The Mass Media Laws In Pakistan Media Essay

The Mass Media Laws In Pakistan Media Essay The Mass Media do not exist separately from the other institution in the society. The Mass Media are necessary part of the processes of social change and maintenance. They have ability to revolutionize any other estate of the country. This aptitude of media has been usually taken as a threat by other estates. Particularly political mechanism of many countries of the world felt bullying from free media. To secure their regimes from media threats they curbed the voice of media with some legal checks and bounds. The interesting fact is that the regulatory measures to secure other estates by restricting media freedom are tagged Media Laws. Media law is a term used for a mix of more traditional categories of law with a focus on providing legal services to the communication industry. The write up enlightens that whether Pakistani Media laws are facilitating media by providing services to communication industry or acting as a barrier in the way of information flow. Pakistani Governments have been formulating such kind of laws for media from very beginning of media origin in the country. Even Popular democratic regimes in the country felt to curb media freedom through legal and even illegal checks. The study focuses on why do they need media laws? What are they? How these laws are functioning? The important aspect of the paper is to find out even a single law that is formulated to secure or strengthen Mass Media Networks of the state. Historical Perspective: History of media laws in Pakistan is quite interesting. Interesting in a sense that media laws were originated according to the requirement of state of affairs threatening to the running political bodys influence or reputation. These laws were formulated by different regimes when some critical issues were arisen, the governments muted media voice through the remote of law in order to cover their faults. Media as fourth estate are working effectively to influence public opinion. There is strong relationship between opinion formation of masses and media reports. Most of the governments take this relationship as a menace for their power. They have a view that media are naÃÆ' ¯ve, they are not properly aware with the use of power. So there must be some regulatory measure for their power balance. Political  instability in Pakistan affected the Media enormously. All branches of media were affected but print media suffered badly. Although, it was declared many times in constitution that freedom of speech and expression would be provided to the media. However, this rule was never truly implemented and many political leaders banned the press during their regime. In constitution of 1956, an article specifically devoted to freedom of speech was included. The 1956 constitution lasted less than three years and was abrogated in October 1958 by the imposition of marshal law. With the removal of marshal law in 1962, a new constitution was enforced which sustained with the recognition of initial concept of freedom of expression. But actually, a military ruler imposed the constitution, which was completely devoid of laws of freedom. However, the strong reaction of press and public resulted in constitutional amendment#1 to the 1962 constitution and in 1963; the press and publication ordinance came into organism. Press and Publication Ordinance contained harshest of laws restraining freedom of expression and the progressive progress of media. But soon in March 1969, General Yahya Khan imposed martial law and tried to curb media freedom by int roducing the system of press Advice given by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in order to avoid publication of anti government material. During this phase, the publications with independent and progressive views were taken over by the authorities. Finally the National Press Trust acted as a front to control press by taking over these journals. Western Pakistan maintenance of Public order ordinance formulated in order to merge into one law various stipulations for defensive custody of people and control of persons and publications with the help of bridle of public order and maintain the device of subjugation. In 1963 and 1964 with some modifications this law authorized government to restrict the printing of publications, to enter and search premises and to forbid trade in of newspapers, among other measures. These measures have been used by different governments until the government of Musharraf. At the time of Administrative and economical breakdown in 1961, the government took over the main news agency Associated Press of Pakistan in order to manipulate news flow. Government took it as an opportunity to filter the news items that was supplied to print, electronic, and even international media. Rather than giving chance to private venture to make better the performance of news agency, the government abruptly muscled in to regulate flow of information. The Press can not compromise with its freedom and started mutiny against the establishment by providing substitute sources for news gathering. The complementary source was the establishment of independent press. This bold step taken by press show rigid aspiration of journalists community for free media. Pakistans first civilian Chief and President Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also proved impatient ruler when respond very robustly to some anarchistic press reports by various members of press, also muted free voices and jailed some editors and publishers on the basis of alleged reason of national security. Democracy or Discrepancy: Mass Media organizations of the world are diverse and this diversity depends on the degree of enthusiasm to media reports by political elites. The societies following communism and totalitarianism generally have restrictions of what the media could represent about the government. On the other hand, the societies following a Bourgeois Democracy have not much more limitations. We find discrepancy while comparing the stance, of other democratic regimes, on media freedom with our own democratic regimes. Although Bhutto government was representing democracy, but it was stained by some dictatorial strokes on media landscapes. The new establishment, although originated on the foundations of democracy, freedom of speech and human rights, could not serve the purpose. As did the National Press Trust, the Press and Public Ordinance remained. The alternative news agency of government-owned Agency (APP), Pakistan Press International, was brought under governments control through use of force and authority. Governments Secrecy and Media Disclosure: Governments operate in secrecy; media live by disclosure. The difference among operating system of both of the estates contradicts when any kind of instability occurs in one of the above systems. Or any pillar of state misuses its power. Same happened in 1977, when the martial law was implemented. The naÃÆ' ¯ve government endeavored to work in secrecy, for this purpose the authorities curbed the media freedom badly. The media were suppressed in advance, so that any kind of intrusion in governments way can be avoided. In the era of Zias rule journalists abuse became public rather than covert. Many journalists were thrashed publicly; it was practiced frequently till the end of the government. From 1977 to August 1988 Media gone through a spectacular oppressions, the only positive change of that era was News Agency PPI were handed over back to its private sector ventures. Since then PPI is working effectively as an alternative source of news to the state owned news agency Associated Press of Pakistan The new democratic body came into power in 1985, but the laws for mass media remained the same. Blazing a tiny trail: The press law, acting as a barrier in the way of press freedom, was repealed by a new caretaker government. No doubt it was an absolute shift to democracy. This step was taken as good sign for press future and provided the latitudinal setting for media. Although it was a tiny trail in the journey of media practitioners to freedom of expression but it is blazing in murky of black laws. The regulation, Registration of Printing Presses and Publications Ordinance that was promulgated in 1988, It was being altered in a way that the governments interference in media was stopped. District Magistrate was authorized to give a receipt to a candidate for the issuance of statement for owing a printing press or publication of a journal to make available the applicant with evidence that would help avoid government intervention. In this way the governmental and other political pressures on media were abridged considerably. Moreover, newspapers get rid of compulsion to publish in full press notes issued by the government; they were given liberty to publish what they want. Although Supreme Court ruled the amendment, in law of 1988, illegal, but it was changed according to the wish of representative bodies of press. Due to a variety of reasons journalists community appealed to revise the law, they were obliged by bringing a key change in the law. The key change was stopping the regime to muscle in media affairs. A New Chapter; Old Contents: During Benazirs second term in office the independent press started highlighting and assailing charges of rampant corruption at the highest levels she hit back by proposing to bring on the statute books a new law to establish press courts in order to ensure that the so-called irresponsible and malicious journalism was effectively curbed. As Burhanuddine Hassan writes this devilish scheme was probably worse than any move ever made even in worst periods of media repression (Hassan, 2000, p. 264). In this way the new chapter brought old contents with it, due to different pressures media returned to conventions after only four months. The so-called democratic government reversed all the moves leading to freedom of expression. The positive step of this regime was approval of importing newsprint at market prices. But in 1990, Mian Nawaz Sharif took over the approval for some unknown reasons. During this regime freedom of media was curbed by conventions. Media and journalists have to face a lot of pressures and threats. Another phase of liberalism: Musharraf s government was seemed to having view of media liberty; there were less restrictions with few regulatory measures. But this liberal policy was spoiled at the end of the regime, when some critical issues were aroused. In order to respond these issues Musharraf grasped the neck of media by implementing the state of emergency. This is worthy to note that freedom of media in this era was actually consequence of globalization and impact of technological advancement in communication sector. History depicts that almost each and every government of Pakistan felt to curb media freedom in order to strengthen their regime. For this purpose they formulated laws for mass media, which acted for a long time as defender for regimes and bully for Media organizations. Other Pressures on Media: Governmental actions have encouraged non official groups to adopt uncivil and non legal means to deal with the media. The media in general and the press in particular have always been vulnerable to violence and harassment by extremist organizations and by groups and individuals whose actions are adversely commented upon by the press. Aggressive reactions also occur when the press does not publish a certain news report or does not give the prominence to some item which the extremists think the item deserves. Symptomatic of disturbance rise of intolerance in Pakistani society particularly with regard to sectarian and ethnic considerations that sharpened during the 1980s, this dimension of danger is faced by press is the price that media have paid for the protected periods of dictatorship imposed upon the people for over two decades during which division were deliberately fostered in order to weaken the political process. On occasion even the government controlled electronic media have been subjected to threats when programs featuring women, music and entertainment have sought to be realistic and contemporary rather than remain in suffocating mold of sterility preferred by the forces of obscurantism. As literacy and education increase and as level of access to international media improve, as in the case of overseas radio and satellite TV channels, there is a sense of hope that non official intimidation of the media by groups that largely remained unpunished for their attacks will diminish in the years ahead. Existing Regime and Media Laws: Pakistan Government plans to introduce new media laws Updated: Thursday July 1, 2010 10:30:03 PM ISLAMABAD: Authorities are proposing a law to restrict graphic coverage of militant attacks, and possibly curb harsh criticism of the government, by increasingly independent television channels, ARY NEWS reported. If approved by the National Assembly, the bill, known as the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Bill, would ban live coverage of the militant attacks, as well as broadcast of anything defamatory against the organs of the state. It would also prevent discussions which could influence the judiciary at a time when it has been dealing with several political cases involving President Asif Ali Zardari. The new bill prohibits media from broadcasting video footage of suicide bombers, bodies of victims of terror attacks, statements from Islamist militants and any acts which promote, aid or abet terrorist or terrorism. An offender could be sentenced to up to three years in jail or fined up to 10 million rupees ($117,100). Critics, however, say the government could use the proposed law to tame media outlets. The government has not yet set a date for voting on the bill. The bill seeks to amend a law introduced by former military President Pervez Musharraf in an attempt to muzzle the media after he imposed emergency rule in November 2007. Under the original law, media were prohibited from broadcasting or publishing statements ridiculing Musharraf, top government officials and the military. However, the present government led by Zardari, who replaced Musharraf in 2008, has proposed an amendment