What Is American Federalism Essay Example for Free

What Is American Federalism Essay According to Dye (2011), nations are not truly federal unless both national and subnational governments exercise separate and autonomous authority, both elect their own officials, and both tax their own citizens for the provision of public services (p. 263). American Federalism is just that. In the United States each state has their own government with elected officials, to go even further each town within these states also have their own elected officials. These officials govern these areas the way they see fit, however they each fall under the national government. Dye (2011) goes on to say that federalism requires the powers of the national and subnational governments to be guaranteed by a constitution that cannot be changed without the consent of both national and subnational populations (p. 263), this also is apparent in the United States as well. The founding fathers brought forth this federalist way in order to prevent one entity from having too much power, which in turn would allow the elites to rule over those less privileged and in turn them never having a voice. W/C: 176 When should we use Military Force? A President has a hard decision when it comes to deciding whether or not to use military force. When sending the military into any combat area lives are placed immediately at risk, those soldiers are ready and willing to defend their country however the President must be able to explain why the military is needed and justify why we have suffered wounded and lost lives. (Dye, 2011, p. 289) When deciding whether or not to use military force the president must consider several things. Is the use of military force going to protect vital interests? Does the President have the support of the American people and those in Congress? Is this force in support of important political objectives and lastly is this force in support of the war on terrorism? The commitment of US military force should be a last resort, after political, economic, and diplomatic efforts have been proven ineffective (Dye, 2011, p. 289). W/C: 153 What went wrong in Iraq? According to Dye (2011), The war in Iraq was a preemptive strike against terrorism, consistent with the declarations of the Bush administration about the necessity of fighting terrorists on their own ground rather than on American soil (p. 297). One of the biggest things that went wrong in Iraq was the limited number of troops originally sent in. The reason behind this was due in part to the vision of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to have a lean military force. (Dye, 2011, p. 97) Although the initial wave was able to take over and capture Baghdad, it was not enough to keep the are safe and free from insurgents. With the insurgents on the move the American military force was spread thin and they were not able to hold the cities they had once taken over. supply lines could not be defended and the insurgents quickly learned to plant IEDs-improvised explosive devices-along routes commonly used by the US troops. More casualties were inflicted by these devices than by any other means; the US did not have enough troops to guard supply routes (Dye, 2011, p. 99). Overall it seemed as though poor planning and lack of a vision from Donald Rumsfeld is what led to what went wrong in Iraq. W/C: 207 How do you fight Terrorism with Intelligence? In order to effectively and efficiently fight Terrorism with Intelligence is to have a strong Intelligence Community (IC) in place. According to Dye (2011), a proactive war on terrorism requires the collection, analysis, and dissemination of relevant foreign and domestic information to federal, state, and local government agencies, and to the American people (p. 13). It is up to the several components that make up the Intelligence Community to do just that, they must work together in order to form a cohesive unit and ensure that any information obtained is utilized in a way that will benefit the American people and US soil. In the world today the President relies on the Director of National Intelligence to coordinate and oversee all the functions within the IC, it is the DNI who reports directly to the president and is a member of the National Security Council, the presidents inner cabinet (Dye, 2011, p. 17). W/C: 151 What does it mean when we say the we are using American Troops for Nation Building? This statement comes along with the planning for postwar Iraq. One of the goals of the war was to uncover weapons of mass destruction, unfortunately these items were never found. During the planning phase for postwar Iraq the US had promised to help restore many things such as water, electricity and roads. Due to the US administrator for Iraq Paul Bremmer these things seemed to be out of reach as he began dismissing the entire Iraqi Army and pursued a policy of dismissing virtually all Iraqi managers and technicians (Dye, 2011, p. 299). Due to all of this the US had no choice to both recruit and train a new Army and police force that would serve Iraq, as well they were obliged to bring in contract workers, managers and technicians from the US to help restore all those things that were promised to the Iraqi people. Although the troops came in to fight a war in the end they were there it seemed to help rebuild the Nation.

