A Short History of the Devil by Neil Mohammed :: History

A Short History of the Devil by Neil Mohammed Horned gods were worshipped in Europe and the rest of the world from the dawn of humanity. They were always part of a pagan belief system, a polytheistic belief system, which accepted many gods. Tribal pagan belief systems still in existence share this characteristic: the tribes worship their tribal gods, and other gods mentioned by strangers are not evil, or non-existant, they are simply not their gods. There were many ancient monotheistic religions such as Judaism, but again these were tribal religions, which had no urge to prosyletise, to "spread the word". Jehova was the god of the Jews, and they felt no need to persuade other tribes to worship him as well. Christianity changed all that. It felt an overpowering need to make their one god the god of everybody else within range, and so they invented the missionary. But to do this it was necessary to discredit the old pagan gods, and in particular the goddess and the horned god. Pagan pantheons never include gods of evil. Pagan gods are aspects of Nature, and in Nature there can be no evil; it exists only in the human imagination. They frequently include trickster gods, such as Loki, and gods can have a reputation for being unwise to be involved with, but not actual evil. Monotheistic religions, on the other hand, require a god of evil as an adversary of their god of good. Otherwise, why would you need Him? An obvious way to discredit the horned god and justify punishment of his worshippers is to say that he is, in fact, the god of evil in the new religion. And has been all along. This did not happen all at once. For centuries Christianity existed alongside much older pagan beliefs all across Europe, and adapted to the people there and accomodated their beliefs as far as possible. The Celtic Christian Church in Dark Age Ireland is a typical example. Then in AD 1248 Pope Innocent IV decided that it was time to suppress all heresy and for that purpose he founded The Holy Office, or as it later became better known, The Inquisition. It really took off in the fifteenth century (especially in Spain), and began rooting out all and any lingering traces of pagan belief. Being an organization run entirely by men it took an instant dislike to the old wise women living around every country village, passing on ancient pagan folk-lore to the new generation and selling folk medicine and magic charms.

A Father Does Not Always Know Best :: Free Essay Writer

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain brilliantly illustrates a boy's travels down the Mississippi and the trials and tribulations that occur as a result. Having a runaway slave as a companion and being set in the South during slavery only forebodes trouble. The many characters and stunts that Huck's pulls provides for an interesting depiction of a young man's venture down a river. Huck lives in a small town and has only one drunken parent, which supplies Huck with many problems. His biological father, Pap, wanders from town to town, begging for money and drinking; and every once in a while pops back into Huck's life to beg money and to scold his son for going to school and becoming ‘sivilized’. However, there is also another male figure that acts as a father to young Huck. Miss Watson's slave Jim travels along with Huck and befriends the boy. Because Jim is a role model and mentor to the young Huck, he is more of a father figure than his biological father. Jim also teaches him principles directly through their conversations and debates. "Jim said he reckoned that the widow was partly right and that Pap was partly right, so the best way would be or us to pick two or three things from the list and say we wouldn't borrow them anymore† (Twain, 49). Jim taught Huck how to combine what he had been taught so far and how to rationalize. He also taught Huck little fables and old wives tales such as the 'bad luck if ya touch a rattlesnake' and 'a hairy breast mean ya gonna be rich sumday...(Twain, 40, 34) "Jim says you mustn't catch a bird cause it's death and you mustn’t count the thing you're ganna cook for dinner cause it's bad luck" (Twain, 34) Jim teaches him both lessons that are essential to life and ones that are amusing and make life interesting. Fathers satisfy the needs of their sons. Jim satisfied Huck’s need for exploration and his quest for knowledge and also satisfied his need for pleasure and en joyment. A father teaches his son lessons. Jim taught Huck many lessons both unintentionally and directly. Jim shows Huck that slaves are human people. Huck learns that slaves are capable of human emotions such as love and compassion because Jim talked of buying his wife out of slavery and stealing his children out of bondage.

