Threat of Hezbollah to US

Threat of Hezbollah to US Red Cell Analysis: Hezbollah: a Threat to the United States and its interests. Red Cell analysis: Hezbollah In recent years, the threat alert within the United States increased drastically attributed to the increase in the number of terrorist organizations within its borders. However, most terrorist organizations not only target the United States but also co-ordinate other attacks that target other American interests in other countries. One of the biggest organizations that are a threat to the United States and its interest in other countries is the Hezbollah movement, also known as the â€Å"Party of God,† which advocates for the rights of Muslims in most parts of the world through terrorism activities. The movement comprises of Shi’a Islamists who advocate for violence as part of spreading their message of fighting â€Å"western imperialism† in Muslim controlled states around the world. According to a report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Hezbollah movement plans their attacks from South America targeting Americans within the United States and other parts of the world. In 1983, the movement attacked a U.S. marine camp and killed over 250 Americans while also targeting the American embassies in the Arab region (Broxmeyer 2004). In addition, the movement also kidnaps American citizens and demands for ransom before securing their release. The movement employs surveillance methods before attacks whereby members of the movement observe the routine of different planned locations, which creates a clear picture of the most favorable location for an attack. The Hezbollah movement began in 1982 in Lebanon, attributed to the Iranian Revolution. It blamed the United States for most of the problems facing other countries around the world. It is necessary to note that since the inception of the movement, the leadership positions require religious clerics within Islam, who guide the members of the movement in terms of goals and objectives. The movement also supports the local population in the Arab region through annual donations gained through the attacks carried out around the world. Although the main cell for the movement is in Lebanon, the movement plans and executes its operations and attacks from the United States. The U.S. Department of State included this movement in the foreign terrorist organization (FTO) list in October 1997 as part of controlling their activities in the United States (Slogum 2013). The main ideology associated with this movement is enhancing Islam as a confident religion that promotes the achievement of justice an d human rights for every citizen. However, Hezbollah uses violence and terrorist activities in passing on their messages regarding their ideology, which portrays it as one of the most dangerous organizations around the world. Based on the organization’s ideology, the main objective of Hezbollah is to establish a Muslim controlled territory especially in the Arab region. According to the movement’s spokesperson, the group results in committing acts associated with terrorism due to failure in other means of communication between the countries in the Arab region and other western countries. This shows the organization’s commitment towards the terrorist activities, which include suicide bombing around the United States and other western countries. The FBI also associated Hezbollah with the 11th September 2001 attack carried out within the United States. This promoted initiatives from the U.S. government aimed at stopping terrorism in the country and in the Middle East region, which is the main hub of the terrorism cells (Broxmeyer 2004). Secondly, Hezbollah’s goals and objective within the United States is the moderation of national liberation for Muslim living within America. The group argues that the U.S. government discriminates against the Muslims in the country denying them the right to religion as stated within the constitution. This prompts the movement to advocate for liberation of the Muslim population through terrorism activities, which portray clear messages regarding Islam. One of the strengths attributed to Hezbollah is the leadership whereby the leaders of different cells around the world meet in South America for the election of their leaders. The main leader of the movement is Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah who also acts as the spiritual father for the movement, as well as, the chief Mujtahid by ensuring a clear understanding of the Islamic law by every member of the movement. Based on the goals and objectives of Hezbollah within the Arab region, Sheikh Muhammed ensures support from other organizations and movement, which is a key strength for the movement. This leader controls the organization’s main cell in Lebanon but also helps in the co-ordination of other cells in other countries around the world especially in the United States. Sheikh Muhammed also helps in punishing offenders within the movement, which is a factor that enhances discipline among members of the movement towards the goals and objectives (Koà §ak 2012). The other main leader of the movement is Hassan Nasrallah, who is the secretary general for the movement. After the assassination of Abbas Musawi by the U.S. government, the leaders of different cells unanimously elected Hassan Nasrallah as the new secretary general. Based on the leadership structure projected, it is clear that the movement operates in secretive environment with the main decision making organ being the spiritual leader and the secretary general. In addition, it is also clear that the movement draws towards its goals and objectives attributed to the election of the spiritual father in a leadership position within the organization. When focusing on the funding of the movement, it is clear that it plays an important role in the operations, and attacks carried out by the movement. Most of the funding for the movement comes about from donations Shi’a Islamists who offer zakat after prayers. This contributes to 50% of the total funding for the movement most of which is used in securing equipment and weapons used in attacks (Koà §ak 2012). It is essential to note that this funding comes from the Arab region considering that the United States does not allow such collections towards terrorist activities. On the other hand, the mov ement also receives funding from the Islamic Republic of Iran through weapons and training sessions with the weapons transported to the United States through underground tunnels and stored in most of the control locations especially in South America. Hezbollah places significant importance on some of the major capabilities that contribute to the success of the attacks carried out by the organization. Based on the ban by the U.S. government on the movement, Hezbollah moved most of the physical bases from the western countries in the Arab region with most countries supporting the movement. However, the cells within the United States also act as support locations whereby members of the movement seek help in case of need. Hezbollah portrays an image of participating in Jihad, which is a Holy war within the Muslims, which has helped in the attraction of more people towards the movement (Goll 2011). This is clear from the number of personnel in the cell in the United States containing over 30,000 people, most of whom act as Jihadists for the Islam religion. As mentioned earlier, the main decision body