The economic stimulus plan is one President Obama's main weapons to jump-start the economy and prevent a much deeper and longer recession; the current downturn started in December 2007 making it already one of the longest since the Great Depression, and it has caused the largest number of job losses in the history of the US in a single year (in absolute, but not - yet - relative numbers).
Through a combination of tax cuts, direct investments in a variety of sectors including infrastructure, energy, science and education and help to the unemployed and to the states, Congress and the President are looking to alleviate if not stop the decline in economic activity. As of August 2009, the economy has lost 6.9 million jobs, which have been shed across all sectors of the economy except for government and healthcare.
Climate change is a problem that is affecting people and the environment. Greater energy efficiency and new technologies hold promise for reducing greenhouse gases and solving this global challenge. EPA's website provides information on climate change for communities, individuals, businesses, states, localities and governments.
Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive," happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional.
Mission Statement: To protect and define the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of the incarcerated. We support genuine efforts at rehabilitation of criminal offenders, which, in turn, fully restores them to our communities, promotes family stability, authentic long-term public safety, and reduces the numbers of crime victims in our society. We engage in efforts to hold government agencies and their agents accountable for the tax dollars used to support prisons, jails, and other criminal justice activities. We perform this work via public education, legislative advocacy, litigation, and referral to existing social services. We serve as a clearinghouse for relevant information affecting the incarcerated and their supporters.
The principal purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Nation's drug control program. The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences. To achieve these goals, the Director of ONDCP is charged with producing the National Drug Control Strategy. The Strategy directs the Nation's anti-drug efforts and establishes a program, a budget, and guidelines for cooperation among Federal, State, and local entities.
Language discrimination occurs when a person is treated differently because of that person's native language or other characteristics of that person's speech. In an employment situation, for example, an employee may be being subjected to language discrimination if the workplace has a "speak-English-only" policy but the employee's primary language is something other than English. The employee may also be the victim of language discrimination if he or she is treated less favorably than other employees because he or she speaks English with an accent, or if the employee is told he or she does not qualify for a position because of a lack of English proficiency. Outside the employment context, language discrimination may also occur if a person is denied access to businesses or government services because he or she does not speak English.