Prosecuting mothers of children born with problems due to the mothers Term Paper

Arraigning moms of youngsters brought into the world with issues because of the moms substance maltreatment during pregnancy - Term Paper Example In such manner, ingested psychoactive substances, for example, drugs have the capacity of inciting reliance simply like different types of addictive conduct, for example, betting. Because of the uncertainty of this term, clinical experts and analysts view fixation as a human conduct that spurred by feelings, going from desiring to impulse, proceeded with use despite the known unfriendly impacts and that outcome to an individual losing control (Henry and Ting, 2008). Concerning drug use, American Psychological Association utilizes substance use issue as an aggregate term for substance misuse and reliance (APA, 1994). Under reliance, APA (1994) distinguishes debilitated command over utilizing a substance as a significant segment. This infers a blend of conduct, subjective and mental side effects that demonstrate persistent utilization of the substance notwithstanding the subsequent medical issues cause by it (Henry, and Ting, 2008). Substance use in the general public is far reaching a nd one of the significant regions concern is its impact on pregnant ladies. Chiang and Loretta (1996) noticed that substance maltreatment in ladies is basic to those battling with destitution, vagrancy, psychological maladjustment viciousness and injury. In United States, SAMHSA (2009) reports that pregnant ladies are bound to take part in substance maltreatment than their non-pregnant partners in a similar age section. As indicated by SAMHSA (2009), 22% of pregnant ladies detailed utilizing cocaine contrasted with 17% of the individuals who were not pregnant. The pace of substance misuse, for example, amphetamines and cannabis in pregnant ladies surpass that of non-pregnant ladies. As per SAMHSA (2009), 21% of pregnant ladies utilized amphetamines contrasted with 13% of ladies who were not pregnant. In addition, 17% of pregnant ladies confessed to utilizing maryjane as their medication of decision contrasted with 13 % of the individuals who were not pregnant. Moreover, 18% pregnant ladies are probably going to look for clinical consideration on tranquilize related issues contrasted with 31% of their pregnant partners (SAMHSA, 2009). Substance maltreatment among pregnant ladies shifts with age and race in the United States. For example, white ladies are bound to smoke and use tobacco related items contrasted with the blacks and Hispanic ladies (SAMHSA, 2009). A normal of 25.7% of pregnant ladies matured from 15-25 smoke cigarettes contrasted and 10.6% of their pregnant partners matured from 26-44 years (SAMHSA, 2009). This example is reflected in liquor use among the pregnant ladies, whereby more youthful pregnant ladies have higher commonness rate contrasted with their more seasoned partners. In any case, liquor use among pregnant ladies is lower contrasted with their non-pregnant partners in the United States. Also, most pregnant ladies utilize more than one kind of medications (SAMHSA, 2009). As per MCFD (2003), one of the main sources of mental, mental and physical debilitations in kids is utilization of substances, for example, liquor, tobacco and other illicit medications by the pregnant moms. Various medications have assorted wellbeing confusions to the unborn youngster, and MCFD (2003), noticed that liquor is one of the most infamous medications that cause the serious wellbeing inconveniences. Substance use during pregnancy causes untimely birth, what's more present moment and long haul weaknesses. In any case, the impacts rely upon a few elements, including the wellbeing status of the mother, the amount and the sort of the medication that

Theory of Communication Free Essays

Contextual analysis Theory of Communication Introduction to Communication Good correspondence and relational abilities are crucial for achievement in business. The capacity to convey plainly and influentially is frequently observed as the key attribute of the powerful supervisor or executive. Significant level relational abilities are likewise fundamental in particular capacities, for example, promoting, human asset the executives, advertising and secretarial. We will compose a custom article test on Hypothesis of Communication or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now Correspondence is the methods by which singular representatives pass on their needs, thoughts and sentiments to other people,( not just chiefs or pros). Procedure of Communication Context Medium/Channel Message Feedback Noise Communication can be characterized as the procedure by which, thoughts, data, suppositions, demeanor, and feeling are passed on starting with one individual then onto the next. The communicator or sender is the individual who starts the discussion by communicating something specific. The collector is the individual who gets the messages and finishes the correspondence by reacting to it. Most correspondence is two way and must have both a sender and beneficiary, either up close and personal or by different methods, for example, phone, letters, messages and so on. Non-verbal communication likewise has a major impact in correspondence. Sender Encoding Collector Decoding Communication codes * Written language * Spoken language * Dress * Body language * Pictures, photos and realistic delineations. * Sign language, Braille. * Numbers * Computer language Communication Medium The medium is the methods used to transmit the message. Media can be classified into five headings; composed, oral, visual, electronic and mass. Set up media can give a composed account, can transfer complex data, can be painstakingly considered and missteps can be altered. It requires some investment to deliver and is more generic than discourse. * Letter * Report * Memo * Press Release * Company magazine Advertising pamphlet Oral media is more straightforward and individual, input is quick. Oral media can be upheld by non-verbal communication. Be that as it may, there might be no record of what is said and in the event that you state something you don’t mean you can't take it back. * Conversation up close and personal or phone * Interview * Meeting * Pres entation * Oral instructions Visual media can have a prompt effect, it can bolster verbal introductions. * Nonverbal * Diagrams * Charts * Photographs * Models Electronic media gives quick correspondence over significant distance, can convey both verbal and visual data. * Video * Telephone * E-mail * Internet Broad communications is a significant wellspring of data; it can arrive at countless individuals and can be utilized for promoting. * Television * Radio * Press * Film Channels of Communication The station is the air that conveys sound waves among speaker and audience, for example, * Television stations * Radio * Postal framework * Computer systems * Courier administrations * Telephone Barriers to Communication Effective correspondence is troublesome and botches are regularly made. We see this in regular day to day existence, we gripe when somebody doesn’t react to our messages in the manner we expect, they don't comprehend what we truly intended to state. In business, challenges with correspondence can cause interruption. Great business openings can be lost or awful administration choices made. A genuine breakdown in correspondence can put the eventual fate of an organization in danger. Correspondence blunders can never be totally disposed of. All things considered, we are probably going to be progressively fruitful communicators on the off chance that we know about the variables that cause correspondence to fall flat. A few impediments disrupt the general flow of correspondence and a portion of these can be maintained a strategic distance from or survive. Physical Barriers Among these hindrances are poor hearing or vision, ailment, tiredness, or stress. Different obstructions can be, interruptions, for example, an office that is excessively warm or excessively chilly, awkward seating, poor phone association or the commotion of traffic got notification from outside. On the off chance that an individual has a clinical issue this might be arranged by a visit to a specialist. On the off chance that the workplace is excessively hot or too chilly the indoor regulator might be modified and perhaps shutting the window would assist with shutting out the clamor. Language Barriers To pass on a message accurately it ought to be composed plainly in a language that the recipient will comprehend. Errors in spelling can hurt correspondence. Once in a while neighborhood language can disturb great correspondence; it might be adequate in a particular exchange or calling. Slang or nearby accents might be hard for pariahs to comprehend. Nonverbal Barriers Facial demeanor, stance and eye development all uncover our emotions and perspectives to the beneficiary. When there is struggle between a verbal and non verbal sign, it is the nonverbal sign that will in general be accepted. An individual may state that they are cordial and sure however this may be negated by apprehensive non-verbal communication. Poor Listening Good listening is regularly the most significant piece of correspondence. Listening give us a superior comprehension of different people perspective, keeps up kinships and helps business coordinated effort. When not listening appropriately, we frequently miss a significant point in a discussion. Issues with Perception is the way we comprehend ourselves and our general surroundings. We see the world through the faculties of sight, hearing, contact, taste and smell. We likewise have some physiological based observations, for example, impression of torment, heat, cold and so on. We have mental discernments, for example, musings, fantasies and dreams. The mind enrolls these various improvements and composes them into shapes and examples that we can comprehend. Errors can emerge on the off chance that we think others see things a similar way that we do ourselves. Frequently they don’t and this is a typical reason for correspondence disappointment. Attitudinal Barriers Stereotyping, preference and undesirable attribution are among the attitudinal obstructions that can harm our capacity to our capacity to relate adequately to other people. * Stereotyping: We generalization others when we expect they will carry on with a specific goal in mind in light of their appearance, job or a specific social gathering. We might be shocked to find that moderately dressed individuals have radical perspectives or that the huge individual wearing a studded coat and driving a Harley Davidson ends up being as delicate as a sheep. According to appearance gives an inadequate and frequently contorted image of what an individual is truly similar to. * Prejudice: Prejudice is a disposition of threatening vibe dependent on broken speculations, for example, generalizations. It might be aimed at people or gatherings. Partiality can be harming to interchanges if an individual accepts that someone else is mediocre, rebellious, compromising, not completely part of the network, etc. On the off chance that we consider someone else not as much as ourselves, we are probably not going to esteem what they need to state. Bias is frequently a piece of obliviousness yet perhaps better instruction will improve this. * Attribution:Even when we abstain from generalizing, we despite everything wrongly judge individuals on wobbly proof. We ought not tune in to what others state, this can here and there be deluding. Having a precise image of individuals is fundamental for successful correspondence, however it is something that must be developed gradually through time, understanding and normal contact. The Principles of Effective Communication As a Communicator 1. Contemplate your targets before imparting. What would you like to accomplish? Would you like to educate, convince, prompt or counsel the recipient? What sort of reaction do you want to get? At the point when you have responded to questions like these then you can consider the substance of the message and how you characterize it. 2. Put yourself in the communicator’s shoes. The receiver’s observation may not be equivalent to yours. They may think distinctively or have various sentiments. You may need to speak with consideration and affectability. 3. Pick the correct medium or mix of media. Challenges can emerge if an inappropriate medium is utilized. In the event that you attempt to depict a muddled procedure by discourse alone the crowd may not get it. A mix of words and illustrations may work better. 4. Sort out your thoughts and express them cautiously. Set aside some effort to structure your thoughts in a consistent arrangement. While picking your words, mull over the beneficiaries understanding and semantic capacity. Attempt to utilize words that the collector will comprehend. Utilize language reasonable to the correspondence occurring, casual language that might be utilized on the shop floor may not be appropriate or fitting for a conference. 5. Think about the unique situation, breakdowns in correspondence frequently happen in light of the fact that the recipient is given data at an inappropriate time or spot. Indeed, even significant messages can be overlooked if the beneficiary is occupied or distracted with something different. 6. Check for input, ensure your message has been gotten and comprehended. When talking up close and personal search for indications of puzzlement in your audience members, be set up to clarify if fundamental. Despite the fact that the primary duty regarding imparting a message rests with the sender, the collector additionally needs to tune in and ensure they comprehend and hand-off the message to the ideal individual. As a Receiver 1. Give the message your complete consideration. Numerous messages are misconstrued in light of the fact that the beneficiary isn't concentrating, they are wandering off in fantasy land, or there are such a large number of interruptions. 2. Decipher the message effectively. This requires exertion and appropriate tuning in, on the off chance that you are uncertain of what is said; request it to be rehashed. Check the significance of new words or references. In spoken correspondence listen effectively and with sympathy. Be alert for subtleties that may unobtrusively adjust the importance of the message. 3. Keep a receptive outlook, you ought not permit aversion of the communicator, or conflict with their convictions to impact your judgment. Make a target evaluation of the message regardless of what your relationship with

London, San Franciscoâ€and now Boston!

