The New American articles from October 2007

The New American archives from October 2007

Risks vs. safety.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)
October 1, 2007... Regarding "Pushing National IDs" (July 9 issue), the key is to weigh the imminently obtainable benefits against the sacrifices or risks given to secure the benefits. As I see it, the loss of civil autonomy and erosion of our civil rights...

Due process violated.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)
October 1, 2007... Thank you so very much for running the articles about how state social services personnel commit child theft from parents ("Families Separated by the State," July 23 issue). My wife and I are on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court for some of...

Many questions raised by loose nukes.(Inside Track)(nuclear weapons transfer)
October 1, 2007... On August 30, an Air Force B-52 strategic bomber took off from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and flew to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. This otherwise unremarkable event was made extraordinary by the fact that the B-52 in...

UN and global-warming activists turn up the heat.(Inside Track)(United Nations)
October 1, 2007... The United Nations and the environmental lobby are turning up the political heat in preparation for the big UN Climate Change Conference in December on the Indonesian island of Bali. The Bali Conference, says the UN Chronicle Online, "will...

Armed Services chairman asks tough questions about Iraq war.(Inside Track)(Ike Skelton)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has never been a headline seeker during the 16 terms he has served in Congress. So the concern he elicited about "the overall security of this nation," delivered as he...

Recent reports on Iraq disagree with general and ambassador.(Inside Track)(General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Three recent reports about the struggle in Iraq provide numerous contrasting views to the recent upbeat testimony supplied by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. One report, provided by the Government...

U.S. bribing Iraq's Sunnis to get them to combat al-Qaeda.(Inside Track)(United States)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... American forces are doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Sunni insurgents to buy their influence to help cleanse their area of al-Qaeda forces. Reporters for the London Sunday Times claim to have firsthand knowledge of the delivery of...

FBI surveillance capability more extensive than once thought.(Inside Track)(Digital Collection System Network)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation have provided disturbing details about the extent of the FBI's ability to monitor the communications of American citizens. According to Wired News reporter Ryan Singel, "The FBI has...

Patriot Act under fire.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The USA Patriot Act has come under fire in U.S. District Court from Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York. The case related to National Security Letters which, according to Wired News, were used under the Patriot Act "to...

Permission given to create human/animal hybrid embryos.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The United Kingdom's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given permission "in principle" for scientists to create human/animal embryos for the purpose of medical stem-cell research in a September 5 ruling. "This is not a...

Deadly truck explosion highlights concerns about Mexican truckers.(Inside Track)(Monclova, Mexico)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... At least 28 people were killed and 130 injured on September 10 when a truck trailer laden with 25 metric tons of ammonium nitrate explosives crashed and sent a bright orange fireball along a two-lane highway north of Monclova, Mexico. "It was...

China steps up repression as Communist Party Congress nears.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Citing the need for political and social stability and security, the Chinese government announced on September 9 a stepped-up crackdown on "criminals" and regime critics. Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang was quoted on the...

Imprisoned Chinese Catholic Bishop dies in custody.(Inside Track)(Han Dingxiang)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Roman Catholic Bishop Han Dingxiang, age 71, died in police custody on September 9, after nearly eight years of imprisonment in China. "With the exception of a few of his very close relatives who were suddenly summoned by the government...

Noted tenor passes away at 71.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I think life in music is a life beautifully spent." The greatest male voice of his time, Luciano Pavarotti, believed his life was a joy.

White House official predicts continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.(QuickQuotes)(Joshua Bolten )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "I don't think that any realistic observer thinks that by the time the president leaves office in 2009 it'll be possible--safely--to get all or even most of the American troop presence out." As chief of staff in the White House, Joshua Bolten...

America's manufacturing losses are staggering.(QuickQuotes)(manufacturing jobs)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "During the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, 4.8 million jobs were lost in manufacturing, while only 200,000 were gained. Thirty-seven states lost manufacturing jobs." Calling on the federal government to initiate an...