to strike down what it calls draconian laws by the former military ruler. The draconian laws that threatened coercive actions against the press will be removed via this bill to begin the process of providing for a free press in Pakistan, said a draft of the bill obtained by media organs. U.S. ally Pakistan is confronting a growing threat from Islamist militants. The militants have unleashed a wave of attacks across the country, killing hundreds of people, in retaliation for military offensives in their northwest bastions. Officials accuse some media outlets critical of the president of running a vilification campaign against the government, but promised they would not curb free speech. Nowhere in the civilized world are murderers, terrorists and extremists given air time on electronic media to expound their views, Farah Ispahani, a ruling party parliamentarian on the standing committee on information and broadcasting, told Reuters. This report, which will take on the shape of a bill in the next session of parliament, is not an attempt to control the media. It is a necessary code of conduct that is usually practised all over the world willingly by the electronic media. Rights activists, however, doubt the governments intentions. This bill is a self-defeating exercise. They are harming their own image and it exposes their dictatorial temperament, said Iqbal Haider, a former law minister and co-chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. To call a spade a spade or a crook a crook is no offence. The Supreme Court in December struck down a controversial law that provided amnesty to Zardari, several aides and thousands of political activities from corruption and other charges. Many of Pakistans broadcast outlets are full of the latest twists and turns of the cases surrounding Zardari, with many anchors and talk show hosts criticizing the president. Current Situation: Today Pakistani media is comparatively free as it was in past. There are few regulatory measures, formulated by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). These measures are not to regulate how to present? Or media have what to present? They are there just to decide that the bridle of media should be handed over to whom? The freedom of Pakistani media is not gifted by the government, or it is not due to leniency of the regime. It has been snitched from harsh clutch of dictators by force. The factors that are involved in achieving the liberty include; Public Support Efforts by the part of Journalists Globalizations impact Public Support: The first and most active factor that worked for achieving media freedom is public support. Pakistani people are seeking for a free, fearless and vibrant media. They refused to accept Disinformation or Dysinformation. They have become mature and shrewd enough can easily detect any kind of sly in represented facts. So in order to win their trust all type of media are working hard to become a credible source for them. Efforts of Journalists: Journalists are fighting for media freedom from so many decades. They did not compromise with their freedom of expression. Whenever it was curbed the journalists fight back, when a regime muted the voice, they find alternatives to send the information to their audience. So their struggles to achieve freedom must be admitted and admired. Globalization: With the impact of globalization media got independent in all over the world. The media boom is due to emergence of communication technologies and advancement in satellite communications. This technological expansion is one of the significant effects of globalization. All of the above factors worked together to achieve present day media freedom in Pakistan. So we may say that if the impacts of globalization may eliminated probably over media have to face problems as they faced in past due to implementation of black laws. Mass Media Laws in Pakistan: Before having a detailed discussion it is necessary to know that what existing laws for mass media are, so we will see these laws at glance, Annexure-I Constitutional Provision Article 19 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court or commission or incitement to an offence. Annexure-II Provisions of Rules of Business, 1973 In order to ensure freedom of Press and promotion of responsible Print and Electronic Media in the country as envisaged in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Federal Government entrusted a number of task to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, as provided in the Rules of Business 1973. These are: i) Policy relating to internal publicity on national matters; ii) Broadcasting including television; iii) Production of films on behalf of the Government, its agencies, Government controlled Corporations, etc.; iv) Press relations, including delegations of journalists and other information media; v) Provision of facilities for the development of newspaper industry; vi) Policy regarding government advertisement; control of advertisement and placement; vii) Audit of circulation of newspapers; viii) Liaison and coordination with agencies and media on matters concerning Government policies and activities; ix) External Publicity; x) Training facilities for Radio and Television personnel. Annexure-III Media Laws a). Press, Newspaper, News Agencies, and Book Registration Ordinance-2002. b). Press Council of Pakistan Ordinance -2002. c). Freedom of Information Act 2002. d). Defamation Ordinance 2002. e). Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance 2002. f) Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Rules 2002 g). Condition of (working journalists) Services Act, 1973; We will discuss some significant laws for print and electronic media, briefly. But before that it is necessary to discuss why they are required? Requirement of media laws: As far as the question that is it necessary to call for media laws? is concerned we can easily say that laws absolutely necessary for the proper functioning of any organization as they help to maintain check and balance. Following arguments prove the significance of media laws: 1) Media sometimes crosses the limits and does more than enough, in order to stop this there should be a check/law. 2) We often hear much about fundamental human rights on media, but by exhibiting violation of these rights media itself violates human rights. That thing also needs to be suppressed. 3) Personal and communal privacy is highly affected by media. No secret remains secret because of media globalization. Some things happen to worth keeping private so to protect privacy law is essential. 4) The owner of the product is responsible that in case the product is provided to be used by somebody else, that this user is in compliance with the above rules and regulations and agrees to not mention, comment, state or otherwise discuss anything about the respective product. A corresponding law may need to govern import restrictions so that ANYTHING, product or service or even visitors to the respective country need to sign when entering the respective country to obey to this law. Print Media Laws: CENSORSHIP: Censorship is considered very important in perspective of media. It holds same significance for media as a bridle for a horse. It keeps media in limits. A governmental organization censors anything that is considered morally corrupt. But as an old latin phrase states WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDS, here comes a point that who will suggest that something is morally crooked? Code of ethics is one thing which will help here. All laws of censorship are meaningless without the code of ethics. Government of Pakistan has tried very hard to implement laws of censorship. But this is crystal clear that Pakistani censor board has awfully failed to do so. The reason definitely is the stark absence of code of ethics. PRESS LAWS: Our freedom depends in large part, on the continuation of a free press, which is the strongest guarantee of a free society.    Richard M. Schmidt-   Constitutional Provisions Guarantees An article in constitution Pakistan provides freedom of speech and fundamental rights, this piece of writing refers especially to press and is given below: Article 19, Freedom of Speech: Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, commission of or incitement to an offense. Copyright: The advent of new communication technologies, increasing computerization, the ease with which material can be reproduced in large volumes at fairly low cost, the spread of video piracy in particular and related development makes the subject of copyright most pertinent to a developing country like Pakistan. That is why the government of Pakistan supports the international agreements on copyright and this preference for acceptance of an international disciplinary approach is reflective in the updating of and the amendments made to, the Copyright Ordinance, 1962 through the changes brought about in 1992. Laws for Broadcast Media: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority: PEMRA is a regulatory body; it was established on 1st March 2002 by the government. This is responsible for serving and regulating the establishment of all private electronic media. Its mandate is to improve the standers of information and entertainment through media and enlarge the options available to public in media. It is also established to make the peoples access easy to mass media at local and community level. The most significant mandate is have checks on media organizations through accountability and good governance. Since PEMRAs beginning in the country, electronic media of Pakistan remained in regimes control till the Pakistans first private sector TV channel was launched in 1990s. It was the mid of 90s when people started using satellite dishes for fulfilling their entertainment needs. It was the time when government realized people necessitate and adopted more liberal media policies and provided the public easy access multiple TV channels by encouraging public private participation. For the accountability purposes there was a need to have an effective regulatory frame work. By keeping in view all of the above purposes and the larger interest of the state Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority were established. Factors behind the formulation: As for as concerned, why these laws have been formulated? There are four factors behind identified by Javed Jabbar in his book Mass Media Laws and Regulations in Pakistan, according to him four factors that determined the nature and the application of laws and regulations to mass media in Pakistan from the date of its independence it would be appropriate to list the legislative material carried over from the second half of 19th century and the first forty six and a half years of twentieth century under British rule as the first of these factors. The second factor was the authoritarian mind-set which shaped the exercise of executive power. In the absence of a directly elected Parliament and with the Constituent Assembly perennially unable to frame a constitution that could satisfy both East Pakistan and the disparate groups in West Pakistan, palace intrigues thrived, myopic self centered interests becoming sharp thorns which pricked and began to hurt the press of the country. Shaped by ownership and control of vast tracts of land and other wealth, accustomed to conventional subservience of the serfs, seeing the upsurge of the pre 1947 freedom movement on mass level as a passing aberration which had to be tolerated and used for its own purposes, the feudal mind-set looked upon the media, particularly and independent press, as a constant irritant and an unacceptable challenge to the supremacy of the ruling class, a status enjoyed by this for several eras under British tutelage. The third determinant factor was the acute sense of uncertainty about the future stability of a country whose survival for not more than a couple of years had been forecast by prominent Indian leaders. Combined with the conflict over Kashmir and the first of the wars with India which occurred in 1948, the new nation faced a geo-political situation rife with security threats. In such conditions, criticism of government actions by Press can easily be seen as giving comfort to the enemy. Without a well-established tradition of engaging in candid exchange and the acceptance of dissenting viewpoints, the atmosphere facilitated a gradual increase in the influence if the military, initially behind the scenes, as a part of the lens with which the state perceived the media. Making up this quartet, was the fourth factor which shaped, policy, laws and actions with regard to the press in the early years of Pakistan. This was the continuing volatility in the political arena. An organization that was more of an emotional mass movement inspired by the idea of an independent homeland for the Muslims, the Muslim League as a political party entrusted with the tasks of leading a vast and uniquely constructed new country into stable statehood proved unable to rise the occasion. Deprived of the towering leadership of Quid-e-Azam in less than a year of independence, the party was unable to quell factionalism and unwilling to transcend provincial and parochial divisions to offer a large and unifying vision. Despite the sincerity and service of some veterans of the freedom movement the political process very quickly began to reveal internal strife, incompetence and corruption. While government controlled radio and censor controlled cinema could not offer a mirror to t he reality of these times, the press was seen as an element that was aggravating the problems already being faced, instead of helping to resolve the complexity of the situation. Introducing New Directions: In terms of fundamental and a direction setting change in mass media laws and norms, perhaps the 104 day tenure of the caretaker government appointed by Presendent Farooq Leghari on 5th November 1996 and headed by Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid becomes the most significant phase in the history of Pakistan. The only similar period of significance would be the time in September 1988 when the black law of 1963 was repealed and a new phase of press freedom was ensured. During the most recent experience of a caretaker administration, basic changes were put into place in the laws and conventions, ranging from alterations in nomenclature to ending, once and for all, the 50 year monopoly of the state and government over electronic media. One of the first decisions taken by the government in November 1996 was to change the name of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the Ministry of Information and Media Development. This amendment has more importance than merely the replacement of one word with other words. The term: broadcasting had come to acquire the propagandistic and one sided dimension by which governments imposed a one way dissemination of messages upon the people because the term: broadcasting in it self reflects a one way function rather than a two way process of dialogue and communication. Secondly with the new developments of media technology which include media that reach specific and small audiences, the concept of narrow casting has become as important as the concept of broadcasting. Thirdly and possibly most importantly, Pakistan is one of lowest levels of access to mass media by the people. For example, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have more Radio sets per 1000people as in Pakistan. The task of increasing levels of access to mass media and in turn facilitating mass media to increase their coverage of the population should become the most vital priorities for the ministry, rather than the outmoded functions of serving as an instrument for production of propaganda. The caretaker government also introduced the refres

