Political Science

Historians are known for long to have been measuring the performance of American presidents by their policies implemented within the first 100 days of office. Although this performance evaluation technique has been in use in America for long, a debate on its reliability to predict the performance of the president in the remaining part of is term has been on the debate for long. Many a time history has proved it unreliable and again on the contrary, it has worked for same cases. Based on this technique, the historians have argued that Obama achievements within the first 100 days in office can be closely related to those of Franklin Roosevelt (Kroll, 2010). This is because they became president when America was facing great economical crisis and the American image to the international community was poor. Their biggest challenge was to reform the economy and save their people from the risks of poverty and unemployment. In this interest, this paper is written and gives the policies implemented by both Obama and FDR. It also highlights the reliability, of this method of evaluating performance, in predicting the long term performance as presidents. 

Within the first 100 day, Obamas presidency has been marked with great achievements top on the list being the implementation of the electronic medical record system. This was achieved by initiating a debate which saw through the allocation of more than 19 billion to the health care system. The establishment of this information technology system within the health sector was seen and welcomed by many Americans as a noble move made to restructure and upgrade the deteriorating health sector (Barnett, 2009).

Still cited as an achievement, is the approval of the 2,500 highway projects. This has been effective since the passage of the economic stimulus bill and has been welcome by the Americans in a two fold points of view. One it is expected to create more jobs for the unemployed and therefore eliminate the issue of unemployment in America which was making it no longer the land of opportunities and secondly facilitate good transport in the country which is a corner stone for their economy.

Another notable policy implemented within the first 100 days of office under the presidency of Obama was the 2,500 tax credit intended to offset education expenses for the poor people seeking college education. He initiated the policy to see that the treasury contributed effectively to the more than five million families who were burdened by debts in a more qualitative and quantitative manner. This can be described as a kick start to the education sector which was on the high risk of collapsing (Rollins, 2009). Education sector was one of the driving forces of the American economy and its deterioration subjected the Americans to the risks of lacking enough trained personnel to build and maintain their economy to their standards.

The automobile industry in America particularly the general motors company was in a critical state of failure. Obama facilitated the restructuring of the management and elimination of ineffective employment in this sector. He also established a frame work which will revive the Americans dominancy in car manufacturing. He has for instant initiated the allocation of 2 billion in the economic stimulus package to cater for the development of the advanced battery system which is made to reclaim the Americans lost share of the automobile industry market.

In international affairs, the president has initiated funding and diplomatic talks in the war tone countries. This has been highly appreciated by the international community and restored the lost glory and friendship with the international community. A notable example is the allocation of 5 billion in aid commitment to Pakistan to restructure their economy and fight terrorism in their country (McManus, 2009). In addition he has shaped the image of America by engaging with the Muslims world. Although this move was under appreciated by the conservative Americans, it cleared the doubts that America was not fighting the Muslim religion. 

More than any other president in the history of America, Obama has implemented policies which will facilitate the growth of Americans struggling cities. By creating an urban policy office in the white house, he declared his interest in helping the small cities grow to their best. It is believed that the biggest challenge, for the development of these cities is violence and crime. To eliminate this, some 2 billion were allocated through the recovery act to Byrne Grant which funds anti gang forces (Kroll, 2010).

On the issue of environment Obamas government did quite an appreciateble work within the first 100 days. One notable policy implemented on this sector was the putting under government protection more two million acres of forest, many miles of rivers and national parks. For the long trailing history of the American forestry, Osama initiated the signing of the omnibus public land management act which was intended to enhance the environment and world life conservation.

One of main policies implemented by Roosevelt was that aimed at restoring the agriculture sector. He is believed to have been very interested in farming and underscored the fact that the American economy could not be revived until the agriculture sector was prosperous. To enhance this, he initiated the establishment of the farm security act which was intended at increasing the income from the firms. This was achieved trough increasing the prices of the firm products by reducing the total output from the firms. Another act which was established to facilitate the growth of the agriculture sector was the agricultural adjustment act. This was established to put into the consideration the requirements of the big firm organization and reflect the commitment of his firm advisers (Barnett, 2009). The effeteness of this police was felt later when the prices increased significantly and remained high with the increase in output. This policy is believed to have had given a long and a reliable solution to the troubled agriculture sector.

Still to be cited here is the implementation of what is normally described as the repeal of prohibition. This policy was aimed at legalizing the production and selling of alcohol within America. By signing the bill, several states and cities gained more income from revenues and this contributed amicably to his popularity.

Another appreciateble policy implemented during the 100 days of Roosevelt of office was the groups of programs contained under the so called Puerto Rico. These programs were aimed at promoting land reforms and enhance development of small firms. It also foresaw the establishment of firm cooperatives and promoted industrial and agricultural diversification. Finally, Roosevelt is remembered predominantly for establishing long term plans made to prevent American economy from undergoing another depression. This included but not limited to business, labor and government structure (Rollins, 2009).

