Salata Baladi Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Salata Baladi - Movie Review Example "It is this urgency and necessity to tell a personal, closer-to-life story that drives and motivates this family fresco." (Daele, Koen Van; "A Home Movie in the True Sense"; Mumbai Documentary Film Festival; 2008; www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/ c746.shtml #top) Significant is the scene in which, while waiting in vain in Ramallah for the Israelis to reopen the Erez checkpoint which would enable them to visit their Palestinian brothers and sisters, Mary tries to communicate with her Palestinian friend in Gaza via webcam. On the computer they succeed in establishing visual contact but the sound is missing. "Through this technical problem, the director instantly represents the harrowing situation of the Palestinian refugees caught in the Gaza Strip. Collectively punished for decades, this is a people whose voice has been systematically taken away, and remains all too often unheard." (Daele, Koen Van; "A Home Movie in the True Sense"; Mumbai Documentary Film Festival; 2008; www.wmm.com/fi lmcatalog/pages/c 746.shtml #top). The film offers a perspective on how divided loyalties, as those of Mary between her pro-Palestinian convictions and love of relatives since migrated to Israel, make initially for indecisiveness, although blood eventually proves thicker than water. That perspective is unexceptionable as any other would have gone against human nature. Another is that rationalization comes naturally to those thus divided between loyalties. "Distant View of a Minaret" by Alifa Rifaat is a collection of 15 short stories that, the blurb claims, "give readers a glimpse of what it means to be a woman in an orthodox Muslim society in Egypt". (SPARKNOTES from Barnes & Noble). But while the setting may be Egyptian, the stories portraying different woes of women have universal appeal; for instance, a sexually dissatisfied woman, as in the title story, would be apt to remain stoic in the face of the death of her husband anywhere in the world, even in the US, not just in Egypt. In "Bahiyya's Eyes", Bahiyya, an elderly woman, tells her visiting daughter that she had recently visited a hospital where the doctor said she would soon go blind. The imminent blindness, according to her, is the result of copious tears that she had shed all her life for being born a girl. She learned about sex by watching animals; she had fancied a boy in her village, but her family had got her married to another man who died shortly after the wedding. Bahiyya describes the loneliness of being a woman without a man, and that her life and youth had been a waste. The message of this story too is universal because being born a girl is regarded as a curse in several countries, including Egypt, although that perception may still be alien to some advanced countries like the US. In "Degrees of Death", the narrator, who has begun to love the rabbits gifted her, realizes, on seeing nanny Zareefa kill one of them, that there are degrees of death for both human beings and animals as both get killed, either out of need or for sport; and that is a damning indictment of the human tendency to kill men and animals alike with a straight face in any country. "An Incident in the Ghobashi Household" shows to what lengths a woman can go to

