Prayer - The Most Important Part of our Life Essay -- Prayer Praying

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We need to look at prayer with deeper thoughts. Prayer isn’t just closing your eyes, folding your hands and speaking. Prayer is a much more meaningful part of religion. We all need to pray, God himself demands us to pray. Prayer is defined as an act of God, a god or another object of worship, such as in devotion, confession, praise, or thanksgiving. When most people pray, they just say the same prayer, like the Lord’s prayer for example. Saying the same prayer isn’t really such a bad thing, its more about the meaning and the time that you spend praying. Prayer shouldn’t just be looked at as a routine or habit, but as more of a love poem to express ones self to God. Questions such as: why do we need to pray? What is this prayer?, and What does God command us to pray for? Are what we should be asking ourselves before we come to God in prayer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prayer is a very important action in all of us as Christians. We should know why we pray and why it is important. We should also know that prayer cant just come from our mouths but from our hearts as well. Our affections cling to self and to worldly objectives; our prayer cannot rise above their level no matter what words we use. In Luke 11:1 it says â€Å" Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.† we should be taught to pray either from the church or from the people around us. Taught in a sense of listening, not actually taking lessons on it. We need to pray because prayer is the most important part of the thank...

Violent Video Games Dont Lead to Increases In Violent Behavior Essay

A young, blonde woman stands with her fists raised. She shifts her weight back and forth, staying in constant motion. Her jaw is set and her blue eyes dangerous. She faces her opponent with no fear. Her fellow combatant is a skilled warrior and a member of a Shirai Ryu clan. He’s spent years mastering his own special style of martial arts. The woman observes him carefully. He’s muscular and, no doubt, fast. She cannot see most of his face, as a gold and black mask obscures it, but she can see his eyes. They’re merciless. She eyes the harpoon at his hip. He’ll probably go for that first and try to stun her with it. The cue is given and, sure enough, he grabbed his harpoon and aimed it at her, snarling, â€Å"Get over here!† She’d anticipated his moves well and she sidestepped his harpoon. He figured out that she knew his obvious attacks, he began to use more quick attacks, moving quickly in the shadows, confusing her. He soon overpowers her. Dazed and dizzy, she is at his mercy. Unfortunately, mercy is a quality he lacks. He wraps his harpoon around her neck and opens a portal. She’s pulled into it and he holds onto his chain tightly. Another portal opens above and her body dangles from it, strung up by his chain. The announcer’s voice lets out in a deep grumbling voice, â€Å"Fatality†. Meanwhile, in a living room, the gruesome scene fades to black and two friends laugh at each other for the graphic execution and go on playing the newest release of the Mortal Kombat series. While today’s games are ridiculously violent, can one honestly believe they can open a portal to hang their enemies? Do video games really warp the mind and cause players to be aggressive? Recent studies say no. It is not the game’s fault for a player to react viol... ...While there are violent games out there, children could, with the help of their parents, play cleaner games such as The Legend of Zelda or any game in the Mario series, and in the end, be benefited from it. Whether their stress is relieved, their brains stronger, or their connections with their families made unbreakable, video games can truly be a good thing for kids. Works Cited Hanna, Patrick. â€Å"Players. Not Games, Cause video game violence.† New Zealand Herald. New Zealand Herald, 27 July 2010. Web. 24 October 2011. Jayson, Sharon. â€Å"Study the Player, Not the Game.† USA Today. USA Today, 15 September 2011. Web. 24 October 2011. Jayson, Sharon. â€Å"Video Games Tied to Aggression.† USA Today. USA Today, 1 March 2010. Web. 24 October 2011. Paulson, Ken. â€Å"How obscene is video game violence?† USA Today. USA Today, 2 November 2010. Web. 24 October 2011.

