| September-October 2006
Civil Rights | Education-Academic
|Immigration | Media
| Religion | Seniors
| Social Conditions & Demographic |
Universities & Colleges |
E1 - The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2006: The Struggle for Equality
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), September 2006, online edition,46p
"This report - the only annual study of its kind - outlines 1,972 incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim discrimination and harassment in 2005, the highest number of civil rights cases ever recorded in the Washington-based group’s annual report. As in past years, CAIR said factors contributing to the sharp increase in reported incidents included the lingering impact of post-9/11 fears, increased awareness of civil rights issues in the Muslim community and a general increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society." The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to presenting an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to the American public. Fulltext
E2 - The 2006 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are Our Students Learning?
The Brookings Institution, Brown Center on Education Policy, October 18,, 2006, online edition, 34p
“The 2006 Brown Center Report on American Education evaluates the role that student happiness and confidence play in achievement, and examines whether states are artificially inflating the number of students meeting proficiency standards mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001.” Fulltext
E3- Students on the Move: The Future of International Students in the United States
American Council on Education (ACE), October 2006, online edition, 16p
"Trends in international student enrollment reveal a shifting market that could
dramatically impact the United States’ position as the destination of choice for
the largest group of international students, a new issue brief released today by
the American Council on Education (ACE) finds.” This paper examines the current situation and recent trends in international student enrollment in the United States, compares these trends with those in other countries, and looks at the efforts of other countries and regional groups to attract international students. Fulltext
E4 - Immigration Now, Immigration Tomorrow, Immigration Forever. Reason’s guide to reality-based reform
Reason, August-September 2006, online edition
“The nation has been swept up in a battle over immigration reform all year. As Congress and the President struggle to enact new legislation, the debate so far has been characterized by an almost complete lack of reference to history, economics, and basic research on the matter. Reason seeks to enrich the discussion, first and foremost by raising the question of whether there is, in fact, an immigration crisis in the first place. This extensive section includes contributions by Nick Gillespie, Kerry Howley, Carolyn Lochhead, Tim Cavanaugh, Jesse Walker, Tyler Cowen and Daniel M. Rothschild, Shikha Dalmia, Tony Snow, Cathy Young, Brian Doherty. Fulltext
E5 -How Not to Build a Fence
Skerry, Peter
Foreign Policy, September/October 2006, # 156, pp.64-68
The current intense political debate about immigration to the
U.S. from Mexico has focused attention on extending and fortifying
the physical barrier between the two countries. The author describes
how the current 125-mile fence developed over time and how it
evolved to address different, and sometimes competing, interests,
including free movement of wildlife and other environmental concerns,
issues of sovereignty where the border structures cross tribal
lands, and even insurance liability. Skerry compares the efficacy
of fences and other types of border barriers in other countries.
Accompanying graphics illustrate the design, placement, and materials
features of the fence. Peter Skerry is professor of political
science at Boston College and nonresident senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution. Fulltext
E6 - Us & Them: Immigrants in America
Bloom, Stephen G.
Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2006, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 43-68
“Much has changed since the nation’s last great immigration debate
more than 40 years ago. The immigrants’ education and skills,
their countries of origin, and even their destinations within
the United States are all very different from what they were in
the past. As arguments rage once again, all eyes are on America’s
borders. But what happens after the newcomers arrive?” This special
section includes essays by leading scholars on the Statue of Liberty
myth, the unexpected influx from Africa, on mélange cities, on
Hispanics and Hasidim in rural Iowa. Stephen G. Bloom is the
author of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
(2000). He teaches journalism at the University of Iowa. Fulltext
E7 - Immigration and America's Future: A New Chapter - Final Report of the Independent Task Force Co-chaired by Spencer Abraham and Lee H. Hamilton
Migration Policy Institute, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Woodrow Wilson InternationalCenter for Scholars, September 2006, 22p.
