Day: April 20, 2020

Alcoholand Driving

Dataanalysis

1. Data collected for this study will be analyzed to answer the research question:

Theintention to use low alcohol drinks before driving was conceived. (1pts.)

2.The data for (name of variable 1) theintension to use low alcohol wine before driving willbe (average/percentage) 60% and Data for (name of variable 2)non-intention to use low alcohol wine will be will be an(average/percentage) 40%. (2 pts.)3. If the statistical testthat you used shows that results are significant, in the case of mystudy for the independent variable young male and adult male will betested using the Levene tool for equality of variance it will meanthat the intension to drink low alcohol wine before driving among theyoung men will be greater than the .05 for a significant difference.A figure lower than.05 will mean there is no statisticalsignificance. It will therefore reject the alternate hypothesis tosupport null hypothesis

4.Futureresearch should look ata)The intension of the members of the public to comply with alcoholrelated policies past 10.00pmb) The perception of members ofthe public on drinking while driving.c) High exposure to riskas a result of the dangers associated with peer pressure amongpartying youths drinking alcohol late into the night

Twolimitations of my study are:a)the impacts of cross-sectional studies that related to biasness ofthe participantsb) The use of non-probability sample thatlimits generalizability of the results (1 pts.

1

Astudy into the politics of Climate Change

Climatechange is the change in climatic patterns of a region or globally,this can over a short period or over many years. The causes ofclimate change are perceived by many to be industrial pollution,vehicle car exhaust and changing whether they understand what Al Gorewas trying to put across in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Ingeneral climate change occurs when long term alterations in weatherpatterns are experienced and a nutshell cause can be human activitiesand one of the measures of climate change is global warming, which isdefined as the average global rise in temperatures (Whatis climate change?, n.d.).The aim of this study is to look at climate change in a politicalperspective based on Al Gore presidential campaign in 2000 in whichhe based his views on climate change in his documentary AnInconvenient Truth an in-depth research on the matter and theperspective views on the follow up elections by presidentialcandidates after the 2000 election.

Throughouthistory of the United States, environmental protection for the bettergood of humankind was not based on political parties and politics Ingeneral. Both Republicans and Democrats applauded efforts by theexecutive branch in taking measures to conserve the environment, anexample is Theodore’s efforts in environmental conservation throughestablished of natural parks and forests which was praised byrepublicans and democrats also praised Franklin Delano Roosevelt forincluding a new environmental conversation deal through the SoilConservation Service and related programs. In the late 1960s andearly 1970s, Richard Nixon also worked with a Democratic dominantCongress and signed several important environmental conservationlegislation into law. In early 1980s, the Reagan administration sawthat environmental regulation as a burden to the United Stateseconomy and made an effort in weakening their enforcement and thesechanges the situation greatly. The negative environmental perspectivebecame important againin 1994 following the takeover of Congressby the Republican Party that was led by Gingrich. This led to anegative reaction from the public and environmentalist and Al Goresaw an opportunity to run for president in 2000 with theenvironmental conservation idea to reverse the situation entirely andreturn environmental regulatory laws in order to stop climate change.Unfortunately the lost the election and the Gorge W. Bushadministration amplified the situation will little public andpolitics, dissent due to the Iraq war and the war on terror thatdominated the political arena. These trends have led to a big dividebetween the two parties on their stand on environmental protectionprograms(Dunlap, McCright, 2008).This study looks at the current state of climate change legislationsperspective among various presidential candidates after Al Goreelection defeat by using a survey conducted over the years on theirresponses when it comes to the issue of environmental protection. Aqualitative analysis is done by taking a look Al Gore’s documentarymade in 2006 on Climate change and the human influence. The resultsare discussed to draw a conclusion.

Methodology

Inthis study, observational method is used to collect scientific dataas narrated by Al Gera in his documentary An Intervening Truth thatcovers the effects and causes of climate change globally. This methodselected because the contents of the documentary were researched andrecorded by a former politician who understands this area of studyvery well and he used information from renowned scientists whocollected and analyzed global warming data and its effects. Thecontent of the documentary was observed and summarized for analysisof the material data. The second source of information used in thestudy was the use of a government article on the recently finishedelection that analyzes the views of all the presidential candidateson climate change. The presidential candidates were asked a series ofquestion about climate change and what were their thought about it.The article tabulated the results and analyzed the, it also includesthe views and actions taken by the president of the united states onenvironmental protection. This source of data was chosen because itclearly shows the politics on climate change and the trend they willtake after the new president elect Donald Trump is sworn into officeearly next year.

Findings

AlGore’s documentary outlines the steps that humankind has taken toinfluence climate change. He uses a carbon dioxide concentration andglobal temperature rise in the atmosphere graph ranging way back tothe 7th ice age and the present time, which in this context was 2006when the documentary was recorded. The graph showed a stable rise andfall in carbon dioxide since seven ice ages ago and after the periodthe concentration of carbon dioxide rose above 300pp/million a level,it has never reached, nor passed which concentration and a predictioninto fifty years to the future it shows that concentration continuesto rise to a disturbing number. The rise in temperatures is alsorecorded with the rise in carbon dioxide levels these phenomena isknown as the global warming effect. The fifty year prediction byscientist the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will reach an alarmingrate and Al Gore says this is not a matter of politics anymore but amoral issue. With this evidence presented to Congress the house didnot legislate regulating laws proposed to protect the environment.The documentary reveals sea ice extent since 1970 has dropped by 1.5million square kilometers.

Thearticle wrote that the two parties nominated presidential candidatesHillary Clinton and Donald Trump had different views on the climatechange matters. Hillary Clinton set out a goal to start renewableenergy programs that will produce a third of the United Stateselectric power needs. The article also shows that while democrats hadthe highest percentage of 88 while republicans had 50% approval forenvironmental protection. The table below summarizes the answersgiven to the climate change question by all the presidentialcandidates.

Table1:USA political Aspirant view of climate change

Discussions

Fromthe documentary data, actual effects of human actions on theenvironment can be observed in increasing carbon dioxideconcentration in the atmosphere and it gives a bibliography of AlGore’s life as a father, politician and environmentalist. Al Gorewas in love with nature and this love started at a very young agewhen he grew at a livestock farm with his father who taught him howto breed and take care of cattle. He loved the countryside very muchand when he grew up, his purpose in life was very clear, to protectthe environment from the destructive actions of human activities sothat the future generation will get to experience nature’s beauty.Ever since he started his quest to help conserve the environment, hefaced many challenges, especially from skeptics who think the idea ofglobal warming is a hoax. Moreover, after he lost the election in2000, the Bush administration ignored many regulations that wereearlier passed, With the situation getting worse as the years go byAl Gore decided to create the documentary An intervening Truth thatanalyzes the effects of global warming and the factual evidence thatsupports CO2 emissions to the atmosphere affects greatly globaltemperatures.

