Snyder v. Phelps Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Snyder v. Phelps - Research Paper Example __). The picketers also peacefully displayed the following signs â€Å"for about 30 minutes before the funeral began†: ‘Thank God for Dead Soldiers,’ ‘Fags Doom Nations,’ ‘America is Doomed,’ ‘Priests Rape Boys,’ and ‘You’re Going to Hell’ (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). These signs were seen by Matthew Snyder’s father (Snyder), while driving to the funeral (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). However, he was only able to learn what was written on the signs when he watched the night news broadcast (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). For this reason, he filed â€Å"a diversity action against Phelps, along with those who participated in the picketing—and the church (collectively Westboro) alleging, as relevant here, state tort claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, and civil conspiracy† (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). The jury held Westboro liable for millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages, but the District Court reduced the punitive damages award, leaving the verdict intact (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). The Fourth Circuit however reversed such a ruling, stating that since â€Å"statements were on matters of public concern, were not provably false, and were expressed solely through hyperbolic rhetoric,† Westboro’s statements were then protected by the First Amendment (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). Hence, this petition for Certiorari by Snyder. In its decision, the US Court of Appeals sided with the Fourth Circuit and held that Westboros statements were indeed protected by the First Amendment, shielding it from tort liability. First it explained that the Free Speech Clause under the First Amendment can work â€Å"as a defense in state tort suits, including suits for intentional infliction of emotional distress† (Snyder, 562 U.S. __). The Court then went on to examine the content of Westboro’s signs, to determine whether it is of public or private

Trip to Oregon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trip to Oregon - Essay Example I am exhausted.   The journey was quite an adventure passing through the Oregon Trail before settling here in Willamette Valley.   My parents chose to settle here because this is the most accessible part of Oregon where a series of trails can get anybody here.   The Oregon Trail we passed through is a 2,000 mile east to west route and I think the trail was made by the fur trappers.   The road was horrible especially during â€Å"spring when the melting snows and the up-heaving of the frost made mud† that buries the wheel of our carts. We traveled through the new invented mode of transport which is really a big cart called a wagon.   We passed through the Missouri River to the Valleys in Oregon but mostly dirt road.   Although it was more comfortable than riding horseback, the long travel was draining.   It took us a year by a wagon that I missed my 17th birthday because I was on the road with my parents on our way here.   I am going to make up that birthday wit h my debut this year.I am exhausted.   The journey was quite an adventure passing through the Oregon Trail before settling here in Willamette Valley.   My parents chose to settle here because this is the most accessible part of Oregon where a series of trails can get anybody here.   The Oregon Trail we passed through is a 2,000 mile east to west route and I think the trail was made by the fur trappers.   The road was horrible especially during â€Å"spring when the melting snows and the up-heaving of the frost made mud† that buries the wheel of our carts. We traveled through the new invented mode of transport which is really a big cart called a wagon.   We passed through the Missouri River to the Valleys in Oregon but mostly dirt road.   Although it was more comfortable than riding horseback, the long travel was draining.   It took us a year by a wagon that I missed my 17th birthday because I was on the road with my parents on our way here.   I am going to mak e up that birthday with my debut this year. Since the travel was anticipated to be long, we brought foods that can be stored to sustain us during the travel.   Among those we brought with us were dried meat, live poultry, potatoes, and beans.   I also brought furs and comfortable shirts because the weather can get extremely hot and extremely cold.  Ã‚   We met Indians along the road which was also traveling because of the enactment of the Indian Removal Act where they will be relocated. We also met other missionaries when we were near here but mostly, it was the natives who my parents intend to minister.  Ã‚  