Good and Evil and Beowulf Essay Example for Free

Good and Evil and Beowulf Essay Beowulf is the most famous epic of the Anglo-Saxon period. This is a story of an epic hero who fights against the most sinister monsters known to man. Beowulf and Grendel are the main characters of this tale; they are the perfect example of good versus evil, light versus dark, and hero versus villain. Beowulf is the story all epic hero stories have followed; the Beowulf with his hero qualities goes head to head with Grendel. Heroes and villains share a lot of qualities but a number of key characteristics set them apart. Heroes as well as villains above all are abnormal; they share their own specific goals and are often very intelligent and capable of achieving what they want or need to achieve. Both types of these individuals are often warrior like and of unique or even divine like powers and weapons. Despite sharing these characteristics they are not similar in their desires. Heroes fight on the side of right, they fight for the good of man and they fight for the safety of society. Villains fight for evil; they do not care about innocent people being injured by their actions and only seek self satisfaction. Villains recklessly murder anyone who gets in their way and the only ones who can stop them are heroes like Beowulf. Beowulf is a shining example of an epic hero who fights against the evils of the Geats. Beowulf is a warrior who praises god and aims to kill the monsters that plague his people. Bravest and the best of the Geats, Beowulf is a superhuman warrior who is out to kill the likes of Grendel for fame and glory. Grendel is the most sinister monster known to the Geats, he strikes fear into their hearts because of what he has done to innocent people. Grendel is an ugly and despicable monster who has hands forged in hell (ll. 64). Grendel is the enemy of mankind and specifically Beowulf, he is the shadow of death and lusts for evil (ll. 74). The conflict between Grendel and Beowulf is not one that is just a battle of fame or pleasure but one of righteousness and wrong. Beowulf must defeat Grendel for all of the evil he has committed and to honor those who have died defending themselves from this creature born in the depths of hell.

