The First and Second Amendment Essay Example for Free

The First and Second Amendment Essay When the Constitution was written, it was not the intent of the authors to assure human rights to its citizenry, it was written in order to set up a federal government that would allow the United States to be a self-governing entity, and to put in place a system of government that would serve the citizens of the country in the way that they saw fit. After the ratification of the Constitution in 1787, â€Å"people soon began to notice that it did not list many of the personal liberties (individual rights) that they had come to believe were theirs. (Cullop, 1999) At the behest of some states the first ten amendments were added to the Constitution that protected the personal rights of the citizens called the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment prevents Congress from implementing an official religion, offers the free exercise of religion, and allows freedom of speech in the public and the press without fear of legal retribution for what is said. It also allows citizens to assemble peaceably to protest government or its decisions and to petition the government to change things that the people do not agree with. On the surface this amendment appears to settle some problems, but as time has gone by there have been many interpretations of the words and many arguments as to the intentions of the authors when the amendment was written. Most people agree that freedom of the press is necessary for the dissemination of accurate and reliable information whether it is good, bad or otherwise. People just basically want all of the facts. One conflict that has come from the general wording of the First Amendment is how the press will handle the confidentiality of their sources when reporting. The authenticity of what the press presents depends on the guarantee that sources can be protected. Many people would not otherwise give information for fear of implications that would arise from giving that information. The amendment protects a citizen from punishment for what they have said, but it offers no protection for the privacy of providing information without revealing the source. Recently there have been many bills introduced at both the House and Senate level asking for this protection to be guaranteed by law. In 2005 a bill was introduced into both the House and the Senate that would establish a Federal shield law that would in essence protect the source of information used by the media to report a story. The argument is whether or not the first amendment should preclude the security of the nation. The legislators think that this would prevent the government from protecting America from terror by allowing potential terrorist or informants to escape questioning or observation. So far the issue has not passed through the legal avenues due to the potential for compromising national security. Another controversial issue that has risen from the First Amendment is the freedom of religion and the right to exercise religion. Again this comes from years of twisting and turning of words and arguments as to the intent of the framers. The issue stems from the interpretation of the wording â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion†. Some people say that this means that no laws will be made that respects any religion over another, while others argue that the intent of the framers was to prohibit the government from establishing laws that set up one religious point of view as the official religion such as they experienced in England. Regardless of what position people take, the Supreme Court has ruled that there shall be no law that respects one religion over another. This decision affirmed the idea of separation of church and state. In response to this ruling, it has become illegal to display the Ten Commandments in public buildings because this is considered the foundation on which Christianity and Judaism was founded. According to the Supreme Court this display violates the First Amendment rights of those citizens who are not Christians or Jews to have no official religion. Christians argue that while they believe that the Ten Commandments were given to the people by God as a way to self govern themselves according to His will, they also believe that these are good rules for anyone to follow regardless of their religious position and that by removing these laws of God from publicly owned property, it violates the Christians right to freedom of worship. The second amendment to the Constitution is commonly known as the right for citizens to keep and bear arms. Again the argument becomes what is written versus what was intended. The wording says that â€Å"the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed†. Taken literally this means that all American’s have the right to own and use firearms for whatever purpose they choose. When viewed from the intent of the authors, and inference from the context, it seems that this amendment was intended for the security of the land. This view aised many questions even among its supporters. It has been debated if this means that as long as you own a firearm for protection it is within the law, or does this mean that the government can not specify what kind of weapon and/or the uses of that weapon. This issue is at the forefront of the Assault Weapons Ban. Laws were passed to ban certain types of weapons that the government deemed as unnecessary or impractical for self defense. The opponents of this law argued that it was a violation of the literal interpretation of the amendment. The law passed into its â€Å"sunset† phase without being renewed making it legal to own weapons that were previously considered to be assault suited weapons. People who favor gun control believe that this has caused a serious risk to the security of the citizens, while people who are gun owners believe that it is their right by law to own these guns and that the ban was unconstitutional.

What is property :: essays research papers

What Is Poverty? Jo Goodwin Parker 1. You ask me what is poverty? Listen to me. Here I am, dirty, smelly and with no "proper" underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth near you. I will tell you. Listen to me. Listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding. Put yourself in my pity, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me. 2. Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirty- and illness-stained mattress. The sheets have long since been used for diapers. Poverty is living in a smell that never leaves. This is a smell of urine, sour milk, and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long-cooked onions. Onions are cheap. If you have smelled this smell, you did not know how it came. It is the smell of the outdoor privy. It is the smell of young children who cannot walk the long dark way in the night. It is the smell of the mattresses where years of "accidents" have happened. It is the smell of the milk which has gone sour because the refrigerator long has not worked, and it costs money to get it fixed. It is the smell of rotting garbage. I could bury it, but where is the shovel? Shovels cost money. 3. Poverty is being tired. I have always been tired. They told me at the hospital when the last baby came that I had chronic anemia caused from poor diet, a bad case of worms, and that I needed a corrective operation. I listened politely -- the poor are always polite. The poor always listen. They don't say that there is no money for iron pills, or better food, or worm medicine. The idea of an operation is frightening and costs so much that, if I had dared, I would have laughed. Who takes care of my children? Recovery from an operation takes a long time. I have three children. When I left them with "Granny" the last time I had a job, I came home to find the baby covered with fly specks, and a diaper that had not been changed since I left. When the dried diaper came off, bits of my baby's flesh came with it. My other child was playing with a sharp bit of broken glass, and my oldest was playing alone at the edge of a lake. I made twenty-two dollars a week, and a good nursery s chool costs twenty dollars a week for three children.

