Political Science

The media plays an important role in the society by informing people on the activities, events and the operation of the government or the up coming events. Media can be in form of a newspaper, magazines, posters, radios and television. The kind of information obtained via the media must be based on truthvalidity but not assumptions that may lead to contradiction or violation of peoples rights. Media can also be a form of entertainment to some people and can help in enlightening of people in the society (Jodziewicz, 2009).

Changes in the Media
With the changes and reforms on the media, media has changed gradually on its roles and functions in the society. According to Jodziewicz (2009), he argued that in the past, the media acted as the watch dog on the public affairs. However, today, the media freedom has been violated and dictated by those in power so that they may not be exposed on their ill doing hence the media no longer enjoys the fundamental freedom in broadcasting or when writing articles for the fear of being arrested or assassinated for revealing certain information to the public especially information to do with corruption, elections, murder or any form of violation of rights by the people in power.

The media therefore should not be controlled by the government to ensure transparency and good governance in general. With the current situation in America, the media has contributed a lot in ensuring democracy and good governance as a result of informing the public on the intentions of the government and taking the views of the public and sampling the opinion of the people (Jodziewicz, 2009).

Conclusion
The media can therefore make or break the image of an individual, leader or even the government and the media practitioners must obey the media ethics and codes to ensure that the media regulations are observed.

The title interest group has been used to replace the title of the past known as pressure group. Existing political parties whose major function is to organize and convey the observations of various parts of the society are the politicians and the government. Hence they are considered as the major players in American politics as they act as a link between the government and the people.

The groups opinion should be taken as more important as it represents the will of the people. Interest groups are groups formed by the people who have needs to express. This shows that their opinions are mostly the opinions of the general public. For example the announcement of a re-armament programme by President Reagan and the creation of neutral bombs led to protests from the interest groups which only subsided during the time when Clinton became the president (Bibby  Schaffne, 2007).

Some of the interest groups also are the environmentalists and the loggers who have shared different opinions of the people they represent. The loggers wanted the State to be opened to them so that they could carry out the logging while the environmentalists wanted to protect the rare species, this is some evidence that they are fighting for the interest of the public that they represent.

Madisonian dilemma has played a great role as it has led to formation of both political parties and interest groups which ensures that power is not given to a single party to be in control of the government as a whole. There is also Madisonian thought of federalism where power is shared between regional and national government which does not allow one section to have total power.

Judiciary is the branch of government which is the hardest to get into agreement with as it is concerned with law implementation process which is critical to the lives of people in the country hence all people are keen on the progress made by this branch.

The nature of contemporary relations between two countries
From the point of view of Lebanese authors, the relations between Lebanon and Israel is one sided which means that while the Lebanese government wanted both political and economic peace, the Israeli government maintains its interests in the Southern Lebanon which provokes conflict among the radical Lebanese armed movement, the Hezbollah. With the end of the 34 days conflict that started in July 1986 with the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers it appeared that Israel and Lebanon have still hostile yet diplomatic relationship. Hostile in a sense that Israel at any time would retaliate to any attacks that will be carried out by the Hezbollah, but diplomatic because according to a document titled Middle East Lebanon published by CIA The World Fact Book, it appeared that Lebanon is now on its feet to comply with the democratic principles which insures that Lebanon is doing its best to free the country of the radical armed groups that initiates arm confrontation with Israel (CIA-The World fact book).

Given the above, it was not the Lebanese government that was in conflict with Israel but those armed militias backed up by Iran and Syria. That is, since Lebanon was under the control of Syria, and Iran was funding Hezbollah, it was these countries that were hostile to Israel and not Lebanon. Lebanon was reduced to a weak state being used by both Iran and Syria to wage terrorism on Israel. In a Paper entitled Israels Timeline From Ancient to Contemporary Times A Brief Modern History of Arab-Israeli Relations 1897 Present, the paper pointed that Lebanon War in 1982 was not between Israel and Lebanon rather it was a war between Israel and the PLO (Israels Timeline). The paper noted that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 1985 in view of the civil war raging during this period, and concentrated its troops in southern Lebanon where the terrorist Hezbollah organization dwells. This suggests that Israel was only at war with the Hezbollah and not with Lebanon. Therefore, relations between these countries were simply affected by the conflict.   

