Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Why Were Women In Ireland Excluded From The Public Exercise Of Power Essay

Why Were Women In Ireland Excluded From The Public Exercise Of Power Over Men - Essay Example One reason is that Irish historiography has been little affected with recent methodological developments in intellectual history. During the last two decades, however, there has been a move away from regarding political texts as embodiments of eternal truths to a more contextual approach: one in which political theory is regarded not as the rarefied speculation of isolated individuals, but as a social activity conducted by numerous people using a variety of linguistic conventions. In Ireland political though is to be found in myth, law, literature, theology, folk fore, in ballads, newspapers, parliamentary debates, pamphlets and sermons, as well as in the conventional texts. Furthermore, Irelands’ political thinkers have displayed great heterogeneity, encompassing, for example, seventeenth- century bishops and poets; professors and conspirators in eighteenth century; improving land lords, urban artisans, journalists in the last century and politicians and literati in this. Yet Irish historiography has largely remained unaware of the rich pickings offered by a contextual approach to political ideas. Instead, emphasis is still placed upon men or women of action. Throughout the troubled history of Ireland, women have been no less concerned than men when it came to coping with the difficulties and confused loyalties of Ireland. The role they played, however, have been misconceived and underestimated in past histories of the island.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Reason For The United States Imports Economics Essay

Reason For The United States Imports Economics Essay In recent years, studies show that the United States imports more than it exports. Imports are any goods or services brought in from one country to another for sale. Exports, refers to the selling of goods and services produced in the home country to others. This means that the United States is buying more than we are selling at this very moment. Companies import goods in order to supply the domestic market at a cheaper price. Companies, also import goods that may not be available in the local market. Exports outweighing imports helps widen the trade deficit. This overall widening of the countrys deficit shoes how difficult it will be to rebalance the global economy so that the United States does not consume more than it produces. The United States importing more than it exports affects the economy by tipping the balance of trade. The Balance of trade also known as net exports, is the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports of output in an economy over a certain period. In easier terms it is the correlation between a nations imports and exports. The United States importing more than it exports places the United States in what is known as a trade deficit, or trade gap. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2011, the United States trade deficit was $559.956 billion. This was due to the United States having $2.1 trillion in exports minus the $2.67 trillion the United States had in imports. This is an example of how the United States Economy is becoming stronger, considering the fact that this is way better than the outlandish $753 billion dollar trade deficit that happened only four years prior. The reason for the United States imports is because its imports in oil, consumer goods and automotive products outweigh exports in many of the same groups. Being that the United States is the third largest exporter in the world; the economy still manages to export a large amount of goods. The United States is only behind China and the European Union. It is a known fact that two-thirds of the United States exports are material goods. The most imperative export for the United States is services, which is the remaining third of the economies exports. As the biggest service exporter in the world the United States manages to stay atop the three largest exports categories in service which are royalties and license fees, travel services and financial services. On the contrary the United States is the worlds largest importer; more than 80% of the United States imports are goods (BEA). The largest category is industrial machinery and equipment, within this the largest group is oil and related petroleum products. In order to get out of the recession the United States needs to figure out how to try and balance out the trade deficit. As a result of production levels dropping and the continuing of selling off our large companies to foreign interests, tax revenue has receded and we have fewer American owned companies remaining to produce wealth and generate taxes. American owned companies are what we need to build the economy. The persistent importing of goods from other countries will hurt our economy even more. Small businesses help drive the American economy. Small businesses also provide jobs for over half the nations private workforce. The debt enlargement has impacted every level of our economy. This ongoing trade deficit is detrimental to the nations economy over the long term because it is financed with debt. The trade deficit also helps the United States lose its competitiveness. This means one day we wont be able to compete with other countries. When purchasing goods overseas for a long period of time, the United States companies lose their expertise and even factories to make certain products. The government will have to continue to borrow money and import more goods in order to operate. One of the biggest issues existing today with imports and exports, are the rising and falling of gas prices. In the past year, the United States exports of oil rose above its imports of oil. Being that in the past year, gas prices have reached an all-time high, this shows that exporting more than importing is not always a positive thing. In fact, The Energy Department reported, For the first time since 1949, the United States exported more gasoline, heating oil, and diesel fuel last year than it imported (Winter). This change is significant because for years, the United States economy has depended heavily on other countries for imports of fuel to meet demand. In the past year, the capacity of fuel exports has been rising because many citizens are using less fuel, and in return buying more resourceful cars. This case allows U.S. refiners to export more fuel to rising economies such as South American countries. For example, In 2011, U.S. refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier (USATODAY). The more fuel the U.S. economy exports the higher the prices of gas will be. This statement is true because the more fuel and oil that is sent to other countries, the less of a supply pillow the United States will have. These facts and statements show while the United States exported more oil than imported, the downside is that gas prices were higher than they ever were. When President Obama took office, he prompted that he planned to change the economy in a substantial way. According to CNN, his initiative to enhance the economy was to increase the amount of exports over the next five years, while in return creating 2 million plus jobs. As said earlier in the analysis, the balance of trade needs to be rebalanced as the economy recovers. Obama and his teams support of increasing exports has not only created a surplus of jobs, but also will shift the economy towards exterior trade. In conclusion, it is clear to see that the United States has put the economy into quite a predicament. Because of the negligence of the future, America has continued to create a massive amount of debt. With all of the problems being faced, lets look at a possible solution to this problem. There are many resources that the United States must import. However one of the biggest issues is oil and can be something that can definitely be manipulated for the future. The United States possesses its own oil supply that it has yet to dig into for various political reasons. If this oil is found and used then not only will we not have to import oil, but gas prices can go down tremendously in America. In the midst of everything that is currently occurring, there is good news as of late. According to the New York Times, exports last month have increased by 3.1 percent and a 1.5 percent increase in imports. This is good news and a slight sign of improvement. Further, President Obamas plans to enhance the economy will help our future. If the United States can continue to keep this progress, then maybe the economy can decrease the trade deficit more every year until we can maintain some type of balance. When it comes to the future state of the United States economy we can only be optimistic in the nation and hope for a better tomorrow. If bad decision making continues as far as our country and our money, we are making it harder for the future leaders of this country. That is simply making disarrays for someone else to clean which is not the type of behavior this country needs to continue to exuberate. The choices we make today effect our tomorrow and if we plan on staying strong as a nation, the way we handle our finances must be improved and be more strategic. If not our future will be unclear, and our great country will go into an uncontrollable downward spiral.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Graduate Study of Clinical Psychology :: Graduate Admissions Essays

Graduate Study of Clinical Psychology My dedication to the field of psychology is evident in the various activities in which I am involved. I am a student affiliate of the American Psychological Association, as well as a student member of the Iowa Psychological Association. I have been actively involved in the community as a volunteer working with patients, families, and staff in the emergency room of a local hospital. I have been a devoted member of the psychology club for two years and am currently serving my first year as an officer (Vice-president of Special Events). Finally, I have been a teaching assistant under the supervision of Dr. Frank Barrios, clinical psychologist, and Dr. jack Yates, cognitive psychologist, both of the University of Northern Iowa, where I have had such responsibilities as preparing and grading exams and essays, holding office hours, working with individual students, assisting students with assignments and presentations, and answering any questions students may have about the material. Not o nly do I feel confident about my preparation in psychology, I am also working toward a minor in sociology, acquiring knowledge of the human relations that exist between the individual and the community. In addition to these activities, I have been involved in research under the supervision of Dr. Augustine Osman, clinical psychologist, University of Northern Iowa. Currently, I am working on three separate measures that will soon be submitted for publication. One is an attempt to validate a measure concerning pain and is entitled, "The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS): Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties." The second is an effort to differentiate between anxiety and depression in a college sample. And the third is an attempt to differentiate between anxiety and depression in a clinical sample. Given Dr. Osman's excellent record of previous publications, I fully expect for these articles to be accepted for publication and for myself to be listed as co-author on all of them. Through my experience with research, I have been involved in data entry and collection, interpretation of data using SPSS, as well as scoring of the MMPI-2. To gain applied experience in the field of clinical psychology, I decided to obtain an internship. To accomplish this, I approached the program facilitator of the mental health unit at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa. I spent the summer of 1996 carrying out this voluntary internship under the supervision of Dennis Feltz, LMHC, while gaining hands-on experience working with both the adolescent and the adult populations.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Religious Toleration Essay

In early Europe, many places established a strong sense of church. This was normally established by the ruler and how the ruler thought the land should practice. When the Protestant reformation came around, this boiled up many different controversies with toleration. The 16th to 18th centuries saw a lot of diverse arguments and practices concerning religious toleration. From different people all over, the ideas varied greatly with some people only wanting their religions to exist, others giving some leeway for other religions to live on, while some compromising for the good of their own people or followers. Toleration was accepted by some and rejected by others in Europe. William Prince of Orange wanted to ensure to keep his country safe so his proclamation to the people of the Netherlands stating that religious toleration was needed so Spain could not potentially harm them, therefore tolerance was a way to keep the peace inside their country (DOC 2). In 1649, the _Agreement of the Free People of England_ pamphlet wrote on how the anguish of