USA TODAY articles from September 2007

USA TODAY archives from September 2007

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... Mr. Kreyche has, whether knowingly or not, probed into a much larger issue [in his May 2007 Parting Thoughts column, "Do Ethics Promise Too Much? "]. The bigger issue here is this: who is in control? This article points out that as long as...

High H.S. dropout rate turning into a crisis.(YOUR LIFE)(High School)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... On the heels of a national report which reveals that more than 1,200,000 students will not graduate this year and that U.S. schools are failing students by not preparing them for work and life, Strong American Schools Campaign Chairman Roy...

Gifted kids vulnerable to effects of bullying.(YOUR LIFE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Bullying in the gifted-student population is an overlooked problem that leaves many of these youngsters emotionally shattered, making them more prone to extreme anxiety, dangerous depression, and, sometimes, violence, asserts Jean Sunde...

Schools appear ready to resegregate.(YOUR LIFE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... By a 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court rejected plans by two public school districts in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, Wash., to take into account students' race when deciding where youngsters will attend class. According to Kevin Brown, professor...

Integrated schools benefit students.(YOUR LIFE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Middle-school students are more likely to feel safer, less bullied, and not as lonely when they are in ethnically diverse schools, maintains a study by UCLA psychologists. The researchers compared a variety of classrooms with lower and higher...

Immigration debate moves to local level.(YOUR LIFE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The announcement by New Haven, Conn., officials that they will provide illegal immigrants with ID cards is the latest indication that this country's real immigration debate is taking place at the state and local level, says Noah Pickus,...

Sixth-graders struggle in middle school.(YOUR LIFE)
September 1, 2007... Sixth-graders placed in middle schools have more discipline problems and lower test scores than their peers who are attending elementary schools, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, the...

Wind power provides needed burst of energy.(YOUR LIFE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The 15,200 megawatts of new wind turbines installed worldwide last year will generate enough clean electricity annually to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of 23 average-sized U.S. coal-fired power plants, according to a report from the...

Bridge collapse raises fears and phobias.(YOUR LIFE)
September 1, 2007... The bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minn., last month has raised fears about personal safety in most of us, especially those who have suffered past traumas or from personal safety phobias, according to a University at Buffalo (N.Y.) specialist...

Bridges rock on with new design.(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Bridges that "dance" during earthquakes could be the safest and least expensive to build, retrofit, and repair, according to engineers from the University at Buffalo (N.Y.). The researchers have developed and successfully tested the first...

Slowpokes belong in right lane.(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Enough with slow drivers in the left lane! "As traffic is increasingly more congested, it's time for citizens to reclaim the left lane," declares J.A. Tosti, spokesman for Left Lane Drivers of America, a grassroots effort out of Camas, Wash.,...

Antiwar divisions could hurt democrats in 2008.(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Cooperation between the Democratic Party and antiwar activists helped the "Party of the Street" in the 2006 congressional elections, but the upcoming presidential election could see this support wane because of divisions among the antiwar...

Income inequality American as apple pie.(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Democratic and Republic candidates for president are debating one another on practically every issue, but nearly all are united on one thing--America faces a crisis of "income inequality." However, contends Alex Epstein, a junior fellow at the...

Sixties welfare debate to resurface in '08?(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... A vision in the 1960s and '70s for ending poverty that included a guaranteed minimum income is worth revisiting by today's presidential candidates, says historian Felicia Kornbluh, author of The Battle for Welfare Rights. "The antipoverty...

Former CIA director fears for U.S. oil.(Your Life)(former Central Intelligence Agency's Director James Woolsey)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East ranks very high as a national security concern, maintains former Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey. "The oil infrastructure that we rely on is in the U.S., but in a lot of other...

Vines go wild on increased C[O.sub.2].(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The effect of increased levels of carbon dioxide on bottomland hardwood forests in the southeastern U.S. suggests that the accelerated growth of vines may change the landscape of these forests. Researchers charting the growth of vines in...

Hate crimes against gays spreading.(Your Life)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Nearly four in 10 gay men and about one in eight lesbians and bisexuals in the U.S. have been the target of violence or a property crime because of their sexual orientation, according to a study by University of California, Davis, psychology...

Public schooling's divisive effect.(Education)(issues in public school)
September 1, 2007... PUBLIC SCHOOLING, we are told, is the linchpin of American unity and democracy. "If common schools go, then we are no longer America," writes Paul D. Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "The...

The Supreme Court "races" on.(STATE OF THE NATION)
September 1, 2007... IN ONE OF ITS GREATEST MOMENTS, the Supreme Court in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka (1954) put to rest the pernicious idea that the state can use race in deciding how citizens can enjoy the equal protection of the law. The Court made...