The National Patient Safety Goals Are Effective Essay -- Nursing, Heal

There are a large number of professional organizations specific to healthcare. One such organization The Joint Commission, is a non-profit independent organization that certifies and accredits over 19,000 healthcare organizations in the United States. [Their mission statement is] â€Å"to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value† (The Joint Commission, 2011). The National Patient Safety Goals were implemented 2002. The goals later became effective January 1, 2003 to address specific areas of concern in regards to patient safety. Upon implementation, these goals have been effective in reducing the number of medication errors, improving communication between healthcare providers, and reducing hospital-acquired infections in patients. Thousands of individuals are admitted each year and require medication in the hospital setting. With the increasing number of admissions due to disease and illness affecting today’s society leads to the likelihood of nurses committing medication errors. Over the years errors resulting from medication have been the leading cause of injury in hospitalized patients. Forty six percent of these medication errors occurred at the time of admission, time of discharge or while transferring patients between units. [After reviewing these events], â€Å"The Joint Commission identified â€Å"Improve the Safety of Using Medications† as one of the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals (Cleveland Clinic, 2009, p.1). In relation to this safety goal, hospitals created a medication reconciliation form that resides in the patient’s ch... ...before a procedure, shaving is avoided and clippers are used to trim the hair. This reduces the risks of breaks in the skin. In addition, one hour before surgery the patient is administered antibiotics before the incision and discontinued within twenty-four hours. The National Patient Safety Goals are a key when it comes to patient safety. Implementing safety goals helps reduce the number of medication errors, improves communication between members of the healthcare team and reduces the number of infections patients acquire while under the hospital’s care. In addition, The Joint Commission reviews and publishes these goals each year. Depending on the occurrence of sentinel events, the goals are re-evaluated or revised accordingly. It is important that The Joint Commission reinforce the practice of patient safety goals in that they help improve patient care.

Female foeticide Essay

This is the cry of an unborn girl. Female foeticide means killing an unborn girl. Man has covered a long distance from prehistoric ages to 21stcentury, during this long period of time; women had to face different eras. There was a time when worshipping god was considered incomplete without a female presence and there come such a time when she was kept behind† pardah† ,bounded within the boundaries of her own home, many evils surrounding her and much more. she was tortured to the fullest but despite of all those difficulties, women came ahead. She fought and won. Now a days a new trend of female foeticide id evident, by killing her, before she opens her eyes to see this beautiful world. This practice is more in villages. It may be because of the illiteracy, fond for male child and most important reason of female foeticide is poverty because a handsome amount is to be given to the family-in-laws at the time of marriage and secondly increasing evils against women like rapes, eve teasing, kidnapping etc. â€Å"AS A BIRD CANNOT FLY WITH ONE WING A FAMILY CANNOT RUN WITH A MALE ALONE† No one can neglect the contribution of women in the society. Today, whatever height man has achieved, women workout as a ladder For man. Infact,man is on the sky, sitting on the shoulder of woman . she is the foundation of every small to big task being undertaken. Female foeticide is an evil. Even god doesn’t forgive the persons involved in this crime. Eradicating this evil is not a one hand clap!! GOVT., NGO’S and the society have to make out the rule ant then strictly implement it.mother herself has to come ahead and avoid evil practices. A female can give a ray of life to the parents and a ray of hope to the society.what we have to do is to observe inform and prevent female foeticide. always remember : â€Å"GOD RECEIDES WHERE FEMALE IS WORSHIPPED†

