President Grover Cleveland Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

President Grover Cleveland - Research Paper Example He was also nick named as Uncle Jumbo. His commitment towards truth and honesty can be witnessed in his famous words; â€Å"To be president, you should have honesty. Honesty is always telling the truth. Do you tell the truth? Above all tell the truth† (American President – Grover Cleveland). Cleveland has contributed heavily to American politics and social life. This paper analyses Cleveland’s life and his contributions to American politics and society. Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. He grew up in New York. He started attending school at the age of 11. When his father died in 1853, Cleveland left school to work and support his family. He moved in 1855 to live and work with his Uncle in Buffalo, New York. He studied law in Buffalo and was admitted to the bar in 1859 (Kelly) Cleveland got married only after he became the twenty second president of America. Probably, he is the only president in the history of America who got married as a president of America. He was 49 at the time of his marriage and his wife Frances Folsom was only 21 at that time. He had five children (three daughters and two sons) in this relationship; however he was alleged to have another child in a premarital relationship. During the Civil War he had hired a substitute when drafted into the army. This was perfectly legal but certainly a disadvantage at a time when most successful northern politicians made much of their military achievements in defense of the Union. More serious still, Cleveland was the father of an illegitimate child. He had provided for the support of the child, but in those Victorian times knowledge of his transgression, should it become widely known, seemed sure to cost him heavily at the polls. Yet three years later he was elected president of the United States (Garraty) The election of Cleveland as America’s president is still mysterious to many people. Cleveland never possessed the normal qualities required for getting the candidature of Democratic Party. He was not much educated and had some illegal relationships while he was selected as the Democratic Marty candidate for presidential election. Military service was compulsory in American military; however he escaped from that using by drafting a substitute into the military. In short, none of his personal, academic or professional achievements or qualities were popular; yet he succeeded in winning the president election purely because of his anti-corruption stands and some other popular opinions he expressed on various issues. Cleveland started his political life during the latter half of nineteenth century after the completion of his law studies. He has gained immense publicity because of his anti-corruption stands since corruption was widespread in American political and social life circuits. He has taken Democratic Party membership and won the mayor election of Buffalo in 1882. Later, (during the period 1883-1885) he became the govern or of New York. He has caught the attention of the people not because of his fight against corruption alone; but because of his stands against tariffs, inflation, imperialism etc. He has demanded political and economic reforms in America which made him the real hero of American politics during the latter part of nineteenth century. Cleveland's phenomenal political rise was not entirely due to his honesty and courage, which were considerable. His unusual success was possible because the American people had become

The Evolution of Communication in the Technology-Focused World Essay

The Evolution of Communication in the Technology-Focused World - Essay Example Current issues are discussed, such as how ‘sexting’ represents a dilemma for public officials, and why it’s important to select complex, hard-to-guess passwords for important online accounts. In all, the paper presents a concise look at a few of the many areas affected by the rapid adoption of technology as a means of communication, and what it will ultimately mean for the duties performed by public officials. Keywords: communication, technology, criminal justice, public sector The Evolution of Communication as the World Becomes More Technology-Focused ‘Communication,’ as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is â€Å"the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings.† The methods by which such conveyances are made have been widely divergent through time. Whereas in the distant past, the dominant mode of communication might have entailed making gestures combined with short words or phrases to make one’s intentions known, the advent of the modern technological era has spawned an entirely new set of paradigms. The rapid rise in the speed and breadth of global communications enabled by technology has given rise to a number of descriptive labels. Industry expert Manuel Castells, a professor and Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California, has dubbed the era as, ‘the network society’ (Castells, 2010). He postulates, â€Å"I contend that around the end of the second millennium of the common era a number of major social, technological, economic and cultural came together to give rise to a new form of society† (p. xvii). The referred to paradigm shift in communication is cited by Castells as creating a â€Å"shift from traditional mass media to a system of horizontal communication networks organized around the Internet and wireless communication† (p. xviii). Adopting a cautionary tone, he notes that a fundamental cultural tra nsformation has taken place, based on digital information processing, that has engendered a â€Å"generational divide† between persons born before 1969, which he marks as the ‘Internet Age’ and those thereafter. While wholesale changes to longstanding global societal structures have doubtlessly created a sense of disorientation among some, the ability to instantly communicate has brought about many improvements worldwide. In the critical area of health care, communication technology has enabled unprecedented levels of access to information on diseases and treatments, which are instantly accessible over Internet-based protocols. Innovations such as Web-based medical collaborations, wherein practitioners in different geographical locations can share data from a single clinical record, have become a vital part of the treatment process (Sands, 2008). Advances in communication technology have completely reorganized the traditional business model. Whereas once only the larger corporate structures had the wherewithal to distribute goods and services worldwide, global access is now easily accessible to even small proprietors.

