...The Dan Rather scandal, also called “Memogate” is a scandal surrounding the 60 Minutes story aired on CBS September, 8th, 2004 just a few weeks before the presidential election. The scandal surrounded George W. Bush's time while in the National Guard service. In the scandals there were memos that provided information about claims that were supposedly created in 1973. They were found in the files of Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian, who died in 1984 (2004, para.1). Experts and bloggers investigated documents which were made available to the public on the CBS website, and found them to be poor forgeries created on a modern era word. Four CBS employees lost their jobs over the report. Dan Rather defended the report, claiming the memos might be "fake, but accurate" and later went into early retirement. The scandal started when Mary Mapes told her superiors that the information was authenticated by four experts she had consulted, but neither of them could tell that it was fake or not because they were copies. Major Bobby Hodges also confirmed that the continents in the documents were true but he later told the panel he never did. Bobby Hodges then told Dan Rather’s that the documents were ok and that then gave Rather’s the green flag to proceed with the live televised show even though they were not sure of the validity of the documents. Their findings were contained in a 224-page report made. While the panel said it was not prepared to brand the Killian documents as an outright...
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...events or facts reported. The main point here is when biases in media distorts certain stories, and other stories are spoken about entirely too much it hurts the democracy in America. The media, in that case, fails to focus on real issues that underlie the American culture, it has one-sided opinions, favoring a liberal’s point of view, and it caters to the majority, favoring the wealthy. Media biases causes American people to become misinformed or too well informed, often due to the tendency of the media covering unimportant stories about celebrities, while overlooking issues like war, poverty, disease, violence, and education. The media content and new coverage rarely display the underlying issues that the American people face. Rather, it...
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...Classification has always been the main source of the simplifying all of the information that has been found throughout the span of human thought. Science in its most basic from is nothing more than just a quest of knowledge “to seek what regularities there may be”(Sagan) and the existence of that knowledge is explained by classification(Foucault). Today’s society is dominated by an absurd amount of technologically powered apparatuses like: cell phones, computers, tablets, tables, cars, and the list ventures endlessly forward and like every “small step for a man, and one giant leap forward for mankind” there are repercussions(The Space Race). One of the things that changed with the evolution of technology from its primitive state to its more modern version is news; once only told by an unbiased, or at least strived to be, newscasters like Walter Cronkite(Cronkite) and people were forced to watch the whole thing until what they were really interested in came on has now turned into an extremely selective and biased way of reporting the news with outstandingly big downsides that has lead society to be harshly less informed about what is going on around them and more susceptible to having their opinion swayed with possible misclassification of news. By the end of 2010 more people claimed to be receiving their news intake from the internet than from newspapers(Featured in Social Media) and with the simplified access to ...
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...Ashley Grossman Ms. Lynne Schoonover AP English 11 1 September 2014 Would You Rather… I would prefer to have the mind-blowing ability to fly whenever I want than be invisible. From an early age, most young children look to the sky where the birds and airplanes roam, dreaming of one day being able to do just that. I imagine the experience to be liberating and the perfect way to become stress-free. The crisp, fresh air massaging against your face would feel incredibly soothing. I would imagine it to be even more relaxing when you would not have to deal with traffic jams anymore. If you stop driving your car because you can fly, you will also save a great deal of money on gas, which also means that the amount of pollution and reliance on foreign oil would drastically decrease. On the other hand, the kids that would rather be invisible, I deem to be potentially sneaky and deceitful. The only reason why children would want to be invisible is so they could sneak around and get away with acts they otherwise would not. They would go behind their parents’ backs to get that cookie they were not supposed to consume. Were any of you deprived of sweets as a kid? In the end, no matter what you creep around to do, you will eventually get caught. Some might think they have the desire to spy on others, but in reality, if they hear what people really have to say about them, they would wish they could fly right out of there. Therefore, being invisible simply just gets you into trouble. There...