the movement is the spiritual leader and the secretary general, who control the training programs for the movement. During the recruitme nt of new members of the movement, the leaders move to the physical bases where the training programs occur as a way of ensuring total commitment in the part of the recruits. According to a report released by the United Nations, Hezbollah receives donations of over $200 million annually and spends over $50 million in the acquisition of new communication technologies. However, the communication methods used during attacks depends on the priority of the attacks with the movement using complex communication methods in some of the high priority attack such as the 11th September 2001 attack against the United States. The complexities of the communication methods create a significant disadvantage for the U.S. government in terms of preventing the planned attacks. It is important to point out that most of the attacks carried out by the group target highly populated areas and military bases, which creates tension among people living within the United States (Goll 2011). Based on the training carried out in the physical bases, the U.S. Department of State argues that the movement uses suicide bombing in carrying out terrorist activities in the countries, which mak es it hard for the prevention. Hezbollah also employs the use of gun attacks whereby members of the movement, attack different planned venues and shoot innocent victims, as part of the mission towards passing on the message of liberation. Terror groups operations are mainly dependent on minimizing risks with the aim of achieving the greatest success. Terrorists evade a challenger’s strong point and focus on their weaknesses and their stress on exploiting security measure. This generally means the involvement of the smallest possible number of attackers to complete the operation with the most effective weapons at their disposal. The Hezbollah movement practices a detailed scheduling which can be adjusted depending on the operations requirements. For instance, the determination of the potential targets can continue for years before the operation is carried out. Some targets may be vulnerable enough to warrant shorter periods of observation. However, the information and data collection must be strong. Similarly, depending on the nature of the operation, operations in progress may be improved, deferred or annulled so that the operation does not fail. Under the Hezbollah movement’s planning and data collectio n strategies, tactical missions interlink so that operational objectives and strategic goals are realized. A detailed understanding of the target population is studied through psychological measures where informants are sent to the target site with the aim of getting the experiences of the populace. In case the targeted location involves experts, field agents are recruited and trained to work with companies and organizations operating from that target site. This helps the terrorist agents to be acquainted with the environment and identify the weak points, spare times and surveillance of security measures employed by the firms in the target area. In this light, the most practiced data collection programs include; physical surveillance, involvement of professionals working in the target areas, hacking into data storages of the government through agents in such agencies, practice/ routines/ procedures, not to mention transportation and route travel study. For a mission to be successfully completed and executed by the Hezbollah movement, collected data must be evaluated and studied by a group of strategists in the movement. This group includes professionals in various fields such as security, programming, finance and accounting management, logistics experts, and analysts. The process of data collection is entirely left to the low ranking recruits who, however, must be supervised by a senior ranking member. In most cases, the supervisor is only known by a few recruits for security reasons. The Hezbollah movement has recruited all over and in all fields. The movements target young workers in organizations and government agencies. The main reason for this choice is that such workers are desperate to earn extra money for their leisure activities, and the fact that they are easy to manipulate and blackmail. Given the fact that data collection does not require much experience or expertise, low ranking and new recruits are the most suitable c andidates to collect data and information regarding the operation. In most cases, the recruits are not aware of the real deal of the operation, they will innocently collect and deliver the information. In addition, where surveillance can be done through observation, for instance information regarding logistics and transportation routes and schedules, the organization may use more experienced informants since they are able to survey without leaving a trail or being noticed. Lastly, the pre-attack surveillance and data gathering should be collected by highly trained intelligence and surveillance personnel or members supportive of the terrorist cell. The pre-attack phase involves gathering information relating to the target’s current patterns whereby the attacking team approves information gathered from previous surveillance activities. This is very important as it helps in the identification of presumed and probable vulnerabilities. The Hezbollah movement practices a hierarchic al decision making structure with the leader being the highest. Presently, the leader of the movement is Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, who is not only a leader, but also the spiritual father of the movement. Under this structure, major decisions are made from one end while the day to day running of operations is carried from the other end. At one end of this internal scale of accountabilities, execution of operational tasks is clearly the role assigned to terror cells and operation groups. The other extreme consists of the executive group that has the primary responsibility for the development of the movement’s strategies and direction proclamations that map the overall direction of the movement. The executive group plays an essential part of the process of developing and appraising the movement’s policies and strategies in the continuing provision of updated knowledge and forecasting of future operation. The strategic intelligence applied by the Hezbollah movement is a very specific application of principles, and its main role is to assist the movement with operational decision making as well as strategizing on operations requirements. The main role of strategic intelligence in the Hezbollah movement is the need for support to understand and be able to counter the challenges and barriers enacted by various government agencies. Other strategies are; helping in the realization and development of successful operations, development of goals, objectives and operation matrices, the provision of open-sources as well as intelligence collection support and analysis. The movement has a wide network of intelligence analyst fetched from all probable professions. This makes the organization very effective when analyzing any operation not only for security but also for finance, logistics, and human power management. The team of experts also helps in the planning of emergency and fallback plans in case the operation fails when being executed. In conclusion, the collection of data