Black House Chapter Thirteen

13 DANNY TCHEDA and Pam Stevens already have their hands full with would-be gate-crashers when they hear the sound of motorcycles gunning toward them, and the arrival of the Thunder Five is all they need to make their day really complete. Getting rid of Teddy Runkleman and Freddy Saknessum had been easy enough, but not five minutes later the eastbound lanes of Highway 35 filled up with people who thought they had a perfect right to gawk at all the little corpses that were supposed to be stacked up in the wreckage of Ed's Eats. For every car they finally manage to send away, two more show up in its place. Everybody demands a long explanation of why they, as taxpayers and concerned citizens, should not be allowed to enter a crime scene, especially one so tragic, so poignant, so . . . well, so exciting. Most of them refuse to believe that the only body inside that tumbledown building is Irma Fre-neau's; three people in a row accuse Danny of abetting a cover-up, and one of them actually use s the word â€Å"Fishergate.† Yikes. In a weird way, lots of these corpse hunters almost think that the local police are protecting the Fisherman! Some of them finger rosaries while they chew him out. One lady waves a crucifix in his face and tells him he has a dirty soul and is bound for hell. At least half of the people he turns away are carrying cameras. What kind of person sets off on a Saturday morning to take pictures of dead children? What gets Danny is this: they all think they're perfectly normal. Who's the creep? He is. The husband of an elderly couple from Maid Marian Way says, â€Å"Young man, apparently you are the only person in this county who does not understand that history is happening all around us. Madge and I feel we have the right to a keepsake.† A keepsake? Sweaty, out of sorts, and completely fed up, Danny loses his cool. â€Å"Buddy, I agree with you right down the line,† he says. â€Å"If it was up to me, you and your lovely wife would be able to drive away with a bloodstained T-shirt, maybe even a severed finger or two, in your trunk. But what can I say? The chief is a very unreasonable guy.† Off zooms Maid Marian Way, too shocked to speak. The next guy in line starts yelling the moment Danny leans down to his window. He looks exactly like Danny's image of George Rathbun, but his voice is raspier and slightly higher in pitch. â€Å"Don't think I can't see what you're doing, buster!† Danny says good, because he's trying to protect a crime scene, and the George Rathbun guy, who is driving an old blue Dodge Caravan minus the front bumper and the right side-view mirror, shouts, â€Å"I been sitting here twenty minutes while you and that dame do doodly-squat! I hope you won't be surprised when you see some VIGILANTE ACTION around here!† It is at this tender moment that Danny hears the unmistakable rumble of the Thunder Five charging toward him down the highway. He has not felt right since he found Tyler Marshall's bicycle in front of the old folks' home, and the thought of wrangling with Beezer St. Pierre fills his brain with dark oily smoke and whirling red sparks. He lowers his head and stares directly into the eyes of the red-faced George Rathbun look-alike. His voice emerges in a low, dead monotone. â€Å"Sir, if you continue on your present course, I will handcuff you, park you in the back of my car until I am free to leave, and then take you to the station and charge you with everything that comes to mind. That is a promise. Now do yourself a favor and get the hell out of here.† The man's mouth opens and closes, goldfishlike. Splotches of brighter red appear on his jowly, already flushed face. Danny keeps staring into his eyes, almost hoping for an excuse to truss him in handcuffs and roast him in the back seat of his car. The guy considers his options, and caution wins. He drops his eyes, moves the shift lever to R, and nearly backs into the Miata behind him. â€Å"I don't believe this is happening,† Pam says. â€Å"What dumb so-and-so spilled the beans?† Like Danny, she is watching Beezer and his friends roar toward them past the row of waiting cars. â€Å"I don't know, but I'd like to ram my nightstick down his throat. And after him, I'm looking for Wendell Green.† â€Å"You won't have to look very far. He's about six cars back in the line.† Pam points to Wendell's traveling sneer. â€Å"Good God,† Danny says. â€Å"Actually, I'm sort of glad to see that miserable blowhard. Now I can tell him exactly what I think of him.† Smiling, he bends down to speak to the teenaged boy at the wheel of the Miata. The boy leaves, and Danny waves off the driver behind him while watching the Thunder Five get closer and closer. He says to Pam, â€Å"At this point, if Beezer climbs up in my face and even looks like he wants to get physical, I'm pulling out my roscoe, honest to God.† â€Å"Paperwork, paperwork,† Pam says. â€Å"I really don't give a damn.† â€Å"Well, here we go,† she says, telling him that if he pulls his gun, she will back him up. Even the drivers trying to argue their way into the lane are taking time out to watch Beezer and the boys. In motion, hair and beards blowing, faces set, they look ready to commit as much mayhem as possible. Danny Tcheda's heart begins to speed, and he feels his sphincter tighten. But the Thunder Five bikers race past without so much as turning their heads, one after another. Beezer, Mouse, Doc, Sonny, and the Kaiser there they go, leaving the scene. â€Å"Well, damn,† Danny says, unable to decide if he feels relieved or disappointed. The abrupt jolt of dismay he registers when the bikers wheel around in a comprehensive, gravel-spraying U-turn thirty yards up ahead tells him that what he had felt was relief. â€Å"Oh, please, no,† Pam says. In the waiting automobiles, every head turns as the motorcycles flash by again, returning the way they came. For a couple of seconds, the only sound to be heard is the receding furor of five Harley-Davidson cycles. Danny Tcheda takes off his uniform hat and wipes his forehead. Pam Stevens arches her back and exhales. Then someone blasts his horn, and two other horns join in, and a guy with a graying walrus mustache and a denim shirt is holding up a three-quarter-sized badge in a leather case and explaining that he is the cousin of a county-circuit judge and an honorary member of the La Riviere police force, which basically means he never gets speeding or parking tickets and can go wherever he likes. The mustache spreads out in a big grin. â€Å"So just let me get by, and you can go back to your business, Officer.† Not letting him get by is his business, Danny says, and he is forced to repeat this message several times before he can get on to the next case. After sending away a few more disgruntled citizens, he checks to see how long he must wait before he can tell off Wendell Green. Surely the reporter cannot be more than two or three cars back. As soon as Danny raises his head, horns blast and people start shouting at him. Let us in! Hey, bud, I pay your salary, remember? I wanna talk to Dale, I wanna talk to Dale! A few men have gotten out of their cars. Their fingers are pointing at Danny, their mouths are working, but he cannot make out what they are yelling. A band of pain runs like a red-hot iron bar from behind his left eye to the middle of his brain. Something is wrong; he cannot see Green's ugly red car. Where the hell is it? Damn damn and double damn, Green must have eased out of the line and driven into the field alongside Ed's. Danny snaps around and inspects the field. Angry voices and car horns boil up at his back. No beat-up red Toyota, no Wendell Green. What do you know, the windbag gave up! A few minutes later the traffic thins out, and Danny and Pam think their job is pretty much over. All four lanes of Highway 35 are empty, their usual condition on a Saturday morning. The one truck that rolls along keeps on rolling, on its way to Centralia. â€Å"Think we ought to go up there?† Pam asks, nodding toward the remains of the store. â€Å"Maybe, in a couple minutes.† Danny is not eager to get within range of that smell. He would be perfectly happy to stay down here until the M.E. and the evidence wagon come along. What gets into people, anyhow? He would happily surrender two days' pay to be spared the sight of Irma Freneau's poor body. Then he and Pam hear two distinct sounds at once, and neither one makes them comfortable. The first is that of a fresh wave of vehicles racing down the highway to their position; the second, the rumble of motorcycles descending upon the scene from somewhere behind the old store. â€Å"Is there a back road to this place?† he asks, incredulous. Pam shrugs. â€Å"Sounds like it. But look Dale'll have to deal with Beezer's goons, because we're gonna have our hands full down here.† â€Å"Aw, cripes,† Danny says. Maybe thirty cars and pickups are converging on the end of the little lane, and both he and Pam can see that these people are angrier and more determined than the first bunch. At the far end of the crowd, some men and women are leaving their vehicles on the shoulder and walking toward the two officers. The drivers at the front of the pack are waving their fists and shouting even before they try to turn in. Incredibly, a woman and two teenage kids are holding up a long banner that reads WE WANT THE FISHERMAN! A man in a dusty old Caddy thrusts his arm through the window and displays a handmade placard: GILBERTSON MUST GO. Danny looks over his shoulder and sees that the Thunder Five must have found a back road, because four of them are standing out in front of Ed's, looking oddly like Secret Service agents, while Beezer St. Pierre is deep in discussion with the chief. And what they look like, it occurs to Danny, is two heads of state working out a trade agreement. This makes no sense at all, and Danny turns back to the cars, the lunatics with signs, and the men and women working their way toward him and Pam. A barrel-chested, seventy-one-year-old man with a white goatee, Hoover Dalrymple, plants himself in front of Pam and starts demanding his inalienable rights. Danny remembers his name because Dalrymple initiated a brawl in the bar of the Nelson Hotel about six months earlier, and now here he is all over again, getting his revenge. â€Å"I will not speak to your partner,† he yells, â€Å"and I will not listen to anything he says, because your partner has no interest in the rights of the people of this community.† Danny sends away an orange Subaru driven by a sullen teenage boy in a Black Sabbath T-shirt, then a black Corvette with La Riviere dealer's plates and a strikingly pretty, strikingly foulmouthed young woman. Where do these people come from? He does not recognize anyone except Hoover Dalrymple. Most of the people in front of him now, Danny supposes, were hailed in from out of town. He has set out to help Pam when a hand closes on his shoulder, and he looks behind him to see Dale Gilbertson side by side with Beezer St. Pierre. The four other bikers hover a few feet away. The one called Mouse, who is of course roughly the size of a haystack, catches Dale's eye and grins. â€Å"What are you doing?† Danny asks. â€Å"Calm down,† Dale says. â€Å"Mr. St. Pierre's friends have volunteered to assist our crowd-control efforts, and I think we can use all the help they can give us.† Out of the side of his eye, Danny glimpses the Neary twins breaking out of the front of the crowd, and he holds up a hand to stop them. â€Å"What do they get out of this?† â€Å"Simple information,† the chief says. â€Å"Okay, boys, get to work.† Beezer's friends move apart and approach the crowd. The chief moves beside Pam, who first looks at him in amazement, then nods. Mouse snarls at Hoover Dalrymple and says, â€Å"By the power invested in me, I order you to get the fuck out of here, Hoover.