... From the Anita Hill Scandal to the Technology Revolution: The Reagan/Bush Years “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” B. F. Skinner. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Since the beginning of recorded history, humankind has been on a quest to think smarter, and faster. It is no surprise that humankind’s quest to become smarter has not been easy to obtain. McLeod, S. A. (2007). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. B. F. Skinner, a renowned Psychologist, is famous for his research on “Operant Conditioning.” He believed that the greatest way to understand man’s behavior is to look at the causes of the actions and consequences that follow. The Regan/Bush era were ten years of an unprecedented rise and fall in American history. There were rumors of wars, and wars. The United States military expansion was the largest in peacetime history. Health care continued to be an issue throughout the Reagan/Bush Years. A few White House scandals made America laugh, and cry. Technology became a key player in how America and the world saw themselves. The events of September 11, 2001was etched in so many minds from the moment of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Technology made sure that every American; every nation saw and heard the horrible minute-by-minute moments from either a computer or some form of advance technology. Throughout those ten years, America was still the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” The Star-Spangled...
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...Justice Clarence Thomas was born on June 23, 1948 to his parents Leola Anderson and M.C. Thomas. Thomas was born in Pinpoint, a small community outside of Savannah Georgia. Clearance also has as ------- olders sister. Two years after the birth of Clearance, M.C. Thomas left the family, causing the rest of the family to become homeless. Although this was a difficult time for the Thomas family, it introduced Clarence to one of the the best and most influential role models of his life, his grandfather. Thomas’s grandfather instilled in him the discipline and strength he would need to fight for and achieve his dreams. As an African American, Thomas faced many challenges in life, the first of which was discrimination from the Catholic Church. As a young man, Thomas dreamed of being a catholic priest. At the age of sixteen, he fought to become the first African American in a boarding seminary, St. John Vianney. Over the course of his studies, Thomas was consistently one of the best students but had to deal with a great deal of bullying due to his race. Frustrated with the catholic church's passive stance on civil rights, Thomas gave up on...
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...The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision regarding federal liability in the case of inmate abuse at the hands of correctional officers. Kim Millbrook was a transgender inmate serving out a sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He alleged that a Bureau of Prisons correctional officer forced him to perform sexual acts while being detained by a fellow officer, with a third standing watch. The Department of Justice, acting as counsel for the Bureau of Prisons, motioned for this case to be dismissed. Their argument relied upon the Federal Torts Claims Act, granting immunity to the federal government from such claims (Neither the Federal District Court nor the Third District Court of Appeals felt that Millbrook...
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...Introduction Sexual harassment in the workplace is by no means a new phenomenon. It has existed for as longs as there has existed co-workers. However, workplaces have become more diversified over the years prompting women to rise into positions of power. Owing to these changes, sexual harassment has not only become unacceptable but also illegal in most jurisdictions. In the modern work place, sexual harassment is an increasing problem that many employees know it exists, but do not know how to deal with. The term “Sexual Harassment” became more popularized around the year 1975. This was as a result of writers and activists began addressing the issue. A pertinent question however is whether the question has really been solved. This paper will address some of the issues that are to do with sexual harassment. Types Sexual Harassment Generally, the instances of sexual harassment fall in two classes namely quid pro quo and “hostile environment”. In the quid pro quo type of sexual harassment, the harasser implicitly or explicitly makes success in the workplace, class assignment or any other situation to be based on the victim submitting to the sexual demands that are unwelcome from the harasser. Examples of harassers in this type include a supervisor who promises job promotion in exchange for sex or a manager who punishes an employee who refuses his sex advances. In the “hostile environment” class of harassment, the sexual conduct of the harasser; be it verbal or physical; puts...
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...Chapter 30: Economic and Social Change in the Late 20th Century Economic, cultural, and social changes have affected America greatly in the late twentieth century. The population since 1980 has become increasingly older, urban, diverse, southern, and western. Declining birth rates and rising life expectancy combined to produce an aging population. Between 1970 and 1990 most American financial and industrial growth occurred in the South and West, the Sunbelt. The Sunbelt also proved attractive to large numbers of new immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Lyndon Johnson's 1965 Immigration Act laid the basis for an increased volume and diversity of immigrants. Modern legislation has attempted to limit immigration to political refugees, and also to curb illegal immigration, while raising the number of immigrants with specific skills. Continued flight of businesses and individuals to the suburbs brought transformation and crisis in the nation's urban areas, but the 1990s witnessed a revival and renewal in some major cities. Technological change has ushered in amazing economic transformations. The most noteworthy new technologies are those in biotechnology, high-performance computing, and communications systems. Innovations in credit, electronic banking, franchising, and globalization, especially through the widespread use of computers, have affected business. Employment in traditional manufacturing areas declined while unions saw their membership and political power...