and information by the Hezbollah movement is a very organized operation that is very secretive and well organized. This task is mainly conducted by low ranking personnel, but under the watch of experienced and trained experts. Once the primary data is collected a group of experts organizes it with the aim of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their target. Once this is done, the movement rehearses the operation and at times this may be done on similar locations and target sites with the objective of further identifying any enforceable weak points in the operation. Prior to the operation, strategic intelligence surveillance is also practiced where a team of experts evaluates the plan in relation to the available information. This may lead to approval, delay or termination of the operation depending on the existing facts about the intelligence gathered about the operation. Lastly, the group practices the hierarchical management structure, where information is handled through the top-bottom flow. This structure plays a very significant role in enhancing security and protection of sensitive information. The recommendation for a policy maker is for the United States’ ideal objective in Lebanon should be to help them enhance and set up a free media that is reluctant to work with terrorists, facilities able to provide the primary needs for its people, and an audio financial system separate from Hezbollah’s â€Å"fraudulent taxation†. Secondly, they should determine a plan to help Lebanon develop a powerful financial system and discuss with Israel to reduce any stress. If army skirmishes do no quit, the risk of terrorism and financial growth will be unproductive to a flourishing Lebanese upcoming. Lastly, it is sensible to know that Hezbollah has started growing in the Southern United States and is economically cheering itself nearer to United States boundaries. Our plan creators need to be eager to the fact that Hezbollah is growing and getting its feet nearer to the United States’ boundary. Improving boundary protection is going to be a necessary countermeasure that stops enemy from falling though known factors of entries. The U.S. needs to be cautious to not to straight take part in an issue with Hezbollah. The last factor the U. S. Declares should do is worsening Hezbollah into a retaliatory condition. Instead the U.S. should ultimately use Southern United States and Center Southern nations to battle them for us. Additionally, for military performance enhancement and improvement, Hezbollah handled their community assistance and authenticity through the use of non-military indicates, with the supply of social services and governmental contribution probably playing an important role Hezbollah’s huge strategy. Most significantly for Hezbollah, the new approach led the Party of God out of their difficult ideal position in the late 1980s. The result of these connections between enhanced army and non-military indicates was an ideal success for Hezbollah. Israeli community assistance for the war decreased, eventually resulting in the Israeli drawback from Southeast Lebanon. Bibliography Broxmeyer, Eric. â€Å"The Problems of Security and Freedom: Procedural Due Process and the Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations Under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.† Berkeley Journal of International Law 22, no. 3 (2004): 439-488. Dr. Habash, George . Terrorist Planning Cycle. A Military Guide to Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. August 15, 2007. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/guidterr/app_a.pdf (accessed March 15, 2014). Goll, Irene. â€Å"Environmental Jolts, Clocks, and Strategic Change in the U.S. Airline Industry: The Effects of Deregulation and the 9/11/2001 Terrorist Attacks.† Business Politics 13, no. 4 (2011): 1-37. Kang, Youn-ah , and John Stasko . Characterizing the Intelligence Analysis Process: Informing Visual Analytics Design through a Longitudinal Field Study . IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology. October 28, 2011. http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~pang/visweek/2011/vast/papers/kang.pdf (accessed March 15, 2014). Koà §ak, Murat. â€Å"Threat assessment of terrorist organizations: the application of Q methodology.† Journal of Risk Research 15, no. 1 (2012): 85-105. Slogum, Louisa. â€Å"OFAC, the Department Of State, and the Terrorist Designation Process: A Comparative Analysis of Agency Discretion.† Administrative Law Review 65, no. 2 (2013): 387-425. Sheehan, Ivan Sascha. Assessing and Comparing Data Sources for Terrorism Research. Springer Series on Evidence-Based Crime Policy 3, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0953-3_2, 2012: 13-35. Straus , Susan G., Andrew M. Parker, James B. Bruce , And Jacob W. Dembosky. The Group Matters: A Review of the Effects of Group Interaction on Processes and Outcomes in Analytic Teams. National Security Research Division. April 2009. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/2009/RAND_WR580.pdf (accessed March 15, 2014).

Van Goghh - There Are Several Van Goghs :: essays research papers

Art historian Griselda Pollock, in her documentary entitled The Legend of van Gogh, stated that ‘there are several van Goghs.’ To agree or disagree with this statement, one must firstly understand the point Pollock is attempting to get across. One could interpret this opinion as meaning that there are various artistic styles and several facets of van Gogh’s life that can be critically analysed; having this understanding of Pollock’s attitude toward van Gogh, it would be difficult not to agree with her. Using phraseology similar to that of Pollock, one could say that there are four van Goghs: the failing peasant, the successful sophisticate, the eccentric meaningful lover, and the van Gogh of the present day. All who have knowledge of the artist would know how complex his life was, and so it is not incredible to believe that he was all these things during his relatively short life. (Born in 1853, he died at the age of only 37, in 1890.) An alternate definition of Pollock’s statement is the following: He was prolific and protean: He was a scholar and a sufferer, an art-world pro and a destitute outsider, an evangelical bohemian, both sordid and sublime. There are as many ways to see his pictures as there are ways to read his life. Some are stolid brown and gray. Others seem to detonate in a shrapnel burst of color, as if his world had begun to fly apart. Some are piercingly original. Others closely imitate other artists' art. Apparent in these paintings – from "Van Gogh's Van Goghs: Masterpieces From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam" – are the combustible components that he mixed in his art. Firstly, van Gogh as the failing peasant. Van Gogh was not always a painter; although many claim he realised his artistic potential early in life , he did not seriously consider devoting his life to it (de Grausen , Eurie ). There is little known information about the artists first fifteen years, yet it is possible to find out the basics: after a few years of education in Holland, he left his studies at the age of 15, and never returned to them. In 1869, he joined a firm of art dealers in The Hague, called Goupil & Cie. (The van Gogh family had been involved in the art world for many years: both Vincent’s uncles, Cornelius and (Vin)Cent were art dealers, as was, of course, Vincent’s brother Theo.