How much is a life worth spending? Essay

The value for life is truly indispensable. More than how we translate it to profound philosophical principles, moral grounds, and other abstract perspectives, it is seen even in our most concrete areas. For one, we have become so conscious of our health that we distinguish activities from those which can sustain life and those which do not. We have also explored on numerous options to take care of ourselves and avoid harm and pain. These and more may be due to how we naturally value our lives and life, in general. Even on a macro-level, it has manifested in the different areas of our society. From simple to complex social relationships and structures, the value for life has become a vital part. It has also become a determinant in every process of making decision in the society. We see this in the fast evolution health technologies and initiatives, fiscal and economics policies, and competition of businesses that provide health care in the corporate world. Truly, over the years, the value for life has been going beyond mere qualitative to quantitative manifestation. For this paper, we will focus on one concrete activity that is highly related and/or is directed by this value for life – spending. People spend for health. And when we speak of spending, we don’t just refer to money that is being used to pay for services and/or products for health care. We also refer to other factors such as value system, social culture, and others. How much is a life worth spending? This paper will seek to answer the question by analyzing spending statistics of every individual and the government itself in the United States and by exploring on development of health technologies and how it satisfies individuals, and understanding issues regarding this. Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Current estimations put US health spending at approximately 15% of GDP. In the United States, the majority of citizens that have health insurance either have employment related insurance or must purchase it directly. The federal government does not guarantee universal health care to all its citizens, but certain publicly-funded health care programs help to provide for the elderly, disabled, and the poor and federal law ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Those without health coverage are expected to pay privately for medical services. The generally high cost of treatment has led to the concept of doctors completing pro bono work, although in practice even serious conditions are left untreated. Health insurance is expensive and medical bills are overwhelmingly the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States. A 2004 survey released by the National Center for Health Statistics estimated that approximately 70% of Americans were in â€Å"excellent† or â€Å"very good† health. The overall performance of the United States health care system was ranked 15th by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1997. American health care is provided by a diverse array of individuals and legal entities. Individuals offer inpatient and outpatient services for commercial, charitable, or governmental entities. For services, â€Å"Ambulatory care† refers to health care outside the hospital; most health care in the United States occurs in the outpatient setting. â€Å"Home health care services† are generally nursing enterprises, but are usually ordered by physicians. Private sector outpatient medical care is provided by personal primary care physicians (specialists in internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric medicine), subspecialty physicians (gastroenterologists, cardiologists, or pediatric endocrinologists are examples) or non-physicians (including nurse practitioners and physician assistants). There are for-profit hospitals, which are usually operated by large private corporations and there are nonprofit hospitals, which may be operated by county governments, state governments, religious orders, or independent nonprofit organizations. Hospitals provide some outpatient care in their emergency rooms and specialty clinics, but primarily they exist to provide inpatient care. Hospital emergency departments and urgent care centers are sources of sporadic problem-focused care. â€Å"surgicenters† are examples of specialty clinics. Hospice services for the terminally ill who are expected to live six months or less are most commonly subsidized by charities and government. Prenatal, family planning, and â€Å"dysplasia† clinics are government-funded obstetric and gynecologic specialty clinics respectively, and are usually staffed by nurse practitioners. Companies provide medical products such as pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The research and development for applications is primarily done in commercial R&D labs while the government and universities fund the majority of basic research. Much of this basic research is funded or performed by governmental research institutes such as the NIH and NIMH. On a general note then, the current health care system provides people with assistance or subsidy in hurdling over health welfare services. But this may or may not necessarily mean that people are truly being â€Å"assisted† by these provisions. A closer look on individual spending will aid us in this conjecture. INDIVIDUAL SPENDING ON HEALTH SERVICES In the current review done from the data gathered from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, $1 out of $5 dollar is spent by an individual for health-related expenditure such as hospital care, drugs, medical insurances, and other health care programs/supplements. This means that on the average, more or less 25% of an individual’s income goes to health spending. This already constitutes a huge part in an individual’s budget pie, along with other priorities such as food, housing, and the like. This is way higher than the 16% spending versus total income, in the last ten years. The increase of this rate has made several economists into considering other factors. For Mark Zandi of a famous economics resource online, this may mean that this spending tells more of the increase on the capacity of individuals to spend more for their welfare and health. This may be caused by increase in income, hence, increase in percentage of spending for this aspect. On the other hand, Paul Ginsburg of Center for Studying Health System Change thought that this may also be due to the increased information and awareness of the need to priorities health. Individuals must have considered health care really serious that they have given more priority for it compared to how they consider it before. Communication and other media have contributed much to this awareness. On another perspective on the level of health spending of individuals in United States, health expenditures have become one of the major reasons for personal bankruptcy according to David U. Himmelstein, et al. In 2001, 1. 