Going Public as Political Strategy: The Bush Administration,an Echoing Press,and Passage of the Patriot Act

Research suggests that political elites excel at controlling political and media information environments, particularly in times of national crisis, such as the events and aftermath of September 11. This study examines the creation and passage of the Patriot Act, which was proposed by the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks and quickly passed with strong support by the U.S. Congress. We argue that (a) the public communications of the Bush administration, particularly those by George W. Bush and John Ashcroft, and (b) news coverage about the legislation were instrumental in this outcome. Public communications by Bush and Ashcroft and news coverage about the Act were content analyzed to identify the timing of the messages and the themes and perspectives emphasized, and congressional debates and activities were examined for insight into their relation with administration and press discourse. Findings suggest that Bush and Ashcroft's communications, in combination with a press that largely echoed the administration's messages, created an environment in which Congress faced significant pressure to pass the legislation with remarkable speed.     

A negative relationship between religion and the percentage of women state legislators in the United States

State contextual variables strongly associated with the percentage of women state legislators include the percentage of Christians and political culture. The percentage of Christians is inversely related to the percentage of women state legislators. This is a new finding. The relationship with political culture, noted by previous researchers, is confirmed by our research. Other state contextual variables associated weakly with the percentage of women legislators include the percentage of labour union members and multi‐member districts. Using multiple regression analysis, over 70 per cent of the variation in the percentage of women state legislators has been accounted for. Thus election of women state legislators in 1991 is primarily associated with ideological rather than political or demographic factors. Data from all 50 states are used in the analysis.     

Epiphyseal union sequencing: aiding in the recognition and sorting of commingled remains

The presence of accessory osseous material within a seemingly single individual assemblage has the potential to result in misidentification of the remains. Detection of nonrelated material relies on the anthropologist being able to recognize incongruities among the elements. Inconsistencies in developmental status provide evidence to suggest that commingling may have occurred. Analyzing the sequence in which the various epiphyses unite can help to identify outlying elements that do not match the predicted developmental pattern of the remaining skeleton, thus indicating that the element may not belong to that individual. This paper considers the sequence in which 21 various epiphyses of the body unite to serve as a reference for identifying incongruent fusing patterns within a commingled assemblage. Two hundred and fifty-eight male individuals of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) descent between the ages of 14 and 30 years were included for analysis. Sequence order was determined for both "beginning" and "complete" union by comparing the fusing status of each epiphysis with each of the other 21 epiphyses. Considering both sequence patterns provides a wider spectrum of evidence from which to recognize incongruities than either sequence pattern could provide in isolation. Variations to the majority sequence pattern were also included to ensure that skeletons displaying less popular but acceptable sequence patterns would not be mistakenly considered as two individuals when using this research as a reference. Although substantial variation in the order in which epiphyses initiate and complete union was discovered within the sample, most epiphyseal relationships did not display any variable patterns. These "unvaried" relationships will be most useful in recognizing the presence of incongruent material if the pattern within an assemblage does not conform to the pattern documented in this study. Figures demonstrating the two sequence patterns are provided for easy application in the field.     

Voluntary Narrative Disclosures by Local Governments: A Comparative Analysis of the Textual Complexity of Mayoral and Chairpersons' Letters in Annual Reports

Research on local government annual reports has been limited, particularly in relation to report narratives. This study aims to determine whether characteristics of narratives vary between the reports of local governments and listed companies. After considering the nature of the potential report audiences it was predicted that, if writers consider their audience, local government report narratives would be easier to read, less likely to be obfuscated, and use fewer passive sentences than those in corporate reports. The results suggest that mayoral letters exhibit higher reading ease and are less likely to be obfuscated than their corporate counterparts but they are also shorter and contain more passive constructions, making conclusions about readability and understandability ambiguous. This research acquaints readers with important aspects to consider when preparing or evaluating narrative reports.     

Vagina equals woman? On genitals and gendered identity

Gendered identity is often assumed to be predicated on the prior existence of dichotomously sexed bodies: penis equating to maleness and vagina (or the absence of a penis) equating to femaleness. But is it experienced in this way? We analyse talk about the vagina and female gendered identity in focus group (and interview) data collected from 55 women that explores this very issue. Women talked about genitals and identity in four ways: they affirmed a link between having a vagina and being a woman; they explored this link though associated functions (heterosex and reproduction); they questioned the inevitability of the link; and they attempted disruption of the link (although this frequently served only to reinstate the normativity of it). The implications of this analysis for theory and practice are discussed.