Local Law Enforcement Essay Example for Free

Local Law Enforcement Essay Stages/Steps in the Hiring Process: First step is the applicant processing division to identify the most qualified applicants. Second step is the Pre-hire interview, next is a medical exam and then take a written psychological test. Next one will take a job standard test and an oral psychological interview. Last but not least a character investigation and any other additional requirements under exceptional circumstances. Specific Requirements: Applicants must be at least 17 ½ years of age by the last day of filing of the exam they are applying for. . Those applicants who are 35 and over and have active United States military service may deduct up to six years from the age requirement. If by mail: Applications must be submitted/postmarked by the filing deadline of the exam they are applying for. Candidates must be at least 21 years of age on or before the day of hire. Candidates must be a United States citizen on or before the day of hire. On or before the day of hire, candidates must have successfully completed either: Sixty (60) college credits with a 2.0 G.P.A. from an accredited college or university, or Two (2) years of full-time, active military service in the United States Armed Forces with an honorable discharge and have a high schools diploma or its equivalent. Candidates must reside either within one of the five boroughs of New York City or one of the surrounding counties of New York City; Suffolk, Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Nassau or Putnam Counties on the day of hire. Candidates must possess a valid, unrestricted New York State Driver’s License on the day of hire. Candidates must pay a $75.00 fee for fingerprinting as part of the investigation process. Candidates must pass a drug/alcohol screening. Candidates must pass a character and background investigation. Pay Scales: Police Academy 44,744; after 6 months 46,288; after 1.5 years 48,173; after 2.5 years 53, 819; after 3.5 years 58,786; after 4.5 years 62,455; after 5.0 years 69,005; after 5.5 years 90, 829. †¢Candidates must compete in the required written examination and pass additional screening procedures. †¢Candidates must be legal residents of Nassau County, Suffolk County, Westchester County or one of the five boroughs of New York City at time of appointment and maintain residency. †¢Candidates must be at least 17 but less than 35 years of age on the date of the written exam; provided, however, that time spent on military duty or on terminal leave, not exceeding a total of 6 years, shall be subtracted from the age of any applicant who has passed their 35th birthday, as provided in subdivision 10-a of Section 243 of the New York State Military Law. †¢Candidates must be citizens of the United States at time of appointment. †¢Candidates will be required to submit to a background investigation prior to appointment. †¢Candidates must possess a valid New York State driver’s license at time of appointment. †¢Appointments are determined on an individual basis by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission, however, anyone with a felony conviction may be excluded from being a Nassau County Police Officer. †¢No college education is required to take the written examination; however, 32 credits of college education are required for appointment. Those candidates who have not attained that level of education but are otherwise eligible for appointment will remain on the eligible list and will become eligible for appointment after they have obtained the necessary college credits. Pay Scales: Get paid while you train in the Police Academy;$34,000 starting salary;$107,319 after 9 years;12% shift differential; Education incentive pay Title of Agency (3): City of New York Department of Correction Web Address: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doc/html/home/home.shtml Stages/Steps in the Hiring Process: The primary responsibility of the Applicant Investigation Unit is to ensure the New York City Department of Correction hires the most qualified candidate to join the uniform members of service. The candidates are investigated, evaluated medically, inclusive of an agility test, and physically to determine their fitness for duty in all aforementioned areas. The New York City Department of Correction investigates thousands of candidates; however, only the most qualified for the position are selected.

