The History of Human Rights

Human right is a concept that has been constantly evolving throughout human history. They had
been intricately tied to the laws, customs and religions throughout the ages. One of the first
examples of a codification of laws that contain references to individual rights is the tablet of
Hammurabi. The tablet was created by the Sumerian king Hammurabi about 4000 years ago.
While considered barbaric by today's standards, the system of 282 laws created a precedent for a
legal system. This kind of precedent and legally binding document protects the people from
arbitrary persecution and punishment. The problems with Hammurabi's code were mostly due to
its cause and effect nature, it held no protection on more abstract ideas such as race, religion,
beliefs, and individual freedoms.
It was in ancient Greece where the concept of human rights began to take a greater meaning than
the prevention of arbitrary persecution. Human rights became synonymous with natural rights,
rights that spring from natural law. According to the Greek tradition of Socrates and Plato,
natural law is law that reflects the natural order of the universe, essentially the will of the gods
who control nature. A classic example of this occurs in Greek literature, when Creon reproaches
Antigone for defying his command to not bury her dead brother, and she replies that she acted
under the laws of the gods. This idea of natural rights continued in ancient Rome, where the
Roman jurist Ulpian believed that natural rights belonged to every person, whether they were a
Roman citizen or not.
Despite this principle, there are fundamental differences between human rights today and natural
rights of the past. For example, it was see as perfectly natural to keep slaves, and such a practice
goes counter to the ideas of freedom and equality that we associate with human rights today. In
the middle ages and later the renaissance, the decline in power of the church led society to place
more of an emphasis on the individual, which in turn caused the shift away from feudal and
monarchist societies, letting individual expression flourish.
The next fundamental philosophy of human rights arose from the idea of positive law. Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679) saw natural law as being very vague and hollow and too open to vast
differences of interpretation. Therefore under positive law, instead of human rights being
absolute, they can be given, taken away, and modified by a society to suit its needs. Jeremy
Bentham, another legal positivist sums up the essence of the positivist view:
According to J. Bentham, Right is a child of law; from real laws come real rights, but from
imaginary law, from "laws of nature," come imaginary rights. Natural rights are simple nonsense.
This transfer of abstract ideas regarding human rights and their relation to the will of nature into
concrete laws is exemplified best by various legal documents that specifically described these
rights in detail: British Magna Carta 1215, French Declaration of the Rights of Man 1789,
American Bill of Rights 1789, and The Geneva Convention 1864.
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0126065/hrhistory.html

CALIFORNIA GAY-MARRIAGE BILL FAILS

An effort that would have legalized same-sex marriage in California fell short in the state
Assembly early yesterday after a small group of moderate Democrats rebuffed the measure.
Despite intense lobbying, a dozen Democrats refused to support a bill by Assemblyman Mark
Leno, Democrat of San Francisco, that would have allowed tens of thousands of same-sex
partners to marry, gaining expanded rights to healthcare, Social Security, and military benefits.
In often-emotional speeches, Democrats and Republicans presented diametrically opposing
views, with supporters casting the proposal as a historic stand against discrimination and
opponents denouncing it as an antidemocratic attack on moral values. Leno and his supporters
presented the bill as something fundamental: a statement by the state Legislature that
discrimination against same-sex couples will not be tolerated in California.
But Republicans accused gay-rights advocates of trying to circumvent California voters who
approved Proposition 22, a 2000 ballot measure that barred the state from recognizing same-sex
marriages from other states. Those who disagree with the 61 percent of voters who endorsed
Proposition 22 should take their case back to the ballot, said Assemblyman Jay La Suer, a La
Mesa Republican who said the bill ''has nothing to do with discrimination" and ''everything to do
with the destruction of the moral fiber of this nation."
The bill's fate ultimately came down to a small group of moderate Democrats who were torn
between often-competing personal and political views. Five Democrats joined 32 Republicans in
opposing the bill, and seven others declined to take a stand. In an effort to win support from the
seven undecided Democrats, Leno enlisted the help of Arzu and Ramona Gatto, a lesbian couple
from San Carlos who, along with their 17-year-old daughter, Marian, lobbied undecided
lawmakers outside the Assembly chambers.
Same-sex marriage has emerged as one of the most politically charged issues of this generation,
one that has generated protests, protracted court battles, and ballot fights from Oregon to
Kentucky. President Bush has seized on the issue by calling for a constitutional amendment to
ban same-sex marriages. The controversy helped galvanize evangelical Christian voters who
turned out in force in November to help reelect the Republican president.
After the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court cleared the way for same-sex marriages, Mayor
Gavin Newsom of San Francisco bucked California law last year and began issuing marriage
licenses to same-sex couples. The more than 4,000 marriages held at San Francisco City Hall
were eventually struck down by the California Supreme Court, which unanimously agreed that
the city had gone too far.
SOURCE: THE BOSTON GLOBE
Dion Nissenbaum
June 03 2005
https://www.aproundtable.org/news.cfm?NEWS_ID=499&issuecode=

