Gateway to Education Materials

"The Gateway to Educational Materials is a Consortium effort to provide educators with quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources found on various federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites." This site, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, will be a valuable resource for teachers teaching about the U.S.

PEW report about older Americans' use of the Internet

New report from the PEW Internet and American Life report: Older Americans and the Internet
From the report: "22% of Americans 65 and older use the Internet.
The percent of seniors who go online has jumped by 47% between 2000 and 2004. In a
February 2004 survey, 22% of Americans age 65 or older reported having access to the
Internet, up from 15% in 2000. That translates to about 8 million Americans age 65 or
older who use the Internet. By contrast, 58% of Americans age 50-64, 75% of 30-49
year-olds, and 77% of 18-29 year-olds currently go online."

Global Corruption Report

The Global Corruption Report 2004 provides an overview of the state of corruption around
the world. It covers national and international developments, institutional and legal
change and activities within both the private sector and civil society for the period from
July 2002 to June 2003. This year the Global Corruption Report focuses on political
corruption. It presents 34 country reports and the latest research on corruption.

American Dream

For school kids writing about that ever popular topic the "American Dream," this LOC Learning Page and the essay (with links) about "What is the American Dream"? will be useful.

The Potential Impact of Iraq on the Election

This is an election analysis from The Gallup Organization on how the issue of Iraq could influence 2004 Elections. "Although a majority of Americans continue to support the war in Iraq, U.S. military involvement in that country is not the highest priority for them when they are asked about the issues they will take into account on Election Day."

Preview of new govt. openness website...

This is what the soon-to-be-launched website OpenTheGovernment.orgsays about itself:
"OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of organizations and individuals concerned with growing government secrecy. We're focused on making the federal government a more open place to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles..." more

American Women's History: A Research Guide

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women.html
(excerpted from Scout Report, March 19, 2004)
Greatly revised and expanded since its last Scout Report mention, (March 13, 1999) Ken Middleton's American Women's History: A Research Guide includes over 2100 citations to print and Internet sources and hundreds of links to digitized primary sources, as well as frequent updates and link checking to ensure the currency of cited resources. The Research Guide now consists of 4 main sections: an index to resources by subject, an index to resources by state, and two Tools sections offering guidance on finding primary sources (e.g. archival, manuscript, and museum collections, historical newspapers and periodicals), as well as secondary sources (e.g. books, articles, theses and dissertations). Some print resources listed under Marriage are bibliographies and historical overviews; examples of online materials are digital photo databases at the Los Angeles and Denver Public Libraries, that include images of weddings and marriage. Shortcuts to popular, quickly available, online resources are provided from the home page.

The Middle East Institute at Columbia University

[pdf] http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/regional/mei/
(excerpted from Scout Report, March 19, 2004)
Founded in 1954, the Middle East Institute of Columbia University has offered a multidisciplinary approach to studying the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th century... Alongside detailed information about various public programs for scholars and the general public, the institute's site also provides some helpful educational materials, such as a Research Projects section. Here visitors can download materials on educational outreach for Muslim sensitivity, and peruse other documents on researching Middle East topics on the Internet. The e-Resources section is also worth a look, as it contains a number of archived lectures on very topical themes, including Iran and Israeli and Palestinian nationalism.

The State of the News Media 2004

An Annual Report on American Journalism
Project for Excellence, March 2004
The State of the News Media 2004 provides a comprehensive look each year at the state of American journalism. The study is the work of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute affiliated with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Covers issues in the major journalism sectors: magazine, newspaper, network, cable and local TV, alternative and ethnic media and radio. Full text available at http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/index.asp

IRAQ: ONE YEAR AFTER

(from EADSURLs no.49)
IRAQ: ONE YEAR AFTER.
Thomas R. Pickering, Eric Schwartz, and James R. Schlesinger.
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Independent Task Force on Post-Conflict Iraq. March 9, 2004.