Importance Of Faith And Prayer In Islam Religion Essay

Importance Of Faith And Prayer In Islam Religion Essay The quotation from the course textbook (page 225) gives tremendous significance to faith and rituals of the Islamic culture, both of which are greatly highlighted in the holy book of Quran. The main source where Muslims gain an enormous amount of faith is from reading the holy book of Quran. One must fully believe and understand the messages written in the Quran to have complete faith in it as a Muslim individual because without faith, performing those rituals are useless. For centuries, the Quran has been preserved in its original form as it was first revealed to Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H). Any slight change in it can be easily detected, since over the years, the Quran has been memorized by millions of Muslims all over the world. The originality of the holy book for over a decade is a huge fascination on its own. Since its original script is from God, the Quran is able to hold a great extent of value in the hearts of its followers. The term religious rituals, as explained in our text are basically repeated actions or words that connect an individual to God. The religious rituals in Islam are a few in numbers, but each hold great importance to Muslims. The quote from the text reminds Muslims to keep up with prayers. The ritual of prayer, known as Salat, is the second of the five Pillars of Islam. These five pillars are the five practices that every Muslim is encouraged to perform throughout their life by the holy book of Quran. The ritual of Salat is a distinctive mark of a true believer. This ritual, performed five times during the day, provides a Muslim individual with direct communication with the Creator, the Almighty. The religious ritual of prayer is essential to all Muslims. An individual performs a ritual ablution (wadu), before each prayer, to be in a state of purity. Praying five times provides Muslims with a sense of punctuality in their everyday lives. An individual carries out a prayer in order to praise and admire God for his benevolence. Prayer gives one an opportunity to ask for forgiveness for all the misdeeds committed and also to ask the Almighty to guide him/her in the straight/ right path. As described in the Hadith, one of the sayings of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) relates prayer to the convenience of having a stream flowing outside ones door. If an individual could easily bathe in this flowing stream of water five times during the day, he/she will have no filth left on him/her. Likewise, praying five times daily washes away ones sins. This repeated performance of the ritual keeps everyone remembering and fearing God throughout the day. The quote from the text refers to highly important claims and one cannot help but agree with them. Reciting the Quran and keeping up with prayers are the key factors that keep a Muslim connected to Allah, the greatest. Remembering the power of Almighty several times during the day is beneficial in endless number of ways such as keeping an individual away from evil or committing misdeeds and reserving a place in the afterlife (Jannah). These benefits clearly link the ritual of prayer with morality. The term morality, as defined in the text, is a set of norms designed to regulate and govern the conduct of humans. Religious rituals, on the other hand, help keep an individual connected to God and following in the path of guidance of the divine being. Prayer requires complete submission of an individuals mind and soul to the Ultimate. It reminds everyone that the Creator, the Almighty owns everything, including the Day of Judgment. Praying is not done by choice, but is rather obligatory s tarting at the age of seven. The religious ritual of praying can be seen as a true sign of having faith and the quote from the text greatly helps to signify its importance as mentioned in the Quran.

Disneys Medievalesque Sleeping Beauty Essay -- Essays Papers

Disney's Medievalesque Sleeping Beauty "It was not once upon a time, but in a certain time in history, before anyone knew what was happening, Walt Disney cast a spell on the fairy tale. He did not use a magic wand or demonic powers. On the contrary, Disney employed the most up-to-date technological means and used his own American "grit" and ingenuity to appropriate European fairy tales. His technical skills and ideological proclivities were so consummate that his signature obfuscated the names of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Collodi. If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. " --Jack Zipes, "Breaking the Disney Spell" (72) Zipes, one of the foremost scholars on the "fairy tale" has published numerous commentaries on Disney's cinematic versions of fairy tales and critiques Disney for using them to perpetuate what Zipes sees as cultural ills. In the same essay he writes, "The manner in which he copied the musical films and plays of his time, and his close adaptation of fairy tales with patriarchal codes indicate that all the technical experiments would not be used to foster social change in America, but to keep power in the hands of individuals like himself, who felt empowered to design and create new worlds" (Zipes 93). Zipes ultimately sees Disney's egotism as guilty of failing to utilize the opportunity afforded within a medium such as the animated fairy tale to acknowledge and foster change within the social order. Zipes, along with other scholars such as Eleanor Byrne and Martin McQuillan, authors of the book Deconstructing Disney, explore and catalogue the various ways in which Walt Disney-the man-and Disney-the corporation that is his legacy-perpetuate social figurations of race, gender and ethnocentrism through they films they produce. They furthermore critique Disney for reducing fairy tales to over-simplified, over-sanitized and over-sentimentalized banalities designed solely as a profit-generating products. Such analyses prove to be truly important work, as the socio-cultural ideas propagated by Disney, as well as the means by it executed such propagation prove key in unlocking the messages that are sent through seemingly harmless "entertainment". As Zipes keenly point out, Yet, amus... ...Cited Byrne, Eleanor and Martin McQuillan. Deconstructing Disney. Great Britain: Pluto Press, 1999. Dorfman, Ariel and Armand Mattelart. How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic. Trans. David Kunzle. New York: International General 1984. Lefebvre, Henri. "Work and Leisure in Everyday Life." Everyday Life Reader. Ed. Ben Highmore. Great Britain: Routledge, 2002. 225-36. Marx, Karl. "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction." 1844. The Marx-Engels Reader. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. 2nd ed. USA: Norton, 1978. 53-65. "Once Upon a Dream: The Making of Sleeping Beauty". Documentary. Disney, Inc., c. 1959. Perrault, Charles. "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood." 1697. Perrault's Complete Fairy Tales. Trans. A.E. Johnson. USA: Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. 1961. 1-15. Sleeping Beauty. Dir. Wilfred Jackson. Walt Disney Studios, 1959. "Sleeping Beauty: Commemorative Booklet." Disney Inc. c. 1997. Willis, Paul. "Symbolic Creativity." Everyday Life Reader. Ed. Ben Highmore. Great Britain: Routledge, 2002. 282-294. Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tale as Myth. USA: University Press of Kentucky, 1994.