New federal airport scrutiny policy disturbs Sikhs.(QuickQuotes)(Sikh Coalition)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The federal government has equated our most precious article of faith with terrorism. To send a message that the turban is dangerous sends the wrong message to society." Responding to the new policy that...

Mexico's president makes sweeping claims that ignore U.S. sovereignty.(QuickQuotes)(Felipe Calderon)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico." Numerous inflammatory comments issued by Mexican president Felipe Calderon in his first state of the nation speech brought no rebuke...

U.S. ambassador wants more time to solve Iraq's political problems.(QuickQuotes)(Ryan Crocker)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "I do believe Iraq's leaders have the will to tackle the country's pressing problems, although it will take longer than we originally anticipated." In his testimony before Congress, Ambassador Ryan Crocker admitted that political progress in...

Iraqi diplomat acknowledges problems with Shiite militia groups.(QuickQuotes)(Samir Sumaidaie)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "We have a lot of militias that are only fronts for organized crime." Iraq's Ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaidaie, knows that these Shiite militias are responsible for half the attacks on U.S. troops as well as much of the black...

Colorado police say gangsta rap music stimulates crime.(QuickQuotes)(Skip Arms )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "We don't want to broad-brush hip-hop music altogether, but we're looking at a subcomponent that typically glorifies and promotes crime, and demeans women." Colorado Springs police spokesman Lieutenant Skip Arms defended his force's public...

How the Internet is changing political campaigning: Ron Paul, unanointed by the major media as a "viable presidential candidate," is using the Internet successfully to sell the small-government message.(INTERNET)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If the presidential election were held in cyberspace, [Ron] Paul would probably win hands down. --Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist When Texas Congressman Ron Paul's name is brought up in...

Ron Paul's race: presidential aspirant Ron Paul speaks about successfully bypassing the media that have ignored him and about why his campaign is drawing supporters across the political spectrum.(INTERVIEW)(Interview)
October 1, 2007... Interview of Congressman Ron Paul by Brian Farmer THE NEW AMERICAN magazine interviewed Congressman Ron Paul a few weeks after the Iowa Straw Poll. What follows is a transcript of that interview. THE NEW AMERICAN: You seem to be more...

What a gas! The current politically correct promotion of ethanol and hydrogen to power vehicles overlooks the serious drawbacks of those fuels and the huge potential of natural gas.(ENERGY)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After two years of soaring gas prices, and with oil supplies continually threatened by those antagonistic toward America, Americans are searching desperately for alternatives to power our vehicles, our economy, and...

Slipping through legislation: all too often members of Congress use legislative strategies to secure the passage of harmful bills that would otherwise potentially fail on the congressional floor.(CONGRESS)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Congress introduces many thousands of pieces of legislation each congressional term. Only a fraction of that legislation ever makes it to the voting floor, and even a smaller number passes both houses of Congress in...

Blocking the coming merger: Dr. Jerome Corsi, coauthor of the bestseller Unfit for Command, has written a valuable new book exposing the planned merger of the United States with Mexico and Canada.(The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada)(Book review)
October 1, 2007... The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada, by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D., Los Angeles: World Ahead Media (a WND book), 2007, 241 pages, hardcover, $25.95 One of the most famous adages in the English language is, "You can't...

Rabid fox.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Five-year-old Rayshun McDowell, along with six other children, was enjoying a cookout outside his family's home in Kingstown, North Carolina, on July 1, when, suddenly, a fox intruded upon the gathering. "I looked out the window and Rayshun...

Waitress gets education.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(education finance )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Jessica Osborne works as a waitress for a Pizza Hut in Angola, Indiana. Among her regular customers was a mother who always brought her two sons into the restaurant. Each time they visited, they requested that Jessica be their server. Jessica...

Firefighter of the year.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Thomas Feaser)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Thomas Feaser, a 24-year FDNY veteran, is a member of Ladder Co. 78/Engine Co. 155 in Staten Island, New York. One day last December, the station received a call from police officers that a person had fallen into the Kill van Kull, a tidal...