Thefactual evidence from the documentary that dates back up to the 7thice Age showing the a graphical trend in the concentration of CO2 incomparison to temperature increase, reveals that with increase in CO2concentration there is a subsequent rise in global temperaturelevels. The effects of global warming in climate change aredocumented starting with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and unpredictedheavy downpour of rainfall in many parts of the world while otherparts don’t receive any rainfall at all. The documentary furtheranalyses who and what increases the CO2 levels to such a level thatcauses these climate change effects. Being a politician for manyyears himself the political aspect of this study is shown, politicsplayed a key role in environmental protection ever since the Reaganadministration and then the Republican led Congress declined severalenvironmental protection regulations that regulate the amount of CO2emissions in the atmosphere. “The decisions of the Congress not totake any action environmental protection and conservation isunethical and not morally right” Al Gore says. This issue has grownover the years and has become partisan with Democrats advocating forenvironmental protection while Republican leaders advocate foreconomic growth through industrialization. While Politics play a keyrole in this sector, the truth is that the environment or MotherNature needs protection form these harmful gases released into theatmosphere using fossil fuels as a source of energy

Aclear picture on how politics play a key role in climate change isshown in the article of the views of the presidential candidates.Environmental protection laws cannot be enforced when the executivebranch or the house of congress does not support the issue, so todetermine the future of these laws in other words the future of theenvironment then the legislative branch has to be onboard. When thereis government in support of environmentalist funding into theirprograms is done, but not all who are in power are in favor ofspending money on environmental programs while putting regulations inthe industrial sector a key economic sector in the United States.This is where differences in opinion start that has led to a dividein the policy between the two major parties, Republican andDemocrats. The issue whether global warming is occurring has been akey debate and reports over the years by IPCC beginning with the 2001report and a more certain report in 2007. The public beliefs onglobal warming were assessed and 61% of the respondents to thequestion on whether global warming has already begun saying it has.Therefore, this makes a significant increase in public belief inglobal warming perception since 1997 when only 48% of the publicbelieved this to be true. From the political point of view 76% ofDemocrats believe that global warming is occurring while only 42% ofRepublicans believe this to be true. Republicans believe that themedia has exaggerated the IPPC reports and therefore challenge thescientific unanimous reports that global warming is real and isoccurring in the present. (Dunlap,McCright, 2008).

UnitedStates is the second in the list of countries that emit the highestlevels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with an estimated amountof 5490.63 million metric tons as per data collected in 2011 withChina leading with 8715.31 million metric tons globally. In 2015governments, including the United States govern pledged to reducegreenhouse gas emissions (Governmentpledges, n.d.). In honoring that pact, President Obama a Democratic Party Presidentin his inauguration speech spoke of putting in measures to combatglobal warming while in office and recently he has released a plan toreduce emissions of carbon from power generating plants somethingthat has been ignored by the previous Republican regimes. The recentpresidential campaign trail was not short of this controversialquestion on climate change and the articles show that both HillaryClinton and Bernie sanders Democratic presidential aspirants are insupport of environmental protection regulations. The two presidentialcandidates nominated by their respective parties, Hillary Clinton theDemocratic nominee and Donald Trump the Republican nominee was askedabout their views on climate change in a presidential debate and theyanswered as follows Trump said, “I’m Not a Big Believer in ManMade Climate Change… We’ll See What Happen.” And in aninterview done in 2015 on MSNBC Donald Trump is quoted saying thatclimate change is not a big problem at all since the earth is a bigplanet While Hillary Clinton believes climate change is real and sheis willing to take action when she is elected as president. Accordingto many Republicans Climate change is not that of a big deal andtheir presidential nominee Donald Trump said that there are muchgreater problems to be worried about like nuclear weapons, thethreats of nuclear weapons are climate change to Donald trump. Whilethese opinions might seem mare talks, at the time things are muchdifferent now since he won the 2016 presidential election. Therefore,this should be a concern to the public and environmentalists ingeneral because here is a man who does not think climate change is aproblem to be addressed with the importance it is given (InTheir Own Words 2016 Presidential Candidates … – lcv.org. n.d.).

Theresults of this study clearly shows that importance climate changein the majority of the general public are a concern, but things havenot changed much ever since Al Gore loss in 2000. On environmentalprotection since 2000, the laws have been pushed aside because ofpolitics and a slight change is seen when Democrats take power butthere are no significant efforts to address the matter.

Conclusion

Thisstudy focuses on global warming as a measure of climate change andthe way politics have influenced the decisions or measures taken tofight this global issue. This research study stakes an analytic lookinto the political differences that are in the United States when itcomes to legislation of environmental protection laws and theirenforcement. With a wider scope of more than 16 years since the firstenvironmentalist politician to run for president in 2000 where theissue of climate change laws implementation had taken a differentturn since the Reagan administration. Although he lost the electionnarrowly while running with the manifesto of climate change as one ofhis key initiatives if he got into power Al Gore did not in his questto make to persuade the government to take the issue of globalwarming as a serious issue and inform the public on the dangers ofglobal warming. By taking a look at Al Gore’s documentary “Anintervening Truth” it gives a detailed scientific evidence of theincrease of CO2 levels in the atmosphere and what it means to globaltemperatures. It also entails the effects of global warming inAmerica with an example of Hurricane Katrina the worse climaticchange caused disaster. With the analysis of several articlespublished over the years and most, especially a recent one wrote in2016 on this just ended presidential election this research shows itsrelevance in the political science field. Scientist all over theworld have come to a consensus that global warming is a global issuecaused by the man in his quest of making life easier especially insatisfying his energy needs. The United States the central area ofthis study has failed on many occasions to take action on globalwarming, especially in reducing the amount of carbon emissions in theatmosphere, which is the cause of global warming. The study foundthat the general public is concerned about the effects of globalwarming, but the political class seem to think that the matter isoverly exaggerated by the media and dismisses the scientific evidencethat is presented before them and terming it a hoax that is intendedto disrupt the budgetary money prioritization. Republican andDemocrats are divided further when it comes to climate change policyimplementation since they know the regulations will affect many ofthe American industries and this will lead to an economic crisissince their adversaries like china don’t play by the rules when itcomes to industrialization. This study concludes that United Statespolitics play a key a role in climate change disaster and the recentelection results shows that the issue is not going to be addressedsoon because the Republican president elect views global warming asa minor problem and is should not be a priority his administrator. AlGore warns on the dangers of ignoring the scientific predictions onwhat is to be expected when greenhouse gas emissions is not reducedby quoting Sir Winston Churchill in his documentary “ The Era ofProcrastination, of Half-Measures, of Soothing and BafflingExpedients, of Delays, is coming to its Close. In its place we areentering a Period of consequences.”

References

(2016).Retrieved December 02, 2016, fromhttp://www.watchdocumentary.tv/an-inconvenient-truth-documentary/

Dunlap,R. E., &amp McCright, A. M. (2008). A widening gap: Republican andDemocratic views on climate change.&nbspEnvironment:Science and Policy for Sustainable Development,&nbsp50(5), 26-35.

Governmentpledges. (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2016, fromhttp://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/government-pledges/

InTheir Own Words 2016 Presidential Candidates … – lcv.org. (n.d.).Retrieved December 2, 2016, fromhttp://www.bing.com/cr?IG=B191B41BA0D045DDA7BDD35DB226FD5C&ampCID=322956BABF6C679406955F65BE5D6608&amprd=1&amph=-iccwOgxenkCxUwOPAKy1Rk7EENT1LPwot2gcKzXt88&ampv=1&ampr=http://www.lcv.org/assets/docs/presidential-candidates-on.pdf&ampp=DevEx,5085.1

Whatis climate change? (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2016, fromhttp://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/climate-change-basics/climate-change-101-1/

ChildMistreatment and Neglect

ChildMistreatment and Neglect

Child oppression, abuse, and neglect is a severe problem in Americaevery year, roughly three million cases of children neglect or abuse(Children’s Bureau, 2016). Abusive childhood encounters lead toincreased threats of violent aberrance and being a victim ofaggression, mental and psychological disorders, and death (Norman etal., 2012 Taillieu, Brownridge, Sareen, &amp Afifi, 2016). Thus,the prevalence of childhood neglect and mistreatment is a majorcommunity or public health problem, which needs criticalconsideration, as it affects the quality of life and harmony insocieties.