“As Congress and the Administration remain deadlocked on how to combat illegal immigration, a high-level, bipartisan task force has called for fundamental reform of the nation’s immigration laws and system. The report and recommendations of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future … address the dilemmas of illegal immigration but also reconcile the need to meet strong economic and social demands for legal immigration with the imperative to strengthen enforcement and safeguard national security. ... It articulates a vision that promotes U.S. global competitiveness in the context of post-9/11 security imperatives, while grappling with many of the technical details that are frustrating reform efforts. The report argues that the nation’s current laws, dating back to the 1950s, are outdated and unsuited to the economic, social and demographic realities of the 21st century. Fulltext
E8- The Growth and Reach of Immigration.
New Census Bureau Data Underscore Importance of Immigrants in
the U.S. Labor Force
Paral, Rob
The American Immigration Law Foundation, Immigration Policy
Brief, August 2006
“The Census Bureau reports that the foreign-born population of
the United States increased by 4.9 million between 2000 and 2005
to 35.7 million, or 12.4 percent of the U.S. population. While
most new immigrants continue to settle in California, New York,
Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois, increasing numbers of
new immigrants are settling throughout the U.S. -- they are going
where the jobs are.” Fulltext
E9 - Immigrant Women in the United States. A Demographic Portrait
Pearce, Susan C.
American Immigration Law Foundation, Immigration Policy Center, Summer 2006, 28p
“The migration of women to the United States is characterized by two contradictory trends. On the one hand, over the past 20 years women have comprised a growing share of new legal immigrants admitted into the country, a trend which mirrors the feminization of migration in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. On the other hand, women have constituted a declining share of the U.S. foreign-born population as a whole since 1970. This most likely is due to the fact that the majority of undocumented immigrants entering the country are men, although the numbers of undocumented women are on the rise.” Susan C. Pearce is Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University and Director of Global Women of Baltimore. Fulltext
E10 - On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change
Overholser, Geneva
The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University
of Pennsylvania, October 2006, online edition, 24p
In 1947, the Commission on Freedom of the Press – familiarly
called the Hutchins Commission, after the University of Chicago
president Robert Hutchins who led it – found that the press was
failing society in myriad ways. Today we face similar problems.
"Journalism as we know it is over. New models are emerging
fast. But they are attended by serious questions: What exactly
are the elements of mainstream journalism that must be preserved?
In the new, emerging models, who will pay for that journalism?
And how, during the transition period, can we ensure that journalism in the public interest survives? Fulltext
E11 - The Pulitzer Cartel
Shaw, Donna
American Journalism Review, October/November 2006, online edition
“The largest, most prestigious newspapers just seem to keep on winning. Indeed, the list of all-time top Pulitzer-winning newspapers – no surprises here – starts with the New York Times (93 or 94 prizes, depending on who's counting); the Washington Post (44, including three awarded to members of the Washington Post Writers Group and not counting the one that was awarded to Janet Cooke and then withdrawn); the Los Angeles Times (39, including two for the L.A. Times Syndicate); and the Wall Street Journal (31). But an AJR analysis of the decades starting with 1960 also shows that those four papers combined have dramatically increased their share of Pulitzer largesse over the years.” Donna Shaw is Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey and an AJR contributing writer. Fulltext
E12 - The Media vs. The War on Terror
Noyes, Rick
Media Research Center, September 11, 2006, online edition
An analysis by the Media Research Center finds network reporters are presuming the worst about the government’s anti-terror efforts, and permitting their coverage to be driven by the agenda of leftist groups such as the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights. While some on the Left have claimed the media were enthusiastic boosters of the Bush administration in the days after 9/11, the MRC found that network reporters began to question the idea of a vigorous War on Terror within days of the attacks. Fulltext
E13 - Out of the Picture: Minority & Female TV Station Ownership in the United States
Turner, S. Derek, Cooper, Mark
Free Press, September 2006, online edition, 41p
