It Took a While, but the Midget Raisin is No More

It Took a While, but the Midget Raisin is No More Responding to a petition first filed by the Little People of America in May 2103, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to remove â€Å"midget† from its list of size classifications for raisins.   In a new federal regulation proposed by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) on August 13, the USDA would eliminate all five occurrences of the word â€Å"midget† from the â€Å"U.S. Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins.† The USDA had used â€Å"midget† to describe the smallest size of commercially processed raisins since WWII. ‘Small,’ Not ‘Midget’ â€Å"The action would clarify AMS grade standards by eliminating the use of the term ‘midget,’ while consistently using the term ‘small’ for raisins graded in that category,† states the USDA’s proposed rule. â€Å"The industry has used the two grade terms interchangeably for years. The proposed grade standards would be applied uniformly by all handlers.† The USDA acknowledged that the change was being made in response to the petition from the Little People of America (LPA), a non-profit advocacy group providing support and information to persons with a medical diagnosis of dwarfism or other form of short stature between 2’-8† and 4’-8† tall and their families. â€Å"On May 13, 2013, AMS received a petition from the Little People of America stating that they ‘are trying to raise awareness around and eliminate the use of the word midget,’† the USDA said. According to the USDA, the petition also stated that, â€Å"Though the use of the word midget by the USDA when classifying certain food products is benign, Little People of America, and the dwarfism community, hopes that the USDA would consider phasing out the term midget.† The Problem with ‘Midget’ The LPA considers the word â€Å"midget† to be â€Å"an antiquated slang term often used as slur toward shorter than average persons, specifically, â€Å"a person with a diagnosable skeletal dysplasia or medical condition,† according to the group’s Web site. In 2014, the LPA criticized Marvin Lewis, head coach of pro football’s Cincinnati Bengals for referring to Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel as a â€Å"midget.† Manziel, while considered by some in the sport to be â€Å"short† for a pro football quarterback, is 6’-0† tall. â€Å"LPA has been actively working to get the word taken out of societys vernacular, where it is often used carelessly and without regard to who else it may affect,† states the LPA. Dwarfism is a recognized condition under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In 2011, Startbucks Coffee agreed to pay $75,000 to settle an ADA-based disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charging that the coffee retailing giant had unlawfully denied a reasonable accommodation to a barista with dwarfism at one of its El Paso stores and subsequently fired her because of her disability. How Tall is a Midget Raisin? Under USDA standards adopted in 1978, midget – now to be called â€Å"small† raisins are â€Å"95 percent, by weight, of all the raisins will pass through round perforations 24/64-inch in diameter, and not less than 70 percent, by weight, of all raisins will pass through round perforations 22/64-inch in diameter.† Size standards for commercially-processed raisins are set by the USDA’s Raisin Administrative Committee, which had already â€Å"approved the removal of the term midget from the standards† in 2014. When Will You Notice the Change? While you might already see â€Å"small† replacing â€Å"midget† on raisin packaging and advertising, the change will not become official for while. As required by law, the USDA must continue to accept public comments on the new regulation until October 20. At least a month later, the new regulation will be published in the Federal Register, making the change from â€Å"midget† to â€Å"small† official. Justice or ‘Political Correctness?’ Interestingly, the only two comments submitted on the rule change so far have come from people opposed to the growing demand for â€Å"political correctness.† â€Å"This is akin to killing fleas with a cannon,† wrote on commenter. â€Å"Certainly, there is a better use for workers at the USDA than to be checking under every rock for an offended person.† â€Å"Its a shame political correctness has come to censoring the federal government!† stated the other comment. â€Å"Eliminating 5 ‘midget’ mentions in the guidelines at expense of millions more ‘midget’ mentions on the interwebs is ridiculous!†

Identify the key challenges for implementing public policy in modern Essay

Identify the key challenges for implementing public policy in modern Britain - Essay Example The general economic crisis, which has amazed many West-European countries in 80-90-ies years, has forced them to reconsider the social policy. "The social state" has appeared to be unable to cope with new problems of public management (social deviations, "new poor", growth of criminality, etc.). The concept of "the social state" was replaced by neoliberalism that demanded the redefinition of the purposes of the state and the "rational" management. The social conditions of political practices have radically changed, having caused new political forms, and new professionals of their manufacture (experts, social workers) (Ham, 1984, p87). Each form of public policy is directed on the social problem and has its "public" (a category of social counterparts). However the problem, no less than a social category, is not something certainly and unequivocally given, but the results of designing of agents of public policy. The Researches of public policy in the West aspire to separate in the independent discipline, speaking on behalf a name of a science about "the state in operation". However, declaring itself as a science about "public action", it in practice, often departs from the model of knowledge accepted in the academic world and takes the form of set of techniques or check lists, intended for the persons making the decision, i.e. solves the problems of public management. A greater part of the responsibility for that lays on Anglo-Saxon tradition as, since the fiftieth years, the researches of public policy in the USA are based on concept "government" and have almost exclusively pragmatical character(Ham, 1984, p94). Studying of public policy goes back to the standard of distinction between policy (a policy as the program of actions) and politics (a policy as a system of sights). The problem of public policy is considered here in aspect of increasing inability of the modern state to solve socia l problems of the population. The state is ostensibly