What Was Bps Strategy Prior To The Accident Business Essay

What Was Bps Strategy Prior To The Accident Business Essay Deepwater Horizon was an offshore oil-rig located in the Gulf-of- Mexico, owned by Transocean, leased by BP and deployed by Hyundai. 20th April 2010, during the drilling, a tear in the riser-pipe caused an uncontrollable leakage of petroleum, claiming 11 lives, injuring 17 others. The fire fed by the oilfield continued for next 36 hours causing the rig sunk ultimately. Disagreement between different stakeholders caused a delay in taking measures to restrict the oil-leakage. This leakage from the oil-field could only be stopped after 87 days, resulting approx 60,000 barrels/day of oil-leakage into the gulf-of-Mexico causing irreparable damage to marine and coastal ecosystem. Beaches remain closed, tourism and related business suffered, seafood was contaminated and oil killed marine-life across the US-coast. BP on Nov-12 agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal acts related to this event and to pay $4.5 billion. The potential fine for the spill under the act is $1,100 to $4,300 a barrel s pilled, (NY Times, 2013). This incident also triggered government, MNCs and environmental agencies to agree upon and device stringent measures on improving the safety of offshore oil-rigs, safeguarding the environment, enhancing the post-disaster measures (OCS report, 2011).this incident damaged the strong portfolio value of BP apart from causing it immense financial loss. Preparedness is of utmost important, a process should be devised and actively in-place to tackle such disasters, in such an environment, strategies originate in formal plans (Mintzberg and Waters, 1995) : precise intentions exist [both government and MNCs] , formulated and articulated by central leadership [government], backed up by formal controls to ensure complete adherence [by MNCs], to increase preparedness for disasters in an controllable or predictable manner- mostly this approach converges towards planned-approach. Despite of BPs commitment towards maintaining readiness to respond on larger-scale, to minim ize damaging-effect and facilitate mitigation activities- the magnitude of the deepwater incident was enormous in magnitude and unprecedented which caught BP in its mitigating strategy-formulation. Environmental and social impact assessment is an inherent part of BP strategy (BP, 2013) which analyses the potential risk to environment and on human in the neighborhood of such establishments, though the state-of-art technologies BP failed to assess the risk of this oil-rig. BP lacked in the collaboration with all stakeholders in addressing this disaster. The traditional-way of aerial and satellite imagery in estimating the actual deep-underwater situation failed (Jernelo ¨v, 2010). Another failure of BP was to manage the media in restricting the exaggerated and conflicting facts spread across worldwide thus damaging BPs strong portfolio-value. Strategy Literature Review We can relate the concept of strategic space (Fiegenbaum Thomas, 1990) with the Deepwater-horizon disaster; we would map as the first-step the characteristics of the business environment, termed as strategic space. Three dimensions, a) the levels of organizational strategy (e.g. US government and BP-corporate), b) the strategic decisions making process (e.g. scope, resource deployment), and c) the time period which defines the broad characteristics of the strategic space. First firms need to invest on a well-designed, technically-sound, and precise research, placed within a comprehensive framework covering initially the stable aspects of group behavior, then moves progressively to theory development and testing of dynamic behavior (Fiegenbaum Thomas, 1990). MNCs and government need to join hand to invest on the study of this incident to identify the root-cause of this failure and then agree to devise enhanced preventive measures for such future incidents. It is clear that traditional countermeasures failed, which necessitates for a new approach of risk-management. In the aftermath of this, US govt is taking significant measures to improve regulatory oversight on offshore drilling (OCS report, 2011). We can see competition as a dynamic process in which firms continually take actions to outperform each other (Rindova et al, 2010), once one competitor faces such disaster the other firm eagerly willing to take the advantage of the situation by airing neg ative campaign and aggressive advertisement [e.g. as Shell did]. During such disasters we can argue that a firms decisions as a series of competitive actions provides audience with necessary cues in framing impression about it, as well as comparing it to other players in the same market. Firms competitive actions thus act as a dynamic mechanism for firm specific reduction of ambiguity. Emergence period [of such disaster] on which we focus is relatively short and creates a dynamic environment in which firms [BP] need to make rapid changes in their strategies responding to the changing need of the ground-situation, Rindova et al (ibid). Deepwater-horizon or such incidents are huge in magnitude and poses significant capability to cause damage we need to introduce -out-of-the-box thinking and improvisation/innovation to devise strategies to fight with such situation the dynamic nature of such incidents requires prompt action taking capability [in the terms of financial, technologica l resource]. Insurance [and reinsurance] firms also come under scope during such incidents their risk evaluation process need to be enhanced and routine check-up should be stringent. Product diversification and size dimensions are two such aspects that needs close inspection while determining the value of such huge installations Fiegenbaum Thomas (ibid). Having a good strategy and right execution of the same is essential for a good-management (Thompson et al, 2012) all stakeholders need to have a well-defined strategy in-place to manage such disasters and absolute adherence is needed when calamities occur. The strategy need to be flexible enough to adept itself responding to the actual ground-situation [feedback loop]. A deliberately emergent approach might be useful Mintzberg Waters (ibid). MNCs need to be made responsible to adjust themselves during the unexpectedly tough business-environment by undertaking strategic defense and approaches that enables them to overcome the adversity Thompso n et al, (ibid). But at the same time government also cant escape its responsibilities. Off course a good strategy is essential to obtain and sustain market-position strong enough so that the firm is capable to yield profitable financial performance despite unforeseen events/external factors [e.g. disaster, natural calamity or potential competition]. A review on BP Strategy What was BPs strategy prior to the accident? BP being a trusted company adheres to a higher set of standards in everyday work (BP, 2011). Business doesnt occur in vacuum, the place and time is important (Parry et al, 2007)- stakeholder theory (Donaldson