Rthur Anderson Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Rthur Anderson Scandal - Essay Example This helped the firm to grow and ended up being one of the companies serving the greatest number of clients in the U.S. Those who worked with Andersen were aware of his motto: "Think straight, talk straight.† Andersen also played a big role in upping the standards in the U.S. accounting industry. Additionally, he was involved in innovation of new accounting standards that are still being used today. Andersen was active in social activities that also got involved in charitable organization as well in promotion of education. The firm spent large amounts of money into training new recruits (Martin and Arthur 127). This was crucial in stressing the company’s morals and its consistency around in offering and performing services. The company was admired by many people for the high morals exhibited. He became even more popular when he refused to engage in a fraud case when one of his prominent clients presented flawed accounting records. He chose to lose the client rather than committing fraud, as was the wish of the client. This had a positive impact since it increased his reputation and that of the company. Greed Begins During the 1980s, the company started experiencing internal friction. Then, there were two divisions making up the firm. These were the consulting division and the audit division. The latter was much more established although consulting was then growing much faster than any other portion of the company (Ferrell et al. 327). This unequal growth of the departments led to the conflict arising since the consulting division felt that they needed a bigger share of the firm’s profits. As a result, there were disputes between both divisions, with each side citing the other as being greedy and unfair. Both the audit and the consulting divisions were essentially separate companies. The consulting firm was under the ownership of Andersen. It paid a percentage of their earnings to the parent company (Ferrell et al. 329). Later, Andersen estab lished another consulting division within his company. This new division competed with the other consulting department and this enabled them to retain all the earnings. Later the two sides split, forming separate companies. Fraud begins Andersen was involved in many cases, all of which he was accused of committing accounting fraud. Some of these companies included Sunbeam, Baptist Founding of Arizona, Quest Communication, Waste Management and Global Crossing. Surprisingly, Andersen was able to settle all these claims without admitting any existence of fraud. In case the claims got more serious and had nothing but to admit to fraud, the company put the blame on a few â€Å"corrupt partners.† However, the increased fraud cases were not favorable to the company as they were tarnishing the name of Andersen. Analysis It is clear that the continued unpunished behavior of the company’s activities led to a snowball effect that resulted in increased corruption at a high level. The accounting fraud issues had started small in the past. The activities went on unchecked until the management pushed the limits of the fraudulent deeds (Ferrell et al. 317). For a long time Andersen was generally viewed by many people as the symbol for integrity and honesty. Thus, most of these people thought that these fraudulent activities were not occurring at the high level of the firm. The Enron Scandal Enron Corporation was a global energy, commodities