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

The movie response that will be covered in this essay will be on the film â€Å"Wall Street Money Never Sleeps †. It was directed by Oliver Stone, released during 2010 and is the sequel to the 1987 film â€Å"Wall Street†. The film starts with the release from jail of Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko before cutting to a rather elaborate plot involving Shia LaBeouf as the young trader with (some) scruples, who's rising in a world that just happens to be collapsing at the same time, as investment banks run by the likes of Frank Langella and Josh Brolin teeter under the weight of the 2008 financial crisis. The story then carefully weaves in more and more to Gekko (who, conveniently, also happens to be LaBeouf's future father-in-law, a dad to LaBeouf's on-screen fiancee, Carey Mulligan) (Zeitchik, 2010). Greed seems to be Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps theme, reckless and over the top risky behaviour has lead to the bubble in the housing prices to burst due to the actions of Wall Street firms. Shia Labouf played by Jake Moore works for the Lehman Brothers-esque Keller Zabel and is mentored by managing director Lewis Zabel. He receives a bonus of $1,450,000, before a late-night treasury meeting, which reveals that Keller Zabel is on the verge of collapse. This brings up an important ethical issue on how much bankers and traders receive in bonuses, irrelevant of the financial climate. After the collapse of several large banks during the financial crises of 2008, many are still paying their employees substantial bonuses. Many argue that the UK government have pumped billions of pounds into the banking sector, and has bailed out both Royal Bank of Scotland and Loyds Banking Group. As a result they should have greater say in how much the banks pay out in bonuses, however the banks argue that they cannot dramatically reduce bonuses without the risk of losing top staff to banks based overseas, which are under less pressure to cut payments. Even if bonuses are cut, salaries have risen significantly to compensate, by up to 40% in some cases. This is one of the many flaws, which has been allowed to occur within the banking industry, to the point where it has become the norm (Peston, 2011). One of the most prominent ethical issues presented in this movie is the idea of insider trading, which is the trading of stock with hidden information that the general publics is not informed about. It began with rumours being spread on â€Å"Zabel† by Bretton James who runs the rival bank Churchill Schwartz, which caused the rumours to become true, and Keller Zabel to be on the verge of collapse. Bretton James then insults Lewis Zabel by offering him $3/share when the firm was trading the previous week at $75/share. Zabel claims that this was revenge for letting Jame’s company go under eight years ago. These series of events causes Zabel to commit suicide by throwing himself under a subway. To avenge his mentor Shia Labouf releases rumours on Churchil Shwartz, which caused their shares to drop down 8% in pre market trading costing them $120million. Insider trading can be a very powerful tool within the financial sector; it can be used to make large profits as well as destroying others. As illustrated in the movie, Lewis Zabel took his life due to the results of Insider trading. It’s a criminal offence in most countries, however as Shia Labouf said it’s â€Å"hard to prove†, this is due to the difficulty of trying to prove what a person has heard via word of mouth. Because Insider trading is illegal, insiders who wish to exploit price sensitive information collaborate with other traders to make it harder to trace the trades back to the person who is known to have access to the information. This is called an Insider Ring. The term â€Å"moral hazard† is mentioned several times throughout Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. It’s first mentioned during the treasury meeting, when they are deciding whether to bail out Keller Zabel, if they bail them out what’s to say it wont occur again. Moral hazard is the idea that an individual can alter their behaviour if they know they are insured against some of the outcomes, for example if a car is not insured you would take more care than if it was. The reason moral hazard comes up several times throughout the movie is because it’s often used within the context of banks and sub prime mortgages. This is due to the fact that before the 2008 financial crises sub prime mortgage lenders were making reckless lending decisions, they lent many mortgages to people who were unlikely to be able to pay them back. This led to large-scale mortgage defaulting, which caused many banks to go under and cause the economy to suffer. However many banks were bailed out by governments in order to reduce the economy suffering further, which is effectively rewarding them for bad economic decisions (What is Moral Hazard, 2007). The issue of lack of corporate governance is apparent in the movie, its connected to the reasons why Keller Zabel and the other banks began to fail. A definition of Corporate Governance is a â€Å"set of relationships between a company’s directors, its shareholders and other stakeholders. It also provides a structure through which the objectives of a company are set, and the means of achieving those objectives and monitoring performance, are determined† (OECD). Events such as soaring pay packages for top bank executives which are often driven by extraordinary risk taking rather than real sustainable profits, weaknesses in risk management, board oversight, understatement of bad loans can all be linked to poor corporate governance (Corporate Governance failure to blame for banking crises, 2009). Money laundering is another un-ethical issue, which Wall Street brings about. Gordon Gekko reveals to Shia LaBeouf that he has $100million in a Swiss account under his daughter’s name, which she will be entitled to when she turns 25. Gordon suggests that him and his daughter travel to Switzerland sign the account over to LaBeouf’s name and he in return gives Gordon the money so that he brings it to the States in order to avoid the RAS getting involved, which is Money Laundering. To conclude there are many ethical layers within Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, such as unjustified salaries, poor corporate governance, insider trading, moral hazard and money laundering. These issues are very real, and still go on in our daily lives. We continue to inflate these â€Å"bubbles† until eventually they will burst, and repeat the process. Albert Einstein said, â€Å"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results†. This seems to be very true of the banking industry and the lack of thought of the consequences to their actions. Gordon Gekko presented us with a question, â€Å"Is Greed Good? † I believe Greed can never be good.Bibliography †¢ Corporate Governance failure to blame for banking crises. (2009, 02 24). Retrieved 05 2011 from Professional Pensions: http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/1441283/corporate-governance-failure-blame-banking-crisis †¢ DREA. (2010, 10 30). Movie Review of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Retrieved 05 2011 from Businesspundit: http://www.businesspundit.com/movie-review-of-wall-street-money-never-sleeps/ †¢ Insider Trading. (n.d.). Retrieved 05 2011 from Moneyterms: http://moneyterms.co.uk/insider-trading/ †¢ Kenny, J. (2009, 02 25). Corporate governance failure driving banking crises. Retrieved 05 2011 from FTadviser: http://www.ftadviser.com/InvestmentAdviser/Investments/AssetClass/Equities/News/article/20090225/2d2a7d74-034c-11de-a6db-00144f2af8e8/Corporate-governance-failure-driving-banking-crisis.jsp †¢ Peston, R. (2011, 01 07). Bank bonuses ‘to run to billions in 2011†². Retrieved 05 2011 from BBC NEWS: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12131092 †¢ What is Moral Hazard. (2007, 12 11). Retrieved 05 2011 from Economicshelp: http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/economics/what-is-moral-hazard/ †¢ Zeitchik, S. (2010, 05 14). Cannes 2010: â€Å"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps' issues its wake-up call. Retrieved 05 2011 from Los Angelese Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/05/wall-street-money-never-sleeps-cannes-oliver-stone.html