† The old man vanishes so quickly he seems to have dematerialized. The rest of the bikers have the same effect on the angry sightseers. Danny hopes they can maintain their cool in the face of steady abuse: a three-hundred-pound man who looks like a Hells Angel on a knife edge between self-control and mounting fury works wonders on a rebellious crowd. The biker nearest Danny sends Floyd and Frank Neary away just by raising his fist at them. As they melt back to their car, the biker winks at Danny and introduces himself as Kaiser Bill. Beezer's friend enjoys the process of controlling a crowd, and an immense grin threatens to break through his scowl, yet molten anger bubbles underneath, just the same. â€Å"Who are the other guys?† Danny asks. Kaiser Bill identifies Doc and Sonny, who are dispersing the crowd to Danny's right. â€Å"Why are you guys doing this?† The Kaiser lowers his head so that his face hangs two inches from Danny's. It is like confronting a bull. Heat and rage pour from the broad features and hairy skin. Danny almost expects to see steam puffing from the man's wide nostrils. One of the pupils is smaller than the other; explosive red wires tangle through the whites. â€Å"Why? We're doing it for Amy. Isn't that clear to you, Officer Tcheda?† â€Å"Sorry,† Danny mutters. Of course. He hopes Dale will be able to keep a lid on these monsters. Watching Kaiser Bill rock an ancient Mustang belonging to a fool kid who failed to back up in time, he is extremely happy that the bikers don't have any blunt instruments. Through the vacant space formerly occupied by the kid's Mustang, a police car rolls toward Danny and the Kaiser. As it makes its way through the crowd, a woman wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and Capri pants bangs her hand against the passenger windows. When the car reaches Danny the two part-timers, Bob Holtz and Paul Nestler, jump out, gape at the Kaiser, and ask if he and Pam need help. â€Å"Go up and talk to the chief,† Danny says, though he should not have to. Holtz and Nestler are nice guys, but they have a lot to learn about chain of command, along with everything else. About a minute and a half later, Bobby Dulac and Dit Jesperson show up. Danny and Pam wave them through as the bikers charge into the fray and drag chanting citizens off the sides and hoods of their vehicles. Sounds of struggle reach Danny over angry shouts coming from the mob before him. It seems that he has been out here for hours. Thrusting people out of the way with great backswings of his arms, Sonny emerges to stand beside Pam, who is doing her best. Mouse and Doc wade into the clear. A trail of blood leaking from his nose, a red smear darkening his beard at the corner of his mouth, the Kaiser strides up beside Danny. Just as the crowd begins chanting, â€Å"HELL NO, WE WON'T GO! HELL NO, WE WON'T GO!† Holtz and Nestler return to bolster the line. Hell no, we won't go? Danny wonders. Isn't that supposed to be about Vietnam? Only dimly aware of the sound of a police siren, Danny sees Mouse wade into the crowd and knock out the first three people he can reach. Doc settles his hands on the open window of an all-too-familiar Oldsmobile and asks the small, balding driver what the hell he thinks he is doing. â€Å"Doc, leave him alone,† Danny says, but the siren whoops again and drowns out his words. Although the little man at the wheel of the Olds looks like an ineffectual math teacher or a low-level civic functionary, he possesses the determination of a gladiator. He is the Reverend Lance Hovdahl, Danny's old Sunday school teacher. â€Å"I thought I could help,† the reverend says. â€Å"What with all this racket, I can't really hear you too good. Let me help you get closer,† Doc says. He reaches in through the window as the siren whoops again and a State Police car slides by on the other side. â€Å"Hold it, Doc, STOP!† Danny shouts, seeing the two men in the state car, Brown and Black, craning their necks to stare at the spectacle of a bearded man built like a grizzly bear dragging a Lutheran minister out through the window of his car. Creeping along behind them, another surprise, is Arnold Hrabowski, the Mad Hungarian, goggling through the windshield of his DAREmobile as if terrified by the chaos around him. The end of the lane is like a war zone now. Danny strides into the screaming mob and shoves a few people aside on his way to Doc and his old Sunday school teacher, who looks shaken but not at all injured. â€Å"Well, Danny, my goodness,† the minister says. â€Å"I'm certainly glad to see you here.† Doc glares at the two of them. â€Å"You know each other?† â€Å"Reverend Hovdahl, this is Doc,† Danny says. â€Å"Doc, this is Reverend Hovdahl, the pastor at Mount Hebron Lutheran.† â€Å"Holy moly,† says Doc, and immediately begins to pat the little man's lapels and tug at the hem of his jacket, as if to pull him into shape. â€Å"Sorry, Reverend, I hope I didn't hurt you none.† The state cops and the Mad Hungarian manage at last to squeeze out of the crowd. The sound level decreases to a mild hubbub one way or another, Doc's friends have silenced the loudest members of the opposition. â€Å"Fortunately, the window is wider than I am,† the reverend says. â€Å"Say, maybe I could come over and talk to you someday,† says Doc. â€Å"I've been doing a lot of reading about first-century Christianity lately. You know, G? ¦za Verms, John Dominic Crossan, Paula Fredriksen, stuff like that. I'd like to bounce some ideas off you.† Whatever Reverend Hovdahl intends to say is obliterated by the sudden explosion of noise from the other end of the lane. A woman's voice rises like a banshee's, in an inhuman screeching that shivers the hairs on the nape of Danny's neck. It sounds to him as though escaped lunatics a thousand times more dangerous than the Thunder Five are raving through the landscape. What the devil could have happened up there? † ‘Hello boys'?† Unable to contain his indignation, Bobby Dulac turns to stare first at Dale, then at Jack. His voice rises, hardens. â€Å"Is this shit for real? ‘Hello boys'?† Dale coughs into his fist and shrugs. â€Å"He wanted us to find her.† â€Å"Well, of course,† Jack says. â€Å"He told us to come here.† â€Å"Why would he do that, though?† Bobby asks. â€Å"He's proud of his work.† From some dim crossroads in Jack's memory, an ugly voice says, Stay out of it. You mess with me and I'll strew your guts from Racine to La Riviere. Whose voice had that been? With no more evidence than his conviction, Jack understands that if he could place that voice, he would put a name to the Fisherman. He cannot; all Jack Sawyer can do at this moment is remember a stink worse than the foul cloud that fills this crumbling building a hideous smell that came from the southwest of another world. That was the Fisherman, too, or whatever the Fisherman was in that world. A thought worthy of the former rising star of the LAPD's Homicide Division awakens in his mind, and he says, â€Å"Dale, I think you should let Henry hear that 911 tape.† â€Å"I don't get it. What for?† â€Å"Henry's tuned in to stuff even bats can't hear. Even if he doesn't recognize the voice, he'll learn a hundred times more than what we know now.† â€Å"Well, Uncle Henry never forgets a voice, that's true. Okay, let's get out of here. The M.E. and the evidence wagon should show up in a couple of minutes.† Trailing behind the other two men, Jack thinks of Tyler Marshall's Brewers cap and where he found it that world he has spent more than half his life denying, and his return to which this morning continues to send shocks through his system. The Fisherman left the cap for him in the Territories, the land he had first heard of when Jacky was six when Jacky was six, and Daddy played the horn. It is all coming back to him, that immense adventure, not because he wishes it, but because it has to come back: forces outside himself are picking him up by the scruff of his neck and carrying him forward. Forward into his own past! The Fisherman is proud of his handiwork, yes, the Fisherman is deliberately taunting them a truth so obvious none of the three men had to speak it aloud but really the Fisherman is baiting only Jack Sawyer, who alone has seen the Territories. And if that's true, as it has to be, then then the Territories and all they contain are involved somehow in these wretched crimes, and he has been thrust into a drama of enormous consequence he cannot possibly grasp right now. The Tower. The Beam. He had seen this in his mother's handwriting, something about the Tower falling and the Beams breaking: these things are parts of the puzzle, whatever they mean, as is Jack's gut conviction that Tyler Marshall is still alive, tucked away in some pocket of the other world. The recognition that he can never speak of all this to anyone else, not even Henry Leyden, makes him feel intensely alone. Jack's thoughts blow away in the noisy chaos that erupts alongside and in front of the shack. It sounds like an Indian attack in a cowboy movie, whooping and yelling and the sound of running feet. A woman sends up a shrill scream eerily like the blip-blips of the police siren he had half-noted a few moments ago. Dale mutters â€Å"Jeez,† and breaks into a run, followed by Bobby and Jack. Outside, what appears to be a half dozen crazy people are racing around in the weedy gravel in front of Ed's. Dit Jesperson and Beezer, still too stunned to react, watch them caper back and forth. The crazy people make an amazing amount of noise. One man yells, â€Å"KILL THE FISHERMAN! KILL THE DIRTY BASTARD!† Another is shouting â€Å"LAW ‘N' ORDER ‘N' FREE BEER!† A scrawny character in bib overalls picks up â€Å"FREE BEER! WE WANT FREE BEER!† A harpy too old for her tank top and blue jeans skitters around waving her arms and screeching at the top of her lungs. The grins on their faces indicate that these people are engaged in some dimwitted prank. They are having the time of their lives. Up from the end of the lane comes a State Police car, with the Mad Hungarian's DARE Pontiac right behind it. In the middle of the chaos, Henry Leyden tilts his head and smiles to himself. When he sees his chief take off after one of the men, fat Dit Jesperson lurches into action and spots Doodles Sanger, against whom he has borne a grudge ever since she turned him down late one night in the Nelson Hotel. Dit recognizes Teddy Runkleman, the tall galoot with the broken nose Dale is chasing; and he knows Freddy Saknessum, but Freddy is undoubtedly too fast for him and, besides, Dit has the feeling that if he put his hands on Freddy Saknessum, about eight hours later he would probably come down with something really nasty. Bobby Dulac is on the skinny guy's case, so Doodles is Dit's target, and he looks forward to pulling her down into the weeds and making her pay for calling him what she did, six years ago in the Nelson's filthy bar. (In front of maybe a dozen of French Landing's most raffish characters, Doodles had compared him to the then chief's smelly, waddling old mongrel, Tubby.) Dit looks her in the eye, and for a second she stops jumping around to stand flat-footed on the ground and give him a little come-hither gesture with the fingers of both hands. He launches himself at her, but when he gets to where she was, she is six feet off to the right, shifting on her feet like a basketball player. â€Å"Tubby-Tubby,† she says. â€Å"Come and get it, Tub-Tub.