Abstract The paper discusses that while Nebraska is a Republican state by majority, there is also a strong Democratic Party and movement. The author describes and highlights the parties and then points out the similarities as well as the differences in them.
Abstract The paper introduces Willa Cather, who lived in Nebraska in the late 1800s, as having a writing style that was a fresh, new approach to the American experience. The paper reviews her book, "O Pioneers", which is a personification of the Bergson family's life on the frontier. The author concludes that Cather used intense detail to project the main theme, man pitted against nature.
From the Paper "Alexandra emerged rather quickly as the protagonist of the novel, and evolved into a female heroine. One of the most dominant characters however, wasn?t human at all. The land itself was the greatest enemy that Alexandra faced at times. Their relationship was symbolic of the overall theme of the "grand struggle" that existed between humanity and forces out of human control. Alexandra tried to control the land, and tried to exert her wishes upon the land, but the land was bending her at the same time."
Abstract Since NCLB legislation in 2001, schools have seen a drastic change in assessment methods for students and are under increased pressure to be held accountable. This paper details the current situation in which high-stakes testing is not congruent with state standards. The paper then goes on to suggest ways in which states and school districts can alter assessments to increase their validity. Also, issues of how to improve school accountability are discussed. The Nebraska STARS accountability system is also evaluated and recommended.
From the Paper "While assessment of school systems has been an ongoing issue in the United States for many years, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) created a controversy over accountability of schools and school districts. While NCLB has many admirable goals, such as attempting to provide equal educational opportunity to all students, there are weaknesses in its provision for assessments that plague schools that must not be held accountable for student learning. Spring (2006) notes that while states are able to create standards to determine what is taught and what state tests should contain, there is a requirement that fourth and eighth grade students must take the National Assessment of Educational Progress examinations (186). This legislation, in effect, creates a national curriculum because students from all states are expected to pass a national test. Additionally, NCLB's assessment requirements have already led to many states adopting other high-stakes assessments for students, and then holding schools responsible for failure or success on these tests. However, recent literature suggests that there are better assessment systems that can create a balanced approach to accountability."
Abstract The paper discusses the Compromise of 1850 that was a series of laws that attempted to resolve the territorial and slavery controversies which arose from the Mexican-American War. The paper focuses on the Fugitive Slave Law, the most controversial act of the Compromise of 1850, that enforced the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The paper then looks at the impact of Frederick Douglas, the novel "Uncle Tom's cabin", William Lloyd Garrison, the Kansas Nebraska Act, the violence of John Brown and the "Dred Scott" decision. The paper shows how eventually seven states seceded from the Union, becoming the Confederate States of America, and caused the outbreak of the Civil War.
From the Paper "When gold was discovered in California 300,000 people rushed to the state seeking riches. While most of those rushing to California were American, news of the discovery also attracted tens of thousands of Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. The Gold Rush caused California to develop rapidly. San Francisco changed from a tiny town with tents to suddenly having a boom in population and economy. Roads, churches, schools and other surrounding towns were built and a system of laws and a government were created. As a result of California's rapid development, it was admitted as a state in 1850. ("California Gold Rush")"
Abstract The paper discusses how Abraham Lincoln was deeply troubled by the existence of slavery in the United States, especially after Stephen Douglas managed to have the Kansas-Nebraska Act made into the law of the land. The paper looks at how Lincoln's attitudes toward slavery eventually changed society and finally brought an end to slavery in America in 1862.
From the Paper "In 1854, forty-five year-old Abraham Lincoln was at a point in his life where politics was beginning to lose its luster, due in part to the recent passage by the U.S. Congress of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which "opened lands previously closed to slavery" and held the potential to help spread slavery into states where it was banned. For Lincoln, the passage of this highly-controversial act was immoral. Although Lincoln was not an abolitionist and held the view that slavery was "unassailably protected by the Constitution in states where it already existed," he did hold the opinion that the Founding Fathers had conveniently "put slavery on the way to ultimate extinction" by not allowing it to spread to new territories or states."
Abstract This paper explains that most religious and conservative people believe that marriage was created for the purpose of procreation; whereas, proponents of gay marriages believe that the U.S. Constitution provides for a strict separation of the church and the state and as such religious arguments do not have a legitimate place in the debate and that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right of private consensual sex and as such the prohibition of gay marriages is a violation of such rights. The author points out that the gay marriage issue came to the forefront of national debate in 1996 when several Hawaiian gay couples sued for the right to marry legally, which resulted in the passage of "The Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)" in 1996. The paper relates that, in May 2005, a U.S. Federal District Judge struck down sweeping provisions of the Nebraska constitution that defined marriage as only between a man and a woman and banned same-sex civil unions, domestic partnerships and other similar relationships as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Table of Contents
Marriage, Gay Marriage and Same Sex Unions
The Controversy
The Constitutional Debate
The Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
State Laws Recognizing Same Sex Unions
Conservatives Propose Constitutional Amendment
Federal Judge strikes down Nebraska Gay Marriage Ban
Conclusion
From the Paper "The passage of DOMA did not deter gay-right activists in their campaign for the legal recognition of gay marriages and in 2000, Vermont became the first state to allow gay partners to join in a civil union with the same rights enjoyed by married heterosexual couples under state law. Maine, Hawaii, California, New Jersey, and Connecticut have also enacted laws that give some degree of rights to gay civil unions and partnerships since then. On November 18, 2003, in Goodridge v.Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial ruled that: "barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution." Implementing the Court's decision, Massachusetts made same sex marriage legal in the state on May 17, 2004; it is thus far the only state to do so. Most other states have enacted constitutional provisions that define marriage as a union of one man and one woman."