Gambling on college sports Essay

I’ve been a sports fanatic since the day I was born. It didn’t matter if I was playing or watching or cheering, I just loved being around the game. I have always been very knowledgeable about it too, as I was well known and titled by extended family as â€Å"the stat man. † This of course referred to the often times erroneous and useless facts rattling around in my brain that I couldn’t help but show off. Needless to say, this topic means a lot to me, especially being a college football player myself. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to dig deeper into a topic that has lingered in our country for years. The issues that pertain to gambling on college athletics have a vast range of opinions that stem from the questions; should gambling on college athletics be legal? What are the effects it has on the college athletes? Some argue that it will be detrimental to the game and some argue it has little to no effect, however most land somewhere in the middle. A common justification against gambling brings up the numerous scandals of players taking illegal benefits or point shaving and in extreme cases these events leading to jail or death. This side also argues that it allows players to get mixed up with the wrong crowd and put themselves in danger. Arguments for gambling site the economic reach it has in our country and the illegality will shrink the economy as well as not protect the players any more. Many people on this side think it will not be stopped so if gambling on college sports is illegalized, then every form of it will be illegal causing more trouble. My goal is to reveal those opinions and create a more complex understanding from various viewpoints, and hopefully bring a small degree of clarification to others and myself. In the article, â€Å"Even at Columbia, Gambling And College Athletics Collide† found in the New York Times, Jack Curry and Adam Gershenson enlighten the readers about the gambling infractions that occurred in a Columbia University fraternity house. The authors begin by describing the situation and basic details of the gambling process. â€Å" (They) would accept bets on sporting events from dozens of other students and then phone in the wagers — typically from $40 to $200 each — to a gambling ring based in Queens and operated by people with links to organized crime† (Curry and Gershenson). They go on to unravel the situation further by stating that there were not only college athletes betting on the games, but even current and former players living in the house that was tirelessly on the phone collecting wagers. Curry and Gershenson then discuss the further investigations done by Columbia and the NCAA and the possible disciplinary action that the offenders can face. The authors then write about the numerous amounts of sports gambling incidents in the last decade and also how students and athletes looked upon the Columbia gambling scandal with lesser importance because of the lack of athletic excellence. â€Å" The presence of a gambling operation with connections to organized crime at a school whose football team is best known for a 44-game losing streak in the 1980’s seemed incongruous† (Curry and Gershenson). An athlete was also quoted saying, â€Å"It’s not like this is Arkansas or something. This is Columbia. † Curry and Gershenson conclude their article by including a nationwide 1996 survey of college Division one athletes that reveals 25 percent gambled on other college sports and four percent admitted to gambling on games they had played in. I believe this is an article with good overall quality, even though it was written about 14 years ago in 1998. The time period constraint may lead to questions of relevance to readers in 2012. However, I think if you take all the dates and years out of the article, the purpose is still fulfilled and relays the same messages. The intent of the article was to inform about the events of the Columbia gambling ring, the reaction around campus, and the nationwide relevance. The authors Jack Curry and Adam Gershenson, are fairly unknown writers as far as I am concerned but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the article because it was included in The New York Times, which only adds credibility. For this reason, there would be a nationwide audience because of the shear number of readers. Specifically, the audience would probably be more of the businessman or woman, who are the stereotypical readers of The New York Times. The exigence of this piece was the arrest of gambling ring participants at Columbia but also the fact that these types of gambling scandals had been becoming more and more common in that time period. This was a very eye-opening article for me to read and by far the longest and most in depth. Since it was written 14 years ago, it is a story that I was previously unaware of. It made me even more aware then I already was, of how long this problem has lingered in college sports. It mentioned, more then once, that there are bookies on every campus in America. This really made me think about how unbelievable the number of illegal bets being placed by college students and athletes must be. However, even though this article is depicting the illegal gambling as a bad thing, I think it unintentionally makes arguments for both sides of the issue. If gambling on college sports were acceptable, this would have been a legal act. Hypothetically if it were legal, it would cut down on crime like this, which is usually linked to people with other criminal activity going on. Disconnecting the link to other criminal activity would make it all around safer for bookies and bet placers and athletes, because frankly, I think that people will never stop gambling on sporting events. I had always just assumed that gambling on college sports should be illegal, but this article made me reconsider whether that would really be the smartest and safest resolution. In the article â€Å"NCAA threatens to move events out of New Jersey† from SportsIllustrated. com, the unnamed author introduces the proposed plan to legalize sports gambling in New Jersey as well as reaction from sports organizations nationwide. The writer kicks off the article by stating background information about New Jersey’s push to legalize sports wagering. The article then goes on to describe the reaction from sports organizations, and goes in depth on the quotes from NCAA officials as well as their threats to move all playoff games out of New Jersey. It is also mentioned that The NCAA, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB have â€Å"collectively sued to block New Jersey’s sports betting law from taking effect. † However, there is also information and quotes from parties that are for the sports betting law. Quotes from State senator Raymond Lesniak and Governor Chris Christie demonstrate their support for the new law. The article is concluded with talk of â€Å"several new gambling options New Jersey is seeking to offer† (â€Å"NCAA Threatens†). The author writes that these other options include in-state Internet gambling and the use of hand-held mobile gambling devices at the casinos as well as at horse tracks. I thought this article was fairly credible and factual as well. It did not have an author to add to credibility but being a Sports Illustrated article maintained its effectiveness. I believe