† Furious, Dit reaches, misses, and nearly loses his balance. Doodles prances away laughing and mouths the hateful expression. Dit doesn't get it why doesn't Doodles just break away and take off ? It's like she almost wants to get caught, but first she has to run out the clock. After another serious lunge that misses the target by only an inch or two, Dit Jesperson wipes the sweat off his face and checks out the scene. Bobby Dulac is snapping cuffs on the skinny guy, but Dale and Hollywood Sawyer are faring only a little better than he is. Teddy Runkleman and Freddy Saknessum dodge and bob away from their pursuers, both of them cackling like idiots and shouting their halfwit slogans. Why is low-life scum always so agile? Dit supposes that rodents like Runkleman and Saknessum get more practice in being light on their feet than regular people. He charges Doodles, who slips past him and goes into a chuckling, high-stepping diddley-bop. Over her shoulder, Dit sees Hollywood finally fake out Saknessum, wrap an arm around his waist, and throw him to the ground. â€Å"You didn't have to get all physical on my ass,† Saknessum says. His eyes shift, and he gives a brief nod. â€Å"Hey, Runks.† Teddy Runkleman glances at him, and his eyes shift, too. He stops moving. The chief says, â€Å"What, you run out of gas?† â€Å"Party's over,† Runkleman says. â€Å"Hey, we were just funnin', you know?† â€Å"Aw, Runksie, I wanna play some more,† Doodles says, throwing a few hip wiggles into the diddley-bop. In a flash, Beezer St. Pierre thrusts his mountainous self between her and Dit. He steps forward, rumbling like a semi going up a steep grade. Doodles tries to dance backward, but Beezer envelops her and carries her toward the chief. â€Å"Beezie, don'cha love me no more?† Doodles asks. Beezer grunts in disgust and deposits her in front of the chief. The two state cops, Perry Brown and Jeff Black, are hanging back, looking even more disgusted than the biker. If Dit's mental processes were to be transcribed from their shorthand into standard English, the result would be, He's gotta have something on the ball if he brews that Kingsland Ale, because that is some fine, fine beer. And look at the chief! He's so ready to bust a gut, he can't even see that we're about to lose this case. â€Å"You were FUNNIN'?† the chief roars. â€Å"What's the MATTER with you idiots? Don't you have any respect for that poor girl in there?† As the state cops step forward to take charge, Dit sees Beezer go rigid with shock for a moment, then move as inconspicuously as possible away from the group. No one but Dit Jesperson pays any attention to him the enormous biker has done his bit, and now his part is over. Arnold Hrabowski, who had been more or less concealed behind Brown and Black, shoves his hands in his pockets, hunches his shoulders, and gives Dit a glance of shamefaced apology. Dit doesn't get it: What does the Mad Hungarian have to feel so guilty about? Hell, he just got here. Dit looks back at Beezer, who is advancing ponderously toward the side of the shack and surprise, surprise! everybody's best pal and favorite reporter, Mr. Wendell Green, now appearing a little alarmed. Guess more than one kind of scum just rose to the surface, Dit thinks. Beezer likes women who are smart and levelheaded, like Bear Girl; brainless skanks like Doodles drive him crazy. He reaches out, grabs two handfuls of pasty, rayon-covered flesh, and scoops wriggling Doodles under his arm. Doodles says, â€Å"Beezie, don'cha love me no more?† He lowers the dumb mutt to the ground in front of Dale Gilbertson. When Dale finally explodes at these four grown-up juvenile delinquents, Beezer remembers the signal Freddy had given Runksie, and looks over the chief's shoulder at the front of the old store. To the left of the rotting gray entrance, Wendell Green is aiming his camera at the group before him, getting fancy, bending and leaning, stepping to one side and another as he snaps pictures. When he sees Beezer looking at him through his lens, Wendell straightens up and lowers his camera. He has an awkward little smile on his face. Green must have slithered in through the back way, Beezer imagines, because there's no way the cops down front would give him a pass. Come to think of it, Doodles and the Dodos must have come the same way. He hopes all of them did not learn of the back road by following him, but that's a possibility. The reporter lets his camera hang from its strap and, keeping his eyes on Beezer, sidles away from the old shanty. The guilty, frightened way he moves reminds Beezer of a hyena's slink toward its carrion. Wendell Green does fear Beezer, and Beezer cannot blame him. Green is lucky that Beezer did not actually rip off his head, instead of merely talking about it. Yet . . . Green's hyenalike crawl strikes Beezer as pretty strange, under the circumstances. He can't be afraid of getting beaten up in front of all these cops, can he? Green's uneasiness forms a link in Beezer's mind to the communication he had seen pass between Runkleman and Freddy. When their eyes shifted, when they looked away, they were looking at the reporter! He had set the whole thing up in advance. Green was using the Dodos as a distraction from whatever he was doing with his camera, of course. Such total sleaziness, such moral ugliness, infuriates Beezer. Galvanized by loathing, he moves quietly away from Dale and the other policemen and walks toward Wendell Green, keeping his eyes locked on the reporter's. He sees Wendell consider making a break for it, then reject the idea, most likely because he knows he doesn't have a chance of getting away. When Beezer comes to within ten feet of him, Green says, â€Å"We don't need any trouble here, Mr. St. Pierre. I'm just doing my job. Surely you can understand that.† â€Å"I understand a lot of things,† Beezer says. â€Å"How much did you pay those clowns?† â€Å"Who? What clowns?† Wendell pretends to notice Doodles and the others for the first time. â€Å"Oh, them? Are they the ones who were making all that ruckus?† â€Å"And why would they go do a thing like that?† â€Å"Because they're animals, I guess.† The expression on Wendell's face communicates a great desire to align himself with Beezer on the side of human beings, as opposed to animals like Runkleman and Saknessum. Taking care to fix Green's eyes, instead of his camera, with his own, Beezer moves in closer and says, â€Å"Wendy, you're a real piece of work, you know that?† Wendell holds up his hands to ward off Beezer. â€Å"Hey, we may have had our differences in the past, but â€Å" Still looking him in the eye, Beezer folds his right hand around the camera and plants his left on Wendell Green's chest. He jerks the right hand back and gives Green a massive shove with the left. One of two things is going to break, Green's neck or the camera strap, and he does not much care which it is to be. To a sound like the crack of a whip, the reporter flails backward, barely managing to remain upright. Beezer is pulling the camera out of the case, from which dangle two strips of severed leather. He drops the case and rotates the camera in his big hands. â€Å"Hey, don't do that!† Wendell says, his voice louder than speech but softer than a shout. â€Å"What is it, an old F2A?† â€Å"If you know that, you know it's a classic. Give it back to me.† â€Å"I'm not going to hurt it, I'm going to clean it out.† Beezer snaps open the back of the camera, gets one thick finger under the exposed length of film, and rips out the entire roll. He smiles at the reporter and tosses the film into the weeds. â€Å"See how much better it feels without all that crap in there? This is a nice little machine you shouldn't fill it with garbage.† Wendell does not dare show how furious he is. Rubbing the sore spot on the back of his neck, he growls, â€Å"That so-called garbage is my livelihood, you oaf, you moron. Now give me back my camera.† Beezer casually holds it out before him. â€Å"I didn't quite catch all of that. What did you say?† His only response a bleak glance, Wendell snatches the camera from Beezer's hand. When the two state cops finally step forward, Jack feels a mixture of disappointment and relief. What they are going to do is obvious, so let them do it. Perry Brown and Jeff Black will take the Fisherman case away from Dale and run their own investigation. From now on, Dale will be lucky to get random scraps from the state's table. Jack's greatest regret is that Brown and Black should have walked into this madhouse, this circus. They have been waiting for their moment all along in a sense, waiting for the local guy to prove his incompetence but what is going on now is a public humiliation for Dale, and Jack wishes it weren't happening. He could not have imagined feeling grateful for the arrival of a biker gang at a crime scene, but that's how bad it is. Beezer St. Pierre and his companions kept the crowd away more efficiently than Dale's officers. The question is, how did all those people find out? Apart from the damage to Dale's reputation and self-esteem, however, Jack has few regrets about the case passing to another jurisdiction. Let Brown and Black scour every basement in French County: Jack has the feeling they won't get any further than the Fisherman permits. To go further, he thinks, you'd have to travel in directions Brown and Black could never understand, visit places they are certain do not exist. Going further means making friends with opopanax, and men like Brown and Black distrust anything that even smells like opopanax. Which means that, in spite of everything Jack has said to himself since the murder of Amy St. Pierre, he will have to catch the Fisherman by himself. Or maybe not entirely by himself. Dale is going to have a lot more time on his hands, after all, and no matter what the State Police do to him, Dale is too wrapped up in this case to walk away from it. â€Å"Chief Gilbertson,† says Perry Brown, â€Å"I believe we have seen enough here. Is this what you call securing an area?† Dale gives up on Teddy Runkleman and turns in frustration to the state cops, who stand side by side, like storm troopers. In his expression, Jack can see that he knows exactly what is going to happen, and that he hopes it will not be humiliatingly brutal. â€Å"I did everything in my power to make this area secure,† Dale says. â€Å"After the 911 call came in, I talked to my men face to face and ordered them to come out in pairs at reasonable intervals, to keep from arousing any curiosity.† â€Å"Chief, you must have used your radio,† says Jeff Black. â€Å"Because for sure somebody was tuned in.† â€Å"I did not use the radio,† Dale says. â€Å"And my people knew better than to spread the news. But you know what, Officer Black? If the Fisherman called us on 911, maybe he also made a couple of anonymous calls to the citizens.† Teddy Runkleman has been attending to this discussion like a spectator at a tennis final. Perry Brown says, â€Å"Let's handle first things first. What do you intend to do with this man and his friends? Are you going to charge them? The sight of his face is getting on my nerves.† Dale thinks for a moment, then says, â€Å"I'm not going to charge them. Get out of here, Runkleman.† Teddy moves backward, and Dale says, â€Å"Hold it for a second. How did you get here?† â€Å"The back road,† Teddy says. â€Å"Comes straight down from behind Goltz's. Thunder Five came the same way. So did that big-shot reporter, Mr. Green.† â€Å"Wendell Green is here?† Teddy points to the side of the ruin. Dale glances over his shoulder, and Jack looks in the same direction and witnesses Beezer St. Pierre ripping film from the back of a camera while Wendell Green watches in dismay. â€Å"One more question,† Dale says. â€Å"How did you learn that the Fre-neau girl's body was out here?† â€Å"They was five or six bodies up at Ed's, is what I heard. My brother Erland called up and told me. He heard it from his girlfriend.† â€Å"Go on, get out of here,† Dale says, and Teddy Runkleman ambles away as if he has been awarded a medal for good citizenship. â€Å"All right,† Perry Brown says. â€Å"Chief Gilbertson, you have reached the end of your leash. As of now, this investigation is to be conducted by Lieutenant Black and myself. I'll want a copy of the 911 tape and copies of all notes and statements taken by you and your officers. Your role is to be entirely subordinate to the state's investigation, and to cooperate fully when called upon. You will be given updates at the discretion of Lieutenant Black and myself. â€Å"If you ask me, Chief Gilbertson, you are getting far more than you deserve. I have never seen a more disorganized crime scene. You violated the security of this site to an unbelievable degree. How many of you walked into the . . . the structure?