From the above discussion, it can be appreciated that both Obama and FDR had many similarities particularly in reforming the American economy which was depressed. They initiated the congress to pass bills and acted efficiently in signing them into laws as well as reinstalling the confidence of the people and giving them some hope of recovery of their economy. History has proved that the first 100 days judgment method does not hold true because President Roosevelts policies which reformed the country totally were implemented after the 100 days in office. A good example was the Glass Steagall act and the national industrial recovery acts were constituted on the 105th day of presidency.

Although the first 100 days of Roosevelt were not as significant as the rest of his term, they were very important in reflecting his economic philosophy and can be used as a yard stick to measure the presidents performance within an agreeable accuracy. The author of this essay appreciates the good work achieved by Obama in his first 100 days but if little to any other person, there is still hope and chance to outpace the past

In conclusion therefore, it is clear that there is no direct correlation between what the president accomplishes within the first 100 days and in the rest of his term. It can therefore be reflected that if Roosevelt was judged by his 100 days in office, he would have failed and therefore there are still hopes of Obama achieving more in his long term legacy. The similarities and differences can be derived directly from the above discussion. 

The L.A. Bridges Program is a community-driven and multi-phased gang intervention and prevention program established by the City of Los Angeles in 1997 through the citys Ad Hoc Committee on Gangs and Juvenile Justice (Street Gangs, n.d.). The program is basically a joint partnership between the law enforcement agencies, community organizations, schools, parents and students and the Los Angeles Community Development Department. The missions of the L.A. Bridges Program are to (1) enrich the lives of middle school youth ages 10 to 14 years old (2) strengthen their families and (3) promote community action to empower their localities (Street Gangs, n.d.).

In order to accomplish the aforesaid missions, the L.A. Bridges Program integrated three components - prevention, intervention, and community action. The prevention component includes well calculated programs carried out by community-based organizations that focus on the prevention of youth from any forms of gang involvement case management that targets the most endangered youth and their families, such as mentoring and counseling and after-school activities, such as organized sports and tutoring (Street Gangs, n.d.).

The intervention component, on the other hand, is implemented to maintain peaceful and safe neighborhoods. It involves community-based partners that directly work with local gang leaders in providing referral and information services, developing peace treaties between gangs, assisting with conflict resolution, etc. Finally, the community action is the component of the program that directs the involved parties to work directly with the neighborhoods in empowering the residents to assume responsibility of their communities.

With regard to the success rate, L.A. Bridges Programs latest evaluation reveals that targeted families reported 67 percent decrease in runaways, and a 33 percent decrease in domestic neglect and abuse drug and alcohol use decreased by 66 percent among the targeted youth 66 percent decrease in probation cases and 72 percent decrease in arrests and 48 percent decrease in association with gang peers (Street Gangs, n.d.).

Throughout the United States history, there have been high profile cases that have been famous and controversial. Cases to do with racism have always attracted controversy in the country because of their sensitive nature. In the following account one of the cases touching on a Supreme Court ruling in 1893 is analyzed. The paper seeks to bring out the possible influences that may have led to the ruling.

The case In 1883 The Supreme Court strikes down the provisions of the 1875 Civil Rights Act that entitle all people to equal enjoyment of public accommodations and privileges on the ground that the 14th Amendment was intended to prevent wrongful acts by states and did not apply to the acts of individuals. URL httpsupct.law.cornell.edusupcthtmlhistoricsUSSC_CR_0109_0003_ZS.html

Introduction
In its ruling, the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kansas stated that the sections 1 and 2 Civil Rights Act passed March 1st, 1876 were unconstitutional in the way they were applied to several states. The sections were authorized by neither the XIII nor the XIV amendments. The XIII amendment abolished slavery in 1876. But according to the Circuit Court of the US for the district of Kansas, any other discrimination apart from one that is overwhelmingly racial should have been dealt with individually.

The cases against Stanley and Nichols were founded on the two sections that were passed in March 1st 1875. They were accused of denying persons of color accommodations and privilege of an inn or hotel. They therefore went against the provisions of the sections that sough to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights. There was another case against Ryan and Singleton. The individuals cases were based on information and indictment. Information against Ryan was denying a colored person a seat in a theatre in the city of San Francisco. Singleton was indicted for denying the full enjoyment of an individual in a theatre in New York.  A number of factors may have influenced this outcome.

Racism
Slavery was practiced in the United States up to the last quarter of 19th century. As the case information indicates it was abolished in the 1876 through an act of congress. Because racial discrimination and profiling was the motivation behind slavery, its not wrong to conclude that the rulings of the cases were racially motivated. The year of the determination of the cases was 1883, seven years after slavery was abolished. At the time, a large segment of the American white population was racially inclined and the courts could not have been an exception. The judges who decided the cases did not see any reason to believe that these people were denied tickets because of their color. It was open racism in other words. It could not have come at an opportune time especially after the Jim Crow era. The Supreme Court demonstrated open racism in this case, as it did in the infamous Plessey v Ferguson case of 1896. Part of black peoples liberties were striped by the court decision when it ruled that public facilities could be separated throughout the nation so long as they were equal (Parkerson  Parkerson, 2001).In this case, the justices responsible portray the slavery era mentality that believed that people of color were not full human beings. Racial discrimination played apart in the deciding this case.