and Preston, 1995) emphasizes on considering all stakeholders [in the environment in which firm operates not only the shareholders interest] strategy-making. Several stakeholders and their competitive interest are associated with such huge installations. BP needs to respect this and maintain balance among all such groups while making their strategy. BP seemed to follow a deliberate approach until this event. BP states its objective as create value for shareholders (BP, 2011) it being a global MNC needs to be responsible towards environment and people in the region it operates. Safety remained top-priority for BP, when disaster happens BP needs to be flexible enough to response to the situation and devise measures to control the aftermath- we observed that they spent three days in discussing the approach. Constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and prompt action in such cases is needed. Government authorities, local-people, environmental-organizations, employee and shareholders, opinions from all should be considered during formulating the strategy which lacked in the case. This incident also shows that neither government nor BP was prepared to sustain such disaster this shows an obvious lack from BPs part in conducting appropriate risk assessment (OCS report, 2011). Experts conclude that this disaster could have been avoided, preparedness and prompt-action is pivotal in managing s uch disaster. Analysis of BP actions in light of the strategic frameworks Resource based view VRIO resources for BP is its strong portfolio value [inimitable and rare], its technical expertise [valuable and rare], financial and organisational strength [valuable]. BP has lost two of its VRIO resources, resulting from this incident; its brand-value and financial-strength [to pay the huge fine]. BP lacked the technical-expertise to avoid the incident and then failed to restrict the leakage it lost its valuable and rare resources [infrastructure, human life]. The myth of inimitable technical expertise of BP and its strong portfolio value were shattered by the incident. It is a huge loss for a firm. Approach based view BP followed a planned approach in addressing this unprecedented disaster and their lack of being flexible and adapting/enhancing strategy to mitigate this series of events caused the continuous oil-leakage for 87 days. They also lack the coordination with different stakeholders and discussions on approach prevented them three days to take measure. Consensus approach would have been key Mintzberg Waters (ibid) as they need to take input from US government agencies, environmentalists and other lease-partners to devise the most appropriate damage control mechanism. Flexibility and transparent communication would have been key in estimating the damage and make containment plains where BP failed in establishing consensus and maintain transparency about the actual size of the disaster. A combination of emergent [taking input from all stakeholders] and Umbrella approach would have been reduce the damage. Ideological approach, Mintzberg Waters (ibid) where collective vision of all stakehol ders are respected might have been useful. Five-Force analysis BP has strong supplier groups [US government, Transocean, Hyundai] they are few and supply highly differentiated products so they pose significant threat to the industry (Porter, 2008/1979). BP suffered here as in future these suppliers would either expel BP [US govt already did a ban on future explorations by BP in US] or impose stringent conditions. BP loses its production capability directly affecting its market-share, posing a moderate threat to BP from strong buyer perspective. Substitutes and new-entrants are of minor threat but rivalry is of major impact. Shell initiated aggressive campaign against BP after this incident, causing more damage to BP brand-value. Conclusions/Recommendations In our time protection of the environment is a priority and such environmental disasters have a huge impact created and multifold by media and environment agencies to damage the portfolio value of the Oil-MNC. Firms needed to justify their actions to all stakeholders including the valuable shareholders. Firms need to balance between profitability and responsibility (Breeze, 2012) and demonstrate their adherence in a sustainable corporate social responsibility. Not only in their vision statement but also everyday acts. Assurance of human safety and environmental protection is pivotal for any industry; such things remain sometimes neglected in leased oil-rigs, reforms is necessary; both at the government layer imposing regulatory steps on quality-control and the firms internal decision-making process to ensure their political autonomy, technical expertise, and their full consideration of environmental protection (OCS report, 2011). Instead of one-sided blaming MNCs for this disaster w e need to equip ourselves from preventing such incidents to occur, suggestions Strengthen the collaboration between government-agencies and MNCs, Firms need to invest on RD to improve spill-response. Analyze the traditional measures to contain the spill and introduce upgrades both Firms and Govt. responsible BP to invest to enhance its spill preparedness and control mechanisms Invest on robust design, leakage measurement and containment Government and BP need to ensure fair, transparent damage control and estimating mechanism. Restore the coastal wild life and marine food-chain, trust building measures need to taken by government to assure the seafood consumers. Firms and government need to establish stringent measures to safeguard the human-life on the rig and the rescue-staff. Long term restoration [of the marine life] plan is needed from Government funded by BP to mitigate the irreparable loss of the coastal-life. Government should impose laws on the financial responsibility of the firms operating in the area during such disaster Such confidence-building measures would slowly but steadily improve the environmental situation of Mexican-Gulf and lessons learnt from this disaster would help firms to enhance their disaster preparedness. Disasters caused by blow-outs might occur in future too and investment needed to prevent such situation [failsafe mechanism], if that fails capping of blow-out need to be done swiftly and relief-walls might be suitable to restrict the leakage, Jernelo ¨v (ibid). Consensus and umbrella approach, Mintzberg and Waters (ibid) where strategies originate/revolve around consensus- in such a multiparty environment reaching consensus is of utmost important, no stakeholder can devise/deploy strategy in single handed. Government needs to develop the boundaries of tolerance and impose safety-mechanisms, within which firms need to operate and periodic checking mechanism should be in place to ensure firms operate within their limits set by government. Corporate Social Responsibility determine s the expected behavior of a firm towards its commitment to society and responsibility of conducts for environment BP needs to demonstrate this in their future plants.