Children’s Bureau. (2016). Child maltreatment 2014.Retrieved 15 December 2016 fromhttps://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/child-maltreatment-2014

This is a report on the trend of child abuse across America. Thereport shows the number of children abused annually (roughly threemillion) and the effect of these abuses, for example, death,psychological and mental disorders, development of aggressivebehaviors, and dysfunctional families. Children’s Bureau (2016)contends that close to half of these cases are substantiated. Thereport shows that child neglect can result to death especially iffollowed by physical or sexual abuse and a variety of psychiatricdisorders and problems, for example, trauma, dissociative disorders,somatization, suicidality, depression, learning disorders,impulsivity, and sexual behavior problems.

Koizumi, M., &amp Takagishi, H. (2014). The relationship betweenchild maltreatment and emotion recognition.&nbspPLOS one,&nbsp9(1),e86093.

Koizumi and Takagishi (2014) show how child abuse affects theirsocial cognizance and hinders their social adjustment. The authorsconducted a study to contrast the accuracy rates for emotional items,for example, happy, interested, and hoping, which showed the abusedchildren had difficulties comprehending others’ sentimentsparticularly positive ones. This shows that neglected or mistreatedkids have problems socializing with other people, which not onlyaffects their quality of life, but also inhibits their socialdevelopment across societies. The article is significant inhighlighting the way abuse affects children’s social cognitionduring the abusive period and when they grow up.

Norman, R. E., Byambaa, M., De, R., Butchart, A., Scott, J., &ampVos, T. (2012). The long-term health consequences of child physicalabuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: a systematic review andmeta-analysis.&nbspPLOS Medicine,&nbsp9(11),e1001349.

This articleoffers a methodical review of numerous studies conducted on childabuse. After reviewing 124 journal articles, the authors concludedthat there exists a casual correlation between child maltreatment anda variety of psychological syndromes, suicidal tendencies, substanceabuse, and dangerous sexual behaviors. Furthermore, the authorssuggest that all types of child abuse should be deemed significantthreats to health and quality of life with a considerable effect onforemost effectors to the problem of illness across the world. Thearticle shows the magnitude of child neglect as a community problemand suggests the cultivation of successful mediations to safeguardall kids from any form of violence. Thus, the article is significantin illustrating the development of child abuse and its negativeeffects on children and the society.

Taillieu, T. L., Brownridge, D. A., Sareen, J., &amp Afifi, T. O.(2016). Childhood emotional maltreatment and mental disorders:results from a nationally representative adult sample from the UnitedStates.&nbspChild Abuse &amp Neglect,&nbsp59, 1-12.

In their article, Taillieu et al. (2016) discuss the impact of kids’emotional mistreatment on their psychological health. The articleprovides a correlation between emotional cruelty and negligence withother forms of mistreatment, history of family disintegration, andestablishment of “Axis I and II mental disorders.” By collectinginformation from the “National Epidemiological Survey on Alcoholand Related Conditions,” the authors show that child emotionalabuse increases the threat of mental disorders.

Young, J. C., &amp Widom, C. S. (2014). Long-term effects of childabuse and neglect on emotion processing in adulthood.&nbspChildabuse &amp neglect,&nbsp38(8), 1369-1381.

Young and Widom (2014) discuss how child abuse unsettles the regularprocess of expressive development. Furthermore, the authors discussthe theories of emotion and provide a link between abuse andinhibition of behavioral responses among maltreated children. Mostimportantly is the discussion on the behaviors of people who mistreatkids especially parents. The article shows that these patients areusually isolated and attempt to isolate their children frominteracting with other people. In this regards, the paper not onlydiscusses the impact of child neglect and abuse on emotionaldevelopment, but it also creates shows the way mistreating peoplemanifest themselves.

Evolutionismversus Creationism

Evolutionismversus Creationism

Scientistsand several scholars have made attempts to explain the possibleorigin of life as well as the universe. These efforts have resultedin the development of theories and different concepts. The firstconcept is creation, which is used to advance an argument that theexistence of life and the entire universe can be attributed to thework of God (Montgometry, 2012). This perspective is often contrastedwith the evolutionary theory. This theory is founded on the notionthat the existence of life can be attributed to activities that tookplace by chance (Nieminen, 2015). The two perspectives were developedwith the objective of explaining how life originated and factors thathave contributed towards changes that have taken place on earth.However, they have numerous similarities as well as differences. Inthis paper, an argument that the perspective of creationism issupported by more evidence as compared to evolutionism will be made.

Similaritiesbetween Creationism and the theory of Evolution

Thetheory of evolution and the idea of creation are often seen asconcepts that contradict each other, but they have some points ofconvergence. For example, the two concepts support the idea ofnatural forces that facilitated the development of the universe.Evolutionists argue that the fossil order that is studied todayresulted from the pilling-up of plants and animals that died millionsof years ago (UpChurch, 2016). The accumulation of decayed organicmatter resulted in the development of soil and rocks that vary interms of hardness and texture. The Bible holds that the world thatwas created by God remained stable until the time of the great flood.The flood caused the death of animals and plants where those in theoceans were the first ones to be buried, followed by those on land(UpChurch, 2016).

Supportersof the two concepts also argue that the world was once a single largecontinent, but it later split into different pieces. Theevolutionists base their idea of the split of the world on tectonicforces. They illustrate that the South America’s eastern coast canfit into the Africa’s western coastline (UpChurch, 2016). Thisobservation leads to an argument that the two continents were oncejoined together, but tectonic forces pushed them apart. The organismsin either of the continents were also separated, and subjected todifferent environmental conditions. Therefore, organisms on eachcontinent evolved differently, depending on conditions prevailing intheir respective areas. Similarly, Genesis 1 holds that God separatedthe waters from the dry land and formed a single giant continent. Theidea of splitting of the landmass into separate continents is derivedfrom Genesis 7:11, which explains how the fountains broke up(UpChurch, 2016).

DifferencesExisting Between Evolutionism and the Idea of Creation

Thetwo perspectives differ in several ways. The origin of life and theuniverse is the major source of divergence of the two perspectives.Supporters of creationism are convinced that life and all componentsof the universe were established by some supernatural powers(Montgometry, 2012). They are guided by the Bible to advance anargument that God created life as well as all that surround humanbeings. The supporters of the perspective of evolution hold that lifeoriginated from molecules that came together to form microorganisms.These minute living things later developed into larger organisms. Thespecies occupying the modern world resulted from the populationsplit, where each group developed different features and survivalmechanisms, depending on the prevailing conditions (Nieminen, 2015).

Thesource of evidence to support the arguments of each perspective isanother major difference between them. Fossils are the primarysources of evidence that is used to support assertions made in thetheory of evolution. The theorists (including Charles Darwin) whohave played a critical role in the development of the evolutionarytheory use the skeletons of animals that died and got buried millionsof years ago to make conclusions and link the modern organisms totheir ancestors (Nieminen, 2015).

Inthe case of human evolution, theorists use the fossils of organismsthat are classified as the intermediates between the modern man,apes, and monkeys to argue that all of them have one ancestor.Creationism, on the other hand, is supported by some sections of theBible, especially the genesis. All parts of the Bible that are usedto support the idea of creation lead to an argument that the world aswell as other components of the universe are not products of randomevents, but they were established by some intelligent being.

RecentScientific Evidence that Opposes Evolutionism

Evolutionistshold that fruition has been taking place for millions of years. Theybase their evidence on radiometric experiments. However, these datingtechniques are founded on several assumptions, which suggest thatthey may not be accurate. For example, the users of radiometricmethods assume that the decay system must have been closed duringevolution, which may not be the case, given the large number of yearsinvolved (Gish, 2016). The projections made using the idea ofaddition of hydrogen gas into the atmosphere suggest that life andthe earth cannot be older than 10,000 years (Gish, 2016).