Conservatism
Similarly there is some evidence of conservatism that may have contributed to this outcome. The supreme court of the United States has from tine to time been led by justices who are either conservative or progressive. Through out the 1980s and 90s the supreme court was led by justices whose decisions demonstrated a conservative approach to segregation sought to establish it an accidental occurring that they had no control over (Lomotey, 2010). Given that it was six years after slavery had been abolished, it was not long enough for the racially inclined judicial elements to accept the fact that liberalism was setting in and that black people were full human beings entitled to all human rights. Its apparent that the conservative members of the bench may have swayed the decision against the plaintiffs based on conservative views.

Public opinion
According to (Hurwitz, M. S., Mishler, W.  Sheehan, R. S. , 2004,), there are theoretical and normative reasons to believe that public opinion influences supreme court decisions. They further conclude that there is evidence that public opinion influenced the Supreme Court prior to the Reagan presidency. Liberal members of the bench are normally known to be sympathetic to public opinion and they have been part of the decision making in arriving at the ruling. Public opinion has indirectly affected Supreme Court decisions and the court has acted in order to appease public mood with events such as elections in mind.

The sentiment in the American public majority of who was white may have been pro- slavery. In determining the case the courts may have considered the lingering public opinion. (Bardes, Shelley, Schmidt, 2009) in American Government and politics today, seek to show the majority white people were against the treatment black people as full human beings. The Second class status of African Americans was a matter of social custom. Black people were expected to observe a standard code that conformed to their inferiority. They further highlight the hostile reaction especially in the south that integration in schools received in the 1950s and 60s.

The hostile reactions by the white populations towards integration in schools are a major eye opener to what the situation could have been in the 1800s. The courts may have feared backlash from the white majority who without doubt would have protested at the decision to grant the plaintiffs victory effectively giving them green light to demand equal treatment on every aspect of the society. It would have likely generated to a public crisis that authorities were keen to avoid.

Conclusion
Open racism, conservatism of some members of the bench and public opinion are thought to have played a key role in the determination of the case. Justices are men of integrity, whose decisions are believed to be in the best interest of the society and are fair and non-biased. However they are human too and are bound to be influenced by personal opinions and views as well as external influences as witnessed in this case.

The United States of America is one of the countries that have been faced with a lot of terrorism threats, challenges and attacks in the last one decade. The most memorable attack in the United States that posed a lot of threat and danger in the country was the bombing of the twin towers in September 11th 2001, by Al Qaeda network. Because of the attack, President George W. Bush came up with an idea on how to prevent further attacks and how to curb terrorists, through enhancement of intelligence department.

The Patriotic Act
According to Etzioni (2004), Patriotic act is an act that was passed by the congress and signed by the former President to help in fighting terrorism, to help in investigations and to expand surveillance within the borders of the United States and the surrounding to enhance security and to curb terrorism in America. It was also meant to strengthen American intelligence system and to provide viable methods of fighting terrorism in America and the surrounding. The act had a lot to do with the communication systems, financial issues such as money laundering, movements within and out of America or restrictions and defines how money was to be circulated or exchanged within America.

As a result of increasing cases of terrorism through illegal migrants and personalities that were suspected of causing danger in the country, the act clearly defined the modalities of deportation of persons who are suspected of terrorism act or illegal migrants whose intentions and purpose are not well defined in the passport. The act therefore responded to the demands of the citizens of America who feared for their lives especially after the 911 attack and the rising tension between the American government and the terrorists, who are always determined to attack at any given time.

Passing of the Act
Even though the act was passed with a majority votes in the House most people were not pleased with the kind of investigation techniques that were used by the intelligence groups like the FBI who continued to carry out their investigation to peoples communication lines, e-mails and even private properties without the information of the owner (Etzioni,2004).

In most cases, the intelligent group could even investigate on the origin of capital to do business that raised a lot of fear for the investors especially the foreign investors who feared that their wealth could be taken away, if there could be a link between the business and the Arab groups, which are considered to be terrorists. Legal complications have been noted in the act, as the privacy of individuals are exposed to the members of the public due to the kind of investigations that are being carried out by the security agents (Etzioni,2004).

The Act and the Civil Liberty
Liberty is one of the fundamental human rights to do any thing within the laws and regulations of the land and without violating the rights and freedom of another person. Even though the Patriotic Act came up with positive modalities of fighting terrorism and reducing risk in relation to financial transactions, many people have argued that the act has violated the rights and freedom of the citizens in line with the bill of rights in the constitution.