The nature of the relationship therefore between Israel and Lebanon though not hostile yet it is not engaging in military action. From an independent viewpoint, Israel and Lebanons relations were influenced by forces that are beyond control on the part of Lebanon. Lebanon serves as a pawn which was pushed by both Syria and Iran to advance their own interests against Israel through their financial support with Hamas and Hezbollah who carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers.   

Are they members of the same international institutions
Yes, they are Both Lebanon and Israel are members of the United Nations. Israel became member in 1948 but recently its membership was brought into question and was threatened for revocation due to its alleged violations of the UN provisions and for its military activities in the Gaza Strip which according to Snorre Linquist and Lasse Wilhelmson Stockholm, are causing insufferable situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the area (Linquist and Stockholm). But both countries were also member of different organizations. Israel for instance is also a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development gaining its full membership in 2007 (OECD). While Lebanon is not a is not member of the prestigious international institution, the country however was a member of the Arab League as well as of the Organization of the Islamic conference and its revolutionary armed movement is receiving funding in the amount closer to two hundred million dollars annually from Iran and Syria.

There is no way perhaps that these two countries can be members of the same international organization except of the United Nations in view of the magnitude of the conflict between Hezbollah which operates in Lebanon, and the Israeli army. According to the a Human rights watch world report, The Israeli armys continued failure to conduct investigations into most killings of civilians reinforced a culture of impunity in the army and robbed victims of an effective remedy (p. 478). These unfortunate consequences of armed conflict between these countries clearly widen their gap which makes it impossible for them to be members of the same international institution.

Is there considerable trade between these countries
Based on a paper published by the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) entitled Israels Timeline From Ancient to Contemporary Times A Brief Modern History of Arab-Israeli Relations 1897  to Present Israel has never made any considerable trade with Lebanon because of the latters close involvement with Syria and Iran who were both hostile to Israel. Indeed, Israel frequently engaged in armed conflict with Lebanon not because the Lebanese government was hostile to Israel but it was through the provocations of the Hezbollah. Iran and Syria is backing this revolutionary armed movement to carry out terrorism activities against Israel.

In view of the long standing conflict between Israel and the countries funding Islamic militant organizations which operates in Lebanon, Israel can never have any trade relations no matter how small or big because of its close relations with Syria and Iran. These two countries were indeed determined to annihilate Israel. Alan Dershowitz noted that Irans leaders have threatened to wipe Israel off the map (p. 186) emphasizing that it is a religious obligation to develop and use weapons of mass destruction (p. 186) and use them against Israel. With this extreme resentment against the Jews, there could never have any bilateral trade relations between these two countries.   

According to the paper, since 1947 up to the present, Israel had been in conflict with Palestinian including Lebanon. They never recognized the state of Israel or had established bilateral trade relations, rather these Arab nations frequently attacked Israel engaging them in bloody confrontations.

Considering the historical context and the circumstances surrounding these two countries, there is certainly no possibility that trade relations has ever existed or will ever exist as the only relations that they ever had was to wage war against each other. Furthermore, in connection with Israels continued aggressive construction of the wall that stretches up to the West bank and is expected to serve as its border, the human rights report stated that it would mean annexation of about ten percent of the West Bank, including almost all major settlements there, all of which are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention (p. 479). This aggressive expansion continues to draw hatred on Israel from other Islamic countries particularly Iran that makes it impossible for Israel to establish bilateral relations with Lebanon. The pressures coming from Islamic countries against possible cooperation with Israel will surely be preventing any such attempts. Thus, there is certainly no way Israel and Lebanon can have trade relations whatsoever in view of all the circumstances surrounding Israel and Lebanon. 