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...believe that affirmative action laws are reverse discrimination and that these laws should be changed. Unfortunately in this country race is a determining factor in many aspects of daily living. Affirmative action laws simply balance the scales when it comes to determining whether race works for or against minorities. Affirmative action laws should not be changed, because it is an excellent program as demonstrated by the fact that two Supreme Court justices are products of affirmative action. Originally designed to overcome the disparities created by slavery and past discrimination affirmative action is still relevant in today’s society Affirmative action laws have been the subject of legal actions and disputes. In 2003 Michigan law school had to defend its affirmative action practices before the Supreme Court in the case of Grutter versus Bollinger (Garces, 2012). The court decided that colleges and universities have an obligation to consider race in a society where race matters. Another case is currently before the Supreme Court titled Fisher versus the University of Texas (Garces, 2012). A decision in this case is imminent and can have sweeping effects on the future of affirmative action laws. Many Americans do not understand affirmative action laws. Most people see it as a personal injury of giving priority to someone that has not earned it. They fail to look at the reasons the program exists, the requirements for the program and the need for it to continue...
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...discrimination? One of the country’s top debated issues is affirmative action. Affirmative Action came about when President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925 that created the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity whose purpose was to ensure all employees are treated fairly, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin (Elliott & Ewoh, 2000). Since its inception, Affirmative Action program and policies have taken on a life of their own. Affirmative action is a term that refers to mandatory and voluntary programs intended to affirm the civil rights of designated classes of individuals. Affirmative action or Executive Order 11246 (EO11246) was created, after the civil rights movement, by the federal courts to ensure companies were not using discriminatory hiring practices. Affirmative action is similar but different from equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is an attempt to avoid discrimination by applying the performance related criteria to all applicants, in other words, each individual should be given the same treatment as all other individuals. Unequal treatment of minority groups is considered discriminatory and illegal. This process ignores the past history of discrimination of an employer and also keeps the use of categories in hiring practices from being utilized. Affirmative action requires that federal contractors recruit, hire, and promote minorities or risk losing their contracts. This is where affirmative action is different...
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...On April 21, 2014 the Supreme Court granted writ of certiorari in Heien v North Carolina which was the first argued case during their new term. This case presents the question of whether a police officer’s mistake of law can provide the individualized suspicion that the Fourth Amendment requires to justify a traffic stop (Brief of Petitioner 2). This case arose in 2009 when police stopped Nicholas Heien in North Carolina for driving with one broken brake light. The officer issued Heien a citation for his light and then proceeded to ask him if he could search his car, which Heien consented to. During the search, the officer discovered a sandwich bag that contained 54.2 grams of cocaine and Heien was arrested on the spot for drug trafficking (Oyez Project). He plead guilty to two counts of drug...
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...Racial & Ethnic Short-Answer Questions (15) Should reparations be paid to the descendants of victims of slavery? • Some reject the decision made in the Bakke case that providing a remedy for the effects of racial discrimination is unconstitutional. They argue that the idea of reparations is rooted in international law. • Affirmative Action is inadequate, the ‘Maafa’ (meaning disaster, i.e., slavery) is a crime against humanity, and therefore compensation is required. • In the past 50 years apologies and financial compensation has been given to a wide range of groups, including survivors of the Jewish holocaust (as well as descendants of the victims), Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned during the Second World War and native Americans who had their land illegally seized in the USA. • African Americans have been demanding compensation for slavery since the end of the American Civil War. Immediately after the abolition of slavery, the demand was for 40 acres and a mule to ensure they would not be dependent on their former slave-owners. Then, between 1890 and 1917, there was a movement to lobby the government for pensions to compensate for their unpaid labour under slavery. Since 1989, Congressman John Conyers Jnr (Michigan) has introduced a bill every year to study the case for reparations. Each of these initiatives has been largely ignored by the political establishment. • Reparations would ensure full recognition of the scale of the Maafa and, at the same time...
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...Corruption in the FDA and USDA Scott A. Weidner Cardinal Stritch University Business Ethics MGT 460 Rozine Smith February 28, 2013 Table of Contents Abstract.............................................Page 3 Authors intent (thesis statement)....................Page 4 Ethical Concerns …………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 4 The Root of the Problem…………………………………………………………………………..Page 6 Chart of Monsanto appointees……………………………………………………………..Page 6 Which Administrations are Guilty…………………………………………………..Page 8 Obama Appointees……………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 10 Damage and Effects………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 12 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 13 Abstract At the heart of the issues of corruption in the FDA and USDA are the appointees to the departments. Many are former employees of Monsanto. A former director of Monsanto made the statement Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food that is the job of the FDA. The FDA says that food manufactures should be responsible for what they produce. Ironically, the FDA is controlled largely by Monsanto, and Monsanto is regulated by the United States Government, with neither side willing to take ownership of the issue. The first Monsanto appointees in the FDA were placed under the first Bush administration. In each subsequent administration more appointees were taken from Monsanto. President Obama is responsible for the largest number...
