For the 2004 presidential election, Republican president George W. Bush is attempting to defend his post and reassure the American people that his political choices are the best for our country. His opponent, Democratic senator John Kerry believes that his political ideas will be better for a changing America. Four main topics debated on by the candidates are: Homeland Security, Civil Rights, Education (no child left behind), and the Economy. The two candidates have differing views on most of these topics. President George W. Bush believes that we need to stay our course. With military action in Iraq, Bush is confident that in the next four years as president he will strengthen Homeland Security, improve our schools with higher standards for teachers, and boost our economy. John Kerry however, believes that he has a better plan for “strength and security,” “world class education for all,” and “a stronger economy.” Never before have preliminary polls shown a closer presidential race. With this paper I plan to separate the candidates and prove that there is a better candidate.
Homeland Security :
After September eleventh, President George W. Bush signed a congressional bill to create a department of Homeland Security. This department examines the levels of security risk at airports, ship ports, railway stations, and other public transportation locations. Both candidates Bush and Kerry agree that homeland security is a priority. Furthermore, the candidates have stated that it is essential to provide the American people with a strong common defense. For example, “both pledge to have the government spend more money to furnish first-responders-the police and firefighters who are the first to arrive on the scene of an accident or an attack-with the materials and equipment they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability” (David Dulio). The recent war in Iraq has divided the candidates on how to carry out the plan on homeland security. Bush believes that we must take a protective approach in Iraq to prevent further terrorist damage to the United States. Kerry on the other hand believes that the United States must seek international support in Iraq to insure safety at home and abroad.
Civil Rights:
The civil rights views of President Bush and Senator Kerry are not as clear cut as the others. The NAACP’s reviews of President Bush states “he has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues, nor taken action that matched his words” (Alternet.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story of Gilgamesh, a man who was two-thirds god that was saved by companionship. Gilgamesh was a cruel and careless king, who spent his time raping women, exhausting citizens, and conquering foes and foreign lands until he met, fought and was guided by his great friend and soul mate, Enkidu. With the help of Enkidu and his influence, he learned compassion as well as wisdom and integrity, and eventually Gilgamesh became a great and fair king. Though the story focuses mainly on Gilgamesh and his friendship with Enkidu, there are several roles played by women that help to make and move the story along. Without these important women who show great strength and feminine qualities despite being oppressed by the patriarchy, Gilgamesh would not have been the great king he was meant to be.
In 1955, C. Vann Woodward published the first edition of his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. The book garnered immediate recognition and success with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eventually calling it, “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” An endorsement like this one from such a prominent and respect figure in American history makes one wonder if they will find anything in the book to criticize or any faults to point out. However, with two subsequent editions of the book, one in August 1965 and another in October 1973—each adding new chapters as the Civil Rights movement progressed—one wonders if Dr. King’s assessment still holds up, if indeed The Strange Career of Jim Crow is still the historical bible of the civil rights movement. In addition, one questions the objectivity of the book considering that it gained endorsements from figures who were promoting a cause and because Woodward had also promoted that same cause.
Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, one who is macho, irresponsible, and simply not fit to be in the position that his blood status has put him in. His decisions are constantly making the people of Uruk
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his dislike of John F. Kennedy and his brothers, especially Robert. The Kennedy government stood for racial liberalism and Malcolm X argued their true intentions for the civil rights movement weren’t in the best interest of the black population. This tension streamed both ways. John Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt that Malcolm X had become a threat to national security. James Baldwin has written essays that have included the repeated attacks on the white liberal and supports Malcolm in many of his theories and actions.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Benjamin R. Foster. Text. Martin Puncher. New York: W.W and Company, 2013.Print.
Bush v. Gore Bush v. Gore was a controversial case that was heard on December 11, 2000. This case decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election between Vice President Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. The election took place on Nov. 7, 2000. Under our electoral college system, each state votes for our new president separately, a winner is then declared in each state and is awarded “electoral votes” that is equal to the states number of representatives in the House and Senate. Gore led Bush 266-246 and 270 votes were required for victory.