Comparison between the Civil Liberty and the Act
Liberty is one of the major area that has been violated by the act and most critics believes that the act defines the modalities of fighting terrorism but some sections of the act need to be corrected or amended, to ensure that the rights and freedom of the individuals are not violated by the act. Despite the fact that most people in America wanted the Act to be permanent in the constitution most of the people are for the view that, by enacting the Act, civil liberties of the individuals may be violated by the Act and therefore seeks for amendments of the Act by reviewing some sections in it.

Even though towards the end the year 2005, the urge to make the amendments came up in the conference, the Act was to remain in its original language according to the views of the majority especially the senates. The United States senate had a serious task in July 2005, when they came up with a new version of reauthorization bill that was more concerned with the revision of several sections of the Act but the language was not changed, as opposed to the critics of the Act who were for the opinion of changing most of the major sections dealing with the civil liberties of the citizens.

It therefore called for harmonization of the two bills to cater for the interests of both parties. One of the major challenges that emerged during the conference was that the two major political parties Democrats and Republican Party, had an opinion that civil liberty had to be avoided in the discussion and both parties ignored the call for revision of civil liberty rights in the Act, as demanded by the critics. The version that was revised by the Senate had an upper hand in the final draft of the bill as most of the recommendations were implemented in the bill that was signed by the former President, George Bush on March 2, 2006 and after one week the bill became a law.

Pros and Cons of the Act
The act can be said to have positive interest of the public safety and security since it helps in detection of danger and clearly defines the modalities for fighting crime in America. The dangers and threats that are received from the terrorists can easily be detected by the intelligence group and alert system has been technologically advanced to deal with the rising cases of insecurity in America. However, the major challenge lies upon the rights and freedom of the civilian, most of the people live in fear, as the Act supports private investigations that may lead to arrest of an individual without notice. Since the FBI have expanded their investigation methods to peoples private properties such as houses and even extended to personal messages via e-mail and on line, most people fear receiving or sending mails to unknown personalities since they may be tracked by the FBI for further investigations. Lastly, it has reduced financial transactions within America hence most Investors are discouraged to do business within America, as a result of thorough investigations by the FBI and other intelligence groups (Etzioni,2004).

The major challenge for the current President Barrack Obama, is to deal with the latest threats that have been emerging from the terrorists, such as Al Qaeda by ensuring that the rights and liberties of the citizens are not violated as it was during the reign of President Bush and to ensure that the intelligence committee are well updated on the dangers relating to terrorism activities within America and the Diaspora. This is as it was before when President George Bush fought tirelessly with the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the rest of the continent.

Conclusion
For the last short duration of Obamas reign diplomacy and protection of human rights has taken a center stage in his leadership. The Act therefore serves the right of the citizens by laying down modalities for fighting terrorism though the process of investigation has raised problems with the liberty rights of the citizens.

Immigrants in United States (US) face numerous health issues which affect their lives adversely.  Among the critical issues being experienced by the second generation immigrants is teenage pregnancy.  According to the study conducted by Frazier and Tettey-Fio (2006), the rate of teenage pregnancy particularly in the Latino community has been increasing steadily thus becoming a health concern.  However, the severity of the outcome depends on nativity and the level of enculturation into the US society.  These two factors play an important role in analyzing teenage pregnancy among immigrants since they determine its peak.

Evaluation of enculturation is usually done using several variables which include year of residency, place of birth and language.  Enculturation affects the health of subsequent immigrant generations unfavorably.  Despite the foreign born immigrants being less acculturated hence experiencing fewer health issues, as they continue to stay in US their relative advantage begins to decline and health problems start increasing.  The second generation of immigrants which is more acculturated is characterized by many health problems which entail high rates of teenage pregnancy and illicit drug use.  Often, illicit drug use is considered a supplement to teenage pregnancy since an increase in the former result in a rise in the latter (Frazier  Tettey-Fio, 2006).

The social context encountered by children of immigrants in neighborhoods and American schools pose major health concerns.  It promotes negative outcomes which include dropping out of school, participating in drug subculture and joining street gangs.  To female children of immigrants such outcomes will in turn lead to teenage pregnancy since they are involved sexual activities and have little knowledge regarding use of contraceptives.  The labor market transformation that resulted in removal of blue-collar jobs is partially linked to the emergence of deviant lifestyles in US inner cities.  Despite the fact that the first victims of this transformation do not constitute the second generation members, they are children and grandchildren of their predecessors who were brought to America to contain the high labor needs (Portes  Rumbart, 2006).

As descendants of the earlier immigrants reach the working age, they are confronted by blocked economic mobility and shrinking industrial opportunities.  Lack of jobs in industries together with racial discrimination, keeps this group of immigrants suppressed in the inner cities and at the same time prevents them from taking advantage of emerging opportunities in the post industrial economy.  As a result of this, a web of social pathologies emerges amongst the immigrants such proliferation of teenage pregnancy among others (Portes  Rumbart, 2006).