458 million American families filed for bankruptcy. About half cited medical causes, which indicates that 1. 9–2. 2 million Americans (filers plus dependents) experienced medical bankruptcy. Among those whose illnesses led to bankruptcy, out-of-pocket costs averaged $11,854 since the start of illness; 75. 7 percent had insurance at the onset of illness. Medical debtors were 42 percent more likely than other debtors to experience lapses in coverage. Even middle-class insured families often fall prey to financial catastrophe when sick. This means that even in the presence of subsidized health services, medical spending of every individual still has not changed, it even went higher to the point that one experiences bankruptcy. Medical problems contribute to about half of all bankruptcies. Medical debtors, like other bankruptcy filers, were primarily middle class (by education and occupation). The chronically poor are less likely to build up debt, have fewer assets (such as a home) to protect, and have less access to the legal resources needed to navigate a complex financial rehabilitation. The medical debtors we surveyed were demographically typical Americans who got sick. They differed from others filing for bankruptcy in one important respect: They were more likely to have experienced a lapse in health coverage. Many had coverage at the onset of their illness but lost it. In other cases, even continuous coverage left families with ruinous medical bills. First, even brief lapses in insurance coverage may be ruinous and should not be viewed as benign. While forty-five million Americans are uninsured at any point in time, many more experience spells without coverage. We found little evidence that such gaps were voluntary. Only a handful of medical debtors with a gap in coverage had chosen to forgo insurance because they had not perceived a need for it; the overwhelming majority had found coverage unaffordable or effectively unavailable. The privations suffered by many debtors—going without food, telephone service, electricity, and health care—lend credence to claims that coverage was unaffordable and belie the common perception that bankruptcy is an â€Å"easy way out. † Second, many health insurance policies prove to be too skimpy in the face of serious illness. We doubt that such underinsurance reflects families’ preference for risk; few Americans have more than one or two health insurance options. Many insured families are bankrupted by medical expenses well below the â€Å"catastrophic† thresholds of high-deductible plans that are increasingly popular with employers. Indeed, even the most comprehensive plan available to us through Harvard University leaves faculty at risk for out-of-pocket expenses as large as those reported by our medical debtors. Third, even good employment-based coverage sometimes fails to protect families, because illness may lead to job loss and the consequent loss of coverage. Lost jobs, of course, also leave families without health coverage when they are at their financially most vulnerable. Finally, illness often leads to financial catastrophe through loss of income, as well as high medical bills. Hence, disability insurance and paid sick leave are also critical to financial survival of a serious illness. Given this analysis, we have two important things to look into. First is that, despite government efforts to assist people in medical services, we still see issues on personal spending which even result to bankruptcy. Such is factored by the current system running for medical spending that doesn’t seem to address concrete circumstance of people facing medical and health-related needs.

Gi Bill of 1944

A Building Block for the Future: The G. I. Bill of 1944 â€Å"We’re finally home boys! † shouted one of the young invigorated soldiers as the plane landed on the runway. The young men arriving from the European and Japanese fronts were filled with excitement but among them there resonated a feeling of unknown. World War II had finally come to a conclusion and what the future held for many young men in the middle of the 1940’s was completely unknown. The only feeling of security that the soldiers returning home was the feeling of winning.The feeling of satisfaction persisted among the American soldiers that they had avenged the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. The same feeling of satisfaction existed on the European front as they had helped the other European powers stop the Fascist Nazi’s. Among the men there was a contagious energy in which many had never had the opportunity to experience in many of their lifetimes. These men and women had just accomplished one o f the most incredible feats of the twentieth century and it was now time for them to return to America and start the rest of their lives.Most of the soldiers involved in the war grew up during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and had never known anything that resembled a comfortable lifestyle. As soldiers returned home from the Pacific and European fronts many questions arose about what their futures would hold. Among many Americans there was a general fear that the economy would return to its pre-war state in which people were starving and the unemployment rate was at an all-time high. Most believed that the war was responsible for the economic turnaround that had occurred in America due to the influx of money spent by the U.S. government for an arms buildup. This build up of arms provided many jobs to women and non-white races that had not had the opportunity to find a job before the war but the question that persisted was were these men going to return to work and put th ese people back on the streets? Many questions lingered in Americans minds, but a question that stood out for many Americans at this time was with the war effort now over and production