The Other Side Of The River, By Alex Kotlowitz

The Other Side Of The River, By Alex Kotlowitz The book, The Other Side of the River, by Alex Kotlowitz, investigates the relationship between two Michigan cities, as well as the death of Eric McGinnis. The two towns, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, are called the twin cities, though they are anything but. For one, St. Joseph is predominantly white, while the majority of the population in Benton Harbor is African American. Throughout the novel Kotlowitz questions how people are affected by their environment. When interviewed about his book he said, your perspectiveall depends on which side of the river you live on. This statement is undoubtedly the backdrop for Kotlowitzs book. Erics death is just one of the many ways in which disagreement between the two cities took place. Another death that sparked a commotion between the two cities, and possibly more important, between the two races, was the death of Norris Maben. January 18, 1990, a year before Erics death was when Norris Maben was killed. Maben was shot by Marv Fiedler, a white cop. Fiedler thought Maben was the suspect he had been looking for and when it appeared that Maben was about to pull out a gun, Fiedler shot him. There was a logical explanation behind the shooting, but to the public this was just an unjust act of violence. To make matters worse, Maben was unarmed. The citizens of Benton Harbor saw this as a racial attack. Right before Fiedlers trial was when Erics dead body was found floating in the St. Joseph river. Immediately the residents of Benton Harbor thought he was murdered by a white citizen of St. Joseph. On the other hand, the citizens of St. Joseph thought it was possibly a suicide, or they didnt really care. One St. Joseph resident commented , That nigger came on the wrong side of the bridge. He Should have stayed on his side of the river. Erics untimely death stirred up stagnant feelings of the Maben shooting, as well as forming new a feud between the two cities. Residents of both St. Joseph and Benton Harbor grew up learning that the people on the other side of the river are corrupt. Chris Adams, the owner of a popular teen hangout, told Kotlowitz during an interview, You grow up around here learning that bad things happen in Benton Harbor. You grow up afraid to go across the river. This fear of venturing to the other side of the river was true for adults as well as teens. The author, Alex Kotlowitz, recounts how black teens asked cops for rides back to Benton Harbor because they were so afraid of being left alone in St. Joseph, but more importantly, they were afraid of the whites. Situations such as these bring into question whether this fear of the opposite race is a learned behavior as suggested by Chris Adams, or if prejudice is a behavior you are born with. This idea of behaviors being learned, or being born with the behaviors, is referred to Nature vs. Nurture. Nature refers to ones instinct and the concept that a persons behaviors can be traced back to their genetic makeup. On the contrary, nurture refers to the theory that people act a certain way because they learned so from their parents or peers. Growing knowledge of the human genome is helping scientists form theories in which both sides are partly right, but as of now the subject is still in debate amongst sociologists. In my opinion, I feel that a persons behaviors are learned by observing their parents or their peers. The characters from The Other Side of the River grew up learning that the other race is inferior and the other town across the river is corrupt. There are a few people, who are white, and live on the Benton Harbor side of the river. These people often interact with both races. It is people like this who learned growing up that neither race is superior. Furthermore, there are also a few characters, such as Ruth McGinnis, who are sociable and cordial with whites, and many other inhabitants of St. Joseph. As I began to read this book I expected a story about the death of Eric McGinnis, but as I read more and more I realized that this book was about much more. It told the underlying story of the two Michigan towns, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. It also told of various other controversies that helped me, as the reader, to identify why the townspeople felt the way they did about Erics death. This book also left me feeling unsettled. Living in a country that takes such pride in its diversity, it makes me wonder how two towns such as Benton Harbor and St. Joseph can exist. There are hundreds of towns just like these two, and if people will cease to be ignorant than they will be able to see each other for who they are, and no longer define each other according to their race.