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...Jørgen decided to take a walk; he hadn’t done the dishes in a month, and there smelled of death and cat food all over the flat. Or was it just a death cat? After a month, it was hard to smell the difference and he needed some air. Of course the lift turned out to be broken, so he had to take the stairs down, past the sleeping homeless people. He squeezed the letter feverishly, and first at the pavement he remembered, that she was on holiday and wouldn’t get it anyway until October. For a moment, he hesitated. Then creased the envelope together and threw it away. She could wait, she could! The traffic was deafening, and the smell of chips and roasted almonds gave him suddenly a desire for sweets – loads of sweets. Unfortunately, he was out of petrol, and there was a long way to Gnaskorama, Odense’s only remaining sweets store. “Bummer,” he thought. “Now I have to walk. It’s either that or the underground.” Downhearted he stared out in the traffic. Even though he knew that it wouldn’t matter, he took his mobile phone out and called the taxi corporation. As usually, the line was busy and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts, he hang up and began resigned to shuffle towards the pedestrian crossing. But then he got an idea. The reserve can was in the boot! Of course! Why had he not thought of that? All the greater was his disappointment when he opened the boot and saw the can was gone – and that someone had filled the boot with crisps and used nappies! “What the hell is now...
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...In his book, Act One: An Autobiography, Moss Hart says, “The theater is an inevitable refuge of the unhappy child.” (Hart, p 10, 1959) This theory, coming from a man who created some of Broadway’s brightest and most memorable musical comedies, represents a duality that is crucial to understanding his life and its works. While he was notorious for his extravagant belongings and spending indulgences, reaping the spoils from his place at the pinnacle of the world he’d always obsessed over, Hart also suffered from massive bouts of depression and self-doubt. (Wolcott) If his lifetime worth of work that brought people such joy really was a result of experiencing the lowest of personal lows, it may shed light into why he was such a tireless worker throughout his thirty year career on Broadway. Moss Hart was born October 24, 1904 in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York. His parents, immigrants of England, worked as cigar makers and had their dreams of a better life in a new country dashed not long after moving to America with the introduction of the machine manufactured cigar. (Teachout, p 90, 2010) Hart would frequently joke that he was, “Born on Fifth Avenue… on the wrong end.” While some might look back on a hard upbringing with gratitude and appreciation, even as he grew very rich Hart always viewed his impoverished childhood with contempt and disgust. (Aronson, p 170, 1995) He described it in his autobiography as growing up with, “the dark brown taste...
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...Prevention, rather than cure is the major goal of any community. The society has to work together as one for disease prevention and outbreaks. How does a society manage this if not everyone is treated equally or respected appropriately? Are there solutions to this? Some ways in which this can be solved are by offering free screenings of diseases, and providing immunization. A vaccination helps in two ways. It helps the person who receives it as they now won’t get the disease, and it also helps those who don’t get it as there is now one person less capable of spreading the disease. Naturally no one is intentionally going to catch a disease and spread it. The aim is to make vaccination optional and not force anyone into getting it. It is a psychological finding that when a person is forced into doing something, it is normal for them to want to do the exact opposite. Therefore, forcing people into getting their shots is not going to work. However, offering free immunization to people who are willing to take it will go a long way. I see communities working together in preventing diseases. One of these ways is preventing the spread of diseases by offering sanitation wipes for free at shopping malls and grocery stores so that people can wipe their shopping carts before using them. The worst way to catch a disease is by picking up a chart used by someone really sick. This, in my opinion is a great strategy to prevent the spread of bacteria, because it does not force...
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...Do you all know who this famous person is? He is a German born physicist. He is known for his theories on special relativity and general relativity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1921. ( Points at picture) This famous person is Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein once said Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.This is my topic for today. What does it mean Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value? Well, becoming someone of success is only a fraction of the bigger picture. Success can not be placed on a scale and weighed by any factors in your life nor can it be judged by the accomplishments you have tackled. Therefore, the word success becomes truly what it is, just a word. The dictionary defines the word success as one that succeeds but succeeds at what? Succeeds at meeting his goals or succeeds at life? If you think that becoming successful is reaching the goals you have set for yourself and you are constantly setting goals to better improve your lifestyle, your health, your future; then let me ask you this. If you have succeeded in obtaining your goals and you continue to set new goals to make you and your family life better, how can you be a success if you have yet to succeed with your new goals? There is actually an answer to this and Albert Einstein figured it out decades ago. Become someone of value. Let's look at that closer. Become someone of value. What does that mean? What is the difference...
