public display in a museum or gallery, but rather an object that is easily and readily accessible.  It is up to you to choose whether it is in a domestic, urban or commercial setting..  It might be a building, something easily bought in a supermarket, a magazine advertisement or a piece of cloth.
The only requirements are
It should have been designed and manufactured after 1985.
It must be publicly accessible and be seen by you and your lecturers.
It must not be an item you carry on your person.
Please note; you are not being asked to discuss a type, range, brand, genre or group of objects, but rather one particular object.
Whatever the object you choose, you must document, discuss and photograph its environment and it must address one of the themes of this mini block. Whichever theme you choose you should take into account the points raised in that theme, see below.
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The themes of this mini block are.
Technique to Technology
Key Words; obsolescence, material, designer, market, price, future.
This theme should explore the issues related to where the designer fits within the manufactured/making process of the object selected.  In understanding the shift from technique to technology is the designer an instrument of technology or the master of it?  How constrained is the designer by the limits of technology and themselves?  In this theme the material both as a commodity and as an object should be examined?  How does the materials used impact on the design of the object, how can the materials selected influence the use of the object, how has the designer determined, which material to utilise?  Finally in your conclusion, you should reflect on how this object will be viewed in the future.  Will the object be seen as a turning point for that genre of object, for the process, material or design?  How will history decide?

Ethics and Sustainability
Key words; disposable, pollution, life cycle, safe, topography, efficiency, obsolescence, price, materials,
Should you choose the theme ‘ethics and sustainability’ you must examine both aspects of this title, which is ethics and sustainability.  The object selected should be viewed in terms of its environmental impact in terms of the design process, manufacturing, materials, packaging and marketing.  The study should also reflect on the cost and benefits to the immediate environment.  Can the production of yet more objects ever be ethical?  Finally in your conclusion, with your chosen object, make an appraisal of its ‘green’ credentials on the balance of evidence you have found.  Provide a compelling argument why you think the object you have selected with be given a positive or negative reception in the annals of design history?
Post Colonialism
Key words; nationhood, identity, racism, imperialism, substitutes
For this theme you should consider how colonialism and post-colonialism has influenced design and the subsequent meaning of the object you have selected.    Depending on your object, this may need to make reference to geography, design, materials, manufacture or market.  Using Roland Barthes from the second mini block, decode your object and undertake a detailed analysis of this object, consider carefully how you use and understand the term post-colonialism.  Finally in your conclusion, view your evidence and consider if this object in the future will carry those overt or subliminal references into the future, or will we or history forget those signifiers?
Global and Digital Economy
Key words; brand, identity, distribution, morality, local, connectivity, communication
Is your chosen object a product of the individual designer, or is it a reflection of their regional, ethnic or national culture?  Can a designer be anything other than a product of their society and culture?  Can and should a designer masquerade?
You should explain the object in this context and then consider the utopia or morality of the global digital economy.  Does the object or its designer or manufacturer break down national borders, stereotypes and prejudices or does it create new ones?  Do you recognise any of these in your object?  Can a product or design be global and local, can this work for the individual designer or the large corporate companies?
Finally in your conclusion, having researched your object and considered the points above, you should consider whether the global and digital economy should be seen as the nail in the coffin of regional, ethnic or national culture or whether it positively enhances regional and ethnic identity and whether your object is an example of this?

Your introduction should introduce your object, indicate where it is located or can be found (with map if necessary) and include a clear photograph of the object (images taken from the internet are not acceptable).  Your essay should centre on this object, this is the main focus of the essay and all the points you have been asked to consider should have this object in mind.
Like the two previous mini block assignments this work should be well researched, referenced and illustrated.  Your essay must include at least 4-6 excellent quality and relevant images to support your essay. They must be considered carefully and referenced correctly.

Your essay should follow this basic format:  Introduction, Main body (which presents your argument, evidenced by your research) Conclusion, Bibliography. It should be easy to read and presented professionally (how to do this is clearly laid out in the CCS guidelines: read this carefully).

 

The health care debate in the United States excites great passion. Issues such as how to make care available, to structure insurance, and to rein in spending by the government, corporations, and individuals frequently take center stage. So, the big question is who controls healthcare today?   Well, it would appear that the hospitals, providers, insurance companies, managed care companies, the government, third party payers, just to name a few control the health care in the United States.

