Government Branches Essay Example for Free

Government Branches Essay Which branch of government do you think is the most powerful and why? I believe the most powerful branch of government is the Legislative Branch, because of the power it processes to keep checks and balance on the other two branches of government. There are two different houses in the legislative branch, the first is the house if representatives and the senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members elected from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States territories. The states population determines the number of members elected from each state. There are 6 non-voting members that represent the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and four other territories of the United States. The senate consists of 100 members, two from each state. Members of the house are up for election or reelection every two year as opposed to the senate, which is every six years. Together they form the congress of the United States of America. Article 1 Section 8 lists the powers of congress. Some of the more important ones include the necessary and proper clause, the commerce clause, power to tax, power to spend, coin money, and ability to borrow money, these powers give congress the ability to make laws, buy and sell goods, control a federal budget and even borrow money from foreign countries. The necessary and proper clause is one of the most powerful in the Constitution. It allows congress to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution. This has been used for all types of federal actions including the New Deal, McCulloch v. Maryland, integration in the states and in the federal kidnapping act. The power to tax and spend also gives congress an important power to control the federal budget, which includes Medicare, Medicate, Social Security, infrastructure, government, agencies, and maybe the most important, the Defen se budget. The House of Representatives is also given the power to impeach the President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States. â€Å"Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity and the outcome of which, depending on the country, can lead to the removal of that official from office or other punishment.† There is a two-step process in order to impeach an official. First â€Å"The House Judiciary Committee decides whether or not to proceed with impeachment. If they do, The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will propose a Resolution calling for the Judiciary Committee to begin a formal inquiry into the issue of impeachment. Based on their inquiry, the Judiciary Committee will send another Resolution to the full House stating that impeachment is warranted and why (the Articles of Impeachment), or that impeachment is not called for. The Full House will debate and vote on each Article of Impeachment. Should any one of the Articles of Impeachment be approved by a simple majority vote, the President will be impeached. However, being impeached is sort of like being indicted of a crime. There still has to be a trial, which is where the US Senate comes in. The Senate will meet in private session to debate a verdict. The Senate, in open session, will vote on a verdict. A 2/3rds vote of the Senate will result in a conviction.† The Legislative Branch is more powerful than both the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch because when it come down to the President voting on a piece of legislature or appointing a supreme court judge, congress has the last say. After a bill is passed by congress it is sent to the President for his vote. If the President veto’s the bill congress is able with 2/3 vote able to overturn the Presidents decision. Under Article 2, Section 2, of the US Constitution provides that â€Å"the President may nominate members of the Supreme Court, but that appointment only occurs with the advice and consent of the Senate. This means the Senate conducts an investigation of the candidates qualifications and personal background, determines whether he or she would adequately fulfill the role of Justice, then votes whether to approve or disapprove the nomination.† In the end each branch is supposed to provide checks and balances for one another, but without the approval or money tha t congress controls, the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch would have a hard time operating. Sources http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/legislative-branch http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/congpowers.htm http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/impeachment.htm http://people.howstuffworks.com/supreme-court-appointment.htm/printable