Personal Leadership And Management Development Nursing Essay

Personal Leadership And Management Development Nursing Essay This unit is interesting in the sense that it will help develop personal leadership and management skills to support the achievement of personal career goals and organisational objectives. There are three learning outcomes that are expected to achieve upon completing this assignment. First is the analysis of personal leadership and management skills to encourage achievement of organisational objectives. This would include an assessment criterion and analysis of the impact of organisational objectives, values and culture on the leadership and management role. It would entail assessing personal leadership and management skills and identifying personal development. Second is to manage development of personal leadership and management skills to be able to meet organisational objectives. This would mean assessing of opportunities for development of leadership and management skills, constructing and managing personal development of leadership and management skills. And the last is to evaluate the effectiveness of personal development plans to develop management and leadership skills. It is my hope that by being able to discuss task 1 and 2, I would be to learn some aspects of personal leadership and management development that would be helpful in the way I serve the organization I am affiliated. Task 1 To begin with, defining the meaning organization is necessary. Organisation means a social unit of people having a systematic structure. Such organization is managed so as to pursue collective goals or to respond to a need. This is on a continuing basis. For each organisation, there is a set of its own objectives, values and culture on the leadership and management role. An example would be the mission and vision of Lynde House Care Home. It aims at putting quality first in everything they do for the residents and its relatives. The staff members aspire to be the most and successful care providers. Such objective has a big impact on the leadership and management role. The achievement of the said objective in ones own capacity as a leader/ manager is important. Then, what is the role of the leader in attaining these objectives. First and foremost, the leader must raise the awareness of every member of the staff as regards the organisational objectives. There is a need for the leader to understand what and how each individual can contribute to achieving such objectives. Leadership logically needs authority. But it is not an authority which becomes a weapon to control people. As an objective factor, to be a leader, one must have the managerial ability and skill. It is said that the most common skills are technical skills and conceptual skills. Meaning one must have the sufficient knowledge of the organizational objectives and appropriate strategies to implement them. One must be able to understand organizational concepts and to make them comprehensible to the members of the organization. Subjectively, one must have personal qualities as leader like being person-oriented, good motivator, confident in their decisions, etc. One must have the competency for communication being able to respond and to negotiate. Leadership has a major influence in the success of the organization. Leaders bring about the values and culture necessary for changes and innovation within the institution. Thus, they can adapt effective strategies and together with well-motivated employees such strategies will be carried out. Leaders are not only limited to management, that is focusing only execution and control but they can be any level of the organization. If leaders have the ability to motivate positively those around them, especially the vital resource of the organization, the members of the workforce, then the organization will certainly benefit from them. In fact, through this influence of leaders and effectively encouraging the people to a shared vision, the organization can move towards developing its people, its resources and evaluate the clients use their services or interact with them. Leaders can also determine whether or not that experience is beneficial. With leadership playing an important role in the favorable outcome of information centers and clients experiences, it would be helpful to discuss the different types of leaders and their potential impact, for example, on nursing home as an organization. The current leadership theories classify leaders based upon traits or how influence and power are used to attain organizational objectives. For trait-based descriptions, leaders may be autocratic, democratic, bureaucratic or charismatic. If it is to understand leadership from the perspective of the exchange of power and its utilization to secure outcomes, leaders may be situational, transactional or transformational. Grasping the meaning of these different terminologies can help provide a more meaningful discussion on leadership. It is worth mentioning that not all leaders are created equal and leadership quality greatly vary from one organization to another or even just within organization. It is an important aspect in leadership quality evaluation, to be able to identify the leader style of the individual. The leadership style will also gauge how effective the person is in leading the organization realize its goals. At this point, it is necessary to look into some common leadership styles. To understand how leaders style affect the organization and to look for positive benefits as regards some leadership style are also important. Below is a brief description of the different leadership styles. In autocratic type of leadership, the leader dictates everything to be done. Commitment, creativity and innovation are not valued for members are controlled in the sense that they have to do as commanded. It is a do as I say type of leaders who forces the members to perform processes in the organization even services as dictated. The leader of this type generally makes the decision without consulting from the members. Working together for a shared vision or motivating the members do not become part of the style of this leadership. This type of leadership can at times be beneficial for example in crucial military conflicts or in poor organization resulting to an inability to meet deadlines for projects. However, this type of leadership can pose problems to the organization. Since the members are controlled and are not able to contribute their ideas, they become dissatisfied and can even harbor resentment against the leader. When this happens, leadership will fail and the overall perfo rmance of the members will suffer. In order to attain the set goals of the organization, bureaucratic leadership will make clear and intelligible policies. For bureaucratic leaders policies will urge forward execution, strategy, objectives and outcomes. When policies are stated, bureaucratic leaders feel so secure that they can persuade the members to move on through policies. It is the policy that counts instead of the people. Policies directing the procedures and processes to be performed are more important for a bureaucratic leader than motivating and developing people in the workforce. This type of leadership can lead to antagonistic behavior or reserved and remote attitude from the members. But problems having to do with policies may not always be evident until the harm is done. Policies alone are not sufficient to motivate and develop people to commit themselves to achieve organizational goals. Bureaucratic leaders hold policies as primarily decisive that they become indifferent even tend to oppose any complaint s regarding the said policies. Policies are needed for any good organizational management but they must be carefully considered. For lack of due though and care and blindly implemented policy will not give incentive for employees to perform well thus, resulting to frustrated desired outcomes. Both the autocratic and bureaucratic leadership styles lack the capacity to peoples development. It can be noted that there are more negative consequences in these leadership styles rather than something that promotes the well-being of the members or the organization in itself. Democratic leadership is another leadership style in which the members thoughts, ideas or opinions are solicited in the decision-making process. In this style of leadership, the members are more participative, thus, creativity and increase of group morale can be evident. Since members could feel more involved, they can also be more committed to the projects. This may result in higher positive outcomes. However, this leadership style can have setbacks, too. For example, when the members cannot give quality contributions necessary for decision-making, certain projects can fail to move on. It is also hard to build a consensus when democratic leaders expect that everyone share the same level of expertise as regards decisions. For this style of leadership, a great amount of effort is needed thus, decision-making can be a very slow process. Charismatic leadership can be an effective trait-driven leadership style. Charismatic leaders inspires, motivates the members. Not only do they have the clarity of the vision but they have the creativity to encourage the members to execute the said vision. Charismatic leaders have the personality, the capacity and the skill to translate an idea to something new, fresh and different for the good of the organization and can arouse the members to be part of the innovation. This style of leadership may sound the most successful yet, it has some drawbacks. Since the charismatic leader holds the group even attaining a status of a hero, the members can follow blindly and can become passive followers. With this kind of submission, they may allow the leader to manipulate them. If the charismatic leader departs, it can leave a big vacuum in the organization resulting to a confused and rudderless management. The organization can struggle for years for it is hard to replace a charismatic leader. Charismatic leaders can create happy and well-motivated members but rarely gives way for developing future leaders. The trait-based leadership styles such as autocratic leadership, democratic leadership, bureaucratic leadership and charismatic leadership have been discussed. At this point, other types of leadership from the perspective of the exchange of power and its utilization to secure outcomes will be discussed. These are situational leadership, transactional leadership and transformational leadership. Situational leadership refers to a kind of leadership where the leader continuously makes suitable adjustments and adopts various styles for different situations or outcomes. In practice, this kind of leadership is helpful especially for leaders who are experienced for they are highly sensitive to the needs of the organization and its members. This style may work well when members are inexperienced and need some kind of coaching. The leader tells them exactly what to do and how to do it. Leaders responding to situational factors can choose freely from ones experiences of the different processes with the aim of approaching a desired result. But if the leader has applied the inappropriate style, problems can arise. Leadership of this style can be confusing especially when processes and decisions are not consistent. It can be said also that this type of leadership is management rather than leadership per se. Transactional leaders provide clear structure of what is expected of the member of the organization and if one is able to perform it accordingly, a reward is given. Such reward can be in the form of good performance review, a raise, a promotion, new responsibilities or a desired change in duties. Transactional leadership can be effective when working on clear goals and objectives of the organization. The members are also clear of what is expected of them to accomplish such goals. However, if reward becomes the only motivating factor for the followers, creativity among them are less encouraged and it is likely that human development even professionally at a higher level will not be ensured. In transformational leadership, leaders are able to provide opportunities for members of the organization to change and to transform them. Transformational leaders become role models for their knowledge, expertise and vision to change those around them. They have the commitment to the organizations vision and inspire those they lead to work in the same spirit. Since innovation and creativity are valuable factors for transformational