The Making of a Minority President Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Making of a Minority President - Essay Example John Edwards is the only Democratic white male that has a realistic opportunity of getting the nomination. The coming primary is a storm of historic proportions looming on the electoral landscape that could become a world-changing event. Democrats will have to decide whether to run for high ground, seek shelter, or weather the storm and face the adverse winds of political change. In many ways the events and polls leading up to the Democratic primaries have been a study in contradiction. In a Gallup Poll in the summer of 2007, Blacks selected Clinton as more favorable than Barak Obama. Hispanics favored Clinton ahead of the Latino Richardson. However, white voters see her as a liability and give her an unfavorable rating (Jones). While she leads in the national polling among all voters, nearly one-third of those polled said they would be less likely to vote for her because of her gender (Seelye and Sussman). Clinton's race and gender have been no friend to her in the polls and much of her support comes from Black and Hispanic males. Governor Bill Richardson is probably the most qualified candidate to deal with the benchmark issues of foreign policy, energy, and immigration ("The Man from New Mexico"). Yet, he is like an undiscovered treasure at a yard sale. He is unnoticed, unappreciated, and his low price tag offers no hint to the value contained within. Des pite the high profile positions that he has held with state and federal administrations, he is one of the least recognizable candidates. All these counter-intuitive poll numbers may add up to the possibility of a much stronger coalition when the candidate is selected, and a greater chance of a minority candidate winning the White House. However, the nominee will need to be careful to keep race, ethnicity, and gender out of the spotlight. The race will need to remain focused on the issues and the candidate's qualifications. Bringing attention to the minority status may uncover the prejudice and bias that lies beneath a thin veil of justice. America has had a dismal track record of minorities in presidential elections. While diversity is like a ray of hope on the landscape of equality, the light may also awaken old fears. These fears have the potential to tear holes in the coalition and leave the Democratic Party in disarray. The biases that bubble beneath America's ideal of equality can be seen in Richardson's candidacy. He is a centrist on immigration policy and favors tough border enforcement, fines for illegal entry, mandatory English, and a strict process to citizenship (Richardson). However, the opposition may spread panic among the electorate by negative ads that promote his ties to the Hispanic community and the myth of lost jobs and depressed wages for White and Black American workers. Richardson could find himself defending a policy that is unknown to most voters. The time and money spent defending himself against these racially based charges would detract from the more important issue of Iraq where Democrats have an advantage. It is likely that any minority candidate will be able to garner a majority of the traditional Democratic base. There are indications of much greater interest in the election among all the minority camps than in years past. Though Clinton currently is more favored than Richardson in the Hispanic comm

White Blood Cells (WBC) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

White Blood Cells (WBC) - Research Paper Example Bone marrow is the producer of White Blood Cells. The major function of Hematopoietic stem cells, found in bone marrow, is the production of WBC. Hematopoietic stem cells have a life span of only three to four days and therefore, any deficiencies in the production of this stem cell may affect the production of WBC also. â€Å"The white blood cells have a short life cycle, living from a few days to a few weeks. A drop of blood can contain anywhere from 7,000 to 25,000 white blood cells at a time†(White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012). This paper analyses various features of WBC. WBC’s are found throughout our body even though it is produced in bone marrow only. In other words, WBC produced from the bone marrow, is distributed all over the body to prevent the attack of foreign materials into the body. However, WBC density in bone marrow is more than that in any other parts of the body. There are six major types of white blood cells: Basophils, Bands, Eosinophils, Lymphocytes (T cells and B cells), Monocytes and Neutrophils. The average percentage of each type in the blood is as follows: Neutrophils - 58 percent; Eosinophils - 2 percent; Basophils - 1 percent; Bands - 3 percent; Monocytes - 4 percent; Lymphocytes - 4 percent and Neutrophils - 58 percent (Bianco, 2012). Each of these WBC’s has specific functions. Neutrophils defend against bacterial infection whereas Eosinophils prevent parasitic infections. Basophils are dealing with allergic infections whereas the duty of Monocytes is to clean neutrophils. Lymphocytes play a major role in defending the body against various diseases including cancer. The number of WBC’s in blood is the indicator of whether a person has some diseases or not. In other words, if the count of WBC shows an abnormal value (more or less than the normal value), that means the person has some kind of diseases. The normal count of WBC in one liter blood is between 4?109 and 1.1?1010. â€Å"A consistentl y high number of white blood cells is a symptom of Leukemia, a cancer of the blood. A Leukemia patient may have as many as 50,000 white blood cells in a single drop of blood†. (White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012). â€Å"In diseases such as measles, pertussis and sepsis, the increase in white blood cells is so dramatic that the picture resembles leukemia† (White Blood Cell Count (WBC) and Differential, 2006) Whenever a germ or infection enters the body, the white blood cells snap to attention and race toward the scene of the crime. The white blood cells are continually on the lookout for signs of disease. When a germ does appear, the white blood cells have a variety of ways by which they can attack. Some will produce protective antibodies that will overpower the germ. Others will surround and devour the bacteria (White Blood Cells: Battling Blood Cells, 2012). Neutrophils and monocytes use several mechanisms in their fight against the intrusion of foreign bodi es in our body. â€Å"They kill bacteria by a process called phagocytosis, in which they completely surround the bacteria and digest them with digestive enzymes. They can phagocytize five to 20 bacteria in their lifetime†(Bianco, 2012). Stroncek et al. (2011) pointed out that â€Å"White blood cells (WBCs) collected from hematopoietic stem cell are often given to patients who has problems in maintaining the normal WBC count in blood† (Stroncek et al., 2011, p.2647). It should be noted that bone marrow transplant is the most effective option in fighting against blood cancer. Stem cell research is one of the most rapidly developing fields in medical science and many people believe that the