Low education also contributes greatly to teenage pregnancy as teenagers are involved in irresponsible sexual behaviors without knowing the outcome of such actions.  As a result of immigrant children not taking part in sex education, their sexuality and sex life is transformed by the American culture and this contributes greatly to alarming rate of teenage pregnancy which is a health concern.  There are health risks for the baby and in addition to that children born to teenage mothers have a higher chance of experiencing health, emotional and social problems (Gortzak-Uzan et al, 2001 ).  Pregnant teenagers have little to no knowledge regarding caring for the unborn thus putting themselves and the unborn at a greater risk of adverse health consequences.  Moreover, pregnant teenagers are more susceptible to obstetric risk thus needs caution during provision of maternal care (Jolly et al, 2000).   

The family and especially the parental one influence greatly the risk of adolescents becoming pregnant.  Research findings are very consistent regarding closeness of parents and children, parental supervision of childrens activities and parental values against unprotected or teen intercourse in reducing the risk of teenage pregnancy (Miller, Benson  Galbraith, 2000).  In such a case, children are raised with standards set by their parents and as they reach the adolescent age they continue to adhere to the parental rules and regulations.  However, such is not the case for many immigrants as they reside in disorganized and dangerous neighborhoods, with lower families or living with single parents, and in addition to that might be having older siblings who are sexually active, a parenting teenage sister or are victims of sexual abuse (Miller, Benson  Galbraith, 2000).  Such conditions place immigrant children in awful situations where the risk of teenage pregnancy is highly elevated. 

As a way of curbing teenage pregnancies among their children, some immigrant parents become distressed by American culture permissiveness and the threat it poses to their children that they ought to send them back home to be educated by their grandparents or kin (Portes  Rumbart, 2006).  The motivator behind such decision is that their culture is better of in modeling behaviors of their children with regards to the American one.  The American culture is not strict enough since it gives children more control over their lives thereby resulting in frailties which are of health concern.  As a result of children being in control they end up joining peer groups which dictate what is right and wrong thus molding their characters.  Such peer groups are characterized by drug abuse which augments teenage pregnancy.

A positive transformation in the sexuality can contribute immensely in reducing teenage pregnancy among immigrants thus improving their health.  A recent study conducted by Hondagneu-Sotelo (2003), showed a change in the trend of teenage pregnancy, particular on Mexican immigrants.  Following the migration and establishment of a permanent life in US, Mexican immigrant women are experiencing a transformation in their sexuality.  The transformation in their sexuality and sex life is not occurring through enculturation but by additional complex dynamics which are socially constructed.  These dynamics are inclusive of socioeconomic factors, social networking and immigrant community life. 

These immigrant women have expressed enthusiastic alertness on educational opportunities and the increased employment offered to their children by the US economy (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2003).  As a result, they are investing most of their energy and finances in ensuring that their children climb up the educational ladder, develop career goals and secure a good job.  By ensuring that their children understand the importance of education in their lives thus focus adequately to achieve it, the chance of dropping out of school is reduced and in turn teenage pregnancy risk diminishes.  Raising the level of education among immigrants and their children constitutes the cornerstone for improving their living conditions thus eliminating health hazards (Garcia, 2002). 

Exposure to sex education presentations and talk shows constitute one of the most appropriate methods for reducing teenage pregnancies among immigrant communities.  According to the research conducted by Hondagneu-Sotelo (2003), some immigrant women have sought this method in transforming their sex lives as well as that of their children.  Teenagers of today do not care much about sexual problems as they consider it a private matter and their parents are also less concerned about restricting their childrens sexual activities through conversation (Rowatt, 2001).  By attending sex education programs which are normally sponsored by community based agencies, immigrant parents become more empowered and adequately equipped to assist their children acquire a healthy life.  Such programs provide the stepping-stone for containing the issue of teenage pregnancy.

Furthermore, talk shows particularly those discussing teenage pregnancy also provide an important tool for facilitating sexually related conversations with their children.  In a recent study, some immigrant parents were reported to be using talk show discussions involving teenage pregnancy to have important conversations with their children about the topic, after watching the show together (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2003).  Often, most parents find it difficult to raise discussions on sexuality with their children mainly because it was considered a taboo but through talk shows it has been made easier thus contributing greatly to the reduction of teenage pregnancy among immigrant communities. 

The realization of unified, reliable and well coordinated actions in dealing with incidents and emergencies is a fundamental safety concern in a nation. This is because the sole purpose of any government is to ensure sustainable security for its citizens. Indeed, it is due to this reason that the United States of America government enacted the National Incident Management System (NIMS).  The NIMS in purpose serve to establish and define response management procedures and binding protocols so as to ensure a more effective coordination of incident response and emergency preparedness activities at all government levels (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008).  It gives standardized procedures to be applied by the federal, state, localcounty and tribal governments in responding, addressing and containing homeland security threat incidents such as terrorist attacks and natural calamities (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008).