leaders, they develop each individual as quality contributors. It is considered as the best leadership for it considers each individuals own evolving thought process and changing responses. They empower the members to give their best, thus, creating a people-based vision within the organization. Even if the leader is no longer present, leaders can come out from the transformed members and are able to continue to help the organization move on to productive outcomes. For environments that are fast-changing and that creative problem solving and customer comm itment become a priority, transformational leadership can be effective. In any leadership, the personality and the behavior of leader are important; any limitation can pose a problem. Each organisation has a culture; meaning the beliefs and values that have existed in an organisation for a period of time. Any organizational culture determines the beliefs and values of the members, thus, such culture has an impact on the attitudes and behaviour of the people in the workforce even to their commitment to customers service. Since the priority concern of administrators is the accomplishment of the organizational mission, there is usually an adjustment as regards leadership behaviour. And depending on the leadership style employed would also determine the job satisfaction of employees. Therefore, the relationship between organisational cultures, leadership behaviour and job satisfaction of employees must be grasped well. The culture within an organisation is very vital. It has an essential role in determining whether there is a happy and healthy environment where the members can perform their work. There is a need to motivate the members to acknowledge and accept the fundamental organizational values, thus, communication and creativity of how to promote those values must be considered. Good relationship between the leadership and followers will create greater contribution to team communication and collaboration. It will also inspire them to accomplish the mission and objectives assigned by the organization. This will certainly enhance job satisfaction among the members. Management in business terms can often mean just doing whatever to keep the organization moving on. If one desires to make ones business to grow, to become more productive and to be more customer-based service, fundamental skills in leadership and management must be well assimilated. Such skills can help to prevent crisis situations. These basic skills include problem solving and decision making, planning, meeting management, delegation, communication and managing oneself. Certainly, they will support the attainment of the organisational objectives. As a leader, one is required to know how to respond to any circumstances that may arise in the organisation. Leadership must understand well the organisational objectives, values and culture. A clear comprehension of the organizational objectives and its culture will help the leader determine the style of leadership to employ. This may need a bureaucratic type of leadership to be able to follow the organisational objectives accordingly. Members of the organization may find such leadership difficult but if the leader can acknowledge the contribution of each individual then the organization will be able to operate well. TASK 2 What is the so-called personal leadership? Personal leadership is not a mere intellectual exercise but rather it is a way of being and interacting with the world from the inside out. It is where the mind, the heart and the body become integrated so that one is fully present in ones life as well as to the things outside himself. One is aware to his habitual behavior and shows willingness to encounter every situation with fresh eyes, with beginners mind. It is this kind of personal and professional commitment that help to become effective in an environment of cultural differences. In personal leadership, one does not merely react from external circumstance but rather one tries to move to an inner experience where discernment of the best possible response can take place. For example when feelings like being frustrated or confused by a situation, the principles of personal leadership will lead one to pause to be able to create the so-called critical space between ones automatic reaction and ones righteous sense of being frustrated or confused. The critical space of being able to pause, no matter even for a moment will lead one to think a better way of saying or doing. This way of reacting shows, indeed, an intercultural competence. Personal leadership is actually leadership of oneself. It takes into account ones own personal experiences, ones own cultural programming and way of acting as one relates with others whether in ones personal or professional life. This way of being brings about quality levels of learning and insight, mutual collaboration and creativity in situations of cultural difference. Leadership and management skills must include an ability to solve problems and make decision; to do planning according to the organizational goals; to know how to delegate responsibilities to people and work load; to be able to communicate; to have meeting management skills; and most importantly to be able to know how to manage oneself. Thus, one must learn the behaviors and attitudes of an effective leader. To be a good leader, one must be able to know ones personal skills. Knowing what one is capable of will help the leader assess in what areas one can better contribute and to work more to improve weak areas. This can be done by having personal skills audit. A skills audit would mean the process which is employed to identify the skill gaps in an organisation. It has to be remembered that the objective of doing a skills audit is to improve ones ability as a leader. To raise the leaders capacity to a more excellent quality, the training needs analysis is vital for this will identify where training is needed. SKILLS AUDIT Skills and work competency areas Self assessment à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ 1 2 3 4 Using and developing my knowledge Researching, investigating and problem-solving Communicating outwardly Listening and interpretation, establishing rapport, understanding needs Developing solutions and agreeing things with people Speaking and presenting to groups Using information and communications technology Decision Making Visioning, creating, and inspiring others with my ideas Managing time, planning, and being effective, efficient, productive, and reliable Behaviours, attitudes and personal style Self assessment à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ 1 2 3 4 Striving for personal development Taking personal responsibility to resolve problems, even those not of my own making Understanding the way people really feel Developing positive relationships Keeping focused and productive, reliable and dependable Self confidence Managing stress and conflict Team-working Having compassion and care for others Managing upwards and sideways (my managerial superiors and my peers). Using integrity and ethics in my judgement about work and organisational issues Rating 4 Very well I feel confident in my ability to use this skill. 3 Satisfactory I am able to use this skill well, but my ability could be improved. 2 Needs attention My ability to use this skill needs to improve. 1 Needs considerable attention I struggle with this skill and need to put in considerable work to develop this skill. After doing the skills audit, the next step would be to plan on how to improve the areas that need most attention. There is always the possibility to develop more my leadership and management skills. This can be done, for example by asking some ideas from ones mentor, by assisting training programs aimed at attaining certain levels of skills and attending some classes offered by the organisation. Personal development planning is a vital process of shaping an action plan based on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal development within the context of a career, education, relationship or for self-improvement. To construct a personal development plan, one needs to have a clear objective to develop leadership and management skills. Based on my personal skill audit, one objective that I can make is to improve my ability to talk before any type of audience and to act confidently regardless of what the situation may be. I need the courage to voice out my ideas and opinions and to be willing to try new things even to take some risks. I must be always open to look for new opportunities rather than walk the common path. I need to possess the confidence to be able to influence others in my decision-making; to be assertive and to be able to take control of situations. Feeling something is really good, I must be able encourage others to accept my recommendations, ideas and decisions. This would mean to proactively take the lead in as many situations as possible. When there is a group decision to be made, I must be able to be the first to give recommendations. At the same time, I need not agree with everything others say but be able to say no firmly. I need to stand firm on my own decisions without being influenced or co ntrolled by others. And lastly, in terms of dealing with stress and conflict, I must be able to assess calmly any situation before reacting to it. Furthermore, I must look for positives in any circumstance and make the best of any un-favourable situations. I must work more to focus my energy on finding a solution to certain problems rather than losing my temper. These are some concrete areas I need to develop as regards my leadership and management skills. Task 3 In this task, I was asked to implement my plans and to show how I am going to manage my personal development of leadership and management skills. In task 2, I cited my plans and objectives based on my skills audit. An example cited was in terms of confidence. If I can have confidence, I can open new opportunities for myself. I will able to command more respect and to challenge others for more collaborative efforts to work for the organizational goals. I can dare to try new things and to do what others are not doing which can give me more opportunities for success and can make my life more interesting as well. Though it will take a lot of courage and patient practice, with confidence I will be able to allow radiating my authentic self Through positive assertiveness, I can no longer follow other peoples will and decisions. I can choose for myself opportunities which can help me improve my personal leadership and management skills. By being assertive, I can be more participative and can make more quality contribution. It can further build my confidence and boost my self-esteem. Learning self-control especially in terms of outburst of anger is important. It is maintaining a calm disposition and discerning a better way of responding. This would mean learning to choose ones words and to refrain from saying things that I will be disappointed or distressed later on. In difficult situations, I will learn not to give vent to anger but rather I will think of ways of using my energy in a positive way. I can try practicing compassion in recognizing the struggle of others instead of pointless confrontations. Being able to attain positive feed back can only happen in a calm atmosphere where there is no blaming. At times it can be difficult in the sense that others may feel that I am too bossy and arrogant. If this perception occurs, they would not want to follow and even listen to your suggestions. Proper communication with them can help in making them understand the organisational objectives and my plans for the organisation based on its mission and vision. Communicat ion can allow them to understand my attitudes and behaviour. It is a fact that it is difficult to keep everyone in the organization become involved but creating an atmosphere of trust where a good flow of communication is important. Task 4 In this task, I have reviewed my personal development plan in accordance to the original objectives at task 1. The aim is to render quality service in all aspects for our residents, relatives and staff. It is a vital to become the most successful care provider. Through my personal development of leadership, I have received a positive feedback from my colleagues and managers as regards the way I handled the new carer and some complaints of the service users. The managers are happy in my way of responding to such situations. The relatives and the service users are satisfied with the care that we are providing them in line with the healthcare and organisational standards. I think in order for me to maintain my leadership skills better, I would need to have good timing management, discipline and to stay focused on the task at hand. Further more, I think it is necessary to develop more my skills on decision-making by attending training programs and even attend some classes regarding good decision-making. Through these training, I can update as well my personal development plan. It is my desire to become a better and respectable leader in the future. Conclusion There are many leadership styles and certainly one can learn good aspects from them, yet, it is more essential to know the quality of ones personal leadership style. Knowing this through skill audit is a tool to discover more the positive and apparently negative aspects in the way one leads. Self-awareness is the key to effective personal leadership and management development. Each organization has its own particular environmental context of purpose, culture and needs. Before engaging in any personal leadership or management development, it will be helpful to spend time to get a clear grasp of the organizations priorities, strengths and weaknesses, challenges and competency gaps. There must be a balance between skills development and behaviour, attitudes and personality development. The latter would require more sincere commitment and would be more on a long-term basis for each individual is different and unique. Any program for personal leadership and management development must support both the growth process of each individual and the growth process of the organization as well.