Hiring a New Employee Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Hiring a New Employee â€Å"A company is only as good as the employees who work for It.† Seems to be the slogan driving most employers in today’s marketplace. Your employees are a direct reflection of your company and in many industries, may actually be considered the product. Finding the right employee can be one of the most crucial and difficult decisions a business can face. Businesses must be prepared for this process and understand the steps involved in hiring a new employee. When an employer makes the decision to hire a new employee, they must first decide what advantages this employee will offer the company. The employee may be considered a producer, who would benefit the company by producing, creating, selling or supporting the product. This employee would be responsible for direct profits for the company. He or she may also belong to the coordinator category of employees. These employees are responsible for the productivity of producers by coordinating their tasks with those of other producers to gain the most cost effective solution. It must be determined if the efforts of a coordinator would benefit the producers in a specific company. A new employee may also offer your company the assistant qualities needed to free up the time of a higher paid employee. An assistant can be very valuable to your company by helping your executives become more efficient. Once the potential gains of a new employee are determined, the costs associated with this...

Galileo: Scientist, Scholar, Rebel Essay -- essays research papers

Seventeenth-century European study was controlled by two powerful forces: the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Pope, and ancient philosophy dominated by the 2000-year-old ideas of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. The Church had an overwhelming influence on the lives of most Europeans. During Galileo’s time one in twelve people living in Rome was either a cleric or a nun.1 The Church forbid any teaching that deviated from what was taught in the Bible. To enforce this control, the Church set up the Inquisition. Galileo was targeted by the Inquisition for his observations and experiments. 2 Because his teachings differed from the socially accepted ideas of Aristotle, the Inquisition believed he should be persecuted. Even though Galileo’s observations were much more factual than Aristotle’s and, more important, backed up by experiments and the use of the telescope, he was still sentenced to house arrest for life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa Italy.3 Galileo was born into a family considered nobility, and his father, Vincenzo Galilei, was an accomplished musician.4 Galileo was tutored privately and also educated by his father until the age of eleven, when his family moved to Florence and sent him to a Jesuit monastery to study medicine.5 Three years after his son began school, Vincenzo was surprised to learn Galileo had decided to become a monk. Somewhat angered, his father withdrew him from the monastery, and Galileo continued his high school education in Florence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At age seventeen Galileo began college at the University of Pisa, where he reluctantly studied medicine. 6 Throughout his first term attending the university, Galileo became more interested in mathematics than medicine. A court mathematician, by the name of Ostillo Ricci, noticed Galileo in his lectures.7 Impressed with Galileo’s knowledge, he urged Galileo change his major to mathematics. Against his father’s wishes, Galileo changed courses, and by the end of his first term he was a mathematics undergraduate.8   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Galileo made his first important discovery while attending the University of Pisa. Galileo noticed a swinging lamp above him during a church sermon. Extremely bored, Galileo conducted an experiment to see if the amount of time in between each swing was the same. Using hi... ...i. School of Mathmatics and St. Andrews, Scotland, August 1995; available from http://www.history.mcs.standrews.ac.uk/history/mathmatics/galileo.html;Internet. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Jack Meadows, The Great Scientists. Oxford University; New York, 1987, p. 35. 8 Deborah Hitzeroth and Sharon Heerbor, Galileo Galilei. Lucent Books Inc; California, 1992, p.15. 9 Ibid., p.16. 