Entitlements Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Entitlements - Research Paper Example 95). Reaching a total of $2.16 trillion, table below summarizes the most recently projected U.S. non-discretionary spending on mandatory programs and the amount of annual expenditure of each program FY 2011. Others: Food Stamps, Unemployment Compensation, Child Nutrition, Tax Credits, Income Support Program, Crop Insurance or agricultural subsidies, Supplemental Security for the Disabled, and Student Loans. The most significant discretionary spending of the U.S. government is allocated for defense budget. Estimated by Donald M. Snow – a professor at the University of Alabama, approximately 58 percent of the total discretionary funding or 15 percent of the annual federal budget is spent on defense (Kennedy, 2010). Unlike the mandatory or non-discretionary expenditures, discretionary budget that is being allocated for Congress is controllable. It means that the Congress can decide whether or not to spend a portion of discretionary budget on certain projects. It is unfortunate to learn that two-thirds or almost 67% of the total federal budget has to be allocated for non-discretionary or mandatory expenditure (Kennedy, 2010). According to Kennedy (2010), the Veteran’s Health Administration is already serving the pension and health care needs of more than 8 million veterans. Given the amount of non-discretionary expenditure (2/3 of federal fund) with the amount of discretionary expenditure (1/3 of federal fund), it is clear that the U.S. government should strictly avoid getting involve in the war between Iraq and Afghanistan to control the increasing number of Veterans that is entitled to receive not only pension but also health care support. By doing so, the large number of veterans that is currently being financially supported by the U.S. government through entitlements can be controlled. Likewise, the U.S. government can also be free from having to spend a significant portion of the federal fund on defense budget. On top of the $5.5 billion

Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Essay -- Hope i

Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Throughout the novel, A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings is a minority student in a poor, inner city school, trying to fight his way up to the top. He has a greater hope for himself than the overwhelming majority of the other students at Ballou High. Cedric faces many challenges to eventually make his way to Brown University. According to Labaree, Cedric is exercising the goal of social mobility, meaning that he works against the competition to get into a high-ranking college and hopefully a well-paying job. Although personally Cedric is trying to obtain this goal, I am having difficulty placing what purpose of education that Ballou High is trying to fulfill. Cedric is an unusual student to walk the halls of Ballou High. Unlike most of his peers, he actually wants to make something of himself; he does his homework, he studies and he works on extra credit projects. The majority of the kids at Ballou barely come to class, much less make any attempt at learning. Since this is the overall attitude of the school, Cedric must exercise social mobility and do whatever he can to better himself as an individual. He is not necessarily competing against the students at Ballou (because he by far surpasses them), but he is in competition with all the other students from better schools throughout the area. During the summer that Cedric spends at MIT, he is truly awakened to the fact that he was extremely far behind the other students from urban areas. The director of the program expresses his frustration with the MIT program- "When he first arrived... He had grand plans to find poor black and Hispanic kids from urban America-... He saw that he had been drea... ...uality. In fact there is a severe inequality in only preparing the top few students for society. Therefore, it is hard to decide what goal of Labaree's that Ballou High embodies. The bottom line is that some students value social mobility and the rest of the school values nothing. In conclusion, although Cedric is able to exercise social mobility, his school does not prepare him for the outside world at all. It is only through his own resolve that he is able to make it in the competitive, academic world. The only good that Ballou probably brought to Cedric was the notion to work even harder so that he did not end up like his fellow peers, with no goals, going nowhere, and valuing nothing. It is this value of nothing that severely hinders our nation's public school systems. Works Cited Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen. Broadway Books, New York. 1998. Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Essay -- Hope i Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Throughout the novel, A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings is a minority student in a poor, inner city school, trying to fight his way up to the top. He has a greater hope for himself than the overwhelming majority of the other students at Ballou High. Cedric faces many challenges to eventually make his way to Brown University. According to Labaree, Cedric is exercising the goal of social mobility, meaning that he works against the competition to get into a high-ranking college and hopefully a well-paying job. Although personally Cedric is trying to obtain this goal, I am having difficulty placing what purpose of education that Ballou High is trying to fulfill. Cedric is an unusual student to walk the halls of Ballou High. Unlike most of his peers, he actually wants to make something of himself; he does his homework, he studies and he works on extra credit projects. The majority of the kids at Ballou barely come to class, much less make any attempt at learning. Since this is the overall attitude of the school, Cedric must exercise social mobility and do whatever he can to better himself as an individual. He is not necessarily competing against the students at Ballou (because he by far surpasses them), but he is in competition with all the other students from better schools throughout the area. During the summer that Cedric spends at MIT, he is truly awakened to the fact that he was extremely far behind the other students from urban areas. The director of the program expresses his frustration with the MIT program- "When he first arrived... He had grand plans to find poor black and Hispanic kids from urban America-... He saw that he had been drea... ...uality. In fact there is a severe inequality in only preparing the top few students for society. Therefore, it is hard to decide what goal of Labaree's that Ballou High embodies. The bottom line is that some students value social mobility and the rest of the school values nothing. In conclusion, although Cedric is able to exercise social mobility, his school does not prepare him for the outside world at all. It is only through his own resolve that he is able to make it in the competitive, academic world. The only good that Ballou probably brought to Cedric was the notion to work even harder so that he did not end up like his fellow peers, with no goals, going nowhere, and valuing nothing. It is this value of nothing that severely hinders our nation's public school systems. Works Cited Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen. Broadway Books, New York. 1998.

Essay on Prison Architecture

Shawn Connell Professor Blomquist Writing 101-15 4/16/12 Prison Architecture Wallace Stegner once said, â€Å"Nothing in our history has bound us to a plot of ground [since] feudalism once bound Europeans† (Stegner 301). The only exception is being imprisoned. For those who brake society’s set laws, â€Å"Prisons and their many variants are built environments whose intended purpose is punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation† (Awofeso). Prisons began to be more widely used because the early Catholic Church disapproved of physical punishments.In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII authorized that incarceration and lack of liberty will take the place of the â€Å"eye for an eye† way of settling disputes previously employed (Awofeso). Today, architects are still debating what the best way to design a prison and punish guilty people is. Architects’ and theorists’ many differing morals such as how cruel one can treat an inmate, can influence their opinions of prisoner treatment and rehabilitation driving their designs to be unique, often having varying negative psychological effects on their inmates.Jeremy Benthem, a theorist, had sketched quite a harsh prison concept in 1781 called the Panopticon. He believed prisons should be a form of strict discipline. His structure allowed one guard to watch all the prisoners without them knowing when they were being watched. â€Å"The mental uncertainty implicit in prisoners’ not knowing when they are being watched was promoted as a crucial instrument of discipline† (Awofeso). The prisoners were to have no contact with any other inmates. The prisoner â€Å"is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication† (Foucault 226).Without being able to talk to one another, the inmates could not discuss their crimes and get encouragement to repeat them. There also exists no chance of a planned rebellion or escape, making it only necessary to have one guard. Benthem believes to truly punish the perpetrators; their authority and dignity must be undermined. They must be stripped of any power or worth they have. They are to constantly live without knowing when they are being watched, which would translate after they are released. The prisoners would be so used to acting as though they were being examined and possibly become better people outside the prison.Benthem’s Panopticon was never directly erected so the effects on prisoners are unknown. However, through Craig Haney’s studies of other prisons, one can be sure Panopticism would have had adverse effects on those incarcerated there. Being watched constantly, Haney believes prisoners may, â€Å"labor at both an emotional and behavioral level to develop a â€Å"prison mask† that is unrevealing and impenetrable; many for whom the mask becomes especially thick and†¦[they find themselves] disincentive against engaging in open commu nication with others [and leads] them to withdrawal from authentic social interactions altogether† (Haney).Panopticicsm would dull inmates to a point of no