The following dissertation looks at the causes of the U.S. Civil War. It finds that there is not one single answer to the question as to why the southern states seceded from the union.
Abstract This paper focuses on the issues that ran concurrently with slavery, although the issue of slavery dominated the middle part of the 19th century in America in its causes of secession and the U.S. Civil War. The writer looks at the legislation that affected the southern states, like the: Nullification Crisis that affected South Carolina in 1832, the Declaration of Causes by the seceding states and the widespread division that affected America in the late 1850?s, the 1850 Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill that caused great turmoil between the northern and southern states. This paper also looks at why the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, caused such consternation that the southern states finally felt compelled to secede.
From the Paper "The election of Abraham Lincoln as president and the Republican Party coming to power was almost a sure thing before the splits in the Democratic Party. The splits just made it an almost certainty, and again it was over the issue of slavery, only this time instead of fighting against each other it was in fighting. This meant that secession was a sure thing, which would have pleased so many of the vocal southern firebrands. It is hard to see how some of the southern states thought that they could survive without being in the Union, as one state is far bigger and prosperous when it is in a group rather than as an individual. But the southern states had had to put up with so much provocation and pressure from the northern states and often an anti slavery president government that this was the final straw for them. Why should they have kept putting up with all this hassle and troubles during the mid 19th century over slavery, which was a way of life for them. Some southerners knew that slavery would eventually die out in the future, put when they are pushed so hard and so much about the issue of slavery, their attitudes are going to harden and they would eventually dig their heels in."
From the Paper "The communications industry in the United States is actually composed of many subindustries, each of which contains large, even huge, participants. The sudindustries are related by the fact that they all participate in electronic communications of one type or another, but they are widely diverse beyond that. As technology grows more complex, it also brings these widely diverse entrance points closer together, with the result that phone companies are now venturing into cable television ventures, and cable television companies are interested in providing interactive entertainment and educational opportunities. This research examines the broad communications industry as a whole, then focuses on the telecommunications industry in particular, with an emphasis on the telecommunications industry in Nebraska.
The Standard Industry Code (SIC) for the communications ..."
Abstract This paper compares the nostalgia of love in "My Antonia" by Willa Cather and the nostalgia created by living in the desert in "Desert Solitaire" by Edward Abbey. The author believes that in both books, the authors not only talk about the past and long lost times but also show a deep desire to recapture the days. The paper discusses that the main purpose of the authors is to urge their readers to cultivate love for things in their original form.
From the Paper "Edward Abbey, on the other hand, is not exactly reminiscing about his own past but the past of his country and the world in general. He feels that life was better in its simpler form and coming to a desert reminds him of the beauty of the world in its unadorned shape. The author feels closer to earth and to everything the desert represents, even death. He maintains that man is able to think about the true purpose of his existence when he is close to something as vast and primitive as a desert. It is here that man finds himself drawn to the core of the things on which this world is based. In other world, the true realities of universe surface when man is engulfed by a world, which has not kept pace with modern advancements. "
Abstract The paper analyzes the nature of the main character in the book, a young Bohemian girl named Antonia who migrates from the United States to settle down in Nebraska, and focuses on her strong personality and honest character. The paper claims that Antonia is a symbol for the fulfillment of the American Dream, in her desire to accomplish success in terms of wealth.
From the Paper "This marvelous account addressing various issues has been narrated by one of the characters named Jim Burden who is portrayed as the childhood playmate of the protagonist of the novel named Antonia. According to Jim Burden, Antonia was the eldest daughter of the Shimerda's and a healthy as well as a happy girl with the most beautiful eyes that were "big and warm and full of light, like the sun shining on brown pools in the wood" (Book 1, Chapter 3, pg. 17). The Shimerda's were the Burden's neighbors, as a result, Jim and Antonia came to know each other and eventually became childhood friends and they remained friends for the rest of their lives. According to Jim, Antonia radiated happiness and portrayed a healthy and a flourishing picture of the plains and the people of Nebraska even though the plains were like a piece of barren land. She always brought out and admired the hidden qualities of others around. She was a cheerful, sympathetic and a loving person who was not only concerned and cared for the inconsiderate members of her family but also showed sorrow for the dying insects."
Abstract This paper presents an examination on abortion, focusing on the judicial aspect of the topic. The paper examines the steps taken in the policy making procedure, including the Supreme Court decisions that have been handed down through the years.