On the Sino-Japanese Relationship Essay Example for Free

On the Sino-Japanese Relationship Essay Bibliography: 1. Jacques Gernet. A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. 1996. 2. Asakawa, K.. The Early Institutional Life of Japan: A Study in Reform of 645, Japan. 1963. 3. B. , Barbara; Changgen, Yu. Chinese Foreign Policy during the Cultural Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press. 1998. 4. Hagstrà ¶m, Linus. Japan’s China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis, London and New York, 2005. 5. Hagstrà ¶m, Linus. Sino-Japanese Relations: The Ice That Won’t Melt, International Journal, 2008. 6. Sansom, George . A History of Japan to 1334. Stanford University Press. 1958. China and Japan are geographically separated by East China Sea. China has strongly influenced Japan with its writing system, architecture, culture, religion, philosophy, and law. The relationship between China and Japan is very complex, in different times, the relationship changes. At very beginning, when China was ruled by Qin Shi Huang, he â€Å"sent several hundred people to Japan to search for medicines of immortality†.(1996) Other records at the time show that Japan already had the same customs recognized today. These include clapping during prayers, eating from wooden trays and eating raw fish. During the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, Japan sent many students on a limited number of Imperial embassies to China, to help establish its own footing as a sovereign nation in northeast Asia. â€Å"After the fall of the Korean confederated kingdom of Baekje to combined Tang and Silla forces, Japan was forced to seek out the Chinese state on its own, which in those times was a treacherous undertaking, thus limiting the successes of Japanese overseas contacts during this time.†(1963) In AD 663 the Battle of Baekgang took place, the first China-Japanese conflict in recorded history. â€Å"The battle was part of the ancient relationships between the Korean Three Kingdoms (Samguk or Samhan), the Japanese Yamato, and Chinese dynasties.†(1996) The battle itself came near the conclusion of this period with the fall of Baekje, one of the Samguk or three Korean kingdoms, coming on the heels of this battle. From AD 600-1600, marine trades between China and Japan are well recorded, and many Chinese artifacts could be excavated. Baekje and Silla sometimes played the role of middleman, while direct commercial links between China and Japan flourished. â€Å"The ports of Ningbo and Hangzhou had the most direct trading links to Japan and had Japanese residents doing business. The Ming dynasty decreed that Ningbo was the only place where Japanese-Chinese relations could take place.†(1996) After 663, Japan had no choice but to directly trade with the Chinese dynasties. At first the Japanese had little long-range seafaring expertise of their own but eventually the Japanese improved their naval prowess as well as the construction of their ships. Then, it was 1890s. After the arrival of Commodore Perry and the forced opening of Japan to western trading, Japan realized it needed to modernize to avoid the humiliation of China during the Opium Wars. Friction between China and Japan arose from Japans control over the Ryukyu Islands from 1870, annexation of Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese war of 1894. China was almost forced to cede more territory in Manchuria but was saved by Russian intervention. Despite this, China still paid a huge indemnity and relinquished Taiwan. The next stage was the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. In 1931, â€Å"Japan fully occupied Manchuria and created a new state called Manchukoku (Manchukuo), after a series of incidents culminating in the Mukden Incident and came to full scale invasion of China in July 1937.†(2008) Japan was soon able to gain control over all Chinese outlying territories. The Japanese invaded Beijing after accusing the Chinese Second United Front troops of shooting at Marco Polo Bridge. This marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chinese nationalist aircraft then bombed Japanese positions in Shanghai and marked the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai. Afterwards, the Japanese advanced and faced little resistance as the best Chinese troops were sacrificed in Shanghai. â€Å"Japanese troops massacred Chinese prisoners of war (considered shameful by Japanese Bushido) and civilians over the course of two months during the Rape of Nanking.†(2008) Actual numbers of killed vary according to Chinese or Japanese sources. Chinese sources accept 300,000 or more killed. In 1945, Japan’s unconditional surrender shows the Chinese victory of the war. After the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, relations with Japan changed from hostility and an absence of contact to cordiality and extremely close cooperation in many fields. But some Japanese fear that the economic and military power of the China has been increasing. In December 1971, the Chinese and Japanese trade liaison offices began to discuss the possibility of restoring diplomatic trade relations, and â€Å"in July 1972, Kakuei Tanaka succeeded Eisaku SatÃ…  as a new Japanese Prime Minister. Tanaka assumed a normalization of the Sino-Japanese relations. Furthermore, the 1972 Nixon visit to China encouraged the normalization process. His visit to Beijing culminated in the signing a joint statement on September 29, 1972.†(2005) The Japanese agreed to most of the PRC’s demands, including the political status of Taiwan. Subsequently, the bilateral economic relationships grew rapidly: 28 Japanese and 30 Chinese economic and trade missions visited their partner country. In 2001, Japans Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni Shrine, a dedication to the countrys fallen soldiers. His visit is seen by many Chinese as symbolizing a denial of Japans World Word II war crimes, specifically the Rape of Nanjing. In 2005, Sino-Japanese â€Å"relations deteriorate after Japanese textbooks understate Rape of Nanjing atrocities. Violent anti-Japanese protests erupt throughout China, North Korea, South Korea and other Asian nations.†(2008) Now, a series of chess moves by China and Japan over the Diaoyu islands frays already fragile relations. On Aug. 15, Japanese police arrested China activists who had sailed to the islands. This enrages Chinese all over the world, people boycott Japanese goods and anti-Japanese one after another. From my point of view, Japan has crossed the line. We want a good relationship and a peaceful world, but we cannot accept someone warp the history and grab territory. As a Chinese student, I have special feelings toward Japan from childhood, what all I hope is Japan could be less agressive.

