Obamacare is so complex with plenty of issues, pros and cons. I want to talk about conservatives' and the Democrats' most important statements...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, popularly known as "ObamaCare" was a major reform to health care in the United States. Before passage of the ACA, the United States was known for having the highest per capita health care spending of the OECD (advanced, developed economies of the world) with distinctly mediocre results. Since the inception of the ACA, the percentage of people without health insurance in the United States has...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, popularly known as "ObamaCare" was a major reform to health care in the United States. Before passage of the ACA, the United States was known for having the highest per capita health care spending of the OECD (advanced, developed economies of the world) with distinctly mediocre results. Since the inception of the ACA, the percentage of people without health insurance in the United States has declined from 18 percent to under 12 percent and per capita health care costs have declined slightly, something that is generally good for the economy.

The ACA is also good for the economy because it makes people healthier. If people have insurance, they can afford regular checkups and preventive medicine, making them more productive economically. Children with good health care do better in school and thrive in adulthood when compared with children whose mothers have inadequate prenatal care and to children without access to regular medical care. 

Almost half of bankruptcies in the United States are caused by medical bills. Unlike Canada, Sweden, Australia, or other developed countries where illness is not as financial disruptive, Americans with serious diseases may end up losing their homes or cars and struggling with the sort of debt that makes it much harder to return to a normal productive life after an illness. 

Finally, you can look at the period since 2010. Although the ACA is one small piece of the US economy, the period since its passage has been one of gradual economic recovery. Although one could not claim that the ACA was the cause of that recovery (the recovery was due, among other things, to Obama's economic policies and global economic factors), the fact that the economy did recover since the ACA was passed suggest that its effects have been somewhat helpful and certainly not harmful.

How is Meg's relationship with Charles Wallace important for her ability to free him?

As the novel establishes from the very beginning, and as Meg says, she's the one who is closest to Charles Wallace, and while she doesn't fully understand him, he understands her. Her father has been gone for so long that he doesn't know Charles Wallace well, and their friend Calvin has just barely gotten to know him. At the core, what saves Charles Wallace is love: Meg loves Charles Wallace very deeply, and this love...

As the novel establishes from the very beginning, and as Meg says, she's the one who is closest to Charles Wallace, and while she doesn't fully understand him, he understands her. Her father has been gone for so long that he doesn't know Charles Wallace well, and their friend Calvin has just barely gotten to know him. At the core, what saves Charles Wallace is love: Meg loves Charles Wallace very deeply, and this love is what is needed to free Charles from IT. As Meg expresses her love for him, calling him her treasure, her darling and her dear, she is able to break the grip of IT over his mind and together they can flee, landing back on earth in the Murry vegetable garden for a happy ending. 

In The Crucible, how does Arthur Miller use allegory to represent what happened during McCarthyism?

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller stages a subversive play about the Salem witch trials that mirrors the events that occurred during McCarthyism. The literal play features famous characters like John Proctor, Revered Hale, Revered Paris and Judge Danforth. These characters play out an ideological conflict that revolves around themes of hysteria, power, liberalism and faith. These themes were directly occurring in the political landscape during McCarthyism, which was concerned with a Communist threat. McCarthyism instilled...

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller stages a subversive play about the Salem witch trials that mirrors the events that occurred during McCarthyism. The literal play features famous characters like John Proctor, Revered Hale, Revered Paris and Judge Danforth. These characters play out an ideological conflict that revolves around themes of hysteria, power, liberalism and faith. These themes were directly occurring in the political landscape during McCarthyism, which was concerned with a Communist threat. McCarthyism instilled a hysteria in the American public that suggested American artists, politicians and thinkers had turned Communist. This "threat" was imagined and created to shift power in politics, much like the witch threat in Salem. Ultimately, Arthur Miller used the extended allegory of the Salem witch trials to expose the flagrant misuse of power that was used by certain American politicians to stir up hysteria to harm their political rivals. A similar event occurred in recent American politics, with conservative politicians claiming that many of their rivals were "socialists" even when that label wasn't accurate. "Socialist" and "communist" became dirty words, much like "witch." Miller was aware of this and used the allegory to get past censors and critique the American political system.

