Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Essay Example for Free

Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Essay I think that this is an effective thesis statement because it clearly outlines my paper and it states what side of this discussion I have chosen to represent. It is stated clear, concise, and to the point. Because mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients is an issue that is not in full effect, it may be difficult to find opinions from â€Å"reliable† sources concerning such legislation. It may also be difficult to determine long term effects of such a program like cuts in spending and reductions in drug abuse. I will be researching government websites both nationally and locally. I would also like to contact local government representatives to perhaps get an opinion about the idea of said legislation. In addition, because this is such a new topic, there are many newspapers to research that will have the latest on states that want to begin developing the idea of mandatory drug testing. It will be difficult to avoid logical fallicies on this topic. Because I am coming down on one side of this discussion and want to persuade my audience, I will want to use comments and information from those that view it as I do. Using statistics that are deemed factual will help in showing that these are not just biased opinions from politicians that are simply looking for another vote. If I were to begin to persuade a city council meeting or write a letter to my local government representatives about the importance of mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients, I would begin by saying: Welfare is not an entitlement! It was never intended to be as such. When President Roosevelt enacted the Social Security Act in 1935, it was during the great depression, when 25% of Americans were unemployed. Since then welfare has generously extended its hand to millions of Americans (2012). When someone is benefitting from these programs, and is not deemed disabled, it should be viewed as a â€Å"hand up† not a â€Å"hand out†. It is an issue all over the country that welfare is being abused by its benefactors. Cards are being used for ATM withdrawals, to purchase liquor, buying cigarettes, and even gambling in casinos. Food stamps are being openly traded for drugs (Camden, 2011). Not to mention the deception that is occurring about how many dependents a recipient is responsible for. To be subjected to a simple urine test to receive money and benefits from the U. S, government is not too much to bear. It is no different than obliging to mandatory drug testing for a job. Florida state governor Rick Scott has stated that in his state alone they will save 9 million dollars a year because of benefits being cut due to mandatory drug testing. With these kinds of cuts in spending nationwide, it is sure to reduce government spending a great deal. Not to mention the effect it will have on drug abusers. Florida state governor Rick Scott has implemented drug counseling on a volunteer basis for those benefactors that test positive (Delaney, 2011). Cuts in spending, responsible distribution of benefits and reductions in drug abuse, this sounds like a win-win scenario for us all. References Author Unknown, (2012), The History of Welfare, Retrieved from: http://www. elfareinfo. org/history/ Delaney, A. , (2011, November 27). Rick Scott Backs Drug Tests for Welfare Beneficiaries, Public Worker, and Himself, Retrieved from: http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/09/27drug-testing-welfare-_n_983235-. html/ Camden, J. , (2011, February 04). The Spokesman-Review, Abuse of Welfare Electronic Benefits Transfer Cards Targeted, Retrieved from: http://www. spokesman. com/stories/2011/feb/04/abuse-of-welfare-electronic-benefits-transfer/

Computers: Productive Tools In Our Lives :: essays research papers

Computers: Productive Tools In Our Lives Have you ever seen a computer in a store and said, "Whoa! What a chick!"? I am sure you would have, if you were familiar with the new 16xCD-ROM and extra wide SCSI-2 9.0 GB hard drive it features, or if you knew about the dual 225 MHz Pentium pro MMX chips blazing up its performance. To tell you all about computers, it takes a total computer nut like me. After working with computers almost all my life, I can tell you that a computer is an electrical device, without which a guy like me probably cannot survive. If you have no idea of what I am beeping about, read on. Experts, I report no error in reading further. Computers are very productive tools in our everyday lives. To maximize the utility of a computer, what you need to do is get going with the program. To do that, the minimum system requirements are a C.P.U. or the central processing unit, a keyboard, a monitor, a mouse, and if you want, a printer and a CD - ROM drive. The C.P.U. is that part of a computer that faithfully does what his master tells him to do, with the help of input devices like a keyboard or a mouse. After all this so called sophisticated, next generation equipment, you need some sort of software. Software is a set of instructions to the C.P.U. from a source such as a floppy disk, a hard drive or a CD - ROM drive, in zillions of 1's and 0's. Each of these tiny little instructions makes up a bit. Then they assemble to form a byte. Bytes make up a program, which you run to use the computer's various applications. Now that you know more about computers than Einstein did, let me tell you something more about them, so that you will beat the President in the field of computing. In your computer, you require a good amount of RAM, which is there to randomly accesses memory. That is required to speed up your computer, so that it gives you more error messages in less time. The faster the error messages it gives, the faster you call technical help at 1-800-NeedHelp. The service is open 24 hours a day, but to get through, you will have to wait, at least, until the next Halley's comet passes by. The only thing now required, for you to become the master of this part of the world, is to have a very BOLD determination to become a computer geek.