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...In assessing whether Spain, by 1572, had become an enemy rather than an ally to England, one must first define what exactly is meant by an ‘enemy’. Here, we will say that in order for the two nations to be defined as enemies in 1572, Spain and England must have been actively hostile toward each other. There are a host of factors that support this notion; their diplomatic relations had been increasingly awkward since England’s embassy had to be moved from Brussels to Madrid in 1559, thus distancing England from her interests in the Flemish market, ever since Philip II married Elizabeth of Guise in 1559, the spectre of a Catholic alliance became increasingly potent. And the seizure of 400,000 florins from Spanish ships sheltering in English ports in November 1568, and the subsequent trade embargo and retaliatory seizure of each other’s ships, seems to represent an actively hostile relationship. However, one must not predate the total deterioration of Anglo-Spanish relations; it was not until the treaty of Nonsuch in 1585, where Elizabeth endorsed English intervention in the Netherland, that war became inevitable between the two nations. Therefore, to the extent that there was an actively hostile foreign policy between England and Spain, it can be argued that the two nations were enemies 1572, a relationship signified by the signing of the Treaty of Blois in 1572. However, it must equally be stressed that war was not unavoidable. It is possible to identify three factors that led...
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...“Crime is the result of individual behaviour, rather than the product of a socialisation process” Discuss. For decades sociologists from around the world have been debating what factors lead people to commit crime. Some have deduced that individual behaviour is the primary factor while others have concluded that crime is more the product of a socialisation process. In order to understand this contentious issue it is necessary to consider the credibility of a number of theories: physiological, psychological, right realism, Marxism, subculturalism, and left realism. Through the analysis of these theories, a conclusion will then be arrived at as to whether individual behaviour, rather than the socialisation process, is the main cause of crime. Physiological theories focus on the relationship between a person’s biology and crime. Therefore, this theoretical area of study clearly links the individual to crime. Today, a number of criminologists continue to support physiological explanations, even though, historically, many of theories linked to physiology have been disproved. Anne Moir and David Jessel are two such theorists who have proposed a link between biology and crime. They have suggested that a low IQ (which can be inherited) leads to impulsive behaviour, which may in turn lead a person to be more likely to commit crime. Moir and Jessel also claim that there is a link between crime and hormonal differences which make males more aggressive than females and therefore...
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...Why did Stalin rather than Trotsky emerge as leader of the USSR in 1929? When Lenin died in 1924 there was no clear leader of the communist party. By 1929 Stalin had successfully managed to take power and begin his regime as leader. Here are the reasons to why Stalin beat Trotsky. Firstly many members of the communist distrusted Trotsky due to his Menshevik past and didn’t see him as a true and Loyal Bolshevik. He didn’t join to Bolshevism until 1917 and this made the ‘old’ Bolsheviks suspect him. The distrust continued with his role as the commander of the Red Army and his opportunism is switching alliances against and with other colleagues like Zinoviev and Kamenev. Due to this many suspected him of becoming a dictator and they wanted to avoid this at all costs. Furthermore Trotsky had no strong Party base and even Lenin had criticised his personal qualities in his Testament. Trotsky made no attempt to build up a power base and this was a crucial mistake as Stalin had a strong party base which enabled him to completely outmanoeuvre him. During the 1920’s when Trotsky had to confront party congress it was packed full on supporters of Stalin’s. This made it impossible for Trotsky to become popular due to Stalin using his position of General Secretary to his advantage. The position in the party administration which Stalin held was manipulated by Stalin to his advantage. It gave him enormous power over the policy and personnel of the party. He was able to place people who supported...