Latin American History Essay

According to Chasteen (2006), Latin America can be regarded as either having a single history or not. The twenty countries can be said to have a common history due to them being similar in more ways than one. When looked at from a different perspective, they can also be said not to have a single history because these countries’ history cannot be accurately and fully described in one story. This article will explore Chasteens’ views with the aim of establishing if his views are accurate. Jose Maria Caicedo was the first one to refer to this geographical region as ‘Latin America† The introduction of this name encompassed both the Spaniards and French speaking people occupying the lands. Latin America is comprised of countries found in the south of the United States of America and maybe sub-divided into regions namely; Carribean, Central America, South America and North America. Latin America is the 4th largest Continent on planet Earth. History shows that the entry and exit of regions into and out of Latin America was a gradual transition that cannot be traced to specific dates. One common feature of these countries is the European conquest and colonization. Christopher Columbus arrived there in 1942, consequently opening them up to the world. Eventually, the region was taken over by European powers comprised of Portugal and Spain, who introduced diseases such as small pox in order to weaken the indigenous populace. Many died, while the survivors were subjected to forced labor. Eventually independence was attained between 1810 and 1830 through a string of freedom fighters. The Latin American republics also share a religion because during the period of colonization, the Roman Catholic Church was introduced in order to override the traditions of the natives. It became the major economic – political power and the authorized religion of the land. Most of the republics of Latin America, spoke the languages of romance, which were French and Spanish, with Spanish being the main dialect. Another language that was spoken is Portuguese. These dialects existed because these countries were colonized by Spain and Portugal. Some countries e. g. Guyane speak English, Suriname speaks Dutch and Brasilia speaks Portuguese. The Latin American nations possess a rich ethnicity in the make-up of the populace. We find the Amerindians who are the Aborigins, then there are the Blacks who were slaves brought in from Africa, the Asians who were traders from Japan and China, Mestizos were as a result of inter-marriage between the Europeans and the Amerindians and the Mulattoes from marriages between Europeans and Africans. The Whites were composed of the Spaniards and French and last but not least were the Zambos who came up as a result of mixed marriages between Africans and Amerindians. Another common trait was the signing of the International Human Rights Treaties by the 20 Latin American countries and the 28 Post Communist countries. The treaties addressed civil liberties, freedoms of speech, assembly, association, movement, religion and the independence of courts. Civil liberties of Latin American countries had been smothered by the Communist rule, which eventually collapsed between 1989 and 1991. Human rights and democratic self governance rights significantly improved across the countries after the fall of communism. This improvement was triggered by the increased shining of the spotlight on conduction of open and just elections. Personal integrity privileges remained explosive as they were for the most part affected by the struggle involving government and guerrilla movements. Crowley (1993) says the rights experienced a stunted improvement but nevertheless started showing progress as from 1991. The Latin American countries went through a state of dependency and neo-colonialism. Grandin (2004) wrote that in order to safeguard its economic interest, USA provided fiscal, military and moral support to the non-independent countries. Liberalization was initiated from 1989, though the Soviet and Yugoslav conflict continuously hindered growth. However, progress could by 1993 because there were more liberal and semi-liberal countries, and an increased show of respect for individuals’ rights to own property. In conclusion, it can be said that not only are the Latin American countries unified geographically, but across the cultural, economic, religious and historical background. Their masters without knowing united these countries, creating a wealthy people, empowered to transform their continent into a resourceful and culturally rich continent. References Chasteen J. C. (2006). Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Crowley, W. and Timothy P. (1991). Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956. New Jersey: Princeton: Princeton University Press. Grandin, G. (2004). The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Chapter 12 Taxation and Income Distribution