† â€Å"Three,† Dale says. â€Å"Myself, Officer Dulac, and Lieutenant Sawyer.† â€Å"Lieutenant Sawyer,† Brown says. â€Å"Excuse me, has Lieutenant Sawyer rejoined the LAPD? Has he become an official member of your department? And if not, why did you give him access to that structure? In fact, what is Mr. Sawyer doing here in the first place?† â€Å"He's cleared more homicide cases than you and me ever will, no matter how long we live.† Brown gives Jack an evil glance, and Jeff Black stares straight ahead. Beyond the two state cops, Arnold Hrabowski also glances at Jack Sawyer, though not at all the way Perry Brown did. Arnold's expression is that of a man who deeply wishes to be invisible, and when he finds Jack's eye on him, he quickly glances sideways and shifts on his feet. Oh, Jack thinks. Of course, the Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Hungarian, there you go. Perry Brown asks Dale what Mr. St. Pierre and his friends are doing on the scene, and Dale replies that they are assisting with crowd control. Did Dale advise Mr. St. Pierre that in exchange for this service he would be kept up-to-date on the investigation? It was something like that, yes. Jack steps back and begins to move sideways along a gentle arc that will bring him to Arnold Hrabowski. â€Å"Incredible,† says Brown. â€Å"Tell me, Chief Gilbertson, did you decide to delay a little bit before passing the news on to Lieutenant Black and myself ?† â€Å"I did everything according to procedure,† Dale says. In answer to the next question he says that yes, he has called for the medical examiner and the evidence wagon, which, by the way, he can see coming up the lane right now. The Mad Hungarian's efforts at self-control succeed only in making him look as though he urgently needs to urinate. When Jack places a hand on his shoulder, he stiffens like a cigar-store Indian. â€Å"Calm down, Arnold,† Jack says, then raises his voice. â€Å"Lieutenant Black, if you're taking over this case, there's some information you should have.† Brown and Black turn their attention to him. â€Å"The man who made the 911 call used the pay phone at the 7-Eleven store on Highway 35 in French Landing. Dale had the phone taped off, and the owner knows to keep people from handling it. You might get some useful prints from that phone.† Black scribbles something in his notebook, and Brown says, â€Å"Gentlemen, I think your role is finished here. Chief, use your people to disperse those individuals at the bottom of the lane. By the time the M.E. and I come out of that structure, I don't want to see a single person down there, including you and your officers. You'll get a call later in the week, if I have any new information.† Wordlessly, Dale turns away and points Bobby Dulac down the path, where the crowd has dwindled to a few stubborn souls leaning against their cars. Brown and Black shake hands with the medical examiner and confer with the specialists in charge of the evidence wagon. â€Å"Now, Arnold,† Jack says, â€Å"you like being a cop, don't you?† â€Å"Me? I love being a cop.† Arnold cannot quite force himself to meet Jack's eyes. â€Å"And I could be a good one, I know I could, but the chief doesn't have enough faith in me.† He thrusts his trembling hands into his pants pockets. Jack is torn between feeling pity for this pathetic wanna-be and the impulse to kick him all the way down to the end of the lane. A good cop? Arnold couldn't even be a good scoutmaster. Thanks to him, Dale Gilbertson got a public dressing-down that probably made him feel as though he'd been put in the stocks. â€Å"But you didn't follow orders, did you, Arnold?† Arnold quivers like a tree struck by lightning. â€Å"What? I didn't do anything.† â€Å"You told someone. Maybe you told a couple of people.† â€Å"No!† Arnold shakes his head violently. â€Å"I just called my wife, that's all.† He looks imploringly at Jack. â€Å"The Fisherman talked to me, he told me where he put the girl's body, and I wanted Paula to know. Honest, Holl Lieutenant Sawyer, I didn't think she'd call anybody, I just wanted to tell her.† â€Å"Bad move, Arnold,† Jack says. â€Å"You are going to tell the chief what you did, and you're going to do it right now. Because Dale deserves to know what went wrong, and he shouldn't have to blame himself. You like Dale, don't you?† â€Å"The chief ?† Arnold's voice wobbles with respect for his chief. â€Å"Sure I do. He's, he's . . . he's great. But isn't he going to fire me?† â€Å"That's up to him, Arnold,† Jack says. â€Å"If you ask me, you deserve it, but maybe you'll get lucky.† The Mad Hungarian shuffles off toward Dale. Jack watches their conversation for a second, then walks past them to the side of the old store, where Beezer St. Pierre and Wendell Green face each other in unhappy silence. â€Å"Hello, Mr. St. Pierre,† he says. â€Å"And hello to you, Wendell.† â€Å"I'm lodging a complaint,† Green says. â€Å"I'm covering the biggest story of my life, and this lout spoils a whole roll of film. You can't treat the press that way; we have a right to photograph whatever the hell we like.† â€Å"I guess you woulda said you had a right to photograph my daughter's dead body, too.† Beezer glares at Jack. â€Å"This piece of shit paid Teddy and the other lunkheads to go nuts so nobody would notice him sneaking inside there. He took pictures of the girl.† Wendell jabs a finger at Jack's chest. â€Å"He has no proof of that. But I'll tell you something, Sawyer. I did get pictures of you. You were concealing evidence in the back of your truck, and I got you dead to rights. So think twice before you try to mess with me, because I'll hang you out to dry.† A dangerous red mist seems to fill Jack's head. â€Å"Were you going to sell photographs of that girl's body?† â€Å"What's it to you?† An ugly smirk widens Wendell Green's mouth. â€Å"You're not exactly lily-white either, are you? Maybe we can do each other some good, huh?† The red mist darkens and fills Jack's eyes. â€Å"We can do each other some good?† Standing beside Jack, Beezer St. Pierre clenches and unclenches his enormous fists. Beezer, Jack knows, catches his tone perfectly, but the vision of dollar signs has so gripped Wendell Green that he hears Jack's threat as a straightforward question. â€Å"You let me reload my camera and get the pictures I need, and I keep quiet about you.† Beezer lowers his head and balls his hands again. â€Å"Tell you what. I'm a generous guy maybe I could even cut you in, say ten percent of my total.† Jack would prefer to break his nose, but he contents himself with a hard punch to the reporter's stomach. Green clutches his gut and folds in half, then falls to the ground. His face has turned a hectic pink, and he struggles for breath. His eyes register shock and disbelief. â€Å"See, I'm a generous guy, too, Wendell. I probably saved you thousands of dollars in dental work, plus a broken jaw.† â€Å"Don't forget the plastic surgery,† says Beezer, grinding a fist into the palm of the other hand. He looks as if someone just stole his favorite dessert off the dinner table. Wendell's face has become a reddish shade of purple. â€Å"For your information, Wendell, no matter what you think you saw, I am not concealing evidence. If anything I am revealing it, though I hardly expect you to understand.† Green manages to wheeze in something like a cubic inch of air. â€Å"When your wind starts to come back, get out of here. Crawl, if you have to. Go back to your car and drive away. And for God's sake, make it snappy, or our friend here is likely to put you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.† Slowly, Wendell Green gets to his knees, takes another noisy sip of oxygen, and levers himself semi-upright. He waggles one open hand at them, but his meaning is unclear. He could be telling Beezer and Jack to stay away from him, or that he will trouble them no further, or both. His trunk tilted over his belt, his hands pressed to his stomach, Green stumbles around the side of the building. â€Å"I guess I oughta thank you,† Beezer says. â€Å"You let me keep my promise to my old lady. But I have to say, Wendell Green is one guy I'd really like to deconstruct.† â€Å"Man,† Jack says, â€Å"I wasn't sure if I could get in before you did.† â€Å"It's true, my restraint was crumbling.† Both men smile. â€Å"Beezer St. Pierre,† Beezer says, and sticks out a hand. â€Å"Jack Sawyer.† Jack takes his hand and experiences no more than a second of pain. â€Å"Are you gonna let the state guys do all the work, or will you keep going on your own?† â€Å"What do you think?† Jack says. â€Å"If you ever need any help, or you want reinforcements, all you have to do is ask. Because I do want to get this son of a bitch, and I figure you have a better chance of finding him than anyone else.† On the drive back to Norway Valley, Henry says, â€Å"Oh, Wendell took a picture of the body, all right. When you came out of the building and went to your truck, I heard someone take a couple of pictures, but I thought it might have been Dale. Then I heard it again when you and Dale were inside with Bobby Dulac, and I realized someone was taking a picture of me! Well, now, I say to myself, this must be Mr. Wendell Green, and I told him to come out from behind the wall. That's when those people charged out, yelling and screaming. As soon as that happened, I heard Mr. Green trot around from the side, go into the building, and shoot a few pictures. Then he sneaked out and stood by the side of the building, which is where your friend Beezer caught up with him and took care of things. Beezer is a remarkable fellow, isn't he?† â€Å"Henry, were you going to tell me about this?† â€Å"Of course, but you were running around all over the place, and I knew Wendell Green wasn't going to leave until he was thrown out. I'll never read another word he writes. Never.† â€Å"Same here,† Jack says. â€Å"But you're not giving up on the Fisherman, are you? In spite of what that pompous state cop said.† â€Å"I can't give up now. To tell you the truth, I think those waking dreams I mentioned yesterday were connected to this case.† â€Å"Ivey-divey. Now, let's get back to Beezer. Didn't I hear him say he wanted to ‘deconstruct' Wendell?† â€Å"Yeah, I think so.† â€Å"He must be a fascinating man. I gather from my nephew that the Thunder Five spends Saturday afternoons and evenings in the Sand Bar. Next week, maybe I'll start up Rhoda's old car and drive to Centralia, have a few beers and a nice gab with Mr. St. Pierre. I'm sure he has interesting taste in music.† â€Å"You want to drive to Centralia?† Jack stares at Henry, whose only concession to the absurdity of this suggestion is a little smile. â€Å"Blind people can drive perfectly well,† Henry says. â€Å"Probably, they can drive better than most sighted people. Ray Charles can, anyhow.† â€Å"Come on, Henry. Why would you think Ray Charles can drive a car?† â€Å"Why, you ask? Because one night in Seattle, this was, oh, forty years ago, back when I had a gig at KIRO, Ray took me out for a spin. Smooth as Lady Godiva's backside. No trouble at all. We stuck to the side roads, of course, but Ray got up to fifty-five, I'm pretty sure.† â€Å"Assuming this really happened, weren't you scared?† â€Å"Scared? Of course not. I was his navigator. I certainly don't think I'd have a problem navigating to Centralia along this sleepy stretch of back-country highway. The only reason blind people don't drive is that other people won't let them. It's a power issue. They want us to stay marginalized. Beezer St. Pierre would understand perfectly.† â€Å"And here I was, thinking I was going to visit the madhouse this afternoon,† Jack says.