Life Sentence, Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Teenagers are always committing petty crimes, and some are more sever then others. Most of the time when juveniles are charged for crimes, they are sent to Juvenile Hall. But what if the crime requires more com/capital-punishment-and-sensitive-societal-issue/">punishment than that? Some teenagers are committing crimes so sever that they’re being tried as adults and serving life in prison without parole. The Supreme Court is now considering whether this sentence constitutes ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. Teenagers are always doing something illegal because maybe they think it's cool or they’re not thinking properly or whatever it’ll be. But no matter how extensive the crime, teens shouldn’t be imprisoned their whole lives because of one stupid decision or mistake they made at 15 years old. Hopefully some people grow up and out of their old ways and they regret what they had done. But, unfortunately, that’s not enough. Joe Sullivan. 13 years old. Convicted in 1989 for sexually assaulting a 72-year-old woman. Now at 34, Joe is asking the Supreme Court to decide whether his sentence violates the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on â€Å"cruel and unusual punishmentâ€Å". Joe Sullivan is located in Florida – the state holding the highest number of non-homicidal juvenile lifers: 77. Joe’s crime is cruel and unusual but others could and are way worse. According to the reports from the Equal Justice Initiatives, only 8 people in the world, all in the United States, are serving crimes they committed at 13. Prompted by a quick rise in juvenile crimes in the 1990s, Florida and other states have taken a get-tough approach. Which made the punishment much more sever for their crimes. Rebecca Falcon. 5 years old. Convicted on November 19th, 1997 for shooting and killing a cab driver. That night Rebecca was upset over an ex-boyfriend and because of that, she drank a large amount of whiskey. Later on, she and an 18-year-old friend hopped in a cab and within minutes the driver was dead. To this day, the shooter wasn’t identified, however the gun belonged to her friend. Both had put the blame on each other. Now Rebecca is 27 and highly regrets her decisions from night. Some people do mature over time and not everyone deserves to be entenced for life for a crime they committed as teenagers. 2,500 prisoners in the United States are serving life imprisonment for crimes they did as juveniles. 109 people were sentenced for life for crimes that didn’t involve a homicide. Besides Sullivan’s case, there have been only one other case involving teenagers locked away for rape. But the question is, is it right? Obviously putting them in Juvenile Hall will do nothing seeing how they committed the crime a year or two before they would get out if they were put there. But at the same time, life in prison might not be the best thing either. Putting a 13-year-old in jail and telling them they’ll be there for the rest of their lives is somewhat overwhelming. Young teens are more susceptible to peer pressure and easily run off the straight and narrow by the environment around them. Jail is suppose to serve two purposes: Punishment and rehabilitation. However, if teens are being sent to life without parole, they’re only getting the punishment. Not everyone should be giving parole but no one should be denied a chance at another life.

Effectiveness Of The No Child Left Behind Act Of 2001 (...

Introduction This study will focus on the effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The NCLB Act of 2001 was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (www.newamerica.org). The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was a Great Society program that allocated federal funds for education and looked to hold schools accountable (www2.ed.gov). The NCLB Act of 2001 was passed through Congress in 2001 with bipartisan support and greatly increased the Federal Government’s role in the education system and almost 95,000 public schools to include standardized testing and holding these schools accountable for student proficiency (www.newamerica.org). Data for elementary and secondary†¦show more content†¦Are these students ready for post-secondary education and did NCLB assist in that readiness? NCLB Review The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law by then President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. The statement of purpose for NCLB begins: The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments (115 STAT. 1439). Lee and Jacob (2011) write that one of the major goals of NCLB was to make every student proficient in mathematics and reading by 2013-2014. The NCLB most notable requirements were for standardized testing and holding schools accountable through public reporting and sanctions. The law required that states test once a year in reading and mathematics in third through eighth grades as well as once in tenth through twelfth grades to continually monitor change (Lee and Jacob, 2011). Under NCLB, schools were required to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), which was an increase in proficiency chosen by the state in order to achieve its final goal of every student being proficient. There was a six year plan for schools to make improvements inside of NCLB where the sanctions started fairly reasonable and grew inShow MoreRelatedEducation Is A Central Need Of All People Around Over The World1543 Words   |  7 Pageswe will find some development projects. However, some of these succeed while others failed in achieving their goals. â€Å"The federal government instituted a number of other reforms, including a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), to little or no avail† (Ginsburg Jill, 2013). Furthermore, policymakers do not take a rest from struggles to develop the education system. They continue to argument and make main education reforms such as new academic standards, newRead MoreEducation Is A Central Need Of All People Around Over The World1543 Words   |  7 Pageswe will find some development projects. However, some of these succeed while others failed in achieving their goals. â€Å"The federal government instituted a number of other reforms, including a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), to little or no avail† (Ginsburg Jill, 2013). Furthermore, policymakers do not take a rest from struggles to develop the education system. They continue to argument and make main education reforms such as new academic standards, newRead MoreEssay On No Child Left Behind1132 Words   |  5 PagesNo Child Left Behind The American education system often conjures up images of classrooms, students and teachers. Yet it can also be a point of political contention. 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