Boston opens its doors to Hult undergraduates. In an exciting new development, Hult is thrilled to announce that we will be expanding our undergraduate program to the east coast of the United States. Undergraduate students will now have a choice of not two, but three home campuses in London, San Francisco, and from 2018, Boston. From 2017 our Boston campus, currently only open to postgraduate students, will be available as a new undergraduate Summer Program location, meaning all current students will have the opportunity to study there. Opening as a new home campus in September 2018, Boston promises to be a very special addition to our undergraduate family. Now that Boston is on your radar—what should you know about this historic East Coast city? Here are just five of the reasons we think you should get excited about Hult Undergraduate’s expansion to Boston: A truly historic city Boston has long been an important player on the world stage. Birthplace of the American Revolution, and four U.S. presidents, it has always been politically and commercially important—and has a number of technological breakthroughs to its name. Still a mecca for innovators and thought leaders, the city attracts an unusually young and diverse population looking to make their mark on the world. The intellectual capital of the U.S. More than 50 colleges and universities call the greater Boston metropolitan area homeincluding Harvard and MIT. That means that some of the world’s brightest brains come together in the city, and Hult undergrads will be joining more than 250,000 students in studying, exploring and enjoying the hustle and bustle of ‘Beantown’. The perfect fit for entrepreneurs Boston may have a long educational history—but its approach to business is far from antiquated. Just this year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report that ranked Boston as the Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . We’re excited to start 2020 on a ranking high! Hult is proud to have been placed Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . We’re excited to start 2020 on a ranking high! Hult is proud to have been placed #28 in Poets Quants 2020 rankings for Best Undergraduate Business Schools in the US. Taking a huge leap of 32 places from our 2019 position, we’re also very happy to have secured top positions in key categories like: life-changing experience, practicality of the degree, and global immersion. . With five global campuses, a student body of over 130 nationalities, and a learn-by-doing approach—Hult offers a student experience like no other. . We’re excited to start 2020 on a ranking high! Hult is proud to have been placed #28 in Poets Quants 2020 rankings for Best Undergraduate Business Schools in the US. Taking a huge leap of 32 places from our 2019 position, we’re also very happy to have secured top positions in key categories like: life-changing experience, practicality of the degree, and global immersion. . With five global campuses, a student body of over 130 nationalities, and a learn-by-doing approach—Hult offers a student experience like no other. . â€Å"I’m from an engineering background and needed a whole new skill set for the industry I wanted to switch to. I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with being out of my comfort zone. I learned both soft and hard skills, from how to work in very diverse teams to key accounting metrics and strategy. I was surprised by how weak I was at certain tasks in English or how strong I actually was in other areas. Hult gave me opportunities to try new things and meet people from places I never thought I would have friends. . My internship experiences gave me the chance to broaden my view of different cultures and different companies. I had the opportunity to work and live with people whose values differed from people in my home country. I thought that this would be difficult, but it gave me the chance to reflect on my own values and assess if they were a result of my home country environment or if they were intrinsically mine. . Diederick ter Kulve (@diederick.terkulve) Netherlands Masters in International Business . â€Å"I’m from an engineering background and needed a whole new skill set for the industry I wanted to switch to. I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with being out of my comfort zone. I learned both soft and hard skills, from how to work in very diverse teams to key accounting metrics and strategy. I was surprised by how weak I was at certain tasks in English or how strong I actually was in other areas. Hult gave me opportunities to try new things and meet people from places I never thought I would have friends. . My internship experiences gave me the chance to broaden my view of different cultures and different companies. I had the opportunity to work and live with people whose values differed from people in my home country. I thought that this would be difficult, but it gave me the chance to reflect on my own values and assess if they were a result of my home country environment or if they were intrinsically mine. . Diederick ter Kulve (@diederick.terkulve) Netherlands Masters in International Business . Say a big hello to our Bachelor of Business Administration program cover star, Elisa Orus Plana âÅ" ¨ . â€Å"I’m excited for the future—especially that I cant predict whats going to happen. Maybe Ill end up in Mexico working for a trading company or maybe in Africa, developing my own business. Everything is possible, and the options are constantly changing. I love the idea that Im never going to be stuck doing the same job until the end of my life if I dont want it to be like this. . Hult really supports me and my ambitions and truly believes that we deserve to be considered as professionals as well as students. Here, I get to express not just my opinions but all elements of myself. From my creative side with the Fashion Society to my finance and business sides in Trading Club and the Management Consulting Club. We get a different type of learning here. Not just essential knowledge and theory, but practical skills and mindset. The school is always evolving. We’re encouraged to innovate and to always look for new ways of doing traditional things. We learn how to be more confident and become aware of how we can impact our environment. The school aims to help you become a better version of yourself and to stand out from the crowd.â€Å" . Elisa Orus Plana French Bachelor of Business Administration Class of 2021 Say a big hello to our Bachelor of Business Administration program cover star, Elisa Orus Plana âÅ" ¨ . â€Å"I’m excited for the future—especially that I cant predict whats going to happen. Maybe Ill end up in Mexico working for a trading company or maybe in Africa, developing my own business. Everything is possible, and the options are constantly changing. I love the idea that Im never going to be stuck doing the same job until the end of my life if I dont want it to be like this. . Hult really supports me and my ambitions and truly believes that we deserve to be considered as professionals as well as students. Here, I get to express not just my opinions but all elements of myself. From my creative side with the Fashion Society to my finance and business sides in Trading Club and the Management Consulting Club. We get a different type of learning here. Not just essential knowledge and theory, but practical skills and mindset. The school is always evolving. We’re encouraged to innovate and to always look for new ways of doing traditional things. We learn how to be more confident and become aware of how we can impact our environment. The school aims to help you become a better version of yourself and to stand out from the crowd.â€Å" . Elisa Orus Plana French Bachelor of Business Administration Class of 2021"> During the final days of 2019, you probably reflected on what you’ve accomplished this year—and even this decade—and what you’d like to achieve in 2020. Let us know in the comments below. During the final days of 2019, you probably reflected on what you’ve accomplished this year—and even this decade—and what you’d like to achieve in 2020. Let us know in the comments below. â€Å"The first time we did group work on the program, I went head-to-head with a colleague. It taught me a lot about how I see people, how people see me, and how conflict can be resolved in a kind and productive way. The best feedback you get, when delivered constructively, is the most critical because it really feeds into how you lead. I’ve completely reversed my leadership style—the result is so much richer and more powerful when you lead from behind and lead with strength. . Studying in tandem with working, whilst challenging, gave me the perfect platform to directly apply learning concepts into my business environment, the competitive landscape, and the real-estate industry as a whole. When I started the program, I was very happy in my corporate role. But my courage and aspirations grew to the point that I took on a whole new direction. Having my career coach, Joanna, as a sounding board allowed me to really be strategic and get to know myself. She coached me thro ugh all the interviews, the research, and the questions. It went in parallel with what I was doing academically and after six months everything just clicked. . I went into the EMBA knowing I had nothing to lose and I’ve come out with everything. Great strength, global friends, amazing learning, mentors from professors, a job I love, and the knowledge that I can set my mind to achieve anything and with the right support and resources I’ll get there.† . Kashani Wijetunga British, New Zealand Sri Lankan Associate Director Senior Strategy Consultant CBRE EMBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"The first time we did group work on the program, I went head-to-head with a colleague. It taught me a lot about how I see people, how people see me, and how conflict can be resolved in a kind and productive way. The best feedback you get, when delivered constructively, is the most critical because it really feeds into how you lead. I’ve completely reversed my leadership style—the result is so much richer and more powerful when you lead from behind and lead with strength. . Studying in tandem with working, whilst challenging, gave me the perfect platform to directly apply learning concepts into my business environment, the competitive landscape, and the real-estate industry as a whole. When I started the program, I was very happy in my corporate role. But my courage and aspirations grew to the point that I took on a whole new direction. Having my career coach, Joanna, as a sounding board allowed me to really be strategic and get to know myself. She coached me thro ugh all the interviews, the research, and the questions. It went in parallel with what I was doing academically and after six months everything just clicked. . I went into the EMBA knowing I had nothing to lose and I’ve come out with everything. Great strength, global friends, amazing learning, mentors from professors, a job I love, and the knowledge that I can set my mind to achieve anything and with the right support and resources I’ll get there.† . Kashani Wijetunga British, New Zealand Sri Lankan Associate Director Senior Strategy Consultant CBRE EMBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"It was now or never. I knew that I’d have likely stayed in my neighborhood for years to come if I didn’t take this opportunity. I’d not lived or studied outside of the U.S. before. So I left my job as a global strategist at an advertising agency and moved halfway around the world. I’ve come back a more culturally aware, well-versed person. I’ve realized that everything is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth. Ill definitely carry this mindset with me into the future. Technology and social media allow us to be different people in several places at once. Im excited to see how I can establish myself in whatever city Ill be lucky enough to call home and still maintain deep connections with people all over the world. I’m inspired by my classmates every day. Hearing some of their life stories and how getting this degree fits into their greater mission has been very humbling. My biggest challenge has been finding the ‘right’ path for me. There have been rooms Ive felt like I shouldnt be in, but now Im proud to feel as though I truly belong, wherever I am.† . Dwayne Logan, Jnr. American MBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"It was now or never. I knew that I’d have likely stayed in my neighborhood for years to come if I didn’t take this opportunity. I’d not lived or studied outside of the U.S. before. So I left my job as a global strategist at an advertising agency and moved halfway around the world. I’ve come back a more culturally aware, well-versed person. I’ve realized that everything is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth. Ill definitely carry this mindset with me into the future. Technology and social media allow us to be different people in several places at once. Im excited to see how I can establish myself in whatever city Ill be lucky enough to call home and still maintain deep connections with people all over the world. I’m inspired by my classmates every day. Hearing some of their life stories and how getting this degree fits into their greater mission has been very humbling. My biggest challenge has been finding the ‘right’ path for me. There have been rooms Ive felt like I shouldnt be in, but now Im proud to feel as though I truly belong, wherever I am.† . Dwayne Logan, Jnr. American MBA Class of 2019 . Happy New Year, Hultians! . Happy New Year, Hultians! .