Examining the fallout from the global financial crisis

Although the damage caused by a nuclear explosion is pretty nasty, the radioactive fallout that
remains in the environment poisoning all forms of life, water and soil for decades is even more
disastrous. Likewise, the global stock market crash that took place Oct. 27 will have a negative
impact on the economies and lives of working people throughout the planet for many years to
come. In fact, barely a month has passed since the historic event, and the lethal radiation has
already spread around the globe.
The stock market on Wall Street has recovered the losses of Oct. 27, so the corporate media are
doing their part to downplay the implications of the crash, giving Americans a false sense of
security regarding the economy. But economies are reeling, billion-dollar companies in Asia are
melting away and the U.S. economy, according to the federal government, is already receiving
the fallout from the crash. The global crash was precipitated by the fall in the Asian markets. And
it is indicative of the madness of the capitalist system that, despite the fact that the financial
interests that dominate global stock exchanges knew months and possibly years, in advance that
a crisis was approaching, they just continued their business as usual.
Soon after the global crash, the current troubles first struck Thailand, then quickly spread to the
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Korea. At first, the countries that were
formerly known as the "Asian Tigers" because of their economic performance, denied the need
for foreign intervention in their economies. But as banks and other financial institutions began to
collapse, one after another, the tigers were transformed into domestic pussycats, and soon lined
up in front of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) applying for billion-dollar loans. South
Korea followed the same script for most of November. Even the head of the IMF, Michael
Camdessus, backed up the South Korean denial in an attempt to bolster confidence in that
government's economy.
But after denial came acceptance. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have obtained
emergency rescue funds totaling $48 billion. But the real shocker so far has been South Korea,
which will be forced to borrow some $60 billion from the IMF. With the strict conditions
requiring economic restructuring imposed by the IMF, South Korea is carefully negotiating the
conditions of the loan in an apparent attempt to avoid becoming an indentured servant of the
international financial monster. The U.S. business concern stems from the fear that bankrupt
Japanese and Asian economies will not import U.S. goods. The results would be felt on factory
floors and Wall Street.
In recent weeks, the crisis in overproduction has finally overtaken the Asian economies. The real
estate booms or "bubbles" of the 1980s, not to mention the overproduction of products related to
the computer industries, have begun to burst.

By Daniel Vila, in People's Weekly World

6 December 1997
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/25/032.html

Second Language Acquisition Theory

When a student is acquiring a second language (L2) he is both benefited and hindered by his
native language (L1). In his native language there are certain norms in pronunciation and syntax
that may differ from those of the second language and interfere with his or her use of the new
language. On the other hand, native language literacy and cognitive development in the native
language will help a student to learn a new language by a transferring of concepts from one
language and applying them to the new one.
In addition to being affected by L1 factors,
second language acquisition (L2) is also affected by the amount of exposure to and availability of
language models. The affective filter (emotional conditions that affect learning - i.e. fear, anxiety,
poor self image, lack of motivation) of the learner is especially important, particularly as this
affects the child's tolerance for his/her own errors, and the degree to which the child develops
self-confidence to engage in L2.
These issues need to be considered within the context of various language situations, particularly
when drawing conclusions regarding the child's language proficiency in either language.
Specifically, there are five stages of second language acquisition, ranging between basic
interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. The dynamics
of each situation also differ significantly.
www.dmps.k12.ia.us/forms/secondlanguageacquisition.pdf

The Early Life of Bush

Bush was the oldest of six children of George Herbert Walker Bush, who served as 41st president
of the United States (198993), and Barbara Pierce Bush. His paternal grandfather, Prescott
Bush, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut (195262). The younger Bush grew up largely in
Midland and Houston, Texas. From 1961 to 1964 he attended Phillips Academy in Andover,
Massachusetts, the boarding school from which his father graduated. He received a bachelor's
degree in history from Yale University, his father's and grandfather's alma mater, in 1968. Bush
was president of his fraternity and, like his father, a member of Yale's secretive Skull and Bones
society; unlike his father, he was only an average student and did not excel in athletics.
In May 1968, two weeks before his graduation from Yale and the expiration of his student draft
deferment, Bush applied as a pilot trainee in the Texas Air National Guard, an assignment that
made it less likely that he would have to fight in the Vietnam War than if he had become a
member of the regular military. Commissioned a second lieutenant in July 1968, he became a
certified fighter pilot in June 1970. In the fall of 1970, he applied for admission to the University
of Texas law school but was rejected. From May to November 1972, Bush worked in Alabama
on the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican William Blount, a friend of Bush's father. While in
Alabama, Bush was suspended from flight duty for failing to take an annual physical exam, and
he never flew again. His service records indicate that he missed at least eight months of duty in
Alabama or in Texas between May 1972 and May 1973. Nonetheless, an early discharge was
granted so that he could start Harvard business school in the fall of 1973. Bush's spotty military
record resurfaced as a contentious campaign issue in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential
elections.
After receiving his M.B.A. from Harvard in 1975, Bush returned to Midland, where he began
working for a Bush family friend, an oil and gas attorney, and later started his own oil and gas
firm. He marriedLaura Welch, a teacher and librarian, in Midland in 1977. After an unsuccessful
run for Congress in 1978, Bush devoted himself to building his business. With help from his
uncle, who was then raising funds for Bush's father's campaign for the Republican presidential
nomination, Bush was able to attract numerous prominent investors. The company struggled
through the early 1980s until the eventual collapse of oil prices in 1986, when it was purchased
by the Harken Energy Corporation. Bush received Harken stock, a job as a consultant to the
company, and a seat on the company's board of directors.
In the same year, shortly after his 40th birthday, Bush gave up drinking alcohol. I realized, he
later explained, that alcohol was beginning to crowd out my energies and could crowd,
eventually, my affections for other people. His decision was partly the result of a self-described
spiritual awakening and a strengthening of his Christian faith that began the previous year after a
conversation with the Reverend Billy Graham, a Bush family friend.
After the sale of his company, Bush spent 18 months in Washington working as an adviser and
speechwriter in his father's presidential campaign. Following the election, he moved to Dallas,
where he joined a group of investors buying the Texas Rangers professional baseball team.
Although Bush's investment, which he made with a loan he obtained by using his Harken stock
as collateral, was relatively small, his role as managing partner of the team brought him much
exposure in the media and earned him a reputation as a successful businessman. When Bush's
partnership sold the team in 1998, Bush received nearly $15 million.

http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9232768&page=2