down will America again fall into the deep depths of the depression?This question was answered with the passing of a bill and the pen of Franklin Roosevelt on May 19, 1944 when the American government made a down payment for their future. When President Roosevelt signed the Readjustment Act he was betting on the returning soldiers to have a lasting impact on America; the soldiers would not disappoint as many men used the bill to brighten their futures and in doing so made America a stronger nation. The G. I. Bill influenced America in many different ways in which all had positive effects.First, when soldiers returned home from the European and Pacific fronts many were still trying to get the horrific images that they had to endure out of their heads. Not only did many experience the loss of many of t heir closest comrades, but many were trying to overcome the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The G. I. Bill offered financial aid for a year that would allow those soldiers that were struggling psychologically. These men were struggling with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder either could not find a job or didn’t have the ability to initially work after the war.The bill provided reasonable unemployment allowances that were payable each week for up to a maximum period of a year. As a result of the Great Depression and pre-war America the state of the economy was of utmost importance to President Roosevelt. He and the rest of the political leaders of America knew something needed to be done to create new jobs and stimulate spending. The leaders also knew that something had to be done to protect the future of the returning soldiers as such a large group of young men were returning home. Roosevelt’s core idea of the G. I. ill is exhibited by Altschuler when he writes, â€Å"To Roosevelt, this was neither educational opportunity nor government-guaranteed residential loans but the successful transitions of millions of veterans from military service to civilian work. He singled out ‘satisfactory employment’ as the most urgent need of service personnel and concluded the GI Bill would help that need. † Not only were the returning soldiers fearful of a return to the Great Depression, but clearly our political leaders were fearful represented by Roosevelt’s urgent need to stimulate jobs.Another portion of the G. I. Bill that had a considerable positive effect on the American economy was the government establishing provisions for the returning soldiers for fifty percent of certain loans made to them. These loans to the soldiers could be used for the purchase or construction of homes, farms, and business properties. This part of the act made it easier for entrepreneurs to try to start their own businesses resulting in a swellin g in the number of small business in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Not only did the G.I. Bill have a lasting effect on small businesses but also it transformed the way Americans lived in the cities. As veterans received the financial benefits from the G. I. Bill and began to make their way into higher paying jobs a housing boom occurred and suburbs began to quickly develop. The housing boom of the 1950’s affected not only the people that were living at this time, but the lifestyle of Americans forever. No longer was the middle class of America only relegated to living within the cities.With the housing boom of the 1950’s as well as the development of mass production of vehicles people could now live in the Suburbs and commute to their jobs in the cities. Vehicles before the 1950’s had been mass produced, but the difference between the 1950’s and before is the amount of people being able to afford vehicles increased drastically in the 1950’s. People could now afford to buy vehicles as a result of the education or benefits that they had received from the government years before due to their service during World War II.During the 1940’s and the ten years following the development of housing communities increased rapidly. According to Altschuler, who used the 1670 U. S. Census report writes, â€Å"the rapid movement of big-city dwellers to new homes outside the central city increased that proportion to 41 percent and in the 1950’s it grew again to 49 percent. Major cities did see growth at this time just not at the same rate. Sometimes during the early 1960, the area outside the nation’s largest cities surpassed these cities in population, and the balance has continued to shift. People at this point were establishing a pattern that is still followed in today’s society of living out in the suburbs and commuting to the city for work. After the invention of the suburbs there was a need for better roads at the middle of the 1950’s. President Eisenhower firmly believed America needed to modernize their roads in the form of an Interstate system that would be globally unrivaled. Eisenhower wanted a roads system that was even unrivaled by the Germans which is saying something because in the 1930’s there interstate system gave them a distinct advantage during the second war.Eisenhower believed a National Interstate System was essential to the United States not only as a result of the suburbs but also militarily. Eisenhower is quoted as saying, â€Å"together the uniting forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear- without them we would be an alliance of separate parts. † Once the Interstate system was created the majority of America’s middle class was now living in the suburbs and a large percentage of the middle class that were building houses out in the suburbs were recipients of the G.I. Bill. The Bill transformed cities and it also provided a foundation for an increase in birth rates as a result of families being secure financially. The G. I. Bill along with families settling down in the suburbs are two major reasons for the large increase birthrates of the 1950’s and 1960’s and the Baby Boomer Generation. Even today, the period of the Baby Boomers in the 1950’s and 60’s is unrivaled when comparing birth rates during different times. Creation of jobs through great loan rates and unemployment are very important portions of the G. I. ill, but what helped to lay the groundwork for America more than anything was the financial aid that was offered for the returning soldiers to attend college. The bill stated the returning soldiers had access to tuition charges