Reinventing the wheel at apex door company Essay

In 2011, a stock trader of a well-known investment firm along with two alleged accomplices was convicted of insider trading. The lawyers allegedly browsed around their law firm picking up information regarding corporate deals and would provide it to a person who would then pass the inside information to the trader. This information was then used by the trader for him to earn millions of dollars. Since the information came from the lawyers, the trader would thank them by providing envelopes filled with cash. II. Central Problem Screening out the potential bad stock traders and only those stock traders with good values and can be trusted with confidential information are selected. Find a way to control the behaviours of those already in the firm who are prone to engage in inside trading. III. Conclusion The firm shows that they have a poor system in selecting employees since unethical employees are able to enter their company. They also possess poor security regarding with the works of their employees that is why most probably some employees are able to do insider trading. And lastly there is limited communication between top management and the employees which lead to this kind of behaviour by employees. IV. Recommendation Due to the alarming case of insider trading we recommend that the firm should strengthen their employee selection program in order to select the right personnel with ethical values. With this improved selection program, top management would be able to identify who should be selected and who should be not.

Use the first of the prompt 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Use the first of the prompt 1 - Essay Example Furthermore, the essay also intends to differentiate why or why not the liberal approach has made a difference in Rodriguez’s attitudes as compared to Delbanco. It was in this context that the thoughts of Rodriguez were emphasizing a much liberal form of education as compared to Delbanco. As Rodriguez (597) quoted – â€Å"The boy who first entered a classroom barely able to speak in English, twenty years later concluded his studies in the stately quiet of the reading room in the British Museum†. While on the other hand, Delbanco states - â€Å"The educational imperative is clear: A class should be small enough to permit every student to participate in the give-and-take of discussion under the guidance of an informed, skilled, and engaged teacher†. Again, presenting his views in â€Å"Achieving of Desire,† Rodriguez describes few major difficulties faced by students when balancing life in both academic and working class family stages. His critical emphasis was on learning the attitude of stereotypical students, assuming their relation with a particular working class, who are more likely to spend times in books and class notes rather than spending times with family members or friends. For instance, Rodriguez asserts that a stereotypical student, belonging from a working class family background, often finds a new environment of learning to reward him/her with mental calmness. It is in this context that the findings obtained by Rodriguez rationalize that the school environment as completely different from a working class family. He further asserts that in such a home environment, parents have strong influence on students because of the positive environment, which further increases their chances of academic excellence in their educational career (Rodriguez 597-607). On the other hand, Delbanco in â€Å"College at Risk† provides a distinctive definition of education. Delbanco agrees, â€Å"What those statements have in common—and there is truth in both—is an

Female Body and Conflict Between the Sexes in L'Atalante by Jean Vigo Essay

Female Body and Conflict Between the Sexes in L'Atalante by Jean Vigo and Les Enfants du Paradis by Marcel Carne - Essay Example The movie plot turns around the life of Juliette and her husband Jena. After marriage Juliette accompanies Jean on his ship; but she is bored of the monotonous life of sailing in the sea. The newly-weds during their travel on the waterways of France halts at Paris. Juliette tries to break free from the monotony by venturing into the nightlife of the city; actually a street peddler in a music club of Paris lures her. She is enamored with vibrant city and her desire to taste the intoxicating pleasures of Paris nightlife angers Jean and he sets sail without her. But grief and a desire for meeting his wife put Jean in a state of depression. Juliette is lost in the world of prostitutes, thieves and beggars; she frantically searches for her husband and the barge. Pere Jules, an aged second mate of the ship makes honest effort to find Juliette and succeeds in happy reunion of the couple. Jean Vigo’s French film is also known as ‘Le chaland qui passà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (The Passing Barge). From the plot it is quite evident that is based on the universal conflict of sexes. Jean feels that Juliette has no right to independent pleasures. The female body of Juliette is his object of desire. The passionate film-maker’s direction and the cast’s riveting performances have made this movie feature in the list of some of the best movies made worldwide. It has the elements of drama, romance, and fun; it is greatly sexual in flavor. The cinematic technique that Jean uses in his movie is visual fantasy alike his feature film titled Zero de Conduite (Zero for Conduct). For this we need to say that Jean Vigo’s camera direction and arrangements could create stunning visual compositions. He conveyed his messages through images; if words were used it was to add fun and humor, so that a comic effect is generated in the movie. The opening sequence of the film shows the couple’s shift from the church aisle to the cargo

Perception of Soviet Russia in Hollywood Films Essay

Perception of Soviet Russia in Hollywood Films - Essay Example During the time of Ninotchka (1939), this American sentiment was anti-Soviet, but first this film depicted the union of "the spirit of Marxist ideas" (Rogin 269) with the spirit of a business enterprise - clearly, a parody of "the conversion of the former to the latter" (Rogin 369). It was in the same year, 1939, that the USSR "signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939 and divided Poland with Germany" (Dunn 459). Ninotchka is an epitome of an anti-Soviet film. Like any other such film, "Every Russian- whether peasant or nobility- is caricatured as villain incarnate and the whole nation is represented as a threat to mankind, nineteenth-century style" (Fyne 194). Understandably, American sentiments toward the Soviet Union at the time of these anti-Soviet films are a degradation of communism as symbolized, at that time, by none other than the USSR. According to Fyne, Ninotchka was an "strong indictment about a regime that most Americans, sitting comfortably in their capitalist living rooms and reading about mass executions, feared and mistrusted" (200). In 1943, that sentiment changed drastically. It must be noted that this time was after Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, "the U.S. and the Soviet Union were now brothers-in-arms" (Fyne 200), hence this new alliance "had to be solidified on the screen" (Fyne 200).

Air Pollution Cause and Effects Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Air Pollution Cause and Effects - Research Paper Example It’s not healthy for those who are not sick or old too and the problem is not getting any better. Air pollution is also affecting the earth’s climate, causing it to warm. The consequences of this reality are far-reaching, cataclysmic and are happening now. Hundreds of coal-fired electric power plants and other smoke-stack industries along with hundreds of thousands of vehicles contribute to a significant public health problem by emitting the waste fumes produced by burning fossil fuels. Many studies have acknowledged that a wide array of undesirable health issues occur due to air pollution exposure including higher instances of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, atherosclerosis, emergency room trips and premature death. Exposure to the particulate matter found in air pollution has also been connected with low birth weights, birth defects and premature births. About 38 million kids are estimated to live in air polluted areas. Several types of ill nesses linked with air pollutants have risen dramatically the past 30 years. During that time, though the occurrences of death from childhood cancers have decreased considerably due to advances in medical science, the cancer incidence rates among children have gone up by a full third during that same period. â€Å"It is well known that children and infants are uniquely at risk from air pollution both because of physiological susceptibility and greater relative exposure.† (Gasping, 2011). For example, children breathe more air and inhale more pollution as a ratio of body weight as compared to adults. In addition, children play outside much more than adults. And, because their smaller bodies are still developing, kids are more vulnerable to the health problems caused by poisons in the air, principally cancers and reproductive issues which they and their children will suffer with later on in life. In addition, children have a longer life expectancy than their parents therefore h ave a better chance to develop illness from exposure to air pollutant toxins during their lifetime. (Gasping, 2011). Simply but factually stated, air pollution is causing the earth’s climate to change. Greenhouses gasses such as carbon dioxide, the most prevalent pollutant, are warming the earth. Basically, the greenhouse effect occurs by this method: When sunlight penetrates the atmosphere and strikes the surface of the earth not all solar energy from the sun is absorbed. Roughly a third of this energy it is bounced back into space. When living creatures exhale they emit carbon dioxide, it occurs naturally. The amount of naturally occurring carbon dioxide maintains a delicate balance with other forces of nature allowing one-third of energy to escape which has kept the earth’s climate fairly stable for thousands of years. Air pollution gases functions the same way as greenhouse glass, allowing sunlight to enter but retaining the solar heat. Tons of supplemental man-mad e gases being added to the atmosphere during the past century has produced a much thicker layer of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than normal trapping more solar energy and allowing less to escape. â€Å"In the past 150 years, such activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years.† (â€Å"Air pollution,† 1999). This preventable set of circumstances is making the earth warmer by the year. Lesser known but just

Downturn of Health Maintainance Organization Term Paper

Downturn of Health Maintainance Organization - Term Paper Example However, they failed to contain costs and customers. With a decrease in services offered, HMOs are chosen only when no alternative is available. Moreover, only non – profit and independent HMOs fare due to lower premiums they offer to employees. Saturation of markets has increased competition among HMOs. State actions failed to restrain HMOs. Despite legislation and ombudsman offices protecting customers, premiums increased in the 2000’s, while quality remained limited. Physicians, as a result, have been leaving HMOs as well. Solutions need to focus on quality and profits. Involvement of specialists in prevention would assist patients with disabilities better. Autonomy of physicians, even if at the cost of their salary, needs to be increased. Administrative costs need to be decreased. Rising costs due to improved medical technology, aging population, and increased coverage led to a need for cost containment (Simonet, 2007, 356). The Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Act was passed in 1973 and it granted monetary advantages to HMOs (Simonet, 2007, p. 357). Managed care has since then become a dominant form of healthcare provision in the United States. By 1996, around 100 million Americans were enrolled in managed care (Grabois & Young, 2001, p.13). In 1987, only 11 percent Americans were enrolled in HMOs (Schulz, Scheckler, Girard & Barker, 1990, p.44). Growth rates of HMO coverage in the 1990’s stood at 10 percent (Simonet, 2007, p.573). In 2007, around 87 million persons were enrolled in some kind of an HMO (Simonet, 2007, p.573). HMOs decreased a rise in healthcare costs by 44 percent, but largely due to a decrease in quality and scope of services offered (Simonet, 2007, p.359).

