Presidetial Election 2000 Essays - Al Gore, , Term Papers

Presidetial Election 2000 The two main candidates for the election of 2000 are George W. Bush and Al Gore. Al Gore, of course, being the current Vice President. I have never been into the whole politics game. But, know that I am 18 years old I feel I should start paying more attention to political issues. I don't know if I am going to vote this year, and if I did I don't know who I would vote for. I really don't know much about either canditate. All I know is that Gore is Vice President to Clinton, and we all know how most people feel about Clinton. In order for me to make a judgment on who I am going to vote for I would like to know where each canditate satnds on different political issues. Some of the issues I will be covering are abortion, crime, drugs, education, environment, and gun control. These are the issues I am most interested in, and I would like a president who agrees with me on a good portion of these issues. To start off, I am going to state where I stand on each of the isssues. I then will sate where each presidential canditate stands on each issue. The first topic I would like to discuss is abortion. Abortion is kind of a big thing to me. I am one of those who is against abortion. I feel abortion is kind of like murder. I know it is easy for me to say that abortion is wrong, because I have never gotten a girl pregnant before. I understand that some tees make mistakes and want to correct those mistakes. But, I feel more people should stand up for their mistakes and take some action. Instead of having the baby aborted, the parents should put the child up for adoption. What if that kid was going to come up with a cure for cancer? I bet the parents would not want o abort the child then. Abortion is one area I agree with Bush. Bush wants to cut down the amount of abortions given out the whole year. Bush also wants to turn the choice of having abortions over to the state. Gore, on the other hand, wants to leave the choice in the woman's hand. He feels it is up to her to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Gore also wants medicare to pay for abortions. I feel that it is totally wrong for the government to support the murder of an unborn child. I have to say that I am a little disappointed that neither canditate is taking a direct stand against abortion. Although I agree with Bush more than Gore I feel both candidates are trying to steer around the abortion topic. The next issue I would like to discuss is crime. As we all know crime is a big problem in our country. I am in favor of adding more funding to increase police officers pay and to increase the overall bettering of policing across the country. I feel police officers are extremely under paid for the jobs that they do. Crime is one issue I agree with Gore on. Gore wants to intensify the fight against crime. He wants to add 50000 more police to the streets in the next 10 years. Bush on the other hand didn't have too much in speaking out against crimes. Both candidates support having the death penalty. But, only Gore states that he wants to have the death penalty for the killing of a federal officer. I like that idea because it shows that Gore is going to protect his own. The next issue I am going to discuss ties in with the previous issue of crime, drugs. Drugs are a huge problem right now in our society. Almost everyone I know has done a drug at some point in their lives. I know growing up in Chicago I came across a lot of people with a drug problem. But, it is not only in the city where drug use occurs. It happens in the suburbs, the farms, and everywhere else. The fight against drugs is an area I feel

