Representations of laboratory animals in popular media forms

Attitudes to animals are in part formed through engagement with popular culture and therefore we should pay attention to the potential of this domain for shaping animal lives. But can popular culture really do anything for the ‘laboratory’ animal? This paper explores the persistent and changing deployment of the laboratory animal in a range of humorous popular media (and cultural) texts, and suggests that its appearance in comedy could provide a useful means to reach an otherwise reluctant audience

The Trent Affair: Avoiding a Possible Crisis during the Civil War

In November 1861, Union Naval Captain Charles Wilkes seized the Trent, a British mailing ship, because it was transporting two Confederate diplomats, John Slidell and James Mason. Wilkes captured the two Confederate representatives due to what he considered were treasonous actions against the Union, but he did so without any orders from the Union government. Under a proclamation issued by the Queen of Britain at the start of the Civil War, Britain recognized the Confederacy as a belligerent and was not supposed to transport the dispatches of Slidell and Mason because international law considered them contraband. Yet, by acknowledging the Confederacy as belligerent, Britain stated that the Union and the Confederacy would be given equal treatment in British ports. Confederate ships could obtain necessary supplies from British ports to aid them in fighting Union ships. Northerners expected British support and were dismayed by the British acknowledgement of the Confederacy. The Trent Affair escalated the already unpopular opinion towards Britain held by the Union public due to the Queen’s Proclamation. The Union publicly celebrated the actions of Wilkes as the first naval success against the Confederacy. Newspapers depicted the British as trying to take away the victory and, as a result, helping facilitate negotiations with the Confederates. Union citizens did not want to concede to British demands to give up the rebels. Northerners felt that if Britain wanted to go to war over the Trent Affair, then they would mobilize for such a conflict. The Lincoln administration did not want to give any indication to the Confederacy that the British could have their way with the Union, for that would just inspire the Confederacy to strive for British support. President Lincoln dealt with the public pressure, while also receiving correspondence from government officials. However, the advice Lincoln received urged him to concede to Britain’s demands, which went against the public’s wish to fight Britain. By adhering to British demands concerning the Trent Affair, Lincoln sacrificed public opinion for his decision to maintain peaceful relations with Britain. Lincoln had the greater goal of reunifying the United States and he did not want to hinder reunification by expanding the war internationally

Visa Waiver Program

Since the events of September 11, 2001, concerns have been raised about the ability of terrorists to enter the United States under the visa waiver program. The visa waiver program (VWP) allows nationals from certain countries to enter the United States as temporary visitors (nonimmigrants) for business or pleasure without first obtaining a visa from a U.S. consulate abroad. Temporary visitors for business or pleasure from non-VWP countries must obtain a visa from Department of State (DOS) officers at a consular post abroad before coming to the United States. The VWP constitutes one of a few exceptions under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in which foreign nationals are admitted into the United States without a valid visa

"O lawful let it be / That I have room ... to curse a while" : voicing the nation's conscience in female complaint in Richard III, King John and Henry VIII

To understand what drives this female‐led quest for justice we must situate this as a response to the traumas of the recent past which still convulse the respective play‐worlds, whether the legacy of internecine strife from the War of the Roses that imprints itself upon the fractured court of Richard III, the unresolved struggle over the succession in King John, or the upheavals of the English Reformation in Henry VIII. Each of these plays evokes a profoundly dysfunctional society where the normal patrilineal structures of authority and legitimate succession have broken down, where oaths are routinely violated, theology is manipulated for political gain, and the law perverted to serve the will of individuals, instead of the bono publico. What is undeniably catastrophic for the body politic, though, proves oddly enabling for the plays' female protagonists

Patterns of Homeownership, Delinquency, and Foreclosure Among Youngest Baby Boomers

[Excerpt] This analysis considers the patterns of homeownership, delinquency, and foreclosure over this turbulent period in the housing market for a cohort of Americans born in the years1957 to 1964, the latter years of the “baby boom” that occurred in the United States from 1946 to 1964. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), this article shows the patterns of home-ownership over a 20-year period, from 1988 through 2008. Respondents were ages 23 to 31 at the start of this period and ages 43 to 51 at the end. In addition, it examines transitions in homeownership between 2008 and 2010, as well as patterns of delinquency and foreclosure over the period from 2007 to 2010

Women of Color and Philosophy

Book Review of Naomi Zack's Women of Color and Philosoph