Populist Party :: American History Politics Essays

Populist Party The Populist Party, a third political party that originated in America in the latter part of the nineteenth century, derived as a result of farmer discontent and economic distress. This was caused by the country's shift from an agricultural American life to one in which industrialists dominated the nation's development. The public felt as if they were being cheated by these "robber barons," a term given to those who took advantage of the middle and lower classes by "boldly stealing the fruits of their toils" (Morgan, 30). These corporate tycoons' conduct was legal, however ethically dubious it was. Cornelius Vanderbilt, a well-known railroad baron, reportedly once said, "Law! What do I care about the law? Hain't I got the power?" (Morgan, 30) The change from agrarian to industrial had a profound effect on everyone's life. Ignatius Donnelly, a leader in the Populist Party wrote, "We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption d ominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench . . . A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized" (Tindall, 957). As a result of this significant transformation, along with several different perspectives of peoples' mores, several reform movements were commenced, such as prohibition, socialism, and the Greenback Labor Party. Each of these movements was launched by different coalitions in hopes of making a difference either for themselves or for the good of the country. The farmers, specifically, were unhappy for four particular reasons: physical problems, social and intellectual concerns, economic difficulties, and political frustrations. The physical concerns the climate of the time period. Following 1885, there was a large drought on the American prairie, thus causing this land to become known as the "Dust Bowl." Furthermore, there were extreme blizzards resulting in innumerable deaths of cattle and livestock. Also, farms were very isolated causing the women and children to lead a life of solitude and boredom. They demanded change. In fact, the women were the ones to start libraries and other meeting places for themselves and their children. This isolation made schooling for children quite difficult. Most kids who lived on the farm did not receive a proper education, or one of any kind for that matter. Farmers' economic problems are more intricate. Events baffled the farmer. They believed that deflation was the cause of their problem.

History of the Origins of Environmental Ethics Essay -- Ethics Philoso

History of the Origins of Environmental Ethics The inspiration for environmental ethics was the first Earth Day in 1970 when environmentalists started urging philosophers who were involved with environmental groups to do something about environmental ethics. An intellectual climate had developed in the last few years of the 1960s in large part because of the publication of two papers in Science: Lynn White's "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" (March 1967) and Garett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" (December 1968). Most influential with regard to this kind of thinking, however, was an essay in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, "The Land Ethic," in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological crisis were philosophical. (Although originally published in 1949, Sand County Almanac became widely available in 1970 in a special Sierra Club/Ballantine edition, which included essays from a second book, Round River. Most academic activity in the 1970s was spent debating the Lynn White thesis and the tragedy of the commons. These debates were primarily historical, theological, and religious, not philosophical. Throughout most of the decade philosophers sat on the sidelines trying to determine what a field called environmental ethics might look like. The first philosophical conference was organized by William Blackstone at the University of Georgia in 1972. The proceedings were published as Philosophy and Environmental Crisis in 1974, which included Pete Gunter's first paper on the Big Thicket. In 1972 a book called Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, written by John B. Cobb, was published. It was the first single-authored book written by a philosopher, even though the primary focus of the b... ...n environmental phenomenology. On the theoretical level, Taylor and Rolston, despite many disagreements, can be regarded as objective nonanthropocentric intrinsic value theorists. Callicott, who follows Aldo Leopold closely, is a subjective nonanthropocentric intrinsic value theorist. Hargrove is considered a weak anthropocentric intrinsic value theorist. Sagoff is very close to this position although he doesn't talk about intrinsic value much and takes a Kantian rather than an Aristotlian approach. At the far end is Bryan Norton who thought up weak anthropocentrism but wants to replace intrinsic value with a pragmatic conception of value. The anti-intrinsic value pragmatic movement includes such philosophers as Anthony Weston and Andrew Light, although Ben Minteer has recently indicated that intrinsic value could be included in an environmental pragmatism. History of the Origins of Environmental Ethics