“According to Boxer (2009), “There is no national consensus on what healthcare should be or what the U.S. healthcare system should look like. Americans want the best healthcare, when they want it, at a price everyone can afford. This is certainly an unrealistic expectation, unachievable in the foreseeable future. So then, someone, some agency must define healthcare and decide what the U.S. healthcare system will look like. By default, this responsibility has fallen on the third-party payers ….. As third-party payers gained greater control of the U.S. healthcare system, providers and consumers correspondingly lost control, and the competitive market forces seen in a true business model were affected.

In the 1990s, many patients rebelled, objecting to bureaucratic decision-making and long delays for “optional” services. To this day, managed care is criticized in many circles. It is still with us however, and its role is certain to grow. The fundamental appeal is financial. All managed care plans have a built-in incentive to limit costs, because more treatments do not automatically mean more revenue for health providers. Today, many cost-control methods, such as integrated and electronic medical records, are already common in H.M.O.’s. During managed care’s heyday in the early 1990s, inflation in health care costs was much lower than it is now.

The US government is heavily involved in the provision of health care with 33.5% of the total money spent for health care coming from US government.   Considerably more in financing than the delivery of health care.   The US government’s involvement in health care delivery is more from laws and regulations that can affect our health care status, such as what drugs are approved through the FDA, accessibility of health care records, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and increasing involvement into regulating health financing.   With regard to the size of the federal government’s involvement in the delivery aspect of health care, I do think that regulations are important but they can also get in the way of improving the system of health care in the US.

Regarding financing, the US government involvement is huge and ever increasing.   As we age, health care issues become more frequent and potentially more chronic and now, the largest portion of our population, the baby boomers will soon be eligible for Medicare.   In addition, there is Medicaid for the poor.   Everyone wants the best possible health care without having to spend much for it.   Working for a company that offers a good health insurance program, it’s easy to say that government should not be involved in the financing aspect.   But, when one becomes unemployed and   is not able to afford health insurance, then the view of government involvement in financing changes.   So, for that reason, I am in favor of the US government’s involvement and it should be as big as it needs to be.   Healthy people are more productive.

These market forces are thought necessary to achieve quality and access through cost containment. With this price and quality disconnect between consumer and provider, costs have escalated, quality and access have decreased. I have come to realize that even though insurance companies might not decide on treatments, they do however have the power to veto what the doctor and patient decide. Simply because they control the purse strings, and that gives them the final say.I do think access to medical care is a right and everyone should have the right to health care as healthy people are more productive and can contribute more to the welfare of our country.

Opinion paper on Abortion

Discuss the significance of silence to the character in the novel, and explain  the effect that silence has on an individual character level within the novel as well as a cultural level in the era that this novel is set.

The US “pivot” back to the Asia-Pacific region,

write out loud software by Don johnson. i need a research paper.

In This Research Essay, I Will Attempt To Make Clear Why Some Believe The United States Is, Or Should Be A €œChristian Nation,” Why Christianity Is So Prevalent In American Society, And How Being A Christian Nation Affects Our Governance.

