Supreme Court rules to require equal access for military recruiters

The Solomon Amendment (10 USC 983) states that for any school to receive federal funding they must provide military recruiters equal access to students. Schools that disobey this criteria cannot receive federal funding; such as Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, etc. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc., an association of law schools and law facilities, filed a case against the Department of Defense claiming that this Amendment violated their right to free speech. This group opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and opposes providing access to the Department of Defense due to its "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. (Read this question and answer description of the policy: http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/command/TriFold.doc (in Word format).) The Supreme Court ruled today that the law schools did not have the right to ban military recruiters. They ruled that the requirement to allow recruiters equal access did not violate the law school's right to free speech. Read the opinion, transcript of the oral arguments, and briefs online.

Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water

In a ten-year national assessment of the quality of the nation's water released March 3, 2006, the USGS found that pesticides are present in most streams in urban and agricultural areas but are less commonly found in ground water. While pesticide concentrations are not at levels typically harmful to humans, they may affect aquatic life or fish-eating wildlife. The report, The Quality of Our Nation's Waters: Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water, 1992-2001 is available full-text online at the USGS web site. Also available are companion fact sheets and technical documentation.

The government on film

It's Friday and you want to do something other then read another government report? Why not check out some movies from the government instead? The National Archives has made 60 World War II Newsreels, 23 National and state parks features (1933-circa 1970), and 17 Space flight history films by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1962-1981) available online. Check them out on Google video or read more about them at the National Archives Archival Research Catalog.

Report on alleged illegal detentions and rendition flights in Europe

“Europe appears to be a happy hunting ground for foreign security services” claimed Terry Davis, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, in a press conference yesterday to announce the publication of the Council's report under Article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights on alleged illegal detentions and rendition flights in Europe. The Secretary General found that most European countries lack legal provisions to ensure an effective oversight over the activities of foreign agencies on their territory and that procedures in place to monitor who and what is moving through European airports and airspace do not provide adequate safeguards against abuse. The report and related materials, including individual countries' responses to the Secretary General's questions, are available at the Council of Europe's web site: http://www.coe.int/T/E/Com/Files/Events/2006-cia/

Research Methods in Ethnic Studies

This is a blog entry for the ETHN3500 class. Feel free to discuss census data collection or other issues from the class here in the blog. This blog is monitored by librarians, so feel free to ask questions of us as well as each other. The handout used in this class is available online.