Essay -- Ethics Philoso History of the Origins of Environmental Ethics The inspiration for environmental ethics was the first Earth Day in 1970 when environmentalists started urging philosophers who were involved with environmental groups to do something about environmental ethics. An intellectual climate had developed in the last few years of the 1960s in large part because of the publication of two papers in Science: Lynn White's "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" (March 1967) and Garett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" (December 1968). Most influential with regard to this kind of thinking, however, was an essay in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, "The Land Ethic," in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological crisis were philosophical. (Although originally published in 1949, Sand County Almanac became widely available in 1970 in a special Sierra Club/Ballantine edition, which included essays from a second book, Round River. Most academic activity in the 1970s was spent debating the Lynn White thesis and the tragedy of the commons. These debates were primarily historical, theological, and religious, not philosophical. Throughout most of the decade philosophers sat on the sidelines trying to determine what a field called environmental ethics might look like. The first philosophical conference was organized by William Blackstone at the University of Georgia in 1972. The proceedings were published as Philosophy and Environmental Crisis in 1974, which included Pete Gunter's first paper on the Big Thicket. In 1972 a book called Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, written by John B. Cobb, was published. It was the first single-authored book written by a philosopher, even though the primary focus of the b... ...n environmental phenomenology. On the theoretical level, Taylor and Rolston, despite many disagreements, can be regarded as objective nonanthropocentric intrinsic value theorists. Callicott, who follows Aldo Leopold closely, is a subjective nonanthropocentric intrinsic value theorist. Hargrove is considered a weak anthropocentric intrinsic value theorist. Sagoff is very close to this position although he doesn't talk about intrinsic value much and takes a Kantian rather than an Aristotlian approach. At the far end is Bryan Norton who thought up weak anthropocentrism but wants to replace intrinsic value with a pragmatic conception of value. The anti-intrinsic value pragmatic movement includes such philosophers as Anthony Weston and Andrew Light, although Ben Minteer has recently indicated that intrinsic value could be included in an environmental pragmatism.

Cultural identity Essay

According to Bloch, the ultrasocial and communicative nature of the human species makes the desire for a unique sense of belonging a deep-seated need. Identification with a particular community, whether it is a distinct cultural identity or a subculture of socio-political beliefs helps fulfill this need. This is not to say the desire for cultural identity rests on the same psychological drive or libidinal charge that powers fashion or gestation. It is important to distinguish that need from these desires, as cultures are not mere surface properties distinguished only by flavor and aesthetics, instead they arise naturally from the unique properties of the geography that spawn them. Archaeologist Paul Bidwell notes that the success of many empires such as those of the Roman Empire quite possibly has more to do with their ability to accommodate diverging cultures. Areas which were successfully Romanized such as southern Britannia were won over by inviting the ruling classes to dinner, while Celtic chiefs disinterested in Roman culture were never successfully incorporated into the pre-modern proto-melting pot that was the Roman Empire. In essence, Bidwell asserts that the Roman Empire’s assimilation policy rested entirely on a principle of minimizing the amount of intervention necessary to secure imperial interests such as the food supply provided by Egyptian agriculture, limiting their actions entirely to structured forms of co-optation: legislation, taxes and the requisitioning of goods. Bloch concurs, noting that when an empire begins to disrupt the social fabric of a culture, that trouble begins. This is not unlike the present state of the â€Å"accidental empire† of the United States, which as a melting pot (or salad bowl, depending on who you ask) is remarkably tolerant of other cultures to the extent that it does not threaten the status quo. Globalization permits the fulfillment of the desire for individual cultural belonging by making all sorts of cultural identities permissible by amplifying their importance in relation to an American past that had previously been subject to the hegemony of European culture. Because cultural diversity is now more relevant to the economic and political concerns of the United States, they are now considered more relevant to individuals by making the range of identity expression more permissible. If the United States is the Roman Empire, then it has now begun to realize that it is no longer practical to keep the cultures of Celts and Egyptians at arm’s length. For example, European culture’s relationship