emotions. They would become accustomed to the paranoia of being seen so they hide their feelings and actions. And since they would have no contact with any other person, they could lose all communication skills. In today’s society, the Panopticon’s form of punishment may be dubbed by the Contituation as cruel and unusual punishment. In contrast, John Haviland designed The Eastern State Penitentiary in 1821.The design was based off of the values of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons of â€Å"correctional reform and social justice† (Eastern State Penitentiary) with a purpose to bring inmates to god and a righteous way of life. â€Å"Many leaders believe that crime is the result of environment, and that solitude will make the criminal regretful and penitent† (Eas tern State Penitentiary). The designer utilized unique architectural details to enhance the religious atmosphere to encourage this regret.He incorporated components of famous religious architecture such as the immense churches built in the era of grand Gothic and Romanesque cathedrals to enforce the idea that god is almighty and constantly watching. Their hope was to have the prisoners repent their crimes and embrace a new life of innocence. Haviland factored in a religious element into almost every detail of the structure. The facade is fitted with lancet windows and stained glass. The entrances to the cells are small and short, forcing the new inmate to bow his or her head to enter.Inside the cells themselves, the sole form of light is a skylight representing the light of God or the all seeing eye of God. This system attempts to spiritually cleanse the new comer or in other words, the approach to the prison is a realization of one’s sins, the entrance into the cell is an ac t of submission, and the time spent in the cell is the beginning of a new life of holiness. The prisoners of Eastern State Penitentiary were not permitted to have contact with anyone, not even the guards.The inmates were meant to not even know where they were and were often masked when entering the building and their dwelling. Wendell Berry once stated â€Å"If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are† (Stegner 299). This was meant to allow the prisoners to have a fresh start and a new beginning; to become a new and improved human being. Haviland wished to truly improve the lives of the individual prisoners and society at large in a way he thought was philanthropic. Although Haviland’s intentions seemed benign, studies show that isolation can be one of the cruelest forms of punishment.In fact, â€Å"there are few if any forms of imprisonment that produce so many indices of psychological trauma and symptoms of psychopathology in those pers ons subjected to [isolation]† (Haney). With a lack of communication with others, â€Å"many may develop emotional flatness that becomes chronic and debilitating in social interaction and relationships, and find that they have created a permanent and unbridgeable distance between themselves and other people† (Haney). There is quite a list of possible negative psychological effects including clinical depression, paranoia, rage, helplessness, violence, and cognitive dysfunction to name a few (Haney).If Haviland knew of these side effects, maybe he would have designed the Eastern State Penitentiary differently. Today, the average United States prison is quite different than the ideas of Haviland and Benthem. The prisons are known to have many negative trends. They usually tend to be very over crowded with two or more prisoners sharing a cell with men or women they have never met before living in close quarters with often one toilet in a cell with no privacy. Most are subjec ted to extreme violence and intimidation from both other inmates and often overworked staff.Many prisoners live in constant fear that they will be harmed physically or mentally by their peers. This type of prison system is not very effective. â€Å"Few people are completely unchanged or unscathed by the experience †¦[and] suffer long-term consequences from having been subjected to pain, deprivation, and extremely atypical patterns and norms of living and interacting with others† (Haney). Many cannot re-adjust to normal life outside prison where every activity and meal is organized for them. Some ontinue to be violent or paranoid that violence will be done unto them. Therefore, some designers have unique ideas to counter these negative effects like Josef Hohensinn. Josef Hohensinn believes the prison system should be changed. He believes â€Å"The more normal a life you give them [in prison], the less necessary it is to resocialize them when they leave† (Lewis). So , he created a resort-like prison in Leoben, Austria. His structure features floor to ceiling windows, full kitchens, and balconies.It is still secure; it is in a completely isolated area, the glass is all shatterproof, and the balconies all have bars. In Hohensinn’s opinion, prisons are merely a place to hold captives for a period of time. The inner workings of more common prisons are not natural and cause criminals to become possibly more dangerous by stripping them of their dignity, often abusing them, and making them slowly forget how to live a normal life. â€Å"About 67 percent of