Successes And Failures Of Un Control Of Human Rights Violations International Law Essay

Successes And Failures Of Un Control Of Human Rights Violations International Law Essay 1. United Nations signed Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 for protection of human rights and maintenance of world peace. Regrettably, the record on this front has not been encouraging. Although UN has been successful in avoiding third World War in the past six decades but the painful reality, however, is that wars, some international and several internal, have taken place and produced casualties estimated to have exceeded those of World War II. Failures of UN 2. The performance United Nations in Somalia was fitful. Its absolute failure in maintaining even some impression of peace in Bosnia is a serious and ineradicable blemish on its image and has sternly damaged its credibility. To the victims of the Bosnian conflict, be they Muslims, Croats or Serbs, the UN has become a malicious joke, a dirty word. Feeble impotence of UN forces to counter substantial and atrocious violations of basic human rights had deeply shaken the faith of the international community in the world organization.  [1]   3. Since its inception UN has shown failure around the world except in the case of Kuwait, the UN has been incapable to take valuable and absolute measures to implement peace. Under the influence of this incapability, the organization has in practice employed other means to preserve international peace, tranquility and security. UN peace keeping missions around the world especially concentrated in African contentment are directed towards this effort. 4. The UN does not enjoy an exceptional record, in these missions especially after its failures in Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda. The problems persistent to the UN Peacekeepers are:- (a) The fundamental disagreement over the allocation of authority among the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary General. (b) The absence of any clear and coherent policy. (c) Widely different perceptions about what constitutes threat to peace. (d) The Security Council is essentially a political body and its decisions have largely been swayed by political considerations in many cases. (e) There have been reservations and concerns that the integrity of the Charter may be impaired by political tendencies. (f) Over dominance of the five Permanent members of the Security Council due to the veto power that they enjoy. 5. There numerous instruments existing for the protection of human rights as mentioned in Chapter I and UN Charter has clearly laid down the Human Rights which all human beings universally enjoy as seen in Chapter III. It is extremely surprising that despite all those lofty resolutions and conferences, the violation of human rights is so common and frequent. (a) Central American Region. Violation of human rights in this part of the world remains more or less in intransience. In Guatemala and El- Salvador, the torture and kidnappings were quite regular. In these Central American countries such violations denied many of their basic liberties through imprisonment, mistreatment of prisoners and denial of due legal procedures. In Nicaragua a state of emergency overruling all accepted rights was imposed and the UNO hardly took any notice of these violations. In Honduras and Panama thousands remain cramped in jails for no serious charges (for protests against Human Rights violations in 1987). The UN then too has remained unmoved. (b) Tibet. In the this land of Lamas, wherein a struggle for independence is continuing for decades together, the citizens of the nation are being suppressed by military rule of martial law. The denial of basic human rights is predominantly visible, but it created no ripples in the corridors of the UNO. The opposition by the Tibetans at the time of Olympics in China was well highlighted by international media however not adequate attention was paid to their cause and protest. (c) Arab and the Middle East Region. In the Middle East countries, mainly in Iran and Saudi Arabia, the situation remained quite ghastly for decades now. In the name of Religion and Allah, citizens have been denied free trial and investigation, many were put to axe on mere religious Fatwas. The UNO remained a quite spectator to all these misdeeds in the name of religion. The international law and basic rights as promulgated have been denied in the name of local religious law and crime and atrocities have been created publically but neither UN nor any human rights organizations have been effective in providing respite to the citizens from these dreadful crimes. (d) Afpak Region. The bare violation of Human Rights by the Taliban and other militant organization in the region continue with their dictatorial style of religious fundamentalism with no intervention by the UN visible on the horizon. US forces are operating in the region but they are not been able to provide much relief to the citizens of Afghanistan.  [2]  In spite of presence US and NATO forces in the region violation in the Pakistan itself have not been influenced by the presence of these forces and the media coverage provided to them. FATA and NWFP region of these two nations is the human centre of terrorist dictatorship and need urgent UN attention. (e) African Continent. Rwanda is set to succeed in its proffer to be part of commonwealth despite serious record of violation of human rights. In spite of such a high rate of violation by the nations and violent opposition by NGOs that the entry into the club would encourage Kigali to raise level of violation and it will become difficult to take any action as in case of Fiji.  [3]  Democratic Republic of Congo in which freedom of speech, the press and human rights are undermined or violently abused, in which courts fail to meet international standards and country which has invaded its neighbors four times since 1994 the killings by Tutsis and retaliatory killings of Hutus.  [4]  Although government in Darfur has increased deployment of police and security personnel against gender based bias and sentenced several security personnel for rape the human right situation in Darfur is still grim, the town of Tawilla is completely deserted after police attack.  [5]   (f) Human Rights Violation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The convolution of the ethnic problem and ethnic hatred has been the origin of the human carnage which has resulted in an unparalleled toll of human lives. Campaigns launched for ethnic cleansing devastated this Balkan republic. European community and US largely perceived that the Serbs were responsible for the massacre of the Muslims. International community has failed to evaluation the civil war sit in Bosnia dispassionately and blamed the Serbs. In fact, the failure of UN to bring about a resolution in the discord between various groups in the state has also been one of the major reasons for such a large scale violation of human rights. (g) Oil for Food Scandal. The program was part of a inclusive set of UN- mandated sanctions intended to prevent Hussein from reconstituting a menace to his neighbors. The program allowed approximately $7 billion per year of Iraqi oil revenues to be used to procure food and medicine for the Iraqi people. It was endeavourer of UN forces that money was utilized for same but not to purchase weapons or WMD- related technology for the Hussein regime. The UN sanctions regime against Iraq, including the Oil for Food program is worth close scrutiny not because it was a scandal, although scandal there was, but because taken as a whole, it is the most successful use of international sanctions on record.  [6]  Documenting the why and wherefores of that success is as important as correcting the shortfalls that allowed a rogue regime, in connivance with unscrupulous international businessmen, to siphon funds from UN- administered Iraqi accounts.  [7]   (j) People Died of Starvation in Somalia. Despite the large presence of a troops of a UN security force and a faction of ceasefire observers, around Somalia the ceasefire was overlooked and in its place fighting continued with increasing brutality. The relief operations were at great risk. During the final quarter of 1992, factions in Somalia split into more and smaller factions, many of those even formally disobeyed the UN Security Council which made the situation even harder to control. No heed was paid to hundreds of poverty stricken refugees who were dying of starvation every day.   This mission in Somalia failed to control difficult situations which involve numerous parties. Given UNs limited military strength and the impossibility to get the different warlords of Somalia to negotiate peacefully, UN attempts to maintain peace and security like that of the operation in Somalia was bound to fail.  [8]   (h) Resolutions 1235 and 1503 and Its Effectiveness. When Resolution 1503 was adopted by UN, it was seen as a step further than Resolution 1235 in the development of shielding machinery. This insight probably arose from the fact that while initiatives under 1235 lie completely in the hands of the member states. Resolution 1503 gave the power to individuals and NGOs. (i) The Greece case. A detailed and well documented complaint against the government (1967-74) was lodged by NGO of the state but it was tossed back and forth by the working group concerned for two years. The complaint was finally dropped when the Greek military command released a large number of detainees (without changing the illogical system of detention and torture).  [9]   (ii) The Uganda Case. Idi Amins of Uganda case was another case to surpass through the muddle established by 1503. Information and complaints concerning the administration did arrive at the commission in 1974 and again in 1976/77. Not until 1978, on the eve of Amins flight following the defeat by the Tanzanian Army, aided by Ugandan insurgents, did the Commission take any action at all. That action implied the form of a request to the Secretary General to appoint a special envoy to Uganda under the confidential procedure. The procedure laid down under resolution, once the subject of great hope, has purely not lived up to the expectations. It often served as screen behind which gross violators who could take shelter behind it. If the objective was to obtain prompt publicity or public action for serious human rights violations, the 1503 procedure is inappropriate.  [10]   6. Delayed Action by the UN. The UN mission was designed as the mechanism to form rules of relationship between the members of international society. Since the end of World War II, there had been hardly any wars between states, but there were as many as 110 local conflicts between states.  [11]  The military forces of 71 governments participated in these conflicts, and 135 supporter group and non-governmental forces were engaged.  [12]  The consequences were appalling: thousands of innocent civilians have been killed in these conflicts. Over the years there has been upward trend in internal rather than interstate conflict. The UN is mostly without initiatives except to acknowledge to the invitation of warring parties, or in certain extreme cases when it intervenes to prevent abuse of human rights. The UN usually has been silent observer to the situation with a certain detachment until it reached a critical point, and intervenes only after the situation has gone out of hand. B y the time an intervention is affected, the parties have already intensified their mutual detest and preventable damage is caused. Successes of UN 7. The UN has been unprejudiced and successful setting values for setting roles, selectively successful in monitoring abuses; and almost frail in enforcement. Governments usually subordinate considerations of UN effectiveness to the principle of non-interference. However, the modesty of the achievements of the UN should not blind us to its reality. The Universal Declaration embodies the moral code, political consensus and legal synthesis of human rights. The world has grown more complex in the sixty years since. The simplicity of language belies the passion of conviction underlying them. Activists and NGOs use the Declaration as the concrete point of reference against which to judge state actions. The Covenants require the submission of periodical reports by signatory countries, and so entail the creation of national infrastructures for the protection and promotion of human rights. It might be probably difficult to measure the successes of the UNO objectively. However it would be wor thwhile to have an overview of the various achievements attributed to it over the years in the field of human rights. 8. Democracy Promotion. UN investigated individual complaints of human rights abuse, the UN Human Rights Commission always focused world attention on cases of arbitrary detention, torture, disappearance, and has generated international pressure to be bring down pressure on governments to improve their human rights records. The United Nations has enabled people in many countries to participate in free and fair elections, including those held in Cambodia, Namibia, El Salvador, Eritrea, Mozambique, Nicaragua and South Africa. It has provided electoral advice, assistance, and monitoring of results.  [13]   9. Promotion of Independence Self Reliance. The United Nations has played a pivotal role in independence of countries that are now among its Member States. Independence of nation and its countrymen as is agreed worldwide is a fundamental human right. 10. Maintaining Tranquility and Peace. Deployment peace-keeping forces and observer missions, the United Nations has been able to restore calm to allow the negotiation process to go forward while saving millions of people from becoming casualties in the conflicts. There are presently 16 active peace-keeping forces in operation. 11. Ending Apartheid. United Nation played a important role by imposing measures like an arms prohibition segregation in sporting events, which played a major role in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid in South Africa. General Assembly called it a crime against humanity. UN conducted elections in April 1994 in which all South Africans were allowed to participate on an equal basis, followed by the institution of a majority government. 12. Humanitarian aid to victims of conflict. UN has provided aid to more than 50 million refugees who are victim of war, famine or persecution the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 1951 in an abiding effort harmonized by the United Nations that often involves other agencies. UN was the first to reach for the assistance of victims of war between Sri Lankan military forces and LTTE. It provided aid in terms of food, medical and other humanitarian assistance. UN provided aid worth $ 37.5 million to the Tamil victims and pressurized the government for early resolution of conflict. UN provided aid worth $ 460 million to the victims of flood in Pakistan.  [14]   13. Assistance in Promotion of Women Rights. United Nations has been working for a long time to progress the lives of women and to empower women. Several conferences during the UN-sponsored International Womens Decade set an schema for the improvement of women and womens rights across the globe. The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) have sponsored programs and projects to improve the quality of life for women in more than 100 countries. They include education, credit and training UN provided access to new food-production technologies and marketing opportunities, and other means of promoting womens work. End Notes