Similarstudies that are based on the rate of decay of the magnetic field ofthe modern world suggest that the age of life cannot be more than20,000 years (Gish, 2016). These recent science-based experiments andstudies disprove the notion that life might have existed for millionsof years. The recent projections indicating that life could bebetween 10,000 and 20,000 years old are closer to a period of 6,000years that is estimated by creationists (Gish, 2016). Therefore,recent scientific evidence is skewed towards creation as opposed tonotion of revolution.

WhyCreation is More Convincing than Evolution

Thereare several factors that support the concept of creationists and castdoubt on evolutionism. The most fundamental proof of creationism isfact that all kinds of organisms occupying the present world haveremained the same over the years. In other words, human beings haveremained what they are throughout their history. This idea is furthersupported by the fact that there is no evidence of new apes that arein the process of turning into human beings or people who aredeveloping into unique and more advanced creatures (Gish, 2016).These facts support the Biblical idea that all organisms werecreated, which implies that they have totally different ancestors.

Thereligious idea that organisms have dissimilar ancestors is furthersupported by evolutionist inability to fill numerous systematic gapsbetween their fossil records. For example, the evolutionists havebeen unable to establish the link between invertebrates andmicroorganisms (Gish, 2016). They are unable to provide fossilrecords to demonstrate how microorganisms (such as bacteria)developed skeleton to reach the stage of advanced organisms,including the apes that later evolved to human beings.

Thegaps existing in the fossil records cast a lot of doubt regarding thevalidity of the evolutionism and tend to support the creationism ideathat all species have been growing and expanding their populationsizes independently. The creationism perspective does not argue thatthe fossils that have been discovered are false. However, theseremains of the ancient organisms provide more support to the conceptof extinction than evolution. The skeletons provide the evidence oforganisms that were created, but suffered from extinction. They wentthrough the same process as animals (such as Javan Rhino) in themodern world that are expected to die out in a few years, but theirskeletons could be discovered hundreds of years to come.

Inaddition, the universe is comprised of objects that exist in a wellorganized manner and obey all laws of nature. In Hebrew 1: 3, Jesusis depicted as the radiance of God’s glory and has the capacity touse the power of his word to uphold the universe. This verse providessufficient evidence that God is responsible for the occurrence of theuniverse and all forces that control it. In addition, Mark 15:33explain how darkness covered the world at noon when Jesus died afterbeing crucified. This phenomenon was a confirmation that God retainspower over the universe. The fact that God can interfere with thenormal patterns of the universe suggests that He understands itsfoundation, which leads to an argument that He is responsible for itscreation. Therefore, the biblical perspective of the origin of theuniverse as well as life is more convincing than the facts used tosupport evolutionism.

Conclusion

Thereis more scientific and biblical evidence to defend the concept ofcreationism as opposed to the evolutionary theory. Althoughsupporters of the perspectives of evolution and God’s creation holdthat the world was once a since piece of landmass and that changes inthe universe have been driven by natural forces, it is evident thatthe two concepts have a lot of divergence. Theorists base theirarguments on incomplete fossil records while creationists tend tosupport their assertions using the biblical verses. In addition,recent scientific findings suggesting that life is about 10,000 or20,000 years old seem to lean towards creationism. Therefore, thereis more truth in creationism, which suggests that it is superior toevolutionism.

References

Gish,D. (2016). of scientific evidence for creation.Dallas: Institute of Creation Research.

Montgometry,R. (2012). The evolution of creationism. GSAToday,22 (11), 4-10.

Nieminen,P. (2015). Dissertationsin education, humanities, and theology.Helsinki: University of East Finland.

UpChurch,J. (2016). Surprising similarities between creation and evolution.MatchingGift Opportunities.Retrieved December 15, 2015,fromhttps://answersingenesis.org/creation-vs-evolution/surprising-similarities-between-creation-evolution/

RoleModels Influence Our Lives

Rolemodels exist in our lives since they are individuals who have thequalities that we would wish to possess. They are individuals whohave influenced our lives in a manner that makes us desire to bebetter persons who are in a position of advocating for ourselves.Rolemodels are important in our lives because listening to them andmimicking their excellent qualities offer a new perspective in life.

Whenpeople listen to others or witness their success, they get a newperspective on life, especially when encountering the persistingchallenges. Role models are important people in our lives becausetheir success stories help to change our outlook on various issues,thus changing individuals completely. Additionally, listening to arole model narrate stories of similar problems we are strugglingwith, will offer the much-needed solutions to those problems. If notthe real solution, the role model will offer a different tactic tolook at the challenges. Role models also possess qualities that wewould love to copy, thus individuals would end up acquiring valueslike self-confidence, compassion, desiccation and courage amongothers. For example, individuals who have Steve Jobs as their rolemodel will end up adopting qualities like dedication since he wasdevoted towards providing the needs of his customers and ensuringthat they are satisfied. Moreover, various acceptable habits likewaking up early in the morning can be acquired from role models.

Inconclusion, role models play a vital role in our lives becauselistening to their stories and copying their qualities offer a newperspective of looking at things. Similar stories regarding theirchallenges and how they were tackled provide solutions that we canalso follow. Additionally, their qualities and habits can bemimicked, thus bringing the best out of us.

ReverendBilly and the Stop Shopping Choir

Reverend Billy was born Bill Talen on May 25, 1950, and currently, heis an author and a radio show host too. He was born in Minnesota, andhe went to Franconia College where he was able to get his BA. Afterhis graduation, he took the job of a theater manager and that is howhe created the character of a public preacher that he named ReverendBilly (Shulman, 158). He used the character in preaching at multiplepoints in San Francisco on the streets where he wanted to enlightenthe civilians on various essential issues. At that time, he startedmaking a name in the streets because of his unique style. Later, hebegan preaching on the streets near Time Square and criticized MickeyMouse and Disney Store that were known as the anti-Christ at thatparticular time (Shulman, 159). In the process, people beganappreciating his efforts and later the Stop Shopping Choir wascreated. This essay will illustrate how Reverend Billy was able tosensitize the American public on the evils of the advertisements andconsumerism too.

Reverend Billy wanted the corporate institutions such as Mickey Mouseand Disney Store to stop the evil images that were associated withthe anti-Christ movement. In this case, capitalism had nurturedconsumerism and advertising that had adopted various techniques thatwere not well accepted in the society at that time. For instance,Mickey Mouse had often associated certain characters with wizardrybased on the costumes used (Kaylor, 392). The Christians did notappreciate the imagery, and they wished that the institutions couldadopt some characters that were friendly and did not offend certainreligious groups. Apart from that, certain adverts had focused oninsisting that the slim women and the ones with the lightercomplexion were the beautiful ones. On the other hand, the group alsocriticized other vices associated with capitalism and Walmart. Infact, the store has been associated with the lower wages, poorworking conditions and other discriminative policies that underminedthe wellbeing of the employees (Kaylor, 396). More important, thegroup wanted the corporate institutions to change how they interactedwith the other members of the society. For instance, they wanted themto stop airing the false and misleading advertisements and introducebetter friendly policies.

Reverend Billy together with the Stop Shopping Choir organizeddemonstrations in the specific stores that they felt somehow violatedthe rights of the consumers or the workers. The group took theopportunity to preach against the specific flaws associated with theinstitution. For instance, they could go to the Mickey Mouse storeand highlight the few instances where the company engaged in someinappropriate activities (Freund, 1535). In 2009, Reverend Billy wentto one of the ATMs owned by the Bank of America and tried to exorcisethe bad loans and other dangerous decisions that the clients can makeusing the money they have withdrawn (Freund, 1543). In this case, hewanted to ensure that the members of the society did not face anychallenges associated with the bad debts. Besides that, they oftenperform some anti-shopping songs that discouraged people frompurchasing commodities in the specific stores that they target.However, they have ever used violence since they believe that thepeaceful demonstrations are quite useful in such scenarios and theycan be helpful in reaching a wider market as well. In such scenarios,they often focus on urging the consumers to understand how the storesoften behave.