10 J.V. Field, Galileo Galilei. School of Mathmatics and St. Andrews, Scotland, August 1995; available from http://www.history.mcs.standrews.ac.uk/history/mathmatics/galileo.html;Internet. 11 Ibid. 12 Galileo Galilei- Astrology. Available from http://www.astrology.about.com/library/weekly/aa0zz00b. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Jack Meadows, The Great Scientists. Oxford University; New York, 1987, p.41. 19 Deborah Hitzeroth and Sharon Heerbor, Galileo Galilei. Lucent Books Inc; California, 1992, p.24. 20 Jack Meadows, The Great Scientists. Oxford University; New York, 1987, p.44. 21 Ibid., p.45. 22 Giorgio De Santillan, The Crimes of Galileo. Time Inc; University of Chicago Press, 1962, p.185. 23 Ibid., p.257. 24 Ibid. 25 Jack Meadows, The Great Scientists. Oxford University; New York, 1987, p.48. 26 Ibid

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 20

Part IV Spirit He who sees in me all things, and all things in me, is never far from me, and I am never far from him. THE BHAGAVAD GITA Chapter 20 The road was just wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side. The grass on either side was as high as an elephant's eye. We could see blue sky above us, and exactly as far along the path as the next curve, which could have been any distance away, because there's no perspective in an unbroken green trench. We'd been traveling on this road most of the day, and passed only one old man and a couple of cows, but now we could hear what sounded like a large party approaching us, not far off, perhaps two hundred yards away. There were men's voices, a lot of them, footsteps, some dissonant metal drums, and most disturbing, the continuous screams of a woman either in pain, or terrified, or both. â€Å"Young masters!† came a voice from somewhere near us. I jumped in the air and came down in a defensive stance, my black glass knife drawn and ready. Josh looked around for the source of the voice. The screaming was getting closer. There was a rustling in the grass a few feet away from the road, then again the voice, â€Å"Young masters, you must hide.† An impossibly thin male face with eyes that seemed a size and a half too large for his skull popped out of the wall of grass beside us. â€Å"You must come. Kali comes to choose her victims! Come now or die.† The face disappeared, replaced by a craggy brown hand that motioned for us to follow into the grass. The woman's scream hit crescendo and failed, as if the voice had broken like an overtightened lute string. â€Å"Go,† said Joshua, pushing me into the grass. As soon as I was off of the road someone caught my wrist and started dragging me through the sea of grass. Joshua latched onto the tail of my shirt and allowed himself to be dragged along. As we ran the grass whipped and slashed at us. I could feel blood welling up on my face and arms, even as the brown wraith pulled me deeper into the sea of green. Above the rasping of my breath I heard men shouting from behind us, then a thrashing of the grass being trampled. â€Å"They follow,† said the brown wraith over his shoulder. â€Å"Run unless you want your heads to decorate Kali's altar. Run.† Over my shoulder to Josh, I said, â€Å"He says run or it will be bad.† Behind Josh, outlined against the sky, I saw long, swordlike spear tips, the sort of thing one might use for beheading someone. â€Å"Okey-dokey,† said Josh. It had taken us over a month to get to India, most of the journey through hundreds of miles of the highest, most rugged country we had ever seen. Amazingly enough, there were villages scattered all through the mountains, and when the villagers saw our orange robes doors were flung wide and larders opened. We were always fed, given a warm place to sleep, and welcomed to stay as long as we wished. We offered obtuse parables and irritating chants in return, as was the tradition. It wasn't until we came out of the mountains onto a brutally hot and humid grassland that we found our mode of dress was drawing more disdain than welcome. One man, of obvious wealth (he rode a horse and wore silk robes) cursed us as we passed and spit at us. Other people on foot began to take notice of us as well, and we hurried off into some high grass and changed out of our robes. I tucked the glass dagger that Joy had given me into my sash. â€Å"What was he going on about?† I asked Joshua. â€Å"He said something about tellers of false prophecies. Pretenders. Enemies of the Brahman, whatever that is. I'm not sure what else.† â€Å"Well, it looks like we're more welcome here as Jews than as Buddhists.