The second entry in the civics series clearly and concisely explains how the United States Senate works. From the Fundamentals of American Government civics series, it explores the inner workings of this important part of the legislative branch. It is written for all audiences, but voiced toward high school seniors and college freshmen.
The Majority Leader of the 107th Senate offers a candid insider's account of the workings of the U.S. government during two extraordinary years of American history, sharing his thoughts on the presidential election of 2000, the September 11th terrorist attacks, the anthrax scare, the war on terrorrism, corporate scandals, and other Senate leaders. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
Senator Tom Daschle's narrative of what went on behind the scenes in the making of the new health care legislation delivers a powerful lesson in the workings of American politics. The evolution of health care reform was drawn-out, frustrating, and complicated, but Senator Tom Daschle is the ideal person to recount the process. His account will guide you through the entire story, from the earliest presidential campaign debates -- and his firsthand experiences in the Obama team -- through the battles on Capitol Hill to solve our most serious health care problems. Not simply a book about policy, Daschle’s narrative describes in vivid detail how fragile the support in Congress was at every step of the way, as well as the frantic efforts to design a rescue strategy before time ran out. Combining his insights as a health care expert and his political expertise, this is the inside story about how the new legislation came together: from the persistence of President Obama to the subsequent efforts--and counter efforts--within the Senate and the House. In Daschle's hands, this becomes a dramatic personal story and a remarkable lesson in politics at the highest level.
Discloses secrets and corruption the watchdog group has discovered in the Obama administration through various legal battles, sharing insights into activities related to terrorism, illegal immigration, and the health-care initiative.
The Majority Leader of the 107th Senate offers a candid insider's account of the workings of the U.S. government during two extraordinary years of American history, sharing his thoughts on the presidential election of 2000, the September 11th terrorist attacks, the anthrax scare, the war on terrorrism, corporate scandals, and other Senate leaders. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
Unyielding tackles a recurring topic of national importance as a history lesson for future generations. Controversial illegal medical mandates impacted military populations for many decades, but it was not until the COVID-era that the American people witnessed similar overreach. Colonel Tom “Buzz” Rempfer’s memoir retraces the anthrax vaccine history since it marked the first time the military was served with court rulings condemning premeditated illegal experimentation on our nation’s troops. The advent of COVID mandates, imposed on the population in 2021, gave the American people a taste of the mistreatment previously reserved for our nation’s warriors. Legal protections enacted by the Congress to guard against medical experimentation, meant to ensure safe, effective, and FDA-approved products, were instead adulterated to foist mandates on American society. According to the FBI, the motive for the anthrax letter lab leaks in 2001 was to “rejuvenate” the “failing” anthrax vaccine. Similarly, the suspected Wuhan lab leak two decades later resulted in a push for COVID injections. The pattern of fear-based bioincidents resulting from reckless biodefense enterprises, and lessons not learned with illegal mandates, paralyzed government and military leaders while wreaking havoc on the trust and health of our troops and the American people. Buzz’s decades-long analysis of the breakdowns stands as a unique treatise on the failures of leaders to learn lessons from these enduring clashes and to correct the damage. Future generations will sort out the aftermath, but in the meantime, Colonel Rempfer’s Unyielding effort attempts to ensure that the lessons are not lost.
While many books discuss how nations can prevent the proliferation of biological and nuclear weapons, this unique and controversial volume begins with the premise that these weapons will certainly multiply despite our desperate desire to slow this process. How worried should we be and what should we do? Thomas Preston examines current trends in the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons capabilities, know-how, and technologies for both state and nonstate actors and then projects these trends over the coming ten to fifteen years to assess how they might impact existing security relationships between states. Providing thorough discussion and analysis of a potentially nuclear North Korea and Iran, the current biotechnical revolution, and the future threat of attacks against the United States by terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, Preston offers answers and some potentially surprising reassurances in this accessibly written and informative book. Book jacket.