There are a number of security related challenges which are always related to the manner in which various organizational and urgency disasters, urgencies, and other  issues are managed. Fire, plane crashes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, accidents, and road accidents are some of the common disasters that could be suffered either by individual persons or by both large and small scale organizations (Alexander 2002). The four phases of disaster management implementation include the mitigation phase, response phase, preparedness and the recovery phases.

Survey of Emergency and Disaster Management
Different kinds of disaster and emergencies are best controlled by different phases of disaster management and control mechanisms. The mitigation phase, for instance, is normally put in to usage ones a given disaster has already occurred. This could best be used in cases where a hurricane wind has taken place. Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon, Davis (2004) argues that in such circumstances, there is always the dire need to ensure that the harm caused by the already existing disaster is minimized. This phase could therefore entail taking people from the hurricane prone zones to fairly same regions. Technological solutions could be employed in cases where the migration of the hurricane disaster needs technological communication to talk to the concerned people and inform them of the existing safe regions among offering other rescue measures.

On the other hand, the response phase entails ensuring that the disaster, such as a huge fire burning a building, is not prevented or simply mitigated, but that people and other resources are safeguarded from total harm. Firefighters, emergency doctors, and ambulance vehicles are normally used in rescuing people in circumstances of harmful fire. Police could also be called upon to enhance security for the property of the individuals facing the fire disaster. However, the preparedness phase entails strategies to ensure that individuals are made to be ready for any disaster that could occur. According to Dynes (2006), for constant population growth that tend to pose danger, the preparedness phase could be utilized to ensure that the population is controlled to avert any disaster such as food shortage, lack of medical services, poor health and shelter conditions due to strain on the scarce resources. People are thus trained and fully get prepared to deal with any occurrence of such disaster.
The recovery phase is mainly applied in situations where a disaster has already occurred. For a catastrophic disaster such as landslides and earthquakes which have already occurred, this phase of recovery could be used by relocating the few survivors from the disaster and proving them with the vital basic needs in order for them to resume their normal living standards.

Importance of leadership and Training exercises
It is always very crucial for people and organizations of any sort to be prepared for any disaster which may occur. This depends on the environmental factors and the nature of business in which the business organization ventures into. Proper leadership, advance training and laying down of readiness measures help the organization to save on the money and other resources that would otherwise be used in recovery measures. It also helps maintain business customers, reduce stress levels, and saves the corporate image of an organization (Dynes 2006).

Leadership Training Importance
Confusion, tension, drastic decision making, lack of organization and poor-unrealistic decision making processes are some of the problems and situations which are normally witnessed in cases of disaster and emergencies. Proper leadership and training of all stakeholders on the management and mitigation of disaster and emergencies thus help to avoid such problems. Timely and professional emergency responses also helps to save n the cost and time used in managing emergency thus increasing efficiency and effectiveness in an organization.

Conclusion
From the above analysis, it is very evident that proper strategies should always be laid down in order for individual persons and organizations to adequately manage disaster in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible.

As all resources are scarce, in case two interests collide, we are always bound to make a technical, professional and even a political decision to settle the issue. In the specific community that we are investigating, we are first bound to choose which of the two types of disaster that we must choose to allot our resources on. Is it the high vulnerability in winter storm or the high risk of tornadoes
From here we are recommending for the allocation of the resources in addressing the vulnerability of the community in a winter storm. In carrying out this decision, we take note of two things that prioritized this vulnerability over the high risk in tornadoes.

Acceptable Risk According to International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (2004), acceptable risk is the level of loss a society or community considers acceptable given existing social, economic, political, cultural, technical and environmental conditions. As stated in the report, the community is less vulnerable to tornadoes despite of the frequency of its occurrence this means that there will be less human and material casualty that shall be induced with the occurrence of this disaster. Single digits casualties for every occurrence of disaster are more acceptable rather than the thousands or hundreds of thousands of casualties that can be induced by the winter storm wherein the community is more vulnerable.