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...“Technological Development has a positive rather than a negative impact on society.” Discuss. Technological development refers to the process of research and development of technology. In discussing whether or not the development of technology has a positive impact on society a number of arguments, both or against, need to be examined. These arguments include bringing convenience to our daily life, the economic growth bought by the technology advancement, the problem of electronic waste and the decline of interpersonal skills. Firstly, technology is very useful in our daily life. Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile phone, it improves the communication between people. Also, the invention of GPS solves many problems that we had. For examples, you can find a certain restaurant easily as long as your mobile phone has GPS function and you will not worry about getting lost even if you are travelling in other countries. Another reason why technological development has a positive impact on society is that it boosts the economy. As more labors are required for doing research and development on inventing new products, more people will be employed, it helps to reduce the unemployment rate. Moreover, when the new products were being introduced to the market, it would attract many consumers to make purchases, as a result, it leads to an economic growth. However, as the technology develops so rapidly, tons of new products are releasing every single day, the consumers will buy...
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...Q. Please provide reasons for or against the following proposition: 'A nation is always better off under a benevolent dictatorship rather than an inefficient democracy.' Ans. The question presents to us a proposition, which leads us to compare between ‘Benevolent Dictatorship’ and ‘Inefficient Democracy’, and figure out which of these is better for the community as a whole. So, according to me, to move forward in building a better understanding of which of the two is better, a critique of what is meant by ‘benevolent dictatorship’ and ‘inefficient democracy’ and an understanding of what each of them implies is of grave importance. Benevolent dictator as I learnt from John Stuart Mill’s writing in ‘Considerations on Representative Government’, is a person who has absolute power within his constitution, no one can say anything against a decision made by the dictator, leading to decreased power in the hands of the general population. Also, under a benevolent dictator the public has the power of voicing its views/thoughts on issues or problems, but if the dictator chooses to turn a dumb ear to the individual’s voice, he can do so without being questioned at all. E.g. taking Saudi Arabia, it is governed by a despot family, where if anyone wants to voice their views to the authority it can, but, that does not imply that their voices will be heard/acted upon. Also, it tolerates no opposition even from its citizen members, against any of their decision and/or control. By this...
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...The Benefits of Switching to Pre-Paid Rather than Post-Paid Cell Service Switching to pre-paid cell service may be for you, if you are fed up with being held down by a two-year contract or need to save money. Pre-paid cell phone service is very flexible and has the potential to save you large amounts of money. So why do the majority of Americans still insist on signing a contract? If you are one of the people that are beginning to get fed up with paying to much for too little, it may be time for you to rethink why you keep renewing that contract. Below we will look at the differences between pre-paid cell service and post-paid cell service to help you decide what is better for you. We will start with a general description of prepaid and postpaid plans, and then look into some of the providers for both of them, and finally I will lay out how to choose which is right for you and look at some facts. To help customers avoid overage charges and enable them to live on a budget easier, some wireless providers have a prepaid plan. These plans allow phone consumers to choose from a wide variety of devices, but instead of having to pay activation fees and maintain a monthly plan, the phone simply stops working when its assigned amount of minutes run out. As long as you keep an eye on your usage, prepaid wireless plans can be an excellent way to budget money, avoid large phone bills and if you don’t have the financial security to consistently pay a monthly bill, it’s a safe route...
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...Should retail investors invest in index-tracker funds rather than actively-managed funds? As we all know that there are two main institutional investments which are index fund and actively managed fund. However, it seems to be a hard problem when a retail investor who wants to make an institutional investment, perhaps most of them do not know which one deserve their investment. Index funds refers to a kind of fund buying all or part of securities according to a standard formed by certain index, which aims to achieve the same level of returns of following the returns , and catch up the market growth at the same time. The index fund is a kind of passive management fund which is just opposite to the actively management fund. There are many characteristics of index fund. 1, Index Investing uses passive operation of tracking the benchmark index, which can make the costs of the fund's operating and transaction into a minimum. Portfolio strategy can be adjusted by According to the change of the index’s Composition, and what’s more, no fees will be paid about the investment research and analysis. So a lower management fee will be charged. On the other hand, the index investors tend to buy long-term holders of stocks, as opposed to active management by actively trading the formation of high turnover and must pay higher transaction costs, the investment of index funds does not take any adjustment to the investment portfolio initiatively, and the low cost of turnover transaction will...
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