Wisconsin teens assist.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(helping flood victims)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Early this past summer, a group of teenagers from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin, went on a public service trip to Neodesha, Kansas, where they had volunteered to repair the houses of low-income residents....

Sputnik: the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 50 years ago this month shocked America. How did it come about that the United States failed to beat the Soviets, and what is the legacy of Sputnik for us today?(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)
October 1, 2007... Georg Hegel, the German philosopher, once remarked that the owl of Minerva flies only at dusk. The owl, in this case a symbol of knowledge that accompanied the Roman goddess of wisdom, represented the understanding that we learn the true...

Roadblock.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(deranged ex-boyfriend )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... On May 7, 46-year-old Lawrence Jennings was acting crazed. He blocked an intersection in Kingsport, Tennessee, with his vehicle so that the car his ex-girlfriend was riding in could not pass, and then he began to vandalize the vehicle, kicking...

Felons fall.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(robbery)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... On May 11 at about l0 p.m. in East Oakland, California, 17-year-old Tommy Ray Spencer and 23-year-old Juan Gonzalez entered a liquor store to rob it. They ordered the store manager to the floor, and Spencer threatened a clerk at the store's...

He loves his wife.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(husbands rescue of his wife against robbers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Just after midnight on the Fourth of July, an unidentified man from Fort Worth, Texas, and his wife stopped at a grocery store for yogurt and soda. While she went inside, he waited in the car. While he sat there, he saw some men nervously...

Country at war.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(attempted robbery and neighborhood safety)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... At about 5 a.m. on May 23, four young men were about to attempt a robbery of a unit in an apartment complex. Kuamae Keaton and Michael Fripps were supposed to act as the lookouts while Buchkechio Geddie and Torrian Knowles--one of them...

A nanny.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Boris Miles's social policy)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Texas state Representative Boris Miles (D) recently "opposed a bill giving Texans stronger right to defend themselves with deadly force," reported the Brownsville Herald. The bill, which passed and went into effect on September 1, "states that...

New push for illegal alien "guest worker" amnesty.(Correction, Please!)(foreign labor issues)
October 1, 2007... ITEM: "Harvest havoc is predicted for this fall," warned the headline of a California Central Valley Business Times story for August 24, 2007. The CVBT story reported that the agriculture business lobby was pushing for revival of the Ag JOBS...

Corporate sell-out artists.(THE LAST WORD)(Canada, Mexico and United States)
October 1, 2007... This magazine has repeatedly documented the fact that political elites in America and elsewhere have been working to consolidate political and economic power regionally and globally. But it is not just the political elites. Business elites, who...

From the editor.(Editorial)
October 15, 2007... Dear reader, As the artistic rendering of the flag on this magazine's cover suggests, a new North American Union would come about as a result of the merger of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Americans who love our country, our...

Understanding America today: immigrants have long come to America to live "the American dream." Now, that dream is becoming more difficult to attain. To reinvigorate America, we must understand the problem.(SPECIAL REPORT: WHAT'S WRONG)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] America has long been known as a land of opportunity--not just for a powerful few but for all citizens. Here in America, an impoverished individual willing to work hard could pursue what became known as the American...

Continental merger: a coalition of groups warns that President Bush's Security and Prosperity Partnership will lead to a merger of the United States, Mexico, and Canada, but Bush claims that the pact is not threatening. Who is being truthful?(SPECIAL REPORT: NORTH AMERICAN UNION)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The U.S. media paid scant attention this past August when President George W. Bush headed for a meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (more commonly referred to as the SPP) in Canada....

Quick quotes.
October 15, 2007... "The Security and Prosperity Partnership is setting the stage for uniting the three nations of North America into a North American Union that will parallel for the West what the EU has done to Europe." John Birch Society president John F....