Gen. Henry Hap Arnold - World War II History

Gen. Henry Hap Arnold - World War II History Henry Harley Arnold (born at Gladwyne, PA on June 25, 1886) had a military career peppered with many successes and few failures. He was the only officer to ever hold the rank of General of the Air Force. He died January 15,  1950  and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Early Life The son of a doctor, Henry Harley Arnold was born at Gladwyne, PA on June 25, 1886. Attending Lower Merion High School, he graduated in 1903 and applied to West Point. Entering the academy, he proved a renowned prankster but only a pedestrian student. Graduating in 1907, he ranked 66th out of a class of 111. Though he desired to enter the cavalry, his grades and disciplinary record prevented this and he was assigned to the 29th Infantry as a second lieutenant. Arnold initially protested this assignment but ultimately relented and joined his unit in the Philippines. Learning to Fly While there, he befriended Captain Arthur Cowan of the US Army Signal Corps. Working with Cowan, Arnold aided in creating maps of Luzon. Two years later, Cowan was ordered to take command of the Signal Corps newly-formed Aeronautical Division. As part of this new assignment, Cowan was directed to recruit two lieutenants for pilot training. Contacting Arnold, Cowan learned of the young lieutenants interest in obtaining a transfer. After some delays, Arnold was transferred to the Signal Corps in 1911 and began flight training at the Wright Brothers flying school in Dayton, OH. Taking his first solo flight on May 13, 1911, Arnold earned his pilot license later that summer. Sent to College Park, MD with his training partner, Lieutenant Thomas Millings, he set several altitude records as well as became the first pilot to carry US Mail. Over the next year, Arnold began to develop a fear of flying after witnessing and being a part of several crashes. Despite this, he won the prestigious Mackay Trophy in 1912 for the most meritorious flight of the year. On November 5, Arnold survived a near-fatal crash at Fort Riley, KS and removed himself from flight status. Returning to the Air Returning to the infantry, he was again posted to the Philippines. While there he met 1st Lieutenant George C. Marshall and the two became life-long friends. In January 1916, Major Billy Mitchell offered Arnold a promotion to captain if he returned to aviation. Accepting, he traveled back to College Park for duty as the supply officer for the Aviation Section, US Signal Corps. That fall, aided by his friends in the flying community, Arnold overcame his fear of flying. Sent to Panama in early 1917 to find a location for an airfield, he was en route back to Washington when he learned of the US entry into World War I. World War I Though he desired to go to France, Arnolds aviation experience led to him being retained in Washington at the Aviation Sections headquarters. Promoted to the temporary ranks of major and colonel, Arnold oversaw the Information Division and lobbied for the passage of a large aviation appropriations bill. Though mostly unsuccessful, he gained valuable insight into negotiating the politics of Washington as well as the development and procurement of aircraft. In the summer of 1918, Arnold was dispatched to France to brief General John J. Pershing on new aviation developments. Interwar Years Following the war, Mitchell was transferred to the new US Army Air Service and was posted to Rockwell Field, CA. While there, he developed relationships with future subordinates such as Carl Spaatz and Ira Eaker. After attending the Army Industrial College, he returned to Washington to the Office of the Chief of Air Service, Information Division, where he became a devout follower of the now-Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. When the outspoken Mitchell was court-martialed in 1925, Arnold risked his career by testifying on behalf of the air power advocate. For this and for leaking pro-airpower information to the press, he was professionally exiled to Fort Riley in 1926 and given command of the 16th Observation Squadron. While there, he befriended Major General James Fechet, the new head of the US Army Air Corps. Intervening on Arnolds behalf, Fechet had him sent to the Command and General Staff School. Graduating in 1929, his career began to progress again and he held a variety of peacetime commands. After winning a second Mackay Trophy in 1934 for a flight to Alaska, Arnold was given command of the Air Corps First Wing in March 1935 and promoted to brigadier general. That December, against his wishes, Arnold returned to Washington and was made Assistant Chief of the Air Corps with responsibility for procurement and supply. In September 1938, his superior, Major General Oscar Westover, was killed in a crash. Shortly thereafter, Arnold was promoted to major general and made Chief of the Air Corps. In this role, he began plans for expanding the Air Corps to place it on par with Army Ground Forces. He also began pushing a large, long-term research and development agenda with the goal improving the Air Corps equipment. World War II With the growing threat from Nazi Germany and Japan, Arnold directed research efforts to exploit existing technologies and drove the development of aircraft such as the Boeing B-17 and Consolidated B-24. In addition, he began pushing for research into the development of jet engines. With the creation of the US Army Air Forces in June 1941, Arnold was made Chief of the Army Air Forces and acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air. Given a degree of autonomy, Arnold and his staff began planning in anticipation of the US entry into World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Arnold was promoted to lieutenant general and began enacting his war plans which called for the defense of the Western Hemisphere as well as aerial offensives against Germany and Japan. Under his aegis, the USAAF created numerous air forces for deployment in the various theaters of combat. As the strategic bombing campaign commenced in Europe, Arnold continued to press for the development of new aircraft, such as the B-29 Superfortress, and support equipment. Beginning in early 1942, Arnold was named Commanding General, USAAF and made a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. In addition to advocating for and supporting strategic bombing, Arnold backed other initiatives such as the Doolittle Raid, the formation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), as well as communicated directly with his top commanders to ascertain their needs firsthand. Promoted to general in March 1943, he soon had the first of several wartime heart attacks. Recovering, he accompanied President Franklin Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference later that year. With his aircraft pounding the Germans in Europe, he began focusing his attention on making the B-29 operational. Deciding against using it Europe, he elected to deploy it to the Pacific. Organized into the Twentieth Air Force, the B-29 force remained under Arnolds personal command and flew first from bases in China and then the Marianas. Working with Major General Curtis LeMay, Arnold oversaw the campaign against the Japanese home islands. These attacks saw LeMay, with Arnolds approval, conduct massive firebombing attacks on Japanese cities. The war finally came to an end when Arnolds B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Later Life Following the war, Arnold established Project RAND (Research and Development) which was tasked with studying military matters. Traveling to South America in January 1946, he was forced to break off the trip due to declining health. As result, he retired from active service the following month and settled on a ranch in Sonoma, CA. Arnold spent his final years writing his memoirs and in 1949 had his final rank changed to General of the Air Force. The only officer to ever hold this rank, he died on January 15, 1950 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Selected Sources HistoryNet: General Henry Hap ArnoldHenry H. Arnold

Cultural, Economic, and Institutional Inequality in the US Assignment

Cultural, Economic, and Institutional Inequality in the US - Assignment Example While using the public policy field, it will be possible to have a deeper understanding of how the political economy in the US is organized. Within these fields, the focus will mainly be on the wealth and poverty in the United States with regards to public policy, as well as social inequalities in the US with regards to sociology. This research will be important to a wider audience because there has been a significant increase in cultural, economic, and institutional inequality in the United States since the mid-70s. The United States for a long time has been one of the most unequal countries among the developed countries in the world. However, the cultural and economic upheaval that started in the seventies acted as a stark departure from the movement that had sought to push for more equality after the Great Depression and into the Second World War (Pontusson 41). The push for equality had been a core feature of public policy in the thirty years after WWII and its reversal consequences of this reversal should be of importance. In addition, this research paper is important because it will deal with a pertinent issue in American society today. Despite the magnitude with which inequality has risen in the United States, it seems that political discourse only refers obliquely to inequality in the United States. Th e debate in the public arena, neither acknowledges the scale and widespread nature of inequality in the United States, nor does it discuss why these sustained, and sudden changes have occurred in a serious and focused manner (Pontusson 42). This research paper will seek to expand, on policy recommendations, to reverse the trend of economic inequality in the United States, providing an alternate view of the period after World War 2, particularly the last thirty years.