† â€Å"For now,† said Joshua. â€Å"All the people have those marks on their foreheads like Gaspar had. I think without one of those we're going to have to be careful.† As we traveled into the lowlands the air felt as thick as warm cream, and we could feel the weight of it in our lungs after so many years in the mountains. We passed into the valley of a wide, muddy river, and the road became choked with people passing in and out of a city of wooden shacks and stone altars. There were humped-back cattle everywhere, even grazing in the gardens, but no one seemed to bear them any mind. â€Å"The last meat I ate was what was left of our camels,† I said. â€Å"Let's find a booth and buy some beef.† There were merchants along the road selling various wares, clay pots, powders, herbs, spices, copper and bronze blades (iron seemed to be in short supply), and tiny carvings of what seemed to be a thousand different gods, most of them having more limbs than seemed necessary and none of them looking particularly friendly. We found grain, breads, fruits, vegetables, and bean pastes for sale, but nowhere did we see any meat. We settled on some bread and spicy bean paste, paid the woman with Roman copper coin, then found a place under a large banyan tree where we could sit and look at the river while we ate. I'd forgotten the smell of a city, the fetid mlange of people, and waste, and smoke and animals, and I began to long for the clean air of the mountains. â€Å"I don't want to sleep here, Joshua. Let's see if we can find a place in the country.† â€Å"We are supposed to follow this river to the sea to reach Tamil. Where the river goes, so go the people.† The river – wider than any in Israel, but shallow, yellow with clay, and still against the heavy air – seemed more like a huge stagnant puddle than a living, moving thing. In this season, anyway. Dotting the surface, a half-dozen skinny, naked men with wild white hair and not three teeth apiece shouted angry poetry at the top of their lungs and tossed water into glittering crests over their heads. â€Å"I wonder how my cousin John is doing,† said Josh. All along the muddy riverbank women washed clothes and babies only steps from where cattle waded and shat, men fished or pushed long shallow boats along with poles, and children swam or played in the mud. Here and there the corpse of a dog bobbed flyblown in the gentle current. â€Å"Maybe there's a road inland a little, away from the stench.† Joshua nodded and climbed to his feet. â€Å"There,† he said, pointing to a narrow path that began on the opposite bank of the river and disappeared into some tall grass. â€Å"We'll have to cross,† I said. â€Å"Be nice if we could find a boat to take us,† said Josh. â€Å"You don't think we should ask where the path leads?† â€Å"No,† said Joshua, looking at a crowd of people who were gathering nearby and staring at us. â€Å"These people all look hostile.† â€Å"What was that you told Gaspar about love was a state you dwell in or something?† â€Å"Yeah, but not with these people. These people are creepy. Let's go.† The creepy little brown guy who was dragging me through the elephant grass was named Rumi, and much to his credit, amid the chaos and tumble of a headlong dash through a leviathan marshland, pursued by a muderous band of clanging, shouting, spear-waving decapitation enthusiasts, Rumi had managed to find a tiger – no small task when you have a kung fu master and the savior of the world in tow. â€Å"Eek, a tiger,† Rumi said, as we stumbled into a small clearing, a mere depression really, where a cat the size of Jerusalem was gleefully gnawing away on the skull of a deer. Rumi had expressed my sentiments exactly, but I would be damned if I was going to let my last words be â€Å"Eek, a tiger,† so I listened quietly as urine filled my shoes. â€Å"You'd think all the noise would have frightened him,† Josh said, just as the tiger looked up from his deer. I noticed that our pursuers seemed to be closing on us by the second. â€Å"That is the way it is usually done,† said Rumi. â€Å"The noise drives the tiger to the hunter.† â€Å"Maybe he knows that,† I said, â€Å"so he's not going anywhere. You know, they're bigger than I imagined. Tigers, I mean.† â€Å"Sit down,† said Joshua. â€Å"Pardon me?† I said. â€Å"Trust me,† Joshua said. â€Å"Remember the cobra when we were kids?