In January 2004, the United States Congress passed and put into effect the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN SPAM). The Act was set forth to regulate bulk commercial email (spam) and set the limits for what was acceptable. Various sources have since investigated and speculated on the efficacy of the CAN SPAM Act, few of which report a desirable outcome for users of electronic mail. Despite the apparent consensus of anti-spam firms and the community of email users that the Act was less than effective, there is little to no research on the efficacy of the Act that utilizes any significant statistical rigor or accepted scientific practices. The present study seeks to determine what, if any, impact the CAN SPAM act had on spam messages, to identify areas of improvement to help fight spam that is both fraudulent and dangerous. The data consisted of 2,071,965 spam emails sent between February 1, 1998 and December 31, 2008. The data were aggregated by month and an interrupted time series design was chosen to assess the impact the CAN SPAM Act had on spam. Analyses revealed that the CAN SPAM Act had no observable impact on the amount of spam sent and received; no impact on two of three CAN SPAM laws complied with among spam emails, the remaining law of which there was a significant decrease in compliance after the Act; and no impact on the number of spam emails sent from within the United States. Implications of these findings and suggestions for policy are discussed.

The United States did not have a federal policy on child care until 1990 when portions of two bills (H.R.3 and S.7) were incorporated in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The lack of a policy was not due to neglect; child care advocates made several attempts during the 1970s to pass legislation. In an effort to understand why child care succeeded in 1990, this thesis examines how child care got on the decision agenda, the "short list" of the government agenda. Using John Kingdon's framework (1984) I analyze the process by which child care legislation was able to make the successful transition from the committee forum to the floors of Congress for a vote, and thus becoming a part of the decision agenda. / Master of Arts

The unfolding of recombinant DNA, from research technique to political issue, is described. As a research technique, recombinant DNA (abbreviated rDNA) has opened up new vistas in biological and other fields of research. But its potential yet unproven hazard has created uneasy feelings toward the technique. The controversial nature of the issue finally launched rDNA into the political sphere, involving scientists, the public at large, and Congress in efforts to control the development of the field. The first group to regulate rDNA was the scientists. The scientific community called for a voluntary moratorium on experiments perceived as potentially dangerous at the time. It was an unprecedented act. The National Institutes of Health subsequently issued guidelines for a safe execution of rDNA experiments to minimize potential dangers to public health and well-being. Efforts of the scientific community to control rDNA was seen, however, as a politics of expertise. Challenges to this "technocratic" approach soon emerged. Vocal members of the public suspected expert decision makers as being biased toward scientific interests, reducing rDNA to a technical issue. They rejected the experts’ tunnel vision and demanded a say in decisions. Public participation in the decision-making process precipitated community debates at locations where rDNA research was ongoing. A democratic approach to decision-making proved to be a viable policy-making mode. The ensuing local and state laws, however, seemed inadequate to cover global consequences of rDNA. In an effort to unify regulations of the field, Congress attempted to legislate on the subject. Resistance from the scientific community, which regard legislative control as rigid and unnecessary, was one of the causes of diminishing congressional interest in the matter. None of the introduced bills was enacted. For complex policy areas with uncertain yet far-reaching scientific and societal consequences -- like rDNA -- this dissertation recommends a policy-making process where scientists, interested lay persons, politicians, public administrators, and other relevant parties participate in structured communications prior to an emerging controversy. To facilitate the process, establishment of National Science Fora is recommended. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to compare the underlying rationales found in selected Supreme Court cases and briefs of counsel justifying or condemning legal classification by sex and legal classification by race. Political strategies have been developed based on the assumption that racism and sexism are analogous. Yet, in recent years, anti-discrimination law, when used in sex discrimination cases, often has been interpreted and implemented quite differently from cases involving race discrimination. This study, using a content analysis based on "grounded theory," compared per- ceptions of racism and sexism as found in the opinions and briefs of counsel of the United States Supreme Court. The data showed that until the 1970's women were seen as wives and mothers whose place was in the home. Women were perceived as having certain inherent characteristics which made them more vulnerable than men. Special laws for women, therefore, were perceived as justified. On the other hand, there were those who argued equity for women based on fundamental ideals and the notion that women should be seen as individuals, not as a stereotypical composite of womanhood. The efficacy of segregation was argued on the grounds of a perceived belief in a natural antipathy of the races and a fear of violence if there were to be integration. Those advocating integration argued the deprivations caused by segregation. There was a gravity surrounding the race cases that was missing from the sex cases. The race decisions! also, were firmly grounded in the Constitution, which was not true for the sex cases. Fundamentally, blacks and whites were seen as having the same rights even during segregation when they were "separate but equal." Women were never perceived as being the equal of men. They were different and they functioned under a different law. Also, the role of women in the home was primary, not her status in the world outside the home. For blacks, role was never an issue. Rather, for blacks status was the central concern. Finally, the blacks' struggle was perceived as a fight to secure their place in the wider society. The women's place was perceived as in the domestic domain, outside the purview of public concerns. / Ed. D.

This study provides a feminist analysis of protective labor legislation in the Supreme Court case of UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc. History of protection rhetoric and precedented cases leading up to UAW are provided. Using a feminist analysis, this study argues that the victory for women's labor rights in UAW is short lived, and the cycle of protection rhetoric continues with new pro-business agendas replacing traditional justifications for "protecting" women in the work place. The implications of this and other findings are discussed.

