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The Rule of Law

1. BEIJING'S OLYMPIC-SIZED CATCH-22
Cha, Victor
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, Summer 2008, pp. 105-123

The author, director of Asian studies at Georgetown University and former member of the National Security Council, describes China's position as host of the 2008 Summer Olympics as a Catch-22. While hoping to use the Olympic spotlight to enhance its prestige, it must also face intense pressure for political change. Various groups have already used the Olympic spotlight to pressure the Chinese to alter some of their policies, including actress Mia Farrow calling the Games the "Genocide Olympics" in the Wall Street Journal and Stephen Spielberg resigning as artistic director because of Darfur. And this pressure has already brought some improvement in China's cooperation with the international community regarding Darfur and Burma, as well as token concessions on some human rights cases. However, the author asserts, "What Beijing did not account for is the slippery slope. Change begets demands for more change." The government will face the most comprehensive and intense scrutiny in its history, with some 30,000 journalists and 500,000 tourists. While Beijing has made selected adjustments to address various pressures, the long-term implications are unclear.

2. EXECUTIVE POWER IN THE WAR ON TERROR
Mcginnis, John O.
Policy Review, no. 146, December 2007 / January 2008, pp. 63-75

The author, professor of law at Northwestern University, examines the U.S. government's legal performance and use of executive power in the war on terror. The purpose of this examination is to provide future administrations with legal strategies and lessons learned from the Bush administration. The major lesson is to recognize that Congress should be relied upon more than the courts in the war on terror. Early in the current conflict, when public opinion was favorable, the administration should have secured from Congress framework legislation for detention, military tribunals, surveillance, and interrogation.

3. MALWEBOLENCE: THE WORLD OF WEB TROLLING
Schwartz, Mattathias
New York Times Magazine, August 3, 2008, pp. 24-29

The author explores one of the unfortunate side effects of the Internet, a growing subculture of "trolls" who intentionally disrupt online communities. Incidents of Web trolling increasingly involve harassing strangers and hacking into web sites of nonprofit organizations. To help counter this, U.S. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) introduced the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, which would make it a federal crime to send any communications with intent to cause "substantial emotional distress."

4. MICHIGAN: THE DEPRESSED STATE
Simendinger, Alexis
National Journal, vol. 40, no. 26, June 28, 2008

As part of an ongoing series, National Journal is examining the current status of potential swing states. In this issue, the author writes about Michigan, saying, "when things appear bleak elsewhere in the nation, they can seem desperate in Michigan." A state heavily reliant on the auto-industry, Michigan has been hard hit by economic troubles and foreclosures. It is considered to have one of the worst economies in the nation. Simendinger examines what Michigan residents are looking for in a president through the eyes of a family with a long history of supporting candidates from both parties. While it is clear the people of Michigan are unhappy with the state of the economy, it is unclear which party they "blame" for this, which is why it is difficult to predict which candidate will win. The article also reviews the presidential candidates' messages to Michigan voters.

5. VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS
Nagesh, Gautham
Government Executive, vol. 40, no. 8, July 2008, pp. 24-28

The author features U.S. government agencies' efforts in the online world at public outreach efforts and improving internal communication. At the Center for Disease Control, it is possible to connect directly with the audience and reach them in ways that they access public health information more easily and that makes such data more readily available [http://secondlife.com]. The Environmental Protection Agency's official blog [http://blog.epa.gov/blog] grew out of Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock's blog; it offers an in-depth look at its work in defense of the environment. The Defense Department's site [http://www.dodvclips.mil] posts briefings about the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, along with speeches from top military officials and footage from across the globe. For users able to wrangle access, Intellipedia, the online encyclopedia for intelligence agencies, and its sister Diplopedia, for the State Department, provide the latest information via their agencies intranets but access is based on level of security clearance.

Economics and Trade

6. AMERICAN FOREIGN ASSISTANCE STILL VALUED ABROAD
Prasai, Surya
American Chronicle, January 31, 2008

The U.S. Agency for International Development has taken some bold steps in transforming foreign assistance, the author writes. First is the Global Development Commons, which unites all parties with a stake in international development through communications technology. The Commons is a network of websites, blogs, chat rooms and conferences that allows users to communicate with each other and search for information. Prasai believes the network could help people in the development community form partnerships faster. Other efforts involve expanding partnerships to include rural community leaders, private nonprofit groups, women small entrepreneurs, emigrants, environmentalists and faith healers. The author cites USAID's approach in Nepal, which, by reaching out and being open to new partnerships, has allowed the Nepali people to decide what they want for democracy, economic prosperity and peace and security. Another form of partnerships is being provided by USAID's Global Development Alliance, which mobilizes the private sector's ideas, skills and financial resources to help people in the developing world. Prasai notes that several development initiatives -- such as anti-drug and anti-malaria campaigns -- are implemented jointly by USAID and the Department of Defense.