Child abuse and neglect

Child abuse and neglect Child Abuse: Real-life vs. A Child Called It According to the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, about 4,000,000 children die each year as a result of child abuse and neglect (Bob 12). Child abuse refers to nonaccidental harm that is inflicted on children by their parents or other adults (Magill 218). Many people do not take child abuse seriously because they either believe that harsh discipline is necessary, or they do not realize how bad it really is. Both child abuse and neglect are serious social problems that often have a lasting negative impact on the development of minors (Magill 218). Due to the incredibly violent and graphic nature of A Child Called It, readers may not believe the encounters are factual. However, they most regrettably are true. The abusive actions in A Child Called It parallel those of real-life child abuse cases. Abuse mostly occurs in families who are young, poor, and single (Palmisano 228). When families are going through hard times, there is a lot of stress that comes along with it. With all of this stress, the parents take it out on their children. Having a crisis in the home heightens the chances that a child will be abused (Bob 15). A familys relationship is a very important part of the system in the household. Domestic violence and parental issues are also contributing problems in reoccurring child abuse cases. Parents who abuse each other are more likely to abuse their child as well, because violence in one aspect of family life often flows into other aspects (Rein 54). Families in which the wife hits the husband, the child abuse rate was considerably higher, resulting in 22.9 children per one hundred children (Rein 54). There has also been found a correlation between family income and child abuse and neglect, (Rein 52). Child abuse cases are more likely to occur in households where money is in short supply, especially if the caregivers are unemployed (Bob 15). Difficulty in the family structure can also trigger child abuse. Children in single-family households were at higher risk of physical abuse and all types of neglect than were children in other family structures (Rein 51). In A Child Called It Dave Pelzer suffers child abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother. It was not like this all the time. At first she was a loving and caring mother, and then she changed dramatically. Together they used to have good times. They would always spend all their time together, going to the zoo and the park, until the family slowly started to split apart. Pelzers father was a firefighter, so he worked many twenty-four hour shifts, which caused problems between him and his wife. If parents are having problems in their relationship, then they take out their anger on others. In Pelzers situation, his mother took care of all her feelings by drinking and abusing her son. Most people believe that the fathers are abusers because they are bigger and stronger, but it is mostly the women. In fact, there are many households where the woman of the family beats the man: 80% of fatal maltreatment cases were attributed to women, that is for both child abuse, and spouse abuse (Carey 23). Many people believe that women are not capable of child abuse because of their maternal instinct, but woman are the abusive ones. According to Carey, 58% of child abuse is by the mother. Many abusers inflict abuse onto their kids because that is how they grew up. The severity of child abuse, and the manner in which children are abused, bears a strong resemblance to the type of maltreatment experienced by their mothers (Kim 54). Another big contributing factor to child abuse is substance abuse. There are some cases where there is drug abuse, but the most common substance is alcohol. According to the Children of Alcoholics Foundation, 40 percent of confirmed child abuse cases involve the use of alcohol or other drugs (Kim 54). In most cases, with or without depression as a factor, studies indicate that a major contributing factor to child abuse is alcohol or drug addiction (Kim 54). In A Child Called It, the abuse is done by Pelzers alcoholic mother. With the father gone, the mother made herself useless and drunk. At times while Father was away at work, she would spend the entire day lying on the couch, dressed only in her bathrobe, watching television. Mom got up only to go to the bathroom, get another drink or heat leftover food (Pelzer 30). Shortly after this phase of being lazy, she started to abuse her son, with alcohol at her side. Whenever child abuse is suspected, the most important thing to do is to report it. Many people do not report child abuse, which may result in the child dying. There are so many reasons that people do not report child abuse, and it becomes a big mistake: 60% failed to report child maltreatment because they did not have enough evidence that the child had been maltreated (Rein 23). Whether there is a lot of evidence or not, all child abuse suspicions should be reported because it could save a childs life. Also, around 16% failed to report because they did not think CPS would do a good job (Rein 23). Whether it is believed that they would do a good job or not, letting someone know what is going on can make the smallest difference in a childs life. One-third of the mandated reporters thought the abuse was not serious enough to warrant reporting (Rein 23). There are many organizations today that will help if there is suspected child abuse, without putting the victim in any further danger. For example, there are the Societies for the Cruelty to Children, American Human Association, Child Welfare League, National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence, and much more (Dolan 60-68). In A Child Called It all of the teachers knew about Pelzers abuse but did not say anything. According to Pelzer, every day when he walked into school he went to the nurse for their daily routine. She would ask him to remove his clothes and check all over his body for new marks. All of the teachers knew but were afraid to say something. Mr. Hansen, one of the teachers that knew about this, even called home one night to talk to his mother. When Pelzer got home that night he got a beating because of it. Child abuse is a serious crime. Many people are afraid to intervene, but they should. Many people do not really believe that child abuse is as bad as they hear from different stories, but it really is. In A Child Called It, most things that happen in real life child abuse cases, was present in the book. In both real life and in Pelzers story, the family was experiencing trouble in the structure and relationships. Also, the abuser was the mother figure. And the worse thing of all is the community negligence. Many people do not say anything, whether what they suspect is really happening or not. Child abuse is real and Dave Pelzer experienced it first hand.