Running Roughshod over U.S. Laws: under NAFTA and the SPP, the rule of law--including our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights--is being replaced with arbitrary rule by unaccountable elitists.(SPECIAL REPORT: RULE OF LAW)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ITEM: "NAFTA court is law of the 3 lands." So proclaimed the headline in the Sacramento Bee on April 18, 2004. The article, taken from the New York Times, reports on a NAFTA tribunal overriding the Massachusetts...

The North American Union invasion: despite the great harm that Americans face from rampant illegal immigration--crime, terrorism, economic devastation--our political and business elitists push for more amnesties.(SPECIAL REPORT: IMMIGRATION)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CNN's Lou Dobbs touched a nerve with the American public when he declared, "The Bush administration's open-borders policy and its decision to ignore the enforcement of this country's immigration laws is part of a...

Myth vs. fact.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEBUNKING MYTHS)
October 15, 2007... MYTH: The North American Union is a delusion perpetrated on the American public by cranks and crackpots. FACT: The phrase North American Union (NAU) is commonly used to refer to the very real process of merging the United States with Mexico...

NAFTA: it's not just about trade! The North American Free Trade Agreement was intended from the beginning to be the foundational framework for a future North American Union.(SPECIAL REPORT: NAFTA)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When President Bill Clinton pushed for congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, he argued that the pact would create jobs for American workers--200,000 in the first two years...

Is it "free trade" or something else? "Free trade" agreements are composed of large numbers of all-encompassing regulations. Do such tight controls really make trade "free," and are they in America's best interests?(SPECIAL REPORT: FREE TRADE)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When appended to trade, the word "free" brings to mind unencumbered transactions. The term has been applied to NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), and other...

Express route to poverty: U.S. policy already gives foreign competitors almost every advantage in trade, yet our government is working hard to make shipping foreign imports cheaper than ever before.(SPECIAL REPORT: NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For a variety of reasons, the United States is getting creamed in world trade. In trade with China alone, America's trade deficit jumped from $6 million in 1985 to $201 billion in 2005. Most U.S. trade ills are the...

Global risks, national solutions: internationalists argue that global risks require global governance. In reality, global risks are best managed by independent nations.(SPECIAL REPORT: USA v. NAU)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The world has always had its idealists. Frequently enough, they have dreamt of erecting a paradise on Earth where the squabbles of nations, the ravings of dictators, and the recurring banes of famine and disease...

An amero for your thoughts: if America adopted a single currency (e.g., the "amero") with Canada and Mexico, we would no longer control our own monetary policy.(SPECIAL REPORT: AMERO)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On May 16, 2002, then-Mexican President Vicente Fox gave a speech in Madrid, Spain, in which he stated: Eventually, our long-range objective is to establish with the United States, but also with...

It's good at the top: NAFTA promised to raise wages and living conditions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, yet the middle class in these countries is getting poorer while the rich get richer.(SPECIAL REPORT: WHO BENEFITS?)
October 15, 2007... "Free trade agreements are designed to force adjustments on our societies," Donald Johnston, former Canadian MP and cabinet minister, once remarked. Mr. Johnston ought to know: a longtime vociferous supporter of both NAFTA and its bilateral...

Signs of hope: there are significant signs that an aroused and knowledgeable populace can defeat efforts to merge the United States with Canada and Mexico.(SPECIAL REPORT: ON THE FRONT LINES)
October 15, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] State and national legislators are beginning to slow down the drive toward the North American Union. They are responding to alarmed American citizens who are increasingly connecting the dots between stagnant incomes,...

KGB terrorism still at work.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
October 29, 2007... I wish to thank you for Bill Jasper's two excellent articles on so-called Islamic terrorism in the September 3 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN. Foreign affairs expert Hilaire du Berrier, in the late 1950s, and later in American Opinion, revealed...

No legislative oversight.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
October 29, 2007... I was rereading the "Pushing National IDs" article in the July 9, 2007 issue and something there that I read before really jumped out at me this time. It was the sentences on page 16, first paragraph, "And it has to be stopped now, before...