Control room Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Control room - Movie Review Example As they say, there are always two sides of the story, so it is important for me to listen not just to one opinion and make my own opinion based on that of one group’s point of view. I have always believed that the things I see on television are presented as they are but watching the film, I have come to realize that indeed, we are all humans after all so that even professionals bend their ethical views to favor there personal views. The media is expected to be objective at all times as they are supposed to present facts to the people and how they perceive the circumstances they are reporting about but as Joanne Tucker, the manager of AlJazeera.net said, objectivity is almost a mirage. One cannot really get away from taking sides especially in a case like the war in Iraq because it is a global issue that affects lives, not to mention the lives of civilians and most especially, the lives of innocent children. The video has shown that everyone has his or her own propaganda in suc h chaos. While we would all want peace and order, wars break out because of personal agendas of wanting to be the hero, wanting to be at the top and having all the power and fame. Presidents aim for peace and unity with another aim of being a part of a great cause which could be understandable because they are humans. The media have the same objectives as well, wanting to unite the people with the facts they present yet to some extent fail in their cause, and we understand that again because they are humans. What could probably most unacceptable is the fact that the ordinary person on the street, the innocent ones, the helpless mothers and children in their homes are the real victims, the pawns in this game called war. The video may have caused me to think more critically of the news I watch from now on but it will never change my perceptions on who are the true winners and losers in the issues of war. People fight their fellow people. Regardless of cultural backgrounds, we are all still human beings and have to act as one and not like animals killing each other. In wars, there can never be winners but that we are all losers. Millions of dollars are spent for wars and millions of people die in the course and there will always be rage in our hearts even if we continue to try to live in peace. If our money and strength would have been directed to the higher cause of fighting the war against poverty, then we would all be winners, making others live rather than killed. Whatever the truth is behind all the explanations of all the groups of people interviewed, the fact that wars are a losing end, will always remain true to me. Behind the politicians’ agenda to gain power, honor and fame, they are not winners. Behind the media people’s agenda of prospering their network and being recognized to be the best, gaining as much trophies as they can to parade in their offices, there is no honor found in it because behind all these, the victims are us. Who will speak for the child who spoke for the good of his people, endangering his life by being used as a pawn only to get to the conscience of those concerned? Would you not call that as a losing end as I view it? The video is a presentation of the sides of the people or groups of people i

Cooper Industries -Case Study Essay Example for Free

Cooper Industries -Case Study Essay Cooper Industries was organized in 1919 as a manufacturer of heavy machinery and equipment. By the mid-1950s it was a leading producer of engines and massive compressors used to force naturalgas through pipelines and oil out of wells. Management was concerned, however, over its heavy dependence on sales to the oil and gas industries and the violent fluctuation of earnings caused bythe cyclical nature of heavy machinery and equipment sales. Although the companys long-term salesand earnings growth had been above average, its cyclical nature had dampened Wall Streets interestin the stock substantially. (Coopers historical operating results and financial condition aresummarized in Exhibits 1 and 2.) Initial efforts to lessen the earnings volatility were not successful. Between 1959 and 1966, Cooperacquired (1) a supplier of portable industrial power tools, (2) a manufacturer of small industrial airand process compressors, (3) a maker of small pumps and compressors for oil field applications, and(1) a producer of tire-changing tools for the automotive market. The acquisitions broadened Coopersmarkets but left it still highly sensitive to general economic conditions. In 1966 Cooper began a full review of its acquisition strategy. After several months of study, threecriteria were established for all acquisitions. First, the industry should be one in which Cooper couldbecome a major factor. This requirement was in line with managements goal of leadership within afew distinct areas of business. Second, the industry should be fairly stable, with a broad market forthe products and a product line of small ticket items. This product definition was intended toeliminate any company that had undue profit dependence on a single customer or several large salesper year. Finally, it was decided to acquire only leading companies in their respective marketsegments. This new strategy was initially implemented with the acquisition in 1967 of the Lufkin RuleCompany, the worlds largest manufacturer of measuring rules and tapes. Cooper acquired a qualityproduct line, an established distribution system of 35,000 retail hardware stores throughout theUnited Slates, and plants in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It also gained the services  ofWilliam Rector, president of Lufkin, and Hal Stevens, vice president of sales. Both were extremely knowledgeable in the hand tool business and had worked together effectively for years. Their goalwas to build through acquisition a hand tool company with a full product line that would use acommon sales and distribution system and joint advertising. To do this they needed Coopersfinancial strength. Lufkin provided a solid base to which two other companies were added. In 1969 the CrescentNiagara Corporation was acquired. The company had been highly profitable in the early 1960s butsuffered in recent years under the mismanagement of some investor-entrepreneurs who gainedcontrol in 1963. A series of acquisitions of weak companies with poor product lines eroded Crescentsoverall profitability until, in 1967, a small loss was reported. Discouraged, the investors wanted to getout, and Cooper—eager to add Crescents well-known and high-quality wrenches, pliers, andscrewdrivers to its line—was interested. It was clear that some of Crescents lines would have to bedropped and inefficient plants would have to be closed, but the wrenches, pliers, and screwdriverswould play an important part of Coopers product policy. In 1970, Cooper further expanded into hand tools with the acquisition of the Weller ElectricCorporation. Weller was the worlds leading supplier of soldering tools to the industrial, electronic,and consumer markets. It provided Cooper with a new, high-quality product line and productioncapacity in England, West Germany, and Mexico. (Information on the three acquisitions is providedin Exhibit 3.) Cooper was less successful in its approach to a fourth company in the hand tool business, theNicholson File Company. Nicholson was on the original shopping list of acceptable acquisitioncandidates that Mr. Cizik and Mr. Rector had developed, but several attempts to interest Nicholson inexploring merger possibilities had failed. The Nicholson family had controlled and managed thecompany since its founding in 1864, and Paul Nicholson, chairman of the board, had no interest injoining forces with anyone.