† I nodded to Rumi and coaxed him down as the tiger crouched and tensed his hind legs as if preparing to leap, which is exactly what he was doing. As the first of our pursuers broke into the clearing from behind us the tiger leapt, sailing over our heads by half again the height of a man. The tiger landed on the first two men coming out of the grass, crushing them under his enormous forepaws, then raking their backs as he leapt again. After that all I could see was spear points scattering against the sky as the hunters became, well, you know. Men screamed, the woman screamed, the tiger screamed, and the two men who had fallen under the tiger crawled to their feet and limped back toward the road, screaming. Rumi looked from the dead deer, to Joshua, to me, to the dead deer, to Joshua, and his eyes seemed to grow even larger than before. â€Å"I am deeply moved and eternally grateful for your affinity with the tiger, but that is his deer, and it appears that he has not finished with it, perhaps†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joshua stood up. â€Å"Lead on.† â€Å"I don't know which way.† â€Å"Not that way,† I said, pointing in the direction of the screaming bad guys. Rumi led us through the grass to another road, which we followed to where he lived. â€Å"It's a pit,† I said. â€Å"It's not that bad,† said Joshua, looking around. There were other pits nearby. People were living in them. â€Å"You live in a pit,† I said. â€Å"Hey, ease up,† Joshua said. â€Å"He saved our lives.† â€Å"It is a humble pit, but it is home,† said Rumi. â€Å"Please make yourself comfortable.† I looked around. The pit had been chipped out of sandstone and was about shoulder deep and just wide enough to turn a cow around in, which I would find out was a crucial dimension. The pit was empty except for a single rock about knee high. â€Å"Have a seat. You may have the rock,† said Rumi. Joshua smiled and sat on the rock. Rumi sat on the floor of the pit, which was covered with a thick layer of black slime. â€Å"Please. Sit,† said Rumi, gesturing to the floor beside him. â€Å"I'm sorry, we can only afford one rock.† I didn't sit. â€Å"Rumi, you live in a pit!† I pointed out. â€Å"Well, yes, that is true. Where do Untouchables live in your land?† â€Å"Untouchable?† â€Å"Yes, the lowest of the low. The scum of the earth. None of the higher caste may acknowledge my existence. I am Untouchable.† â€Å"Well, no wonder, you live in a fucking pit.† â€Å"No,† Joshua said, â€Å"he lives in a pit because he's Untouchable, he's not Untouchable because he lives in a pit. He'd be Untouchable if he lived in a palace, isn't that right, Rumi?† â€Å"Oh, like that's going to happen,† I said. I'm sorry, the guy lived in a pit. â€Å"There's more room since my wife and most of my children died,† said Rumi. â€Å"Until this morning it was only Vitra, my youngest daughter and me, but now she is gone too. There is plenty of room for you if you wish to stay.† Joshua put his hand on Rumi's narrow shoulder and I could see the effect it had, the pain evaporating from the Untouchable's face like dew under a hot sun. I stood by being wretched. â€Å"What happened to Vitra?† Joshua asked. â€Å"They came and took her, the Brahmans, as a sacrifice on the feast of Kali. I was looking for her when I saw you two. They gather children and men, criminals, Untouchables, and strangers. They would have taken you and day after tomorrow they would have offered your head to Kali.† â€Å"So your daughter is not dead?† I asked. â€Å"They will hold her until midnight on the night of the feast, then slaughter her with the other children on the wooden elephants of Kali.† â€Å"I will go to these Brahmans and ask for your daughter back,† Joshua said. â€Å"They'll kill you,† Rumi said. â€Å"Vitra is lost, even your tiger cannot save you from Kali's destruction.† â€Å"Rumi,† I said. â€Å"Look at me, please. Explain, Brahmans, Kali, elephants, everything. Go slow, act as if I know nothing.† â€Å"Like that takes imagination,† Joshua said, clearly violating my implied, if not expressed, copyright on sarcasm. (Yeah, we have Court TV in the hotel room, why?) â€Å"There are four castes,† said Rumi, â€Å"the Brahmans, or priests; Kshatriyas, or warriors; Vaisyas, who are farmers or merchants; and the Sudras, who are laborers. There are many subcastes, but those are the main ones. Each man is born to a caste and he remains in that caste until he dies and is reborn as a higher caste or lower caste, which is determined by his karma, or actions during his last life.† â€Å"We know from karma,† I said. â€Å"We're Buddhist monks.† â€Å"Heretics!† Rumi hissed. â€Å"Bite me, you bug-eyed scrawny brown guy,† I said. â€Å"You are a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"No, you're a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"No, you are a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"We are all scrawny brown guys,† Joshua said, making peace. â€Å"Yeah, but he's bug-eyed.