The way Homer conveys his stories to the audience :: Literature

The Way Homer Conveys his Stories to the Audience Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey used a number of different techniques to convey his poems and stories to his audience. I will be writing about these in this essay. Right from the beginning of Book 9 we see Homer’s ability to convey the story well, he starts it with a monologue from Odysseus to King Alcinous on his adventure. It gets right into the action which would’ve held his audiences interest throughout. He finds ways to get around justifying things by ‘pushing’ Odysseus right out of the known world round Cape Malea into the unknown. He is then allowed to create a fictional world, another dimension where he cant be corrected. He creates islands and peoples, whole civilisations of monsters. This I believe is an excellent example of Homers good composition. He also weaves all these stories together from old folk tales and although there are some slight mistakes he was reciting it by mouth so couldn’t just press the ‘backspace key’ he had to carry on even if he had made a mistake. The Cyclops story and others were probably not told together like they are in the Odyssey, they would’ve been told by different groups and tribes around fires. So this is another example of well Homer composes the whole story into one massive epic poem which is the Odyssey. Another example of his good composition is how he makes the whole thing into a formula, in formulaic epithet. Not many people could probably do that straight away. He sometimes goes on auto-pilot by using the same phrases. E.g. â€Å"As soon as Dawn appeared, fresh and rosy-fingered.† This shows another good example of Homer’s composition excellence. Homer does make mistakes though, he sometimes when trying to weave the folk tales gets them jumbled up and doesn’t correct them. E.g. â€Å"The Cyclops then washed this meal down with unwatered milk† It was not normal then to water milk and isn’t now. We believe Homer made this mistake purposefully, as in the original the Cyclops may have been drinking wine but that would mean the rest of the story wouldn’t work so he quickly replaced wine with milk but didn’t get rid of unwatered.

Philosophy in Asia, Africa and America

The general philosophy of life in Asia is based on the principle of Yin and Yang elements: the light and the dark, the positive and negative effect. It is a belief of balance and counter-balance and both have their opportunities and threats(â€Å"Philosophy: Yin and Yang vs. Good and Evil,† 2007). The Taoism principle of Way to happiness, the Buddhism philosophy that values love, wisdom, goodness, calm, and self-control in order to end worldly sufferings by following the Eightfold path and Confucius’ social code of behavior.People base their lifestyle on luck, souls and spirits, reincarnation, the Nirvana and many others. These are the major religions of Asia and of the world that until now are still untainted. Western philosophy, which includes Europe, Canada, and U. S. A. , is based on Christianity, a religion with fundamentals of Good vs. Evil. This forms strong approach of â€Å"rights† and â€Å"wrongs†.Under any condition an individual’s actio n is based on morality; either morally right or morally wrong (â€Å"Philosophy: Yin and Yang vs. Good and Evil,† 2007). From the rationalism and empiricism, to politicism, determinism, collectivism (which human rights derived) and scientism which claim that science is the only knowledge which is exact and ultimate. Basically, there are four trends that can be regarded as the foundation of African Contemporary Philosophy in our present times.These trends are Ethnophilosophy (based on the myths, folk-wisdom and the proverbs of the people), Philosophic Sagacity (a reflection of a person who is acknowledged both as a sage and a thinker), Nationalist-ideological Philosophy (aims at seeking a true and a meaningful freedom for African people that can be attained by mental liberation and a return to genuine traditional African humanism wherever it is possible) and Professional Philosophy (consists of criticism and argument, which to them, are the essential characteristics and condit ions for any form of knowledge to be judged as philosophy).Nowadays, African intellectuals work with other scholars outside Africa to carry out the works in African philosophy wherein, modern system of education are strongly influenced by the European countries and among those important political African thinkers influenced by western philosophy are Kwame Nkrumah, Kenneth Kaunda and Julius Nyerere. Nà ©gritude and pan-Africanism are considered the two most important philosophical interests out of all the intellectual movements in Africa in the twentieth century (Emagalit).