The Difficulty of Measuring the Cost of Living Essay -- Economics

The Difficulty of Measuring the Cost of Living Cost of living is designed to measure the costs of maintaining living standards of working- class households. It was first introduced in 1914. It is difficult to measure the cost of living because prices are constantly changing, meaning cost of products will change too. Prices will change for instance due to increases in costs or inflation, so if a can coke was $1 in 2000, due to an increase in wage demands, costs have increased and thus the selling price of coke has increased to $2 in 2001. This happens to many commodities in the market and as a result of that it is difficult to measure the price of products as that are constantly changing over a period of time. The quality of products also changes, however this will appear on the cost of living index. For instance computers, CD players, televisions are of better quality now than they were before and that is why their prices have increased. However only the price of the product will be mentioned in the index, not the fact that its quality has been improved. Their design and performance also changes. So a price change will accompany the introduction of a new model or an improved design. Therefore it is difficult to assess the real nature of the price change. An example is the price if BMW cars has increased by 10 percent, but the quality, performance and design of the new model is much better and superior to that of the older model, has the exchange value increased or decreased? Tax also affects the cost of living because; changes in indirect taxes will affect te goods and services we purchase. Taxes will either increase or decrease due to the fluctuating inflation rate. Changes in the indirect tax... ...uct. This is known as the need for change and it's a psychological aspect more consumers go through. Also new products are invented, consumers get curious and want to try them out and this leads to changes in tastes and fashion. This causes a problem with weighting. Therefore measuring the cost of living is very difficult, because prices change, quality changes, and consumer's tastes and fashion change. Also this is the generation of technology meaning new inventions are being developed faster than any of us can imagine, meaning the cost and living index needs to be updated regularly and meaning it is not very accurate. Also there are millions of people in each country, how can you possibly know what is the average spending habit? To assume there is one, you must neglect people who don't fit that criteria meaning, the cost of living guide is inaccurate.

War on Drugs = War on Terrorism??? Essay -- Essays Papers

War on Drugs = War on Terrorism??? The United States’ new claim in today’s world of propaganda and mind-warping media is that The War on Terrorism = The War on Drugs. Recently simple anti-drug slogans have been manipulated into aggressively and often erroneously exaggerated media assaults. (planetpapers.com) The United States claims that each person can help fight terrorism by choosing not to buy or use illicit drugs, and the government itself can help fight terrorism by implementing a more effective War on Drugs throughout the country. They claim that illicit drugs are the major monetary support of terrorist groups throughout the world, which in some respects is correct. Due to this claim, teenagers and drug users across the United States are seen as supporting these terrorists through their purchase and consumption of illicit drugs. The government has now stooped so low as to blame our own children for terrorism. The United States government’s claim, that if a person buys or uses illicit drugs then they are supporting terrorism, is outrageous and utterly false. President Bush claims, "It's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.† (peacecouncil.net) This is false because many of the illicit drugs being bought and consumed by the citizens of this country are being produced here in the U.S., so the purchase of these drugs cannot possibly be contributing to terrorism. Another reason why this claim is false is that many of the drugs being consumed in the U.S. are imported from count... .... advertisement and other propaganda to try and cover up their failures, and this should not be tolerated by the people of this country. Something needs to change and responsibility needs to be taken up. Bibliography Truth. Drugs and Terrorism. http://www.theantidrugwar.com. Hess, Michael. Mass Media Helps Distort Terrorism / Drugs Link. http://bbsnews.net/bw2002-02-05.html. 02/05/02 Coretnor. A War on Drugs Becomes a â€Å"War on Terrorism†. http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4989.php. Sept. 27, 2002 Anonymous Stoner. A toke from the Superbowl. http://smokedot.org/story/2002/2/4/1834/18948. 02/04/02 Bovard, James. The Bush Administration’s â€Å"Drugs = Terrorism† Fraud. http://www.fff.org/comment/com0204f.asp. April 2002 Moeller, Emily. The "War on Drugs and Terrorism": Madison Avenue Enlists. http://www.peacecouncil.net/709MadisonAve.htm