the prisoners who are released are arrested again within three years† (Lewis) in a normal prison.Hohensinn believes it’s just â€Å"an expensive way of making bad people worse† (Lewis). Above the door of his building, there is a quote that reads â€Å"All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the huma n person† (Lewis). His type of prison is very controversial. It was erected only eight years ago so the effect on inmates and the return rate are still unknown, however in comparison to the Panopticon and Eastern State, Leoben should have no negative effects on prisoner’s mental health.Craig Haney says â€Å"There is little or no evidence that prison systems across the country have responded in a meaningful way to these psychological issues, either in the course of confinement or at the time of release,† so Hohensinn is one of the first (Haney). The inmates at Leoben are permitted to have normal contact with others eliminating any social problems that may occur from solitary confinement. They are also allowed to cook and eat when and what they choose. Prisoners typically are denied their basic privacy rights, and lose control over mundane aspects of their existence that most citizens have long taken for granted† which can be the most damaging (Haney). The s cheduled life style employed by common American prisons causes inmates to be unaware how to run their lives when they return home. But with Hohensinn’s design, they maintain a normal life, just in another place away from society for a while. While many may not find his prison a true form of punishment, it stands to be the best way to date of how to treat inmates so they have less of a need to readjust to normal life in society.Architecture can reveal so much about how a society or person wishes to discipline and rehabilitate law breakers (Awofeso). There are few laws and regulations dealing with architecture of prisons in particular, therefore the architect has significant freedom to design a facility he or she sees as fit and productive. All plan to benefit society even if it is through very different ways. While some wish to punish cruelly like Jeremy Benthem, others wish to reform and improve the lives of these criminals. Both ways can be effective.If prisoners are punishe d cruelly, they may be too intimidated to commit another crime for fear of being imprisoned again. But if they are reformed, they may have the understanding of why the crime should not be committed in the first place. The theories are still unproven so there exists no â€Å"right† way to construct a facility. It remains up to the governing officials to approve and fund the architect’s designs and set them into action. Possibly in the future there will be a set way the world treats those who disobey the law, but today’s designs and the designs of the past remain up to the unique individuals who create them.

Microsoft Excel Workbook - 100984 Words

Excel e This Course Covers: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Spreadsheet fundamentals: How to open, create, and work with a spreadsheet How to enhance spreadsheets using formatting techniques How to create and work with charts How to create formulas to perform a variety of calculations How to manage workbooks and advanced printing options How to analyze data using Excel’s list features Microsoft  ® Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter One: The Fundamentals...................................................................................... 11 Lesson 1-1: Starting†¦show more content†¦do, Redo, and Repeat ........................................................................76 Lesson 2-10: Checking Your Spelling .................................................................................78 Lesson 2-11: Finding and Replacing Information ...............................................................80 Lesson 2-12: Advanced Printing Options ............................................................................82 Lesson 2-13: File Management............................................................................................84 Lesson 2-14: Inserting Cell Comments ...............................................................................86 L esson 2-15: Understanding Smart Tags .............................................................................88 4 Lesson 2-16: Recovering Your Workbooks .........................................................................90 Chapter Two Review............................................................................................................92 Chapter Three: Formatting a Worksheet .....................................................................99 Lesson 3-1: Formatting Fonts with the Formatting Toolbar ..............................................100 Lesson 3-2: Formatting Values ..........................................................................................102 Lesson 3-3: Adjusting Row Height and Column WidthShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On The Parts Of Excel Essay1664 Words   |  7 Pages Parts of excel 1a) Tabs: In Microsoft excel tabs are nothing but the multiple number of open workbooks within a single window. 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