of up to $500 per school year; furthermore, the right to receive a monthly living allowance while pursuing their studies at universities. The school portion of the Readjustment Act created so mething many soldiers would have never had access to: the opportunity to rise to a higher socioeconomic status level as a result of a college degree.This opportunity is exemplified by Private Leslie Faulk and his incredible story. If it weren’t for the G. I Bill Mr. Faulk would most likely have returned home from Europe and would have come home to work in his native smoky western Pennsylvania industrial town where the days of the Great Depression were still apparent. Kiester writes, â€Å"Then he would look for work. If he were very lucky, he would move up from his high school occupations of caddying at the local golf course and racking balls in Kindler's poolroom.Maybe he'd even find what the town considered a â€Å"good job. † That meant he might be stoking a steel-mill open-hearth furnace or winding copper armatures in the Westinghouse generator plant. † However, with the opportunity that America granted Leslie he had the opportunity to go pursuit a college e ducation and eventually become an engineer for the United States military leaving the western Pennsylvania town behind. Thanks to the government’s aid Leslie along with hundreds of thousands of soldiers now had the opportunity to become an engineer, lawyer, or even a doctor.Before the Readjustment Act of 1944 someone that was from the lower class never even had the option to attend a university or trade school because to them it was just too expensive. For this reason of creating opportunity to a class of people that had never had such opportunity the G. I. Bill is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in American history. Kiester believes that there were two periods in American history when expanding education has eventually resulted in an economic gain for the United States.The two periods in which education has worked to expand the economy are the Land Grant for colleges of 1860 and the period of the G. I. Bill. He asserts, â€Å"G. I. Bill statistics are awes ome. Out of 14 million eligibles, 2. 2 million veterans jumped at the chance to attend college. At a cost of $5. 5 billion, the first G. I. Bill turned out 450,000 engineers, 240,000 accountants, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 doctors, 122,000 dentists, 17,000 writers and editors, and thousands of other professionals. † As these professionals entered the American workforce the impact was immediate, and it was a substantial impact.The more successful the G. I. graduates were the more of a return the America government had as a result of the taxes that these people would pay into the government for many decades to come. Ironically, the returning veterans had better access to the more prestigious schools which contributes largely to the high number of engineers, doctors, and dentists. According to statistics taken by the U. S. Office of Higher Education in 1948, â€Å"With tuition paid by the government, veterans attempted to enter the best institutions their record s would permit.In the fall of 1948 the majority of veteran men enrolled in privately controlled institution, while the majority of nonveteran students registered at publically controlled institutions. † This represents that returning soldiers were drawn to better known institutions and since the government was granting them a healthy sum of money for their schooling they could afford the best schools in the country. Those who opposed legislation of the Readjustment Act of 1944 feared that passing the bill would be another step in Roosevelt’s New Deal policy.Many right wing conservatives objected at the idea believing that the origins of the bill arouse from liberal ideologies. Liberals responded with their argument claiming the different nuances of the Readjustment act which included: compensation education and training benefits were designed in no measure to breathe new life into the New Bill. Liberals go on to make the point that the Readjustment Act of 1944 was put i n place for one reason only and that was to mitigate the effects of a postwar depression or recession.Many questions came about when different legislators were discussing the different mandates for the G. I. Bill. Question such as should every veteran receive the benefits or only those soldiers returning that are under the age of twenty five years old? Or another question that arose that is described in Altschuler’s book is â€Å"After one year, should government officials in the VA or the U. S. Office of Education select the best students in fields (like engineering) where shortages were anticipated- and authorize them to complete undergraduate, professional, or graduate degrees? Many more questions were being debated among legislators and it was a common perspective from right wing conservatives that the bill had ties to the Roosevelt’s New Deal. However, in the end the Republicans understood the importance of the bill to the returning soldiers and that is why the b ill was able to pass. The most pressing matter was the matter of the Readjustment was the part of the bill granting unemployment. Among the legislatures there was a debate over what was a fair number of weeks that a veteran could receive the unemployment benefits from the Readjust Act.Some argued for fifty two weeks and others objected claiming that if veterans returned home to America and were able to receive money for a year then they would become very complacent and not want to put forward the effort after a year to go find a job. When using a digestion of minutes by Ross during the Nation Executive Committee Meeting during the dates of November 18th through November 20th 1944, Ross makes the point, â€Å"Within six months of discharge, about 70 percent of veterans without disabilities had found full-time employment. Another 8. 