Since the election of President Barrack Obama in 2008, many people have started to believe that America is beyond racial inequalities - this is not the reality. Rather, we, as a society, chose to see only what we want to see. Discrimination is still rampant in our nation. Michelle Alexander explains that since the Jim Crow laws were abolished, new forms of racial caste systems have taken their place. Our society and criminal justice system claim to be colorblind, but this is not the actuality. Michelle Alexander explains:
sends the Bull of Heaven to destroy the city. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull,
part of the story. Gilgamesh appears very impressive because of his great size and stately
Clack. Bang. Swish. The sweet sound of armor spears, flying arrows, and slicing swords are nothing more than the sounds of a hero pursuing a quest to greatness. Throughout history people long to find that inner-being who becomes enlightened with knowledge to acquire an everlasting existence. For one to search for everlasting life and conquer beast may merely be just a rhythm of life that has forever held to the test of time. For any man and every man can relate to a god, but the human mortality of temporary existence comes bleeding through at some point in time. Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and Odysseus all portrayed having god like qualities, yet their human mortality lead them to be remembered as heroes to their cultures and civilizations.
Influential, well-renowned works of literature often denote motifs that can be widely applied to everything in life. Duality, the idea that all things have two equally balanced sides that contrast one another, is especially eminent in artistic and literary creations. Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde provides various excellent examples of this double-sidedness, from human nature to one’s societal ranking among others. In a similar manner to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the concept of dualism in great detail while using a broad range of literary devices, such as symbols and figures of speech, to further illustrate this abstract idea.
Stevenson explains to the reader that humans have lots of different sides to each other and not just one. The final chapter of the novel, ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement Of The Case’ explores the ways in which the author presents Victorian attitudes to the nature of humans. He also explains how duplicitous humans are, which means how people often have two separate approaches to their life. The duality of man means the two sides of the person’s mind and is most apparent in, as the title suggests, the characters ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. The separation of Jekyll into two beings, Jekyll and Hyde, is an analogy for humankind’s conflicting forces of good and evil. These characters bring to life the inner struggle between the two powers of the soul. Dr. Jekyll asserts that ‘man is not truly one, but truly two,’ within the book to illustrate the theme of the novel and to help describe Mr. Hyde to more rational people such as Mr. Utterson.
They cut down trees, “then Enkidu builds a gigantic door…as a gift to Enlil.” (44) Upon their arrival to Uruk, Ishtar the goddess of sex, love and warfare wanted to wed Gilgamesh. In spite of this, Gilgamesh did not feel the same and did not wish to marry her. Ishtar was so upset with the decision of Gilgamesh that she sent down the “Bull of Heaven” (50) to kill him. The bull ultimately met its’ demise when Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed it.
The epic begins with the men of Uruk describing Gilgamesh as an overly aggressive ruler. "'Gilgamesh leaves no son to his father; day and night his outrageousness continues unrestrained; And he is the shepherd of Uruk, the enclosure; He is their shepherd, and yet he oppresses them. Strong, handsome, and wise. . . Gilgamesh leaves no virgin to her lover.'"(p.18, Line 23-27) The citizens respect him, but they resent his sexual and physical aggression, so they plead to the gods to alleviate some of their burden. The gods resolve to create an equal for Gilgamesh to tame him and keep him in line. This equal, Enkidu, has an immediate impact on Gilgamesh. When they first meet, both having never before met a man equal in stature, they brawl. "They grappled with each other, Snorting like bulls; They shattered the doorpost, that the wall shook."(p.32, lines 15-18) In giving Gilgamesh a real battle, Enkidu instantly changes him; having this equal gives Gilgamesh a sense of respect for another man. These two men fighting each other creates a serious mess, but they both end up without animosity toward the other.
A major theme in the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the duality of good versus evil. A character in the novel by the name of Dr. Jekyll believes in the dual nature of human beings, for he states, “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”. Dr. Jekyll is a respectable and well mannered man that gains an urge to set free his “wild side” from his