From the Paper "The issue was decided using the process of judicial review. The court decided that the state laws refusing the right to abort were against general laws, specifically the constitution. As the constitution is the basis for all American law, anything that violates the constitution is going to be overturned through the judicial review process. In addition the process of judicial restraint was used because the courts only overturned the various state laws when it was proven to the courts that the laws violated the more powerful constitution."
Abstract The paper discusses the centrality of the Nebraska prairie to the novel and how the setting is the background that informs the rest of the action in the story. The paper explores the symbolic nature of Antonia as the embodiment of the prairie to the narrator of the book, Jim Burden. The paper also analyzes the agricultural ties to the land felt by the prairie dwellers.
From the Paper "Willa Cather's My Antonia is primarily a novel about place. The setting of the novel in the Nebraska prairie is the same setting in which Cather grew up and was very important to her as well. Cather uses the character of Antonia as a symbol for the prairie and its importance to Jim Burden. Cather equates the vital and dynamic Antonia with the prairie's fertility, and in this comparison, she suggests that Jim Burden's life is comparatively stagnant and infertile. In this novel, Cather paints a stunning and lyrical portrait of the American plains region, treats us to a cast of memorable characters, and offers intriguing insights into the manner in which we construct our own past, even as she reminds us that our own experiences are ultimately inexplicable to anyone else."
Abstract As the Nineteenth Century dawned, the institution of slavery appeared to be on its way out in the new United States. The paper shows, however, that the growing of cotton to sustain the Southern economy proved a problem. The crop required its harvesters to toil under a blistering sun ? hard work that scarcely attracted free labor. Yet, the burgeoning cotton plantation demanded more and more hands to work them. There remained only one answer to this labor shortage ? import more slaves. The paper discusses this dilemma faced by the Southern plantation owners in the wake of the abolishment of slavery in the North of the country. The paper looks at the influence of the Abolitionists, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and how all these issues came to a head with the American Civil War.
From the Paper "Thus, on the eve of the Civil War, the United States was a country very much divided by the issue of slavery. It was largely a matter of economics that had dictated the Peculiar Institution's astounding growth during the course of the early Nineteenth Century. Cotton was an immensely profitable crop that consumed land as it churned out profits. The growth of the Abolitionist Movement raised increasing concerns over the rightness of slavery, provoking many Americans to lobby for limitations on the institution's spread. Yet, Southerners, by and large, saw this attack on slavery as an attack on their very way of life. Struggling to maintain what they saw as their own unique culture against meddling Northerners and Abolitionists, they framed their pro-Slavery arguments around the doctrine of States? Rights, thereby proclaiming the right of each State to decide what was best for its own citizens. It was these two issues ? slavery and States? Rights that would form the basis of the Civil War."
Abstract This paper reviews a "Journal of Family Practice" article, "Current Trends in Tobacco Prevention and Cessation in Nebraska Physicians' Office", and explores many aspects of the problems that exist with teenagers using tobacco in the form of smoking cigarettes, as well as other forms of tobacco. The paper explores statistical data and discusses recommendations for helping to educate teenagers and others on the dangers of tobacco use.
From the Paper "The Journal of Family Practice article "Current trends in tobacco prevention and cessation in Nebraska physicians' office" (Backer et al 1997) explores many aspects of the problems that exist with teenagers using tobacco in the form of smoking cigarettes, as well as other forms of tobacco. Additionally, the authors of this journal article explore statistical data and discuss recommendations for helping to educate teenagers and others on the dangers of tobacco use. While this journal article focuses on the relationship that exists among teenagers, physicians, and tobacco use, the information is nonetheless quite relevant to a school situation. This article actually deals with the effectuality and ineffectuality of intervention methods used with teenagers, so the recommendations that can be drawn from this data actually have basis in facts rather than simply being proposals that may or may not prove to work in real-life situations. The data published in this article is important for every person who works with teenagers, whether that be in a school, clinical, or home setting, to be familiarized with."
Abstract This paper explains that Enron, which started in 1985 with the merger of Houston Natural Gas Company of Houston, Texas, and the natural gas company, InterNorth, based in Omaha, Nebraska, originally operated interstate gas pipelines but, in 1989, diversified into trading energy-related products. The author points out that, in addition to its trading in energy, Enron started trading in cellulose, pulp, paper, fertilizer, plastic, metals, and bandwidth. By 1999, Enron was involved in nearly a quarter of the energy deals worldwide. The paper relates that Enron's central strategy was to use totally the financial and derivatives in the market to acquire any commodities, from oil and natural gas to electric power generation and pipeline capacity, broadband communication, and freight capacity of modular containers, all at any price demanded. This corporate greed led to its downfall.
From the Paper "Enron launched the New Power Company, the first national energy service in May 2000 along with its new strategic investors IBM and America Online. The New Power Company was created to provide energy services for residential and small businesses in the US, where deregulations in the energy market were introduced. In early 2001, Jeff Skilling took over as Enron's chief executive officer from Ken Lay. In October 2001, the tables were turned again and Ken Lay returned as chief executive officer with Jeff Skilling having resigned in August. Shortly afterwards in 2002 investigations into corporate crimes and accountancy fraud were initiated on Enron leading to sharp share prices fall and the collapse of the Enron empire."