Gaps in academic achievement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gaps in academic achievement - Research Paper Example A critical investigation of existing literature reveals that the problem of educational gap presents numerous challenges to policy-makers. Many studies have examined the achievement gap between black and white students, the contributing factors and the underlying implications. The growing consensus that the achievement gap between black and white students persists even after controlling for various observable characteristics, has been contested.   In a survey that used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), the latest data administered by the Education Department, Fryer and Levitt demonstrated that the achievement gap between black and white students can be eliminated by controlling for observable characteristics of the environment and school (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). The researchers asserted that the gap between black and white students widens once students enter school (Fryer and Levitt, 2004). The author’s main argument is that black studentà ¢â‚¬â„¢s underachievement is due to attending lower quality schools. The study is robust and compares results obtained in previous randomized studies with nonrandom sample frames. In a study that examined the extent to which family wealth affected test scores among young black and white students, Conley and Yeung (2008) found little evidence that the achievement gap between black and white students could be explained by wealth disparity. The researchers used data from PSID, a longitudinal study using a sample size of 5,000 participants (Conley and Yeung, 2008).

Genetically Modified Foods Essay Example for Free

Genetically Modified Foods Essay Genetically Modified Foods (GMO) are crops that have had changes made to their genetic material (DNA) in a way that does not occur naturally through the introduction of a gene from a different organisms. The use of genetically modified foods has been debated about for some time now. One side argues that GMO is more sustainable and economically efficient. It is also argued that GMO has not been properly tested for any negative effects on humans, other animals and the environment. GMO foods are seen as the future in agriculture by scientist as it solves so many worldwide problems. Industries claim GMO foods have been changed to make the food last longer, give the crop herbicidal tolerance, resistance to insects and different climates, taste better and the crop will produce more food. This results in more food for the rapidly growing population of the world as less crops will spoil as a result of insects, while also increasing the nutritional value of the food. Foods that previously weren’t able to grow in varying climates will now be able to, this will especially benefit countries such as Africa where their climate is very harsh. It has been argued that scientists have not done enough research and have not fully tested their products properly. This has been the concerns of many people all over the world. Do the benefits really outweigh the negatives? While GMO products may be very beneficial to society in theory very few have been properly tested for how they impact humans and other organisms in the long term. Tests have been done on rats testing the effects of GMO products on their health, in all cases rats feed GMO products were more likely to develop tumours and suffer server liver and kidney damage. Recent studies also show that despite the claims of GMO food supporters GMO crops don’t produce larger amounts of food. In addition to these problems it has been found that weeds have crossed bread with these GMO plants resulting in herbicide resistant weeds which mean stronger pesticides are needed which possess a huge threat to none GMO plants. In 2010 Germany introduced a ban on Monsanto genetically modified corn as it was considered dangerous. In 2011 Peru passed a law banning genetically modified crops for 10 years, the same year Hungary also destroyed 1000 acres of corn that was found to be grown with genetically modified seeds which are banned. If countries are going to such lengths to keep GMO foods out there must be an issue with them. The main issue with GMO is that it is big companies that are creating GMO foods. They only care about making a profit. This results in sloppy long term tests and in some cases false information being provided to the public to promote their product. In most cases the negatives clearly outweigh the positives of GMO foods although that does not rule out all GMO products. If governments got involved more and incorporated better restrictions on the production of GMO foods results will improve. With more research and tests maybe GMO foods really will be the way of the future.