In a bid to ensure consistency in overseeing successful incident response and management, the NIMS established a national incident command unit. This unit is responsible for issuing commands, coordinating response operations and formulating logistics in major homeland security threat incidents. The system also requires for establishment of other command units at the state, local and tribal government levels. Uniformity of operations is realized through training of all incident response personnel on addressing and managing incidents.

This essay is written as a discussion of the provisions of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in enhancing the American governments response to homeland security threat incidents and emergency preparedness. The paper also talks a look at the major command functions defined in the policy namely Incident Command staff, Command staff and General Staff, roles and responsibilities as well as other components NIMS.

First is a summary on the provisions of the National Incident Management System. The NIMS system was developed in 2003 as a viable response to the homeland security threats posed by natural disasters and terrorists on the American people (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). The system is tailored to provide a flexible incident response framework which can be adopted by every American citizen. In particular, the system defines standardized organizational structures for enhancing coordination among the various stakeholders in times of incidents.

In a summary, NIMS consist of four major components namely command and management, preparedness, resource management and communications and information management (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). Preparedness encompasses the access of the tasks and resources necessary for initiating, sustaining and continuously nurturing capability for mitigating, addressing and managing homeland incidents successfully (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). The realization of these demands is met constant training of incident response professional, acquisition, and certification of equipments and the continual establishing of response procedures and protocols.

The component on command and management is mainly responsible for issuing incident response commands at all levels during the incident (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). To achieve this, the NIMS dictate for the establishment of an institutional incident command staff units at all jurisdiction levels for ensuring effective coordination of operation commands. These units are also responsible for formulation of command response logistics as well as overseeing the effective financial management in the system.

By resource management, NIMS dictates for ensuring availability andor accessibility of necessary incident response resources at the state government level (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). Just to be noted here is the fact that an effective incident response system should be able to locate and guarantee necessary resources, such as medical services and transport among others. In line with this, NIMS dictates for the free flow of incident response resource across jurisdictions by signing of resource mobilization protocols (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). This does not only ensure resource availability at will but also enhances cooperation among the various jurisdictions in dealing with homeland security incidents.

Effective communication is quite crucial in dealing with incidents. This therefore calls for unified communications and information provision in a system. In response to this vital rescue and recovery requirement, the NIMS system formed the communications and information management body (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2004). This body is responsible for issuing information on the progress of the response operations. Such a move reduces contradictory information communication both to the response professionals and the general public.

Second is a discussion on the major command functions of NIMS and their roles and responsibilities. The NIMS command and management body is composed of the incident command system, multi-agency coordination system and the public information systems (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). The incident command system is made up of incident commander, command staff and the general staff all of whom have different responsibilities.

Incident commander(s) is charged with the role of commanding all operations during an incident. This means that they are responsible for issuing the final decisions. Just to be noted is that in major incidents, the incidents commands usually involve many representatives from the various agencies taking part in the response operation. Due to this reason, coupled with the underlying requirement of NIMS to enhance unified coordination of commands, the commands issued by the team of incident commands must not be contradictory (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). Therefore, there is need for negotiations among the commanders on the type of effective command to be issued.

However, sometimes there could be many incidents to be responded to. This is why we have the area command approach. According to the provisions of NIMS, multiple-incident situations call for establishment of individual commanders for the independent locations (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). However, it is a common practice to have in place a single incident commander to coordinate commands. This means that the separate incident commanders are only for ensuring an efficient administrative support by issuing commands from the area commander.

Command staff on the other hand entails a safety officer who is responsible for ensuring safety during the rescue and recovery operation (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2004). To execute this, the safety officer serves to monitor the safety situation on the ground so as to engage in establishing strategies for ensuring or even enhancing the security of the response personnel. Another command staff is the public information officer. Unified operations call for unified communication (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). Therefore, the work of the information officer is to convey information about the incident to all stakeholders, media and the general public.

Still on command staff is the liaison (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). NIMS seek to ensure enhanced coordination during incident response operation. It is due to this reason that it establishes free inter-jurisdiction flow of required resources. This is the reason why we have the liaison. This command staff serves to communicate with agencies providing support at the incident. Therefore, a liaison ensures that required help is given for overseeing the efficient recovery from an incident.

Another major command function is the general staff. This first has an operations section chief (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). This staff member is charged with the duty of ensuring that all what is possible is done to achieve the objectives of the incident. Therefore, operations section chief is responsible for overseeing the effective execution of commands by the agencies at the incident.  The general staff also has a logistics sections chief for ensuring that all resources and assistance necessary at the incident are available.

Another member of the general staff is the planning section chief. Availability of accurate information on incidents is quite vital as it ensures reliability of the decision making process (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). To ensure this, the planning section chief has the sole responsibility of acquiring and conveying information on the status of the incident as well as determining the incident operation resource available or required.