What is Injection Molding

School Profile University Of Alabama Essay - 1021 Words

School Profile: University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a four-year college that was established in 1936. This educational institution is actually one of the three colleges that make up the University of Alabama System. At any given time, around 19,000 students from over 100 countries are enrolled through the system. Each student may choose from 140 programs that are offered through 12 academic schools. This includes over 50 bachelor s degree, 45 master s degree and 35 doctoral programs. These academic divisions include the Schools of Business, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Optometry and Public Health. Two popular graduate degrees include the Master of Science in Nursing program and the associated Doctor of Science in Nursing program. The university’s sponsored Health System is actually one of the largest academic medical centers in the country. Medical students can easily transfer to a medical specialty residency program in areas like surgery, radiology, neurology, anesthesiology and internal medicine. The University of Alabama System is the state’s largest employer of over 18,000 staff and faculty. When combined with the Health system, the university creates over 53,000 jobs. Experts estimate that the university provides up to 10 percent of all metropolitan jobs in the city. This generate up to five billion dollars for the state’s annual economy. The university has produced manyShow MoreRelatedMarie Dean Is The Person I Choose1237 Words   |  5 Pagesthe person I choose to write about for my profile essay. Marie is a very caring, hard-working, strong, and intelligent woman. She stands at 5’3 with long black curly hair and brown eyes. Over the past years she has shown me and my br other that with determination and perseverance you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. 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The Home Depot, Inc. free essay sample

The Home Depot sells a wide assortment of building materials and home-improvement and lawn and garden products, and they provide a number of services such as design and installation. The stores serve three different types of customers: (1) Do-It-Yourself(D-I-Y) customer, (2) Do-It-For-Me (D-I-F-M) customer and (3) the professional customer, such as home improvement contractors, building maintenance professionals, interior designers, and other professionals. The Home Depot has expanded its business by acquisitions in the same and other markets. Legally, the company consists of a set of companies: Home Depot, EXPO Design Center, Home Depot Floor Store, Home Depot Landscape Supply, Home Depot Supply, Home Depot Mexico, and Home Depot Canada. In December 2000 Bob Nardelli was appointed to be CEO of the Home Depot. The founders were hoping that with the new CEO the company could continue to grow. However he succeeded in doing so, there were also some negative changes within the company. Among the negative changes, since the appointment of Nardelli, was the change of the corporate culture. We will write a custom essay sample on The Home Depot, Inc. or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The orange-blooded culture made room for a culture of fear. The orange-blooded cultureemphasized individuality, informality, nonconformity, growth, and pride. The new culture under the management of CEO Nardelli emphasized on building a disciplined manager corps, one predisposed to following orders, operating in high-pressure environments, and executing with high standards. This resulted in a decrease in moral among the employees and thus a lower customer service index. Other negative changes were the Human Resource management, the Agency Problem and the store location. The work staff changed from 90% full-time employees to only 68% and employee turnover was extremely high. Nardelli’s new format at the annual shareholder’s meeting was strongly criticized as well as the drop in the stock price tied with the change in his earnings metrics. The many new stores that were opened sometimes cannibalized sales of other stores owned by the Home Depot. In this report we will create a thorough internal analysis by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the Home Depot and with this information we will create an IFAS Table. IFAS Table We as a team discussed our findings in the case on the Home Depot and listed the strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, we made an IFAS Table to measure its performance. We do this through weighting, rating and scoring each factor. The last column states a description of why this is a strength or weakness. Internal Factors| Weight| Rating| Score| Description| Strengths| | | | | Price amp; Supply| 0,25| 5| 1,25| Low price, no middle man cost, great sale results| Acquisitions| 0,15| 5| 0,75| Improve supply chain| CSR| 0,10| 4| 0,40| Environmentally aware and contribute to society| | | | | | Weaknesses| | | | | Agency Problem| 0,10| 2| 0,20| Changed earning metrics, new format meeting| Corporate Culture| 0,20| 2| 0,40| Orange-blooded culture turned into culture of fear| HRM| 0,10| 3| 0,30| Less full-time employees less experience employee turnover much too high| Store location| 0,10| 3| 0,30| Too suburban, 3 stores in 1 market area, cannibalization| | | | | | Total| 1,00| | 3,60| | As we can conclude from the table the company scores reasonably well with a total score of 3,60. This score is above company average standard, which is between 1 and 5 meaning 3. Even though, the Home Depot has some weaknesses and some negative changes have occurred since 2000, the company is performing reasonably well. Throughout the entire case we can see this in the high financial returns and the goals that are met. Weakness Agency Problem Earning Metrics Nardelli had changed the metrics of his compensation from according to the change in stock price to being based on the sales results. As we all know, a corporation’s prime goal is to maximize shareholders’ equity not sales, even profits. Nardelli was hired to work in the interests of the shareholders and should get compensations based on how well the share price went. After the change in the metrics, what did Nardelli work for? Who knows? The construction companies that built new Home Depot stores maybe. Under the new metric of earning, any manager could simply borrow money from the banks and build new stores and make acquisitions to enlarge sales volume which would not be necessarily good for the long-term growth of the company because getting bigger so rapidly leads to not only increasing revenue but also increasing costs in management and control, less centralization, more uncertainty, cannibalization, more complicated organizational structure that could cause problems in internal control and management and other negative effects of being big. However, under the new metrics, Nardelli didn’t have to think about those effects at all. That being so, who is still surprised about Home Depot’s sales performance going so well resulting in its stock price going down? Corporate Governance In such a big company like The Home Depot, there is usually a committee formed by independent directors to decide how much the CEO should be paid and more importantly how to calculate his bonus. Having 9 independent directors of 11 directors in the board, Home Depot didn’t have such a committee, or had one but didn’t take its responsibilities. More ridiculously, the CEO could decide how he was paid in this own wishes. At the annual shareholder’s meeting on May 2006, it happened so many strange things including Nardelli being the only director present, the time limit that each shareholder proposal was allow to be spoken and Nardelli’s refusal of answering questions. These were all evidences of poor corporate governance that made Nardelli able to work on his own interests much more than the interests of shareholders. Those non-management directors seemed not doing anything and receiving quite a good amount of compensation. Some even had been criticized being not independent enough. Corporate Culture The old culture and the new one were like two extremes. The old culture made employees working happily but too relax, which means not enough focus. The new military culture was even worse, making employees working with fear and hence declining their morale of working, eventually resulting in customer satisfactory going down. Lowe’s at the same time had grown a culture being demanding but low-profile, collaborative and collegial, which made their customers and employee very comfortable. Home Depot could have lost a number of customers to Lowe’s for this reason. Poor morale resulting from the new culture would also lead to more errors and mistakes in working hours. Like a former Home Depot stated which we agree, â€Å"Nardelli’s effort to measure customer service, instead of inspiring it, was to blame. † Store Location From 2000 and 2005, Home Depot opened more than 900 stores. During the fiscal 2005, the company opened 140 new Home Depot stores, including four relocations in the United States. Most of the U. S. Store opened in existing markets as the managements clustering strategy. However, the new store locations cased some problems. The management intentionally cannibalized sales of existing stores by opening two other stores in a single market area. According to management, approximately 20% of its stores were cannibalized by new stores in 2005. The older stores were being gradually replaced with new ones to add room for new merchandise, to increase selling space, and more parking areas. Since the company opened so many new stores, the store layout, appearance, and store productivity remains weak. Moreover, the new stores were located in suburban areas populated by members of the Home Depot target market. In a certain sense, the company will lose some potential customers, due to the location of the stores. Human Resource Management Human Resource Management could also be a weakness for Home Depot. The companys career development was formally addressed during semiannual performance reviews, with goals and development plans mutually set by employees and managers. Vacancy lists were prepared at the regional level and distributed to the stores. However, under Nardellis tenure, the employees were evaluated on the basis of four performance metrics: financial, operational, customer, and people skills. The employee population varied among stores, depending on size, sales volume, and the season of the year. Full-time employees had filled about 90% of the positions, but in 2005 filled only 68% of the positions. The decrease of full-employee employees lead to an increase of the employee turnover. In the first year of new stores operations, turnover could run 60% to 70% which was extremely high. The major causes of turnover were too many part-time employees who terminated for poor performance, and tradespeople who considered Home Depot an interim position, and students who returned to school. Recommendations Agency Problem For a big company that is included in Dow Jones Index such as The Home Depot, a well functioned compensation committee must not be missed in the system of corporate governance. We strongly recommend Home Depot organizing a compensation committee composed of independent directors that does its job seriously. As all the independent directors seemed not doing anything useful and some of them even had independence issues, we suggest shareholders propose a shareholders’ meeting and fire some of the independent shareholders that are possibly not sufficiently independent to the top management. The compensation included too much straight pays, too little for each meeting attended. We suggest the straight compensation dropping to $100,000 annually for each of the non-management directors, $50,000 cash and $50,000 stock units, and increasing payments for attending meetings to $5,000 for board meetings and $4,000 for committee meetings. If the above changes don’t work any reasons we could not foresee by now and the stock price of the company continues bearish, we suggest the shareholders fire Mr. Nardelli and change a CEO who has a record of working for the shareholders’ interests seriously. Corporate Culture Since the old also had obvious drawbacks, we would not recommend the culture going back to where it used to be. It would also be impossible since Nardelli had been such a military fan. Military culture does have its merits, building discipline and leading people working in good order. The suggestion here would be to hire more people that are military fans, either from schools, the society or from those retired soldiers. Moreover, solving such a number of retired soldiers’ employment, this would result in a good relationship with the government or even some government grants. The salary of the employees could be slightly higher than those who work in Lowe’s and other competitors. Although managing internally in a military way, it is not suggested to show a military atmosphere to customers because few people like to shop in an army. We cannot assure this would work because we don’t any examples of doing so in such a big firm. However, if it works, the outcomes could be surprisingly good, better customer service, a cool place to work at and good relationship with the government which is valuable in every country. Another piece of advice as an alternative is to combine the discipline of the military culture with the individuality, informality, nonconformity, growth, and pride that were emphasized in the old culture. Store Location Since Home