In Macbeth, what is Lady Macbeth's complaint about her husband?

Lady Macbeth's first complaint about her husband is that his nature "is too full o' th' milk of human kindness" (1.5.17).  When she receives his letter, telling her about the Weird Sisters' predictions, she is concerned that Macbeth is simply too nice, too compassionate, to "catch the nearest way" to the throne (1.5.18).  She resolves immediately that he will be king, and she wants it right away, but if Macbeth is unwilling to kill Duncan,...

Lady Macbeth's first complaint about her husband is that his nature "is too full o' th' milk of human kindness" (1.5.17).  When she receives his letter, telling her about the Weird Sisters' predictions, she is concerned that Macbeth is simply too nice, too compassionate, to "catch the nearest way" to the throne (1.5.18).  She resolves immediately that he will be king, and she wants it right away, but if Macbeth is unwilling to kill Duncan, then it could take a lot longer.  This is unacceptable to her.

Once they've made a plan to kill the king, Macbeth does try to back out, and this provokes his wife to new levels of frustration with him.  Lady Macbeth asks him if he'd like to think of himself as a "coward" for the rest of his life (1.7.47).  She accuses him of being "green and pale" and insists that this is how she will consider his love going forward (1.7.41).  She says that he made her a promise, and his willingness to break it shows her just how little he loves her.  She argues that when Macbeth was willing to commit the murder, "then [he was] a man," implying that if he does not go through with it now, then he is less of a man (1.7.56).  She claims that she would sooner kill her own baby than break a promise to him. Thus, she accuses him of being cowardly and disloyal to her. 

What are the pueblo traditions in "The Man to Send Rain Clouds"?

In Silko’s “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” the majority of the funerary rites performed for the deceased, Teofilio, appear to be traditional in the pueblo. However, it is also possible that some of the rites are a mixture of traditional practices and European-American practices. Further, at the end of the story we see an aspect of a Catholic rite being modified to fit the Puebloan worldview.

In preparing the old man for burial, his...

In Silko’s “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” the majority of the funerary rites performed for the deceased, Teofilio, appear to be traditional in the pueblo. However, it is also possible that some of the rites are a mixture of traditional practices and European-American practices. Further, at the end of the story we see an aspect of a Catholic rite being modified to fit the Puebloan worldview.

In preparing the old man for burial, his family ties a feather in his hair and paints his face. They also dress him in new clothes and in his new moccasins that he had made for the ceremonial dances. Finally, they wrap him in a red blanket. The reader is not provided an account of the funeral itself, but the narrator mentions that candles and medicine bags were involved. Also, the reader is told that Louise, one of Teofilio’s family members, had sprinkled cornmeal around him, some of which remained on the blanket in which he was wrapped.

The reader can likely safely conclude that the feather, the face painting, the cornmeal, and the use of medicine bags during the funeral are traditional rites. The inclusion of the new moccasins that were made for the ceremonial dances and the wrapping of the body may be traditional as well. However, the dressing of the old man in new clothes may be traditional or it may be an adoption of the similar practice from the surrounding European-American culture. The use of candles in the funeral may also be an adoption from European-American practices, perhaps even from the Catholic Church.

The aspect of the burial that the reader can safely conclude is not traditional to the pueblo is the sprinkling of holy water on the body before burial. This part of the Catholic rite is requested by the family so that Teofilio would have water and might be more likely to send rain clouds. The priest knows that the family is requesting the holy water for reasons other than its function in the Catholic rite, but he agrees to their request. In this way, the family is incorporating an aspect of an outside practice into their worldview, with the hope the water will help the old man bring them rain clouds.

Discuss the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. What does their friendship reveal about...

The relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is one of deep love and respect. These two characters have a bond that is unshakeable. As Act I of The Merchant of Venice begins, Antonio, the titular merchant, is engaged in conversation with Salarino and Solanio, two friends with whom both he and Bassanio are close. An early indication of the closeness of the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio is provided at the outset. As Antonio, Salarino, and Solanio speak, the latter two prepare to depart—but not without noticing that Bassanio approaches, prompting Solanio to remark, "Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman...." 