Management Information Systems :: Technology, Internet Banking, PDAs

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MIS) The most common technology applied by MFIs is the management information system known as MIS. MIS is an integrated computer-based application used to access useful, timely and accurate information to allow the user to make appropriate decisions, and to manage information effectively and efficiently. MIS includes modules such as loans portfolio tracking, human resources, internal control, accounting, and financial analysis (CGAP, 2010). MIS is often one of the major factors that enable MFIs to achieve significant growth. Kashyap (2009) stressed that â€Å"It is difficult for an MFI to upscale significantly and maintain the accuracy and transparency of its loan portfolio without an MIS†.(PAGE?) PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDA) A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a palmtop computer, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. MFIs employ PDAs to ease loan processing, improve loan officer efficiency, and increase data accuracy and access in the field. To get the maximum benefits from PDAs, MFIs should have a stable MIS, and high speed access to data from their branches (Waterfield, 2004). SMART CARDS Smart Cards are wallet-sized plastic cards have an embedded microchip that allows data storage, and works like an electronic passbook that allows MFI clients to carry all their related information on this microchip. Smart cards are used to manage savings accounts, disburse loans or make transfers (Whelan, 2004). Reliable electrical power for card readers, software integration between card readers and the central management information system, together with processes, policies, and staff resources for handling lost, stolen or damaged cards are required prior to the introduction of smart cards (Whelan, 2004). POINT OF SALE (POS) Point of sale (POS) is a device or system often linked to computers, bank card readers, or even mobile telephones, that is located at a physical location such as a retail outlet, in order to perform an electronic transfer from one account to another or from a customer to a retailer. Some MFIs have implemented this technology in order to increase the security of financial transactions, reduce transaction cost in order to serve clients, and to reach new areas without branch infrastructure (Owens, 2009) MOBILE PHONES Mobile banking is a way for clients to perform balance checks, account transactions, payments, etc. using a mobile phone. Mobile phones provide a new and rapidly developing technological alternative delivery channels to extend financial services to those excluded from formal financial systems. Mobile phones allow clients to call into an automated system to conduct business transactions, and to access and request information. Management Information Systems :: Technology, Internet Banking, PDAs MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MIS) The most common technology applied by MFIs is the management information system known as MIS. MIS is an integrated computer-based application used to access useful, timely and accurate information to allow the user to make appropriate decisions, and to manage information effectively and efficiently. MIS includes modules such as loans portfolio tracking, human resources, internal control, accounting, and financial analysis (CGAP, 2010). MIS is often one of the major factors that enable MFIs to achieve significant growth. Kashyap (2009) stressed that â€Å"It is difficult for an MFI to upscale significantly and maintain the accuracy and transparency of its loan portfolio without an MIS†.(PAGE?) PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDA) A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a palmtop computer, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. MFIs employ PDAs to ease loan processing, improve loan officer efficiency, and increase data accuracy and access in the field. To get the maximum benefits from PDAs, MFIs should have a stable MIS, and high speed access to data from their branches (Waterfield, 2004). SMART CARDS Smart Cards are wallet-sized plastic cards have an embedded microchip that allows data storage, and works like an electronic passbook that allows MFI clients to carry all their related information on this microchip. Smart cards are used to manage savings accounts, disburse loans or make transfers (Whelan, 2004). Reliable electrical power for card readers, software integration between card readers and the central management information system, together with processes, policies, and staff resources for handling lost, stolen or damaged cards are required prior to the introduction of smart cards (Whelan, 2004). POINT OF SALE (POS) Point of sale (POS) is a device or system often linked to computers, bank card readers, or even mobile telephones, that is located at a physical location such as a retail outlet, in order to perform an electronic transfer from one account to another or from a customer to a retailer. Some MFIs have implemented this technology in order to increase the security of financial transactions, reduce transaction cost in order to serve clients, and to reach new areas without branch infrastructure (Owens, 2009) MOBILE PHONES Mobile banking is a way for clients to perform balance checks, account transactions, payments, etc. using a mobile phone. Mobile phones provide a new and rapidly developing technological alternative delivery channels to extend financial services to those excluded from formal financial systems. Mobile phones allow clients to call into an automated system to conduct business transactions, and to access and request information.

The Civil Rights Movement and the Decline in Racisim :: Racism, Civil Rights, Discrimination

Throughout the 60's, racism changed dramatically in a various number of ways. Changes involved the passage of bills into laws as well as involving the overall attitude of the people. Racism was largely based on white people's hatred towards blacks until the 1960's, when several major events increased problems both from whites towards blacks and from blacks towards whites. The biggest Social protest of the 1960's was the civil rights movement. It began on February 1, 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina when four black students seated themselves at the whites only lunch counter and refused to leave until they were served. After the first sit-in, it began happening all over the country and by the end of the year, 70,000 blacks staged sit-ins. Throughout this, over 3,600 people were arrested. This movement was successful, but it demonstrated non-violent protests. After this movement began, several organizations developed. Such programs include; The NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, CORE, and the Black Panthers. The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, while the SNCC stands for the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee. The SCLC stands for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who started a segregation protest traveling to Birmingham, Alabama who had the reputation of one of the most segregated cities in the United States. On May 2, 1963, over six hundred protesters were arrested, and t he majority was teenage high schoolers. The next day, the police chief, Bull Conor, ordered his police officers to shoot the protestors with high-powered water hoses ordered their dogs to attack them. By the end of the march, only twenty people reached the City Hall. After the Birmingham demonstrations, the blacks gained support from the people from the North because they witnessed how violent the South was towards the black protestors. The CORE is for the Congress of Racial Equality and started the first series of Freedom Riders in May of 1961. They traveled on two interstate buses starting in Washington D.C. and traveling to New Orleans. The people who disagreed with this movement threw stones and burnt these traveling buses in order to show their dislikeness of the blacks. All of these programs promoted rights for African Americans. The Black Panthers was organized by the SNCC and became popular in the late 60's. It was founded in Oakland, California after they protested the bill that outlawed carrying loaded weapons in public.

Firms Expansion in Global Markets Essay -- Business, Internationaliza

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development Studies related to firm’s expansion in global markets have received increasing attention at both empirical and conceptual levels. Numerous conceptual frame works and studies have been put frontward outlining firm’s choice on the way to establish internationalization procedure Whitelock (2002) and Andersen (1997). In prior studies related to the strategic management and international business have investigated a lot about the performance inference of the globally diversification strategies. However there is less work done on the performance inference of the globalization strategies related to the entrepreneurship and firm related literature. It has been empirically tested and argued by several researchers that better firms performance is related with the better level of global diversification for example Daniels and Bracker (1989), Tallman and Li (1996), Grant (1987) and Kim, Hwang and Burgers (1993). Barringer and Greening (1998) argued that one of the most important paths for the firm’s growth is geographic expansion. This type of growth strategy is relatively much important for SMEs whose scope has been confined geographically. According to Zahra, Ireland, and Hitt, (2000) the larger volume of growth and production of firms can be achieved by expanding customer bases by going into new markets. Furthermore in different geographic areas of the world, markets prevails different conditions. Firms can get high rate of return on their assets and can take advantage on market imperfection by leveraging their assets in dissimilar markets. SMEs will have to expand across the border markets to get better opportunities and better rate of returns to their assets. Milinaric (2010) has focuse... ...ee hypotheses were developed through extensive literature review. H1: Location specific factors are positively related with firm’s foreign market performance. H2: Firm specific factors are positively related with firm’s foreign market performance. H3: Owner specific factors are positively related with firm’s foreign market performance. Theoretical Framework FLO-FE model Measurement Before conducting regression analyses, data reduction was performed for factor analysis. The Firm specific factors, Location specific factors and Owner specific factors were measured on 5 point Liker scale. Ranking started from â€Å"1= strongly disagree† to â€Å"5= strongly agree. The responses to the Foreign entry performance questions ranged from â€Å"1=Much Worse† to â€Å"5=Much better†. To determine the internal reliability of the variables, cronbach’s alpha was run.

Coyote Blue Chapter 6~7