Public Awareness and Coping Capability According to ISDR, these are the capability of the different sectors of government, organizations and the citizens itself in handling the impending disaster. Since tornadoes are more frequent in the region or in the community, it can be assumed that the people together with the different sectors are more educated and more adept in handling the disaster. When compared to the occurrence of a winter storm wherein they are not adept to, we can expect that the population will not likely to cope with this disaster as much as they can in the occurrence of tornadoes.

In this kind decision, it is expectable to see resistance and skepticism in the local community or government. People are naturally forgetful and 20 years is a long time that can erase all the threats and damaged posed by the last winter storm. With this in mind, people may question your recommendation. As a person who sees the threats more clearly, it is important to push our recommendations until the policy and decision makers realize the impending disaster in the future.
It is also important to note that in February 2003, President Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5), which describes how the federal departments will manage domestic incidents by establishing a single, comprehensive national incident management system (NASDA 2006). It is important to mention the significance of the National Incident Management System in dealing with the occurrence of a winter storm. Of all the features of the NIMS (2010), its communication capability and resource management will greatly help the community in handling the winter storm. Local agencies will benefit greatly in the efficiency and reliability of the communication and information system of the NIMS. In situations wherein usual communications will be disabled by the storm the NIMS can provide an alternative. The resource management will also play a vital part. The resource management of NIMS ensures the proper allocation of personnel. NIMS recording, tracking and keeping tabs are vital in this kind of situation.

Disaster management had been our generations response to the growing number of calamities that is happening today. However, rather than the classic approach which is more commonly known relief and response that cannot cope with the exponential loss of lives and properties due to different calamities todays approach in disaster management shifted to a more preparation and development approach (Yodmani 2001  DoL 2005). A paradigm that is comparable to the cure versus treatment approach in medicine, this kind of approach values preparations, reduction of socio-economic vulnerabilities and development of the community as a whole. This is our response to the growing number of disasters and calamities that is surrounding mankind.

Disaster managements objective is to reduce or avoid the effects of hazards in disasters by acting promptly, giving the appropriate help to the victims of disaster and achieve quick and effective recovery. This happens in a cycle in which all involved parties
plan for and reduce the impact of disaster,
react during and immediately following a disaster, and
Take steps to recover after the occurrence of a disaster.
This happens in four phases which can be described as

Mitigation  in this phase the effects of disaster are minimized and involvebuilding codes, zoning, public education etc.

Preparedness  this is the phase that involves planning how to respond and consists of preparedness plans, emergency exercisestraining and warning systems.

Response  this is the phase where efforts are made to minimize the hazards brought by a disaster and includes search and rescue and provision of emergency relief.

Recovery  this is the phase involving returning the community to normalafter a disaster and includes temporary housing, grants, medical care etc. Recovery activities continue until all systems return to normal or better. These phases need not take place in that order and the duration of each phase of the cycle depends on the severity of the disaster. In most cases the phases may even overlap.

During the September-11 bombing, the response was quite good, especially considering the magnitude of the disaster.  According to the National Situation Update for September 12, 2001, in the New York city, the Fire Department of New, the New York Police Department, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , the building  employees and the occupants of the buildings did their best to cope with a disaster of such a magnitude, with casualties who were nearly 100 in the impact zone. Even though there was a problem of command and control both in New York and Pentagon, this phase was carried out well considering the magnitude of the disaster.

The recovery phase which involved the search and rescue effort in the immediate aftermath at the World Trade Center site involved construction workers of various trades. From across North America, over one thousand ironworkers had arrived to help. In New York, the coordination of the recovery phase of the disaster was done by the New York City Office of Emergency Management, and volunteers came in the thousands to help. This phase was carried out well though it was interrupted when the buildings collapsing under fire. (National Situation Update for September 12, 2001).

