3,452 words

Amiri Baraka's writing on race, freedom, and universal human experience

"A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom," wrote Amiri Baraka whose life work has been a series of attacks on what he has felt to be the constraints -- the chains -- of mainstream American society.

~18 min read

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2,516 words

Ruddiman's hypothesis that humans prevented an ice age through early agriculture

The scientific arguments for humans affecting climate change seem to be all around us today in the news and in conversations.

~13 min read

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1,638 words

Legal and ethical issues in government information system design

Legal, Ethical, and Social Issues Facing Data Storage and Information Systems: A Hypothetical Case Study Information technology often seems, especially in some of its more mundane business applications, to be about as far removed from areas of legal, ethical, and social concern as is possible.

~9 min read

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1,154 words

Achieving sustainable living through time management, consumption reduction, and nature connection

Sustainable living involves more deliberate choices in the face of three aspects of our lives, including time crunches, too much "stuff," and a disconnection from the land base and spirituality. Using our time in sustainable ways can be the foundation of a more happy and sustainable lifestyle.

~6 min read

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660 words

The United States military's don't ask, don't tell policy and its effects

Don't ask don't tell' policy of the United States military was implemented in 1993 to keep the military from openly pursuing gay, lesbian, and bisexual members and applicants that were not openly expression their sexual orientation. Under the law, Pub.L. 103-160 (10 U.S.C.

~4 min read

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830 words

Economic policy trade-offs: unemployment, inflation, and global currency

Unemployment rose rapidly as the result of expectations of a slowdown and economic contraction, rather than as a return to equilibrium. Unemployment in the U.S. has held in a relatively stable range between 4-6% since the early 1990s (Google.com, 2010).

~5 min read

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662 words

Supreme Court's reversal in Arthur Andersen v. United States

In the case of Arthur Andersen v. United States, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that the company had obstructed justice.

~4 min read

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1,884 words

Nature and nurture in prenatal development and epigenetics

Prenatal development involves not only the physiologic processes which occur to produce life, it also requires an understanding of the various influences that shape the developing life and the consequences those influences have the potential to bear. The issue of nature vs.

~10 min read

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4,319 words

Pension funding crises at not-for-profit organizations after 2008

The unprecedented economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, increased salaries of not-for-profit workers, and the implementation of certain funding provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ("PPA") created a "perfect storm" for not-for-profit organizations that maintain defined benefit pension plans.

~22 min read

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1,292 words

The Bracero Program in Texas, 1942-1964: Political and social implications

Following the forced or "encouraged" migration of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Mexicans from the southwest United States, from Texas to California, during the rampant unemployment of the 1930s' Great Depression, a sudden labor shortage was experienced in the agricultural industry during World…

~7 min read

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