Depot opened a large number of new stores, the store layout, appearance, and store productivity remains weak. The company should focus on the improvement of the store productivity by positioning well-trained employees and store managers into the new stores. Furthermore, the stores were placed in suburban areas which is not that convenient for a group of customers. We recommend the company to improve the online shopping service. Human Resource Management Since the employees changed from 90% full-time employees to only 68% and the employee turnover was extremely high. The high employee turnover hurts a companys bottom line. It will costs upwards of twice an employees salary to find and train a replacement, and it will damage morale among remaining employees. The company should embarked on decreasing turnover and increasing retention. We could recommend the following steps: * Hire the right people and concentrated on effective caress development. The company should have an ongoing career development program which is a continuing cycle. Always hiring the people that really fit wit the organization- the companys value, culture, goals, etc. Moreover, skill training program is also important, training is a necessary part that will ensuring employee loyalty and retention. * Level the percent of full-time and part-time employees. The company should hire less part-time employees to decrease the turnover. Part-time employees often leave if offered full-time employment by another company, and possibly creating turnover problem. However, full-time employees are more likely to develop company loyalty and improve the performance of the corporation. Conclusion After analyzing the case, we can see that The Home Depot, Inc. was a company with high net sales and extremely well ranking among the world. After Bob Nardelli appoint to be the CEO of the Home Depot, he has brought the company keep going well, even with some negative changes, as corporation culture modified and the change of human resource management. We believe that it is very necessary to reform the problems of the management. Especially about decrease the governance power of Bob Nardelli and organize a board of independent directors. Meanwhile, change the structure of employees is also should on the company’s plan list. However, the defects don’t outweigh the merits. We clearly see that the company remains a lot of strengths. Strong brand awareness and conscientious social responsibility help Home Depot to keep its good reputation; meanwhile, wise international strategy and low price make the company to maintain good revenue. We are not doubt the Home Depot will keep maintain its current strengths and with a bright future, but with these necessary changes will definitely make the company better.

Marriage as a Basic and Universal Social Institute

Table of Contents Introduction Changes in Marriage Reason for Changes Conclusion Works Cited Introduction Marriage and family are arguably the two institutes which form the fundamental building blocks of every human society. Sudha asserts that marriage is a basic and universal social institute that facilitates proper progeny and helps to have life long companionship and family life (198).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marriage as a Basic and Universal Social Institute specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is through the institute of marriage that the continuity of a nation through the children is guaranteed and for this reason, marriage has been regarded with high esteem in our nation. The government has come up with benefits and other incentives aimed at benefiting married couples. However, there has been a notable change in marriage in our society over the course of the last few decades. Most of these chang es have been as a result of advancements in the society as well as changing practices. Some of these changes have been monumental and have threatened the very stability of the institute while others have had little effect. This paper will set out to articulate the changes that characterize marriage in our modern society. This shall be done by highlighting the differences in past trends and modern trends in marriage. The factors that are responsible for these changes shall also be reviewed and the plausible future of the marriage institute in the USA predicted. Changes in Marriage One of the most notable changes in marriages in the American setting is with regard to divorce rates. Ruggel states that marital dissolutions have increased dramatically over the last century and while only 5% of marriages entered into in 1987 ended in divorce, a phenomenal 50% of marriages entered into in 1967 are forecasted to end up in divorce (455). This dramatic rise in divorce rates has been blamed on a number of factors most notably of which are the increases in the earning power of women in the USA. A research by Ruggles on the rise in divorce and separation cases in the US revealed that in districts that had more women than men working there was a higher likelihood of divorce and separation occurring (464). Another trend that has become evident is the rise in premarital cohabitation. Cohabitation is whereby couple live together and have a joint economic and emotional relationship but without the legalization of their union. Reinhold notes that as of the year 2002, studies revealed that more than 50% of women aged 19-44 in the US had ever cohabited in their lives(3). At the onset of the 20th century, cohabitation was rare and the society to a large extent did not approve of it. The rise in premarital cohabitation has mainly been as a result of acceptance of the same by a majority of the American population.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reinhold reveals that when cohabitation first emerged in the USA, it was mainly practiced by the less educated members of the society but that with time, the practice has extended to incorporate the American middle class(5). As such, this trend has become a precursor to marriage or in some cases a substitute for the same with couples preferring to not formalize their unions despite the numerous benefits that being in a marriage might bring. The gender roles that characterized marriages in the past years have changed and at over time, both sexes have come to adopt less traditional gender roles. The participation of women in the larger society was restricted and women were generally socialized to accept marriage and the subsequent family duties as the ultimate goals in their lives. In the past, the man was the sole bread winner and the woman’s role was mostly confined to taking care of the family. In modern tim es, this has changed and women have been afforded new opportunities in the society which has made them self-reliant. Sudha notes that women (especially in urban settings) are encouraged to get an education, engage in employment and even pursue politics all the while attending to the activities concerning marriage and family (198). While education and employment have resulted in a shift in marriage due to the changing gender roles, Goldstein and Kenney note that women continue to marry or join the marriage institute at the same high rates as in the past years (506) and as such, gender roles have only affected the roles of each party in the marriage and not the popularity of the institution. Goldstein and Kenney note that there has been a recent decline in period marriage rates in industrial societies as the number of marriages per annum have fallen dramatically (507). Studies reveal that while the annual rate of marriage among women in the United States remained at about 150 per thou sand in the 1960s, it fell to 110 per thousand in the mid 1970s and further fell to 100 per thousand by 1980 (Goldstein and Kenney 508). This delay in marriage has meant that couples are getting married at an older age and therefore starting up families later than in earlier days. The reasons for this are mostly the changes in society which have resulted in greater focus on the education of women. While in the past women were socialized to look at marriage as their ultimate goal, women now spend more time building careers and marriage therefore takes second place. A huge change in the marriage institute in America has been the recognition of same sex unions. While marriage has traditionally been prescribed as a union between heterosexuals, there has been a shift towards giving marriage rights to homosexual couples. This change has been brought about by the prevalence of homosexuality in the society and the widespread acceptance of gay relations.Advertising We will write a custo m essay sample on Marriage as a Basic and Universal Social Institute specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While at the onset of the last century homosexuality was shunned and even criminalized, the 1960s saw many states making laws that decriminalized same-sex conduct and abolished discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Volokh 106). Gathering from this momentum, gay activists have been calling for the legalizing of gay marriages and the affording of gay couples the same rights and benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. One of the factors that differentiate the United States from most other countries is its racial diversity. This is because the US citizenry is made up of a number of varying races ranging from Caucasians to Asians. Marriage is one of the institutes which have experienced changes as a result of this racial diversity. A report by the CNN indicates that interracial marriages have continued to rise since mid 1 980s and are at an all time high (Chen). These results are reinforced by Pollard and O’Hare who note that â€Å"between 1970 and 1998, the number of interracial couples surged from 300,000 to 1.4 million† (12). This is different from the pre 1960s where interracial marriages were rare. Racist marriage legislations put in place after slavery and the Civil War dictated that marriage was not a right of US citizens and therefore validated the constitutionality of racist bans of marriage. Post 1960 saw a change in this as this racist law was abolished and interracial marriages became acceptable. Reason for Changes While the essence of marriage (companionship and family continuity) still remain in today’s society, the standards at which this once prestigious institution is held has changed significantly. The question that is left wanting is: what has led to the dramatic change as regarding to how people in today’s society view marriage? Well, change as a matter of fact is inevitable and as people pursue their dreams and ambitions, sacrifices have to be made and compromises negotiated so as to meet the demands of today’s society. According to Reinhold, cultural erosion has contributed greatly to the changes in today’s society (14). Not only has this erosion affected marriage, but is has also affected religion and the morality of the human race. As mentioned earlier, religion and cultural beliefs played a pivotal role in the survival and continual growth of communities.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These cultural norms and beliefs acted as laws which governed and stipulated the roles that each gender had to play in society. Nonconformity was severely punished. As such, marriage was perceived as a religious rite of passage and each person in the bond had to respect the institution and do their part without fail. However, as generations go by, the value of culture reduces. Today, only a few people follow their culture or believe in what they represented. Consequently, the value attached to marriage has decreased significantly. For example, before, fornication was viewed as a serious offence and the perpetrators would face serious consequences and would bring shame to people from their communities; especially their families. In today’s society, the role of sex has changed and the act is no longer confined to the married couples as it was in the earlier days (Reinhold 16). Whereas, sex was formally a sacred practice between married couples primarily for the purpose of procr eation, today, it has lost it’s meaning and value to the extent that one woman can have multiple sex partners without fear or worry. In this regard, marriage has changed because the women were originally supposed to remain faithfully married to one man until death. In addition, globalization has been documented as one of the leading reasons as to why marriage has changed (Chen). Chen states that as people from different localities go beyond their geographic boundaries in search of greener pastures, they end up adopting the mannerisms that they are exposed to in the host nations. As such, marriage is no longer instituted to people of the same clans as it was earlier on. Interracial and intertribal marriages are rife in today’s society and this is all due to globalization. As the cost of living escalates, people have been forced to join together so as to meet their daily needs. As such, financial constraints have also led to a change in marriages today. Many have argued that marriage in today’s society is no longer a matter of love and companionship but is more of a contract or business agreement. In the earlier decades, women had no choice/say in matters regarding to their marriage partners. However, this has changed significantly. Today, financial stability plays a pivotal role in the selection process of a marriage partner. Most women and men would rather marry a partner that is financially sound than a partner who is living a hand to mouth lifestyle. What is most surprising is that love plays a small