persecution is caused by religious problems (Doc 6). Voltaire, a French writer and philosopher, writes about how if one religion was allowed in England the government could become heavily tyrannical therefore he states that religious toleration would bring peace and let people live happily (DOC 11). No toleration from the some of the Roman and French people was evident against the Protestants. King Louis XIV of France in 1685 forbids the subjects of Protestant religion in any place because of the evils, troubles, and confusion in his country, therefore he doesn’t believe Protestants should be allowed anywhere under any circumstances (DOC 8). Going completely against what Luther believes, Maria Theresa has her belief that if there is no subordination in the church, how will people live? Putting salvation at  stake when bringing other religions into the picture is what outraged many people in the sixteenth to eighteenth century (Doc 12). A French Catholic aristocrat, Paul Hay du Chastelet, wanted to give his opinion and pleas that the unity of one belief binds the men together and keeps all the men at the same altar who will rarely fight each other, therefore the princes are obligated to pick the religion of the region they are in charge of (DOC 7). The two most discussed topic in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries would be the toleration and non-toleration of religions. Some people made compromises so there was no fighting or keeping the peace between people. Glabbais in 1691 opens up a new Catholic church and states that no offense between the Protestants and Catholics will happen when going to and from church. Also, there will be a specific meeting place for Catholics so no trouble is caused (Doc 9). Also, when King Henry IV of France wrote the famous Edict of Nantes, it permitted reformed religions to live in the places of his Kingdom. The Edict explains how the people of the reformed religion will keep everything contained (Doc 5). The other way the compromise was achieved was through keeping the religions separated. This meant that one religion would be observed quietly and peacefully in their home. This was mostly accommodated to the Lutherans and the Lutherans had to stay where their religion thrives (Doc 10). The religious toleration in the 16th through 18th centuries brought a lot of talk between the arguments and practices of religions. There were people who agreed that religion should all coexist together, have only one practice control everyone, or some with a compromise for the good of their own people. Religious tolerance was a term that was debated and capitalized on for most states and Kingdoms during the Protestant Reformation.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Effects of Music on Human Behavior

As music has changed through out the years, artists have become much more lax with the message that they send to the public. As laws of censorship change, a separation of the public’s freedom of speech and the medias has become very significant. As the government cracks down, many artists fight to keep their freedom. With people blaming their actions on the lyrics of the music they are exposed to, this is going to be a hard feat for the artists to accomplish. Although the fight of the musical artists against the government has been going on for the past 20 years, it has become even more emanate now. Are the actions of people to be blamed on the music? What effect does music have on the social behavior? Should these effects make harder censorship laws, or is music protected by the Bill of Rights? Music has become a large part of everyone’s life. Preservation of music is very important to the preservation of the american culture so these problems cannot be ignored. The most misunderstood music is Rap. Children as well as teenagers have a hard time interpreting emotions in music (Weinberger). This misunderstanding is most relevant in rap music, because it is harder for children to relate to the artist. In cases like these, apparent or older sibling has to explain the message to the child (Weinberger). In particular, â€Å"gangsta rap† is distinguished by lyrics that often involve references to street gangs, gunplay, sex, drug use and violence, and has been accused of extolling violent behavior. Studies have found that exposure to rap music â€Å"tends to lead to a higher degree of acceptance of the use of violence. † In addition, several major rap artists have been charged with violent crimes in real life, and many worry that their actions seemingly condone the violent messages in their music. Their celebrity status also serves to glamorize their violent behavior (Mediascope). Although there is violence, sex, and drug reference in modern rock music, most have a much deeper message about life. It has been resolved that rock music has had more influence on older adolesencents then their parents do (Weinberger). Rock music is much easier for teenagers to relate to with all of their pressures and problems. â€Å"Kids who listen to Heavy Metal and Rap tend not to do as well in school, or it maybe that troubled students are drawn to these types of music† (Weinberger 99) The most rebellious music is Punk. Punk spreads the true ideas of the modern teenager through the media. â€Å"When parents look at Punk music they see everything that is wrong with their children just as their parents did† (Robertson). Parents should pay more attention to the music that their children listen to. They must also censor the music (American Acad†¦). Even with all of the violence, sex, and drug references in music, there are many benefits. Listening to music keeps the brain in shape. Listening involves learning, memory, and emotions (Ezarik). Studies of the Mozart Effect have shown that listening to music can make babies more creative, smarter, healthier, and happier (Ezarik). Some doctors in ancient Greece even believed that music was just as important as medication in treating patients (Gregory). Other studies of music, faster music tends to make people work faster where as music with long, gentle notes tend to relax (Gregory). The effects of music psychology can be seen in stores in our own community. Many play background music in order to get shoppers to stay in the store (Gregory). Music is important in adolescent lives: teenagers spend between four and five hours a day listening to music and watching music videos and name music listening as their preferred non-school activity. It is not surprising that government officials, researchers and parents alike are concerned about the impact of music on teenagers. Disturbed by the amount of violence portrayed in modern music, adults