with the United States resembles that of the relationship between Greek culture to the Roman Empire, while many other cultures stand in for the Celts which are largely held up as valuable assets to be accommodated into a global economy that has been enabled by digital telecommunications technologies. Jerry Mander argues that whatever criticisms can be leveled against free trade agreements and other means by which nation states and transnational corporations exert commercial and political hegemony, these acts are merely external homogenization processes, and as such, a truly efficient and successful homogenization of culture relies on the ever expanding range of communication technologies such as TV and the Internet. Global telecommunications are in essence, internal homogenization forces that â€Å"speak directly into the minds of people everywhere, imprinting them with a unified pattern of thought, a unified set of imagery and ideas, a single framework of understanding for how life should be lived, thus carrying the homogenization and commodification mandate directly inside the brain. † For example, Todd Gitlin argues that the increasing influence of Hollywood on the international film market have essentially rewritten the parameters by which filmmakers produce their films, effectively washing away the paradigms of filmmaking that are unique to various cultures as well as reengineering local tastes. Gitlin does not suggest that differences in cultural content have been eradicated, but rather, the models and designs of American entertainment have become the most far-flung, successful and consequential. However, Soraj Hongladarom does defend the idea that digital telecommunications do not necessarily erode notions of local culture, presenting an example in which one thrives in spite of globalizing effects of such. In an examination of Thai based newsgroup culture, he notes that the Internet replicates the heterogeneity of local cultures using it, rather than subsuming them into one homogenous whole. Hongladarom thus concludes that what the Internet does, is create an â€Å"umbrella culture† under which disparate cultures can communicate: â€Å"Thai attitudes toward the CMC technologies, especially the Internet, seem to show that the technologies only serve as a means that makes communication possible, communication which would take place anyway in some other form if not on the Internet †¦ Cyberspace mirrors real space, and vice versa. † Works Cited Bidwell, Paul. Roman Forts in Britain. Wiltshire: English Heritage, 2007. Gitlin, Todd. Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives. New York: Henry Holy and Company, 2002. Hongladarom, Soraj. â€Å"Global Culture, Local Cultures and the Internet: The Thai Example. †C. Ess and F. Sudweeks (eds). Proceedings Cultural Attitudes Towards Communication and Technology ’98, University of Sydney, Australia, 231-245. Retrieved May 6, 2008 at: http://www. it. murdoch. edu. au/~sudweeks/catac98/pdf/19_hongladarom. pdf Mander, Jerry. â€Å"The Homogenization of Global Consciousness: Media, Telecommunications and Culture. † Lapis Magazine. Retrieved on May 6, 2006 from: http://www. lapismagazine. org/index. php? option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid=2

Contrast Between Night by Elie Weisel and Sarah’s Key

Night by Elie Wiesel: Part 3 By: Susan Aguilar My book Night by Elie Wiesel is about a boy name Elie whose family and community is taken to a concentration camp by German soldiers. The story goes on about how Elie lives in those camp, how he suffers and sees many people die right in front of him. His own father dying right before his eyes and he not being to do anything because he just couldn’t. In the book he tells his story about what horrible things and how horrible it was to live in a concentration trap. He talks about how his faith went up and down and how much pain he had to suffer.He except of losing a leg and almost dying. He tells that there no one would help each other it was every man for himself. He never sees his mother or little sister ever again. His horrible, tragic, sad story about Elie touches me very much and reminds me of a movie I once watched called Sarah’s Key. The film starts out about this girl name Sarah who is startled by French policeman nock ing at her door on July 16, 1942. Sarah knows who it is and tried to save her little 4 year old brother. Sarah locks him in a closet and based on what saw, the closet was the family’s secret hiding place.Julia Jarmond is an American married to a French man living in Paris 2002. She is a journalist who is given the opportunity to write about the Vel’ d’ Hiv’ for the 60 year remembrance of this tragic event. The story then continues about how Sarah and her family got sent to be in a camp and then was separated from her dad. Later then the movies shows how Sarah goes through so much trouble trying to escape so she can return to her little brother and save him. She then unlike Night by Elie Wiesel finds a friend who helps her escape and goes back to her home. Sadly thought her friend dies after they escape and she goes through all this trouble

Bush V. Gore