Disposable workers of the oil and gas fields: if you do not have a college degree, it is the best job in the West--unless you die ... unnoticed.(National Affairs)
September 1, 2007... JOSHUA DUANE RIEDEL, a 23-year-old college student, grew up in Worland, Wyo., and, through hard work more than talent, became a star at Worland High School. In 1999, the statewide Casper Star-Tribune named him one of Wyoming's top 25 high...

In it for the long haul.(WORLD WATCHER)
September 1, 2007... THE WAR IN IRAQ CANNOT END for the U.S. until George W. Bush leaves the Oval Office. After four years of running with scissors in Iraq, the President stubbornly is determined to go forward with the fighting, no matter what the cost,...

An inconvenient food: the connection between meat and global warming.(Ecology)
September 1, 2007... OVER THE PAST several months, Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," garnered a windstorm of media attention that likely sent people scurrying for fluorescent light bulbs to curb their carbon dioxide emissions, but some...

Kyoto's still calling.(EYE ON ECOLOGY)(Kyoto Protocol and carbon emissions)
September 1, 2007... IN A RECENT 12-MONTH SPAN, carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels climbed to more than 7,900,000,000 tons, a record high. Global emissions of carbon have been rising steadily since the late 18th century--and rapidly since the 1950s....

New rules, same old problem.(Law & Justice)(immigration issues in the United States)(Excerpt)
September 1, 2007... IMMIGRATION IS A TRICKY TOPIC--and nowhere more so than in the U.S., a country founded, made great, and, eventually, turned into the only superpower on the plan, et by immigrants. Despite the romanticized notion of America s foundings,...

Sleeping with the enemy.(WORDS IMAGES)(journalistic ethics)
September 1, 2007... THE PROBLEM IS AS OLD as an ancient messenger censoring the news to gain favor from a member of an influential family, and it has plagued conscientious journalists throughout the centuries. How do you cover a story, warts and all, when the...

Iran can--and must--be stopped.(Worldview)(nuclear proliferation)
September 1, 2007... THE SKIRMISHES in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map." So rants Iran's Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ...

A look back at women's magazines.(USA Yesterday)(Al Parker's photograph collections)
September 1, 2007... FOR A TIME, that age-old question, "What do women want?" was answered by illustrator AI Parker and his contemporaries who worked for America's leading women's magazines during the mid 20th century. Parker's masterful images often focused on...

Encompassing the globe: in the 16th century, Portugal was the first European nation to build an extensive commercial global network of trading partners. Contact with so many far-flung regions led to the creation of highly original works of art.(The World Yesterday)(Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries)
September 1, 2007... DURING THE 16th century, Portuguese sailors braved international waters to create a global trading network that extended from Europe to Brazil, Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, and Japan. This naval empire connected...

How science can save art.(Science & Technology)(Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte)
September 1, 2007... PERHAPS THE BEST-KNOWN work of the French artist Georges Seurat is "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" (1884). The immense canvas, nearly 7' x 10', has iconic significance as an example of pointillism, though, in fact, it is transitional in...

When McQueen was king.(REEL WORLD)(Steve McQueen)
September 1, 2007... STEVE McQUEEN WAS AN ICONIC antihero screen star of the 1960s and 1970s. The foundation to that monumental movie career was a hit Western television series about a bounty hunter, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (CBS, 1958-61). After the completion of...

European photography between the wars.(Focus)
September 1, 2007... THE STORY OF photography's extraordinary success and popularity in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, and Poland durfng a time of tremendous social and political upheaval is presented in "Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945,"...

An American look at the Czech Republic.(Economics)
September 1, 2007... "Traditionally, [we have] had a very special relationship with the Czech people. There is a substantial reservoir of goodwill towards Americans. [No wonder the] U.S. has been one of the top-five foreign investors in the Czech [nation] since the...

Saving a nation adrift.(American Thought)(United States's current conditions)
September 1, 2007... THE U.S. IS AT A CRITICAL juncture in its history as it deals with a multitude of serious issues, including a burgeoning global economy, terrorism, declining popularity abroad, and polls indicating that two-thirds of its citizens believe the...

The wonder of work: a grumbling and disenchanted workforce can learn a lot about gratitude from those who treasure any job they can get--individuals with mental retardation and other severe developmental disabilities.(Life in America)(work environment and employee's health)
September 1, 2007... IS YOUR PLACE of business driving you crazy? Do your coworkers get on your nerves? There is no question that being on the job can test your patience by lifting you up, tearing you down, or sometimes completely ignoring your contributions. It...

Hard truths about hardening of the arteries.(HEALTH BEAT)(Atherosclerosis)
September 1, 2007... ATHEROSCLEROSIS, commonly called hardening of the arteries, causes heart attacks and strokes, as well as ravaging many other of the body's organs. It is on the rise worldwide and threatens to become a major cause of death, disability, and loss...