role in most marriages today. All that is required is having a mutual understanding between the partners. They state their expectations before hand and if an agreement is reached, then the couple can wed. This would explain why the divorce rates are high in the world today. According to Ruggles, many marriages especially among the younger generations do not reach the ten year mark (462). Some of the contributing factors to this state of affa irs include but are not limited to: financial constraints, unfaithfulness, lack of commitment (inability to fully meet one’s responsibilities) and conflicts among the spouses (Ruggles 459). Divorce was never an option in most communities in the past. However this changed due to laws which were instituted making divorce a viable option to people in difficult marriages. Sudha states that dialogue used to be used as a tool to resolve marital issues (46). People had no choice but to come to an agreement. In so doing, the children grew up in a family where both parents were present. This union acted as an example through which the children grew to respect and follow even after getting married. However, today, parents no longer concentrate on imparting family values to their children. In some cases, parents argue and fight in the presence of their children making marriage look like a bad thing. In addition, dialogue no longer suffices since divorce is an easier option. As a result, whenever the children become of age and get married, they have this predetermined mentality of marriage. They end up divorcing because that is what they learned during their childhood. The media has also contributed to the change in marriages today. Divorce has risen significantly partly due to its popularization by the media (Ruggles 456). In addition, movies and music aired in various media outlets. This forms of entertainment most often bring to light infidelity, â€Å"gold digging† (marriage for financial reasons), and domestic violence as the main characteristics of marriage. In America alone, nearly 90% of the citizenry is exposed to this negative media in one way or the other. Over exposure to such publicity leads to a situation where everyone raises or lowers the expectations of marriage. As such, many people do not marry the person they are betrothed to but that imaginary personality that they have constructed under the influence of the media. Conclusion Marriage is no longer as strong an institution as it used to be. Instead of bringing pride and respect to the married couples, it has in the recent past, been a source of shame and regrets to many. The various factors that have led to the change in how we perceive marriage have been highlighted. How marriage was in the past compared to today, has also been discussed. However, marriage still plays a pivotal role to the lives of many people. As such, individuals should try and make sure that they marry for the right reasons and to the right person. In so doing, marriage will restore its former glory as a hub for love and prosperity even to the generations to come. Works Cited Chen, Stephanie. Interracial Marriages at an all-time high, study says. 04 June, 2010. Web. Goldstein, Joshua and Kenney, Catherine. â€Å"Marriage Delayed or Marriage Forgone? New Cohort Forecasts of First Marriage for U.S. Women.† American Sociological Review, 66. August, 2001. Print. Pollard, Kelvin and O’H are William. â€Å"America’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities.† A publication of the Population Reference Bureau, 54.3 1999: 12. Print. Reinhold, Steffen. Reassessing the Link between Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability. 20 Dec 2007. Web. Ruggles, Stephen. â€Å"The Rise of Divorce and Separation in the United States, 1880 – 1990.† Demography, 34. 4, November 1997: 455-466. Print. Sudha, D. Gender Roles. USA: APH Publishing, 2000. Print. This essay on Marriage as a Basic and Universal Social Institute was written and submitted by user Elena F. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Five Bases of Power Essays

The Five Bases of Power Essays The Five Bases of Power Paper The Five Bases of Power Paper Five Bases of Power Maria Mayorga BCom230 November 28, 2011 Jay Johnson Five Bases of Power Power is said to be ability of one person, group, or organization to control another person, group, or organization. Power is also refer to when one individual makes another do what the other wished through fear, force, persuasion, or reward. For example someone may be powerful because he or she could fire or assign a task someone does not like. Other could be powerful by having the ability to give a raise or bonus. Furthermore, power could depend in the knowledge an individual poses or a person charisma or admiration that contributes to respect. In a research made by social psychologist John French and Bertam Raven in 1959 power is divided into five separate and distinctive forms; coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. According to this social psychologist coercive, reward, and legitimate power are considered as positional power bases; referent and expert are personal power bases. Positional Power Sources Coercive is considering a positional power source. Coercive power is a when a person force others to do something they do not want to do. This type of power most of the time may cause problems and can be subject to abuse. Using coercive power in the work of place could lead to unhealthy behavior and dissatisfaction. Leaders used punishment and threatening to make people do whatever they wished because they can fire, demoted, and give undesirable assignments. Although a position may give people the capability to intimidate others, it doesn’t mean that they have to do it. Occasionally coercive power can be used as a last resort but not as form of leadership. Legitimate is another formal power source. A president, governor or a chief executive officer poses this type of power. It has to be with someone holding an important position in an organization, country or city that typically has this source of power. Legitimate power can be unpredictable and unstable because is base in a position or title. For instance, if a person loses his or her position in an organization that power instantly disappear because the position was the one who influenced others not the person. Reward power is the results from one person’s ability to reward another for compliances. According to psychologist this power is based on the idea that we as a society are more likely to to do things and to do them well when we are rewarded. Promotions, raises, and desirable assignments are the most popular forms of rewards. The problem with this power is that supervisors may not have as much control over rewards. Promotions and raises sometimes are limited because supervisors may need approval from higher leaders. Another problem with this power is that each time rewards need to be much bigger so they could have the same motivational impact. In the contrary if rewards are given so frequently, they may lose their effectiveness. Personal Power Sources A person’s superior knowledge and skills gives an individual the ability to poses expert power. Individuals with expert power are well prepared to face any difficulty or problem that may occur in organization because of their experience. People will listen to people with this type of power because they demonstrate expertise. The individuals with this type of power gained respect and trust because their ideas have more value. The expert power is one of the best methods of leadership and can be useful to become a successful leader. Referent power is also a personal power source is based in the result of a person’s attractiveness, and charisma. A person may be like because of the personality that individual poses. Likewise an individual may like or respect that person because may identify with that person in some way. Celebrities have this type of power; fans may identify with their music, or their movies. Referent power can represent a big responsibility because the individual don’t necessarily have to do anything to earn it. It can be abused very easily because if someone who is likeable but lacks integrity may rise to power and may use that power to hurt other individuals. Relying on this type of power alone is not good for a leader who wants respect; however, combined with other source of power it can help achieve success. Power can be hold by anyone and can be used to help or affect individuals. If a person wants to become successful leader it is important to learn and recognize the different types of powers. Powers can be a powerful tool if people learn to use those in the correct way. Learned to use those powers that they are more effective and could make someone become a more influential leader. References Mindtools. com- French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power Wikipedia. com- French and Raven’s Five Bases of Power

Al Gore - Saving the Constitution Speech at Constitution hall

Al Gore Saving the Constitution Speech at Constitution Hall delivered 16 January 2006, Washington, D.C.Thank you very much. Id like to thank Michael Ostrolenk for that on-the-spot introduction, and Id like to thank Michael and the other leaders of the Liberty Coalition for the wonderful work that they are doing to try to help Americans bridge many gaps that have sometimes unnecessarily divided us. I want to thank them for co-sponsoring this event. I want to thank Lisa Brown for her friendship to me and for her outstanding leadership of the American Constitution Society. Tipper and I have long admired her work, and its a pleasure to work with her. To all of the distinguished guests who are here, Senator Dianne Feinsteinothers who are present [inaudible]. And I want to commiserate with Congressman Bob Barr, who was connected live when we walked out on the stage, but having had similar occurrences with live video feeds before, I know what can happen and what he must be feeling right now. And I want to thank all of you for coming. Id like to start by saying that Congressman Bob Barr and I have disagreed many times over the years. But we have joined together today with thousands of our fellow citizens, Democrats and Republicans alike, to express our shared concern that Americas Constitution is in grave danger. In spite of our differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented claims of the administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of executive power. As we begin this new year, the executive branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by Congress precisely to prevent such abuses. It is imperative that respect for the rule of law be restored in our country. And that is why many of us have come here to Constitution Hall to sound an alarm and call upon our fellow citizens to put aside partisan differences insofar as it is possible to do so and join with us in demanding that our Constitution be defended and preserved. It is appropriate that we make this appeal on the day our nation has set aside to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who challenged America to breathe new life into our oldest values by extending its promise to all of our people. And on this particular Martin Luther King Day it is especially important to recall for that for the last several years of his life Dr. King was illegally wiretapped, one of hundreds of thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government during that period. The FBI privately labeled King the and I quote the most dangerous and effective negro leader in the country and vowed to again, I quote take him off his pedestal. The government even attempted to destroy his marriage and tried to blackmail him into committing suicide. This campaign continued until Dr. Kings murder. The discovery that the FBI conducted this long-running and extensive campaign of secret electronic surveillance designed to infiltrate the inner workings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and to learn the most intimate details of Dr. Kings life was instrumental in helping to convince Congress to enact restrictions on wiretapping. And one result was the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act, often called FISA, which was enacted expressly to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance would be presented to an impartial judge to verify that there was indeed a sufficient cause for the surveillance. It included ample flexibility and an ability for the executive to move with as much speed as desired. I voted for that law during my first term in Congress. And, for almost 30 years, the system has proven a valuable and workable means of affording a level of protection for American citizens while permitting foreign surveillance to continue whenever it is necessary. And yet, just one month ago, Americans awoke to the shocking news that, in spite of this long-settled law, the executive branch has been secretly spying on large numbers of Americans for the last four years and eavesdropping on and I quote the report large volumes of telephone calls, e-mail messages and other Internet traffic inside the United States. The New York Times reported that the president decided to launch this massive eavesdropping program without search warrants or any new laws that would permit domestic intelligence collection. During the period when this eavesdropping was still secret, the president seemed to go out of his way to reassure the American people on more than one occasion that, of course, judicial permission is required for any government spying on American citizens and that, of