Racism in Childrens Literature Essay -- Race in America

For my research project I chose the topic of Racism in Children's Literature. I chose this area of study because it is something that bothers me and I know as a child in school I was very uncomfortable with assignments that dealt with racism. One day I would like to make a difference to all the people who are affected by racism. My hypothesis states that if educators are better trained to deal with the delicate subject of racism in children's literature, books would not be banned, yet actually teach the lesson the authors of these books intended for all of us to learn. During an International Board on Books for Young People conference in New Delhi, India, Spyros Kyprianou stated, "Books for young people are the main cultural nourishment for our youth. For this reason they must send messages and teachings of humanism and altruism, love for the lofty principles of freedom, justice, and democracy, respect for moral values and longing for universal fraternization and peace in the world is conducive to the creation of a better future for mankind." Writing has been an important part of every culture from the beginning of time. The illustrations of cavemen have evolved immensely. Today, there are millions of published books. In fact, there are over four hundred books published every month. What happens when these books turn into something more? Is there racism in our children's literature? Ironically, the renowned great works of our past is full of racism. The question that remains, how do we teach our children the great lesson that these brave authors intended? According to Roget's Super Thesaurus, racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, bigotry, bias, segregation, apartheid, intolerance, and white supremacy, (463). Throug... ...ur Literature." The Teachers Lounge. Dec. 2010 65-68. Print. Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Harper Collins, 1993. Print. McCutcheon, Marc. Roget's Super Thesaurus Second Edition. Ohio: Writers Digest Books, 1998. Print. Munin, Art. "Empathy" About Campus. May/June 2007. 30-32. Print Rogers, Rebecca, June Christian. "What Could I Say? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Construction of Race in Children's Literature. "Race and Ethnicity and Education. Vol. 10.1 March 2007. 21-46. Print Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York:.Random House, 1952. Print Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1952. Print. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Random House, 1993. Print. Wolk, Steven. "Teaching for Critical Literacy in Social Studies." The Social Studies. May/June 2003. Print.

The Character of Jurgid Rudkis in Upton Sinclairs The Jungle :: Upton Sinclair Jungle Essays

The Character of Jurgid Rudkis in The Jungle There are often many sides to a person's personality. Jurgis Rudkis of Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, is no exception. Rudkis is a very determined and caring person. Conversely, he is also strickened with cupidity. He has both good and evil coexisting within him. Rudkis is a very determined and directed man. He is always eager to work. He does not let anything stop him and is "confident in his ability to get work for himself, unassisted by anyone(pg.35) ." Aware that he needed money, Rudkis does anything and everything to achieve his goals. No matter what he must endure, he always manages to keep his head high and keeps striving toward his dreams. Rudkis's determination is also displayed when he tries to make a good impression on his boss. He proves he is not lazy and "promptly reports for work in the morning(pg.46) ." Rudkis is also a caring man. His primary goal is to protect Ona, and when he reaches America, he has every confidence he can do so. He works in terrible conditions and endures many hardships merely to keep her happy. When he lost his job, he earned mony immoraly. He does not do this for himself, but for the welfare of Ona and the family. Eventhough he inevidably fails, he does everything in his power to be an ideal husband. Rudkis, like many other good-hearted people, had to circumb to the evil powers of greed. He buys an expensive house that he could not afford. He could settele for a house of lesser value that suits his needs just as well, but he doesn't. Eventhough he is somewhat conned into buying it, his greed still convinced him. Shortly after this, he is so eager to get more money, that he starts to behave immoraly. After he lost his job due to an injury, he sinks into a life of crime as a foe of society. He becomes a mugger and a grafter.