8 percent had regular work in less than a year.Thus, â€Å"52-20† and job placement services, which was once the key issue sponsors and supporters would now see the issue as less pressing by the end of 1945. † With the resolution of the issue of unemployment resolved the bill could move forward in its debates. It is ironic to think that the most pressing issue of congress was the debate over the unemployment which in the end was the portion of the bill that had the least amount of impact and users. This strong debate over unemployment demonstrates the legislatures underestimating the amount of soldiers that would take advantage of the college portion of the G.I. Bill. When trying to gain an understanding of the mindset of people in the 1940’s I had a discussion with my grandmother on the G. I. Bill. Her husband Harold, who passed away before I ever had the opportunity to meet him, was directly affected by the Readjustment Act. She made the point to me that she was in high school as the war in Europe was coming to a close but he had actually been able to attend Colorado State University due to his years over in Eu rope and he made the point that the Readjustment Act was crucial to him to be able to go to school. When I asked her what she he told her about the G.I. Bill? She responded by saying, â€Å"He was just always very thankful for what the government had provided him with. Harold did not come from a lot of money and when he was drafted to the war he had a nervous feeling he used to describe to me. Once he got out he did know what he was going to do but the G. I. Bill allowed him to get a good education that provided him with a career opportunity. † My grandmother’s description of what her husband had told her about the G. I. Bill solidified to me the importance of the bill to so many different returning soldiers.It didn’t matter what region you were from or what your socio-economic status was at the time if a returning soldier wanted to better them through education it was now a possibility. Similar to Leslie Faulk from Western Pennsylvania, my grandfather had also risen out of poverty through the use of education that was made possible by the Readjustment Act of 1944. When conducting the interview with my grandmother Elizabeth, it showed me that as a history major that enjoys twentieth century American history I should be talking to my older family members to acquire more information.It would be interesting because it would be from my own family’s perspective on different issues I have acquired information about in my college history courses. The G. I. Bill had a lasting impact on so many individuals and is probably not recognized in history enough for the lasting impact that it had on the United States people and the government. The G. I. Bill’s largest weakness is not allowing the equal opportunity for returning women or at least telling them about it as they were being discharged out of the war. The Veterans Administration made no special efforts to inform women of their benefits to which they were entitled.Men were briefed a bout the bill when they were discharged; furthermore, once they were discharged they were provided with educational and vocational counseling. Metter explains the gender back that existed in the Readjustment Act, he writes, â€Å"it was provided only sporadically to women. † Going Back to Civilian Life, a pamphlet issues by the War Department, did not refer to women. Moreover, since women were far less likely than men to join a veteran’s organization, they lacked access to another important source of information and encouragement. † A woman not being given equal treatment to the distribution of the G.I. Bill funds is no surprise as over the course of history there are many different instances where women have not been on an equal playing field. As a result of this statistic education and training under the bill, were far less significant for female veterans. The difference in treatment of women at this point in history is demonstrated by the occupational segregat ion and wage differentials that were being place on all women jobs. For jobs that carried a certain amount of influence or high status within a community women rarely got hired for these positions and if they did they would make less much money.That factored into women not trying to pursuit a higher education because even if they were more qualified than a male candidate there was a good chance that the male would get hired due to gender discrimination. The uneven distribution of the G. I. Bill had a significant impact on the percentage of women in college. The uneven distribution of women in colleges is shown by Hartman when he writes, â€Å"Constituting 40 percent of all college graduates in 1940, women made up a mere 25 percent of degree candidates in 1950.Since veterans received preferential treatment in the most selective, private colleges, women often had to choose between a public institution or no institution at all. † By 1959 women accounted for a third of the colleg e graduates but there still existed a large disproportion between genders. Keith Olsen, the author of The G. I. Bill, Veterans, and Colleges actually does a case study on the University of Wisconsin and he uses a quote from the President of the University of Wisconsin that was taken in 1950. The President states, â€Å"For the past four years we have gone â€Å"all out: to be of service to the ex-G.I. s but the transaction has not been one-sided. Our 30,000 student veterans have been a stabilizing influence in Wisconsin Student life. Their maturity had enabled them to raise scholarship levels. Their great sense of responsibility has improved student-faculty relationships. † The overall excitement and satisfaction of the President of Wisconsin exemplifies many of the beliefs that most in the academic world expressed at most of the returning soldiers were responsible and cared about their academics. One of the headlines of the Daily Cardinal which was the paper in Madison read , â€Å"U.W. Will Admit All Students It Can House. † The want ads of the Madison newspaper demonstrated the shortage of housing that occurred on many other campuses nationally. In Madison tents were set up to provide veterans a place to sleep while searching for a room. While the amount of housing was eventually solved with temporary housing being brought in, the impact that these students had on the colleges still has a lasting impact. Olson writes, â€Å"In addition to their superior performances, the veterans left a heritage to the college generation that followed.They made the married student an accepted part of academic life and demonstrated the feasibility of a massive federal aid program to higher education. † Other impacts that the G. I. Bill had on colleges is it increased state financial support of universities around the nation. These first students graduated under the