The approach was quite useful since it enlightened consumers on theevil associated with the specific corporate institutions. In thiscase, the group was able to highlight particular aspects such as thediscrimination of the employees as well as the higher prices. Inother scenarios, they even talked about the products that had lowquality yet, the corporate institutions did not make any change.More important, the demonstration was quite efficient in ensuringthat the consumers understand that the firms also engage inactivities that are inappropriate and violate their rights. In theprocess, Billy managed to affect their sales since some of theconsumers stopped shopping at the stores. Hence, they were forced tochange how they related to the larger community since they are theowners. For instance, Walmart was able to improve the workingconditions and increased the wages that the workers received (Freund,1541). Apart from that, they also enhanced the quality of theirproducts and lowered the prices to make sure that they wereaffordable. In summary, the society was at a better place with thehelp of the Reverend Billy since they were able to sensitize thecommunity on some critical consumer issues.

In conclusion, Reverend Billy with the support of the Stop ShoppingChoir was able to reveal the evil associated with several corporateinstitutions in the U.S. More important, they demonstrated right infront of these stores, and they highlighted some of the problems thatwere evident in their products and how they interacted with theiremployees. In fact, the approach was quite useful in informing someof the clients that did not know how the stores engaged in someinappropriate activities. Hence, the demonstration made the corporateinstitutions change various aspects that was a problem at that time.In the process, Reverend Billy was able to modify the culture ofconsumerism as well as advertising.

Works Cited

Freund, James. &quotRev Billy vs. the Market: a sane man in a worldof omnipotent fantasies.&quot Journal of Marketing Management31.13-14 (2015): 1529-1551.

Kaylor, Brian. &quotEarth-a-lujah!: The Prophetic EnvironmentalDiscourse of Reverend Billy.&quot Environmental Communication: AJournal of Nature and Culture 7.3 (2013): 391-408.

Shulman, Max. &quotThe Reverend Billy Project: From Rehearsal Hallto Super Mall with the Church of Life After Shopping (review).&quotJournal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 27.1 (2012): 157-159.

The Chinese discovered the theory of acupuncture practice before theCommon Era. Presently, therapists mostly use metallic needleshowever, long sharp bones and sharpened stones were applied in theacupuncture care by 6000 BCE. A range of documented evidence to provethat acupuncture existed several years back does exist. For instance,the Chinese Ma-Wang-Dui tomb had sealed records dating back to 198BCE that talked about the meridians, although they did not discussacupuncture directly. Nonetheless, the knowledge regarding meridiansis essential for one to understand the principle of acupuncture.According to the Acupuncture theory, the human body has twelve energy(qi) channels (Lippelt 18). The energy movement can be manipulated toimprove health hand balance in the body. The premise argues that theqi rotates around the entire body via twelve essential feeds called‘meridians.’ The conduits, nevertheless, follow a differentpathway from both blood flow and nerves (Mandal). For many years, thewestern medicine has been popular in many civilizations.Unfortunately, it relies on introducing chemicals that could havesevere side effects to the users. Similarly, some procedures areconsidered primitives, for example, surgically repairing or removingan organ that is not functioning efficiently. In some cases, westernmedicine has proven ineffective, especially with the conditions thatresult in chronic pain since most of the available drugs areaddictive and loose efficiency over time. However, acupuncture treatsvarious diseases through a small insertion of a needle to control theenergy flow (Gillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare para.4).

Thesis statement. Acupuncture is a valid medicaltechnique that should be included in the procedures offered byhospitals, in particular for the treatment of chronic pain, mentalconditions and other common diseases that lack effective cure inwestern medicine.

Acupuncture is an effective pain management therapy. According to astudy conducted by Gillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare in St.Paul, Minnesota, and published in the Medical Acupuncture Journal,kids ailing from complicated medical conditions use a variety ofdrugs. However, the prescriptions are dangerous due to high amountsof toxins. Scott Schwantes, a physician and pediatrician working atGillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare, provided that youngpatients suffering from different health conditions such as spinalcord and cerebral palsy diseases experience extreme pain (GilletteChildren`s Specialty Healthcare para 3). As such, therapists oftenprescribe medication that could result in weight gain, enhanced moodswings and sleep induction. Nonetheless, acupuncture treatment isnon-toxic because it relies on insertion of needles on specific skinpositions. The insertions correspond to the meridians, which in turnhelps to obstruct and channelize energy (qi) to the areas that needit in high amount. Schwantes adds that the treatment takesapproximately thirty minutes to offer the patients complete painrelief. Furthermore, the approach is minimally invasive hence, it isa viable alternative for children who are overburdened bymedications, surgeries, and constant hospital stays (GilletteChildren`s Specialty Healthcare para. 6).

Acupuncture can also help in the treatment of several commonconditions such as sleep disturbance, which are otherwise hard totreat effectively using the regular western drugs. According to thetraditional Chinese healing techniques, insomnia results from lack ofpsychological peace. The effect can result from body pain, periodiclimbs movements, anxiety, pain and sporadic muscle spasms in thelimbs. These conditions predispose an individual to daytime fatigueand extreme mood swings. In many cases, patients with theseexperiences are either suffering or predisposed to anxiety anddepression (Montakab 28). Luckily, it is possible to treat the sleepdisturbance condition using the acupuncture approach. The treatmentapproach could be effective if adopted in the health care centers toassist patients suffering from severe conditions overcome the illnesswithout using drugs that could result in severe side effects.

According to the Gillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare research,the main drawback of acupuncture therapy is that some people have thephobia of needles. Besides, it may not offer effective treatment inthe case where an organ, for instance, kidneys have malfunctioned(Gillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare para. 6). Cooper andYamaguchi (2011) dispute this weakness by asserting that it ispossible to reach the same acupuncture treatment without piercing apatient. Instead, pressure can be applied in the regions wheretherapists intend to use in controlling energy flow in the meridians.For example, a doctor can utilize the trancutaneous electrical nervestimulation (TENS), which is a form of a decommissioned electricalunit (p. 224).

In conclusion, acupuncture is a valid medical technique that shouldbe included in the procedures offered in hospitals, especially forthe treatment of chronic pain, mental conditions and other commondiseases that lack effective cure in western medicine. The approachhas been in use for several millenniums, with the first officialdocumentation being discovered in year 198 Before the Common Era.Physicians recommend the application of this treatment procedure inthe management of chronic pain since it is minimally invasive, yethighly effective in many cases. Furthermore, the treatment approachinvolves sticking of needles on the patients’ skin, and along themeridian channels, with the intention of controlling the flow ofenergy in the body. Some of the benefits identified by this treatmentapproach over the western medication include negligible adverseeffects and quick pain relief, as well as insignificant negativeeffects.

Works Cited

Cooper, Edwin L, and Nobuo Yamaguchi. Complementary andAlternative Approaches to Biomedicine. New York: Springer, 2011.Print.

Gillette Children`s Specialty Healthcare. “Acupuncture may be aViable Option to Manage Pain in Children with Complex MedicalConditions.” News Medical Life Sciences, 24 August 2016,news-medical.net/news/20160824/Acupuncture-may-be-viable-option-to-manage-pain-in-children-with-complex-medical-conditions.aspx.15 Dec. 2015.

Lippelt, Ulrich Wilhelm. The Five Elements and Other EssentialRules in Acupuncture Treatment. Bloomington, Author House. 2011.Print.

Mandal, Ananya. “Acupuncture History.” News Medical LifeSciences, 26 Apr. 2013,news-medical.net/health/Acupuncture-History. 15 Dec. 2015.