The Discovery Of America

The Discovery Of America The discovery of America is one of the most argued and controversial issues discussed today by historians and different groups of interest. Many people think that Columbus deserves the praise for the discovery of America while, others believe that he deserves no credit because when he landed on the Island there were already natural inhabitants there who had been living there for centuries. Certainly, historical scriptures show that Columbus was not the first one to step on the new world. There were other people who expedited to America, some with the aim of finding a new world and some for discovering other places. However, still in todays new world much acknowledgment is given officially to Christopher Columbus for discovering their place without recognizing that other people who visited before the new land have set the prerequisites for Columbus to continue with his search. Thus, before Columbus made the giant leap on the new world, there were already existing footprints of the Vik ings, Leif Erikson, and Prince Madoc of Wales. The Vikings society is known in the history as first notated discovery proving that Columbus wasnt the first to discover the New World. The Vikings were the oldest and largest Dark Age re-enactment society in the United Kingdom, and probably the world. Columbus discovery occurred in 1492 but, the discoveries from the Vikings go all the way back to the period of 790 to 1066. The truth about Vikings colonization of North America was uncovered in 1961 at LAnse-aux-Meadows, Newfoundland, by a team of archaeologists lead by Helge Ingstad. They unearthed the remains of a Viking settlement dated to around 1000 AD. By 1973, archaeologists had uncovered the remains of seven Viking houses, a blacksmiths shop, and a host of medieval artifacts, including rusty nails, fragments of iron, a small piece of smelted copper, a stone lamp, a Norse cloak pin and a spindle whorl for making wool. Radiocarbon tests dated the at least a dozen objects to about AD1000, plus or minus 70 years (Fulton, 41). Viki ng rune stones have been discovered in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island Minnesota, Oklahoma and Massachusetts. And a rusty though perfectly good battle axe at Rocky Point, Cape Ann (Fulton, 41). Thus, it is argued that the Vikings were among the first to step on the new world that made a major impact on European history through trade, travel and, many advances in art and family life. In addition, Lefi Erikson played an important role in discovering America. To begin with, the earliest documented claim for the discovery of America belongs to a Norse Captain named Bjarni Herjolfsson. Professor Samuel Wilson of the University of Texas writes of Bjarni, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦sailed from Iceland for Greenland in search of his father. During his journey he ran into bad weather and was blown off course to a coast that did not fit the formidable mountains and glaciers of Greenland.(18). Only wanting to find his father, Bjarni corrected his course and sailed for Greenland without landing on these new shores. Gerald Parshall writes, When Bjarni finally reached Greenland, he reported the flat wooden country he had sited to Erik the Red. (3). Erik was the Norwegian explorer who discovered and colonized Greenland and the father of Leif Erikson. When Leif heard the story of the lands to the west, he bought Bjarnis boat and sailed west to explore this newfound land. As he sailed, Leif explored and named three countries: Helluland (flat stone land), a rocky and barren land, probably Baffin Island, Markland (woodland), a low forested coast, most certainly Labrador or Newfoundland. (Wilford, 4). Leif continued south along the coast perhaps as far as New England and named these lands Vinland (grassland). Many scholars believe that Columbus learned of this discovery as a young sailor on one of his voyages to Iceland on the 1460s. Finally, the late 12th century has yet another explorer claiming the discovery of a new world. In 1170, Prince Madoc of Wales made two trips to North America after the death of his father, the king of North Wales. On his second trip, he returned to the New World with ten shiploads of settlers. The most popular theory is that Madocs colonists intermarried with the Indians and eventually migrated to the Dakotas, they were known as Mandan Indians, Mandan being the corruption of Madagwys, as the followers of Prince Madoc were called (Jackson, 78). President Thomas Jefferson, no less, told Lewis and Clark to keep an eye pealed for those Welsh Indians when he sent the explorers out in 1804. And Meriweather Lewis later reported that he had found the tribe (Parshall, 3). George Catlin, the American artist who lived with the Mandans for part of 1832, was persuaded that they were Madocs people by their fair complexion, blue and gray eyes, language parallels, and similarities in the round wicke r boats favored by both the Mandan and Welsh tribes (Jackson, 78). The story was considered as fact in many American book and also different events and memorials were built on this chronicle. To conclude, the discovery of America can be attributed to many different explorers. It was the combination of explorers and discoveries that resulted in the development of the Americas. Each of these explorers deserves to be celebrated and honored for their accomplishments. Without their combined efforts the American continent may never have become the place it is today. America was never undiscovered or forgotten as some of the Columbus supporters claim. Columbus used his knowledge of the earlier discoveries to continue previous attempts to colonize America. To attribute the whole discovery of the now promised land is not right and accurate historically. As shown above, facts tell us about discoveries of the land made before Columbus. Therefore, the history and the people should recognize all of those who contributed to the eventual creation of the new world.

