Chinese Propaganda Posters (08/09)
At one point in Lake with No Name, Diane Wei Liang recounts her harrowing childhood experience bringing cabbage in from the frost, a yearly event that all the children at the collective had to participate in to demonstrate their strength and patriotism. Liang describes becoming ill with fever after carrying damp, cold cabbages for hours, ...
Sex Abuse and the Catholic Church (04/09)
The tide of sexual abuse cases against Catholic Church officials took its toll on
William Lobdell, causing him to abandon his faith altogether. Surprisingly,
however, this may not be a widespread effect. According to a
recent survey,
while membership in most religious groups has fallen during the last two
decades,
the Catholic...
Contemporary Slavery (04/09)
On October 28, 2000, President Clinton signed the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act into law. It charges the State Department to direct and sponsor
programs that combat slavery. It also is responsible for evaluating the
abolition efforts of any nation with more than 100 slaves.
One of the primary tools the State Department uses ...
The Yasa of Genghis Khan (02/09)
As Genghis Khan consolidated the nomadic tribes of the Asian steppe, he realized that a consistent rule of law was necessary to maintain order. He accomplished this by creating his 'Yasa' (or 'Yassa'), a comprehensive set of rules governing nearly all aspects of Mongolian life and culture. The original
Yasa ('decree' or 'order') is ...
Sign Language & Deaf Culture (02/09)
Hundreds of years of evolution have shaped American Sign Language (ASL), today the main sign language for deaf people in the U.S., parts of Canada and Mexico, and many other countries around the world. Derived in part from the personal hand signal repertoires of many deaf individuals, ASL has grown to become a fully functional language, a...
The Roma People in Britain (11/08)
From the first page to the
last, Winspear sympathetically
portrays Maisie Dobb's
acceptance of and respect for
Roma people, and celebrates
their spirit. Sometimes referred
to pejoratively as 'gypsies' in
English speaking countries (a
...
A Short History of al-Qaeda (07/08)
The history of the Sunni-Muslim organization al-Qaeda ('The Base') can be traced
to the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Osama
bin Laden, a young, wealthy Islamic idealist from Saudi Arabia, felt compelled
to assist his fellow Muslims in their struggle against these 'infidels.' He
moved his factories to Afghanistan, and ...
A Short History of Social Security in the USA (06/08)
- The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14, 1935.
- In the 1960s the age when men were eligible for retirement benefits was lowered to 62 and health coverage was extended to Social Security beneficiaries aged 65 or older.
- One in six Americans (45 million) receives a Social Security benefit, almost 1 in 3 ...
US Military Recruitment (06/08)
After several bad years, all branches of the military met their 2006 & 2007 recruitment targets (figures below are 2007 stats rounded to the nearest 1000):
- Army: 80,000
- Navy: 37,000
- Marines: 36,000
- Air Force: 28,000
This was a relief for the military, as the ongoing war in Iraq has made recruitment increasingly difficult. It is rare to try to ...
A Short History of the Gulag (01/08)
The Soviet system of forced labor camps known as the Gulag spanned nearly four decades of Soviet history and affected millions of individuals. GULAG is an acronym of Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagereian which, depending on the source, translates as 'The Main Directorate for Corrective Labor Camps' or 'Main Camp Administration'. The earliest camps...
Modern Day Slavery (10/07)
According to the
US State Department, slavery is now the third largest type of illegal trade in the world (after drugs and weapons); every year between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders with about 17,500 entering the USA. Many advocacy sources put the figures much higher, for example some say that about 1 ...
Parsis (03/07)
Parsis are Zoroastrians, most likely descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to Indian from the Middle-East to escape Muslim persecution. Zoroastrianism is both a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (c.1200 BCE) who proclaimed Ahura Mazda to be the one divine authority and ...
The English Grammar School System (02/07)
Established in medieval times, the original purpose of grammar schools was
to educate select members of the young in the grammar of Latin and other useful
topics.
In 1944 England established a tripartite education system
which placed grammar schools at the top of the heap. Less gifted children
(as defined by those who failed an ...
(02/07)
Quick Facts (from Enrique's Journey)
- About 700,000 immigrants enter the United States illegally each year.
In recent years the demographics have changed with many more
single mothers arriving.
- Nearly three-quarters of the 48,000 children who migrate alone to 'el Norte' through Central America and Mexico each year are in search...
The Equal Rights Amendment (10/06)
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that was intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of sex. Although the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteed American women's right to vote, suffragette leader Alice Paul argued that vestiges of ...
Warfare and Rape (08/06)
In ancient times rape was seen as a reward to the victors; for example, there are a number of references in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures to acts of mass rape by conquerors, and plenty in Roman and Greek history.
In modern times mass rape has been increasingly used as a premeditated terror tactic by invading armies. According to
...