Taking children.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
October 29, 2007... In Coxsackie, New York, a three-year-old girl named Egypt Philips was killed by her mother's boyfriend. Both the boyfriend and mother are in prison, but now some lawyer wants to sue the county CPS agency ("Separated by the State," July 23...

Life chain spreads pro-life message coast to coast.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... From Seattle, Washington, to Miami, Florida, and from Bangor, Maine, to San Diego, California, as many as a million or more Americans took to the streets on October 7 in over a thousand cities and communities across the nation to stand for the...

Multinational education.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... According to an AP report, the Oregon Department of Education and Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education are conducting discussions to align their curricula so courses will be valid in both countries. Going against conventional...

Classified justice department opinions support torture.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... The New York Times unleashed a political bombshell on October 4 when it reported that in 2005, the Justice Department issued a secret legal opinion that, "according to officials briefed on it," was "an expansive endorsement of the harshest...

Illegal immigrants to get New York driver's licenses.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced on September 21 that illegal immigrants would be able to apply for driver's licenses in New York. Reaction to the decision was predictable. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Osama bin Laden is...

Deportation fears prompt exodus from Texas City's schools.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... Irving, Texas, Independent School District Superintendent Jack Singley announced on October 3 that an estimated 90 children had withdrawn from the city's schools in the past week because of the deportation fears. The Mexican Consulate...

Bush attempts to use International Court against Texas.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... President Bush has issued a memo to his attorney general declaring that state courts must enforce a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of Jose Ernesto Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on death row in the...

G.I.s support Ron Paul's "bring them home" message.(Inside Track)(government issue)
October 29, 2007... For his opposition to the Iraq War and his insistence on bringing our troops home, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has had to endure charges by his political and media opponents that he is unpatriotic, soft on national...

Federal Judge Rules Patriot Act unconstitutional.(Inside Track)(Anne L. Aiken)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "For over 200 years, this nation has adhered to the rule of law--with unparalleled success," said Judge Anne L. Aiken in a recent ruling declaring that crucial parts of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional. Aiken, a Federal District Court...

Justice Thomas recalls being verbally attacked during his confirmation hearings.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. Its weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America's newspapers.... But it was a mob all the same, and its...

Supreme Court justices urged to consider original intent.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "We do not think that the Supreme Court is some kind of Supreme Council of Ayatollahs that can do anything it wants to do on a 5-4 vote." Federalist Society co-founder Steven G. Calabresi used op-ed space in the Wall Street Journal to call...

Senator angered by prediction of "long-term presence" in Iraq.(Quick Quotes)(Robert Byrd)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "The president and his supporters claim that we're now finally on the cusp of progress and that we must continue to stay the course. Call me a skeptic, but we have heard this tune before." After Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told...

Ethanol boom seems over and many have been hurt because of overproduction.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "The end of the ethanol boom is possibly in sight and may already be here. This is a dangerous time for people who are making investments." After a rush to build distilleries and a parallel spurt in the price for corn, Iowa State...

Taiwan building missiles to counter threat from communist China.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "They want to make mainland China hesitate before launching any attack. These missiles could not only destroy military targets, but financial and economic targets as well." With Taiwan seeking recognition as an independent nation and...

France shows the way with nuclear power and nuclear waste.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "Instead of storing its waste at each nuclear plant (as in the United States) or burying it in containers underground (as we would do if Yucca opens), the French take their waste to a massive plant in Normandy where spent fuel is recycled." ...

New leader of France tells UN of the need for a "new world order".(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... "In the name of France, I call upon all states to join ranks in order to found the new world order of the 21st century on the notion that the common goods that belong to all of humankind must be the common responsibility for us all." In his...