On the basis of the 9-11 Commission Report, the response phase of the disaster management cycle was carried out the best. The commission highlights the point that there was almost 100 casualty at the impact zone and goes to mention that with a disaster of such a scale, the agencies which were involved in this phase did their best.

When Hurricane Katrina struck, it became evident that the nation is not adequately prepared to respond to catastrophic disasters, even after the September 11 terrorists attack.

The magnitude of the destruction and human suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina to the people and communities of the Gulf Coast Region clearly shows that the nation has not changed in terms of preparedness with respect to disaster. The country may have taken good steps tackle terror, but not natural disasters or other types of disaster. This is evidenced by media descriptions of acts of desperation and survival by the victims in obtaining food and supplies following Katrina.

If there is anything that could have prevented the planning and implementation of September 11 terrorists attack, it would have been to heed the threats that had been issued. The fact is that the attack was entirely foreseeable. Anti-interventionists had warned about long before, but the regimes in power smugly believed they were in control in every corner of the world. The truth is that if the issues that made the Arabs hate Americans and their values would have been addressed, then the bombing would most likely not have occurred.

Types of Disasters
Natural disasters are the disasters that are caused directly and intentionally by man e.g. the September 11 terrorist attack. Natural disasters also include disasters caused by man due to his activities, without necessarily doing it intentionally. An example of this is the global climatic change which has largely been blamed on the use of fossil fuels.  The increase in the frequency of floods and storms has been blamed on this climatic change and global warming. Natural disasters on the other hand are those that occur naturally without mans intervention e.g. Drought, Earthquakes Fires, Floods, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Tropical Cyclones, Landslides, Nuclear Disasters, Oil Spills, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes. One important point is that while man-made disasters can be averted, man is seemingly helpless in natural disasters.

Definitions and Information on technological disasters.Terrorism           
Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. When terrorism strikes, communities may receive assistance from State and Federal agencies operating within the existing Integrated Emergency Management System. FEMA is the lead Federal agency for supporting State and local response to the consequences of terrorist attacks.     

FEMAs role in managing terrorism includes both antiterrorism and counterterrorism activities. Antiterrorism refers to defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of people and property to terrorist acts, while counterterrorism includes offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism. Within the emergency management arena, antiterrorism is a hazard mitigation activity and counterterrorism falls within the scope of preparedness, response and recovery.           

Terrorism is often categorized as domestic or international. This distinction refers not to where the terrorist act takes place but rather to the origin of the individuals or groups responsible for it. For example, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was an act of domestic terrorism, but the attacks of September 2001 were international in nature. For the purposes of consequence management, the origin of the perpetrator(s) is of less importance than the impacts of the attack on life and property thus, the distinction between domestic and international terrorism is less relevant for the purposes of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery than understanding the capabilities of terrorist groups and how to respond to the impacts they can generate.

Biological  Chemical Weapons         
Biological agents are infectious microbes or toxins used to produce illness or death in people, animals or plants. Biological agents can be dispersed as aerosols or airborne particles. Terrorists may use biological agents to contaminate food or water because they are extremely difficult to detect. Chemical agents kill or incapacitate people, destroy livestock or ravage crops. Some chemical agents are odorless and tasteless and are difficult to detect. They can have an immediate effect (a few seconds to a few minutes) or a delayed effect (several hours to several days).       

Biological and chemical weapons have been used primarily to terrorize an unprotected civilian population and not as a weapon of war. This is because of fear of retaliation and the likelihood that the agent would contaminate the battlefield for a long period of time. The Persian Gulf War in 1991 and other confrontations in the Middle East were causes for concern in the United States regarding the possibility of chemical or biological warfare. While no incidents occurred, there remains a concern that such weapons could be involved in an accident or be used by terrorists.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that if a terrorist attack or another significant disaster were to hit the United States today that is similar to that which occurred on 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina were to occur today, the preparedness would respond to significantly better because after the September 11 and Katrina, the agencies involved have equipped themselves well and have also gained experience. Funds have also been set aside for such emergencies. I believe that the FEMA has also been restructured to cope with such an occurrence.

