Journey to America essays

Journey to America essays The word America has been a dream to me since I heard about its freedom. Finally, today , I start my long journey. Natalia, my little sister by a year, and I have packed four outfits each, silverware, photos of our family and friends and other small objects that mean a lot to us. We hope to reach America safely one days from now. I cannot wait to see the Statue of liberty. Freedom is scarce in my homeland, Ukraine, and just the thought makes me cry. The train ride was awful and there were many older passengers in the car we were in. Natalia is already flirting with guys three four even five years older than her. I keep telling her not to talk to strangers but you think she will listen? Olya looks like every other girl in this train station. We asked at least twenty other people what their name was before we found Olya. Natalia asked most of them because I do not like to talk as much as her. Life is well of for the most part. Today we went sightseeing and found the Ukraine and Russian part of the city. New York City is a lot bigger than I imagined and I almost got separated from Natalia and Olya. Yesterday was the most frantic day of my life. Even though I understand English, the employers that guided me throughout the day were awfully confusing. They asked me the most obvious questions. Some would include: Are you single and were you ever engaged? and Do you know enough English to survive in America? There was one good person though. He was polite and didnt care if I did not answer correctly. Others would threatened to send me back to Ukraine. Today was a lot better than yesterday and I am glad that the officials gave us a day to rest. I also got Mr. Polites name and phone number. I cannot wait to see him again. I am getting tired and the manager of the tenement is go ...

Controversey in Iraq essays

Controversey in Iraq essays The Presidential election of this year was a very important one. This was mainly due to the conflicting feelings of Americans regarding the war in Iraq. The polls leading up to the election showed a divided nation, half for Bush, and half for Kerry. Since the election has now come and gone, it seems as though the majority of our country is for the war and how President Bush is handling it. I must admit, I am not part of the majority when it comes to this issue. I voted for Senator Kerry, and I am opposed to the situation in Iraq. What it comes down to is that our President is telling our country that we are fighting the war on terror, but the fact is we are not fighting in the right place. Iraq is not the key to stopping the terror. Yes, taking over Iraq may have deterred a few of the terrorists, but many other countries are still a much larger threat. For instance, before the September 11 attacks, the United States estimated that North Korea possibly had possession of one weapon of mass destruction, since we have invaded Iraq, North Korea definitely has at least five weapons of mass destruction that we know about. While the US has been preoccupied with the mess in Iraq, the countries that really do pose a threat, pose an even bigger threat today. As I stated earlier, the majority of our country is for this war. This war is being done to spread democracy and stop a tyrannical ruler that is harming his people. These pro-war people argue that by attacking Iraq we would find the link to Al Queda we were fighting for. This is not true. The CIA gave the President faulty intelligence. There is and never has been a link between the two. The President explained to our country eighteen months ago that we were going to Iraq for several reasons. They were: Iraq contained weapons of mass destruction, this was a link to stop Al Queda, and this was a last resort to stop terror. So far, a year and a half later of being at war...

Puppies, Pigs, and People eating meat and marginal cases Essay

Puppies, Pigs, and People eating meat and marginal cases - Essay Example In his creative and provocative paper Norcross contends that there is no need for humans to continue consuming factory-farmed meat. He starts his article by giving an example of the fictional Fred and the quest for a chemical that will allow him to have the gustatory experience, akin to that of tasting chocolate. Unfortunately, Cocoamone can only be retrieved from the brain of an abused puppy following prolonged torture and an excruciating death. Just as one would condemn an individual who carries out this sort of treatment on puppies, so we should also condemn those who derive gustatory pleasure from the consumption of factory-farmed animals. The author gives some differences between Fred and an average consumer of meat, as well as possible defenses that one could use to justify their meat eating habits as being different to Fred’s fetish. He follows each of this method of reasoning with an objection. The first difference that he brings along has to do with the fact that Fre d does the torturing himself while a majority of Americans consume meat from creatures tortured by others. His second difference is that most consumers are not aware of the treatment meted out on these animals before they get to the supermarket. His first defense of the carnivore is that even if the individual did not consume or buy the factory-farmed meat, the animals would not be spared a life of cruelty. Agri-business is a vast market and changes to the eating habits of one individual cannot cause much of a difference. This Norcross refers to as causal impotence; the belief that refraining from meat consumption does not alter the amount of suffering the animal experiences. He objects vehemently to this defense by offering an example of a chocolate mousse that has Cocoamone. Norcross argues that once a person is informed on the methods of attaining Cocoamone, a morally upright person would then not order for the mousse. Consequently, this should be similar for a morally upright pe rson who is given information on the methods used to obtain factory-farmed meat. His second response is that while there is a tiny chance that one’s behavior is harmful, the harm that is risked is even extra harmful. A chance of one in a thousand to save two hundred and fifty chickens is the same as, the certainty of saving twenty-five chickens a year by a person electing not to consume chicken. Norcross continues to show an even more disturbing scenario where there is no change in breeding in the factories until ten thousand people turn to vegetarians. The faster the threshold is attained, the sooner the difference will be made; therefore, an individual’s behavior does result in a difference. The point of this fictional story is meant to raise a pertinent question; is Fred’s behavior really that different in a moral sense from the behavior of millions who buy and eat factory-sourced meat? Norcross does not think so and rejects various ways that could be used to distinguish the two. Relevant differences include the following: for any individual, who consumes factory-sourced m