T2D: the longest mile: type 2 diabetes--the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and lower limb amputation, as well as one of the major risk factors for heart attack and stroke--now strikes every third person born in this country.(Medicine & Health)
September 1, 2007... A WEEK PASSES by without a story concerning the epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. T2D is the most common form of diabetes, frequently associated with excess weight and insulin resistance (inadequate action of insulin). This epidemic is...

Give me back my (sharpened) pencil.(WHAT'S NEW?)(iPoint's revolutionary pencil sharpeners)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... We've always loved electric pencil sharpeners. After all, who can stand those tiny plastic ones you used to have to carry in your pencil case at school (the shavings inevitably ended up everywhere), or those manual wall units that never quite...

Love my logical new office assistant.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Tool Logic's Office Assistant )(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... My new Office Assistant is a wonder--replete with all the necessary tools needed to make the boss' job easier. No, I didn't just hire some hungry, young college grad to take care of my paperwork. Better than that, I went to Tool Logic, Ventura,...

Let your light shine on me.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Full Spectrum Solutions Inc.)
September 1, 2007... According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 35,000,000 Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. The longer nights, especially when we switch from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard, and lack of sunlight affect our...

September's song: "let's get organized".(WHAT'S NEW?)(office supplies)
September 1, 2007... Even though summer still has a few weeks left, once we turn the page to September, everything changes. It's time to put those laid-back days behind us, roll up our sleeves, and tackle all those projects and piles of papers that we pushed aside...

Honey, you don't have to shrink the kids.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Accu-Length's golf clubs for kids)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... If there's a caveat--besides being forced to pay the ever-escalating registration fees for all our offsprings' various sports leagues--to having athletic children, it's how quickly they outgrow their equipment. Whether it be baseball mitts,...

Replace divot, mark ball, rest club, etc.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Fine Tune Golf Inc.'s G-Clip )(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... When it comes to sports, specialization is the thing. In baseball, there now is a relief pitcher for every situation, as one hurler is supposed to "hold," while another is deemed the "set-up" man, and still a third is paid big bucks to...

Carrying your clubs never has been easier.(WHAT'S NEW?)
September 1, 2007... On the heels of debuting The Navigator, perhaps the golf world's most advanced electric walking cart, The Bagboy Company, Richmond, Va., has introduced the Explorer and Cruiser. The latter is an adaptive cruise control cart, equipped with...

Working out the kinks in your short game.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Qolf)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... It's the bane of practically every golfer--or at least the ones we play with: Is there anyone you know who is satisfied with their short game? (Tiger Woods doesn't count. Besides, he's not your golfing buddy; you only watch him on TV.) While we...

Can't go away without my laptop.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Admit it: Whether you're on a business trip, sneaking out for a quick weekend getaway, or finally taking that long overdue full-fledged vacation, you won't be able to help yourself--the laptop is coming along. Rather than fight the inevitable,...

Oprah gets her cake and eats it, too.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Oprah Winfrey)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... We may not always be on-board with Oprah Winfrey's feminist views, but when America's top talk-show host starts dishing on food, we're all ears. So, when the reigning queen of daytime television told audiences that the Florida Key Lime Cake...

Of mad scientists and little girls.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Buyers guide)
September 1, 2007... While little girls long have loved playing dress-up and experimenting with Mom's makeup and nail polish, it becomes even more exciting when they receive a kit with all the bells and whistles and are able to let their imaginations totally run...

Moving on up to the bigs.(VIDEO GAMES)(Product/service evaluation)
September 1, 2007... As another baseball season winds down, we realize that the excitement isn't over for us, as we've just gotten our hands on The Bigs, from 2K Sports, New York. This game takes our national pastime and ratchets it up a few levels, making the...

Pure water and a pure environment.(WHAT'S NEW?)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... If you think back to even a decade ago, it's doubtful anyone would have imagined that everywhere you look, people would be drinking bottled water--and we're not talking about the expensive, imported brands, drawn from springs in France. The...

Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... GENTLE SUBVERSIVE: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement BY MARK H. LYTLE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2007, 176 PAGES, $23.00 Though most books transform their writers, few leave lasting effects on readers....

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE A Year of Food Life BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER, WITH STEVEN L. HOPP AND CAMILLE KINGSOLVER HARPERCOLUNS 2007, 370 PAGES, $26.95 If you already feel guilty about eating fast food on the run, do not read this...

Urban Guerrilla Warfare.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... URBAN GUERRILLA WAFARE BY ANTHONY JAMES JOES THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY 2007, 222 PAGES, $22.95 Guerrilla warfare has had a long and checkered history. Generally, it involves a struggle of the weak against the strong, although...

To serve is to reign.(PARTING THOUGHTS)
September 1, 2007... THERE ARE MANY THINGS that we take for granted and most among them are the benefits of service. Until we think about it, we seldom realize how it is tied up with humanity itself. (I am not addressing the piddling problems of getting service on...