E-Commerce and Intellectual Property Essay Example for Free

E-Commerce and Intellectual Property Essay Introduction E-commerce is defined by the UNCITRAL as   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Transactions in international trade are carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of communication commonly referred to as electronic commerce, which involve the use of alternatives to paper-based forms of communication and storage of information†. The rapid expansion of e-commerce is forcing countries to look again at how to regulate trade and intellectual property. The amazing development of telecommunication devices and means, and of computers and related services, has made all these services and products available to a very large number of people in the world. In highly-developed countries, the use of computers has been highly promoted, and it is normal to find people who are fully familiarized with computers and who are used to dealing with computer technologies such as the Internet. Relying On Private Agreements At the present time, the development of e-commerce has several barriers, such as the lack of security for electronic transactions, and the low purchasing power of a large part of the population, most of whom do not have credit cards. Also, people prefer to buy goods from real shops rather than from virtual shops due to the lack of security in electronic transactions and the increased problems relating to the falsification of credit cards, signatures and mail theft among others. First of all, to login to an information network, people use several programs and devices to retrieve information. People use computers, modems, switchboards, communication devices, routers, hubs, etc, and each one of these products may be the subject of a patent or a copyright, and whenever there is an intellectual property right involved, there is the possibility of an infringement. Secondly, a great deal of information is published in the Internet, and all this information is exposed to misuse. Probably, one of the most frequent practices on the Internet is that users take parts of web pages and copy them onto their computers; from then on, they are able to use, reproduce and modify the retrieved information to the extent they wish. This may infringe intellectual property rights such as trade marks, trade names, slogans or copyrights. Protection under the IP law Legislation modifications should be focused on trade laws and even more on international trade laws. The intellectual property laws are reasonably prepared to handle the boom of e-commerce activities in the forthcoming years, with provisions that offer the means to protect all intellectual property rights. Probably, the recent creation of the so-called â€Å"domain name† is the reason why it has not been included yet in most intellectual property laws. But, even in some countries, policies have been created for the registration of domain names and if necessary, procedures for cancellation of registration in cases of infringement of intellectual property rights. More often than not, one of the most valuable assets in e-commerce and the largest potential source of future income is the information database created across time in the joint venture. Unfortunately, some e-commerce proposals do not even mention this. But if the information-gathering activity is not mentioned, the possibility of failure persists, to negotiate the legal rights to that information and the income it generates. Enhancing the upside of e-commerce takes careful contract analysis and planning. E-commerce, in general, and strategic online partnerships in particular, are continuing to emerge and evolve in ways that are increasingly attractive to associations and their members. But at the same time that associations are realizing the benefits of such relationships, certain new legal developments require careful analysis to ensure that the association avoids potential legal and financial risk associated with its online activity. Unfortunately, the legal environment does not yet have much legal precedent on which lawyers and their clients may rely. At the same time, new legal developments are emerging. These realities pose tough challenges with regard to minimizing the associations legal risks while maximizing its economic rewards. Consequently, forging the effective low-risk partnerships desired will be nearly impossible to do solely. Rather, the associations legal counsel will need to pay particular attention to the details of the online partnerships the organization may consideras well as the contracts that define them. New Legal Developments Three of many developments complicating e-commerce legal analysis are the case of United Cancer Council; the Intermediate Sanctions portion of the Internal Revenue Code; and the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, which is currently being introduced in all state legislatures for enactment. United Cancer Council UCC is a spin-off of the American Cancer Society. The IRS retroactively revoked UCCs federal income tax exemption for its long-term contract in a joint venture with a for-profit company. In short, UCC lost in the U.S. Tax Court, won a reversal and new trial on appeal, and recently settled with the IRS before the second tax court trial. Based on my experience as one of the UCC lawyers at the tax court trial and on my observations of the interactions of IRS lawyers at that time, it is firmly believed the IRS will now apply its UCC positions to e-commerce ventures of nonprofit organizations. The IRS positions that emerged from this case should raise a red flag for associations when it comes to the planning and development of their own online joint ventures. In essence, associations must scrutinize arrangements in which †¢ There is too much contractual control of the venture by the for-profit; †¢ Funds belonging to the nonprofit flow to the benefit of the for-profit company; †¢ Too small a portion of joint venture proceeds are obtained by the nonprofit; †¢ Too large a portion of the joint venture proceeds are obtained by the for-profit; †¢ The contract term is too long (e.g., five years); and/or †¢ Insufficient competition exists in the selection of the for-profit company. Intermediate sanctions Intermediate sanctions, part of the Internal Revenue Code, tax individuals, not organizations. While intermediate sanctions most often tax employees and volunteers associated with a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) organizationor with an affiliate or foundation that has such status even if the organization does notother individuals also may be taxed . Typically, this might include outsiders who have substantial influence over excess benefit and revenue-sharing transactions. For example, suppose an associations chief executive officer or one of its department directors negotiates a contract with a for-profit company for a joint venture through which the company earns $1 million. If the IRS determines that the outside company had substantial influence over the actions of the association in this venture, such that under normal circumstances the companys earnings would have been only $800,000, then the excess benefit to the outside companyin this case $200,000is the amount to which the tax applies. The good news is that in this scenario the association is not taxed. The bad news is that the association CEO or department director may well be. While the outside company may be taxed at 25 percent of the excess benefit, for instance, the association staff members involved in negotiating the contract may be taxed at 10 percent of the excess benefit. Additionally, the tax applies for every year during which the challenged transaction remains uncorrected. In this particular scenario, that could mean that after four years the outside company may be taxed at 100 percent and the association staff members involved may be taxed at 40 percent. How, then, can association staff and volunteers be certain that the organization develops and negotiates joint-venture agreements in ways that wont expose them to intermediate sanctions? Heeding the bulleted points listed within the UCC section earlier in this article is a good start. In addition, individuals may get the benefit of a presumption of reasonableness if disinterested directors approve the transaction, and use comparability data, and document their work. Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act UCITA is the first federal law covering transactions involving computer information, and most often this will include e-commerce transactions. Virginia and Maryland have already passed UCITA, and many other states will do so by the end of 2001. Since UCITA is widely regarded as a vendor-oriented statute, participants in transactions covered by the actsuch as an association contracting for a new Web site or other online ventureswill face a greater need for up-front legal planning. At least part of this initial planning must include determining what changes to make to ensure effective warranty and liability provisions for the association, since guidelines provided by older laws will no longer apply. Careful analysis during early planning of the online venture will be all the more important because UCITA has its own list of mandatory, non-negotiable provisions. Related rulings In addition to UCC, intermediate sanctions, and UCITA, recent court cases have addressed taxation of royalty income from activities such as traditional affinity programs that have migrated online and electronic publishing and database ventures. The good news is that the courts have sided with associations claiming tax-free royalties. The bad news is that achieving that result without careful legal planning and drafting remains as tough as ever. Likewise, the IRS recently reissued its regulations addressing the unrelated business income tax (UBIT) exception for sponsorship income. Commercial companies are increasingly interested in sponsoring the associations activities, including those taking place on the Internet. The regulations limit the situations in which income from sponsorships can be tax-free. And finally, the IRS issued a revenue ruling on hospital joint ventures that also applies to other exempt-organization joint ventures. That ruling emphasizes contractual control provisions in the joint venture. In essence, too much control by the commercial joint venture partner can endanger the tax-exempt status. The ruling suggests a three-part â€Å"safe harbor† test for associations to protect their exempt status. First, the dominant purpose of the joint venture should be one of the tax-exempt purposes of the association. Second, private or for-profit benefit must be merely incidental. And third, the association must have effective control of the venture. Online Income Models One easy way to classify strategic online partnerships is by the nature of the income the association will receive and what can be done to make that income tax-free. It is critical at the outset of evaluating an e-commerce proposal to realize that achieving tax-free income by accident is extremely unlikely. More and more during recent decades the IRS has administered UBIT as a tax that applies to almost all association income unless it is intentionally structured that income to fit within UBIT exclusion. Contrary to traditional thinking, the income is not automatically tax-free simply because the organization is tax-exempt. Here is an overview of the primary online revenue-sharing models. Royalties Online partners may have the permission to use the associations name and logo on its site in exchange for a royalty. Partners may be licensed to use information gathered on the e-commerce site for its own commercial purposes, in exchange for a royalty. Commissions The organization may provide services and get paid a commission. That is generally considered taxable income. In many cases, the same activity would be better structured, legally and tax-wise, as a royalty. From a legal perspective, a royalty arrangement is preferable because the association would be considered as a passive licensor rather than an active participant in the business, thereby avoiding liability for legal claims against that business. A royalty arrangement would also be better tax-wise because the royalty would be tax-free. However, as is evident by their associations contracts, many association executives do not fully understand that a commission cannot be made into a royalty by simply calling it that. First and foremost, the facts of the arrangement have to change. Sponsorships A company may be authorized to sponsor a Web page, a Web-based educational program, or almost anything else in exchange for a sponsorship payment. If the sponsor does not receive a substantial return benefit, the payment can be tax-free. It must be realize, however, that large sponsorship payments often come with strings attached, so sponsorship regulations require careful analysis. For example, the IRS deals somewhat harshly with exclusive sponsorships in which the sponsors competitors are prohibited from providing their goods or services to the members. Charitable Contributions Various agreements are being promoted by commercial companies to get charities involved in their online commercial ventures in exchange for making payments to the charities. These payments are sometimes characterized as charitable contributions. If someone pays money to a commercial company with the understanding and intent that a portion of it will go to a charity as a gift, that gift may be properly characterized by the charity as a contribution to the charity, and therefore be considered tax-free income. However, this isnt always the case. If the charity provides services to the commercial company, for example, the IRS may classify the income as a fee for services. Each charitable partnership proposal requires individual analysis. Business-to-business Internet marketplaces Many associations are considering the online business-to-business model, initiated either on their own or with an outside partner. A vertical B-to-B marketplace automates procurement by bringing buyers and sellers together for transactions, and sometimes providing and/or gathering industry-specific information. A horizontal marketplace provides goods and services generic to many businesses, such as office supplies or business insurance. Internet marketplace relationships in particular give rise to several key issues. †¢ Taxation. Associations that run these Internet activities on their own can obtain several types of income, including fees for each consummated transaction. Absent a compelling argument that the service provided primarily benefits the public, such fees are likely to be taxable income. Associations that license their name and logo to a commercial marketplace operator, however, can collect tax-free royalties. †¢ Control. The do-it-yourself model permits more control than the licensing model. However, licensing agreements may provide quality control standards for the partner actually providing the product or service. †¢ Antitrust concerns. Either type of Internet marketplace raises substantial antitrust concerns (collusion and anticompetitive results) at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. These concerns are best handled while setting up the marketplace, by the way the marketplace is structured, and through specific provisions in underlying legal documents. Migrating To The Internet Some associations are migrating traditional activities to the Web. For example, publications are being moved online, as are affinity programs. What happens to the legal and tax issues surrounding these activities within an online context? The answer may be not much, or a lot. Not much happens if it is considered that a royalty is not changed to taxable income, or vice versa, by converting the member insurance affinity program to a Web-based marketing and application process. But a lot can happen if it is considered that new issues may arise that were less important, or even non-existent, prior to the migration. For example, privacy issues abound on the Internet. Will the members be more reluctant to supply insurance applications or claims data electronically? They well could be if they understand the evolution of privacy and security on the Internet. When asked about his companys Internet privacy policy, Scott McNealy, chairman and chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems, said the policy could be stated in eight simple words: â€Å"There is no Internet privacy. Get over it.† Migrating an affinity program to the Web also raises a variety of legal and tax linking questions that will not be resolved anytime soon. For instance, is the link from an association site to an insurance providers site intellectual property that can be licensed for a royalty? Probably. Can a nonprofit, especially a Section 501(c)(3)or 501(c)(4) organization, give away the linkmeaning permit the link to be used without charge? Probably not, because this could raise exempt-status issues, and for those two types of organizations, intermediate sanctions issues (taxation of individuals) as well. In addition, especially for charities, state attorneys general might object to diversions of charitable assets. E-Commerce Contracts Why do organizations signing up for e-commerce sites so often strike out in the contract department? Strike one. Association leaders sign standard contracts that take away the organizations rights. And these contracts may reflect unintended legal relationshipsfor instance, the contract may describe the relationship as a partnership when it is actually intended to establish a licensor/licensee arrangement. Strike two. Association staff negotiates their own contract changes rather than using a lawyer to negotiate the legal documents. Strike three. The association does its own drafting rather than relying on legal analysis to figure out what laws apply, how to apply them to the contract, and how to integrate all parts of the contract. Out. When problems arise later, do not expect the contract for assistance. In e-commerce, as in baseball, three strikes typically mean that ‘the player’ is out of the game. Failure to consider the complexities of old and new laws as they affect commercial activities on the Internet will reduce the income potential and increase the tax liability and other legal risk. Using legal counsel to help match the e-commerce activities with new legal developmentsand to design and negotiate the customized contracts imperative in the new economywill result in more income with less risk. Reducing e-Commerce Risk Because online ventures are for the most part still a new addition to the family of association strategic partnerships, the potential for legal and financial risk is very real. But associations can reduce their risk by keeping four things in mind: 1. A new person in the market is less likely to do something right the first time through. When the potential to make mistakes is recognized, one may slow down enough to ask more questions and seek more help, rather than trying to move ahead at Internet speed. 2. If the association is breaking new ground in the world of online ventures, recognize that the legal outcomes are less certain and potential dispute costs will be much higher, since no real legal precedence will be available on which to hang the hat. 3. In an online world, the number of potential plaintiffs who may want to sue is infinitely larger than in the pre-online world. 4. While Internet insurance policies are currently in the works, many traditional policies dont explicitly state that they cover the associations e-commerce endeavors. This itself should encourage associations to proceed cautiously in their online ventures. Of course, careful analysis and development of any new venture early on will help reduce both legal and financial risk. To ensure that the associations strategic planning includes strategic thinking about the online initiatives, be sure to answer certain key questions as an early part of a comprehensive e-commerce action plan: †¢ What new e-commerce activities are in the works throughout the association? †¢ What current e-commerce activities need legal review? †¢ What tax analysis has been done with regard to these activities, and what tax alternatives need more analysis? †¢ What budget steps must be taken before outside help is retained? †¢ Who should be on e-commerce planning team (e.g., senior information technology staff or consultant, insurance agent, lawyer, or certified public accountant)? Conclusion In view of the great importance of e-commerce, it is absolutely necessary to have adequate legislation. Such legislation must be adopted worldwide because the ease systems such as the Internet offer to the international trading of products or services, forces such transactions to be made in accordance with the trade law of each of the countries involved. The adequate legislation in each of the countries that perform electronic transactions will help the growth of e-business transactions. In view of the fact that e-commerce is in a very early stage of development in many countries, there is no specific legislation in this respect. As electronic commerce is not mentioned in any Law or Regulation, electronic transactions are not considered as valid for any enforcement purpose at this time. Meanwhile, in many countries, in the absence of any specific legislation, parties may rely on private agreements to govern their e-commerce transactions. However, the agreements will not be enforceable unless they are in written form and signed by both parties. Bibliography Barlow, J.P. WIRED 2.03: The Economy of Ideas. Available HTTP: http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/jpbarlow.htm accessed on April 5, 2007. Digimarc. Digimarc. Available HTTP: http://www.digimarc.com accessed on April 5, 2007. Edwards, L. Wealde, C. Law and the Internet: Regulating Cyberspace, second edition. Oxford: Hart, accessed on April 5, 2007. Free-Market.Net Spotlight on Intellectual Property. Available HTTP: http://www.free-market.net/spotlight/iproperty 03. December 2001, accessed on April 5, 2007. Gallfent, R. Introduction to Basic Notions of Industrial Property, WIPO/TM/KTM/97/1, November 1997 Idris, Kamil, Intellectual Property, A Power Tool for Economic Growth, WIPO Pub. No. 888, January 2003 Lehman, B.A. Support for Economic and Political Freedom. Available HTTP: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/intelprp/support.htm accessed on April 5, 2007. Lerch, D. Issues of Intellectual Property Copyright for Educators. Available HTTP: http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/copyright/issues_of_ip.html, accessed on April 5, 2007 Olsson, H. Introduction to Intellectual Property Law, WIPO/CNR/S/93/1, August 1993 The National Academies, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age. Available HTTP: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309064996?OpenDocument accessed on April 5, 2007. UK Patent Office. Copyright History. Available HTTP: http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/history/ accessed on April 5, 2007 UNCITRAL, History and Background, Guide to Enactment of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (1996): III. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF THE MODEL LAW, The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law as retrieved on April 5, 2007 from http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/un.electronic.commerce.model.law.1996/history.background.html Volkman, R. Software Ownership and Natural Rights. Online. Available HTTP: http://www.southernct.edu/organizations/rccs/resources/research/intellectual_property/volkman_nat-rights.html accessed on April 5, 2007