7. ECONOMIC REALITIES ARE KILLING OUR ERA OF FANTASY POLITICS
Taibbi, Matt
AlterNet, posted July 19, 2008

The author, a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, predicts that during the coming presidential election campaign, the Republican and Democratic candidates and media will feed the American public various storylines couched as the "national debate" that will obscure the most pressing issue -- the disappearance of the American middle class. Writes Taibbi, "median income has declined by almost $2,500 over the past seven years, we have zero personal savings rate in America for the first time since the Great Depression, and 5 million people have slipped below the poverty level since the beginning of the decade." But he says the national debate will not focus on haves and have-nots, rich and poor, or employers versus employees. The debate will not touch the military contractors who are making huge profits from the war in Iraq, an issue that Taibbi calls "a profound expression of our national priorities, a means of taking money from ordinary, struggling people and redistributing it not downward but upward, to connected insiders, who turn your tax money into pure profit." With the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy shipped abroad, the service/managerial economy can no longer support a healthy middle class. He says the Democratic Party does not embrace the issue of declining living standards because it is funded by corporate money, just as the Republican Party is.

8. IMF FINALLY KNOCKS ON UNCLE SAM'S DOOR
Hirst, David
Age, The, June 30, 2008

The reported forthcoming investigation of the U.S. Federal Reserve by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) signals a loss of the Fed's credibility and a blow to the integrity of the U.S. financial system. David Hirst, writing a column in The Age of Australia, quoted Der Speigel as writing that the IMF investigation "is nothing less than an x-ray of the entire U.S. financial system" in which the Fed has bailed out profligate U.S. financial institutions. But Hirst holds little hope that the IMF investigation will help reform the U.S. financial system. Rather, he predicts that it will "be buried in the United States by pom-pom waving on CNBC telling all what a great time it is to buy." Hirst reports that other financial groups have similarly dim assessments of the Fed's performance in dealing with the financial scandals during the current administration. He notes, however, that other leading members of the IMF such Canada, Britain, and Italy have undergone similar investigations. "Meanwhile, the U.S. markets have entered bear territory, the economy has done likewise and we are at the beginning of a long and tortuous process before rebuilding can even commence," Hirst writes.

9. OPEC: SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM?
Rubin, Jeff; Buchanan, Peter
CIBC World Markets Monthly Indicators, July 30, 2008, pp. 4-7

The Middle East oil exporters are cutting back their petroleum exports, due to rising domestic consumption, a trend that could squeeze global oil supplies and drive prices up further. Energy analysts Jeff Rubin and Peter Buchanan write that crude exports from the region fell by more than 700,000 barrels per day in 2007. They predict the exports will fall by another 1 million barrels per day by 2012. "If world oil markets are to see future supply growth, it won't be coming from OPEC," they write. The biggest reduction came from Saudi Arabia, more than 600,000 barrels a day, followed by Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Their cuts were offset by modest increases from Iraq, Libya and Algeria. The Middle East exporters are cutting their exports because of rising domestic demand. Daily consumption in the region climbed by some 300,000 barrels in 2007, similar to the increase by China, with four times the population of the Middle East. Huge water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, industrialization of the U.A.E., and subsidized electricity and fuel prices are among the factors creating in the region one of the most energy-intensive life-styles in the world.

10. A PARTNERSHIP OF EQUALS: HOW WASHINGTON SHOULD RESPOND TO CHINA'S ECONOMIC CHALLENGE
Bergsten, C. Fred
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 4, July-August 2008

According to Bergsten, China has become one of the world economic superpowers even though it has an authoritarian government and most of the population remains poor. While the U.S. and the European Union strive to bring China into the world economic order they have built and defended for 60 years, China is increasingly challenging that order without offering a real alternative. Even though China has the biggest stake in the global trading system, its refusal to participate constructively in WTO negotiations almost guarantees disastrous failure for the round. Possibly even worse, China's challenge to the international monetary system by intervening massively in the foreign-exchange markets to maintain a hugely undervalued yuan, contrary to IMF rules, has created imbalances that could trigger a crash in the U.S. dollar and wreck economies around the world. China is similarly acting uncooperatively in commodity markets, environmental negotiations, and foreign aid. "China continues to act like a small country with little impact on the global system at large and therefore little responsibility for it," Bergsten writes. What the U.S. should do is approach China to provide joint leadership of the global economic system. China's own interests should lead it to accept an invitation to accept increasing responsibility for the functioning of the world economy.