Censorship an argument for censorship of media on violence against Research Paper

Censorship an argument for censorship of media on violence against women - Research Paper Example While liberalists argue that censorship is an infringement against freedom of expression, the paper takes a stand that unrestricted depiction of violence against women will only fuel the patriarchal superiority of men in a particular society. Hence a certain level of restriction, even if it is an apparent infringement of freedom of expression is deemed necessary. Introduction: Gender equality is a term that one often hears nowadays. The concept has been around for decades, even though its practical relevance even in modern societies is circumspect. Women’s rights group have, over the years, made great strides in empowering women in various activities of human endeavor. Jobs and tasks, once the exclusive prerogative of men are now being opened up to the ‘fairer sex’ as well. ... This embodiment is inflicted on almost every part of the body. Women wear lipstick, curl their eyelashes, do all sorts of things with their hear like dyeing, curling, straightening etc, eyes are shadowed or lined, use high heel or ill fitting shoes, resort to body piercing and even cosmetic surgery and silicon implantation, all in the name of beauty. The author argues that most of these practices are not only physically and mentally harmful, but also degrading to women. These practices are encouraged by the fashion industry, the art world and even women’s and girlie magazines. Moreover, writing against them results mainly in resentment and opposition even from the so called feminists. Jeffrey says that â€Å"Beauty and Misogyny could well fit into precisely those feminist writings which are criticized because I am arguing here that ideologies of beauty and fashion such as those circulated through popular culture do subordinate women, however passionately those women may adher e to then and cut up their bodies in response† (Jeffreys, 15). Violence against women: The above argument was given just to show the element of male superiority and female inferiority in today’s societies. Violence against women is not just passion, but an act of dominance (Riley). The author argues that the aspect is much deeper than pure censorship of media portraying violence against women. The lack of choice in a male dominated society makes women more vulnerable to violence in various forms (Berry. 13). Other arguments over the power of the media to influence males to be influenced by media are also available. The basic argument is that there is no â€Å"simple, direct and casual relationship between the media and

Compair the Matrix, Cathedral, and Billy Slaughterhouse 5 to the one Essay

Compair the Matrix, Cathedral, and Billy Slaughterhouse 5 to the one who ascends from in The Allegory of the Cave - Essay Example On the hand, the blind man’s view of life comes from an open perspective and he is ready to learn new things about life (Carver, 2002). The narrators view on blindness (life), changes when the blind man asks him to describe the cathedral for him. When he lacks words to do this, he is forced to show him by drawing, by catching his hand. Communication through symbolism helps him to understand the world through the blind man’s point of view. The blindness that separated them at the beginning brings them together. This is achieved through seeing the world from others perspective. Slaughter house- five basically explores the illogical nature of human beings, free will and fate. This book explores the concept that we are powerless and can do only what we can actually do. Billy Pilgrim is an anti-war character, who trains as a chaplain assistant, earning him disgust from his friends. Despite being the main character of the book, he gets on the nerves of everyone because of his dreams, weak body and fecklessness. He still manages to survive one of the main human atrocities, where others have failed. Nothing in Billy’s life happens out of his own will, but he watches as his life unfolds in front of him for example he is recruited to the war without his consent and gets married to a woman he does not love. In most of the novel, his character is not one the narrator could call a â€Å"character†, and only does so when he becomes â€Å"crazy† and breaks out of hospital to a radio talk show to tell about â€Å"Tralfamadore†. This is a place where he was abducted to by aliens, and this could either be in his head or reality. Events in this place take place simultaneously, so nothing happens before or after the other. In this situation, a person can choose only the good memories of life. Some can argue that the events in his life are due to the post traumatic disorder he has suffered in his life. We all can agree that human life invol ves suffering, and in his case, this seemed to be happening a lot. The old ways of explaining this suffering; religion and patriotism, do not seem to work. In the end, Billy awaits death without fear and is in control, something he was not able to do throughout his life. He ends up being the most unlikely war heroes. In Matrix the movie, Thomas Anderson, is one of the many billions of people connected to the Matrix unaware that they live in a virtual world. Despite being a respectable programmer for a software company, he is also a hacker with an alias†Neo†. This is when he gets to know about the Matrix. He has a choice to forget all about it and live his normal life, or gather information on the Matrix. Neo chooses to liberate humanity from the virtual fate, and there begins his journey to enlighten and being a hero. This is despite warnings from those who know the truth. He embraces his role and even learns fighting skills quite first, in the journey of being savior of the universe, where he gets his other name, â€Å"the one†. This is when we start to see his messianic like qualities and belief from other characters such as Morpheus and the Oracle, towards human liberation. There are several similarities between this character and Jesus Christ, for example Jesus was both earthly and godly, which can be compared to Neo’s ability to go through realms. The name Thomas can also be compared to doubting Thomas in the New Testament, who doubted the resurrection of Christ. Similarly, Neo doubted his abilities at