Chapter 12 Taxation and Income Distribution I. Impact of taxes on income distribution hard to determine because of tax incidence II. Tax Incidence a. Who actually pays a tax b. Legal Incidence – who is legally responsible for paying a tax c. Economic Incidence – who actually pays the tax d. Example – tax of $1 is placed on $10 item how is income distribution affected i. Price stays at $10 – income of seller reduced ii. Prices rises to $11 – income of buyers reduced iii. Price rises to $10. 30 – buyers pay $. 30 and sellers pay $. 70 e.To the extent taxes affect quantity sold and produced, tax affects income of suppliers of inputs for the product. i. Example: tax on gasoline reduces gasoline consumption it reduces income of gasoline tanker truck owners and drivers. ii. May reduce the income of furnace manufactures by reducing the price of heating fuel. III. Tax Incidence Perspectives a. People pay taxes not corporations b. How to group people for purposes of tax incidence i. Often think of producers and consumers 1. But consumers are also producers and producers are also consumers 2. 0 of households own stock directly, others own stock indirectly ii. By income Rich, Middle Class, Poor 1. How do you define these categories? c. Tax affect both suppliers of inputs and consumers of a product. i. In practice tend to ignore one side and do analysis on the other 1. Tax in commodity ignore impacts on inputs 2. Tax on inputs, ignore impact on consumers d. Incidence depends on how prices are determined i. How taxes change prices determine who pays the taxes ii. Amount of time is important – more time more adjustment to taxes e. Tax incidence depends on how tax revenues are spend . Progressiveness of tax system i. Policy says tax system should be progressive. ii. Higher income pay a higher percentage of taxes 1. Usually measured as increase in average tax rate taxes/income 2. Exemptions, deductions and marginal rate structur e affect average tax rate iii. 2 measures 1. Percentage change in tax rate divided by percentage change in income 2. Percentage change in taxes divided by the percentage change in income 3. Measures can produce different results IV. Partial Equilibrium Models of Tax Incidence a. Analyzes impact of tax on the market in which tax was imposed b.Ignore impact of market change on other markets i. Appropriate if tax is small ii. Appropriate if market is small iii. Otherwise need general equilibrium analysis c. Tax incidence of a unit tax – tax per unit of the good i. Legal incidence on buyers – figure 12. 2 1. Tax reduces the demand curve for the product from the supplier’s point of view since at each price the consumer buys less of the product. [pic] ii. Legal incidence on seller – figure 12. 3 1. Tax reduces the supply curve for the product from the consumer’s point of view since at each price the suppliers supply less of the product pic] iii. Economic incidence is independent of legal incidence 1. Arrive at same Price, Quantity, and tax split regardless of whether tax is on producer or supplier. a. Sales tax example iv. Tax incidence depends on relative elasticities of demand and supply v. Example Qd = 1,000 – 5P and Qs = 4P – 80 Tax $45 per unit [pic] [pic] d. Tax incidence of an ad valorem tax – tax per unit of the good i. A percentage tax rather than a unit tax ii. Sales tax as compared to gasoline tax iii. More difficult to calculate but shifts demand as shown in figure 12. V. Payroll Tax Controversy a. Legal incidence 7. 5% paid by employer and 7. 5% paid by employee b. Statutory distinction between employer and employee is irrelevant c. Economic split depends on elasticity of supply of labor d. Logical that the labor supply is fairly inelastic i. Household provides certain amount of labor regardless of wage ii. May not be true in long run VI. Tax on Capital a. Increasingly capital perfectly mobile b. M oved to where return is highest after adjusting for risk c. Rate of return on capital same everywhere in world d.No single country can make suppliers of capital bear any portion of a tax on capital VII. Taxes in markets with monopoly power a. Impact of taxes same as in competitive markets b. Consumers and monopolist share tax depending on the elasticity of demand c. Figure 12. 10 VIII. Taxes in oligopoly markets a. Impact of taxes difficult to determine b. Price increase resulting from reduction in output resulting from the tax may make a company more profitable IX. Tax on profits a. Tax on normal profits reduce investment because profit is return on capital and risk b.Tax on economic profits born entirely by company with change in behavior c. Seemly ideal tax but not very operational X. Tax Incidence and Capitalization a. Tax increase on real estate is capitalized into PV of property b. Borne entirely owners at time tax is levied c. May be reimbursed if public expenditures increase property values XI. General Equilibrium Models a. Read first paragraph P 271 b. Generally not operational [pic] ———————– Po Pg Pn Q0 Q1 Supply ConsumerDemand Supplier Perceived Demand Tax paid by Consumers Tax paid by SuppliersDeadweight Loss from Tax Consumer Losses and Producers losses Po Pg Pn Q0 Q1 Supply Demand Consumer Perceived Supply Tax paid by Consumers Tax paid by Suppliers Deadweight Loss Consumer Losses and Producer losses Deadweight Loss Consumer Losses and Producer losses Tax paid by Suppliers Tax paid by Consumers Consumer Perceived Supply Demand Supply 300 400 95 140 120 Deadweight Loss from Tax Consumer Losses and Producers losses Tax paid by Suppliers Tax paid by Consumers Supplier Perceived Demand ConsumerDemand Supply 300 400 95 20 200 120 140