Mapping an Argument Essay Example for Free

Mapping an Argument Essay The first article talks about the lack of regulation on the quality and safety of our food supply even though there are health food options, such as fruits and vegetables. Especially, in the federal school lunch programs that have contributed to poor health of our younger citizens. The United States has had one of the safest food systems in the world, but within the last few years 70 million Americans have gotten sick, 300,000 have been hospitalized, and 5,000 die from food-borne illnesses each year. Consumers always identify with wholesome – not harmful foods. Our children today are most at risk from these food threats, with about half of all food-borne illnesses hitting children under 15. The tens of millions of victims of food-borne illnesses represent only a small segment of the causalities from our failure as Americans to require safe and nutritious foods. A regulation of chemicals, many of the fruits and vegetables that should be healthy and nutritious are being laced with dangerous pesticides. Many foods that are being marketed to our children have trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup, that have contributed to the epidemic of obesity in young children, heart disease and diabetes in older populations. It is far from perfect, but the Food Safety Enhancement Act (HR2749) was passed by the House of Representatives in 2008 and has taken steps in the right direction. The Act has given more authority to the FDA, which had restored some of the power to conduct food inspections and strengthen oversight. Yes, many regulations have been in place but since January 2010, over 850,000 pounds of beef have been recalled due to E. oli. Like I said it is far from over, but many more safety legislation should be able to target the largest causes of these food-borne illnesses. I believe that all of this would not happen if the growth of small farms. The less risk of contamination and not as many people would be put into the hospital or even die because the animals, fruits and vegetables would be processed and cleaned correctly. They would be handled with no pesticides and would actually be more healthy then what is grown today. The second article talks about online poker. Many states are trying to outlaw online gambling, for example Minnesota, their arguments are trying to save citizens from ruin, but many states are running their own casino and betting operations. A ban on poker, a game the requires skill, is against American and capitalist principles and would restrict peoples freedom. Monday April 29, 2009, The Minnesota Department of Public Safety gave notice to all major internet service providers that they will be ordered to block service to a list of 200 internet gambling related sites. It may expand to â€Å"thousands† of sites, depending on compliance. Chris Fox, who plays poker for a living, is very biased about the issue since he plays poker for a living and if the ban is upheld, then he would have to move states. Canada on the other hand has not made online poker illegal and are much more friendly toward online poker players. Online poker is all about skill and defined on the Department of Public Safetys own website, games of skills are not illegal. When the government all of a suddenly tries to attempt something like enforcing a law that does not even really exist and try to prevent players from doing something that is actually legal, it is always about money or politics. In conclusion, there is really no conclusion since there are many ways around this prohibition and that it will not prevent anyone who really wants to play from getting online and playing poker where ever they choose to. The Wire Act of 1961, which was meant for preventing the transmission of sports bets over phone lines and the internet did not exist. Many people have emailed the Department of Justice to let them know that people play online poker every day and that they should come arrest these people, but never heard anything back. The threats that are used now are very minimal and will find other Americans to hassle.

Love in The Yellow Wallpaper, Hlls Like White Elephants, and A Dolls H

Love in The Yellow Wallpaper, Hlls Like White Elephants, and A Doll's House True love is the love that everyone fantasizes about. It is the love that is unconditional and everlasting. Love is very hard to define since everybody's concept of love is different. However, in order to achieve a good relationship, people must have a well balanced power structure in their relationship, and good understanding and communication between them. In the stories, "The Yellow Wallpaper,'; "Hills Like White Elephants,'; and "A Doll's House,'; one could see the lopsided relationship between the males and females. In these stories the males predominates the females, and the characters seem to lack understanding, and communication toward another, which causes problems in their relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The communication going on between the man and girl in the story, "Hills Like White Elephants,'; are not an honest one. The man seems to lead the conversation where as the girl is quiet. He brings up the subject of 'operation' which suggested abortion, but never mentions the word 'abortion' in the story to understate it. He tries to convince the girl to get the operation, but the girl seems bothered by this subject. However, he does not stop. Their relationship seems to be fine when the baby has not came in between them. We could see this where the guy says, "We'll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.'; The girl wants the relationship to become as before, but is in a huge dilemma whether to give birth to the baby or not. The man does not want the baby and has the choice of abortion in mind, not thinking of the other problems that would occur through operation such as the girl's health. Later on, the girl makes a melancholy remark that the hills look like w hite elephants. Probably the hills being a round shape reminded her of the baby. She walks toward the end of the station, and sees the beautiful nature. When she looks more toward the nature, one could see her small desire wanting the baby and thinks what may have been happened if she had the baby. The guy does not pay attention to that remark, because he is just concerned about making his point that he wants the operation done, not considering her side. The American guy does not come straight forward and does not mention the word abortion trying to manipulate her. We could see the man having the power over the ... ...hat she was nothing more than a doll for Torvald, she decides to leave the house. She sees no hope in Torvald, who until the end was concerned about his reputation and could not understand his wife. This could have been prevented if they ever had serious talks and understood each other. They needed to get into a relationship where nothing was covered up, and deal with the ugly unwanted sides of another by communication.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In all of these stories one could see the relationships where men were in control, and women were the followers. All of the relationships had problems and the cause was the lack of love, and communication. They could have had better relationships if they solved problems by having true and honest conversations, and try to know and understand the other person's thoughts. Those were stories of the 19th century, but there are still problems between males and females dealing with unbalanced relationships, and miscommunications or no communications. Love is a hard subject, and there would always be problems in relationships dealing with it, but if one is willing to listen to another and puts effort into reaching true love, the relationship could be a happy one.