Algebra in Daily Life Essay

1. Algebra is a method of calculating using simple equations to represent quantity and to show relation between them. Algebra is also a part of our life, we use it on measuring the length of our table,notebooks,doors and other more. Another concept of mine is measuring capacity,In school we always measure the right amount of ingredients that we cook. Because to an culinary student like me we are showing how to measure the exact amount of ingredients that we gonna use.Scientific notation can be used in Chemistry,Chemistry uses equations of algebra. Like adding,subtracting,multiplying and dividing scientific notation. In mixture problems, we are using it to know how many water are on the gallons.We always buy water , in that case we need mixture problems. 2. â€Å"Mathematics is one of the first things you learn in life. Even as a baby you learn to count. Starting from that tiny age you will start to learn how to use building blocks how to count and then move on to drawing objects and figures. All of these things are important preparation to doing algebra.† 3. When writing any assignments the use of graphs, data and math will validate your statements and make it appear more professional. Professionalism is of the essence if you want to move ahead and be taken seriously. Can you see the importance of algebra? Your day can be made a lot easier with planning. In financial decisions this can save you a lot of finances or maybe get you the best price available. It all comes down to planning and using the knowledge and algebraic skills you have to benefit your own life. Use the key you have and make your life a lot smoother. 4. Algebra is one of the most important subjects someone can learn. It is a subject that transfers into daily life, often without anyone even realizing it. Unlike English or History classes, Algebra can be put straight to use once learned. It is one of the most versatile subjects there is. Algebra can be anything from calculating the amount of money you’ve spent on your grocery shopping, keeping track of the calories you have in your diet, and designing structural plans for a building. Going shopping and frequenting stores can often get out of hand and confusing as to how much things cost or to how much you saved on an item. Algebra can help you to configure all of these things and also save you from making any costly mistakes. Many items in grocery stores are often on sale at some point or another whether it be 10% percent to 50% and a lot of times people don’t know how much they are saving on any particular item. Algebra simply allows a person to calculate all of these things. Algebra is also a convenient skill to possess when it comes to dieting and recipes. Counting the number of carbohydrates or calories and keeping track of them can get overwhelming at times and a person can get confused. Algebra can help you to see how many calories you have had and also it can help you calculate how many you are able to have in the future. Cooking is also another skill that is associated with algebra. Adding and subtracting ingredients, figuring out the amount of time something has to cook, and also how to serve a food evenly all have to do with algebra. Architecture is a skill that has a lot to do with numbers as well. It is very important to know exactly how long everything is, how much weight something can take, and the dimensions of every minute detail. If an architect doesn’t know the answers to these, not only will the structure be wrong but the building could also be a safety hazard.

Learn How to Conjugate Attacher (to Attach) in French

The French verb  attacher  means to attach, fasten, bind, or tie up. French students will be happy to know that it is rather easy to conjugate this verb. A quick lesson is all you should need. Conjugating the French Verb  Attacher Verb conjugations in French are a bit more of a challenge than in English. Rather than adding simple -ed or -ing endings to a verb, the French language uses many different endings that you will need to memorize. Attacher  is a  regular -ER verb. This means that it follows the standard changes to the ending as you move from subject and tense.   The chart will help you memorize the conjugations. Simply match the subject pronoun to the present, future, or imperfect past tense. For example, I attach is jattache and we will attach is nous attacherons. Subject Present Future Imperfect j attache attacherai attachais tu attaches attacheras attachais il attache attachera attachait nous attachons attacherons attachions vous attachez attacherez attachiez ils attachent attacheront attachaient Attachers Present Participle The  present participle  for attacher is formed by dropping the -er  and adding -ant  to form attachant. Not only does this act as a verb, but you can use it as an adjective, gerund, or noun as well. The Passà © Composà © of  Attacher The  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is a common form of the past tense in French. For  attacher, you will combine the appropriate conjugate of the  auxiliary verb  avoir  with the  past participle  attachà ©. As an example, to say I attached, you will use jai attachà ©. As the subject changes, only the subject pronoun and  avoir  conjugate will change: we tied up becomes nous avons attachà ©. More Conjugations of  Attacher When youre just starting out, concentrate on learning the present, future, and passà © composà © of  attacher. As you speak and read more French, you may find other forms to be useful as well. The subjunctive and conditional forms are verb moods and imply a certain level of uncertainty or ambiguity in the action. If youre reading or writing formal French, you may also encounter or use the passà © simple or imperfect subjunctive. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j attache attacherais attachai attachasse tu attaches attacherais attachas attachasse il attache attacherait attacha attacht nous attachions attacherions attachmes attachassions vous attachiez attacheriez attachtes attachassiez ils attachent attacheraient attachrent attachassent The imperative form of  attacher  will be useful when its used in short, direct requests or demands. For this form, theres no need to use the subject pronoun and you can simply say  attachons  rather than tu attachons. Imperative (tu) attache (nous) attachons (vous) attachez