Montakab, Hamid. Acupuncture for Insomnia: Sleep and Dreams inChinese Medicine. Stuttgart: Thieme, 2012. Print.

Agenda2030 in the Age in of Donald Trump

InNovember 2016, the United States through a common decision voted inDonald Trump to over the white house in one of the intenselycontested elections in the history of the country. All along analystsand poll leaders had predicted that Hillary Clinton would garner thepopular vote and the victory of Trump took the world by surprise.Like any other American election, the 2016 contest was marked byantagonistic approach towards major factors of importance to thecountry in including the policies on environmental change,international relations, immigration job creation, the position ofthe United States on China, Russia among other issues. Donald Trumphas been vocal on the policies, and his position has been termed asradical and hard to implement without putting the country on thereceiving of criticism from the international community. Trump’sgovernment will fortify the internal institutions and superiority oflife of the citizens while having unfavorable implications on theinternational relations and this will abate the intentions of Agenda2030 that visualizes the world with clean air and regionalcollaboration.

Theplayers in the global affairs have been persistent in the process ofachieving the milestones as illustrated by Agenda 2030. The 17 goalsratified by the United nations member countries act as guidelinestowards achieving a sustainable development across the globe as wellas achieving the highest levels of democracy (Assembly 4). The UnitedStates plays a significant role in global affairs as a superpower anda major source of funding for developing countries. Its position,therefore, on the Agenda 2030 can have far-reaching effects not onlyon its citizens but also to others in other regions where the countryhas influence. Understanding how Trump’s administration will affectthe implementation of the goals will be imperative for Mr. Guterres,the incoming secretary-general of the United Nations as he convenesthe 72nd general assembly in 2017.

ClimateChange Policy

First,Trump has been non-committal about climate change. Goal 13 of Agenda2030 aims to set energy consumption quotas with a long-term goal ofcriminalizing the lifestyles that have detrimental effects on theenvironment worldwide (Lee 14). The United Nations also seeks toengage the countries in establishing local surveillance mechanisms toget track of their energy consumption and curb emissions into theatmosphere (Rogers 6). The goal was instigated by the rising levelsof carbon components in the air and the increasing number ofrespiratory complications as a result of inhaling contaminatedgasses.

Currently,the level of carbon stands at 386 parts per million. This hasresulted in an intense global warming that has been traced since theera of industrialization (Nor 656). Before countries began producingmassively by increasing the number of industries, the concentrationof carbon in the air was about 270 parts per million (Nor 657). It isevident that the heightened emissions of carbon in the atmospherethrough the use of non-renewable energy have resulted in theincreased concentration. The United Nations, therefore, through thevarious conventions has tried to address the issue with a goal ofinstigating the major producing countries to curb local productionsand lead the way for a cleaner world. The Paris Agreement is part ofthe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that dealswith greenhouse gasses mission and adoption that will commence in2020 (Abeysinghe and Barakat 21). The membership currently stands at117 countries and the United States is part of the deal. However, theratification is open to members until April 2017.

Inthe wake of new administration led by Donald Trump, Mr. Guterresshould come to terms with the likely position of the United States onthe policy of climate change. First, Trump does not believe in thehuman causation of the global warming. During his campaign andpresidential debates with his arch rival, Hilary Clinton, Trumpillustrated that he does not believe in the scientific explanation ofglobal warming and he refers to it as a hoax (Rogers 9). His positionas the president-elect and as the head of the government next year islikely to sway the attitude of other countries towards the policy.For example, under President Obama, the country demonstrated itssupport for cleaner environment and air by ratifying the agreement on22nd April 2016. The incoming president has publicly declared hisdisapproval for the Paris Agreement and he intends to dismantle in bywithdrawing the ratification of the United States. During the sciencedebate, Trump indicated that the United States should not bother tocommit financial resources to climate change and should insteadredirect the funds to ensuring that all the citizens have access toclean water and the adoption of alternative sources of energy (Rogers12).

Thisis likely to reduce the number of countries that have committed tothe Agreements and derail the United Nations’ efforts to achieveuniform reduction of carbon concentration in all the regions. Therationale for this is that the United States is a major contributorto the global warming phenomena. According to the World ResourcesInstitute, the United States, from 1850 to 2011, has singly hasproduced 27% of the carbon dioxide emission in the world (Nor 658).The possible withdrawal of the country from the ratification canresult in an unsustainable war towards global warming.

Mr.Guterres should also note that the ratification of China is used as abaseline for Trump’s argument towards global warming. Whileapproving the Paris Agreement, the Chinese government indicated thatthe Basic Law of the Hong Kong Administrative Region of the People’sRepublic of China, the law applies to the Hong Kong SpecialAdministrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region(Abeysinghe and Barakat 25). According to Trump, the global warmingdebate has been crafted by China to crump down the growth of theAmerican industries. The argument is based on the fact that China isnow producing more than the United States. However, the battle of thetitans cannot auger well with the objective of the United Nationstowards reversing the effects of climate change.

ThePolicy on Infrastructure

Agenda2030 also revolves around building resilient infrastructure thatpromotes sustainable industrialization and supports innovation. TheUnited Nations through its members has noted the inequality thatexists between the developing and first world countries in theirinfrastructural developments. Most of the times, the internalmechanisms, and objectives of donor countries influence the purposeof aid sent to the recipient states. Agenda 2030 appreciates theimportant component of the physical infrastructure in air and seatravel (Assembly 6). Statistics gathered in 2014 indicated that about45% of passengers who traveled by air came from developing countrieswhile the rest were from the economically progressed states. However,the poorly developed countries form the bulk of unemployment in theworld (Assembly 12).

TheUnited States is a key partner of many developed and progressingcountries, and it infrastructural development and creation ofemployment have far reaching effects. The country has also not fullyrecovered from the effects of the recession that shook the economy in2008. Trump has criticized the current administration for paying lessattention to the infrastructural development leading to thousands ofproductive citizens missing out in the workforce. His revitalizationplan is in line with the objective of Agenda 2030.

Trumpaims at transforming the crumbling infrastructure into one of themost competitive globally through an accelerated growth through adeficit-neutral program. This will target new opportunities forinvestors. He also prioritizes the American Infrastructure Firstpolicy that will attract investors to put resources in transport,clean water, high-end telecommunication development and the providingthe citizens with a reliable electricity grid. By doing this Trumphopes to deviate from Obama’s globalization agenda that has focusedmore on climate change at the expense of domestic infrastructuralgrowth. According to Rogers, the revitalization plan as envisaged byTrump is expected to create thousands of jobs for the productivecitizens in the construction, steel, manufacturing and transportsectors (17). Others will also be absorbed in telecommunications,energy and water projects and this will give the country a neweconomic outlook.

Inline with the focus of Agenda 2030 that seeks to create aninfrastructural connection between different regions, Trump has abold plan for cost effective road networks, bridges tunnels,railways, and airports. He has quoted re-energizing the vision ofPresident Eisenhower who advocated for an interstate highway network.He has also expressed his willingness to work with the Congress tostrengthen the FAA and TSA to ensure that the American airspaceremains safe for both the local and international passengers.

Trump’spolicy, if implemented to the letter, is likely to place the UnitedStates on a sustainable path to innovation and infrastructuraldevelopment. The rationale for this is that about 60,000 bridges areconsidered structurally deficient, and thousands of roads needredesigning to accommodate the increased traffic (Dorf 72). Asignificant number of major roads joining different states have beentermed as being below average in quality and meeting the needs of theusers. Every year the country incurs approximately $50 billion inlosses as a result of traffic delays (Dorf 72). In addition, a surveyconducted by the National Association of Manufacturers in the UnitedStates advised that without a major overhaul in infrastructuraldevelopment and manufacturing, the country will lose more than 2.5million jobs by 2025 (Dorf 72).While convening the 72nd generalassembly convention, Mr. Guterres should count on the united statesas one of the countries with a model plan for achieving Goal 9 asoutlined in Agenda 2030.