CHAPTER 6 A Malady of Medicine Santa Barbara â€Å"Look, Sam,† Aaron said. â€Å"I can see that you're not thrilled about the buy-out. So be it. I understand that you've put a lot into this agency. I can give you forty cents on the dollar, but you'll have to take a note. I'm a little cash poor since Katie made me put that trophy room on the house.† Sam looked down from the deer head. â€Å"Aaron, I didn't hire an Indian to attack Jim Cable. I still had half of the deal wrapped up with Cochran, which would have put me in the door at any time in the future to close Cable. I wouldn't have jeopardized that.† Aaron took two hand mirrors out of his desk drawer and began to juxtapose them to get a glimpse of the back of his head. Sam was used to this – it was Aaron's hourly balding check. â€Å"Cochran's secretary saw the Indian get out of your car,† Aaron said matter-of-factly. Then, looking back to the mirrors, he said, â€Å"I've been mixing Minoxidil with a little Retin A and that stuff the Man from U.N.C.L.E. sells on TV. Do you think it's working?† Sam thought of the feather on the car seat. He was sure he'd locked the car; there was no way the Indian could get in without setting off the alarm. â€Å"I don't care what anyone saw, I didn't hire the fucking Indian to attack Cable and I can't believe you bought their story without asking me.† The anger felt good. It cleared his head a little. Aaron put the mirrors down on the desk and smiled. â€Å"I didn't buy it, Sam. But if it was true you can't blame me for taking a shot at your shares.† â€Å"You greedy little fuck.† â€Å"Sam.† Aaron lowered his voice and took his  «fatherly » tone. â€Å"Samuel.† A little wink. â€Å"Sammy, hasn't my greed always been in your best interest? I'm just trying to keep you sharp, son. Would you have had any respect for me if I hadn't tried to make the best of a bad situation? That's the first thing I taught you.† â€Å"I don't know any Indian. It didn't happen, Aaron.† â€Å"If you say it didn't, it didn't. You've always been straight with me. I don't even remember the time you cut all the cords off those smoke alarms we were selling because that lady wanted cordless models.† â€Å"You told me to do that! I was only seventeen years old.† â€Å"Right, well, how was I to know she smoked in bed?† â€Å"Look, Aaron, I'll find out what happened at Motion Marine and take care of it first thing in the morning. If they call back while I'm out, try not to sign a confession for me, okay? I've had an incredibly shitty day and I've got to meet someone on upper State Street in a few minutes, so if that's all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You really like the new head?† Normally Sam would have lied, but with so many questions filling his head his highly developed lying center seemed to have shut down. â€Å"It sucks, Aaron. It sucks and I think you should sue the Man from U.N.C.L.E.† He walked out as Aaron was snatching up his hand mirrors. Gabriella was just hanging up the phone when Sam walked in. â€Å"That was the security director from your condominium association, Mr. Hunter. He'd like to talk to you right away. The association is holding an emergency meeting tonight to discuss what they are going to do about your dog.† â€Å"I don't have a dog.† â€Å"He was very upset. I have his number, but he insisted upon seeing you in person before the† – she checked her notepad – â€Å"‘lynch mob gets hold of you. â€Å" â€Å"Call him back and tell him that I don't have a dog. Dogs aren't allowed in the complex.† â€Å"He mentioned that, sir. That seems to be the problem. He said that your dog was on your back patio howling and refused to let anyone get near it and if you didn't get up there he would have to call the police.† All Sam could think was Not today. He said, â€Å"All right, call them and tell them I'm on my way. And call the garage down the street and have them come up and fix the flat tire on that orange Datsun out front. Have them bill it to my card.† â€Å"You have a three o'clock appointment with Mrs. Wittingham.† â€Å"Cancel it.† Sam started out of the office. â€Å"Mr. Hunter, this is a death claim. Mr. Wittingham passed away last week and she wants you to help fill out the papers.† â€Å"Gabriella, let me clue you in on something: once the client is dead we can afford to be a little lax on the service. The chance of repeat business is, well, unlikely. So reschedule the appointment or handle it yourself.† â€Å"But sir, I've never done a death claim before.† â€Å"It's easy: feel for a pulse; if there isn't one, give them the money.† â€Å"I am not amused, Mr. Hunter. I try to maintain a businesslike manner around here and you continually undermine me.† â€Å"Handle it, Gabriella. Call the garage. I have to go.† It was only five minutes from Sam's office to his condo in the Cliffs, a three-hundred-unit complex on Santa Barbara's mesa. From Sam's back deck he could look across the city to the Santa Lucia Mountains and from his bedroom window he could see the ocean. Sam had once rented the apartment, but when the Cliffs went condo ten years before he optioned to buy it. Since then the value of his apartment had increased six hundred percent. The complex offered three swimming pools, saunas, a weight room, and tennis courts. It was restricted to adults without children or dogs, but cats were allowed. When Sam first moved in, the Cliffs had a reputation as a swinging singles complex, a party mecca. Now, after the rise in real estate prices and the death of the middle class, most of the residents were retirees or wealthy professional couples, and the cooperative agreement they all signed set strict limitations on noise and numbers of visitors. A team of security guards patrolled the complex in go lf carts twenty-four hours a day under the supervision of a hard-nosed ex-burglar named Josh Spagnola. Sam parked the Mercedes by Spagnola's office in the back of the Cliffs' clubhouse, which, with its terra-cotta courtyards, stucco arches, and wrought-iron gates, looked more like the casa grande of a Spanish hacienda than a meeting place for condo dwellers. The door to the office was open and Sam walked in to find Spagnola shouting into the phone. Sam had never heard the wiry security chief shout. This was a bad sign. â€Å"No, I can't just shoot the damn dog! The owner is on the way, but I'm not going into his townhouse and shooting his dog, rules or no rules.† Sam noticed that even in anger Spagnola remembered to use the word townhouse to refer to the apartment. No one wanted to pay a half-million dollars for an apartment; a townhouse was another thing. People were touchy about how one referred to their homes. When Sam was selling to people who lived in trailers he always referred to them as mobile estates. The term added a certain structural integrity; you never heard on the news of a tornado touching down and ripping the shit out of a park full of mobile estates. â€Å"I am listening, Dr. Epstein,† Spagnola continued. â€Å"But you don't seem to understand my position on you missing your nap. I don't give a desiccated damn. I don't give a reconstituted damn. I don't give a creamed damn on toast. I don't give a damn. I'm not entering Mr. Hunter's home until he arrives.† Spagnola looked up and gestured for Sam to sit. Then he grinned, mimed a mimic of the caller he was listening to, looked bored, feigned falling asleep, gestured the international sign language for being jerked off, then said, â€Å"Is that so, Doctor? Well, as far as I know I have no superiors since the Crucifixion, so give it your best shot.† He slammed down the phone. Sam said, â€Å"Got something on Dr. Epstein?† Spagnola smiled. â€Å"He's porking the Cliffs' highly ethical Monday-Wednesday-Friday masseuse.† â€Å"Everybody's porking her.† â€Å"No, everybody's porking the Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday masseuse. Monday-Wednesday-Friday is very exclusive.† â€Å"And highly ethical.† â€Å"Says so in the brochure.† Spagnola grinned, then casually picked up a legal pad from his desk and looked it over. â€Å"Samuel, my friend, your puppy has kept me on the phone with charming folks like Epstein all day. Shall I read you the log?† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about, Josh. I don't have a dog.† â€Å"Then you will want to notify security about the large canine that is currently on your back deck disturbing Dr. Epstein's nap.† â€Å"I'm not kidding, Josh. If there's a dog on my deck I don't know anything about it.† Sam suddenly remembered that he'd left the sliding door to the deck open. â€Å"Christ!† â€Å"Yes, the door is open. I've told you about that before, it's an invitation to burglars.† â€Å"That deck is twenty feet off the ground. How did a dog get up there? How did it get in my apartment without setting off the alarm?† â€Å"I was wondering that same thing. If it isn't your dog, how did it get up there? It looks bad. The other association members are having an emergency meeting tonight to discuss the problem.† â€Å"There isn't a problem. Let's just go get the damn dog and take it to the pound.† â€Å"Yes, let's. I'll read the log to you while we walk over.† Spagnola rose, picked up the legal pad, and led Sam out the door, then paused, locked the office, and set the alarm. â€Å"Can't trust anyone,† he said. They walked brick paths shaded with arbors of pink and red bougainvillea while Spagnola read. â€Å"Nine A.M.: Mrs. Feldstein calls to report that a wolf has just urinated on her wisterias. I ignored that one. Nine oh-five: Mrs. Feldstein reports that the wolf is forcibly having sex with her Persian cat. I went on that call myself, just to see it. Nine ten: Mrs. Feldstein reports that the wolf ate the Persian after having his way with it. There was some blood and fur on her walk when I got there, but no wolf.† â€Å"Is this thing a wolf?† Sam asked. â€Å"I don't think so. I've only seen it from below your deck. It has the right coloring for a coyote, but it's too damn big. Naw, it can't be a wolf. You sure you didn't bring home some babe last night who forgot to tell you that she had a furry friend in the car?† â€Å"Please, Josh.† â€Å"Okay. Ten fourteen: Mrs. Narada reports that her cat has been attacked by a large dog. Now I send all the boys out looking, but they don't find anything until eleven. Then one of them calls in that a big dog has just bitten holes in the tires on his golf cart and run off. Eleven thirty: Dr. Epstein makes his first lost-nap call: dog howling. Eleven thirty-five: Mrs. Norcross is putting the kids out on the deck for some burgers when a big dog jumps over the rail, eats the burgers, growls at the kids, runs off. First mention of lawsuit.† â€Å"Kids? We've got her right there,† Sam said. â€Å"Kids aren't allowed.† â€Å"Her grandkids are visiting from Michigan. She filed the proper papers.† Spagnola took a deep breath and started into the log again. â€Å"Eleven forty-one: large dog craps in Dr. Yamata's Aston Martin. Twelve oh-three: dog eats two, count 'em, two of Mrs. Wittingham's Siamese cats. She just lost her husband last week; this sort of put her over the edge. We had to call Dr. Yamata in off the putting green to give her a sedative. The personal-injury lawyer in the unit next to hers was home for lunch and he came over to help. He was talking class action then, and we didn't even know who owned the dog yet.† â€Å"You still don't.† Spagnola ignored Sam. â€Å"From twelve thirty to one we had mass sightings and frequent urinations – I won't bore you with details – then one of my guys spotted the dog and followed it to your building, where it disappeared for a minute and reappeared on your deck.† â€Å"Disappeared? Josh, aren't you screening these guards for drug use?† â€Å"I think he meant that he lost sight of it. Anyway, it's been on your deck for a couple of hours and all the residents are convinced that it's your dog. They want to boot you out of the complex.† â€Å"They can't do that. I own the place.† â€Å"Technically, Sam, they can. You own shares in the whole complex, and in the event of a two-thirds vote by the residents they can force you to sell your shares for what you paid for them. It's in the agreement you signed. I looked it up.† They were about a hundred yards from Sam's building and Sam could now hear the howling. â€Å"That apartment's worth five times what I paid for it.† â€Å"It is on the open market, but not to the other residents. Don't worry about it, Sam. It's not your dog, right?† â€Å"Right.† Outside Sam's front door thirty of his neighbors were waiting, talking in heated tones, and glancing around. â€Å"There he is!† one shouted, pointing toward Sam and Spagnola. For a moment Sam was grateful that Spagnola was at his side, and at Spagnola's side was a.38 special. The ex-burglar leaned to Sam and whispered, â€Å"Don't say anything. Not a word. This could get ugly – I see at least two lawyers in that bunch.† Spagnola raised his hands and walked toward the crowd. â€Å"Folks, I know you're angry, but we need Mr. Hunter alive if we're going to deal with the problem.† â€Å"Thanks,† Sam said under his breath. â€Å"No charge,† Spagnola said. â€Å"It never occurred to them to kill you. Now they'll be embarrassed and go home. Lynchings are so politically incorrect, you know.† Spagnola stopped and waited. Sam stayed beside him. As if the security chief had choreographed it, the people in front of Sam's door began to look around, avoiding eye contact with one another, then shuffled off, heads down, in different directions. â€Å"You're amazing,† Sam said to Spagnola. â€Å"Nope, it's just that for a lot of years my living depended on the predictability of the professional class. Now it depends on the predictability of the criminal class. Same skills, less risk. You want me to go in first?† â€Å"You have the gun.† â€Å"Okay, you wait here.† Spagnola unlocked the door and palmed it open slowly. When the door was open just enough for him to pass, the thin security guard snaked through the opening and closed the door behind him. Sam noticed that the howling had stopped. He put his ear to the door and listened, forgetting for a moment that he had installed a soundproof fire door. A few minutes passed before the latch clicked and Spagnola poked his head out. â€Å"Well?† Sam said. â€Å"How attached are you to that leather sofa?† â€Å"It's insured,† Sam said. â€Å"Why, did he tear it up? Is he in there?† â€Å"He's in here, but I was wondering if you had some sort of – well – sentimental attachment to the sofa.† â€Å"No. Why? What's going on?