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American Author, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote short stories that were completely different than any of the other stories you would hear during the nineteenth century. They did in fact though, have a great impact on people’s lives. Poe’s stories were mysterious, dark and sinister. People credit Poe with the invention of Science Fiction and Mystery genres. Poe had an impact on not only American Literature, but also on many writers through the years and even singers today. Those are some reasons why Poe should and is included in a school’s curriculum. It is said that Poe’s stories and poems were filled with terror, fear, death, murder, insanity, torture and the unknown because Poe experienced a large amount of tragedy in his life. His father was an alcoholic and left Edgar when he was young. Poe’s mother was also out of the picture at a young age due to dying of tuberculosis. His foster mother and his wife also died. Poe was born into poverty, he lived in poverty and he died in poverty. Poe wrote things that other writers found wicked. He wrote stories about human emotions in ways other than just being happy or in love. An example is â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart.† It was considered â€Å"too vulgar† by many, but it was a true problem with people that he had no problem talking about it. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† is an emotional description of a furious narrator who had heard a man’s persistent heartbeat, still beating, after he had killed him. It is a horror story told from a first-person point of view. This story is famous for showing that a short story can produce such an effect on the reader. Poe always believed that any great literature must create a union of effect on the reader. It has to tell truth and suggest emotions. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† re... ... too. Poe influenced artists such as The Beatles, Bauhaus, The Alan Parsons Project, The Cure and even Panic at the Disco! Poe was on the cover of The Beatles Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Bauhaus have always had a dark tip to everything and anything they do. It is said that they definitely read â€Å"The Raven† in school. The Alan Parsons Project released a full album called, â€Å"Tales of Mystery and Imagination.† It was based off of Poe’s short stories and his poems. The Cure have always imparted a gothic romanticism in their music, they certainly took pages from Poe’s stories. Finally, Panic At The Disco may be very pop, punk, dance-dandy guys, but the way they dressed just screamed Edgar Allan Poe. For an author to be in a school curriculum, you do not have to just influence other writers. It is good to be able to inspire and influence all kind of people.

Psycho Shower Scene Symbolic Analysis Essay

Psycho has many memorable scenes and objects, from the skeleton in the basement, the dark and creepy house to the first horrific murder in fictional movie history which takes place in the infamous shower scene. The shower scene of Psycho was one of the most controversial scenes in the movie, the era and possibly of all time. The point of the scene begins as the protagonist, Marion Crane, decides to return the money the has stolen and mulling the thoughts over, has a shower. But at closer scrutiny it is revealed that the shower is washing away the darkness and guilt of her crime and seems that she is becoming her innocent self again. The shower is almost unanimously all white, except the bright silver tap, now the white symbolises Marion’s innocence and goodness and that the guilt and evil of her crimes are being washed away, Until half way through the scene, the audience feels that this scene will be a bright and happy scene, until a dark blemish appears on the shower curtain. If light represents goodness, than logically darkness symbolises evil, the audience feels this as a dark spot is revealed on the curtain, which slowly grows larger and larger, showing that the danger is increasing as does the size of the darkness, this is what builds the suspense as consciously the audience is seeing a dark figure approach while their subconscious minds register the symbolism causing twice the tension as would be caused without the rest of the scene. The bathroom light is also visible from this angle and causes the shadow to appear that it is approaching the light. Soon the darkness is large enough to make out the figure of a person. A dark figure trying to destroy the light, it stands there, just long enough to give the audience time to try and work out who did it but their attention is then wrenched back to the movie by the loud piercing sound of screeching violins with only half formed suspicions racing through their minds as they watch in horror as the protagonist is horrifically murdered before their eyes, and a feeling of uselessness as the protagonist squeals her agonized cries and the audience can do nothing but sit and watch. In her last moments, Marion seems to be reaching for something, perhaps she feels herself slipping from this world and needs to feel a material object to maintain her grip on this world, either that, or she also could be reaching for the audience as if she is trying to say â€Å"why didn’t you help me? † She then proceeds to slowly sink to the floor as low pitch, sombre music starts to play. Her hand finally manages to find the shower curtain and wrenches it from the rail as she topples over the edge of the bath. The scene than shows that the one part of the shower that wasn’t white, the tap, the symbol of cleanliness puts on a darker purpose, washing away Marion’s blood, this shows that the symbolism of cleanliness can be used to both purge darkness but also to scrub one clean of it’s life. (petty morbid when you think about it) The final part of this scene begins with an extreme close up of Marion’s un-moving, unseeing, unblinking eye. The fact that the audience realise that their staring into death is quite unnerving, along with the fact that there appears to be a single tear on her face, which shows the immense sadness of the scene, one of the main reasons of the sadness was because the audience had bonded with her and that she had died leaving so much left to complete. After all that was the first time that a movie had killed off the main character as of yet. At the end of the scene, the camera pans around to reveal the money, left unnoticed, never to be revealed to anyone or reveal the truth of Marion’s true intentions. This reveals a sense of loneliness and unfulfilled purpose. If you really scrutinise the scene, it almost appears like the symbology has a story of its own†¦ A grey woman, torn between light and darkness, she had once been white but was lured by temptation and grew darker, now here she sits, realising all she had done and decides to rid herself of the darkness. The lets the darkness drop off her body and begins to cleanse herself till she sparkles once more, she surrounds herself with light and silver and feels the darkness ebbing away. A shadow appears behind her, approaching the her, it pulls back the light and ends her life, the woman reaches for something to hold, an anchor to the material world, to feel for one last time before she departs but ultimately just drags it with her. Then darkness, at the time too weak to change the light manipulates the silver, darkening it and using it to leech away whatever life the white woman had remaining, and leave nothing but a husk, an empty shell that once contained the woman in grey. The body of the woman sheds a tear in the memory of what it had once been, as the tempter gloats, covered in light on the outside yet shady and dark underneath.