The purpose of this study was an empirical investigation of the factors considered by the United States Tax Court in determining whether the principal purpose for an acquisition was tax avoidance (or alternatively, given the totality of the surrounding circumstances, whether there was an overriding business purpose for the acquisition).

This investigation deals with a change of congressional attitude concerning violence in entertainment media, from noninterference to investigation to initiation of research. The data are primarily from official government records. This study first examines a period of congressional reluctance to interfere with the violent content of movies and radio in 1929-45. Next examined is the period 1945-68, when Congress actively investigated media violence,, focusing on television. Finally, the study examines congressional activity concerning television violence in 1968-74 and the Surgeon General's report on television violence. This report concludes that, by 1955, the pattern of congressional interest in media violence had turned from reluctance to activity, -and discusses the likelihood of future control of television program content.

This study investigates the representation of women's reproductive rights in the feminist blogopshere during 2009/10 United States health care reform. Focusing on two purposively selected feminist blogsites - Feministing and Jezebel- it critically examines the discursive and rhetorical strategies employed by feminist bloggers to contest the erosion of women's reproductive rights as proposed in health care reform legislation. While the reformation of the U.S. health care system was a lengthy process, my analysis is confined to feminist blog posts published in November 2009, December 2009 and March 2010. These three months have been designated as they are roughly representative of three pivotal stages in health care reform: the drafting of the House of Representatives health care reform bill and Stupak Amendment in November 2009, the creation of the Senate health care bill inclusive of the Nelson compromise in December 2009, and the passage of the finalised health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and supplementary executive order, in March 2010. This study is informed by feminist poststructuralist theory and Foucault's conceptions of discourse and power - an appropriate framework for identifying and analysing the unequal power relations that exist between men and women in patriarchal societies. Foucault conceives of discourse as both socially constituted and constitutive and contends that through the constitution of knowledge, discourses designate acceptable ways of talking, writing, and behaving, while simultaneously restricting and prohibiting alternatives, thereby granting power and authority to specific discourses. However, Foucault also stresses the multi-directionality of power and asserts that though hegemonic discourses are privileged over others, power lays in discursive practice at all social sites; hence the socially and politically transformative power of contesting discourses. Critical discourse analysis is informed by this critical theory of language and regards the use of language as a form of social practice located within its specific historical context. Therefore, it is through engaging in the struggle over meaning and producing different 'truths' through the reappropriation of language that the possibility of social change exists. Employing narrative, linguistic and rhetorical analysis, this study identifies the discursive strategies and tactics utilised by feminist bloggers to combat and contest anti-choice health care legislation. The study further seeks to determine how arguments supportive of women's reproductive rights are framed and how feminist discourses are privileged while patriarchal discourse is contested. Drawing on public sphere theory, I argue that the feminist blogosphere constitutes a counter-public which facili tates the articulation and circulation of marginalised and counter-discourses. I conclude this study by examining the feminist blogopshere's role in promoting political change and transformation through alternative representations of women and their reproductive rights.

The purposes of this dissertation were to determine the constitutional rights of parents to shield their children from exposure to parts of the public school curriculum that the parents find objectionable on religious, moral, or other grounds and to determine the statutory rights of parents to remove, or opt-out, their children from objectionable parts or all of the public school curriculum as set forth in the statutes of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many pivotal federal court cases dealing with parent rights and curricular issues, including Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education (1987), Vandiver v. Hardin County Board of Education (1987), Brown v. Hot, Sexy, & Safer Productions, Inc. (1995), Leebaert v. Harrington (2003), and Parker v. Hurley (2008) were surveyed using legal research methods. Specific types of curriculum opt-outs (e.g., sex education, comprehensive health programs, HIV/AIDS instruction) granted by each state were ascertained. States' statutes and regulations were categorized as non-existent, restrictive, or permissive based on the scope and breadth of each state's curriculum opt-out statute or regulation. A long list of federal court rulings have provided public schools the right to teach what school boards and administrators determine is appropriate. Parents did not have any constitutional right to opt their children out of public school curriculum. Many states' legislatures have granted parents a statutory right to opt their children out of certain parts of school curricula. In this study, 7 states had non-existent statutes or regulations, 18 states had restrictive statutes or regulations, and 26 states had permissive statutes or regulations.

There have been a number of studies that examine how public relations practitioners respond during a crisis. Many researchers have examined the various response strategies and the success or failure of theses methods. Because a crisis can have legal ramifications, it is important that a good working relationship between the legal staff and public relations staff exists. To better understand the relationship between the two groups and the response strategies generated during a crisis, more research in this issue is needed. This study focused on response strategies used during a racial discrimination lawsuit. The objectives of the study were to determine which strategies were used most often, and how the influence of legal staff and public relations staff determined the responses.A content analysis of newspapers found in a NexisLexis search, during the crisis period, was used to gather responses made by spokespersons. The search yielded twenty-seven usable newspaper articles and sixty-two responses from company spokespersons.Coders were trained to identify the response strategies that were defined as traditional public relations strategy, traditional legal strategy, mixed strategy and diversionary strategy. A chi-square test was used to test the hypothesis. The findings supported a balance between the use of traditional public relations strategy and traditional legal strategy.Further analysis identified a significant increase in the use of traditional public relations strategy when a public relations firm was retained to remedy the crisis situation. The study also supported a collaborative working relationship between public relations and legal counsel. / Department of Journalism