Gore was described as a controversial election to say the least. The votes in several Florida counties were put up into question as to whether they should be counted or not. In a Democratic Election all legal votes must be counted. The main arguments around this issue were Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and confusion around voting deadlines during the Recount. This process was exacerbated by the lack of impartial justices and secretary of state. The initial argument surrounding this issue is Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution states, â€Å"In presidential elections, each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, the electors to which the State is entitled. † That being said 3 justices, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas all argued that Florida violated this; there argument placed a lot of emphasis on the word â€Å"legislature†. Meaning to say that there is a difference between the State, who is empowered to appoint its own electors and that own State’s legislature. Furthermore, this Article of the Constitution is completely out of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in the circumstances. The Supreme Court should have nothing to do with matters of state law in between the State and their own Legislature. Also, the Florida Supreme Court held that â€Å"a legal vote may include any ballot from which it is reasonably possible to determine the clear intent of the voter, whether or not the ‘chad’ had been completely punched through, which is consistent with the law of the clear majority of the States†. Chief Justice Rehnquist in his opinion argued that this interpretation was so ridiculous and not mirrored with Florida legislation, that it violated Article 2. He claimed that because most counties use punch cards that tell you to clearly punch your ballot no reasonable person could count a vote that wasn’t clearly punched all the way through. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The Florida Election Code states that â€Å"no vote shall be declared invalid if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter†, also a 60 year old Florida Law precedent states that â€Å"must give statutes relating to elections a construction in favor of the citizen’s right to vote, and the intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† (Constitution of the State of Florida, As Revised in 1968) After hearing this, the other 6 Justices concluded that the Florida Supreme Court decision was in long established precedent and said it didn’t even raise a question under Article 2 of the Constitution. In simpler terms, stating that all of those votes were legal and that the standards set were sufficient to determine which votes should and should not be counted. Onto the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court basically contradicts themselves on this matter. After stating the voting standards set by the Florida Supreme Court didn’t violate Article 2, they continued on to state that it violates the Equal Protection clause because â€Å"the standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but even within a single county† (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ). What is startling is that the Florida Constitution states, â€Å"The intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† meaning that if there is any intention the vote should be counted, and if this wasn’t precise enough for the Supreme Court why did they vote to uphold it on the Article 2, Section 1 vote? If the Supreme Court required a uniform standard for counting and recounting votes in Florida, why does it not need a uniform standard for voting? Is the fact that punch card voting has a sufficiently higher chance of having your vote not counted compared to computer voting where there is a bare minimum chance of your votes not being counted violating the Equal Protection Clause as well? Or is it the fact that punch card counties are more commonly in low income counties, who tend to vote Republican (Al Gore)? All of these things ould be seen as discriminatory or â€Å"not equal† as well as the non-uniform standard for counting, but if the Supreme Court has decided that the recount standard is in violation then in thought the whole Election should be rendered â€Å"Unconstitutional† and put to an end, correct? To continue, no it should not be put to an end. The Supreme Court should have ordered a stay on the Recount until a uniform standard was put in place for all of the Florida Counties and they should have ordered that every state have a uniform standard for Recounts for future elections. The Supreme Court made a Pragmatic but Unlawful decision in voting for the violation of the Equal Protection Clause which led to the stoppage of the 2000 Florida Recount. (Bo Li, Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 3). This goes without mentioning the fact that Bush’s state of Texas had a uniform voting standard which allowed anything to be counted in the scenario of a recount including a dimpled chad. This means that Governor Bush signed in a bill that let any vote with slight intent be counted in the process of a Recount, yet is arguing that intent of a voter is an unconstitutional argument. This is hypocritical and shows a lack of character, if Bush truly believes in the Constitution he should be letting all the legal votes be counted to see if he actually won the Presidency of the United States. If Bush truly cared about the simple uniform standards for Recounting, he should have ordered for a stay until uniform standards were set in place. Instead he argued the entire Recount unconstitutional and the 5-4 majority (5 Republican Judges-4 Democratic Judges) decided that there was no reason to Recount possibly legal votes when it had a chance of harming Bush’s chance to become Prime Minister. Legal analysts from all over the Country explained it as the Justices trying to make a pragmatic decision by putting an end to this controversy, turns out it backfired on them. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The third point to be explained in this case is the ongoing controversy over voting deadlines and how the ever so bright Secretary of State in Florida Katherine Harris’ thoughts were constantly being controlled by Bush advisors. Katherine Harris (and Friends) made it very clear that they would ot be accepting votes after a certain deadline, which left no time for the original recount. All these votes had to be stamped and signed to be considered legal votes. This left the Democratic Party frantically trying to recount votes and get them stamped and in on time. When she ruled that if votes were not stamped and signed they could not be accepted, the Democratic Party argued that tons of Military votes could not be counted because they were very rarely stamped and sig ned. In the US there is no voting law that states Military Votes can be accepted with no signature or stamp. This obviously led to an uproar from Republicans (Who most military votes get casted for) because it was just unethical for the Democrats to take away illegal votes for the Republicans. What the Republicans fail to realize is that taking away Florida citizens legal votes because you are scared of losing is also unethical. The Democrats later changed their minds and told the Secretary to reconsider the Military votes and give them special consideration. (Joseph I. Lieberman, Military Ballots Merit a Review) There are a few other factors I would like to add to perspective before closing my argument, in Florida the Republican swayed Secretary of State Katherine Harris put 20 Thousand people on the Voter Purge list. A Large group of these people had never done anything wrong, in particular an African-American Pastor could not vote because his name was similar to that of a hardened criminal in Florida (HBO Documentary, Recount). The most interesting fact of all was that the 3 Judges who voted for Bush in both instances (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas) were all considered Republican judges. In the last 30 years at the Supreme Court the 19 Cases involving the Equal Protection Clause concerning laws against race, elderly, and other minorities they voted a perfect 19 for 19 to uphold the Equal Protection Clause. Yet, the one case involving Politics and the party they are associated with they for some strange reason voted against it with very little reasoning. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) If that’s not Politics in Black Robes, what is. In Conclusion, Legal votes in Florida were not counted when they should have een. The various ideas such as the proper vote in Article 2, Section 1, the contradiction and unlawful voting on the Equal Protection Clause and the confusing deadlines regarding votes were all examples of how things can be exacerbated by impartial Judges and Secretary of States. The votes in Florida should have been recounted after a uniform standard was put in place similar to the one in Texas and the real results of the 2000 Election should have been deciphered. All else aside, the whole United States should have a uniform voting, counting and recounting standard to eliminate all this confusion in the future. Bibliography http://www. leg. state. fl. us/statutes/index. cfm? mode=constitutionsubmenu=3 http://www. nytimes. com/2000/11/20/us/counting-vote-absentee-ballots-military-ballots-merit-review-lieberman-says. html? pagewanted=allsrc=pm http://fathom. lib. uchicago. edu/1/777777122240/ http://www. oycf. org/Perspectives2/9_123100/bush_v1. htm HBO Documentary, Recount Bush V. Gore Gore was described as a controversial election to say the least. The votes in several Florida counties were put up into question as to whether they should be counted or not. In a Democratic Election all legal votes must be counted. The main arguments around this issue were Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and confusion around voting deadlines during the Recount. This process was exacerbated by the lack of impartial justices and secretary of state. The initial argument surrounding this issue is Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution states, â€Å"In presidential elections, each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, the electors to which the State is entitled. † That being said 3 justices, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas all argued that Florida violated this; there argument placed a lot of emphasis on the word â€Å"legislature†. Meaning to say that there is a difference between the State, who is empowered to appoint its own electors and that own State’s legislature. Furthermore, this Article of