course, these constitutional safeguards were still in place. But, surprisingly, the presidents soothing statements turned out to be false. Moreover, as soon as this massive domestic spying program was uncovered by the press, the president confirmed the story was true but in the next breath declared that he has no intention of stopping or bringing these wholesale invasions of privacy to an end. At present, we still have much to learn about the NSAs domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law, repeatedly and insistently. A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our founding fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. They recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution, our system of checks and balances, was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said, The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers or either of them to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men. An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat that the founders sought to nullify in the Constitution, an all-powerful executive; too reminiscent of the king from whom they had broken free. In the words of James Madison, the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elected, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet on Common Sense ignited the American Revolution, succinctly described Americas alternative. Here, he said, we intended to make certain that, in his phrase, the law is king. Vigilant adherence to the rule of law actually strengthens our democracy, of course, and strengthens America. It ensures that those who govern us operate within our constitutional structure, which means that our democratic institutions play their indispensable role in shaping policy and determining the direction of our nation. It means that the people of this nation ultimately determine its course and not executive officials operating in secret without constraint under the rule of law. And make no mistake: The rule of law makes us stronger by ensuring that decisions will be tested, studied, reviewed and examined through the normal processes of government that are designed to improve policy and avoid error. And the knowledge that they will be reviewed prevents overreaching and checks the accretion to power. A commitment to openness, truthfulness and accountability helps our country avoid many serious mistakes that we would otherwise make. Recently, for example, we learned from just-declassified documents after almost 40 years that the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which authorized the tragic Vietnam War was actually based on false information. And we now know that the decision by Congress to authorize the Iraq war 38 years later was also based on false information. Now, the point is that America would have been better off knowing the truth and avoiding both of these colossal mistakes in our history. And that is the reason why following the rule of law makes us safer, not more vulnerable. The president and I agree on one thing: The threat from terrorism is all too real. There is simply no question that we continue to face new challenges in the wake of the attacks on September 11th and we must be ever vigilant in protecting our citizens from harm. Where we disagree is on the proposition that we have to break the law or sacrifice our system of government in order to protect Americans from terrorism when, in fact, doing so would make us weaker and more vulnerable. And remember that, once violated, the rule of law is itself in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows, the greater the power of the executive grows, the more difficult it becomes for the other branches to perform their constitutional roles. As the executive acts outside its constitutionally prescribed role and is able to control access to information that would expose its mistakes and reveal errors, it becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches to police its activities. And once that ability is lost, democracy itself is threatened and we do become a government of men and not laws. The presidents men have minced words about Americas laws. The attorney general, for example, openly conceded that the kind of surveillance, in his phrase, that we know they have been conducting, does require a court order unless authorized by statue. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act self-evidently does not authorize what the NSA has been doing and no one inside or outside the administration claims that it does. Incredibly, the administration claims instead that the surveillance was implicitly authorized when Congress voted to use force against those who attacked us on September 11. But this argument simply does not hold any water. Without getting into the legal intricacies, it faces a number of embarrassing facts. First, another admission by the attorney general: He concedes that the administration knew that the NSA project was prohibited by existing law and that that is why they consulted with some members of Congress about the possibility of changing the statute. Attorney General Gonzales says that they were told by the members of Congress consulted that this would probably not be possible. And so they decided not to make the request. So how can they now argue that the authorization for the use of military force somehow implicitly authorized it all along? Indeed, when the authorization was being debated, the administration did in fact seek to have language inserted in it that would have authorized them to use military force domestically and the Congress refused to agree. Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Jim McGovern, among others, made clear statements during the debate on the floor of the House and Senate, respectively, clearly stating that that authorization did not operate domestically and there is no assertion to the contrary. When President Bush failed to convince Congress to give him the power he wanted when this measure was passed, he secretly assumed that power anyway, as if congressional authorization was a useless bother. But as Justice Frankfurter once wrote, To find authority so explicitly withheld is not merely to disregard in a particular instance the clear will of Congress. It is to disrespect the whole legislative process and the constitutional division of authority between the president and the Congress. This is precisely the disrespect for the law that the Supreme Court struck down in the steel seizure case during the Korean War. It is this same disrespect for Americas Constitution which has now brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution. And the disrespect embodied in these apparent mass violations of the law is part of a larger pattern of seeming indifference to the Constitution that is deeply troubling to millions of Americans in both political parties. For example, as you know, the president has also declared that he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any American citizen that he alone determines to be a threat to our nation, and that notwithstanding his American citizenship that person in prison has no right to talk with a lawyer, even if he wants to argue that the president or his appointees have made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person. The president claims that he can imprison that American citizen any American citizen he chooses indefinitely, for the rest of his life, without even an arrest warrant, without notifying them of what charges have been filed against them, without even informing their families that they have been imprisoned. No such right exists in the America that you and I know and love. It is foreign to our Constitution. It must be rejected. At the same time, the executive branch has also claimed a previously unrecognized authority to mistreat prisoners in its custody in ways that plainly constitute torture and have plainly constituted torture in a widespread pattern that has been extensively documented in U.S. facilities located in several countries around the world. Over 100 of these captives have reportedly died while being tortured by executive branch interrogators. Many more have been broken and humiliated. And, in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, investigators who documented the pattern of torture estimated that more than 90 percent of the victims were completely innocent of any criminal charges whatsoever. This is a shameful exercise of power that overturns a set of principles that youre nation has observed since General George Washington first enunciated them during our Revolutionary War. They have been observed by every president since then until now. They violate the Geneva Conventions, the International Convention Against Torture and our own laws against torture. The president has also claimed that he has the authority to kidnap individuals on the streets of foreign cities and deliver them for imprisonment and interrogation on our behalf by autocratic regimes and nations that are infamous for the cruelty of their techniques for torture. Some of our traditional allies have been deeply shocked by these new and uncharacteristic patterns on the part of America. For example, the British ambassador to Uzbekistan one of those nations with the worst reputations for torture in its prisons registered a complaint to his home office about the cruelty and senselessness of the new U.S. practice that he witnessed. This material were getting is useless, he wrote. And then he continued with this: We are selling our souls for dross. It is, in fact, positively harmful. Can it be true that any president really has such powers under our Constitution? If the answer is yes, then under the theory by which these acts are committed, are there any acts that can on their face be prohibited? If the president has the inherent authority to eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant, imprison American citizens on his own declaration, kidnap and torture, then what cant he do? The dean of Yale Law School, Harold Koh, said after analyzing the executive branchs extravagant claims of these previously unrecognized powers, and I quote Dean Koh, If the president has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution. The fact that our normal American safeguards have thus far failed to contain this unprecedented expansion of executive power is itself deeply troubling. This failure is due in part to the fact that the executive branch has followed a determined strategy of obfuscating, delaying, withholding information, appearing to yield but then refusing to do so, and dissembling in order to frustrate the efforts of the legislative and judicial branches to restore a healthy constitutional balance. For example, after appearing to support legislation sponsored by Senator John McCain to stop the continuation of torture, the president declared in the act of signing the bill that he reserved the right not to comply with it. Similarly, the executive branch claimed this it could unilaterally imprison American citizens without giving them access to review by any tribunal. And when the Supreme Court disagreed, the president then engaged in legal maneuvers designed to prevent the court from providing any meaningful content to the rights of the citizens affected. A conservative jurist on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the executive branchs handling of one such case seemed to involve the sudden abandonment of principle and, I quote him, at substantial cost to the governments credibility before the courts. As a result of this unprecedented claim of new unilateral power, the executive branch has now put our constitutional design at grave risk. The stakes for Americas democracy are far higher than has been generally recognized. These claims must be rejected and a healthy balance of power must restored to our republic. Otherwise, the fundamental nature of our democracy may well undergo a radical transformation. For more than two centuries, Americas freedoms have been preserved in large part by our founders wise decision to separate the aggregate power of our government into three co-equal branches, each of which, as you know, serves to check and balance the power of the other two. On more than a few occasions in our history, the dynamic interaction among all three branches has resulted in collisions and temporary impasses that create what are invariably labeled constitutional crises. These crises have often been dangerous and uncertain times for our republic. But in each such case so far, we have found a resolution of the crisis by renewing our common agreement to live together under the rule of law. The principal alternative to democracy throughout history has, of course, been the consolidation of virtually all state power in the hands of a single strong man or small group who exercised that power without the informed consent of the governed. It was in revolt against just such a regime, after all, that America was founded. When Lincoln declared at the time of our greatest crisis that the ultimate question being decided in the Civil War was, in his memorable phrase, whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure, he was not only saving our union. He was recognizing the fact that democracies are rare in history. And when they fall, as did Athens and the Roman republic upon whose designs our founders drew heavily, what emerges in their place is another strong- man regime. There have, of course, been other periods in American history when the executive branch claimed new powers later seen as excessive and mistaken. Our second president, John Adams, passed