Just three years after the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected sweeping policy changes that would have dramatically altered our nation’s media landscape, the Federal Communications Commission is once again — despite widespread public opposition — poised to eliminate longstanding limits on media ownership. These changes could have a tremendous negative impact, especially on broadcast outlets owned by women and minorities. […] This report provides the first complete assessment and analysis of female and minority ownership of full-power commercial broadcast television stations. The purpose of this study is to provide the public, Congress and the FCC with a complete understanding of the state of female and minority television ownership, as well as the potential impacts of changes to media ownership rules. Fulltext
E14- What Happens When the Spots Come On: The Impact of Commercials on the Radio Audience
Presented by Arbitron, Media Monitors and Coleman, September 2006, online edition, 21p
This is the first in a series of studies on radio audience behavior
during commercials using the power of passive electronic measurement,
both for audiences and for commercial occurrences.The study dispels
the mistaken belief among advertisers, agencies and radio executives
that radio loses a considerable portion of its audience during
commercial breaks. Fulltext
E15 - Deep and Wide: The Real American Evangelicals
Ammerman, Nancy
The American Interest, September/October 2006, v2, #1, pp25-34
Every weekend, at least fifty million American adults, with at
least five million children in tow, interrupt the routine of errands
and soccer games and lawn mowing and laundry to go to religious
services. Another 100 million American adults are connected enough
to a religious tradition to attend a few times a year, put their
names on the rolls of a local congregation at least some time
in their lives, and tell pollsters that they believe in God and
say their prayers with some regularity. To a degree baffling in
much of the rest of the Western world, Americans think of themselves
in religious terms. But taking religion seriously is not to be
equated with fundamentalism—or even Evangelicalism. Voices of
fundamentalists and Evangelicals have gained significant strength
over the past three decades, and they have in this President someone
they recognize as one of their own. What they do not have, appearances
aside, is either unanimity of views on most policy issues or a
majority of the population."Assessing the real import of
America’s religiosity—and of the Evangelical presence in American
religion—requires a much closer look than exit polls allow."
Nancy T. Ammerman is professor of sociology of religion at
Boston University. Order
Article
E16 - Aging and Financial Markets
Groome, W. Todd; Blancher,Nicolas; Ramlogan, Parmeshwar
Finance & Development, September 2006, v43,#3, online edition
"The implications of population aging for financial markets are getting greater attention. The markets can play an important role in the management of age-related risks, but governments will also need to act as managers of key long-term risks related to aging." W. Todd Groome is a Division Chief, Nicolas Blancher a Senior Economist, and Parmeshwar Ramlogan a Special Projects Officer in the IMF's International Capital Markets Department. Oksana Khadarina, a Senior Research Assistant, helped in the preparation of this article. Fulltext
Social Conditions & Demographics
E18 - A Dangerous Separation: the Schism between American Society and its Military
Wrona, Richard M.
World Affairs, Summer 2006, v169, #1, pp25-38
"This article explores the contemporary culture gap between
the U.S. military and society. The author examines a variety of
facets of this gap. The very different values that sustain a liberal
democracy and an effective military are discussed. In addition,
the author states the avenues that U.S. society and its military
must take to prevent a continuing tension from emerging as conflict...
The author argues that the best way to manage the civil-military
gap is to narrow it by instituting a system of universal service,
which would expose a wider segment of American Society to military
culture, and shift attitudes away from "rights" in favor
of the "responsabilities" that underpin democratic societies."
Richard M. Wrona Jr. is a U.S. Army infantry officer and strategist
assigned to the Department of Social Sciences, United States Military
Academy. Major Wrona teaches courses in international relations,
comparative politics, and international security. His research
focuses on American civil-military relations, insurgency and counterinsurgency,
and the Lebanese organization Hizballah. Fulltext
Universities & Colleges
E19 - Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization
Milken Institute, September 2006, online edition
Despite growing efforts by universities around the world to catch up, the United States remains the global powerhouse in biotechnology research – and in the ability to turn research into commercial applications, according to a new study from the Milken Institute. This examination of the commercialization of university research reveals that the U.S. dominates the top rankings on many key measures, including published research, patents issued and licensing income."
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