How important is presidential personality and leadership style in foreign policy decisions? To answer this question, Thomas Preston takes readers inside the Bush administration's decision making process and use of intelligence to better understand how administration officials justified the Iraq War—and how they sought to avoid blame for the consequences of their actions. Based on extensive interviews with key Bush administration officials, Preston offers students of American foreign policy, presidential decision making, the dynamics of blame avoidance, and future practitioners with an in depth examination of how presidential personality and leadership style impacted Bush's central foreign policy failure. In addition, Preston looks critically at the oft-cited comparisons of Iraq to Lyndon Johnson's leadership during the Vietnam War, exploring where the analogy fits and a number of important differences. He shows how both presidents' styles exacerbated their managerial weaknesses in these cases and the limits of blame avoidance strategies. Importantly, the book provides a cautionary tale for future leaders to consider more carefully the long-term consequences of satisfying their short term policy desires by lifting the lid to any new Pandora's trap.
“When Cal Thomas speaks, I try to listen. I’ve been listening to him for a LONG time!" — Mike Huckabee “For more than 40 years, Cal Thomas had a front row seat to some of America's most contentious public policy debates. And for more than four decades, Cal wielded his pen to speak truth to power and to advance traditional conservative values. Cal's stories and tales from that front row—as the watchman—are sure to entertain!” — Mike Pence "A new bestselling page-turner." — Washington Examiner “This is what I have done—and am continuing to do—as I seek to serve God first and then my country.”—Cal Thomas Cal Thomas—one of the most popular syndicated columnists in the country—is America’s “Watchman” in the night. In A Watchman in the Night, Cal Thomas takes the reader on a “road trip” through over fifty years of journalism and American life, serving as a “watchman” on culture and politics and seeking to conform it to a standard that never changes. A watchman “keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.” Thomas is a believer that certain values and principles never change and has critiqued misbehavior and wrong-headedness by people on “his side” from the start. “If values and Truth mean anything,” Thomas says, “they must be applied equally. Hypocrisy and heresy cannot be ignored no matter the source.” In the book, Thomas does not stigmatize labels, such as “conservative” and “religious,” because Thomas says: “It allows people to define me and others by their perception of those labels. Ask me a question and I will give you my answer. For over fifty years in journalism, Thomas has offered incisive, humorous and often corrective commentary to our social, political, and religious conversations. An early commitment to addressing publicly what he sees has marked Thomas’ entire career. Cal has always called both parties, both sides of the American political divide, to account, to take the high road and to honor our civic and religious ideals with compatible behavior to the very best of our ability. This increasingly “radical” approach to public life has won him many friends on both sides of the political aisle, hundreds of thousands of faithful readers of his columns, and a continuous barrage of accolades and “hate mail,” much of it charming when it is not too foul to repeat. Cal came to the Christian faith while a young journalist at a dinner led by Dr. Richard Halverson, Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD, and later, Chaplain of the United States Senate. This experience informed the rest of Cal’s life as he hosted his own private dinners for members of the press and members of Congress from both parties leading to deep friendships with Senator Ted Kennedy and many others, friendships which became a hallmark of Cal’s life despite wide political differences. For over two decades, Cal has hosted the National Prayer Breakfast Media Dinner as a continuation of his commitment to the reality that a relationship with Jesus Christ can change a person’s life and ultimately change a nation, and that things of such import are best discussed over dinner. The book includes tones about faith, but focuses on American social, cultural and political currents. A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America is a living history of our times, of who we were then and who we are now and who we might become (for better or worse) in the future, and a remarkable chronicle of modern American life.
An introduction to the geography, history, government, politics, economy, resources, people, and culture of South Dakota, including maps, charts, and a recipe.