Still under the general staff is the financial and administration section chief that is responsible in accounting for the incident costs (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). As an administration, this section keeps records of personnel at the incident as well as assessing for need to increase or reduce them depending on the incident situation. The staff is also charged with the duty of contacting logistics of procurement contracts.

Homeland security threat incidents require the involvement of information and intelligence staff. This staff can be created at any level depending on the complexity of the incident or consideration by the incident commander on the needs of the incident. Still, complex incidents require for the division of the command functions into manageable units thus leading to a Multi Agency Coordination approach such as having dual multiple-operations section chiefs as well as multiple-logistics chiefs.

In conclusion, the main purpose of NIMS is to enhance unified and thus more reliable coordination of incident and emergency preparedness operations in America (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008). Through its command functions, the system ensures not only unified commands but also availability of resources. The system is also reflective of the need for conveying incident information both internally and externally as it establishes the public information officer command staff. All these are crucial in ensuring the successful prevention, responding andor recovering from any form of homeland security threat incident.

Globalization in any culture is obstinately resisted by another equally strong force form within in the form of localization, ethnicism or even the fervor of nationalism. Today in face of economic globalization, this is the consumer culture that has become the main topic of research across various thinking spectrums. And studying the prevalent and the newly developing phenomenon of contemporary Chinese cultural evolution it is discernible to notice that China is not averse to hence does not resist in letting the economic globalization into country, for the reason that it has helped and is helping China rapid development of its economy but on the cultural front it does show reluctance in letting it globalized or to the least homogenized (Chow and Shen, 2004). Although the globalization in culture does not get narrowed to homogenization but it propels into the realm of pluralization of various global cultures, values and literatures, just like the coalescence or amalgam of different hues blending together their own distinctive characters to form something more ravishing and unique (Robertson, 1992) 

The very idea about cultural strength revolves around cultural exuberance vitality that is culture exists not as an entity object rather its existence is centered around it being a subjective reality that needs cultural self-awareness and self-confidence (Wang, 2002). Talking about Globalization there are two aspects that needed to be looked at internationalization and worldization. These are the elements that govern the development of international cultural resources to remake facets of Chinese culture and vice versa, while the very dual nature of globalization determines the duplicate natures cross-culture (Wang, 2002).

Cultural globalization does not insinuate the unification of culture or their infusion into single entity, rather it is an idea that promulgates parity or the parallel run to cultural diversification. This marks divergence between the notions of cultural globalization against economic cum political globalization. The rationality of cultural diversity is homogeneous to the concept of biological diversity the tendency to protect the rarest and most endangered species also aligns with the demand of mankind that flourished and triumphed over all others (Cheng, 2008). But the question asked whether nations tend to protect its national identity just for the sake of fulfilling demands of others as the very conception spearheads establishment of its own weaknesses and precludes fall.

China is a country whose history is grounded in ancient civilization and for thousands of years its culture has been the source of strength and identity. Thats why its name China in Chinese script is depicted by two words meaning central that refers to centrality in the region both in terms of geography and standing, and its name meaning brilliance, flair and spirit referring to magnificence achieved in her cultural development (Cheng, 2008). Wand Yuangling of Yuan Dynasty pointed out in scripture Explanation of The Codes of Tang with Annotations and Interpretations Zhinghua connotates the Chinese nation have been grown with kingly order, with the dignified apparel that is magnificent and exalted, with the custom and traditions of dutiful veneration and brotherly obligation, with behavior that is cultured and courteous, the blend of all this makes the very essence of Zhonghua (Cheng, 2008). Over the ages this cultures stood firm in face of trials and tribulations of time, while exhibiting its enormous resilience and the ability to assimilate and metamorphose. It withheld its ground in face of historys three greatest controversies, the barbarian-Chinese traced back in ancient times, Chinese-Buddhist precipitated by the eastward tramp in middle ages and the Chinese-Western brought by the eastward flounce of western learning in modern times (Cheng, 2008). Even in the most challenging era during crisis of national subjugation and risk of annihilation on the hands of Mongols and Machu advances, Chinese culture remain vanquished while safeguarding the identity of its people and the moral, ethereal subjection over the invaders (Cheng, 2008).

Gone are the days when this culture got threatened by foreign invasions and interventions, today China is growing and its gaining consciousness sort of self-actualization. And with such an epochal eon, the emerging dissension over the Chinese culture versus the western values, fundamental ideals versus practicality etc. Theres growing need of cultural self-awareness and self-confidence, that requires strengthening chinas cultural verve needed to cope with the question of cultural globalization. 