TheImmigration Policy

Agenda2030 also seeks to promote and achieve the peaceful co-existence ofsocieties to support sustainable development through ensuring accessto justice and strengthening institutions. The goal is driven by therapid globalization that is taking place resulting weakened barriersto movement. It is, therefore, necessary for the member countries toratify friendly policies not only for the citizens but also for thebenefit of the international community. After the November electionoutcomes, the world was not sure of what to make out of Trump’sradical stance on the presence of foreigners in the country.According to Livermore, his policy on the foreign communities livingin the United States is likely to lacerate the objective of theUnited Nations and affect the relationship of the country with otherplayers in the international arena (8).

Mostof the immigrants striving to get into the United States aremotivated by the opportunities in the country as a result of itsgigantic economy. Trump feels that the Obama administration has beenlax in allowing foreigners into the country without following thelaid down procedures (Trump 6). Although it is necessary to have ascreening mechanism to avoid taking in criminals into the country,his biased proposals, particularly for Muslims, is seen as a ripplein the international cohesion.

Mr.Guterres should be informed that Trump is likely to suspend theintake of citizens from countries that have been associated withterrorism as part of his grand plan to make the United States greatagain. He has vowed to deport all the illegal immigrants immediatelyafter assuming office and terminate the policy of the currentadministration that has weakened the enforcement of deportation laws(Trump 9). While this is legally valid, it will resonate with theinternational community and possibly put the United States on thespot for assuming an isolationist position. In addition, the jobsthat the immigrants enjoy in the country are likely to come to an endwith the government enforcement of the prioritization of Americancitizens to occupy the available positions. Another aspect of thepolicy that Mr. Guterres may find import t to the goal of theinternational association is the barring of all foreigners who do notand any financial value to the American economy. Such a bias may notbe received well by the countries that contribute the biggest numberof immigrants. Furthermore, the United Nations is still strugglingwith an influx of immigrants from Syria and the strict measures beingimplemented to bar their entry into first world countries includingFrance, Britain and now the United States.

Theobjectives of Goal 16 are under jeopardy from Trump’s policies tolacerate the relationship between the country and Mexico. Trump hasbeen passionate about building a wall to separate America with Mexicoand making the country pay for it (Trump 9). Ideally, the Mexicangovernment may not be in a position to foot the expenses of a wallwhich cost has been estimated to be more than what the United Statesspent during the Vietnam War. The relationship between the twocountries should be a position of interest for the United Nations.The sustainability of the peaceful co-existence that has been presentin the region despite the strain of immigration and infiltration ofdrugs is on the verge of collapsing.

Conclusion

Conclusively,Trump’s administration will strengthen the internal institutionsand quality of life of the citizens while having detrimental effectson the international relations and this will weaken the objectives ofAgenda 2030 that envisions the world with clean air and regionalcooperation. Trump does not believe in the human cause of globalwarming, and he takes it as a hoax and a plan by China to reduce thecapacity of the American industries. His administration also intendsto dismantle the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the immigration policythat Trump advocates for will suspend the intake of foreigners fromMuslim countries and construction of a wall between the country andMexico. The peaceful co-existence between the two countries is on theverge of collapsing, and this should attract the interest of theUnited Nations. However, his proposal for the revitalization of thecountry’s infrastructural development is in line with Agenda 2030that seeks to instigate member countries to strengthen localeconomies and creation of jobs. Mr. Guterres, therefore, has achallenging way ahead since the influence of the United States cannotbe overlooked when discussing matters of global importance.

WorksCited

Abeysinghe,Achala, and Subhi Barakat. &quotThe Paris Agreement.&quot (2016).Print.

Assembly,UN General. &quotTransforming our world: the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development.&quot NewYork: United Nations(2015). Print.

Dorf,Michael C. &quotDonald Trump and Other Agents of ConstitutionalChange.&quot U.Chi. L. Rev. Online83 (2016): 72. Print.

Lee,Bandy X. &quotTransforming our world: Implementing the 2030 agendathrough sustainable development goal indicators.&quot Journalof public health policy37.1 (2016): 13-31. Print.

Livermore,Michael A. &quotIf Donald Trump did win the Presidency, as anOutsider he would face Huge Challenges in pursuing a Coherent PolicyAgenda.&quot USApp–AmericanPolitics and Policy Blog(2016). Print.

Nor,Norhusna Mohamad. &quotSynthesis of activated Carbon fromLignocellulosic Biomass and its Applications in air PollutionControl—A Review.&quot Journalof Environmental Chemical Engineering1.4 (2013): 658-666. Print.

Rogers,Trevor J. &quotPublic Policy in the 2016 Election.&quot (2016).Print.

Trump,Donald J. &quotImmigration reform that Will Make America GreatAgain.&quot PolicyPaper(2015). Print.

TEDxTalk Analysis

Buildingtrue allies: Nikki Silvestri at TEDx Manhattanis a 12 minutes 45 seconds speech that was delivered by NikkiSilvestri. The delivery of the speech was done during a TEDx event inwhich the speaker got an opportunity to promote her ideology andappeal to the audience to support her course. Nikki, a formerExecutive Director at People’s Grocery in Oakland, is the currentExecutive Director of Green for All.

Havinglistened keenly to the speaker, I would like to point out that theBuildingtrue allies: Nikki Silvestri at TEDxManhattanis a good speech. It was delivered using excellent communicationskills. Nikki used this opportunity to demonstrate her prowess as agood speaker who has knowledge on how to pass her message and appealto the audience. Nikki used her skills to establish a good rapportwith her audience. The first thing I noticed in the speech is thatthe speaker knew the kind of audience she was addressing. Besides,she took the necessary measures to appeal to them using the ethos,pathos, and logos modes of persuasion.

Inher appeal, the speaker applied the principle of ethos to help inappealing to the audience’s ethics and convince them to haveconfidence in her credibility. Nikki managed to achieve this appealbecause she is a reputable authority in the field of charity. Beforeshe became the Executive Director of Green for All, she served in asimilar capacity at the Oakland-based People’s Grocery. This is aclear proof that the speaker is a credible personality whose messagecannot be doubted but readily accepted by all her audience. The factthat Nikki has such a profile made her a dependable speaker. Hermessage would appeal to the audience since she was talking about whatshe understands.

Thespeaker used pathos to appeal to her audience. Pathos simply meansthat the speaker invoked emotion to help in convincing her audienceto accept her message of attaining food security in the society. Todo this, Nikki had to use many examples on how the society has beenaffected by the problem. Therefore, to be part of the solution, thespeaker felt that she should have told her audience to feel the painsinvolved and associated with it. Lastly, the speaker made good use oflogos. Here, she used reason to appeal to her audience (Monaghan,Goodman and Robinson 72). When explaining her points, she decided todo it in a manner that elicits critical thought of her audience. Thisis how she made sure that all her points were accepted by heraudience because they were reasonable and relevant in solving theproblem at hand.

Nikkiis an effective speaker because she knows how to adapt to heraudience. Because she knew the kind of audience she was addressing,Nikki took all the necessary measures to ensure that she establishesand maintains a good rapport with her listeners. The first waythrough which Nikki achieved this, is through the use of a simple andclear language that could be understood by the audience without manystruggles. Besides, the speaker used a clear voice, pitch, andvolume. All the points could be heard because the speaker was audibleand thus could be heard. At the same time, the speaker made sure thather points reached the audience because of her rate of articulation.