Accurate, comprehensive, thought-provoking beyond belief. A long overdue inside look at a layered aviation security system plagued with misconception and vulnerabilities...the reference 'bible' for anyone looking to identify the flaws in the aviation security system.--Captain Stephen A. Luckey, Chairman, National Security Committee, Air Line Pilots Assoc. Int'lThe terrorist' devastating attacks of September 11, 2001, did not succeed because they were so good, but because the state of the U.S. aviation security system was so bad. Thomas lays out the cost of complacency and shows how remaining holes in aviation security can be plugged.--David Evans, Editor, Air Safety Week...packed with facts about the state of security or insecurity in aviation...I would strongly encourage everyone involved with the aviation industry to read this book.--Fred Ragsdale, Program Director, Training, National Terrorism Preparedness Institute, St. Petersburg CollegeThe events of September 11 compelled the American public to look at air travel as much more than merely another way of getting from point A to point B. An industry that was previously viewed as a routine component of modern transport is now seen as both a vital national asset and a vulnerable security risk. In this probing critique of aviation security since 9/11, Andrew R. Thomas, a globally recognized aviation security expert, examines the recent overhaul of the national aviation security system.Despite the complete federal takeover of aviation security in November 2001, Thomas notes many continuing problems, including: millions of passenger bags that are still not screened or matched; the unresolved problem of air rage and unruly passenger behavior; the forgotten chasm of air cargo, which remains largely unchecked due to inadequate resources; and lax standards, the hiring of high-risk employees, and the failure to secure critical areas in many of our nation's airports.Thomas also considers many of the proposed solutions to these vulnerabilities: biometrics, profiling, air marshals, bomb-detection devices, and smart technology that links reservations systems to private and government databases. How practical are these proposals? Will they work? What will they cost? How much time will be needed to implement any or all of them? In light of the restructuring of airline security, what new roles will be played by the airline industry, government, airports, and the Transportation Security Administration? Thomas's thorough analysis and command of all the facts create an enlightening overview of the airline security dilemma and its numerous formidable challenges.Finally, he considers the future, outlining a strategic approach for government and industry to meet new and existing threats while continuing to serve the public in an efficient manner.Andrew R. Thomas (Brecksville, OH), coauthor of Air Rage: Crisis in the Skies, is a global business expert, aviation security analyst, Founding Editor of the Journal of Transportation Security, Editor of the 3 Volume Set Aviation Security Management in the 21st Century, and author. He is a frequent contributor to the Fox News Channel and has appeared on more than 150 television and radio programs across the country, including The O'Reilly Factor, On the Record with Greta van Susteren, and Court TV. He currently serves on the graduate faculties of Cleveland State University and Myers University. For more information, see www.AviationInsecurity.com.
The American Democracy uses a narrative to weave together theory, information and examples in order to bring out key facts and ideas in a way that should capture student interest and challenge them to think about the issues that affect the institutions and processes of government in the United States.
The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 drastically changed the delivery of social services in the United States for the first time in sixty years. More than a decade later, according to Catholic social ethicist Thomas Massaro, a disturbing gap exists between the laws we have enacted as a nation and the moral concerns we profess as a people. Massaro contends that ethicists too often focus on strictly theoretical concerns rather than engaging concrete social and political issues, while public policy experts are uncomfortable drawing ethical judgments about legislation. United States Welfare Policy takes a fresh approach to the topic by using Catholic social teaching as a lens through which to view contemporary American welfare policies, citing the tradition's emphasis on serving the needy—including a preferential option for the poor—and the common good. Massaro maintains that the most important outcome of welfare policy is not the cost-effectiveness of programs, but the well-being of individual families. The concluding analysis of this thoughtful study applies Catholic ethical concerns to specific aspects of welfare reform, including the funding mechanisms for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, work participation requirements affecting the bond between mothers and children, eligibility rules, the intrusion of family caps into reproductive decisions, and the imposition of disproportionate burdens upon particular demographic groups. Massaro offers possible alternatives in each case and, as the fight over reauthorization of the welfare act continues, he calls on Catholic churches and clergy and laity to take action and advocate publicly for a more ethical approach to welfare reform.
The untold story of how the 9/11 Commission overcame partisanship and bureaucracy to produce its acclaimed report. From the beginning, the 9/11 Commission found itself facing obstacles — the Bush administration blocked its existence for months, the first co-chairs resigned right away, the budget was limited, and a polarized Washington was suspicious of its every request. Yet despite these long odds, the Commission produced a bestselling report unanimously hailed for its objectivity, along with a set of recommendations that led to the most significant reform of America’s national security agencies in decades. This is a riveting insider’s account of Washington at its worst — and its best.