the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts and sought to silence and imprison critics and political opponents. And when his successor, President Thomas Jefferson, eliminated the abuses, in his first inaugural, he said, The essential principles of our government form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. Should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and regain that road which alone leads to peace, liberty and safety. President Lincoln, of course, suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, and some of the worst abuses prior to those of the current administration were committed by President Wilson during and after World War I, with the notorious red scare and Palmer Raids. The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II marked a shameful low point for the respect of individual rights at the hands of the executive. And, of course, during the Vietnam War, the notorious COINTEL program was part and parcel of those abuses experienced by Dr. King and so many thousands of others. But in each of these cases throughout American history, when the conflict and turmoil subsided, our nation recovered its equilibrium and absorbed the lessons learned in a recurring cycle of excess and regret. But there are reasons for concern this time around that conditions may be changing so that this cycle may not repeat itself. For one thing, we have for decades been witnessing the slow and steady accumulation of presidential power. In a globe where there are nuclear weapons and Cold War tensions, Congress and the American people accepted ever-enlarging spheres of presidential initiative to conduct intelligence and counterintelligence activities and allocate our military forces on the global stage. When military force has been used as an instrument of foreign policy or in response to humanitarian demands, it has almost always been as the result of presidential initiative and leadership. But as Justice Frankfurter wrote in that famous steel seizure case, The accretion of dangerous power does not come in a day. It does come, however slowly, from the generative force of unchecked disregard of the restrictions that fence in even the most disinterested assertion of authority. A second reason to believe that we may be experiencing something new, outside that historical cycle, is that we are, after all, told by this administration that the war footing upon which he has tried to place the country is going to last, in their phrase, for the rest of our lives. And so we are told that the conditions of national threat that have been used by other presidents to justify arrogations of power will in this case persist in near perpetuity. Third, we need to be keenly aware of the startling advances in the sophistication of eavesdropping and surveillance technologies with their capacity to easily sweep up and analyze enormous quantities of information and then mine it for intelligence. And this adds significant vulnerability to the privacy and freedom of enormous numbers of innocent people at the same time as the potential power of those technologies grows. Those technologies do have the potential for shifting the balance of power between the apparatus of the state and the freedom of the individual in ways that are both subtle and profound. Dont misunderstand me. The threat of additional terror strikes is real and the concerted efforts by terrorists to acquire weapons of mass destruction does indeed create a real imperative to exercise the powers of the executive branch with swiftness and agility. Moreover, there is an in fact an inherent power conferred by the Constitution to any president to take unilateral action when necessary to protect the nation from a sudden and immediate threat. And it is simply not possible to precisely define in legalistic terms exactly when that power is appropriate and when it is not. But the existence of that inherent power cannot be used to justify a gross and excessive power grab lasting for many years and producing a serious imbalance in the relationship between the executive and the other two branches of government. And there is a final reason to worry that we may be experiencing something more than just another cycle. This administration has come to power in the thrall of a legal theory that aims to convince us that this excessive concentration of presidential power is exactly what our Constitution intended. This legal theory, which its proponents call the theory of the unitary executive but which ought to be more accurately described as the unilateral executive, threatens to expand the presidents powers until the contours of the Constitution that the framers actually gave us become obliterated beyond all recognition. Under this theory, the presidents authority when acting as commander in chief or when making foreign policy cannot be reviewed by the judiciary, cannot be checked by Congress. And President Bush has pushed the implications of this idea to its maximum by continually stressing his role as commander in chief, invoking it as frequently as he can, conflating it with his other roles, both domestic and foreign. And when added to the idea that we have entered a perpetual state of war, the implications of this theory stretch quite literally as far into the future as we can imagine. This effort to rework Americas carefully balanced constitutional design into a lopsided structure dominated by an all-powerful executive branch, with a subservient Congress and subservient judiciary, is ironically accompanied by an effort by the same administration to rework Americas foreign policy from one that is based primarily on U.S. moral authority into one that is based on a misguided and self-defeating effort to establish a form of dominance in the world. And the common denominator The common denominator seems to be based on an instinct to intimidate and control. The same pattern has characterized the effort to silence dissenting views within the executive branch, to censor information that may be inconsistent with its stated ideological goals and to demand conformity from all executive branch employees. For example, CIA analysts who strongly disagreed with the White House assertion that Osama bin Laden was linked to Saddam Hussein found themselves under pressure at work and became fearful of losing promotions and salary increases. Ironically, that is exactly what happened to the FBI officials in the 1960s who disagreed with J. Edgar Hoovers assertion that Martin Luther King was closely connected to communists. The head of the FBIs domestic intelligence division testified that his effort to tell the truth about Dr. Kings innocence of the charge resulted in he and his colleagues becoming isolated within the FBI and pressured. And I quote: It was evident, he said, that we had to change our ways or we would all be out on the street. The men and I, he continued, discussed how to get out of trouble. To be in trouble with Mr. Hoover was a serious matter. These men, he continued, were trying to buy homes, mortgages on homes. They had children in school. They lived in fear of getting transferred, losing money on their homes, as they usually did. So they wanted another memorandum written to get us out of the trouble that we were in. The Constitutions framers, who studied human nature so closely, understood this dilemma quite well. As Alexander Hamilton put it, A power over a mans support is a power over his will. In any case, quite soon there was no more difference of opinion about Dr. King within the FBI, and the false accusation became the unanimous view. And in exactly the same way, George Tenets CIA eventually joined in endorsing a manifestly false view that there was a linkage between Al Qaida and the government of Iraq. In the words of George Orwell, We are all capable, he said, of believing things which we know to be untrue and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time. The only check on it is that, sooner or later, a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield. Two thousand two hundred American soldiers have lost their lives as this false belief bumped into a solid reality. And indeed, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable, it almost inevitably leads to gross mistakes and abuses. That is part of human nature. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes, dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded. It is human nature, whether for Republicans or Democrats or people of any set of views. Last week, for example, Vice President Cheney attempted to defend the administrations eavesdropping on American citizens by saying that, if it had conducted this program prior to 9/11, they would have found out the names of some of the hijackers. Tragically, he apparently still does not know that the administration did, in fact, have the names of at least two of the hijackers well before 9/11 and had available to them information that could have led to the identification of most of the others. One of them was in the phone book. And yet, because of incompetence, unaccountable incompetence in the handling of the information, it was never used to protect the American people. It is often the case, again, regardless of which party might be in power, that an executive branch beguiled by the pursuit of unchecked power responds to its own mistakes by reflexively proposing that it be given still more power. Often the request itself is used to mask accountability for mistakes in the use of power it already has. Moreover, if the pattern of practice begun by this administration is not challenged, it may well become a permanent part of the American system. That is why many conservatives have pointed out that granting unchecked power to this president means that the next will have unchecked power as well. And the next may be someone whose values and beliefs you do not trust. And that is why Republicans as well as Democrats should be concerned with what this president has done. If his attempt to dramatically expand executive power goes unquestioned, then our constitutional design of checks and balances will be lost. And the next president or some future president will be able in the name of national security to restrict our liberties in a way the framers would never have imagined possible. This same instinct to expand power and establish dominance has characterized the relationship between this administration and the courts and the Congress. In a properly functioning system, the judicial branch would serve as the constitutional umpire to ensure that the branches of government observe their proper spheres of authority, observed civil liberties, adhere to the rule of law. Unfortunately, the unilateral executive has tried hard to thwart the ability of the judiciary to call balls and strikes by keeping controversies out of its hands, notably those challenging its ability to detain individuals without legal process by appointing judges who will be deferential to its exercise of power and by its support of assaults on the independence of the third branch. The presidents decision, for example, to ignore the FISA law was a direct assault on the power of the judges who sit on that court. Congress established the FISA Court precisely to be a check on executive power to wiretap. And yet, to ensure that the court could not function as a check on executive power, the president simply did not take matters to it. And did not even let the court know that it was being bypassed. The presidents judicial appointments are clearly designed to ensure the courts will not will not serve as an effective check on executive power. As we have all learned, Judge Alito is a long-time supporter of a powerful executive, a supporter of that so-called unitary executive. Whether you support his confirmation or not and I respect the fact that some of the co-sponsors of this event do; I do not but whatever your view, we must all agreethat he will not vote as an effective check on the expansion of executive power. Likewise, Chief Justice Roberts has made plain his deference to the expansion of executive power through his support of judicial deference to executive agency rulemaking. And the administration has also supported the assault on judicial independence that has been conducted largely in Congress. That assault includes a threat by the majority in the Senate to permanently change the rules to eliminate the right of the minority to engage in extended debate of the presidents nominees. The assault has extended to legislative efforts to curtail the jurisdiction of the courts in matters ranging from habeas corpus to the pledge of allegiance. In short, the administration has demonstrated a contempt for the judicial role and sought to evade judicial review of its actions at every turn. But the most serious damage in our constitutional framework has been to the legislative branch. The sharp decline of Congressional power and autonomy in recent years has been almost as shocking as the efforts by the executive to attain this massive expansion of its power. I was elected to the Congress in 1976. Served eight years in the House, eight in the Senate, presided over the Senate for eight as vice president. Before that, as a young man, I saw the Congress firsthand as the son of a senator. My father was elected to Congress in 1938 10 years before I was born and left the Senate after I had graduated from college. The Congress we have today is structurally unrecognizable compared to the one in which my father served. There are many distinguished and outstanding senators and congressmen serving today. I am honored to know them and to have worked with them. But the