Sacred Music in the Age of Rebirth Essay - 1251 Words

The Renaissance has not ceased to be an age of discussion and debate among historians throughout the recent centuries. The vibrant nature of the era marks it as a most fascinating period of history. The Renaissance can be described as an age carrying the essence of â€Å"self-discovery and fulfillment, of recognition of human worth, and a dynamic outpouring of artistic activity.† This new world flourishing with art and creative optimism was also steeped in a spirit of â€Å"revolt of the Medievalists.† In an effort of â€Å"rebirth,† the previous culture of the Middle Ages was rejected, and even scorned. Foundational principles in all fields were overstepped, and old cultural norms were practically obsolete. It was an era whose humanistic philosophy†¦show more content†¦In the Western world, it is clear that the changes that occurred in music over time were slow and organic. For the first three Christian centuries it seems that there was â€Å"no sign ificant evolution from a simple to a more complex musical style.† The first extraordinary development of music occurred in the late sixth and early seventh centuries with Pope St. Gregory the Great. His implementation of what became known as Gregorian Chant would be â€Å"a source and inspiration of a large proportion of all Western music up to the sixteenth century.† The Renaissance marks the next remarkable period of musical history, with unprecedented abruptness and degree of change. Secular music did not begin to take form as truly peculiar and distinct until the Middle Ages; and the unique and diverse nature of secular music was not fully realized until the Renaissance. In the early Christian centuries (up to about 600AD), secular music, as understood in a modern sense, simply did not exist. Undoubtedly, people sang and played their own music outside of the Church, but â€Å"what it was that they sang and played we do not know, for no record of it survives.† The earliest preserved fragments of secular music are Latin texts which date back to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Secular music used the same principles as sacred music, and even used the ecclesial language. This shows how blurred the line was between secular and sacred music up until the Middle Ages. AsShow MoreRelatedThe Renaissance : An Era Of Rebirth And Reformation1171 Words   |  5 PagesThe Renaissance was an era of rebirth and reformation, which brought about awareness of various c ultures. It was a period of intellectual improvement because there was a new enthusiasm for learning. Also, there was an increasing focus in humanism, which emphasized the importance of individualization. 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The great thing about music is that it comes in many different styles: Pop, Jazz, Classical, Country, Blues, Rock and Roll, Rap, Hip Hop and Techno, to name a few. How did music originate? Well, keep reading, becauseRead MoreThe Renaissance : The Contribution And Legacy Of The Renaissance1120 Words   |  5 Pagesthrough Europe and killed 1/3 of the population. Life seemed bleak for millions of survivors. Music and art took a back seat, but that all changed with the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 16th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It was a time period of rebirth that offered people a chance to live again. Music and art onc e more became center stage. Artist became architects. Musicians became composers