this piece was intended to inform the audience of residents of New Jersey as well as pretty involved sports fans. People who would read Sports Illustrated would obviously just be in it for the sports because that is the only information it obtains. This also acts as a constraint. The article cannot reach as much of the population because not everyone is a sports fan. The event that triggered this response was the attempt to make sports gambling legal in the state of New Jersey. My understanding of gambling in college sports was drastically upgraded by reading this article. It was an informative piece, so there was very little, if any, bias in the writing. The inclusion of statistics and legality of the topic really helped me understand why the sports organizations are hoping that the law will not pass. The shear amounts of money changing hands can lead to a lot of trouble, however for the same reason, legalizing that money could really boost economic growth. These types of pros and cons exist on both sides, making it an even tougher issue to sort out. My next source comes from a script from the testimony of Danny Sheridan before the Senate Commerce Committee on April 26, 2001. The testimony was for a hearing for the Amateur Sports Integrity Act (S. 718), which would determine the legality of gambling on college athletics. The first part of the testimony consists of Sheridan validating why his testimony should be considered by sharing his credibility and involvement in athletics. â€Å"My name is Danny Sheridan, and I have been involved with sports and the sports? promotion business for more than 25 years. I have published college and pro football? magazines, written about sports in a variety of national publications, and have been the? host of a number of sports TV and radio shows† Sheridan proclaims. Sheridan goes on to explain how he is also a friend of many high profile athletes and he knows first hand the dangers that athletic gambling has on athletes. Sheridan also includes many statistics in his argument. â€Å"An estimated 40 million Americans currently wager $6 billion illegally every weekend during the entire 20-week college and pro football season alone† (Sheridan). The testimony is concluded by Sheridan stating that he appreciates the good intentions of trying to legalize gambling, but it would instead, result in negative effects. The rhetor, Danny Sheridan, is a very well known sports industrial component, which gives his testimony (and therefore my source) credibility. He presented this to the Senate Commerce Committee in hopes to persuade them to vote against legalization of gambling on sports. The fact that this is a testimony, instead of a highly publicized article restricts the extent his message. I found the script on his website, however it isn’t an often visited site by the common Internet user, so the audience is a big constraint for this text. I found this testimony to be a great source for this project. It was interesting to read a text that wasn’t just a traditional article. My understanding for the anti gambling side grew significantly, because it was so biased. The speaker does a great job making his argument come full circle. For that reason, I came away from reading it with a slight lean towards supporting keeping gambling on sports illegal. Another interesting aspect is that this testimony was given in 2001. My previous source, about the gambling law in New Jersey, is a current issue, and the arguments made by Sheridan could simply be restated now with the same effects. It is astounding to see how such little progress has been made through the years. In the article â€Å"Study Provides New Data on the Extent of Gambling by College Athletes†, from netfiles.edu, Welch Suggs dissects a study done to determine the facts about college athletes that gamble on sports. Suggs begins by introducing the parameters of the University of Michigan study that was released by the athletic department. â€Å"The study, based on a survey of 758 football and basketball players, found that 72 percent of college football and basketball players had bet money at least once since entering college† (Suggs). The author goes on to give further statistics that the survey revealed. Welch Suggs concludes the article with opposing viewpoint quotes from NCAA employee William Saum, and former NFL player Lynn Swann. Suggs’ last statement included next shifting attention to basketball referees to gain information about their gambling experiences. This was a questionable source to say the least. It had some solid content but the article opened as a PDF and my research failed to try and find the original homepage of the website. Likewise, the author was a mystery man as well. This text was very brief, but I believe the purpose was to inform about the findings of the survey revealed by the University of Michigan athletic department. However, the audience is hard to determine because of the unknown author and questionable website. If I were to pick an audience though, I would say it was intended for the adult college sports athlete because of the language and the inclusion of quotes from Lynn Swann. This text also has massive constraints, mainly for the same reasons as stated before. The website is random and in an odd format, therefore finding Suggs’ piece would be difficult to come across. The audience is extremely limited because of this, and the credibility suffers as well. Also, it did not include dates it the article, so the exigence of the piece suffers because the provoking event of the writing cannot be identified. The facts that are stated in this article hold strong relevance for this topic. It is more of an anti gambling article based on the information it presents, but it also gives a quote of the opposite viewpoint. Numbers don’t lie, and the numbers from the study are very eye opening and convincing. It makes me think about how much gambling affects the games we love, without us even knowing. Since all the surveys were anonymous, nothing will develop in terms of punishment or solutions to the problem. In this sense, the article does a great job persuading the reader. However, nowhere in the article did it give a date of the information or of when the article was written, so it is hard to put it in context and determine the importance. This, along with the briefness of the article, made it more difficult to shape my thinking about the topic. After analyzing the four sources included in this essay, I have yet to come to a concrete conclusion. I began researching the topic with the idea that gambling on college sports should be illegal and that all the effects of illegal gambling are bad. However, my research has muddied my view a little bit, which is actually a good thing because now I am informed more then I even have been. Being informed in such a way makes me understand how this predicament has been able to linger around in our society and in our legal system for so long. There seems to be no perfect solution and neither side of the argument wants to budge. I think both sides would agree that the illegal activity that surrounds gambling is a bad thing, but the argument remains; would legalizing sports gambling have a more positive effect on unlawful activity then keeping gambling illegal? The next step for me would simply be gaining more knowledge and weighing the pros and cons of each side and coming to decision of which side to take. Until then, ill be sitting on the fence of the topic, along with most of America. What Are the Effects of Legal vs. Illegal Gambling on College Sports? I’ve been a sports fanatic since the day I was born. It didn’t matter if I was playing or watching or cheering, I just loved being around the game. I have always been very knowledgeable about it too, as I was well known and titled by extended family as â€Å"the stat man. † This of course referred to the often times erroneous and useless facts rattling around in my brain that I couldn’t help but show off. Needless to say, this topic means a lot to me, especially being a college football player myself. