The April 20th 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig led to the largest oil spill in U.S. waters. Federal government officials estimated that the deepwater well ultimately released over 200 million gallons of crude oil. Although decreasing amounts of oil were observed on the ocean surface following the well's containment on July 15th 2010, oil spill response officials and researchers have found oil in other places. This new book examines the fate of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Direct observation and measurement of the fate of the vast majority of the estimated 200 million gallons of oil presents a considerable challenge.
‘KUMBA AFRICA’, is a compilation of African Short Stories written as fiction by Sampson Ejike Odum, nostalgically taking our memory back several thousands of years ago in Africa, reminding us about our past heritage. It digs deep into the traditional life style of the Africans of old, their beliefs, their leadership, their courage, their culture, their wars, their defeat and their victories long before the emergence of the white man on the soil of Africa. As a talented writer of rich resource and superior creativity, armed with in-depth knowledge of different cultures and traditions in Africa, the Author throws light on the rich cultural heritage of the people of Africa when civilization was yet unknown to the people. The book reminds the readers that the Africans of old kept their pride and still enjoyed their own lives. They celebrated victories when wars were won, enjoyed their New yam festivals and villages engaged themselves in seasonal wrestling contest etc; Early morning during harmattan season, they gathered firewood and made fire inside their small huts to hit up their bodies from the chilling cold of the harmattan. That was the Africa of old we will always remember. In Africa today, the story have changed. The people now enjoy civilized cultures made possible by the influence of the white man through his scientific and technological process. Yet there are some uncivilized places in Africa whose people haven’t tested or felt the impact of civilization. These people still maintain their ancient traditions and culture. In everything, we believe that days when people paraded barefooted in Africa to the swarmp to tap palm wine and fetch firewood from there farms are almost fading away. The huts are now gradually been replaced with houses built of blocks and beautiful roofs. Thanks to modern civilization. Donkeys and camels are no longer used for carrying heavy loads for merchants. They are now been replaced by heavy trucks and lorries. African traditional methods of healing are now been substituted by hospitals. In all these, I will always love and remember Africa, the home of my birth and must respect her cultures and traditions as an AFRICAN AUTHOR.
The twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes is a major figure in European literature. His courtly romances fathered the Arthurian tradition and influenced countless other poets in England as well as on the continent. Yet because of the difficulty of capturing his swift-moving style in translation, English-speaking audiences are largely unfamiliar with the pleasures of reading his poems. Now, for the first time, an experienced translator of medieval verse who is himself a poet provides a translation of Chrétien’s major poem, Yvain, in verse that fully and satisfyingly captures the movement, the sense, and the spirit of the Old French original. Yvain is a courtly romance with a moral tenor; it is ironic and sometimes bawdy; the poetry is crisp and vivid. In addition, the psychological and the socio-historical perceptions of the poem are of profound literary and historical importance, for it evokes the emotions and the values of a flourishing, vibrant medieval past.
Taking a multidisciplinary approach that they identify as a "cyber-realist research agenda," the contributors to this volume examine the prospects for electronic democracy in terms of its form and practice--while avoiding the pitfall of treating the benefits of electronic democracy as being self-evident. The debates question what electronic democracy needs to accomplish in order to revitalize democracy and what the current state of electronic democracy can teach us about the challenges and opportunities for implementing democratic technology initiatives.
In an ideal world, the laws of Congress--known as federal statutes--would always be clearly worded and easily understood by the judges tasked with interpreting them. But many laws feature ambiguous or even contradictory wording. How, then, should judges divine their meaning? Should they stick only to the text? To what degree, if any, should they consult aids beyond the statutes themselves? Are the purposes of lawmakers in writing law relevant? Some judges, such as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, believe courts should look to the language of the statute and virtually nothing else. Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit respectfully disagrees. In Judging Statutes, Katzmann, who is a trained political scientist as well as a judge, argues that our constitutional system charges Congress with enacting laws; therefore, how Congress makes its purposes known through both the laws themselves and reliable accompanying materials should be respected. He looks at how the American government works, including how laws come to be and how various agencies construe legislation. He then explains the judicial process of interpreting and applying these laws through the demonstration of two interpretative approaches, purposivism (focusing on the purpose of a law) and textualism (focusing solely on the text of the written law). Katzmann draws from his experience to show how this process plays out in the real world, and concludes with some suggestions to promote understanding between the courts and Congress. When courts interpret the laws of Congress, they should be mindful of how Congress actually functions, how lawmakers signal the meaning of statutes, and what those legislators expect of courts construing their laws. The legislative record behind a law is in truth part of its foundation, and therefore merits consideration.
Rich in historical detail, Images of a Free Press is an elegant, powerful guide to the evolution of our modern conception of freedom of the press, which finds expression in laws that protect print journalism and regulate broadcast media. Bollinger argues that this distinction remains meaningful but he advocates a more sophisticated approach to issues of privacy, access, and technology. Providing concrete guidelines for improving media laws, Images of a Free Press is a vital First Amendment primer for lawyers, media professionals, and critics, and all concerned citizens. "Images of a Free Press is the natural sequel to Lee Bollinger's first book, The Tolerant Society, and is destined to become a standard in first amendment scholarship."—Rodney A. Smolla, Constitutional Commentary "Revisiting themes he first explored some fifteen years ago, Bollinger now adds further to our understanding of the complex relationship among the First Amendment, the Supreme Court, the public, the press and the democratic process. This is a work of insight, sensitivity, and power. Bollinger has a profound knowledge of and a deep affection for his subject, and it shows."—Geoffrey R. Stone, Michigan Law Review "This thoughtful, understated book remains a call to come join the town meeting and hammer out some new rules of order. Scholars and citizens alike could do well to read Bollinger's book and accept his challenge."—Yale Law Review "For a number of years, Lee Bollinger has argued that the First Amendment has been applied differently to the print media than it has been to the broadcast media. In his new book, Images of a Free Press, Bollinger provides a concise, persuasive account of why this is so—and why it ought to be so."—Columbia Law Review
How does a president choose the judges he appoints to the lower federal bench? In this analysis, a leading authority on lower federal court judicial selection tells the story of how nine presidents over a period of 56 years have chosen federal judges.
Is the Internet destined to upset traditional political power in the United States? This book answers with an emphatic "no." Author Richard Davis shows how current political players including candidates, public officials, and the media are adapting to the Internet and assuring that this new medium benefits them in their struggle for power. In doing so he examines the current function of the Internet in democratic politics--educating citizens, conducting electoral campaigns, gauging public opinion, and achieving policy resolution-- and the roles of current political actors in those functions. Davis's unconventional prediction concerning the Internet's impact on American politics warrants a closer look by anyone interested in learning how this new communication medium will affect us politically.
“A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both.”--James Madison, 1822 Mark Lloyd has crafted a complex and powerful assessment of the relationship between communication and democracy in the United States. In Prologue to a Farce, he argues that citizens’ political capabilities depend on broad public access to media technologies, but that the U.S. communications environment has become unfairly dominated by corporate interests. Drawing on a wealth of historical sources, Lloyd demonstrates that despite the persistent hope that a new technology (from the telegraph to the Internet) will rise to serve the needs of the republic, none has solved the fundamental problems created by corporate domination. After examining failed alternatives to the strong publicly owned communications model, such as antitrust regulation, the public trustee rules of the Federal Communications Commission, and the underfunded public broadcasting service, Lloyd argues that we must re-create a modern version of the Founder’s communications environment, and offers concrete strategies aimed at empowering citizens.