Battle of Tippecanoe Essay -- Military History

The Battle of Tippecanoe Introduction The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought during the early morning hours of November 7, 1811, on a tree-covered knoll just outside of modern day Prophetstown, Indiana. American forces, under the command of William Henry Harrison, were attacked by a band of Indian tribes unified by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. A relatively minor battle, in comparison to others remembered in American History, this small battle proved to play a significant role in the shaping of the newly formed country. Debatable among historians regarding the constructive effects of the battle against its negative repercussions , its importance is unmistakable. Ultimately, the results of this day would bring to an end any prospect for a United Indian Confederation, and never again would the Native Americans be able to effectively challenge American expansion. History William Henry Harrison, later to become the ninth President of the United States, was a military officer born to a political family. Joining the military at a young age he rose in its ranks under the tutelage of General â€Å"Mad† Anthony Wayne where he served as a lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp during the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The winning of this battle paved the way for the â€Å"peace† signing of the Greenville Treaty. This single treaty ceded most of present day Ohio and pushed many Algonquians from their tribal lands. In less than 15 years time, by Harrison’s efforts, 48 million acres of Native American lands would be lost by cessation. Appointed as Superintendent of the North West Indians and Indiana Territory Governor he was undoubtedly the single most powerful white in the West. Harrison, having higher ambitions then frontier... ... forces to take advantage of situation to shape the battle in his favor. Daring and willing to take calculated risks he was able to effectively negate all of the varying tactics the Indians attempted to employ at him to achieve his victory. References Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1969. Eckert, Alan W. A Sorrow in our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. Broadway, NY: Bantam Books, 1992. Eckert, Alan W. That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley. Broadway, NY: Bantam Books, 1995. Jortner, Adam Joseph. The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012. The Complete History of U.S. Wars: Manifest Destiny Wars, Ambrose Video 2004

Smart Devices and System in Our Homes

The problems that we can discus in this part is about the introduction of smart devices and system in our homes, the risk and threats linked to them, and respectively to the smart home inhabitants will grow. So, the digital world as we know it now has gradually developed standards, protocols, interface, operating systems, programming models and architectures during the last 50 decades, making both computing and networking a type of plug-and- play environment. Nowadays the smart homes and its services, from a highly heterogeneous environment, which presents a significant challenge for future users and manufacturers. So, healthcare services contain unknown so far danger for human's life. The scenario of a villain causing a heart attack by remote intervention in a pacemaker or shutting down an insulin pump on a diabetic is not in the realm of movies but occur due to real sensitive that exist in connected medical devices. Furthermore, these are rather worrying facts, bearing in mind that between 1993 and 2009, 2.9 million patients received permanent pacemakers in the united states with this this number constantly increasing. The cyber threats are any identified effort directed toward access to, exfiltration of, manipulation of, or impairment to the integrity, confidentiality, security, or availability of data, an application, or a federal system, without lawful authority.In our everyday life, a threat to our home can be an open window or unlocked door, an iron or cooker that are not turned off or water running from an open tap. In future smart homes, in addition to the threats related to the household appliance, there can emerge dangers directed to the health or life of the inhabitants. The consequences of cyber-attacks can lead to serious problems like access sensitives information, espionage, data theft, financial losses. The nature, complexity, and severity of the cyber threats are increasing in time, which makes it difficult to build a good classification framework.Potential consequences of cyber-attacks can be:Rejection of service DOS targeting the sensors, video surveillance or communication system.Data integrity violation or data modification in communication media.System breaking with unauthorized access to network resources or system integration resources.The good transact with the attack, it is:To have an operating intrusion detection system.To have an attack prevention system.To maintain reliable identification, authentication and access control.To support leakage monitoring information.To employ reliable and effective communication protocol.To operate secure integrating system and external communication system.