the Constitution is completely out of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in the circumstances. The Supreme Court should have nothing to do with matters of state law in between the State and their own Legislature. Also, the Florida Supreme Court held that â€Å"a legal vote may include any ballot from which it is reasonably possible to determine the clear intent of the voter, whether or not the ‘chad’ had been completely punched through, which is consistent with the law of the clear majority of the States†. Chief Justice Rehnquist in his opinion argued that this interpretation was so ridiculous and not mirrored with Florida legislation, that it violated Article 2. He claimed that because most counties use punch cards that tell you to clearly punch your ballot no reasonable person could count a vote that wasn’t clearly punched all the way through. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The Florida Election Code states that â€Å"no vote shall be declared invalid if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter†, also a 60 year old Florida Law precedent states that â€Å"must give statutes relating to elections a construction in favor of the citizen’s right to vote, and the intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† (Constitution of the State of Florida, As Revised in 1968) After hearing this, the other 6 Justices concluded that the Florida Supreme Court decision was in long established precedent and said it didn’t even raise a question under Article 2 of the Constitution. In simpler terms, stating that all of those votes were legal and that the standards set were sufficient to determine which votes should and should not be counted. Onto the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court basically contradicts themselves on this matter. After stating the voting standards set by the Florida Supreme Court didn’t violate Article 2, they continued on to state that it violates the Equal Protection clause because â€Å"the standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but even within a single county† (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ). What is startling is that the Florida Constitution states, â€Å"The intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† meaning that if there is any intention the vote should be counted, and if this wasn’t precise enough for the Supreme Court why did they vote to uphold it on the Article 2, Section 1 vote? If the Supreme Court required a uniform standard for counting and recounting votes in Florida, why does it not need a uniform standard for voting? Is the fact that punch card voting has a sufficiently higher chance of having your vote not counted compared to computer voting where there is a bare minimum chance of your votes not being counted violating the Equal Protection Clause as well? Or is it the fact that punch card counties are more commonly in low income counties, who tend to vote Republican (Al Gore)? All of these things ould be seen as discriminatory or â€Å"not equal† as well as the non-uniform standard for counting, but if the Supreme Court has decided that the recount standard is in violation then in thought the whole Election should be rendered â€Å"Unconstitutional† and put to an end, correct? To continue, no it should not be put to an end. The Supreme Court should have ordered a stay on the Recount until a uniform standard was put in place for all of the Florida Counties and they should have ordered that every state have a uniform standard for Recounts for future elections. The Supreme Court made a Pragmatic but Unlawful decision in voting for the violation of the Equal Protection Clause which led to the stoppage of the 2000 Florida Recount. (Bo Li, Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 3). This goes without mentioning the fact that Bush’s state of Texas had a uniform voting standard which allowed anything to be counted in the scenario of a recount including a dimpled chad. This means that Governor Bush signed in a bill that let any vote with slight intent be counted in the process of a Recount, yet is arguing that intent of a voter is an unconstitutional argument. This is hypocritical and shows a lack of character, if Bush truly believes in the Constitution he should be letting all the legal votes be counted to see if he actually won the Presidency of the United States. If Bush truly cared about the simple uniform standards for Recounting, he should have ordered for a stay until uniform standards were set in place. Instead he argued the entire Recount unconstitutional and the 5-4 majority (5 Republican Judges-4 Democratic Judges) decided that there was no reason to Recount possibly legal votes when it had a chance of harming Bush’s chance to become Prime Minister. Legal analysts from all over the Country explained it as the Justices trying to make a pragmatic decision by putting an end to this controversy, turns out it backfired on them. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The third point to be explained in this case is the ongoing controversy over voting deadlines and how the ever so bright Secretary of State in Florida Katherine Harris’ thoughts were constantly being controlled by Bush advisors. Katherine Harris (and Friends) made it very clear that they would ot be accepting votes after a certain deadline, which left no time for the original recount. All these votes had to be stamped and signed to be considered legal votes. This left the Democratic Party frantically trying to recount votes and get them stamped and in on time. When she ruled that if votes were not stamped and signed they could not be accepted, the Democratic Party argued that tons of Military votes could not be counted because they were very rarely stamped and sig ned. In the US there is no voting law that states Military Votes can be accepted with no signature or stamp. This obviously led to an uproar from Republicans (Who most military votes get casted for) because it was just unethical for the Democrats to take away illegal votes for the Republicans. What the Republicans fail to realize is that taking away Florida citizens legal votes because you are scared of losing is also unethical. The Democrats later changed their minds and told the Secretary to reconsider the Military votes and give them special consideration. (Joseph I. Lieberman, Military Ballots Merit a Review) There are a few other factors I would like to add to perspective before closing my argument, in Florida the Republican swayed Secretary of State Katherine Harris put 20 Thousand people on the Voter Purge list. A Large group of these people had never done anything wrong, in particular an African-American Pastor could not vote because his name was similar to that of a hardened criminal in Florida (HBO Documentary, Recount). The most interesting fact of all was that the 3 Judges who voted for Bush in both instances (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas) were all considered Republican judges. In the last 30 years at the Supreme Court the 19 Cases involving the Equal Protection Clause concerning laws against race, elderly, and other minorities they voted a perfect 19 for 19 to uphold the Equal Protection Clause. Yet, the one case involving Politics and the party they are associated with they for some strange reason voted against it with very little reasoning. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) If that’s not Politics in Black Robes, what is. In Conclusion, Legal votes in Florida were not counted when they should have een. The various ideas such as the proper vote in Article 2, Section 1, the contradiction and unlawful voting on the Equal Protection Clause and the confusing deadlines regarding votes were all examples of how things can be exacerbated by impartial Judges and Secretary of States. The votes in Florida should have been recounted after a uniform standard was put in place similar to the one in Texas and the real results of the 2000 Election should have been deciphered. All else aside, the whole United States should have a uniform voting, counting and recounting standard to eliminate all this confusion in the future. Bibliography http://www. leg. state. fl. us/statutes/index. cfm? mode=constitutionsubmenu=3 http://www. nytimes. com/2000/11/20/us/counting-vote-absentee-ballots-military-ballots-merit-review-lieberman-says. html? pagewanted=allsrc=pm http://fathom. lib. uchicago. edu/1/777777122240/ http://www. oycf. org/Perspectives2/9_123100/bush_v1. htm HBO Documentary, Recount

Design management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design management - Essay Example Design thinking is a problem solving process used to find most suitable and most creative solutions for any type of problem in order to get success and produce desired results. The four key stages of design thinking process include defining the problem, considering different solutions to the problem, refining the selected directions, and picking and applying the selected solution to the identified problem. The process of design thinking combines various critical factors which are directly involved in the success of any business. These factors include creativity, ingenuity and rationality. All these factors are combined in the process of design thinking in order to find proper solutions regarding different issues, to meet demands of the customers, and to make a business successful in a competitive market. Talking about design thinking, let’s also discuss the role of decision thinking process in the success of any business. Not a single business can achieve success and market domination without implementing appropriate decision making and problem solving methods and processes. These two processes act as pillars for the foundation of any business. If any of these important factors is ignored, success of the business can never be achieved. Design thinking is one of these processes and is widely used as a repeatable problem solving protocol in order to achieve extraordinary and progressive results for various businesses. Design thinking not only helps an organization in exploring the future of the organization in a competitive market but also helps in detecting and minimizing the risks related to the businesses. Hambrose (2010) asserts that â€Å"design thinking - shorthand for the role of design in a business - allows an organization to explore the future, test innovations and m inimize risk cheaply†. Today most companies and organizations make a great use of decision thinking approach because it not only helps the