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to dig deeper into a topic that has lingered in our country for years. The issues that pertain to gambling on college athletics have a vast range of opinions that stem from the questions; should gambling on college athletics be legal? What are the effects it has on the college athletes? Some argue that it will be detrimental to the game and some argue it has little to no effect, however most land somewhere in the middle. A common justification against gambling brings up the numerous scandals of players taking illegal benefits or point shaving and in extreme cases these events leading to jail or death. This side also argues that it allows players to get mixed up with the wrong crowd and put themselves in danger. Arguments for gambling site the economic reach it has in our country and the illegality will shrink the economy as well as not protect the players any more. Many people on this side think it will not be stopped so if gambling on college sports is illegalized, then every form of it will be illegal causing more trouble. My goal is to reveal those opinions and create a more complex understanding from various viewpoints, and hopefully bring a small degree of clarification to others and myself. In the article, â€Å"Even at Columbia, Gambling And College Athletics Collide† found in the New York Times, Jack Curry and Adam Gershenson enlighten the readers about the gambling infractions that occurred in a Columbia University fraternity house. The authors begin by describing the situation and basic details of the gambling process. â€Å" (They) would accept bets on sporting events from dozens of other students and then phone in the wagers — typically from $40 to $200 each — to a gambling ring based in Queens and operated by people with links to organized crime† (Curry and Gershenson). They go on to unravel the situation further by stating that there were not only college athletes betting on the games, but even current and former players living in the house that was tirelessly on the phone collecting wagers. Curry and Gershenson then discuss the further investigations done by Columbia and the NCAA and the possible disciplinary action that the offenders can face. The authors then write about the numerous amounts of sports gambling incidents in the last decade and also how students and athletes looked upon the Columbia gambling scandal with lesser importance because of the lack of athletic excellence. â€Å" The presence of a gambling operation with connections to organized crime at a school whose football team is best known for a 44-game losing streak in the 1980’s seemed incongruous† (Curry and Gershenson). An athlete was also quoted saying, â€Å"It’s not like this is Arkansas or something. This is Columbia. † Curry and Gershenson conclude their article by including a nationwide 1996 survey of college Division one athletes that reveals 25 percent gambled on other college sports and four percent admitted to gambling on games they had played in. I believe this is an article with good overall quality, even though it was written about 14 years ago in 1998. The time period constraint may lead to questions of relevance to readers in 2012. However, I think if you take all the dates and years out of the article, the purpose is still fulfilled and relays the same messages. The intent of the article was to inform about the events of the Columbia gambling ring, the reaction around campus, and the nationwide relevance. The authors Jack Curry and Adam Gershenson, are fairly unknown writers as far as I am concerned but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the article because it was included in The New York Times, which only adds credibility. For this reason, there would be a nationwide audience because of the shear number of readers. Specifically, the audience would probably be more of the businessman or woman, who are the stereotypical readers of The New York Times. The exigence of this piece was the arrest of gambling ring participants at Columbia but also the fact that these types of gambling scandals had been becoming more and more common in that time period. This was a very eye-opening article for me to read and by far the longest and most in depth. Since it was written 14 years ago, it is a story that I was previously unaware of. It made me even more aware then I already was, of how long this problem has lingered in college sports. It mentioned, more then once, that there are bookies on every campus in America. This really made me think about how unbelievable the number of illegal bets being placed by college students and athletes must be. However, even though this article is depicting the illegal gambling as a bad thing, I think it unintentionally makes arguments for both sides of the issue. If gambling on college sports were acceptable, this would have been a legal act. Hypothetically if it were legal, it would cut down on crime like this, which is usually linked to people with other criminal activity going on. Disconnecting the link to other criminal activity would make it all around safer for bookies and bet placers and athletes, because frankly, I think that people will never stop gambling on sporting events. I had always just assumed that gambling on college sports should be illegal, but this article made me reconsider whether that would really be the smartest and safest resolution. In the article â€Å"NCAA threatens to move events out of New Jersey† from SportsIllustrated. com, the unnamed author introduces the proposed plan to legalize sports gambling in New Jersey as well as reaction from sports organizations nationwide. The writer kicks off the article by stating background information about New Jersey’s push to legalize sports wagering. The article then goes on to describe the reaction from sports organizations, and goes in depth on the quotes from NCAA officials as well as their threats to move all playoff games out of New Jersey. It is also mentioned that The NCAA, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB have â€Å"collectively sued to block New Jersey’s sports betting law from taking effect. † However, there is also information and quotes from parties that are for the sports betting law. Quotes from State senator Raymond Lesniak and Governor Chris Christie demonstrate their support for the new law. The article is concluded with talk of â€Å"several new gambling options New Jersey is seeking to offer† (â€Å"NCAA Threatens†). The author writes that these other options include in-state Internet gambling and the use of hand-held mobile gambling devices at the casinos as well as at horse tracks. I thought this