Nat Turner Rebellion Essay

The Nat Turner rebellion caused a great uproar in Virginia. The aftermath of the movement actually moved some in Virginia to push the ideas of gradual emancipation. With the intensity of the slavery issue at the time, this rebellion had the effect of causing a chain reaction in the Virginian society. The initial reaction of the white population after the rebellion is rather complicated. One thing to note is the power of rumors and their destructive influence. People in Virginia started going crazy, as these rumors incited mass hysteria. Whites in Virginia mobilized towards Southampton county, numbering roughly three thousand units. With an overall sense of panic, and increasingly terrorizing rumors, it is no wonder that there were so many atrocities done to the black population. Militia came into the area with preconceived ideas as to the extent of the rebellion, and with it they just started killing random blacks. In a hypocritical way, whites mutilated the bodies of their victims. Whites decapitated approximately fifteen supposed rebels in Murfreesboro with the heads placed on poles for everyone to see. What could cause people to see this as a good idea? It is fascinating that the incoming militia had the capacity to mirror the crimes that they were there to prevent. In the very area in which Nat Turner’s rebels murdered the Vaughn family, the head of a murdered black man was put on display. This reaction shows the deep hatred that some white men had for slaves. This aimless killing obviously could not continue for long, as peoples started to realize that their property was being destroyed. Monetary compensation was only given if a slave was executed under the law. Since slavers were a key economic asset, it was only appropriate that the suspected rebels should be tried in a court. With the death sentence being issued by a judge, the slave owner could be compensated, and the blood lust could be sated. Shifting toward a more appropriate action, the death sentence was typically more humane that the random murders seen initially. Reaction on the side of the law was obviously very hostile, since every judge was white and very much emotionally compromised on the situation. With the racial opinions and dehumanization of blacks, this court wouldn’t be the fairest, but it was better than previous actions taken on the black community. The judges expedited the hearings of suspected rebels, allowing little time for them to build a proper defense. As there was a great deal of prejudice towards them before the Nat Turner rebellion, black men faced a  considerable amount of abhorrence in the aftermath of the revolt. Not only did the free blacks feel so much pressure that many of them fled the area, but some even chose to go assist in the colonization of Liberia. One important thing to note is that Virginia even took away the right of blacks, slave and free, to preach or conduct religious meetings. This is interesting with the knowledge that this country was founded upon religious freedom. In the mind of slave holders, slavery needed tighter controls. Pent up emotions concerning the abolition movements likely caused some of the more extreme reactions to the Nat Turner rebellion. The fear of losing their property and way of life was a battle that the South had been fighting since the country was founded. Their livelihood depended on the protection of slavery. Publications like David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, likely caused quite a stir in the Southern population. In the mind of Governor Floyd, these abolitionists and black preachers were the main culprits behind the Nat Turner rebellion. In reading the document encompassing Nat Turner’s confession, there are some problems when analyzing the text. What has been left out is unknown. In a joint effort between Thomas Gray and Nat Turner, the confession was made to give at least some account of the rebellion. Both men likely hated each other, which would cause some communication issues during the interview. While Turner was the voice behind the confession, Gray was ultimately the one that structured it. Most of the article is the synopsis of events that occurred in Turner’s life, which appear to be his own voice. Throughout the document, Gray interjects his opinions, especially in denouncing Turner’s acts of violence. When Turner addresses his supposed ministry, Gray seems to be fill with loathing concerning Turner. Though he recognizes the vast intellect of Turner, Gray also describes Turner in a manner that shows an overall disposition of enmity.