While noting "significant progress" in the post-conflict reconstruction and political transition effort, the Task Force reports that the planned transfer of sovereignty on June 30, combined with U.S. troop reductions from Iraqi cities and uncertainty about long-term U.S. funding, has created doubts about U.S. staying power. To avoid destabilizing the effort and demoralizing Iraqis, the Task Force urges the Bush administration, the Democratic nominee for president, and Congressional leaders to:
* declare that coalition forces will continue to provide essential security in Iraq until the Iraqi security forces can do so on their own;
* emphasize that the transfer of sovereignty does not signal a diminished U.S. commitment to supporting stability, reconstruction and a peaceful political transition;
* affirm that the United States is prepared to sustain a multi-billion dollar commitment to Iraq for at least the next several years; and
* ensure broad involvement of Iraqis, and promote a leading role for the United Nations in the political transition process.
The Task Force report contains a range of recommendations for enhancing the coalition's effort to help Iraqis become more involved in the future management of their country. These include: increasing incentives for U.S. government service in Iraq; improving management of U.S. assistance efforts; moving quickly to structure the administration and staffing of a new U.S. embassy; promoting job creation; advancing the status of women; implementing a more effective public diplomacy effort; and ensuring transparent and accountable monitoring procedures for the oil industry.

A Year After Iraq War: Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists

This is the latest in a series of international surveys by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. It was conducted from late February to early March in nine nations (U.S., UK, Germany, France, Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan).
"A year after the war in Iraq, discontent with America and its policies has intensified rather than diminished. Opinion of the United States in France and Germany is at least as negative now as at the war’s conclusion, and British views are decidedly more critical. Perceptions of American unilateralism remain widespread in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined America’s credibility abroad. Doubts about the motives behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism abound, and a growing percentage of Europeans want foreign policy and security arrangements independent from the United States. Across Europe, there is considerable support for the European Union to become as powerful as the United States... In the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, anger toward the United States remains pervasive, although the level of hatred has eased somewhat and support for the war on terrorism has inched up."

The Vietnam Project

The Vietnam Project

(excerpted from Scout Report, vol.10, no.10)
"A number of online archives exist already to remember major military conflicts (particularly for World War II), so it is fitting that the Vietnam War also have a significant web presence. Designed by a dedicated team at Texas Tech University, the Virtual Vietnam Archive "enables scholars, students and all interested in this remarkable period in our world history to conduct research directly from universities, schools, libraries, and homes."

Elections

Elections 2004

(excerpted from Scout Report, vol.10, no.10)
"Every presidential election in the United States gives rise to greater legions of so-called "spin doctors," and a number of pundits offering their opinions on the chances of each candidate who has thrown their hat in the ring. Fortunately, the University of Michigan Documents Center has developed this helpful and informative website that culls together hundreds of useful websites about the upcoming presidential election of 2004. From the homepage visitors can look through a number of helpful sections devoted to listing sites dedicated to such topics as Policy Issues, Candidates, and Campaign. Within each of these broad thematic areas are contained more specific areas dedicated to links on important subtopics such as campaign finances, media coverage, terrorism, economics, and many others. Scholars will want to take a look at the Academic Research section, which contains links to online periodical databases and some links to sites with recent working papers on the subject."

Source for economic data

(excerpted from Resource Shelf)
EconData.Net
"Place this one in your "must have" file (if it's not already there)! From the site, "1,000 links to socioeconomic data sources, arranged by subject and provider, pointers to the Web's premiere data collections, and our own list of the ten best sites for finding regional economic data." EconData.Net's monthly e-mail update (free) lists new reports and economic resources."

IRAQ: THE INTERIM CONSTITUTION.

(excerpted from EADSURLs no.48)
IRAQ: THE INTERIM CONSTITUTION
Sharon Otterman.
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Updated March 8, 2004.

This document reviews the history of the Iraqi Governing Council (ICG) and its attempts to craft a legal framework for the new government of Iraq, slated to begin after June 30, when the U.S-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) turns over power. There is a brief discussion of major provisions in the new constitution and excellent links to related sources, including one to the text of the constitution on the CPA web site.

http://www.cfr.org/background/background_iraq_const.php

News portal

news search portal
This one-page portal lists search engines, toolbars, RSS feeds, alert services and other useful resources for tracking and finding news items.

American Community Survey

The American Community Survey is a new nationwide survey designed to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing. It is a critical element in the Census Bureau's reengineered 2010 census plan.

Iraqi Coalition casualty count

This site was developed "to provide information that has been
scrupulously culled from government sources and cross-checked
against other existing lists" about the military death toll in
Iraq. It features statistics about fatalities and injuries for
Iraqi Coalition armed forces. Data may be retrieved by month,
name, location of occurrences, cause of death, state residence,
and more. Includes links to sources of information.

http://lunaville.org/