article was fairly credible and factual as well. It did not have an author to add to credibility but being a Sports Illustrated article maintained its effectiveness. I believe this piece was intended to inform the audience of residents of New Jersey as well as pretty involved sports fans. People who would read Sports Illustrated would obviously just be in it for the sports because that is the only information it obtains. This also acts as a constraint. The article cannot reach as much of the population because not everyone is a sports fan. The event that triggered this response was the attempt to make sports gambling legal in the state of New Jersey. My understanding of gambling in college sports was drastically upgraded by reading this article. It was an informative piece, so there was very little, if any, bias in the writing. The inclusion of statistics and legality of the topic really helped me understand why the sports organizations are hoping that the law will not pass. The shear amounts of money changing hands can lead to a lot of trouble, however for the same reason, legalizing that money could really boost economic growth. These types of pros and cons exist on both sides, making it an even tougher issue to sort out. My next source comes from a script from the testimony of Danny Sheridan before the Senate Commerce Committee on April 26, 2001. The testimony was for a hearing for the Amateur Sports Integrity Act (S. 718), which would determine the legality of gambling on college athletics. The first part of the testimony consists of Sheridan validating why his testimony should be considered by sharing his credibility and involvement in athletics. â€Å"My name is Danny Sheridan, and I have been involved with sports and the sports? promotion business for more than 25 years. I have published college and pro football? magazines, written about sports in a variety of national publications, and have been the?host of a number of sports TV and radio shows† Sheridan proclaims. Sheridan goes on to explain how he is also a friend of many high profile athletes and he knows first hand the dangers that athletic gambling has on athletes. Sheridan also includes many statistics in his argument. â€Å"An estimated 40 million Americans currently wager $6 billion illegally every weekend during the entire 20-week college and pro football season alone† (Sheridan). The testimony is concluded by Sheridan stating that he appreciates the good intentions of trying to legalize gambling, but it would instead, result in negative effects. The rhetor, Danny Sheridan, is a very well known sports industrial component, which gives his testimony (and therefore my source) credibility. He presented this to the Senate Commerce Committee in hopes to persuade them to vote against legalization of gambling on sports. The fact that this is a testimony, instead of a highly publicized article restricts the extent his message. I found the script on his website, however it isn’t an often visited site by the common Internet user, so the audience is a big constraint for this text. I found this testimony to be a great source for this project. It was interesting to read a text that wasn’t just a traditional article. My understanding for the anti gambling side grew significantly, because it was so biased. The speaker does a great job making his argument come full circle. For that reason, I came away from reading it with a slight lean towards supporting keeping gambling on sports illegal. Another interesting aspect is that this testimony was given in 2001. My previous source, about the gambling law in New Jersey, is a current issue, and the arguments made by Sheridan could simply be restated now with the same effects. It is astounding to see how such little progress has been made through the years. In the article â€Å"Study Provides New Data on the Extent of Gambling by College Athletes†, from netfiles. edu, Welch Suggs dissects a study done to determine the facts about college athletes that gamble on sports. Suggs begins by introducing the parameters of the University of Michigan study that was released by the athletic department. â€Å"The study, based on a survey of 758 football and basketball players, found that 72 percent of college football and basketball players had bet money at least once since entering college† (Suggs). The author goes on to give further statistics that the survey revealed. Welch Suggs concludes the article with opposing viewpoint quotes from NCAA employee William Saum, and former NFL player Lynn Swann. Suggs’ last statement included next shifting attention to basketball referees to gain information about their gambling experiences. This was a questionable source to say the least. It had some solid content but the article opened as a PDF and my research failed to try and find the original homepage of the website. Likewise, the author was a mystery man as well. This text was very brief, but I believe the purpose was to inform about the findings of the survey revealed by the University of Michigan athletic department. However, the audience is hard to determine because of the unknown author and questionable website. If I were to pick an audience though, I would say it was intended for the adult college sports athlete because of the language and the inclusion of quotes from Lynn Swann. This text also has massive constraints, mainly for the same reasons as stated before. The website is random and in an odd format, therefore finding Suggs’ piece would be difficult to come across. The audience is extremely limited because of this, and the credibility suffers as well. Also, it did not include dates it the article, so the exigence of the piece suffers because the provoking event of the writing cannot be identified. The facts that are stated in this article hold strong relevance for this topic. It is more of an anti gambling article based on the information it presents, but it also gives a quote of the opposite viewpoint. Numbers don’t lie, and the numbers from the study are very eye opening and convincing. It makes me think about how much gambling affects the games we love, without us even knowing. Since all the surveys were anonymous, nothing will develop in terms of punishment or solutions to the problem. In this sense, the article does a great job persuading the reader. However, nowhere in the article did it give a date of the information or of when the article was written, so it is hard to put it in context and determine the importance. This, along with the briefness of the article, made it more difficult to shape my thinking about the topic. After analyzing the four sources included in this essay, I have yet to come to a concrete conclusion. I began researching the topic with the idea that gambling on college sports should be illegal and that all the effects of illegal gambling are bad. However, my research has muddied my view a little bit, which is actually a good thing because now I am informed more then I even have been. Being informed in such a way makes me understand how this predicament has been able to linger around in our society and in our legal system for so long. There seems to be no perfect solution and neither side of the argument wants to budge. I think both sides would agree that the illegal activity that surrounds gambling is a bad thing, but the argument remains; would legalizing sports gambling have a more positive effect on unlawful activity then keeping gambling illegal? The next step for me would simply be gaining more knowledge and weighing the pros and cons of each side and coming to decision of which side to take. Until then, ill be sitting on the fence of the topic, along with most of America. What Are the Effects of Legal vs. Illegal Gambling on College Sports? I’ve been a sports fanatic since the day I was born. It didn’t matter if I was playing or watching or cheering, I just loved being around the game. I have always been very knowledgeable about it too, as I was well known and titled by extended family as â€Å"the stat man. † This of course referred to the often times erroneous and useless facts rattling around in my brain that I couldn’t help but show off. Needless to say, this topic means a lot to me, especially being a college football player myself. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to dig deeper into a topic that has lingered in our country for years. The issues that pertain to gambling on college athletics have a vast range of opinions that stem from the questions; should gambling on college athletics be legal? What are the effects it has on the college athletes? Some argue that it will be detrimental to the game and some argue it has little to no effect, however most land somewhere in the middle. A common justification against gambling brings up the numerous scandals of players taking illegal benefits or point shaving and in extreme cases these events leading to jail or death. This side also argues that it allows players to get mixed up with the wrong crowd and put themselves in danger. Arguments for gambling site the economic reach it has in our country and the illegality will shrink the economy as well as not protect the players any more. Many people on this side think it will not be stopped so if gambling on college sports is illegalized, then every form of it will be illegal causing more trouble. My goal is to reveal those opinions and create a more complex understanding from various viewpoints, and hopefully bring a small degree of clarification to others and myself. In the article, â€Å"Even at Columbia, Gambling And College Athletics Collide† found in the New York Times, Jack Curry and Adam Gershenson enlighten the readers about the gambling infractions that occurred in a Columbia University fraternity house. The authors begin by describing the situation and basic details of the gambling process. â€Å" (They) would accept bets on sporting events from dozens of other students and then phone in the wagers — typically from $40 to $200 each — to a gambling ring based in Queens and operated by people with links to organized crime† (Curry and Gershenson). They go on to unravel the situation further by stating that there were not only college athletes betting on the games, but even current and former players living in the house that was tirelessly on the phone collecting wagers. Curry and Gershenson then discuss the further investigations done by Columbia and the NCAA and the possible disciplinary action that the offenders can face. The authors then write about the numerous amounts of sports gambling incidents in the last deca.

What Constitutes a Crime

A crime occurs when someone breaks the law by an overt act, omission or neglect that can result in punishment. A person who has violated a law, or has breached a rule, is said to have committed a criminal offense. There are two main categories of crime: property crime and violent crime: Property Crimes   A property crime is committed when someone damages, destroys or steals someone elses property, such as stealing a car or vandalizing a building. Property crimes are by far the most commonly committed crime in the United States. Violent Crimes A violent crime occurs when someone harms, attempts to harm, threatens to harm or even conspires to harm someone else. Violent crimes are offenses which involve force or threat of force, such as rape, robbery or homicide. Some crimes can be both property crimes and violent at the same time, for example carjacking someones vehicle at gunpoint or robbing a convenience store with a handgun. Omission Can Be a Crime But there are also crimes that are neither violent nor involve property damage. Running a stop sign is a crime, because it puts the public in danger, even though no one is injured and no property is damaged. If the law is not obeyed, there could be injury and damage. Some crimes can involve no action at all, but rather inaction. Withholding medication or neglecting someone who needs medical care or attention can be considered a crime. If you know someone who is abusing a child and you do not report it, under some circumstances you could be charged with a crime for failing to act. Federal, State and Local Laws Society decides what is and is not a crime through its system of laws. In the United States, citizens usually subject to three separate systems of laws - federal, state and local. Federal Laws: Federal laws are passed by the U.S. Congress that apply to everyone in the United States. Sometimes federal laws may conflict with state and local laws. When there is a conflict, generally the federal law will prevail.State Laws: State laws are passed by elected legislators - also known as lawmakers - and can vary widely from state to state. Gun laws, for example, can be greatly different from one state to another. Although drunk driving is illegal in all 50 states, the penalties for driving while intoxicated can be very different between states.Local Laws: Local laws, usually known as ordinances, or passed by the local county or city governing bodies - commissions or councils. Local ordinances usually control how residents are expected to behave in the community, such as slowing down in school zones and disposing of trash properly. Ignorance of the Law Usually, someone has to have intent (meant to do it) to break the law in order to commit a crime, but that is not always the case. You can be charged with a crime even if you dont even know the law even exists. For example, you may not know that a city has passed an ordinance banning the use of cell phones while driving, but if you are caught doing it, you can be charged and punished. The phrase ignorance of the law is no exception means that you can be held liable even when you break a law that you didnt know existed. Labeling Crimes Crimes are often referred to by labels based on similar elements including the type of crime that was committed, the type of person that committed it and if it was a violent or nonviolent crime. White-Collar Crime The phrase white-collar crime was first used in 1939, by Edwin Sutherland during a speech he was giving to members of the American Sociological Society. Sutherland, who was a respected sociologist, defined it as, a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.   Generally, white-collar crime is nonviolent and committed for financial gain by business professionals, politicians, and other people in positions where they have gained the trust of those who they serve. Often white-collar crimes include fraudulent financial schemes including securities fraud such as insider trading, Ponzi schemes, insurance fraud, and mortgage fraud. Tax fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering are also generally referred to as white-collar crimes.