Philosophy of Raja Yoga Essay

For many in the West, yoga is simply just a part of your workout plan, a means of strengthening the body, curing body ailments, and improving flexibility. As we review the philosophy of yoga we’ll find that it is â€Å"much more than a system of physical exercise for health, Yoga is . . . an ancient path to spiritual growth. † (Raphael) The word yoga is related to the English word yoke. A yoke is a wooden plank custom fitted on cattle to help them pull the load. The same way the yoke is unifying the cattle to the beam, yoga is the union of body, mind and spirit. (Chopra ix) We first find traces of yoga in ancient texts dating back to 500 B.  C where they speak of uniting â€Å"the light within you with the light of Brahman†. There are four main forms of yoga Gyan, Bhakti, Karma, and Raja, all which we have covered in class, but I will only go into detail about Raja yoga. It wasn’t until the work of Maharishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras that we come to see the main philosophy of Raja yoga as it stands now. (Chopra 23) Legend has it that Patanjali’s mother, Gonnika, was praying to Lord Vishnu and that he was so moved by her devotion that Vishnu asked the cosmic serpent, Ananta, to prepare for human incarnation. A speck of Ananta’s cosmic seed fell into Gonnika’s hand, she nurtured this cosmic seed, which then soon developed into a baby boy. Quite similar to the Christian story of the Virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus, Gonnika named her child Patanjali from the root word pat meaning â€Å"descended from heaven† and Anjali the word for praying posture. Patanjali set up a system of eight branches of Raja each meant to get you closer to unification with Brahman, they are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. (Chapra 47) I will briefly discuss all eight branches and how it compares to some catholic beliefs. The first branch of yoga, Yama, deals with how you interact with others. These social rules include practicing nonviolence, speaking truthfully, exercising proper sexual control, and being generous. Like Christianity and all other religious traditions they encourage people to live ethical lives. The essence of Yama is to achieve, in Sanskrit, ahimsa. Mahatma Ghandi advocated this principle during the independence movement in India. Ahimsa means your whole body is in peace, your thoughts are nonviolent, and your actions are nonviolent. Ghandi was quoted on saying, â€Å" If you express your love in such a manner that impresses itself indelibly pon your so called enemy, he must return that love†¦and that requires far greater courage than delivering of blows. † (Chapra 33) The second branch, Niyama, are the rules of personal behavior. How does one live when no one is watching? What choices do you make when you’re the only witness? Niyama yoga encourages a surrender to the divine, discipline, purity and contentment. Asana is the main branch of yoga that has grown in popularity in the western world. It is the third branch of yoga and it deals with physical flexibility and tone. At the deepest level of asana you will achieve full mind-body integration. The different postures offer great benefits in balance, and strength, and when preformed continuously it can also be a great aerobic exercise, but if not done properly it may cause serious damage. Pranyama is the fourth branch of yoga, which is similar to the Christian belief of the Holy Spirit. Prana means life force. Like the Holy Spirit, prana is the deciding factor between a living being and a cadaver. It is your soul. Modern day meditation derives from the fifth branch of yoga, Pratyahara. This is the process of ignoring the senses from the outer world and recognizing those in your inner world. The concept is similar to when you stay away from food for a while; usually your next meal is going to taste better than normal. When you withdraw from your senses you are able to experience them again with more vibrancy. Monks walking on hot coals seeming to feel nothing are practicing pratyahara. Dharana, the sixth branch, is the mastery of attention. This has grown in popularity by modern day quantum physics and in the book â€Å"The Secret† which tries to prove the law of attraction. Once you activate your attention on something, your intentions have a powerful magnetic influence to attract those same thoughts. Basically, if you set your mind to it you can achieve it. Very similar to Dharana, Dhyana, the seventh branch of yoga, is achieving complete awareness. You develop this skill in meditation, something I believe everyone should practice no matter your religious affiliation. Meditation teaches you to stay centered and awake to all possibilities, in order to be able to choose the best course of action for any obstacle. (Chapra 47) The eighth and final branch of yoga is called Samadhi. This is the belief that we are forever infinite, that although our bodies are temporarily on this planet our spirit is forever flowing in the cosmic world. Samadhi’s main goal is to know yourself as a spiritual being disguised as a human being. These teachings clash heavily with western philosophy of the afterlife. Christians believe that if we live good moral, ethical lives then we will be granted permission into the gates of heaven and therefore be in eternal peace. This belief, in my opinion, has been misinterpreted causing a materialistic movement. We tend to believe that since we are only here on this earth once, that we are forced to make as much money as possible and to have as many things as we can while it lasts. It has also led to carelessness in our environment. When western civilization begins to realize that the earth is in fact a living organism and we share the same breath of air with everyone, then we can begin to treat the Earth as our Mother Nature not just a temporary medium to the afterlife. Raised into a Roman Catholic family I still hold all the same values and beliefs I grew up with. But I believe no one religion is right, and it is naive to think that Christianity is the only way of life. Christianity, being one of the youngest religions, was derived from many beliefs of many different religions. Similarities are everywhere, but over time, power, greed and many other factors have changed the customs and traditions to their favor. I no longer see myself as Catholic, but I am still highly spiritual. I took this course hoping to find some answers and I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have to be a devout follower of any particular religion. I can take bits and pieces from various teachings to establish my own beliefs in a way that’s going to help me live a morally righteous life. Namaste.