Living under surveillance: to put it bluntly, the technology that enables the surveillance state is here to stay. Now, how do we keep it from controlling us?(SURVEILLANCE)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We live in a surveillance society. It is pointless to talk about surveillance society in the future tense. In all the rich countries of the world everyday life is suffused with surveillance encounters, not merely...

To protect America, protect privacy: with President Bush seeking to extend the "Protect America Act" indefinitely, it is time to examine how making this legislation permanent would affect our right to privacy.(SURVEILLANCE)(Cover story)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On September 19, President Bush, in a carefully orchestrated media event obviously designed to promote his legislative agenda, addressed members of the press at the Threat Operations Center of the National Security...

Taking delight in deception: former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admits deception, but Big Media embraces his "purposeful obfuscation" and continues gushing adoration.(ECONOMY)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan lives a charmed life. Besides pulling down an $8.5 million advance on his memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (topped only by Bill Clinton's $10...

Not accepting student failure: today, entrenched bureaucracies and various activist groups defend the status quo in America's schools, preventing any problems from being solved.(EDUCATION)
October 29, 2007... For a brief period in January, the Internet and talk shows were abuzz with chattel" about public schools: "Did Oprah Winfrey really imply that students aren't learning because they don't want to learn", "Is it true Oprah is building a $40...

Pushing war with Iran: ramped-up rhetoric favoring a pre-emptive strike points to a coordinated campaign by the Bush administration and neoconservative war hawks.(IRAN)
October 29, 2007... "Bush Warns of a Nuclear Armed Iran," blared the headline of an Associated Press report on the president's October 3, 2007 speech before the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Do the increasingly strident...

Answers a fifth grader should know: Thomas Woods' answer to the historical illiteracy permeating the land is his latest work entitled 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask.(33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask)(Book review)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., New York: Crown Forum, 2007, 307 pages, hardcover, $25.95. Recent polls offer a somber assessment of the state of the...

Hero stops runaway SUV.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... Johnny Peel was driving to work last July 18 on Interstate 55 near Southaven, Mississippi, when he noticed an SUV pulled over alongside the road. Underneath it was Robert Finney, the SUV's owner, lying on a mechanic's creeper as he worked to...

Arkansas couple proud parents of 17!(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
October 29, 2007... It has been said that only upon becoming a parent do we really appreciate the many sacrifices our own parents made for us. It has also been said that love does not divide but multiplies. By those standards, the seventeen children of Jim Bob &...

Five-year-old helps deliver baby sister.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... When Christine Barreiros of Elk Grove, California, went into labor during the middle of the night last August, she called for an ambulance since her husband was out of town. However, as the pains became worse, Mrs. Barreiros realized the...

The award no one wants: earned through pain, suffering, and even death, the purple heart is awarded to those who have been wounded or killed while serving their country in the armed forces.(HISTORY--AMERICAN SPIRIT)
October 29, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It is known informally as "the award no one wants" because it is earned through pain and suffering, sometimes death. It is also the award everybody respects and is highly prized by all who receive it. It honors what...

Rabid bear.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... From inside their house, Mike and Charlotte Stanton of Grantsville, Maryland, "saw a bear attempting to get at two penned pygmy goats" reported the Cumberland Times-News. The couple tried to scare the bear away by yelling at it, but that didn't...

Uninvited neighbor.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... James Miranda held a small party in his Lakeland, Florida, apartment on June 22. About 9 p.m., two men with guns and "wearing masks--Jason-type masks--with gloves" barged into the apartment, Chief W.J. Martin of the Polk County Sheriff's Office...

Enough to make you cringe.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... Imagine that you're following an obviously inebriated driver down the highway. The driver in front of you is swerving from one side of the road to the other. You use your cellphone to call the police to get the guy off the road, but as you talk...

Do not disturb.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
October 29, 2007... On July 11 at about 9 a.m. an intruder alarm went off, rousing Johnny Johnson from sleep. He "grabbed his gun and got to the living room in time to see two men turning around to leave," reported News4Jax.com. He shot at the intruders twice, and...