Conceptual Understanding of Macroeconomics Interrelationships
Among Technology, Industry and National Economy Viewed from the Central
Theme of 21st Century Human Civilization Chemical Engineering as an Example

The subject is pertaining to the entirety of human history, past present and future where macroeconomics played a very important role in shaping the national economy. In all the field of economics, macroeconomics covers more than the other field of economics. Conceptual understanding is very important in dealing with this subject.

Macroeconomics can be related to the other field or branch of sciences. As an example, chemical engineering is illustrated as a case to explain how macroeconomics connects industry with national economy.

It is stated that United States of America face economic crisis where this crisis can also become an economic crisis of the entire civilization. It is viewed this way because present time, the 21st century, the world is becoming one entity. Some of the crises that the United States of America is dealing with are the investment banks that are bankrupt and housing crisis. From short term economic problems, this can lead to a long term crisis. Using short term solutions are not adequate to resolve economic crisis, instead, concentrate on employing macroeconomic policy to create jobs and employment. Restructuring person s security in terms of prime economic health and the cultural well being of people can also help resolve economic problems. Resolving economic crisis at the United States can also lead to the answers to the problem of the other part of the world because the world today is becoming just one entity where the problem of a part of a globe is a problem of the entire human civilization.

The core concepts of the 21st century civilization are the energy, international peace and security, environment and human health where these also serve as the fundamental issues of present time. Human civilization cannot survive without strong global leadership. It can be seen from the history of human civilization that there are three global leaderships. First is the Roman Empire where the idea of the system is applied. Second is the British Empire that employs rationalism and the third is the United States leadership. Global leadership is very important because as stated, the whole world is one entity, what happens to some part of it may also happen at the other part in an instant.

The paradigm of 21st century is sustainability in the human well being. Sustainability is that continued civilization without hurting the future generation. But it is impossible not to hurt the upcoming generation because of the rapid advance of technology. So as much as possible, minimize the damage in terms of environment. In other words, human well being is the goal of the paradigm.
Added value is one of the essential ideas of macroeconomics. People in the United States have been studying foreign money and not their own because they are capitalist economy. Because of this, it directed the US to a certain problem in economy. As we can see, Asian countries like Japan, China and Korea make money through their exports and imports and then they deposit it in the US. The money going out also comes back and then the US got to spend this money. In the process, US economy is eroded where manufacturing industry are damaged so much because their industry are not being competitive. To stop the continuous erosion, spending foreign money must be stopped and also develop national system immediately to handle the productivity issues.

In understanding the relation of chemical engineering with macroeconomics, it must be first stated how chemical engineering started in the US. The first paradigm of chemical engineering is obvious in 1923. At that time, automobile was introduced where gas and oil became a significant part of the century. Second paradigm is the transport phenomenon and the third paradigm is the sustainability of the human well being. The unifying concept of all the paradigms is the survival issue and the life enhancement issue of the 21st century civilization. Chemical engineering is applied where judgment to develop economic ways of using materials and energy for the benefits of mankind. Chemical engineering primarily exists to support the chemical industries. Engineering sciences greatly differs with other pure science like mathematics, physics and chemistry because engineering is always associated with industry not like the pure sciences. Industry is a macroeconomic entity like manufacturing industry where engineering sciences are always connected but not all industries are manufacturing one. Chemical engineering provides chemical industry with inexpensive materials, chemical engineering technology and also chemical engineers.

Chemical industry is an entity of macroeconomics producing added value GDP. This GDP is the summation added value where it uses chemical engineering technology. Thus, every industry should contribute to the GDP of the national economy. Macroeconomics is the one that connects the industry with national economy. This industry is an entity of macroeconomics that must be competitive in order to gain added value GDP. In order to gain added value GDP, innovation must be conceptualized where innovation is the introduction of something new, new idea or new method because 21st century is a century for innovation.