According to Peter Beinart, for a year and a half Tenet and the CIA repeatedly tried to temper the Pentagon and the White House hyping of the Iraq threat (2003). Perhaps if Tenet hadn’t been so patient or friendly with the White House, his voice would have been heard and respected. Additionally, Tenet loyalty to the president and his administration caused him to lose the truth and his responsibility to have the truth heard. He became too involved in the politics of the day and helping the administration use intelligence to justify a decision already made rather than informing them with data to make an informed decision. Instead of having the courage to tell what should be told, he opted to tell the parties what they wanted to hear.
One of these people who disagree with Tocqueville is Rogers Smith, currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania (Political Science Department). Rogers Smith argues for his multiple traditions thesis. In 1993, as a Yale professor, Smith wrote on his thesis (Smith 549). There are four parts that make up the Smith’s multiple traditions thesis. The first part states, “…purely liberal and republican conceptions of civic identity are seen as frequently unsatisfying to many Americans, because they contain elements that threaten, rather than affirm, sincere, reputable beliefs in the propriety of the privileged positions that whites, Christianity, Anglo-Saxon traditions, and patriarchy have had in the United States (Smith 558).” To me, this says that true liberal ideas such as equality to its fullest extent threaten some groups within American culture.
Assess GCSE Reform Michael Gove is a British politician and currently serves as The Secretary of State for Education. In June of this year a national newspaper leaked information that showed Gove’s plans to scrap GCSE examinations. The information received widespread praise from senior Conservative figures but teachers unions and Labour MP’s were not so supportive in hearing the proposals. The articles written by Martin Stephen for The Telegraph and Melissa Benn for The Guardian look at Michael Gove’s reform from two different perspectives. The first article by Martin Stephen is written for The Telegraph, a known Conservative supporting newspaper.
The policy was first endorsed after former president Bill Clinton had unsuccessfully tried to overturn a current ban on gay military members. The justification for the ban of gay service members were “that the known presence of gay men and lesbians would undermine morale and unit cohesion”, according to the New York Times article and was continually supported by President Bush during both his presidential terms. However, supporters of the law are now facing immense opposition in contrast to 18 years prior, when the law was first passed. In fact, in 2006 a poll conducted by Zogby International of 545 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans concluded that about three quarters were comfortable around gay service members; a big contrast prior years. Opponents of the law argue that to
Letrim county council held a meeting to vote against Fracking taking place in their area. This was the second time a vote had taken place against fracking. Even though minister for Environment Alan Kelly could overturn the outcome. Letrim councillors tried to put forward complete prohibition towards fracking but that was not legally sound, so Mr. Kelly could rule against the decision of need be. Policy 124 is a policy pursued by “no fracking Ireland” its aim is for fracking to be banned in Ireland.
Ning Lee Prof. Sue Vosper Contemporary British Politics 20 February 2011 The House of Lords: Strengths and Shortcomings On 17th February 2011, the House of Lords abandoned weeks of stubborn resistance to the bill introducing a referendum on the alternative vote (AV) for Members of Parliament (MPs). The peers voted by 221 to 153 to abandon insistence that the referendum be deemed only advisory unless there was a turnout of more than 40% (Wintour). Prior to this day, a parliamentary ping-pong had ensued following the Commons’ defeat by the Lords. While the Lords ultimately gave in, this situation nonetheless demonstrates the Lords’ considerable power over legislation in the United Kingdom. Scholars and academics are divided over whether the House of Lords is effective in performing its functions.
Bush lifted a 1990 executive order by the first President Bush banning offshore drilling, while at the same time calling for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As of August 2008, however, a 1982 congressional ban is still in place, making Bush's action a symbolic gesture, and now the congressional ban is being debated in terms of both environmental issues and U.S. energy independence. In an almost complete reversal of policy, on July 30, 2008, the U.S. Department of the Interior released a news report saying that the nation's energy situation has dramatically changed in the past year. Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, said, "Areas that were considered too expensive to develop a year ago are no longer necessarily out of reach based on improvements to technology and safety." Kempthorne went on to say that, "The American people and the President want action, and a new initiative (the development of a new oil and natural gas leasing program for the U.S.
Seemingly there is no push from the President or Congress to take steps in ending the ban. President Bill Clinton tried to overturn the ban on gays in the military but was unsuccessful. Instead there was a policy set into place in 1993 called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. While this policy would prove to be a compromise, it brought about its own set of problems. In the past five or six years there has been a shift in the mindset of how gays are viewed in the military.
An example of this is the events of 2013 when congress blocked Obama’s attempts to control gun ownership. This was an effective use of the checks and balances as congress successfully blocked a piece of Obama’s legislation. The use of this power is not always effective because congress’ blocking can sometimes lead to a gridlock situation. An example of this was in 2010 when congress and Obama spent weeks in gridlock trying to decide how to cut the federal budget. The effectiveness of the legislative checks and balances depends on the makeup of congress.
Only two people had the moral courage to speak up: the Senior Vice President said he objected to having his email intercepted, and the Treasurer said he objected to the lack of transparency. The Treasurer then made a motion that the Executive Administrator “forward on Fridays any and all emails addressed to all board members for that week.” The motion passed unanimously. I believe that concealing information from your board is a sign of deeper, more intrinsic problems; your board isn’t committed to core ethical