G. I. Bill laid the ground work for the path that many kids choose today. Those kids that come from lower socio–economic status or possibly didn’t do that well in school can now go to the military and receive financial aid for their military service. The G. I.Bill transformed America in so many different ways and the importance of the bill should never be overlooked. The veterans who made their way into the classrooms first wanted to be treated as students that were known for fighting in World War II. They wanted to be absorbed into college communities with as little disruption as possible and receive an education. With their hard work within the classroom and their aid on the two different fronts during World War II these men were able to provide a better life for themselves and their families and they succeeded in doing just that.The G. I. Bill allowed many people to live their own version of the â€Å"American Dream. † Bibliography Altschuler, Glenn C. , and Stuart M. Blumin. 2009. The GI Bill: a new deal for veterans. Oxford: Oxford University Pr ess. P. 66 Dwight Eisenhower quotes out of Snyder, Logan Thomas. 2006. â€Å"THE CREATION OF AMERICA'S INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM. † American History 41, no. 2: 32-39. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 19, 2011). E. B. Fred, Report of the President, November 1950 from the book Olson, Keith W.The GI Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges (University Press: Kentucky 1974) p. 74 Education Interests College G. I. s, â€Å"School and Society† (Feb. 10, 1945); Mettler, Soldiers to Citizens, 149-150 Hartmann, Home Front and Beyond, 107. Interview of Elizabeth Berckefeldt on March 12th, 2011 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Grandmother of Dustin Gochenour Kiester Jr. , Edwin. 1994. â€Å"The G. I. Bill may be the best deal ever made by Uncle Sam. † Smithsonian 25, no. 8: 128. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 18, 2011). Olson, Keith W.The Gi Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges (University Press: Kentucky 1974) p. 98 Ross, Preparing for Ulysses, 235- 236; â€Å"Digest of Minutes,† National Executive Committee Meeting, American Legion, Nov. 18-20, 1947, American Legion Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana U. S. Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Population: 1960. Vol, I Characteristics of the Population. Part 1 United States Summary (Washington D. C. : U. S. Government Printing Office, 1964 1-106) U. S. Office of Education, â€Å"1948 Fall Enrollment in Higher Educational Institutions,† Circular no. 248, 15 November 1948.

Differences Between Carbon-12 and Carbon-14

Differences Between Carbon-12 and Carbon-14 Carbon-12 and carbon-14 are two isotopes of the element carbon. The difference between carbon-12 and carbon-14 is the number of neutrons in each atom. The number given after the atom name (carbon) indicates the number of protons plus neutrons in an atom or ion. Atoms of both isotopes of carbon contain 6 protons. Atoms of carbon-12 have 6 neutrons, while atoms of carbon-14 contain 8 neutrons. A  neutral atom would have the same number of protons and electrons, so a neutral atom of carbon-12 or carbon-14 would have 6 electrons. Although neutrons do not carry an electrical charge, they have a  mass comparable to that of protons, so different isotopes have different atomic weight. Carbon-12 is lighter than carbon-14. Carbon  Isotopes and Radioactivity Because of the different number of neutrons, carbon-12 and carbon-14 differ with respect to radioactivity. Carbon-12 is a stable isotope. Carbon-14, on the other hand, undergoes radioactive decay: 146C → 147N 0-1e (half-life is 5720 years) Other Common Isotopes of Carbon The other common isotope of carbon is carbon-13. Carbon-13 has 6 protons, just like other carbon isotopes, but it has 7 neutrons. It is not radioactive. Although 15 isotopes of carbon are known, the natural form of the element consists of a mixture of only three of them: carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14. Most of the atoms are carbon-12. Measuring the difference in the ratio between carbon-12 and carbon-14 is useful for dating the age of organic matter  since a living organism is exchanging carbon and maintaining a certain ratio of isotopes. In a diseased organism, there is no exchange of carbon, but the carbon-14 that is present undergoes radioactive decay, so over time, the isotope ratio becomes more and more different.

Thirst for Freedom essays

Thirst for Freedom essays Thirst for freedom HARRIET TUBMAN In 1820, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene both slaves in Buck Town Maryland gave birth to Araminta Greene also born a slave. Araminta lived some 90 years of hardship and peerless journeys to free her people from slavery. Cruelty and unbearable living conditions were a norm for these times. First, we'll need some background on the institution of slavery, which began in the early 15th and 16th century recorded in the ancient history of Babylon and Rome. Portuguese explores living east of Africa provided slave labor for Whites, West Indies and Spanish Plantation owners; in 1660 Virginia Law decreed slaves would serve their masters for life. With the development of plantation land and its five staples of produce Rice, Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco and Coffee required strenuous work to harvest. At the age of six Araminta was taken from her parents to live with James Cook, whose wife was a weaver, to learn the skills of weaving. James Cook would order her to guard his muskrat traps, which compelled her to wade through the water. Once she was sent when she was ill with the measles, and caught a cold from wading in the water and she grew very sick. Her mother convinced her master to take her away from the Cooks until she could recuperate. After she entered her teens she was hired out as field hand. In the fall of that same year slaves were required to work evenings, cleaning up wheat, husking corn, etc. On one afternoon one of the slaves of a farmer named Barrett, left work and went to the village store without permission. The overseer and Araminta followed him. When the slave was found, the overseer swore he would whip the slave, and called on Araminta and others to help tie him. She refused and as the man ran away the overseer picked up a two-pound ...

