Angels in America Essay -- Kushner Angels in America Essays

Angels in America Everyone has his or her own personal faults in life. Some are looked down upon more for their issues than others are. Homosexual relationships are considered sacrilegious and unethical, so much that we scrutinize persons having those relations. We as a society should not look down upon individuals whose sexual preference is different from our own. The 80's were a time of economic growth and global power. It is also the setting for Tony Kushner's play, "Angels in America". In Kushner's play it was at time of gay revelation. Reagan's reforms and policies gave homosexual people the power and courage to be more open sexually. Throughout this play, "coming out", is a very new evolution, one that Kushner bases his play on. In the story, many of his characters are homosexual, and the truth about their sexual preferences comes out. Roy Cohn is a successful lawyer in New York, who is dying of AIDS because of his sexual relationships. He keeps his love relationship separate from his professional life for the simple fact that if he were exposed to the wrong people it could damage his reputation. This information could be used against him in court. He lies to people, telling them he has cancer to conceal his homosexuality and prevent them from knowing about his sickness. Roy is facing disbarment and if they knew he was gay, he would easily be barred from being a lawyer. Roy tells his doctor, Henry, that "Roy Cohn is not a homosexual man. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, who fucks around w... ...er sexual preference, than we as society can accept this kind of relationship. The graphic details Kushner describes about living and dying with the AIDS disease, gives the audience both the view of a horrifying disease and hope for the future. In the beginning of this play, there is a feeling that homosexuality is despised, but as the play moves to the second part the mood changes. It changes to a very relaxed, almost understanding, and picture of how homosexuality is viewed. In contemporary America, homosexuality is becoming accepted as a sexual preference. Many interest groups, organizations and gay people have strived for this for years. It is not our right to judge others because of what sexual preference they choose, but it is our God given right to be proud of that choice.