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...Development and variations of western feminist ideas Chapter one: Introduction Prior to the 20th century, women in China were regarded essentially different from men. Despite the association of women with yin and men with yang, two qualities considered equally important by Daoism, women were believed to occupy a lower position than men in the hierarchical order of the universe. The I Ching stated that "'Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth.'" Women were to be submissive and obedient to men. Women were not allowed to participate in government or community institutions. A number of women, and some men, spoke out against these conditions in the early 20th century, but to little avail. As a result of government approval, women's rights groups became increasingly active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined...
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...voters. Title III outlawed barring access to public facilities based on religion, gender, race, or ethnicity by state and local governments. (Purdum, 2014) This would in theory include courthouses and other public facilities where voter registration and voting would take place. Title V was important because it empowered the Civil Rights Commission to investigate claims of discrimination and to take action if warranted. Title VIII required voter registration records be maintained for tracking and use by the Commission on Civil Rights. This action provided data which could be used as evidence in voter discrimination cases. Another important part of the Civil Rights Act was title IX which enabled civil rights trials to be moved to a federal court in to avoid all white juries and segregationist judges in order to increase the likelihood of obtaining a fair trial. (Civil Rights Act (1964)). Although the Civil Rights Act provided provisions for avoiding discrimination at the polls and ensuring African-Americans their right to vote, it did not go far enough as evidenced by the continued disenfranchisement especially in the southern states. “The Civil Rights Act by no means finished the job of assuring equality before the law. Less than a year after its passage, bloody protests in Selma, Alabama, demonstrated the enduring extent of blacks’ lack of access to the ballot box.” In the years leading up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 there were...
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...3 Sources of Moral Obligation by Josephson Institute on February 14, 2011 A duty is an obligation to act in a certain way. When the obligation is based on moral and ethical considerations, it is a moral duty. Often we think about moral duties in terms of rules that restrain us, the “don’ts,” as in don’t lie, cheat, or steal. Such rules comprise the so-called negative dimension of moral duty because they tell us what not to do. Since ethics is concerned with the way we ought to be, however, it also includes an affirmative dimension consisting of things we should do — keep promises, judge others fairly, treat people with respect, kindness and compassion. Sources of Moral Obligation Moral obligations can arise from three sources. The first, strangely enough, is law. 1. Law-Based Moral Obligations. Good citizens have a moral as well as a legal obligation to abide by laws; it is part of the assumed social contract of a civilized society. If a law is unjust, however, (such as those that mandated ethnic and religious persecution during the Nazi regime and those that discriminated against a person on the basis of race in South Africa and elsewhere) there may be a moral obligation to disobey it under the specific and demanding doctrine of civil disobedience. Many, but by no means all, of these moral standards of conduct are so fundamental to healthy social relations that they have been codified into laws. For example, most aspects of the moral duty to not endanger or harm others...
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...singabob@gmail.com Fall 2013 The Ethics of Academic Tenure A Brief Assessment by Robert M. Armstrong Chaminade University MBA Program singabob@gmail.com Fall 2013 The Ethics of Academic Tenure A Brief Assessment by Robert M. Armstrong Chaminade University MBA Program C THE ETHICS OF ACADEMIC TENURE by Robert M. Armstrong Most everyone at the University of Illinois agrees engineering professor Louis Wozniak can be a pain at work, even though he is generally well-liked by his students. Since August 2010, he has been on paid suspension from the Springfield campus after publicly embarrassing a student he believed contributed to his denial of a $500 teaching award. Yet, this month, in what is believed to be a first-time action by University of Illinois trustees, Wozniak’s 41-year tenure was revoked and his employment immediately terminated after making a(n untrue) joke online about remembering only the names of students with whom he’s had sex. While clearly showing poor judgment and a lack of sensitivity, Wozniak’s situation calls into question the ethical justification for academic tenure, which is the focus of this paper. I will briefly examine tenure’s unique role in higher education from its start to its present-day limitations and whether its institution is ethical, by both those who covet it and those who provide it. In the end, hopefully the reader will understand the forces at play and whether its continuation is merited at American colleges and...
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...most easily recognized member of the courtroom work group, both by their conspicuous robes and by their prominent position in the courtroom. They are also the subject of many stereotypes because the public wants to believe that judges combine patience, wisdom, and compassion to arrive at fair decisions, while they eschew the character flaws that sometimes form the basis of decisions by others, including prejudice, intolerance, favoritism, and hostility. Unfortunately, judges are human and their decisions occasionally reflect such a reality. One West Virginia judge, for example, became so enraged at a defendant who began cursing at him in court that he jumped down from his bench, tore off his judicial robe, and bit the tip off the defendant’s nose (Smith, 1998). He served five days in jail on state assault charges, and was then tried in federal court for violating the defendant’s civil rights. Before he was acquitted of those charges, he acknowledged that his behavior was “bizarre and weird,” and that he had reacted poorly in an emotionally charged situation. While this incident is isolated, it shows that judges are sometimes far from the ideals to which the public holds them. We will return...
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