worry that these messages are contributing to the rise in violence among kids. Forty-eight percent (48%) of Americans say that violence in popular music should be more heavily regulated and 59% would ike to restrict violence in music. (Mediascope) The effects of stimulating and sedating music were determined for heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure of premature infants in an intensive care nursery. The results indicate that the calming and stabilizing effect of sedating music might help to reduce the use of sedative drugs in infants on ventilators and reduce the incidence of respiratory problems (Journal of Mus†¦). The basic rights of freedom of speech are outlined in the Bill of Rights. Do these rights also cover the freedom of speech in music? Music is a form of media and should be censored, just as movies and television (American Acad†¦). Many performers do see themselves as large role models, but they also believe that parents should take action. â€Å"How much damage can I do with a pen? † (Eminem, Rap Artist) When parents are not around, who are children supposed to look up too? (American Acad†¦) There is really no way that parents can regulate all of the music that their children listen to, but it is a start for parents just to find out what kind of music their children are exposed to (American Acad†¦). Even with these changes many bands have not received the message to clean up or get out (Gregory). How far should the government go in their intervention? Keeping records that should not be open to the public off the shelves, taking away publishing rights from some artists that go to far with their music is up to the public to decide. Many parents look at the music that their children listen to and do not even consider it music, but porn. With all the reference to sex not only in the music, but also in the music videos shown on television. Although the government has made a lot of threats to try to intimidate the music industry; many parents believe that these threats should be carried out in order to end the violence (American Acad†¦). â€Å"Music may contribute to the atmosphere of violence that some argue is generated by popular media. Critics claim that music negatively affects teenagers by repeatedly exposing them to themes such as Satanism, substance abuse, murder, suicide and sexual violence, which may be heavily reinforced and normalized by the frequency of their portrayal. Heavy metal and rap music are especially criticized for lyrics that many believe glorify violence. Music lyrics have also become increasingly explicit in the past two decades. Songs commonly make graphic references to sex, drugs and violence, whereas such sensitive topics were cleverly veiled in the past. †(Mediascope) The public, and parents, should be aware of sexually explicit, drug oriented, or violent lyrics on compact discs, tapes, music videos, and the Internet. The music industry should develop and apply a system of specific content-labeling of music regarding violence, sex, drugs, or offensive lyrics. If labeling is not done voluntarily by the music industry, then regulation should be developed to make it mandatory (American Acad†¦). â€Å"Forty-seven percent (47%) of mothers with children in public schools believe that violent messages in rap music contribute â€Å"a great deal† to school violence, and 66% of 13- to 17-year-olds believe violence in music is partly responsible for violent crimes like the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. However, no studies have documented a cause-and-effect relationship between violent or sexually explicit lyrics and adverse behavioral effects. Studies show that the preference for heavy metal music may be a significant indicator for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risks, sex-role stereotyping, or risk-taking behaviors during adolescence, but music is not the cause of these behaviors. It is hypothesized that teenagers already struggling with those issues may be attracted to heavy metal music, because the lyrics express their own troubled feelings. (Mediascope) The music video industry should be encouraged to produce videos and public service messages with positive themes about relationships, racial harmony, drug avoidance, nonviolence and conflict, pregnancy prevention, and avoidance of sexually transmitted diseases (American Acad†¦). â€Å"Music Television (MTV) redefined music for future generations by creating music videos, and the unique fusion between rock music and visual images continues to be a hit. A 1996 study revealed that boys and irls ages 12 to 19 watch MTV for an average of 6. 6 and 6. 2 hours each week, respectively. But despite music videos' popularity among adolescents, many adults criticize the medium as studies show that music videos often contain violence, sexism, suicide and substance abuse. A 1998-1999 study revealed that music videos were more violent than feature films and television, averaging four violent scenes each, and a 1997 study reported that 22. 4% of MTV videos contained overt violence and 25% depicted weapon carrying. (Mediascope) Pediatricians should counsel parents to become media-literate. This means watching television with their children and teenagers, discussing the content with them, and initiating the process of selective viewing at an early age (American Acad†¦). What actions has the government taken to get the ball rolling on these problems many people are wondering? The government has set up a rating system for music. As with movies, it is separated into age groups that are mature enough to listen to the content of the album. The government has also required a label to be placed on albums with explicit content. The label simply states â€Å"Parental Advisory Explicit Content† (VH1, 100 most†¦). Although the government has taken a few steps, there is much more that could be done. As for the laws that are involved none are truly enforced out of fear of a lawsuit, or problems involving the loss of support to pass these laws by the music industry and the artists. As ideas and times change in the world, the message in music will also change. Looking back in the past few years the change in music has been very substantial, with the introduction of new music such as techno. Music may be stepping away form violence by itself. If music does take this step away, all by itself, there may be no reason for the government to intervene with censorship. There is no reason why people should be able to get away with their actions because of listening to music. Music may have a substantial effect on many people, but everyone knows the difference between right and wrong, fact and fiction.