There are two propositions in contemplating the emerging scenario of opportunities and threats that Chinese culture is confronting in the face of globalization here the term globalization is classified as internationalization which stands for interaction between nation-states. There has been new debate in philosophical arena that ponders over the usage of resources of international culture to shape Chinese culture and in this respect several programs have been advances of the like of Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application (Zhang Zhidong), Make the past serve the present and foreign things serve China (Mao Zedong), To synthesize and innovate (Zhang Dainian) or Wholesale Westernization (Hu Shi) (Cheng, 2008). In one such account Tu Weiming conceived a novel concept of cultural china that not only encompass the mainland China and her islands Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan rather it also embraces Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and all other countries, communities and cultures across the globe that are influenced by the Chinese essence. This thinking gets constructed on belief that while segregating countries along the demarcated lines, its the culture that holds more importance and significance then the race fundamentals.

Thus with Chinas rise and renaissance of its culture strategy should make transition from the one that is passive and protective to the one that is active, courageous and enterprising. The shift would be from a position that stressed the protection of ones traditions and national customs to the one that underscores contribution into prospective world cultural development, i.e from  protecting, taking to giving. This transmogrification dictates that China should not be concerned about finding share of Chinese cultural values and characteristics in the global culture rather how much its could it culture leap forward in taking share in that system (Martin, 1995).

Globalization also has played key role in founding and developing Chinas national and cultural individuality.  Though cultural globalization constitutes within it wherewithal of blurring nations cultural identity yet possess the capability in bringing about positive changes. As it owns the crown of blending together the people of different worlds on common basis, with the message that if its challenge be met critically by utilizing the opportunity in enhancing our won national cultures in broadest global contextual relationship the identity and values of each others culture China in point and literature could be known to the world (Samuelson, 2004).  And while studying literature and culture it is pertinent that neither the imperialist global nor nationalist local orientation be accorded. Thus the middle, both-way is the right transcendental way that coalesces both these approaches and blends them together to avert another clash of cultural crisis (Miyoshi, 1998).

Since 1990 China has gradually embraced the system of market economy in expansive setting of international and trans-national capitalization. Despite of this market adoptions the government on the political front has maintained the strategy of keeping up with the charter of socialism that over the period by inducement of massive reforms could appropriately be called the Chinese-Socialism, crafted to specific Chinese characteristics (Marx and Engels, 1999).  And so in contemporary China along with some other Asian countries the amelioration of Confucianism could become a driver promoting opposition against the spread of or integration with national cultures as far as globalization is concerned.  As its fear of being homogenized conflicts with her embodiment towards the precept of Confucius, that emphatically is categorized as the emblem of its traditions (Zhang, 1998). Thus for many the very notion of modernization simply gets equated to westernization that probably stirs the suspicion of colonization (Marx and Engels, 1999). And for this Chinese culture to adopt the best practices of globalization it must be subjected to demarginization from marge to the core, and in this frame its first move would be in decolonizing itself in coalescing context of globalization.

In some ways the abstraction of cultural globalization standing as a direct concomitant of economic globalization, is also the culmination of inter-national postmodern tendency. Thus under the bearing of west inspired postmodern movement the current Chinese culture  distinguished by various emerging quasi and post-modern strands present itself in unique forms

In contemporary globalized world postmodernism has been re-oriented in the context of is crucial and innovative adoption in oriental, developing and the third world countries. This enterprise globalization originated and got nurtured in West and its cultural soil, then sailed over the European and other continents to become a truly global phenomenon and finally gave birth to cultural globalization. As per the reception of post-modernism is concerned in Chinese context the prevalence and semblance of it depends on factors like the functioning of trans-national funds, worldwide spread of the capitalism and the emergence of cyber realm. These factors accompanied by the global media industry pushes the frontiers of cultural globalization further a move from center to the outer periphery while operational at both the ends. Even the most well-trenched and formidable cultures cannot take on such a whip and for China the acknowledgement of financial and economic globalization has proven fruitful in not only bringing the country into international mainstream, catching up and even outshining developed economies of western countries thus making it an important stake holder in the global economic order (Chow, 2002)

Preserving the core attributes of national identity is pertinent but in the process if such an attempt on localization is made at he cost of ostracizing any foreign inspiration questionably will mount unacceptable nationalist emotions. Such a development would lead to the creation of inadequate conditions for Chinas external surroundings. Interculture and transculture are two critical policies for dealing with the effects of cultural globalization as it is the latter that remedies and heals any shortcomings in former. In contrast of the interculture that had been the focus of intellectual debates for all ages transculture is rather built on the substratum of reciprocal knowledge of varying, unfamiliar cultures that operates via bilateral and even multilateral means. Such an integration and synchronization between different hues of same manifestation leads to the attainment of common cultural panorama that possesses universalism while never losing unique features of each constituent culture. Such a process simply does not focus on attainment of any ensuing terminal goal rather it puts importance on the process and practices of interaction among these varied cultures. And when we look at the share that Chinese culture has been able to attain in the plan of international cultural paradigm then is the definitive suitability of trans-culture sets to get strategic importance as suitable alternative while dealing with the cultural globalization.

Ending this discussion with the assertion that every thing in the systems of universe is in flux so the sphere of culture in human societies and its never unconceivable that todays ideals could well become tomorrows realities.