† â€Å"And you are a heretic.† â€Å"You're a heretic!† â€Å"No, you are a heretic.† â€Å"We're all scrawny brown heretics,† said Joshua, calming things down again. â€Å"Well, of course I'm scrawny,† I said. â€Å"Six years of cold rice and tea, and not a scrap of beef for sale in the whole country.† â€Å"You would eat beef? You heretic!† shouted Rumi. â€Å"Enough!† shouted Joshua. â€Å"No one may eat a cow. Cows are the reincarnations of souls on their way to the next life.† â€Å"Holy cow,† Josh said. â€Å"That is what I am saying.† Joshua shook his head as if trying to straighten jumbled thoughts. â€Å"You said that there were four castes, but you didn't mention Untouchables.† â€Å"Harijans, Untouchables, have no caste, we are the lowest of the low. We may have to live many lifetimes before we even ascend to the level of a cow, and then we may become higher caste. Then, if we follow our dharma, our duty, as a higher caste, we may become one with Brahma, the universal spirit of all. I can't believe you don't know this, have you been living in a cave?† I was going to point out that Rumi was in no position to criticize where we had been living, but Joshua signaled me to let it go. Instead I said, â€Å"So you are lower on the caste system than a cow?† I asked. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So these Brahmans won't eat a cow, but they will take your daughter and kill her for their goddess?† â€Å"And eat her,† said Rumi, hanging his head. â€Å"At midnight on the night of the feast they will take her and the other children and tie them to the wooden elephants. They will cut off the children's fingers and give one to the head of each Brahman household. Then they will catch her blood in a cup and everyone in the household will taste it. They may eat the finger or bury it for good luck. After that the children are hacked to death on the wooden elephants.† â€Å"They can't do that,† Joshua said. â€Å"Oh yes, the cult of Kali may do anything they wish. It is her city, Kalighat.† [â€Å"Calcutta† on the Friendly Flyer map.] â€Å"My little Vitra is lost. We can only pray that she is reincarnated to a higher level.† Joshua patted the Untouchable's hand. â€Å"Why did you call Biff a heretic when he told you that we were Buddhist monks?† â€Å"That Gautama said that a man may go directly from any level to join Brahma, without fulfilling his dharma, that is heresy.† â€Å"That would be better for you, wouldn't it? Since you're on the bottom of the ladder?† â€Å"You cannot believe what you do not believe,† Rumi said. â€Å"I am an Untouchable because my karma dictates it.† â€Å"Oh yeah,† I said. â€Å"No sense sitting under a bodhi tree for a few hours when you can get the same thing through thousands of lifetimes of misery.† â€Å"Of course, that's ignoring the fact that you're a gentile and going to suffer eternal damnation either way,† said Josh. â€Å"Yeah, leaving that out altogether.† â€Å"But we'll get your daughter back,† Joshua said. Joshua wanted to rush into Kalighat and demand the return of Rumi's daughter and the release of all the other victims in the name of what was good and right. Joshua's solution to everything was to lead with righteous indignation, and there is a time and a place unto that, but there is also a time for cunning and guile (Ecclesiastes 9 or something). I was able to talk him into an alternate plan by using flawless logic: â€Å"Josh, did the Vegemites smite the Marmites by charging in and demanding justice at the end of a sword? I think not. These Brahmans cut off and eat the fingers of children. I know there's no finger-cutting commandment, Josh, but still, I'm guessing that these people think differently than we do. They call the Buddha a heretic, and he was one of their princes. How do you think they'll receive a scrawny brown kid claiming to be the son of a god who doesn't even live in their area?† â€Å"Good point. But we still have to save the child.† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"Extreme sneakiness.† â€Å"You'll have to be in charge then.† â€Å"First we need to see this city and this temple where the sacrifices will be held.† Joshua scratched his head. His hair had mostly grown back, but was still short. â€Å"The Vegemites smote the Marmites?† â€Å"Yeah, Excretions three-six.† â€Å"I don't remember that. I guess I need to brush up on my Torah.