Theother notable attribute of the speaker is that she made a careful andwell-calculated use of non-verbal signs. A careful observation of thespeaker revealed that she used gestures, hand expressions, and facialexpressions. Each of these strategies was properly used right fromthe beginning up to the very end of the speech. Better still thegesture was applied whenever the speaker felt that she was passing amessage that needed adequate explanation (Monaghan, Goodman andRobinson 39). This was a commendable thing to do because it helped innarrowing the gap between the speaker and her audience. It made themessage to be easily accepted by the audience who was thrilled tolisten to her and learn something from the speech.

Withall these highlighted, it is important to acknowledge that Nikki dida marvelous job. The way in which she conducted herself in the podiumis clear proof that Nikki was adequately prepared for the task ofdelivering the message to her intended audience. The speaker made aproper choice of the kind of message to pass to her audience. Thespeech was tailored to suit the context in which it was delivered.This implies that the message was relevant and helpful to theaudience. TEDx is a serious event organized to deliver a specifiedmessage for the benefit of the community. Everything done by thespeaker demonstrates that she is a professional who is endowed withexcellent communication skills. Nikki gave a powerful speech thatsuits the policy makers, food retailers, farmers, and any otherstakeholders who are involved in food issues in the society.

WorkCited

Monaghan,L., Goodman, J.E. and Robinson, J.M. Acultural approach to interpersonal communication: Essentialreadings.New York: John Wiley &amp Sons, 2012. Print.

BudgetAnalysis of Denver, Colorado

Overviewand budget process and format

Accordingto Denver Department of Finance (2016), the office in charge ofbudgeting in Denver City and County is the Budget and ManagementOffice. The office helps facilitates the delivery of service. Itensures that the annual budget is balanced and managed. It alsoensures that the strategic citywide capital is balanced. The officecomes up with solutions that help the county to achieve effective andefficient operations.

Thebudget document offers crucial information regarding the County andthe City of Denver (Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016). The documentprovides the estimated expenditures and revenues for the statedfiscal year. The budget document also acts as a work plan for theentire city together with the departments such as the framework forsetting priorities, performance measures, and strategic initiatives. The document has a number of sections.

Thefirst section is the introduction. In this section, the Mayor’smessage regarding the budget is presented. The highlights of thebudget and the overview of the fund structure of the city ispresented. The financial policies, calendar of the budgeting process,and the discussions regarding the reserves of the city are presented(Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016).

Thesecond section is the budget summary that is made up of charts andexhibits that summarize the expenditures and revenues for the wholecity budget together with the special revenue, General Fund, internalservice funds, debt service funds, capital improvement funds, andenterprise funds. A personnel comparison of every fund is alsoincluded in this section (Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016).

Thethird section of the budget document is the summaries of the fund.Under summaries of funds, the first section is general funds. Generalfunds include the schedules of finances that help in creatingsummaries for the revenues using the source, expenditure, net change,and agency (Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016). The fund revenue sourcediscussions are also included in this section. Other sections of thesummary of funds include the special revenue fund, the internalservice, and Enterprise fund, the capital improvement fund, and debtservice fund. The special revenue fund section deals with thefinancial schedules that show the grants and outside funding sourcestogether with the description of each especially pieced down byvarious categories of the program. On the other hand, the sections ofthe enterprise fund and internal service have the detailed financialstatements of every sub-fund. The section of capital improvementfund has an over of the budgeting process, the summary of projectedoperation impacts and the financial summaries together with detaileddescription of the sub-fund. The last section which is the debitservice fund has an overview of the long-term debts of the Citytogether with the financial schedules of the bonds specifically theexcise, and obligation bonds.

Thefourth section of the budget document is the details of the agency(Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016). In this section, a list anddescription of the programs ran by the city and county arehighlighted in every agency and department. The section is thenarranged into key service area including the narrations of the budgetthat include all the funds. The narrative of the budget offers theagency description, strategic initiatives, indicators of performanceand context, summary information of the budget, and the explanationof changes in the given year’s budgetary recommendations. All theamendments to the budget are highlighted in the appendices section ofthe budget document.

Thelast section of the budget document is the appendices, which offersdiscussions regarding the budget basis of Denver’s City and County(Hancock, 2015 Hancock, 2016). The appendices explain the categoriesof expenditure, a three-year property tax comparison, assessedvaluation, tax levies, a glossary of terms, and the amendments of theCity Council to the budget. The appendix also includes the trends andthe city’s community profile.

Expenditureand revenue trends

Table1 show that the expenditures and revenue trends in Denver City, havebeen on an increase.

Table1: Financial Revenue for Denver City (Hancock, 2015)

Forexample, in 2015, the City recorded appropriated funds of about $1.7billion, a 2.4% increase from 2014 (Hancock, 2015). The city’sgeneral fund and main operating funds had a 6.6% increase andrecorded a value of about $1.212 billion in terms of the expendituresfrom 2014 to 2015 budget. The City recorded a $63.2 millionnon-permanent spending. The enterprise fund of the city had a 4.7%increase to $530. The budget projected for the Capital Improvementfund was found to be $297.3 million in the year 2015. The policies ofthe city ensure that some reserves are maintained. About $85.6million is the needed payment for the debt service on the given debtobligation.

Fromthe year 2013 to 2015, there has been a revenue increase of about7.2% (Hancock, 2015). As such, it is expected that the revenues ofDenver City will continue to increase. Some of the aspects that wouldmake the revenue to increase are the growing economy that leads to astrong collection of the taxes by the government. The number of salesand the tax use revenue are also likely to increase by 10.1%. Thetrend in Denver City is similar to that of other local economies andJurisdictions. The other expected changes in revenue are the increasein the excise tax transfer as a result of the required lodgers andsales growth and collection of tax. There is also a possibility thatthe debt bond of the city will be paid off in 2017, and 2018.

Theexpenditures in the Denver City’s Budget are expected to increase.

Table2: Expenditures in Denver Budget (Hancock, 2015)

Datafrom 2013, 2014, and 2015 expenditures shows a increase in theexpenditures each year indicating an increase in the coming years(Hancock, 2015). For examples, the expenditure in 2015 was $6.8million, which is $2 million more than the amount in 2014. Thecapital investments are also likely to increase.

Conclusionand Recommendations

Theanalysis of the budget of Denver City indicates that the city isgrowing. Denver City is experiencing a population increase and animprovement in the economic performance. This paper recommends thatthe budget increases the investment in the community safety.Investment in community safety can be done by increasing theinvestment in reform efforts, sheriff staffing, enhancement of thepolice force, and improving the investment accountability. Further,more police officers can be deployed to improve the safety of thecommunity. The budget can also focus on worn body cameras. The policedepartment in Denver City could also increase the number of civilianstaff so as to have many officers on patrol and having many probationofficers funded. The budget should also focus on strengthening thesafety net of the city by allocating more than $3 million to thehousing fund to construct affordable, yet new housing of theworkforce. This paper also recommends that the number of staff in thesector of development service be increased to make sure that theprojects are effectively and efficiently inspected and permitted.

References

DenverDepartment of Finance. (2016) Special Revenue Funds. Retrieved on15/12/2016 fromhttps://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/344/documents/Budget/2015/Special_Revenue_Funds.pdf

Hancock,B. (2015) Mayor’s Proposed 2016 Budget. Retrieved on 15/12/2016fromhttps://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/344/documents/Budget/MayorsProposedBudget_2016.pdf

Hancock,B. (2016) Mayor’s Proposed 2017 Budget. Retrieved on 15/12/2016fromhttps://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/344/documents/Budget/2017/2017%20Budget%20Book_October%20Draft_Web%20Version.pdf