Political Violence During Reconstruction Essay Example

Political Violence During Reconstruction Essay Example Political Violence During Reconstruction Paper Political Violence During Reconstruction Paper Political Violence during Reconstruction; makes it obvious that in many ways the struggles of getting along were far from over. The relationship between the white man and black man was In constant turmoil, and the political problems In the South did not help either. Harsh feelings and an extensive struggle for power was the problems which the united States faced. Many often think of the United States as peaceful after the Civil War was over, but this is far from the truth. Hyde shows how evident it was that unity of this nation was far from being reached. The carpetbaggers were northerners who supposedly carried all their belongings in a satchel made of carpet material as they came south to exploit the defeated region of the South. The white Southerners gave them this degrading name to them because they wanted to maintain control in the South. The old ruling aristocracy believed that they were born to govern, without question, not only their slaves but the white people too. The local people who supported the Republican Party and what they were trying to accomplish were known as scalawags. Scalawags and arbitragers were the names given to those by the white people in the South that wanted to keep running things their way. They did not want things to change. They had a lot of power and control not wanting anything to happen to It. One can only imagine the harsh feelings In the middle of these translators after the Civil War. Along with these harsh feelings came the problems with the lower-class Louisianan in dealing with the planter elite. The lower-class Louisianan wanted to create equality between them and the planter elite in their state. They felt that wings were not fair and change was needed for the better of society. They were encouraged to reassess their fealty to these planters. Through newspapers and other ways these Louisianan felt that they needed to raise their own crops and be independent from working under these planters. However, these elite planters presented themselves as victims of tyrannical outsiders who sought not to create equality between them but to make the lower class more dominant In order to make them serve the lower classes needs. The lower class may have wanted to know what It was to be served, or they really did Just ant to have an equal opportunity at life. This proved unsuccessful because of the power and resources the elite planters had already obtained. Another struggle for power resulted in many Florida parishes along with other parts of the country almost immediately after the war was over. Freedmans Bureau agents under the federal government, Federal soldiers, and blacks all suffered attack after attack from anyone who wanted to. Shootings and stabbings were very frequent and almost nothing was done about them. Local law enforcement that tried o do anything about it resulted in utter failure, and many times it was laughed at. Insufficient manpower and a slow-moving bureaucracy were so slow to get a case together to prosecute somebody, many other Incidents had already occurred. People that were taken to court were usually let off with absolutely no charges no matter what had happened. Federal authorities were not respected because It was literally a joke to take seriously. They could not enforce any laws because of its vast weakness. With the weakness and lack of any federal and local authorities, two independent ND separate white supremacy organizations were created. The UK Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia were the two major white supremacy organizations. Each group functioned separately with its own set of methods and even purposes. Reports of these groups started to circulate in the late asses. Members of the UK Klux Klan were so obsessively secret that nobody knew for sure if they even existed in some places. Members of the White Camellia openly admitted their existence and even denied any knowledge of the UK Klux Klan. Both of these organizations believed they needed to preserve the superiority of the white race. The purposes of these organizations did differ greatly. Members of the Knights of the White Camellia committed their lives to defending the social and political superiority of the white and in all places to observe a marked distinction between the white and African races. The UK Klux Klan believed that they must not only make a distinction, but also meet any problems with the black race with death as a traitor. The Klan was more violent than the White Camellia. The White Camellias members ere usually looking to keep leadership in the hands of whites. They controlled a lot of political seats and made up much of the business and professional class. The Klan was mostly younger men who were known as characters who drink and do what they want. Through all of the fighting and struggles that had been going on since the Civil War, many were starting to get used to the idea of fighting as a means to solve their problems. They did not necessarily cause an increase in the amount of fighting internally as a whole for the future, but did cause certain aspects of life to be more seed to the fact of violence. The argument could go either way, but overall influence of fighting in the future did not affect it that much. Through the writings of Samuel C. Hyde a person really get a grasp of what went on after the Civil War. Problems that were thought to have been solved as soon as the war was over resumed for many years to come. The constant struggle of power mainly of the white men led to so many problems and even death in many cases. One can really get a grasp of the true struggles that went on shaping our nation into what it is today.