Leviathan is back The threat of statism has reemerged in force. The federal government has radically expanded its power—through bailouts, “stimulus” packages, a trillion-dollar health-care plan, “jobs bills,” massive expansions of the money supply, and much more. But such interventionism did not suddenly materialize with the recent economic collapse. The dangerous trends of government growth, debt increases, encroachments on individual liberty, and attacks on the free market began years earlier and continued no matter which political party was in power. This shift toward statism “will not end happily,” declares bestselling author Thomas E. Woods. In Back on the Road to Serfdom, Woods brings together ten top scholars to examine why the size and scope of government has exploded, and to reveal the devastating consequences of succumbing to the statist temptation. Spanning history, economics, politics, religion, and the arts, Back on the Road to Serfdom shows: · How government interventionism endangers America’s prosperity and the vital culture of entrepreneurship · The roots of statism: from the seminal conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to the vast expansion of federal power in the twentieth century · Why the standard explanation for the recent economic crisis is so terribly wrong—and why the government’s frenzied responses to the downturn only exacerbate the problems · Why the European welfare state is not a model to aspire to but a disaster to be avoided · How an intrusive state not only harms the economy but also imperils individual liberty and undermines the role of civil society · The fatal flaws in the now-common arguments against free markets and free trade · How big business is helping government pave the road to serfdom · Why the Judeo-Christian tradition does not demand support for the welfare state, but in fact values the free market · How the arrogance of government power extends even to the cultural realm—and how central planning is just as inefficient and destructive there It’s been more than sixty-five years since F. A. Hayek published his seminal work The Road to Serfdom. Now this impeccably timed book provides another desperately needed warning about—and corrective to—the dangers of statism.
4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare) is the only kind of war America has ever lost. And we have done so three times – in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somalia. This form of warfare has also defeated the French in Vietnam and Algeria, and the USSR in Afghanistan…As the only Goliath left in the world, we should be worried that the world’s Davids have found a sling and stone that work." – Chapter 1, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century. The War in Iraq. The War on Terror. These types of "asymmetrical" warfare are the conflicts of the 21st century – and show how difficult it is for the world's remaining superpower to battle insurgents and terrorists who will fight unconventionally in the face of superior military power. This change in military conflict may seem sudden.
Once the party of presidents, the GOP in recent elections has failed to pull together convincing national majorities. Republicans have lost four of the last six presidential races and lost the popular vote in five of the last six. In their lone victory, the party incumbent wonduring wartimeby the slimmest of margins. In this fascinating and important book, Thomas Schaller examines national Republican politics since President Ronald Reagan left office in 1989. From Newt Gingrich's ascent to Speaker of the House through the defeat of Mitt Romney in 2012, Schaller traces the Republican Party's institutional transformation and its broad consequences, not only for Republicans but also for America. Gingrich's Contract with America” set in motion a vicious cycle, Schaller contends: as the GOP became more conservative, it became more Congress-centered, and as its congressional wing grew more powerful, the party grew more conservative. This dangerous loop, unless broken, may signal a future of increasing radicalization, dependency on a shrinking pool of voters, and less viability as a true national party. In a thought-provoking conclusion, the author discusses repercussions of the GOP decline, among them political polarization and the paralysis of the federal government.
The field of Contenders vying to become the next President of the United States seems to grow every day. Big names like Clinton, McCain, Obama and Giuliani dominate the landscape right now but as we know, it¿s possible that an unknown can come out of the pack and become the Contender to beat. Questions surround the leading Contenders: - Is America ready to elect a woman President? - Has John McCain mended fences in the Republican Party? - Is America ready to elect an African-American President? - Can a pro gay rights, pro abortion and pro gun control Contender from New York City win the Republican nomination? If any of these Contenders stumble, who in either Party can pick up the baton and race to the finish? And what about the Pretenders? While most of them have no chance to become President, they can make the race very difficult for the frontrunners. Will Governors continue their hold on the Presidency? Can a sitting Senator become President, the first one since John F. Kennedy? Rey Thomas, political analyst and Editor-In-Chief of ¿The Thomas Political Report, ¿ examines the Democrat and Republican Contenders and Pretenders. Just one can win. Who will it be?
Democracy and Leadership: On Pragmatism and Virtue presents a theory of leadership drawing on insights from Plato’s Republic, while abandoning his authoritarianism in favor of John Dewey’s democratic thought. The book continues the democratic turn for the study of leadership beyond the incorporation of democratic values into old-fashioned views about leading. The completed democratic turn leaves behind the traditional focus on a class of special people. Instead, leadership is understood as a process of judicious yet courageous guidance, infused with democratic values and open to all people. The book proceeds in three parts, beginning with definitions and an understanding of the nature of leadership in general and of democratic leadership in particular. Then, Part II examines four challenges for a democratic theory of leadership. Finally, in Part III, the theory of democratic leadership is put to the test of addressing problems of poverty, educational frustration, and racial divides, particularly aggravated in Mississippi.
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