Search results

This paper looks into issues of visuality in Carmen Miranda's image in tandem with some of the cultural and political aims established in Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Message to Congress, "The Four Freedoms". Carmen Miranda's image of the stylized baiana (as constructed in Carmen's films in the United States) is tentatively set within the framework of Guy Debord's theory of the 'culture of spectacle'. The analysis explores the contribution of Carmen's baiana to the war effort, its mobilization of the public's gaze and sympathy for Latin American neighbors, and will ultimately shed light on the intricacies of culture, history and politics in the context of the Good Neighbor Policy.

The recent Immigration Bill debate in the United States Congress has again re-ignited the polemic regarding immigration policy. In this essay, I argue that disputes surrounding the legality of migrant workers highlight chronic, underlying problems related to factors that drive migration. The public health field, although concerned primarily with addressing the health needs of migrant populations, cannot remain disengaged from the wider debates about migration. The health needs of migrants, although in themselves important, are merely symptoms of deeper structural process that are intrinsically linked to equity and human rights, and simply focusing on health issues will be insufficient to address these societal pathologies.

This paper examines the cultural repertoires of the youthful, 'militant' faction of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) in Nigeria, pointing to ways in which violence and ritual can be interpreted both as an instrumentally rational strategy of power struggle and as a form of symbolic action with cultural meanings. The OPC case strongly challenges the bifurcation of tradition and modernity, given the way the group appropriate culture in negotiating Yoruba identity, while also retaining democratic rhetoric. It argues that the activities of the OPC constitute not stable, bounded manifestations of culture, but rather fluid, ambivalent and paradoxical ethnic-power relations and formations.

The legal and political roots of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) owe themselves to the civil rights era of the 1960s, which passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, and to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. From the 1970s to the 1990s, activism among the disabled became increasingly visible. In 1986, congress passed the Air Carriers Act, which addressed the rights of the disabled when using air transportation. Later in 1988, the Civil Rights Restoration Act was passed along with the Fair Housing Amendments Act (Historical, 2003).

Katherine Tate,Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in Congress. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003, 224 pages, ISBN: 0-691-09155-2, Cloth, $18.95; ISBN: 0-691-11786-1, Paper, $18.95.Karen M. Kaufmann,The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004, 248 pages, ISBN: 0-472-09857-8, Cloth, $60.00; ISBN: 0-472-06857-1, Paper, $24.95.Vincent L. Hutchings,Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability: How Citizens Learn about Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003, 192 pages, ISBN: 0-691-11416-1, Cloth, $35.00.

Debates on the revision of the value-added tax (VAT) are about to reach the penultimate stage. Once house and senate have passed their respective versions of the bill, congress - through a bicameral conference committee sometimes referred to as the 'third chamber' - must then agree on the final form of the law. After all the media-posturing, the politicking, and horse-trading have subsided, politicians of both chambers are still left to confront the nation's true interests - and their own consciences. It is vital that they finally pass a law that is right in form and adequate to the economy's needs.

If one set out to design a democracy in which the personal qualities of the top leader could be expected to have an impact on political outcomes, the result might well resemble the political system of the United States. The separation of powers and the Constitutional provision for a president with autonomous powers such as the veto have enabled chief executives to place a personal stamp on the nation's policies since the founding of the Republic; but until the1930s, Congress typically took the lead in policy making, and the activities of the federal government had little impact on the nation and world.

Argues that the "people" in the institutional form of the United States Congress should be where judgments over values are made & adjusted, not in the judiciary. Faith in the people's judgment is a basic democratic principle that justifies liberal support of a hypothetical "End Judicial Review Amendment." The details of the amendment & its practical & legal effects on judicial review powers are presented followed by discussion of potential objections regarding guarantees for liberty & security in relation to specific landmark decisions & current social & political issues (e.g., gay rights & abortion). Finally, the issue of liberals' strategy & possible conservative reaction are addressed. R. Rodriguez

Antoni Domenech's book, El eclipse de la fraternidad (The Eclipse of Fraternity), treats the need to understand the socialist tradition as a continuation of the democratic-fraternal attempt to civilize social life. His attempt to associate emancipation with brotherhood is laudable, but he may be misinterpreting the use of the term fraternity & factors that influenced the breakup of social democracy at the Second International Congress. Domenech's personal observations of the Third International are discussed. The author agrees with Domenech's fundamental thesis about the need to recover democracy as a cement in the struggle against all forms of despotism. M. Pflum

Now that the war in Iraq "just keeps getting messier every day" and U.S. support "is plummeting" with thousands of American troops dying, those who supported the war initially are creating "after-the-fact alibis" to cover their tracks. Article examines these "excuses" for voting and supporting the invasion of Iraq, a nation now on the brink of civil war. The members of congress, pundits, and the presidential cabinet are chastised for not seeing the facts from the start of the war and are now lying to cover up their poor judgment. Author points out Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh specifically in this liberal article.

The second election of President Bush is the climax of twelve years of successful activity by the Republicans. Rarely before could an American president rely on a majority in both houses of the Congress. Consequently, Bush has ever since his re-election conveyed the impression that he is committed to follow the paths he had taken during his first term at home & in international affairs without any concessions. Therefore, also his new initiatives towards Europe seem to be aimed only to improve the transatlantic atmosphere but not to develop a more cooperative American foreign policy. Adapted from the source document.

Less than two weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his intention to create the Office of Homeland Security, which would operate out of the White House. Bush's establishment of the office by executive order, rather than by law, meant that Congress would be denied budgetary oversight & could not easily compel the director of the office to testify before it. With a growing chorus of criticism over OHS operations, the Bush administration changed course & in June 2002 announced its own proposal for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Tables.

On the morning of March 10, 1967, the Springfield Union reported that
University of Massachusetts Assistant Professor David Mayhew had received a Congressional
Fellowship from the American Political Science Association (APSA). The
Union stated that the Fellowship was designed to give "outstanding young
political scientists [and] journalists … practical knowledge of the legislative process." In
the story, Mayhew provided the above quotation about the New Zealand-like quality of
Congress. For over half a century, APSA's Congressional Fellowship Program (CFP) has made it
possible for political scientists to "be there," thus enhancing our collective ability to
"be sure what it's like."

The payout requirement that the Tax Reform Act of 1969 imposed on foundations has come up for debate again over the past few years and a tightening of the requirement was proposed in Congress in 2003. Hypothetically applying corresponding German rules to Ford Foundation data, this article suggests that U.S. regulation of foundation spending policies is already stricter than elsewhere and that much of the current policy debate has little to do with the original intentions of the requirement. Reevaluating the underlying rationale of the policy, the article concludes with a proposal to introduce time limits to the payout requirement