The Mysterious Giant Squid :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Mysterious Giant Squid About 80 percent of the Earth is covered in water. With the majority of life on this planet residing in the liquid we like to call the essence of life, we as humans represent a minority on this planet. Much of the underwater world remains a mystery to us, with the giant squid being one of the greatest mysteries of them all. How close are we to actually solving the mystery of this deep water giant? For the first known citing of one of these creatures, you would have to go back to November of 1861, when crew members of the French dispatch steamer Alecton spotted what appeared to be a large sea monster off the coast of the Canary Islands. The crew threw harpoons at the creature, but those would not stay in the flesh for long. When the crew got close enough to put a noose around the creature, the rope tightened and cut through the animal, causing most of it to sink to the bottom of the sea. The crew, however, managed to pull the tail of the creature on board, and bring it back to the French Consul. From there the tail and a report about the creature made its way to the French Academy of Sciences. Giant squid, of which there are many different species, have been spotted less than fifty times in the last century, but none have been seen in their natural habitat, the depths of the sea, or caught on tape. It was initially thought that squids only lived very deep in the ocean from 200-1000 meters beneath the surface, an area very difficult for scientists to study. Why then have these squids been seen at the ocean’s surface? According to Dr. Malcolm Clarke of the Marine Biological Association, temperature affects the squid’s buoyancy mechanism. The warmer, shallower water will cause a giant squid to rise to the surface and not be able to get back down. With water temperature at it’s highest at the surface the squid would without a doubt not be able to get back down, thus resulting in people seeing giant squids at the surface of the ocean. Occasionally, a giant squid will wash up on shore or will come up in a fishing net, which has allowed scientists to get a close observation of these squid and their anatomy.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings :: essays research papers

# Quote Reaction 1 pg. 8 Chap. 1: "The sounds of the new morning had been replaced with grumbles about cheating houses, weighted scales, snakes, skimpy cotton and dusty rows. In later years I was to confront the stereotyped picture of gay song-singing cotton pickers with such an inordinate rage that I was told even by fellow blacks that my paranoia was embarrassing. But I had seen the fingers cut by the mean little cotton boils, and I had witnessed the backs and shoulders and arm and legs resisting any further demands." The importance of this quote is really integral to the rest of the book. To be able to criticize something you should have experienced it. This passage shows that Maya has experienced the non-privilege of being a Negro during the thirties, and experienced it at a young age. Maya wrote that she later confronted the stereotype, She had a right to because of her previous position. 2 pg.14 chap. 2 "Bailey and I decided to memorize a scene from The Merchant of Venice , but realized that Momma would question us about the author and that we'd have to tell her that Shakespeare was white, And it wouldn't matter to her whether or not he was dead. So we chose 'The Creation' by James Weldon Johnson " This excerpt is crucial because it puts yet another facet on segregation. Really the blacks and whites were both afraid of each other equally. The only difference was that the whitefolks were in a position to act on those fears. 3 pg.25 chap 4. "In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than they were different, to be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, The worker against the worked for, and the ragged against the well dressed. I remember never believing that whites were really real." The first line really does a good job of summing up the situation in Stamps but the key section of this quotation is the very last line. "I remember never believing that whites were really real." This statement really makes the whole situation clear in that it really brings home how someone can think that an entire race of people don't exist. 4 pg.48 chap 7 "The judge asked that Mrs. Henderson be subpoenaed, and when Momma arrived and said that she was Mrs.