That something is troubling Antonio is apparent to all of his friends. Solanio and Salarino remark upon their friend's demeanor, and, now, Gratiano and Lorenzo, who accompany Bassanio, similarly notice Antonio's depression:

GRATIANO

You look not well, Signior Antonio;
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it that do buy it with much care:
Believe me, you are marvellously changed.

ANTONIO

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.

So we know that Antonio is much loved by his friends, but these well-meaning gentlemen are mistaken in assuming that Antonio's worries center around the burden of his business ventures. As the audience soon learns, it is not business that is currently on Antonio's mind so much as it is his dearest friend Bassanio's situation. Bassanio is in love with Portia but needs money, which he usually borrows from Antonio, in order to properly woo her in this exceedingly class-conscious environment. It is his friend's romantic yearnings that propel Antonio into the fateful arrangement with the Jewish moneylender Shylock. Unable to raise the requisite funds Bassanio needs from his heavily leveraged business arrangements, Antonio borrows money from Shylock, despite the latter's unconventional condition:

In such a place, such sum or sums as are
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

What do we learn about the natures of Antonio and Bassanio from their friendship? We learn that these two individuals are passionate about their lives and that they are more than a little loyal to each other.  So loyal to Bassanio is Antonio that he agrees to a business transaction with Shylock that involves the mutilation of his body in the event he is unable to repay the loan--a serious gesture even with his confidence that such drastic measures will not prove necessary. We learn that Bassanio is a true friend to Antonio but one who is financially irresponsible and, as a consequence, abusive, perhaps, of his friend's munificent nature. It is, after all, Bassanio's irresponsible conduct that results in Antonio's dangerous business arrangement with Shylock. We also learn that these gentlemen are anti-Semitic, and that the anti-Semitism that permeates the culture in which they exist will, ultimately, save Antonio from having to make good on his debt.

`int_0^t e^s sin(t-s) ds` Evaluate the integral

You need to use integration by parts, such that:

`int udv = uv - int vdu`

`u = e^s => du = e^s ds`

`dv = sin(t-s) => v = (-cos(t-s))/(-1)`

`int e^s sin (t-s) ds = e^s*cos(t-s) - int e^s*cos(t-s)ds`

You need to use parts again, for `int e^s*cos(t-s)ds` , such that:

`u = e^s => du = e^s ds`

`dv = cos(t-s) => v = (sin(t-s))/(-1)`

`int e^s*cos(t-s)ds = -e^s*sin (t-s)...

You need to use integration by parts, such that:

`int udv = uv - int vdu`

`u = e^s => du = e^s ds`

`dv = sin(t-s) => v = (-cos(t-s))/(-1)`

`int e^s sin (t-s) ds = e^s*cos(t-s) - int e^s*cos(t-s)ds`

You need to use parts again, for `int e^s*cos(t-s)ds` , such that:

`u = e^s => du = e^s ds`

`dv = cos(t-s) => v = (sin(t-s))/(-1)`

`int e^s*cos(t-s)ds = -e^s*sin (t-s) + int e^s*sin (t-s) ds`

Replacing back, yields:

`int e^s sin (t-s) ds = e^s*cos(t-s) - (-e^s*sin (t-s) + int e^s*sin (t-s) ds)`

You need to use the substitution `int e^s sin (t-s) ds= I:`

`I = e^s*cos(t-s) + e^s*sin (t-s)- I`

`2I = e^s*cos(t-s) + e^s*sin (t-s) => I = (e^s*(cos(t-s)+sin(t-s)))/2`

You need to evaluate the definite integral, using the fundamental theorem of calculus, such that:

`int_0^t e^s sin (t-s) ds = (e^s*(cos(t-s)+sin(t-s)))/2|_0^t`

`int_0^t e^s sin (t-s) ds = (e^t*(cos(t-t)+sin(t-t)) - e^0*(cos(t-0)+sin(t-0)))/2`

`int_0^t e^s sin (t-s) ds = (e^t - cos t - sin t)/2`

Hence, evaluating the definite integral, using integration by parts, yields  `int_0^t e^s sin (t-s) ds = (e^t - cos t - sin t)/2.`