† Spagnola threw the door open and stepped out of the way. Sam looked through the foyer into the sunken living room, where a large tan dog had his teeth dug into the arm of the leather sofa and was humping away on it like a furry jackhammer. â€Å"Josh, shoot that animal.† â€Å"Sam, I know how you feel. You go through life thinking that you're the only one, then you walk in on something like this – it's a blow to the ego.† â€Å"Just shoot the damn dog, Josh.† â€Å"Can't do it. California law clearly states that a firearm may only be discharged in city limits in cases of imminent physical danger. Doesn't say a word about protecting the honor of someone's couch.† Sam ran down the steps into the living room, but as he approached the dog turned and growled at him. The dog laid its ears back against its head, narrowed its golden eyes, and, still growling, began to back Sam into the corner of the living room. â€Å"Josh! Does this qualify as imminent physical danger? Please say yes.† â€Å"Getting there,† Spagnola said, very calmly, as he drew his weapon. â€Å"Don't let him see you're afraid, Sam. Dogs can sense fear.† â€Å"This isn't a dog, this is a coyote. This is a wild animal, Josh.† Sam was flattened against the fifty-two-inch screen of his television and was still pushing so that the television was tilting back, ready to fall. He could smell a foul, musky odor coming off the animal. â€Å"Shoot it, please. Now, please.† â€Å"Quiet, Sam. I'm aiming. You can't shoot them in the head. They need that to see if it's rabid. Coyotes aren't normally aggressive. I saw it on PBS.† â€Å"This one didn't see the program, Josh. Shoot him.† â€Å"It might take two shots to drop him. If he leaps, cover your throat until I get the second one into him.† Spagnola fired and the TV shattered behind Sam. The coyote stood its ground unaffected. Sam backpedaled over the destroyed television as Spagnola fired again, taking out a vase on the mantel. The coyote looked at Spagnola quizzically. The third shot shattered the sliding glass door, the fourth and fifth punctured a stereo speaker, and the sixth ricocheted off the fireplace and out over the city. When Spagnola's revolver clicked on an empty chamber he turned and bolted out the front door. Sam climbed off the broken television and braced for the coyote's attack. His ears rang with residual gunfire but he could hear laughing from across the room. The coyote was gone, but sitting on his couch, dressed in black buckskins trimmed with red feathers, was the Indian, his head thrown back in laughter. â€Å"Hey!† Sam shouted. â€Å"What are you doing?† In an instant the Indian leapt up and ran through the shattered glass door onto the deck. He looked over his shoulder and grinned at Sam before vaulting over the railing and dropping out of sight. Sam ran to the deck and looked over the rail. The Indian was gone, but he could hear his cackling laugh echoing down the canyon into town. Sam stumbled back from the rail and into the house, where he sat down on the couch and cradled his head in his hands. There had to be an explanation. Someone was screwing with his life. He riffled through his past as far as he would allow himself, looking for enemies he might have made. They were there – competing salesmen, angry customers, angrier women – dotting his life like dandelions on a lawn, but none would have gone to such elaborate measures to cause him trouble. In an honest assessment of himself he realized that he had never really been passionate enough about anything to really make that big a difference to anyone, good or bad. Since he'd run from the reservation he couldn't afford the high profile of passionate behavior. Still, there had to be an answer somewhere. Sam thought about prayer, then faith, then remembered something that lay tucked away in the back of his sock drawer. He ran up the stairs to his bedroom and threw open the drawer. He removed a small buckskin bundle and untied the thong that held it together. Objects he had not seen in twenty years – teeth, claws, fur, and sweet grass braids – spilled out on the dresser. Among them lay a red feather that he had never seen before. Sam looked at the coyote medicine and began to tremble. Coyote Makes the World A long time ago there was water everywhere. Old Man Coyote looked around and said, â€Å"Hey, we need some land.† It was his gift from the Great Spirit that he could command all of the animals, which were called the Without Fires Clan, so he called four ducks to help him find land. He ordered each of the ducks to dive under the water and find some mud. The first three returned with nothing, but the fourth duck, because four is the sacred number and that is the way things go in these stories, returned with some mud from the bottom. â€Å"Swell,† said Old Man Coyote. â€Å"Now I will make some land.† He made the mountains and the rivers, the prairies and the deserts, the plants and the animals. Then he said, â€Å"Guess I'll make some people now, so there will be someone to tell stories about me.† From the mud he made some tall and beautiful people. Old Man Coyote liked them very much. â€Å"I will call them Absarokee, which means ‘Children of the Large-Beaked Bird. Someday some dumb white guys will come here and get the translation all wrong and call them Crow.† â€Å"What are they going to eat?† one of the ducks asked. â€Å"They have no feathers or fur. What will they cover themselves with?† asked a second duck. â€Å"Yes,† said a third duck. â€Å"They're pretty, but they won't be able to stay out in the weather.† Old Man Coyote thought for a while about how much he disliked ducks, then he took some more mud and made a strange-looking animal with a thick coat and horns. â€Å"Here,† he said. â€Å"They can get everything they need from this animal. I'll call it a buffalo.† The fourth duck had been standing by watching all this and smoking a cigarette. â€Å"It's a big animal. Your people won't be able to catch it,† he said, blowing a long stream of blue smoke in Old Man Coyote's face. â€Å"Okay, so here's another animal that they can ride so they can catch the buffalo.† â€Å"And how will they catch that one?† asked the fourth. â€Å"Look, duck, do I have to work out everything? I made the world and these people and I've given them everything they need, so just back off.† â€Å"But if they have everything they need, what will they do? Just sit around telling stories about you?† â€Å"That would be good.† â€Å"Boring,† said the duck. â€Å"I'll make them a bunch of enemies. They'll be hopelessly outnumbered and have to fight all the time and do all kinds of war rituals. How's that?† â€Å"They'll get wiped out.† â€Å"No, I'll stay with them. The Children of the Large-Beaked Bird will be my favorites, although some of their enemies can tell stories about me too.† â€Å"But what if the buffalo animals all get killed?† â€Å"Won't happen. There's too many of them.† â€Å"But what if they do?† â€Å"Then I guess the people are fucked. I'm tired and dirty and cold from standing in all that water. I'm going to invent the sweat bath and warm up.† So Old Man Coyote built a sweat lodge out of willow branches and buffalo skins. He heated the rocks in a fire and put them in a pit in the middle of the sweat lodge, then he and the ducks crawled inside and closed the door, making it completely dark inside. â€Å"Hey, put out that cigarette!† Old Man Coyote said to the fourth duck. The duck threw the cigarette on the hot rocks and smoke filled the lodge. â€Å"That smells pretty good,† Old Man Coyote said. â€Å"Let's throw some other stuff on the fire and see how it goes.† He threw on some cedar needles and they smelled pretty good too, then he threw on some sweet grass and some sage. â€Å"This stuff will be part of the sweat ceremony, too. And some water – we need some water so it will really get hot and miserable in here.† â€Å"And we can get truly purified and clean?† asked the third duck. â€Å"Right,† said Old Man Coyote. â€Å"First I'll pour four dippers of water on the rocks for the four directions.† â€Å"And the four ducks.† â€Å"Right,† said Old Man Coyote. â€Å"Now I'll pour on seven dippers for the seven stars of the Big Dipper. Then ten more because ten is a nice even number.† He handed each of the ducks a willow switch to beat their backs with. â€Å"Here, wail on yourself with these.† â€Å"What for?† asked the second duck. â€Å"Tenderize†¦ er†¦ I mean†¦ it brings up the sweat and purifies you.† Then, when the ducks were beating their backs with the willow branches, Old Man Coyote said, â€Å"Okay, now I'm going to pour a whole bunch of dippers on the rocks. I'm not even going to count, but we are going to be really hot and really clean and pure.† Then he poured and poured until it was so hot in the lodge that he could not stand it and he slipped out the door, leaving the ducks inside. Later, after he had plunged into the river to cool off, he ate a big meal and laid down to rest. â€Å"That was plumb swell,† he said to himself. â€Å"I think I'll give the sweat to my new people. It can be their church and sacrament and they can think of me whenever they go in. It is my gift to them. I guess no one really needs to know about the ducks.† Then Old Man Coyote picked up a willow twig and picked a bit of duck meat from between his teeth. â€Å"The sage gives them a nice flavor, though.† CHAPTER 7 The Children of the Large-Beaked Bird Crow Country – 1967 Samson Hunts Alone sat on a bench by the sweat lodge behind his grandma's house, watching as Pokey carried the hot rocks with a pitchfork from the fire to the pit in the sweat lodge. Samson was supposed to be paying attention to the ritual that Pokey was performing and preparing himself to pray to the Great Spirit to bring him good medicine on his fast, but more than anything he wanted to be inside with the little kids and the women watching ;Bonanza; on television. Grandma had cooked up a big batch of fry bread for the meal after the sweat and Samson's stomach growled when he thought about it. Pokey, straining under a pitchfork full of red-hot rocks, said, â€Å"Can't nobody cross my path between the fire and the sweat during the first four trips.† Uncle Harlan, who was sitting next to Samson, let out a sarcastic snicker. Pokey looked up at him, his brow lowered in reproach. â€Å"The boys have to learn, Harlan,† Pokey said. Harlan nodded. On the other side of Samson sat his two older cousins, Harry and Festus, thirteen and fourteen, who had been through the sweat for purification and prayer for their success on the basketball court at Hardin Junior High School. They had come the fifteen miles down to Crow Agency with Harlan, their father, to participate in Samson's sweat. Uncle Harlan didn't believe in the old ways. He often said that he didn't want his boys to grow up with their heads full of ideas that didn't work in the modern world. Still, because of the obligations he felt to his family he often drove down for sweats, participated in ritual gift giving, and never missed the Sun Dance in June. He lived in Hardin, north of the reservation, where he rebuilt truck engines during the day and drank hard in the bars at night. He fought often and lost seldom. When he was drinking with Uncle Pokey, the two of them lying on the bed of Pokey's pickup staring into the limitless stars of Montana's big sky, passing a bottle of Dickel Sour Mash between them, Harlan would talk of his time in Vietnam, of the two brothers he lost there, and of the warrior blood that was part of the Hunts Alone family. Pokey would answer Harlan's painful pride with parables and mystical references until Harlan could stand it no longer. â€Å"Damn it, Pokey, can your medicine fix a Cummins diesel? Can it fill out a tax form? Can it get you a job? Fuck medicine. Fuck fasting. Fuck the Sun Dance. If I thought I could do it, I'd take Joan and the kids and go a thousand miles from here.† â€Å"You'd be back,† Pokey would say. Then the two of them would lie there drinking in silence for long minutes before one of them would bring up basketball, hunting, or truck engines – some topic safe and far away from Harlan's anger. Some of those nights Samson would crawl out of his cot, sneak past the six cousins that slept in his room and out into the yard, where he would lie by the wheel of the old truck and listen to the two men talk. Harlan was the only adult Samson knew who would talk about the dead, so the boy would lie there with his face against the cold grass hoping to hear something about his father or his mother, but mostly he heard about his two uncles, dead in the jungles, or his grandfather, who died piece by piece in a white hospital of diabetes. His father had died too young to leave many stories or a strong ghost. Not that Harlan would admit to believing in ghosts. â€Å"If I'm haunted,† he would tell Pokey, â€Å"it's not by my unrevenged brothers, it's by you and your back-assward ways.