The Sherman Antitrust Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Sherman Antitrust Act - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of the year 1890 was put in place in 1890 for the main intention of promoting economic competitiveness. The Act was effective in that it introduced the possibility of control of large corporations that took advantage of their monopoly to overcharge the ordinary citizens. The Act ensured that big corporations could not take advantage of their trusts to rule the market and dictate prices between states. The Act also ensured that the raising of artificial prices was prevented since the market strategies that encourage it, the namely monopoly was capped by the introduction of the Act. Another effect of the Act was that it provided for a way to govern companies that operate between states as there were no prior regulations addressing them. Before those companies charged different prices through different states and exploited the consumers of these states differently. The Act was also effective in that it ensured that the Act’s provisions would be implemented through the authority given to government attorneys and courts. Â  This is by making them responsible for the seeking out and investigation of companies suspected to have violated terms that were specified in the Act. The Act that was put in place to protect the consumers had several strengths that made it an important legislation at a time when consumer rights needed attention. The act saved small businesses that were discriminated by the bigger corporations.

Invastigation report Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Invastigation report - Case Study Example In fact, he had been trained by the company on how to effectively operate a forklift. On the day Tina was involved in the accident: 13th/03/2012, at 2300hrs, Cox was doing his usual duty of pushing the forklift. However, as fate would have it, Tina had to suffer injuries which resulted from the falling of very many objects on her heels. This really caused a lot of pains to her as it made her to dislocate the arm and break her arm. Thus, it became apparent that she could not continue with her duties. However, the response of the company’s management was good because she was immediately rushed to the hospital thereafter. Fortunately, while all these incidences were happening, there was an eye witness who got an opportunity to observe whatever happened to Tina. This was Bryan Workman who, was at the time of the accident, was close to Tina and could see everything. Therefore, while conducting the investigations, each of these parties was involved in an interview. They were asked to give accounts of all that they saw during this incident. As an investigator, I had to rely on their narrations in order to enable me make a decision on this matter. From Tina who was of course, the injured party, I learnt that the incident cased a lot of pains to her. However, her conditions could not enable her to say exactly what happened. Meanwhile, Cox shed more light on how the accident occurred at a time when he was busy doing his normal duties. However, he attributed it to the fact that he was rushing to give Tina the items to inspect. The narrations of these people are consistent and convincing. For instance, after interviewing Tina at the hospital, I found out that the company had not done a lot regarding her condition. In fact, even her husband David had not been informed about her ordeal. Besides, the company had not sent any representative to check on her and take a report about her conditions. By acting in this manner, the management of this company

Comparative Evaluation of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism Essay

Comparative Evaluation of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism - Essay Example As Morgenthau had tried to focus on through his studies and analysis, the power that a state government generally reflects on the state activities are consequences of the interests that the nation holds as a whole (Pashakhanlou, 2009). The classical liberalism on the other hand throws light on the promotion of government power that needs to be limited to highlight the power of the human beings inhabitant in the state. The primary focus of this belief is thus on individuals being able to be liberal in their activities and yet decide their democratic views on their own. The concept is also not associated with any socialism on the part of the individuals. Rather, their freedom and independence in expression of their political views as well as getting involved in political activities are considered significant in the classical liberalism concept (Koeller, 2003). The Reflections and Impacts of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism on the international politics: Although the concept o f classical realism tried to link between the human behavior and their activities and thus the conflicts and power struggles occurring in the world of politics, yet the concept could not keep up with its implications till the current times. Considering its implications, it has been observed that the concept has been unable to act on some standard while focusing on the international politics as a whole. If it pointed to some facts of the human behavior leading to conflicts, the theory has not been able to relate that fact to the world politics as a whole. Rather, it has been associated to some parts of the world politics or some sections or groups of people. Moreover, the concept has been proved to be inconsistent since it could not explain the different terms in relation... The classical realism is focused on the conflicts, powers and wars prevailing in the political world on an international level and determines how repeatedly such political conflicts occur in the world. The classical realism concept tries to stress on the causes created by human beings that result in the initiation of political conflicts (Pashakhanlou, 2009). On the other hand liberalism is more concerned about the freedom that human beings deserve. This concept brings into focus the need to understand the requirements of the human beings more than the needs of a state (Koeller, 2003). Thus the two concepts are different in their study of the world politics. However, although having different concepts the beliefs are concerned with the humans and the impacts of the international politics on the lives of the common people. The primary difference in the two concepts lies in the fact that realism focuses on what is happening in actual in the international political world. Considering a comparative study on both classical realism and classical liberalism, it can be understood that both the concepts have been different in their views and thoughts. While realism remained concerned with the reality that occurs as a result of the human activities not considering the structural negligence, the liberalism concept focused on the needful measures that human beings required and deserved as against the importance provided to the political parties or the government authorities.