General Motors Corporation Change Management Business Essay

General Motors Corporation Change Management Business Essay Background of change The ever lasting truth of the universe is change. People, organizations, markets change every second. This change is stimulated by the environment. On individual level people manage change by changing there routines and habits, which is relatively simple. Change in an organization is complex but follows the same rules, organizations like an individual have to change there habits and routines. The organizations who have failed to cope with the change have crumbled under the feet of time either disappearing or being acquired by other companies. For example skybird, tucker corporation, wirgin, tohatsu, clover, British satellite broadcasting, world champion wrestling, archandor, and most recently general which filled chapter 11 bankruptcy. These organizations were unable to recognize the change in the environment and were rejected by the environment. The organizations that have been proactive and managed change have been success stories .i.e. Microsoft, 3com and us robotics, Cadbury and Kraft etc. these organizations have changed there strategies at the right time, they were the leaders of market change. Introduction to General Motors General Motors Corporation (GM) is the worlds largest full-line vehicle manufacturer and marketer. Its arsenal of brands includes Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab. Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden comprise GMs international nameplates. Through its system of global alliances, GM holds stakes in Isuzu Motors Ltd., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation, Fiat Auto, and GM Daewoo Auto Technology. Other principal businesses include General Motors Acceptance Corporation and its subsidiaries, providers of financing and insurance to GM customers and dealers. In the early 2000s, struggling under the weight of escalating healthcare and pension costs, GM sought to shed some of its less profitable activities. Toward that end, among other moves, the company sold its stake in Hughes Electronics, phased out production of the Oldsmobile, and discontinued the Chevrolet Camero and Pontiac Firebird. Facing a tough economic climate, GM has nevertheless retained its position as the worlds leading automaker. Models of change management Now companies have realized the need for change and change management. That is the reason many scholars came up with different models of change management. There are some simple models of change and then there are some complex models. simple models are helpful but do not identify the needs of current economy Simple models which follow the approach that one size fits all Lewins model Unfreeze the current paradigm of the organization. This involves understanding the need for change. Then communicating that need to the people. People should be open to change in structure, behavior and thinking. Change the organization paradigm by introducing new theories in the organization. This is a lengthy process as the new method will take time to sink in. people will question the new method thus it is important that there is a strong channel for feedback. Refreeze the changed paradigm. This is the stage where the change is inculcated into the organization and people followed the changed methods as a part and parcel of the organization. Kotters 8 steps creating a vibe of change into the members gather supporters to guide change create a vision explain the vision to the supporters empower people to follow and spread the vision create shot objective or milestones improvements and feedback Inculcation of change by making it a part of structure and system. Complex model which recognize the need of individual organizations. Johnson Scholes and Whittingtons model identifies the variables that the organization faces. Time is how quickly change is needed. This can be identified by the Balogun and Hailys model. Scope is the degree of change that is necessary. Continuity what is the incremental factor History is the past experience of change Skills what capabilities are required and what do we have. Resources which are available for change management. Readiness is the willingness of people to accept change. Power is where the of the organization lies i.e. with management employees, stakeholders etc. McKinsey 7S framework identifies the areas that management need to focus on in order to manage change effectively Structure is the hierarchy and the departmentalization of the organization before and after the change. Strategy is the plans that organization makes i.e. when to compete? Where to compete? And when to compete? System is the alignment of the strategy with the business objective and at what level evolutionary stage the organization stands. Shared values is what type of culture prevails in the organization Style is the leadership style of the management. How are decisions made? Staff is the human resource of the organization. How trained they are and what staff is needed? Skill is the organizations ability to use its resources. Thus measure of the efficiency of the organization. Need for strategic change in General motors General motor is a fallen giant. Glory of the past from being a great market leader to bankrupt company General motors has come a long way. In 1980s GM was the top car manufacturer in the USA until the arrival of the Japanese cars. The Japanese sold cheap and better cars. GM failed to realize the change in the industry and technology and constantly lost market share to the Japanese companies. Even with government support the company filled chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. The strategies of the Japanese and GM can be compared with each other and get to what GM needs to do in order to get its former glory. The strategies that have been used by GM are heavy discounting to capture or retain market share. Strategic intervention techniques The purpose of intervention techniques is to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of the organization. Strategic intervention techniques focus on improving the processes through which ideas are generated and then gain feedback on the ideas. These techniques make some thing happen and also focus on what is happening French Bell Jr (1994). The reasons for interventions can be To gain feedback To educate people To invoke rapid change in the organization. Rapid and sudden change in the external environment Intense competition Driving forces for change in GM Driving forces are the reason that GM requires to change its strategy and align itself with the environment. Few of the forces that pressure Gm to change are as follows Low economic growth in the car manufacturing business has stumped most of the manufacturers. Car manufacturers on government support are making cars at a loss but yet there cars are in the market and cutting the market share of other companies. Japanese car manufacturers are making better cars at low price which is the main competition for GM. Change in technology in the industry has been an issue. Honda and Toyota have advanced in technology at a higher rate than GM. Rising oil prices have also caused the industry to rethink there strategy. Resource implications for GM GM CEO Rick Wagoner has put in a lot of effort to turn around GM since 1992.but his response to change in the environment was too slow. The resources of GM can be evaluated using 5 Ms model Money has been the problem for GM for sometime now but government is ready to help them but they do not have a turn around strategy. Manpower of GM has not been able to generate new ideas which show dulled motivation, and poor creativity skills by the management and other employees. Also GM is stuck in contacts with employees with huge pensions. Minutes time frame for adaptation has always been short for GM and it has always lagged behind the need of time. Material has very special item oil which has sky rocketed. So the price of car manufacturing is rising as well as the price of maintaining a car. Machinery has been the major issue for GM as its competitors have acquired new machinery and processes which are better than that of GM. Due to these factors GM has not been able to change. These are the forces that create resistance for change. Change and stakeholders Stakeholders are an integral part of the organizational paradigm. To bring change in the organization, stakeholders should own the change. The process of change should start from within the stakeholders. To change the culture stakeholders should realize that there is a need for change. Then they should be directed into the right direction. In Kotters 8 steps model for change the role of stakeholders can be incorporated. The model pushes the organization to make its own decision and define its process of change. Kotters model for change for GM Kotter gives a model of change in the organization in which the stakeholders are empowered to make change for themselves. I shall use this model to explain how GM can bring about change in the organization with the help of its stakeholders. Step 1: Create urgency For change to occur it is necessary the whole organization realizes the need for change and puts its effort in making the change. For this purpose managers can paint a grim picture of the future if continued on the same path. Explain to the shareholders the increase in ability of the organization to exploit its resources. There should be feed back from the stakeholders and there ideas should be incorporated in the change process. In case of GM it is not very difficult to paint a grim picture because the next step to bankruptcy is liquidation. The decline in the performance of the company has been a question mark for a long time now. So in GM people are ready for change and stakeholders support the management. Now there is need for discussions so that the ideas and the wills of the stakeholders can be incorporated in the change process. Step 2: Coalitions This is the point where the leadership emerges; people among the stakeholder should take charge of the groups. It is necessary that to identify the key leadership and make them commit to the change in the organization. This is necessary that people who are selected for the leadership believe in the change. In case of General Motors they have to find leaders in order to bring change. Recognition of the people who will help GM to evolve and to accept the changed processes is necessary, if it wishes to make any type of change in its strategy. Step 3: Vision for change When the process of change starts there are many idea of floating. All these ideals need to be linked together if in order to form a vision. This vision needs to be simple and understandable. The vision gives people a sense of direction; they understand the purpose of the change. For change to be successful you need to know the main idea behind the change. For this purpose prepare a summary of the future endeavors of the company. Knowing about the future helps people to support the organization. In case of General Motors the mission statement is quite clear G.M. is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment. But unfortunately General Motors has not been able to deliver. The vision of the General Motors needs to be communicated effectively through the organization. Every stakeholder needs to believe in the mission statement of General Motors. Step 4: Communication of vision Every person in the organization needs to know the objective of the change. The previous paradigm of the company will produce resistance against the new method. The New Mission statement needs to overcome the resistance and unite the organization on a single path to success. For this the management needs to address all the doubts and problems of the people. Divide the vision into smaller objectives and tie the performance of individual with the achievement of these objectives. In General Motors the management should take responsibility of communicating process of change through the organization. A process of change developed from the input of stakeholders is easier to communicate back. Step 5: Remove obstacles In the process of change, there will always be resistance. The objective of the management is to minimize this resistance and bring the stakeholders to a common platform on which everybody can express their opinion. As the process of change moves forward, there should be constant checks for any barriers to change. In General Motors the inner management has failed to provide change in the organization. The change in GM can be induced from the outside; perhaps a change agent will help GM over come change barriers. Another good way to bring about change is to award the people who embrace the change. Step 6: Create short term objectives For the process of change to work people need to know that it is working. For this management can divide the main objective in to simpler objectives. The management should thoroughly analyze the short term objectives such that they are achievable and motivation. For the achievement of every objective the employees should be rewarded. In General Motors that management need to step up and divide their long-term objectives into the short term goals. The management should make the stakeholders believe that they are capable of changing the business for the better. The most important stakeholder of GM is the government. The government needs to know that that GM can stand on its feet, for it to bail out the company. Step 7: Build on the change The process of change is not complete he unless and until the change culture has inculcated into the organization. Changes in many organizations fail because they do not fully implement the changed processes. The changed processes should become part and parcel of life in the organization. The people of the organization need to build on the changed processes and achieve even more success. The management of General Motors should not stop at making the government believed that they deserve a bailout, but should make efforts to build on the changed processes. Step 8: Change in corporate culture The most difficult thing to do in bringing about change into the organization is to change the culture of the organization. In history many of the mergers in companies have failed because they unable to merge the culture of the companies. Changing the culture of the company is a very long and hard process. General motors will need to change the culture and introduce a fresh method to succeed in an unattractive industry. At this point the employees of General Motor will not be motivated; the management needs to bring faith back into the employees. Monitoring progress and conclusion The final step in the management of change would be to monitor the performance of the company. For this purpose appraisal of each of the activities of the company will be performed. The justification of activity will provide grounds by which the productivity of the activity will be measured. The idea of kaizen should become a part of the activities of the business. The process of change is very lengthy; it takes years for change process to become part of the culture. The management of the organization needs to be very patient and need to prioritize their objectives. In General Motors it is necessary that people accept the change and once the changed processes have settled in there should be continuous evaluation and revaluation. The U.S market has become very saturated thus not allowing the companies to grow as fast as they would like. For the companies to survive they need to use there resources with utmost efficiency.