Changes and Continuities of Islam Essay

The period from 600 C.E to 1450 is often referred to as the Post Classical period. There were many developments and reforms that occurred during this period however one of the most important events that happened was the establishment and the spread of Islam. Islam is a very prominent religion in the world for its profound values and principles. During the Post Classical Era, Islam from the Middle East was considered a persistent religion but it also went through many altercations as the society changed over time. The first major change is that Islam was born and developed over time. Before 600 C.E, Middle East was not such an organized society because its people worshipped several thousand gods as idols and used them for corrupted purposes. However, this man called Mohammad sought to change the society, considering it being so fraudulent. He soon then developed the religion of Islam, missioned by the angel from God, and the first pilgrimage to Kaaba occurred in 632 C.E. From there the religion of Islam grew popular and spread to many different regions of the world such as North Africa to Spain. By that, it can be known that many people began to worship the religion. The second change is that as different people start to adopt the religion, powers changed. Even from when Mohammad died, people even split for whom they wanted to give the power to. There were various conflicts in choosing the power. The third major change was in the gender relationships. Even though the Islamic society was highly patriarchal, women enjoyed a more active and stronger voice in society and were allowed to take highly valued roles in government, business, and education as the time passed. The continuities of Islam in the Middle East were in the aspects of trade, gender relationship, education and tradition. Muslim merchants, pilgrims, and missionaries continued to trade over the Silk Road even though time passed. Trade improved agricultural productions, which eventually resulted in the development of commercial centers. Maritime trade in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean also continued but the  number of trades increased gradually. Even though the above paragraph illustrate how the women were able to gradually gain power the dominant power of males continued. Though the Quran recognized women as honorable and equal to men, the practice of veiling women created a symbol of male authority in the Islamic community. Education was always one of the most essential aspects of the Muslim society. Missionaries, mosques, and Islamic educational institutions were established throughout the dar al-Islam. Baghdad continued to flourish as a center of learning and culture. Also, Arabic remained as the language of religion, theology, philosophy and law, while the Persian language dominated literature, poetry, history and political reflection. Talking about language, most of the rituals and tradition carried on. As Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) constantly, mosques and inns were continuously established. Over the centuries these pilgrims helped to spread Islamic beliefs and values. The global aspect of Islam is emphasized since Islam is one of the cultures that spread very widely throughout the world and became one of the most prominent religions in the world. It influenced the cultures of the countries of North Africa such as the famous Mali and Spain. Mali ruler Mansa Musa observed Islamic tradition by making his pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) in 1324-1325. He gave out gold all along his journey. Upon his return to Mali, he built mosques, particularly in the trading cities frequented by Muslim merchants. He also sent students to study with distinguished Islamic scholars in North Africa. He had 500 slaves on his trip to Mecca. Like this, Islam basically supplemented traditional religions of Africa and other regions of the world that got affected by the religion. Therefore, the Islam from the Middle East in the Post Classical Era made effort to be a persistent religion but never was afraid of altercations to become a better religion for the people to worship.