Management by exception Essay

With the release of the new budget for year 9 from Competition Bikes, there are a couple of areas that are a concern that warrant being addressed. The first being the prediction of amount of bikes to be sold; Competition Bikes is expecting 3,510 units to be sold after a year 8 that sold only 3,400 units which was a 15% drop in sales from the year prior (which sold approximately 4,000 units) with zero drop in price point which may make it harder for customers to justify purchasing a bike in the current economy. Understandably, year 8 was in the middle of a recession and the economy could rebound for a productive year 9. However, with only an extra $984 being spent on advertisement, the expectations could fall short unless advertisement spending is increased to approximately the $2,000 range it was in year 7. Competition Bikes is putting themselves at risk for over ordering raw materials and a surplus of raw materials only takes up more storage space, which leads to extra money being s pent for storage. There is also an issue with General and Administration Expenses. General and Admin expenses is the same amount as it was in year 8 ($170,000). However, in year 7, Competition Bikes spent $12,000 less and sold 600 more units then it did in year 8. Year 7 was proof that Competition Bikes has the ability to produce and sell a successful amount of bikes without having an extremely high operational cost. That extra $12,000 could be spread into other aspects such as: advertising, factory maintenance and even bonuses. 2. A flexible budget is a budget that adjusts or flexes for changes in the volume of activity† (Averkamp, 2013). A flexible budget is more useful than a static budget because it is based on actual output. The difference between an actual output and a budgeted amount is known as a variance. When the amount of the actual result is higher than budgeted, it is considered favorable, whereas when the budgeted amount turns out higher is unfavorable. Within the Competition Bikes flexible budget there are a few favorable variances, the first one of note being within Net Sales. The company had a budget of $5,247,250, with the flexible budget being $5,117,385, however the  final numbers were $5,096,847, which gives the company an unfavorable variance of -$130,065. Total Variable Cost however was a favorable expense. With a planned budget of $3,967,962 and a flexible budget of $3,869,612 the actual output was $3,805,400 the favorable variance came out to $98,349. Contribution margin was also an unfavorable variance (-$31,716). Advertising Expenses went over cost for an unfavorable variance of $3,754 from a standard budget of $28,412 and a flexible budget of $27,708. The extra money spent towards advertising may have been to help boost extra sales towards the end of the year. Transportation Out also went over its budget for an unfavorable variance by $5,607. However, there is more to the Transportation Out than what the budget says. The price of shipment is supposed to be $30 per unit and with 87 less units sold; there should be an extra $2,610 in the budget. This requires extra investigation. 2A. In terms of corrective action, the best course is to focus on where the points where there were unfavorable variances. A key point to that would be to also create realistic predictions of sales and budget. By predicting a high sales goal (one that exceeds the amount of units sold the year prior), Competition Bikes is potentially setting itself up for another down year. To prevent another unfavorable variance in Net Sales, which was affected by the unfavorable Actual Output of Units Sold. Although the projection output was missed by only 87 units, that totaled out to $130,065. It would behoove Competition Bikes to create realistic predictions (as stated above). Another idea would to be to examine the sales process. Compare and contrast what strategies were compared between the successful year 7 and the down year 8 to determine if any changes took place in the sales process and development. Competition Bikes should not have been as aggressive as they were following a down year. An improved variance here could also directly affect the Contribution Margin and Operating Income, which both were unfavorable. Advertising Expenses should be increased to the level of year 7. Competition Bikes lowered their budget for advertising but yet ended up spending more  anyway. With the economy still in a rut, the chances of hitting a high prediction is slim, especially with low advertising. Since fewer sponsors are using the products from Competition Bikes, it would be wise to advertise to a different market of users (i.e. college students, those who live in traffic congested cities (New York), bike cops, etc). Meanwhile, the transportation unfavorable variance could be fixed by determining what the additional costs were. Since the transportation cost per units is $30, with sales prediction 87 less than projected, that is $2,610 that could have put transportation costs into favorable. The additional costs could be because of rising fuel prices, toll roads, raises for drivers, etc. Many avenues have to be explored in the future to save money on transportation (renegotiate contracts, new source of transportation, new transportation company, etc.) 2B. â€Å"Management by exception is the practice of examining the financial and operational results of a business, and only bringing issues to the attention of management if results represent substantial differences from the budgeted or expected amount† (Steven Bragg, 2014). This practice can be effective as it leaves upper management with more serious issues. By utilizing accurate and up-to-date information, management can keep the budget on track and consistent with what was forecasted. One main target for Management By Exception is net sales. Breaking down the yearly goals into weekly or monthly targets will allow the company to better breakdown the trends and identify areas of need and growth. By monitoring the trend of sales, management can initiate discussions on how to improve sales and how to keep up with demand if sales are higher than expected. Competition Bikes would be wise to make start/restart contract negotiations to maintain consistent material and labor costs. Spending variance on materials was favorable but labor was unfavorable. If the price of the materials or labor increase substantially overtime, the budget could become more expensive, costing the company more money. Works Cited Averkamp, Harold. â€Å"What is a flexible budget?.† Learn Accounting Online for Free. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . Bragg, Steven. â€Å"What is management by exception? – Questions & Answers – AccountingTools.† What is management by exception? – Questions & Answers – AccountingTools. N.p., 5 June 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. .

Global Drug Policy - 1635 Words

The global policy on drugs has one main concern, as maintained in the first clause of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs: promoting the health and welfare of mankind (United Nations, 1961). The convention and global drug policy actors have asserted through the years that drugs pose a threat to this concern, and so an integrated effort to reduce supply, demand and trafficking of said narcotics is the desired course of action (High Level segment Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 2009). It seems that this course of action became an end of itself instead of a mean to an end of health and welfare, as mounting evidence shows that the actions taken to achieve this have not only been ineffective in reducing supply, demand and trafficking; they have also created severe violations of human rights, alongside criminalization, a hazard to public health, and drug cartels which pose a very real threat to peace and security. Member states have not been oblivious to the fact that the measures taken have been counterproductive, and an increasing number of states are dissatisfied with the results of this policy (Doward, 2013). Some have addressed this by decriminalizing possession and use of drugs and introducing harm reduction programs, considering the issue of demand not a criminal issue but a public health one. The evidence in favor of such programs was acknowledged by international bodies such as WHO and UNODC, emphasizing that reducing demand should be done through means ofShow MoreRelatedYoung Advocates International Advocate Basic Human Rights in Nigeria1538 Words   |  6 Pagesthrough advocacy. Introduction The international drug control effort began fifty years ago with the aim of eradicating the abuse of certain drugs by controlling their supply. A complex international system of enforcement grew on this belief in supply control. 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