The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track

The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track
by Thomas E. Mann (Author), Norman J. Ornstein (Author), Paul Mantell (Narrator)
(24)

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Human Rights

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Barbara Demick (Author)
(617)

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Human Rights

A National Book Award finalist and National Book Critics Circle finalist, Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy is a remarkable view into North Korea, as seen through the lives of six ordinary citizens
 
Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

• Rank: #2737 in Books
• Published on: 2010-09-21
• Released on: 2010-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.50" h x 5.51" w x .72" l, .55 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

• Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize.

How Fox News KO'd The Republican Party

How Fox News KO'd The Republican Party
Uncle Sam (Author)

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Human Rights

How Fox News KO'd The Republican Party chronicles the history of the Tea Party as a movement and as an ill fitting political party within the Republican Party.

1. INTRODUCTION
Anyone who follows politics knows that the Grand Old Party (GOP) is in deep trouble. The Republican Party is in total disarray and that may be an understatement. Republicans in the Senate and House snipe at each other and House members refuse to do anything constructive. Instead like lemmings being drawn to their death, they continue meet the definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result—by voting 43 times to defund the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare.
This aberrant behavior didn't happen overnight. Nor was it accidental, it wasn't. That's not to say it was planned, it wasn't. The seeds for what is taking place in federal and state governments now were sown way back in November 2008.
It started with the election of a personable, African American man with the strange, non-Anglo, sounding name, Barack Obama. Charming and intelligent with empathy for working class people, Barack Obama had caught the imagination of much of the electorate—enough to win a decisive, almost landslide, victory.
I may be wrong, but when Barack Obama shocked the right and the world by winning the 2008 presidential election, the right didn't know what to think or do at first. The right wing media machine hadn't kicked into gear yet. I actually had the distinct feeling that the right didn't hate Obama, yet. Not only that, but it seemed as if many right wingers were willing to give BO the benefit of the doubt and withhold judgment until he actually did something.
Unfortunately, this moment of détente passed and by the time he was inaugurated, Fox News and the hate radio dwarves had demonized the President elect for two and a half months—drilling into their minds how evil he was and that he would ruin the country.
Not surprising, the Republican Party was unhappy with the results of the election and within hours of the new President's inauguration, party apparatchiks and consultants unscrupulously met at a DC supper club and plotted a policy of total obstruction against the duly elected President of the United States. To me, if this isn't treasonous, it's seditious or at least shamelessly unethical.
Nevertheless, the Republican Party weren't the only discontented parties. Rich and powerful interests were also displeased and vowing to do something about it, set something in motion, which may ultimately destroy the Republican Party as a national party.

• Rank: #96345 in eBooks
• Published on: 2013-10-29
• Released on: 2013-10-29
• Format: Kindle eBook

The Naked God: The Writer and the Communist Party

The Naked God: The Writer and the Communist Party
by Howard Fast (Author), Christopher Kipiniak (Narrator)
(1)

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Human Rights

Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics (Oxford Studies in Digital Politics)

Tweeting to Power: The Social Media Revolution in American Politics (Oxford Studies in Digital Politics)
Jason Gainous (Author), Kevin M. Wagner (Author)

New!: $24.95 $19.96 (as of 11/22/2013 18:57 PST)

Human Rights

Online social media are changing the face of politics in the United States. Beginning with a strong theoretical foundation grounded in political, communications and psychology literature, Tweeting to Power examines the effect of online social media on how people come to learn, understand and engage in politics. Gainous and Wagner propose that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter offer the opportunity for a new information flow that is no longer being structured and limited by the popular media. Television and newspapers, which were traditionally the sole or primary gatekeeper, can no longer limit or govern what information is exchanged. By lowering the cost of both supplying the information and obtaining it, social networking applications have recreated how, when and where people are informed.

To establish this premise, Gainous and Wagner analyze multiple datasets, quantitative and qualitative, exploring and measuring the use of social media by voters and citizens as well as the strategies and approaches adopted by politicians and elected officials. They illustrate how these new and growing online communities are new forums for the exchange of information that is governed by relationships formed and maintained outside traditional media. Using empirical measures, they prove both how candidates utilize Twitter to shape the information voters rely upon and how effective this effort was at garnering votes in the 2010 congressional elections. With both theory and data, Gainous and Wagner show how the social media revolution is creating a new paradigm for political communication and shifting the very foundation of the political process.

• Rank: #96710 in Books
• Published on: 2013-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

How to Use the Internet to Win in 2014: A Comprehensive Guide to Online Politics for Campaigns & Advocates

How to Use the Internet to Win in 2014: A Comprehensive Guide to Online Politics for Campaigns & Advocates
Colin Delany (Author)

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Human Rights

"How to Use the Internet to Win in 2014" is a comprehensive guide to effective online political campaigning and advocacy. Its focus is practical, concentrating on using today's digital tools to elect candidates and move issues in tough political fights. Though based on earlier guides written in 2010 and 2012, this new edition is expanded, rewritten and completely reorganized to highlight the latest developments in the tools and tactics of online politics. Incorporating important lessons from the 2012 and 2013 U.S. elections, it's essential for anyone running for office in 2014. The book is also extremely useful for individual activists, nonprofit political advocates and journalists covering political campaigns.

Chapters include:

*The Internet: What's It Good For?
*Essential Tools and Infrastructure: Creating a Basic Online Campaign
*Preparing an Outreach Outreach Strategy
*Social Media
*Online Advertising
*Grassroots and Field Organizing
*Mobilization and GOTV
*Online Fundraising
*Data and Analytics
*Logistics, Budget and Staffing
*A Sample Online Campaign Plan

"How to Use the Internet to Win in 2014" is written by Colin Delany, a seventeen-year veteran of internet politics and advocacy, a sought-after speaker and trainer and a columnist for "Campaigns & Elections" magazine. As a consultant, he has worked with dozens of nonprofit groups, candidates and companies to help them achieve their advocacy, electoral and communications goals using digital tools. This e-book reflects his own years of experience as well as lessons learned from campaigns across the political spectrum.

Delany's previous e-books, "Learning from Obama" -- the definitive guide to Barack Obama's 2008 online campaign -- and "Online Politics 101" have together been downloaded tens of thousands of times from Epolitics.com. The site itself was named "Best Blog - National Politics" at the 2007 Politics Online Conference and received a "Victory Award" as "Best Blog (non-Spanish-language)" at the 2012 Poli Conference. Besides being honored as one of the "Ten Who Are Changing the World of Internet Politics" at the 2010 World E-Gov Forum in Paris, Delany has spoken at venues ranging from Harvard University and the London School of Economics to the South By Southwest Interactive conference.

• Rank: #12298 in eBooks
• Published on: 2013-11-19
• Released on: 2013-11-19
• Format: Kindle eBook

Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space

Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space
Muthiah Alagappa (Editor)

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Human Rights

This book is the first comprehensive, systematic investigation of the connection between civil society and political change in Asia—change toward open, participatory, and accountable politics. Its findings suggest that the link between a vibrant civil society and democracy is indeterminate: certain types of civil society organizations support democracy, but others have the potential to undermine it.

Further, the study argues that while civil society is a key factor in political change, democratic transition and consolidation hinge on the development of effective political parties, legislatures, and state institutions. Rooted in a common definition of civil society, a strong analytical framework, and rich empirical material, the analyses and conclusions of the book will have a lasting impact on the understanding of civil society and its relation to democracy in Asia and around the world.

• Rank: #1041354 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.09" h x 6.34" w x 1.14" l, 1.67 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 552 pages