† After time and hangovers passed, Samson would ask Pokey about Harlan and always get the same answer. â€Å"Poor Harlan, he is out of balance. I should dance for him at the Sun Dance.† It was no answer. Samson remained confused. Samson watched as Harlan rose from the bench and undressed for the sweat. He was tall and lean, his skin deep red-brown in the firelight, his eyes and hair black as an obsidian arrowhead: pure Crow brave. But as Samson undressed he wondered why his uncle seemed so unhappy with his heritage. He treated his Crow blood like a curse, while Pokey seemed to see it as a blessing. They were half brothers, sharing the same mother, belonging to her clan, growing up in the same house; why were they so different? Why did neither one seem to be able to live comfortably in his own skin? Naked, they all entered the low dome of the sweat lodge and sat in a circle around its perimeter. Pokey placed a bucket of water by the fire pit, then he pulled down the door flap. He added sweet grass and cedar to the hot rocks and fragrant smoke filled the lodge as he sang a prayer song. His prayers were in English, which Samson knew embarrassed him some. Pokey, like Grandma, had gone to a boarding school run by the BIA where Indians were forbidden to speak or learn their own language or religion. In this way the BIA hoped that the Native American culture would disappear into the larger white culture, assimilated. Harlan, on the other hand, was ten years younger than Pokey and, like Samson, had been taught Crow in school as part of the BIA's move to preserve Indian culture. Pokey poured four dippers of water onto the rocks and Samson lowered his face to avoid the steam. As Pokey sang, Samson let his mind wander to the Ponderosa. He would like to live on that big ranch in that big house and have his own room and two guns like Little Joe Cartwright. Until Grandma had taken all their per capita money a year ago and bought the big black-and-white television at the Kmart in Billings, Samson thought that everyone lived in a small house with twenty cousins and five or six aunts and uncles and their grandma. Everyone on the reservation seemed to. Before the television arrived Samson did not know he was poor. Now he spent every evening piled in the front room with his family watching people he did not know do things he did not understand in places he could not fathom, while the commercials told him that he should be just like those people. None of those people ever took a sweat. Pokey had poured the seven dippers and the sweat lodge was so hot that Samson's mind went white. He lay down on the floor to breathe some cooler air. Someone lifted his head and asked him if he was okay. He answered yes and passed out. -=*=- Water was being splashed on his face. Samson came to and realized that he was being held in Harlan's strong arms. â€Å"We did a naming ceremony for you, Samson,† Harlan said. â€Å"From now on you shall be called Squats Behind the Bush. And you owe each of us a carton of cigarettes and a new Ford truck.† Samson saw that Harlan was grinning at him and he smiled back. â€Å"If I don't take the name, do I have to give you the gifts?† Harlan laughed and set the boy on his feet by a fifty-five-gallon drum where Harry and Festus were pouring dippers of water over their heads. After they were dried off and redressed Pokey moved the rocks out of the pit and replaced them with hot ones from the fire so the women could take their sweat. Pokey finished and led them into the house, which was surprisingly quiet. The little kids were in bed and the women filed out to the sweat silently as soon as the men entered. The cheap Formica table was set with five plastic bowls around a big pot of venison-and-cabbage stew and a basket of fry bread. Harlan poured them all coffee from a big black urn on the counter while Pokey dished up the stew. Samson attacked a piece of fry bread and was tearing away at its stretchy, donutlike crust when Harlan sat down next to him and said, â€Å"So, Squats Behind the Bush, what are you gonna do tomorrow if you see Old Man Coyote in your vision like your Uncle Pokey did?† Festus and Harry giggled. Samson answered the sarcasm in earnest. â€Å"Pokey's the only one with Coyote medicine. Pretty Eagle said so.† â€Å"Good thing, too,† Harlan said. â€Å"Some of us have to live in the real world.† â€Å"Harlan!† Pokey shouted. â€Å"Let it go.† â€Å"It's gone,† Harlan said. â€Å"It's as gone as can be, Pokey.† They finished their meal in silence, Samson wondering what Harlan meant by â€Å"It's gone.† Later, as he fell asleep listening to the soft breathing of his cousins, he imagined himself living on the Ponderosa; sleeping in his own room, herding cattle on his own black horse, carrying two shiny six-guns, practicing his fast-draw, and always staying on the lookout for Indians.

The Dictator Next Door

Eric Paul Roorda’s The Dictator Next Door is an insightful and incisive work of diplomatic history, studying the United States’ dealings from 1930 to 1945 with Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, for years a foreign policy problem unto himself. It also demonstrates how the Good Neighbor Policy, which claimed to promote solidarity and peace among western hemisphere nations, came to allow dictators in Latin America â€Å"to run their countries however they pleased, so long as they maintained common enemies with the United States: first the fascists, then the communists† (1).The book is essentially a study of how the democratic United States tolerated and even supported military dictatorships in other nations, despite some diplomats’ desire to shun dictators and promote democracy abroad. Roorda’s main argument centers on how the despotic Trujillo presented the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations with problems, because he was no pliable puppet.Difficul t to control and a frequent embarrassment to the United States, Trujillo had few friends in the State Department, but the United States military and presidents backed him because he was neither fascist nor communist, and because the Good Neighbor policy called for supporting standing rulers, regardless of their methods. Roorda traces the history of Dominican-American relations and demonstrates how American influence on the region built for years before Trujillo’s rise.A former Spanish colony, the Dominican Republic was ruled by Haiti until its independence in 1844, after which the military assumed long-lasting control and foreign powers jockeyed for influence there. The United States’ influence increased steadily between 1860 and 1904, and culminated in the United States Marine Corps’ takeover in 1915. During this period, the American military trained Dominican men to serve in its constabulary and army, thus establishing a sort of school for dictators in which R afael Trujillo was its best student.Trujillo received training from the Marine Corps and earned an Army commission during this time, despite a history of criminal activity, including rape and extortion (for which he escaped punishment), and rose to the rank of general. Not the United States’ first choice as the Dominican Republic’s leader, he rallied the army to stage a coup in 1930, three years before the Good Neighbor policy was introduced, and was helped by the Hoover administration’s nonintervention policy, which preferred commerce over militarism as a means of promoting good will.Roorda explains the process in great detail in chapter two and does not spare the American government from sharp criticism. He maintains that Hoover’s desire to redeem the United States’ image in Latin America, as well as the administration’s unwillingness to back his ambassador (who distrusted Trujillo and refused to recognize him), helped Trujillo maintain hi s control.Wary of Theodore Roosevelt’s and Woodrow Wilson’s use of â€Å"gunboat diplomacy,† the Hoover administration recognized Trujillo because he seemed likely to protect American commercial interests and it was more politically expedient to recognize de facto regimes, dictatorships or otherwise. He even states plainly that the savvy Trujillo was able to play the American legation against the American military, which trained and obviously respected Trujillo. Clearly critical of American behavior in Latin America, Roorda states that â€Å"in the history of U. S.relations with its closest neighbors . . . the rhetoric of solidarity and protection against European aggression ran counter to the brutal logic and increasing momentum of U. S. territorial expansion and imperial ambitions† (23). He deems the policy paradoxical from the outset; while it promoted friendship with Latin America (which filtered into popular culture during the 1930s and ‘40s), Latin American intellectuals were less than enthusiastic because it relied on American authority and kept authoritarian regimes in power, Trujillo’s being the most egregious.During the Depression, Trujillo consolidated his power even further despite the Dominican economy’s near-collapse, receiving additional American economic aid, mainly because of his promises to protect American business interests. However, he soon became â€Å"the greatest source of instability in U. S. -Dominican relations. . . . As U. S. officials found out, the benefits of a ‘stabilizing’ dictatorship could be canceled out by an unreliable dictator† (87).Roorda maintains that the Good Neighbor policy itself was an empty, nebulous policy created by Franklin Roosevelt, whom he characterizes as â€Å"a master of innuendo, ambiguity, paradox, and the manipulation of disparate personalities† (91). In chapter four, Roorda characterizes Trujillo as a shrewd, image-conscious ma nipulator of public opinion on a par with FDR, but with total control of an intimidating military that crushed any opposition.Trujillo flouted his authority, renaming geographical features, parks, and even the capital city for himself, surrounding his rule with public spectacle, and assuming total control of the Dominican press in order to glorify his regime and even deify himself. One telling newspaper quote deemed him â€Å"so necessary that [the people] give him permanent power† and somehow dubbed his regime â€Å"super-democracy† (95).The American government, meanwhile, was aware of Trujillo’s transgressions yet played into his hands, even assisting his censorship campaign and public-relations efforts. While the United States was not fooled, Roorda implies, it played along in an effort to heed the Good Neighbor policy’s claim to support national sovereignty and thus allowed Trujillo a free hand. The entire book centers on a single recurring theme: the folly of a democracy supporting dictators.Roorda maintains that â€Å"the reliance on dictators to attain the traditional U. S. goals of stability and cooperation in Latin America meant having to ignore those instances when the strongmen themselves incited unrest and conflict† (147). The American military is partly to blame, since it trained Trujillo and treated him as a favored protà ©gà ©, while diplomats saw through the dictator’s pageantry and disapproved of his methods (Trujillo returned their disdain).Roorda casts a good deal of the blame at the Roosevelt administration, which, in its efforts to avoid heavy-handed intervention, allowed Trujillo to remain in power because he seemed to represent stability even while disrupting Dominican-American relations (with his conduct at home and his occasional bloody attacks against neighboring Haiti). In describing American logic vis-à  -vis Trujillo, â€Å"Dominican stability made him practical to deal with,† eve n if that meant turning a blind eye to the questionable ethics of backing brutal regimes that did not threaten American dominance or prosperity.At times, he argues, this meant that Trujillo was the proverbial tail wagging the American dog, getting his way because Roosevelt lacked the will or the political clout to intervene against him. The book uses ample detail and careful research in describing the United States’ paradoxical relationship with Trujillo, relying heavily on government documents, personal papers, the contemporary press, and a large number of secondary sources.While its assertions are not groundbreaking (recent diplomatic history is harshly critical of American support for brutal dictators), it is well-written, with concise prose and well-constructed arguments, on the whole an excellent diplomatic history. For scholars seeking an explanation of American relations with Latin America, and who do not mind its sharp criticisms of American foreign policy’s et hical lapses and oversights, The Dictator Next Door is well worth one’s while.