legislative branch of government as a whole, under its current leadership, now operates as if it were entirely subservient to the executive branch. It is astonishing to me and so foreign to what the Congress is supposed to be. Moreover, too many members of the House and Senate now feel compelled to spend a majority of their time not in thoughtful debate on the issues but, instead, raising money to purchase 30-second television commercials. Moreover, there have now been two or three generations of congressmen who dont really know what an oversight hearing is. In the 70s and 80s, the oversight hearings in which my colleagues and I participated held the feet of the executive branch to the fire no matter which party was in power. And, yet, oversight is almost unknown in the Congress today. The role of the authorization committees has declined into insignificance. The 13 annual appropriations bills are hardly ever actually passed as bills anymore. Often, everything is lumped into a familiar single giant measure that sometimes is not even available for members of Congress to even read before they vote on it. Members of the minority party are now routinely excluded from conference committees, and amendments are routinely disallowed during floor consideration of legislation. In the United States Senate, which used to pride itself on being the greatest deliberative body in the world, meaningful debate is now a rarity. Even on the eve of the fateful vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq, Senator Robert Byrd famously asked, Why is this chamber empty? In the House of Representatives, the number who face a genuinely competitive election contest every two years is typically less than a dozen out of 435. And too many incumbents have come to believe that the key to continued access to the money for re-election is to stay on the good side of those who have the money to give. And, in the case of the majority party, the whole process is largely controlled by the incumbent president and his political organization. So the willingness of Congress to challenge the executive branch is further limited when the same party controls both Congress and the administration. The executive branch time and again has co-opted Congress role. And too often Congress has been a willing accomplice in the surrender of its own power. Look, for example, at the congressional role in overseeing this massive, four-year eavesdropping campaign that, on its face, seemed so clearly to violate the Bill of Rights. The president says he informed Congress. What he really means is that he talked with the chairman and ranking member of the House and Senate intelligence committees and, sometimes, the leaders of the House and Senate. This small group, in turn, claims they were not given the full facts, though at least one of the committee leaders handwrote a letter of concern to the vice president. And, though I sympathize with the awkward position, the difficult position in which these men and women were placed, I cannot disagree with the Liberty Coalition when it says that Democrats as well as Republicans in the Congress must share the blame for not taking sufficient action to protest and seek to prevent what they consider a grossly unconstitutional program. Many did. Moreover, in the Congress as a whole, both House and Senate, the enhanced role of money in the re-election process, coupled with the sharply diminished role for reasoned deliberation and debate, has produced an atmosphere conducive to pervasive institutionalized corruption that some have fallen vulnerable to. The Abramoff scandal is but the tip of a giant iceberg threatening the integrity of our legislative branch of government. And it is the pitiful state of our legislative state which primarily explains the failure of our vaunted checks and balances to prevent the dangerous overreach by the executive branch now threatening a radical transformation of the American system. I call upon members of Congress in both parties to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of American government that you are supposed to be under the Constitution of our country. But there is yet another player. There is yet another constitutional player whose faults must also be taken and whose role must be examined in order to understand the dangerous imbalance that has accompanied these efforts by the executive branch to dominate our constitutional system. We the people, collectively, are still the key to the survival of Americas democracy. We must examine ourselves. We, as Lincoln put it, even we here must examine our own role as citizens in allowing and not preventing the shocking decay and hollowing out and degradation of American democracy. Its time to stand up for the American system that we know and love. It is time to breathe new life back into Americas democracy. Thomas Jefferson said, An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will. America is based on the belief that we can govern ourselves and exercise the power of self-government. The American idea proceeded from the bedrock principle that all just power is derived from the consent of the governed. The intricate and finally balanced system, now in such danger, was created with the full and widespread participation of the population as a whole. The Federalist Papers were, back in the day, widely read newspaper essays. And they represented only one of 24 series of essays that crowded the vibrant marketplace of ideas in which farmers and shopkeepers recapitulated the debates that played out so fruitfully in Philadelphia. And when the convention had done its best, it was the people in their various states that refused to confirm the result until, at their insistence, the Bill of Rights was made integral to the documents sent forward for ratification. And it is we the people who must now find once again the ability we once had to play an integral role in saving our Constitution. And here there is cause for both concern and for great hope. The age of printed pamphlets and political essays has long since been replaced by television, a distracting and absorbing medium which seems determined to entertain itself more than it informs and educates. Lincolns memorable call during the Civil War is now applicable in a new way to our present dilemma: We must disenthrall ourselves, he said, and then we shall save our country. Forty years has passed since the majority of Americans adopted television as their principal source of information. And its dominance has now become so extensive that virtually all significant political communication now takes place within the confines of flickering 30-second advertisements, and theyre not The Federalist Papers. The political economy, supported by these short but expensive television ads, is as different from the vibrant politics of Americas first century as those politics were different from the feudalism which thrived on the ignorance of the masses of people in the Dark Ages. The constricted role of ideas in the American political system today has encouraged efforts by the executive branch to believe it can and should control the flow of information as a means of controlling the outcome of important decisions that still lie in the hands of the people. The administration vigorously asserts its power to maintain secrecy in its operations. After all, if the other branches dont know whats happening, they cant be a check or a balance. For example, when the administration was attempting to persuade Congress to enact the Medicare prescription drug benefit, many in the House and Senate raised concerns about the cost and design of the program. But rather than engaging in open debate on the basis of factual data, the administration withheld facts and actively prevented the Congress from hearing testimony that it had sought from the principal administration expert who had the information showing in advance of the vote that indeed the true cost estimates were far beyond the numbers given to Congress by the president. And the workings of the program would play out very differently than Congress had been told. Deprived of that information, and believing the false numbers given to it, instead the Congress approved the program and, tragically, the entire initiative is now collapsing all over the country, with the administration making an appeal just this weekend asking major insurance companies to volunteer to bail it out. But the American people, who have a right to believe that its elected representatives will learn the truth and act on the basis of knowledge and utilize the rule of reason, have been let down. To take another example, scientific warnings about the catastrophic consequences of unchecked global warming were censored by a political appointee in the White House with no scientific training whatsoever. Today one of the most distinguished scientific experts in the world on global warming, who works in NASA, has been ordered not to talk to members of the press; ordered to keep a careful log of everyone he meets with so that the executive branch can monitor and control what he shares of his knowledge about global warming. This is a planetary crisis. We owe ourselves a truthful and reasoned discussion. One of the other ways the administration has tried to control the flow of information has been by consistently resorting to the language and politics of fear in order to short-circuit the debate and drive its agenda forward without regard to the evidence or the public interest. President Eisenhower said this: Any who act as if freedoms defenses are to be found in suppression and suspicion and fear confess a doctrine that is alien to America. Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote, Men feared witches and burnt women. The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk. Yet in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the full Bill of Rights. Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of nuclear missiles ready to be launched on a moments notice to completely annihilate the country? Is America really in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march, when the last generation had to fight and win two world wars simultaneously? It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they did. And yet they faithfully protected our freedom and now its up to us to do the very same thing. We have a duty as Americans to defend out citizens rights not only to life but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the executive branch and the presidents apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law. I endorse the words of Bob Barr when he said, and I quote, The president has dared the American people to do something about it. For the sake of the Constitution, I hope they will. A special counsel should be immediately appointed by the attorney general to remedy these obvious conflicts of interest that prevents them from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the president. Weve had a fresh demonstration of how an independent investigation by a special council with integrity can rebuild confidence in our system of justice. Patrick Fitzgerald has, by all accounts, has shown neither fear nor favor in pursuing allegations that the executive branch has violated other laws. Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress should support the bipartisan call of the Liberty Coalition for the appointment of this special counsel to pursue the criminal issues raised by the warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the president. And it should be a political issue in any race, regardless of party, section of the country, house of Congress, or anyone who opposes the appointment of a special counsel under these dangerous circumstances when our Constitution is at risk. Secondly, new whistleblower protection should immediately be established for members of the executive branch who report evidence of wrongdoing, especially where it involves abuse of authority in the sensitive areas of national security. Third, both houses of Congress should, of course, hold comprehensive and not just superficial hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the president. And they should follow the evidence wherever it leads. Fourth, the extensive new powers requested by the executive branch in its proposal to extend and enlarge the Patriot Act should under no circumstances be granted unless and until there are adequate and enforceable safeguards to protect the Constitution and the rights of the American people against the kinds of abuses that have so recently been revealed. Fifth, any telecommunications company that has provided the government with access to private information concerning the communications of Americans without a proper warrant should immediately cease and desist the their complicity in this apparently illegal invasion in the privacy of American citizens. Freedom of communication is an essential prerequisite for the restoration of the health of our democracy. It is particularly important that the freedom of the Internet be protected against either the encroachment of government or efforts at control by large media conglomerates. The future of our democracy depends on it. In closing, I mention that, along with cause for concern, there is reason for hope. As I stand here today, I am filled with optimism that America is on the eve of a golden age in which the vitality of our democracy will be re-established by the people and will flourish more vibrantly than ever. Indeed, I can feel it in this hall. As Dr. King once said, perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us. Thank you very much.