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Showing posts from April, 2013

The death penalty: Justice denied to individuals wrongly convicted of crime.

There is a great divide between countries of the world in relation to death sentence as punishment for certain forms of serious crimes.   Death penalty or capital punishment has been abolished in all the developed countries except in the United States of America and Japan.   However, it is still very much enshrined in law in most of the developing countries including China and India.    There is support both for and against the death penalty as a form of punishment for crime which could have an unintended consequence for people wrongly convicted of crime.  Death sentence can serve as deterrence for future crimes.   The assumption is that human beings have good reasoning ability (rationale) that allows them to calculate the cost and benefits of their potential action.   If they determine that the cost of engaging in a particular criminal activity surpasses the likely benefit from engaging in that activity, they are less likely to engage in the criminality.   However, evidence h

Addiction – Choice Vs Disease

The first people that we might think of when the word addiction is mentioned are drug addicts, alcohol addicts, gambling addicts, and smoking addicts.   It is true that these are the most visible kind of people that we easily associate with addiction but the term addiction is much broader than this narrow conception.    Addiction can also be associated with other people that engage in behaviour such as exercise, sex, and food.   This view becomes less controversial to accept after going through the definition of addiction.   Addiction is characterised by the tendency to engage in behaviour repeatedly regardless of its consequences on health, social or legal issues, and the inability to control such behaviour.   As you can see from this definition the two conditions necessary for the existence of addiction are persistence on behaviour and lack of control over it. There are two schools of thought about addiction.   The first is that addiction is a choice and not a disease.   A

Cosmetic surgery: Finding happiness where it cannot be found.

Cosmetic surgery involves the alteration of a person’s natural look from a less desirable level to a desirable one.    There are many different types of cosmetic surgery including breast augmentation (enlargement or enhancement of the breast), facial rejuvenation (making the face look younger), eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty (removing skin and fat from under the abdomen), rhinoplasty (nose job) and liposuction (removal of unwanted fat using surgical vacuum).   While people who may have sustained damage to their physical body through one form of accident or another may need cosmetic surgery, the vast majority of many people who opt for the procedure appear to do so for personal rather than for accidental reasons. Some of these people may opt for cosmetic surgery because they have feeling of depression or low self esteem.   They believe that cosmetic surgery can help them overcome these problems.   There is research to support that it actually works for some of these people but

Sexual affairs between political leaders and their junior officials – act of exploitation or opportunism.

What comes up in your mind when you hear about the names of these men- Moshev Katsav, Bill Clinton, Silvio Berlusconi, and Vaclav Klaus.    You might say that they were all former political leaders of their respective countries.   You are right.   Moshev Katsav was former Israeli president, Bill Clinton was former American President, Silvio Berlusconi was former Italian prime minister, and Vaclav Klaus was former Czech Republic president.   However, these leaders were not only known for being political leaders of their countries but also known for sex scandals surrounding their term of office.   You can find out more about the sex scandals associated with these leaders at your spare time.   Meanwhile you should read on to find out about people’s view on this topic below.      Some people tend to view the action of political leaders who engage in sexual affairs with their junior officials as mere act of exploitation.   In their view, political leaders have power to appoint people

Killing of burglars by homeowners: A step too far?

At least 1 burglar is killed by a homeowner in the United States of America every week.   This translates into 4 burglars a month or 48 burglars a year who are being killed by homeowners.   This number is far greater than that of burglars being killed in Great Britain every year.    About 4 burglars are killed by homeowners in Britain annually.   In all of these cases homeowners had relied on the right to self defence for the killings.   As a result, only a very few number of them have been prosecuted either in America or Britain for the acts.   There are wider implications for killing of burglars by home owners.. The Killing of burglars by homeowners might serve as deterrence for future burglaries.   Once they recognise that the law supports homeowners who kill them, burglars might be less inclined to burgle people’s property.    If fewer attempts are being made by criminals to burgle property then there will be fewer cases of homeowners killing burglars.   However, burglars might

Should religions be abolished?

Religions have been with humans since time immemorial. There are many forms of them around the world including Christianity, Hindi, and Islam. When they are asked about their religiosity, billions of people would profess to be a member of one of these religions. However a large number of people have been calling for abolition of all forms of religions.  Religions have served as a moral guide for most of the legal systems or constitutions around the world. The legal systems of western countries such as Britain, France and America, for example, are rooted in Christianity. With the exception of the legal system of Israel which is based on Judaism or Christianity the legal systems of countries in Asia and Middle East are also rooted in Hindi or Islam. Although their influence is still very much present in the legal systems of Asian and Middle East countries, the influence of religions in western countries has waned in recent years due to the rise of secularism. There are a number

Egg yolk consumption and cigarette smoking are almost equally dangerous

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Eggs are popular among millions of people around the world.   People love them because they are cheap to afford and taste delicious.   The popularity of eggs may also be due to the fact that egg is one of the foods with complete nutrients including protein, vitamins and minerals.   However, everything about eggs is not rosy. The outcome of a study by researchers at Western University in Canada shows that eating of egg yolks is almost as dangerous as smoking of cigarettes.  In the study participants in their 60's were divided into two groups.  One group comprised of people who consumed one or more egg yolks per day while the second group was consisted of people who did not consume egg yolks. At the end of the study the build up of plaques was significant on the artery walls of the first group who consumed egg yolks compared to the build up of plaques on the artery walls of those who did not consume egg yolks.  The plaques on the artery walls of the experimental group we