Amending the Constitution is a difficult and complicated process. A two-thirds vote of approval in both Houses is required to formally propose an Amendment, which must then be ratified by ¾ of the States’ legislatures. The only other method of amending the Constitution requires that a national Constitutional Convention be called by Congress at the […]
The three structures under which most national governments interact with the general populace are the Unitary System: where all authority flows down from the central government to the local ‘branches’ of the central authority and can be abolished at any time. Examples of this form of government structure include Japan, France and the UK. The […]
The five steps of a domestic policy cycle are as follows. 1) Agenda building: this is done in many ways including lobbying, letter and email campaigns, phone calls and even protests, sit-ins, and strikes. 2) Formulation: where the policy is discussed, changes are suggested, hearings held. 3) Adoption: the policy is enacted into law, to […]
The concept of Checks and Balances is defined as a “confrontation of powers” in the Federalist Papers. It is the cornerstone of our Republican form of government. Under this structure, each of the three branches of government can “check” the actions of the other. It is a mechanism by which the government can act against […]
Judicial review is a key concept in policy making and in changing the meaning or intent of the Constitution. Although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it is implied throughout. Federalist Paper #78 discusses the need for Judicial Review and in it Publius stresses that the Judiciary is by far the weakest of the three […]
All modern wars since WWII have been fought for resources and power – certainly not to bring democracy or peace to anyone. America keeps the world in a constant state of chaos thanks to the murderous psychopaths in the CIA, and this policy creates massive profits for the true rulers of the planet: Lockheed Martin, […]
In May 2015 Judicial Watch obtained a huge cache of declassified documents from the US government through a FOIA lawsuit. The watchdog organization published more than 100 pages of confidential reports from the Department of Defense and the State Department earlier this year. The documents confirm that America and its coalition allies facilitated the growth […]
Q: Why did the ‘Paul Is Dead’ controversy continue to hold credence with Beatles fans for as long as it did despite the Beatles’ insistence that there weren’t hidden messages about it in any of their album covers/songs etc? Did the Paul is Dead belief/conspiracy theory reflect changes in the mood of the Beatles fan […]
In this post I will compare and contrast the three modes of rhetorical thinking: narrative, dialectic and rhetoric. All three disciplines require us to reason in different ways. I will also briefly discuss symbols. Narratives are stories, traditions, legends which transmit the accepted, agreed upon norms in any given society. A social narrative transfers, maintains […]
On December 6, 1982, more than twenty Guatemalan soldiers stormed the tiny village of Dos Erres, looking for rifles which they claimed had recently been stolen by local guerillas. They searched homes for the “missing weapons” and systematically killed all the men, women and children they could find. According to the few surviving eyewitnesses of […]