Essay about Improving Israel-Palestinian Communication

The Israel-Palestinian conflict is a part of the greater Arab-Israeli long-running conflict in the Middle East. The main point of this conflict is the existence of the state of Israel and its relations with Arab states and with the Palestinian population in the area. Since the establishment of Israel, the Palestinians and the Jews have been fighting over the land for several years. Both believe that they have greater claim than the other. Even though, these two races share a variety of customs, beliefs and practices, there are enough differences that make these two clash. Even the similarities between these two have been the source of conflict for thousands of years. Despite the several attempts and peace agreements to†¦show more content†¦Unfortunately, this peace agreement was not fully implemented because of the hatred and mistrust between these two sides. There was also numerous Israeli-Palestinian dialogue events conducted each year targeting at grassroots population from both sides. These transformative dialogues was aimed at creating cultural harmony and mutual understanding between these two reducing prejudice and hostility. According to Ellias, the reason behind continuous failure of the dialogues between Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian could be the differences in their cultural norms and values and their speech codes emerged from their history. An Arab speaker who is engaging in his speech code called â€Å"musayara† is polite, indirect, courteous, and nonconfrontive to the other member of a conversation, whereas the speech code of Jewish is found sharp contrasting to that of Arabs. The communication code of Jewish is ter med as â€Å"dugri† which means straight talk. Jews who is engaging in his speech code â€Å"dugri† employ a direct, pragmatic and assertive style. Since, speech codes are culturally distinctive and the meaning and significance of messages lies on codes, it is very important for those who engaged in the dialogues to understand and predict each other during any intercultural communication or dialogue. Otherwise, it may lead to misunderstanding and problems, that frequently happens inShow MoreRelated Major Events that Effected the Growth of the Economy Essay3449 Words   |  14 Pagesin spite of the economic and cultural obstacles in the way of collaboration, contacts at the political level are multiplying steadily as it is recognized that the two regions have many common values and problems. The general trend is towards an improving relationship in the future, but on a different level to that established previously. 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With popular support behind them, these extremists have declared a holy war, a jihad, against the West, Israel, and all sympathizers of the two. In the jihad, terrorism has been the most used weapon against the enemies of Islam. Although terrorism has been magnified throughout the world recently, jihad is nothing new to Islam. Although jihad did not immediatelyRead More Future of Policing Essay1518 Words   |  7 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Current economic and political trends will affect how, and if, certain reforms take place. Some trends like the increased costs for medical services will affect officer’s salaries and benefits, while the growth of inexpensive technology with instant communication through cell phones and personal computers will improve response time and distribution of information quickly and effectively. Changes population demographics, with the increase in the cultural and ethic diversity of the population will createRead MoreFuture of Policing1538 Words   |  7 Pageseconomic and political trends will affect how, and if, certain reforms take place. Some trends like the increased costs for medical services will affect officers salaries and benefits, while the growth of inexpensi ve technology with instant communication through cell phones and personal computers will improve response time and distribution of information quickly and effectively. Changes population demographics, with the increase in the cultural and ethic diversity of the population will createRead MoreWal-Mar Global Expansion Strategy10037 Words   |  41 PagesGlobal Strategy E. Expansion Target: France General Overview Retail Industry Overview Macro Environmental Analysis External Factors Micro Environmental Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Model SWOT Feasibility Study Recommendation F. 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