Religion has affected us in ways that seem to clearly implicate, throughout our nation’s history that to many we, the United States of America, are viewed as a “Christian Nation.” Many believe this notwithstanding our constitution and government policies which clearly state a separation between “church and state.” In this research essay, I will attempt to make clear why some believe the United States is, or should be a “Christian Nation”, why Christianity is so prevalent in the  American society, and how being a Christian nation has affected and affects our governance.
The United States of America or, “New World,” was founded when many English settlers became fed up with the Church of England. Many of these settlers thought of the New World as an escape from religious persecution and a life sans religious freedom. These settlers were known as puritans, English Protestants who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship (Puritan). As from the beginning in 1630 as many as 20,000 Puritans immigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship the Judeo-Christian God. They chose America as a Religious Refuge. Although these settlers came to the New World for religious freedom, what they defined as religious freedom still supported the Old World theory that sanctioned the very same religious persecution they faced in England, the need for uniformity of religion in the state (America as a Religious Refuge). The relationship of church and state did not assume great importance until the Revolutionary period. As the number of dissenters and their political needs increased, and as Enlightenment ideals gained ground among certain political leaders, complete religious freedom emerged as a common goal for a heterogeneous group of the Virginians (Early Virginia Religious Petitions).
The Declaration of Independence brought about major ties between England and America, the document also, in the process, further weakened the power that The Church of England had over Americans. America established its own constitution that clearly defines a separation of church and state as an individual right for its citizens. Separation of church and state is defined as the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state (Separation of Church and State). Deism is the belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe (Deism). Our founding fathers, many of them deists, realized that without this separation of church and state, federal government would not be able to operate without religious interference. For example, if a Muslim wanted to emigrate to the U.S. they would most likely face challenges and religious persecution if they were not barred from becoming a citizen. This is among the reasons; much of the U.S. is diverse ethnically, culturally and religiously.
Today, Christians make up well over the majority of the U.S. population. 78.4% of Americans identify as Christian, with only 4.7% identifying as another faith and 16.1% unaffiliated with any religion (Summary of Key Findings). With a large population of followers, Christians make up such a large majority and hold major political power; many believe that the U.S. is a Christian Nation. By this definition the United States of America is a Christian nation but the constitution limits the amount of influence our government can accept from religious institutions and groups. These limitations allow minorities, such as Hindus, atheist, agnostics, Muslims, etc. to have the same rights extended to the larger Christian American population afforded to them.
As said in the film, judgment day, “If someone believes in God, heaven, and hell, nothing else matters except for their religion.” People want to make sure that they display an image that is pleasing to God to make sure that they are able to rejoice with their family members in the end. This example has been prevalent especially in an area known as the Bible belt, where Christian religious extremist have performed acts of both violence and discrimination against those who they deem unfit unto the eyes of God.
As Tunis Wortman said, “the church is naturally “permanent and external” and needed no external support to “prop it up.” In summary, if you monetarily contribute to a religious organization you don’t have to pay as much as you had to in taxes. Our federal government provides you with a federal/state refund check. There has never been real separation of state from church as per regards to history and present form the special tax concessions that the government is offering the churches.
Many religions demean other religions and put them as being backward and awkward especially Christians, such as our LGBTQ population, ployamourous relationships. It is very necessary to ensure protection of these citizens from the abuses that the religious beliefs promote. The constitution puts across that there will be no granting of special rights or privileges to any religious group that takes away the rights of citizens with different beliefs. This is in contrast to what is happening at this day and age; to this day that America, a nation deemed to  be “the free nation” still grants some of those special privileges to Christian groups at the expense of taking away the rights for millions of Americans with different beliefs. With this kind of hierarchic religious inequality can we in any way distinguish ourselves from high religion influence countries such as Bangladesh or Iran? An interesting aspect from the assigned readings was from the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom that states “no person can be compelled to attend any church or support it with his taxes. An individual is free to worship as they please with no discrimination.” This has clearly outlined that even if a citizen wants to use their tax paying/ dues to support a religious organization, they could not. This can only be hoped for to be true all over America today. Unfortunately today, Churches have become nonprofit organizations that receive special write offs from the government, where the members come and donate communion or other forms of money offerings to the church and then at the end of the year they receive a document that allows them to receive all the money they donated to the church back from the government.
In America, The Guilded age changed the focus of most of “Christian America” from a spiritual focused belief to one that is more of a wealth and power accumulating group. The Protestant work ethic was “turned on its head” Advertisers persuaded Christian Americans to work more to buy more, focusing more on materialistic values than the spiritual value of the religion. It appears that this is when the corruption of Christianity by the gospel of wealth occurred. It was at this time where mainstream Christianity became more secular and Christian American life was incorporated into the church and not deemed as wrongful.
Having had watched these two movies in previous classes of yours, I was glad to watch them again and try to view them and take on the information presented in a different manner. With the additional information, one is able to have an overview of just how much America has changed over the recent years and it also helped me see how much a religious president has an impact on the strength of that presidents religion. When President Bush was president children grew up with prayer and religion in schools. In that generation, religion and public institutions mixing were a common thing. We can well conclude and undoubtedly claim that America clearly, has overwhelmingly been controlled by people with strong religious beliefs. And due to the fact that America is a “Christian Nation,” as long as they are enticed by leaders who possess the “Jesus Factor” we will cease to progress to the nation we strive to be.

Bibliography
“America as a Religious Refuge:” The Seventeenth Century – Religion and the Founding  of the American Republic | Exhibitions   Library of Congress. 23 July 2010. 07 March 2013.  < http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html>
“Deism.” Definition of in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English). N.p., n.d. Web.  14 Mar. 2013.   .
“Early Virginia Religious Petitions.” Petitioning in Eighteenth-Century Virginia. Library  of Congress, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. .
“Puritan.” Definition of in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English)  New Oxford American Dictionary, n.d. Web. 12 March 2013.   .
“Summary of Key Findings.” Statistics on Religion in America Report.   The PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life, 13 Aug. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2013.  .
“Separation of Church and State.” Definition of in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World  English)  New Oxford American Dictionary, n.d. Web. 12 March 2013.   .

Discuss the notion of cowardice in Coriolanus and Hamlet. Who are cowards, why and how do they shirk their responsibilities?