† The statue of Kali over her altar was carved from black stone and stood as tall as ten men. She wore a necklace of human skulls around her neck and a girdle made of severed human hands at her hips. Her open maw was lined with a saw blade of teeth over which a stream of fresh blood had been poured. Even her toenails curved into vicious blades which dug into the pile of twisted, graven corpses on which she stood. She had four arms, one holding a cruel, serpentine sword, another a severed head by the hair; the third hand she held crooked, as if beckoning her victims to the place of dark destruction to which all are destined, and the fourth was posed downward, in a manner presenting the goddess's hand-girded hips, as if asking the eternal question, â€Å"Does this outfit make me look fat?† The raised altar lay in the middle of an open garden that was surrounded by trees. The altar was wide enough that five hundred people could have stood in the shadow of the black goddess. Deep grooves had been cut in the stone to channel the blood of sacrifices into vessels, so it could be poured through the goddess's jaws. Leading to the altar was a wide stone-paved boulevard, which was lined on either side by great elephants carved from wood and set on turntables so they could be rotated. The trunks and front feet of the elephants were stained rusty brown, and here and there the trunks exhibited deep gouges from blades that had hewn through a child into the mahogany. â€Å"Vitra isn't being kept here,† Joshua said. We were hiding behind a tree near the temple garden, dressed as natives, fake caste marks and all. Having lost when we drew lots, I was the one dressed as a woman. â€Å"I think this is a bodhi tree,† I said, â€Å"just like Buddha sat under! It's so exciting. I'm feeling sort of enlightened just standing here. Really, I can feel ripe bodhies squishing between my toes.† Joshua looked at my feet. â€Å"I don't think those are bodhies. There was a cow here before us.† I lifted my foot out of the mess. â€Å"Cows are overrated in this country. Under the Buddha's tree too. Is nothing sacred?† â€Å"There's no temple to this temple,† Joshua said. â€Å"We have to ask Rumi where the sacrifices are kept until the festival.† â€Å"He won't know. He's Untouchable. These guys are Brahmans – priests – they wouldn't tell him anything. That would be like a Sadducee telling a Samaritan what the Holy of Holies looked like.† â€Å"Then we have to find them ourselves,† Joshua said. â€Å"We know where they're going to be at midnight, we'll get them then.† â€Å"I say we find these Brahmans and force them to stop the whole festival.† â€Å"We'll just storm up to their temple and tell them to stop it?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And they will.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"That's cute, Josh. Let's go find Rumi. I have a plan.†

Nazism Theme in the Antz Movie

In the movie Antz, there were a variety of types of governments shown. The main one demonstrated by General Mandible, was fascism or also known as nazism. General Mandible uses his army to make the other ants in the colony behave. There are many different situations shown in this movie to prove that General Mandible uses Fascism or Nazism in this movie. Whereas, on the other hand, Z wants a direct democracy. He wants everyone to say what they have to say and treats everyone evenly. The first reason showing that General Mandible is using a fascism or nazism is that he does not care about every individual ant; he only cares about his colony. He does not care about what any ant has to say and whatever he says, that is what is going to happen.Whereas Z says that everyone should speak out. Also everyone is the same. In the movie, Z says that everyone should think for themselves and that. There are also many other places where General Mandible demonstrates a Nazism or a fascism type of gov ernment is that he imprisoned people when they did not so anything wrong. An example of this was when Z ran away and General Mandible imprisoned Weaver. Since Weaver did not do anything wrong, General Mandible should not have been allowed is imprison him. Z on the other hand wants the colony to be run as a democracy.As the colony was making a ladder, Z says that we are a colony, implying that everyone is just as important to one another. Also in the end when everyone gets up safely, he says that we did it, not I did it. There were many other types of governments shown in this movie as well but these two showed the major two in the movie. Even though Z did not use the direct democracy, it is what he wanted to be used and it is what would have been used if Z had been the leader.