11. WHERE HAS ALL THE WATER GONE?
Barlow, Maude
American Prospect, vol. 19, no. 6, June 2008, pp. A2-3

The author, head of the citizen activist group Council of Canadians, writes that the world is facing a freshwater crisis, due to pollution, climate change and population growth. The lack of access to clean water affects two fifths of the world's population, and is responsible for a growing incidence of waterborne diseases. Exacerbating the water crisis is growing pressure to privatize public water utility systems. Barlow argues that the growing scarcity of fresh water is as serious a threat as global warming, but is underreported in the mainstream media and ignored by most political leaders. In Barlow's view, the water crisis can be solved but national governments lack the political will. This is the introductory article in a special report, THE GLOBAL FRESHWATER CRISIS AND THE QUEST FOR SOLUTIONS.

Global Issues

12. THE CHANGING NEWSROOM
--
Journalism.org, July 21, 2008

In all aspects, ranging from staffing to content, American newspapers are changing at a dizzying rate. In a survey of more than 250 local and national papers, the Project for Excellence in Journalism details developments such as the decline of independent foreign and national news coverage and the rise of mobile journalists deployed to send in video footage for the paper's Web site. The analysis of its survey results gives a comprehensive look at the state of U.S. newspapers today and a glimpse into their uncertain future.

13. CROSSING LINES
Garber, Megan
Columbia Journalism Review, July-August 2008

Michael Happy, a Detroit News sports reporter, is blurring the lines between "objective" reporting and advocacy - and he doesn't care. A former resident of Fletcher Field, a five-acre neighborhood near Detroit's City Airport, Happy launched last year a blog on the newspaper's Web site called "Going Home: A Journal on Detroit's Neighborhoods." Working with community leaders, the blog has served as a voice to the "invisible" poor and a tool for coalition building and advocacy. Current residents, many of whom do not have access to computers, funnel their personal stories to community leaders, who then communicate them to Happy. Fletcher Field is still poor, rundown and extremely dangerous, but changes have been impressive. Thanks to the blog, the neighborhood has gotten attention and help from former residents and city officials who have mobilized to improve the park and overall living conditions. Happy acknowledges that some observers feel the blog "teeters on the line between ethical and unethical journalism," but he adds: "I got into this business to try to help people -- I think the park project, its aftermath and this blog are doing just that."

14. THE ETHICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: PAY NOW OR PAY MORE LATER?
Broome, John
Scientific American, vol. 298, no. 5, May 2008

The author notes that future generations will suffer most of the harmful effects of global climate change; yet if the world economy grows, they will be richer than we are. The present generation must decide, with the help of expert advice from economists, whether to aggressively reduce the chances of future harm or to let our descendants largely fend for themselves. Economists cannot avoid making ethical choices in formulating their advice; even the small chance of utter catastrophe from global warming raises special problems for ethical discussion.

15. SEA OF TRASH
Hohn, Donovan
New York Times Magazine, June 22, 2008, pp. 40-45

The author writes that the world's oceans are filling up with enormous quantities of plastic debris, much of it accumulating in subtropical "convergence zones" or brought in by the ocean currents on beaches thousands of miles away. The article features a nonprofit group in Alaska that conducts cleanups of remote beaches, collecting thousands of pounds of trash at a time, and a U.S. federal government effort to clean up the waters off the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, that are at the edge of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, where a flotilla of plastic trash the size of the state of Texas has been accumulating. All involved in the remediation efforts concede that cleanups will not make the problem go away; the only real solution is to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic containers, which would require fundamental change by individuals, corporations and governments worldwide. The author notes, plastic "is a powerful bellwether of our impact upon the Earth" -- not only are millions of marine and sea-going animals killed or maimed by ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic, but plastic polymers do not biodegrade, they merely break down into smaller and smaller fragments, they act as magnets for toxic organic compounds, and are entering the food chain.

Regional Security

16. THE ACCIDENTAL FOREIGN POLICY
Yglesias, Matthew
Atlantic Monthly, vol. 301, no. 5, June 2008, pp. 28-30

Yglesias, Atlantic Monthly associate editor, focuses on the foreign policy views of 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, and on American public opinion of Obama's foreign policy views. Obama demonstrates a new approach to foreign policy by indicating a willingness to hold direct negotiations with leaders of rogue states, commit to eventual global nuclear disarmament, balance American military priorities toward Afghanistan, soften the embargo on Cuba and widen the focus of democracy promotion to include other development goals, with the objective of more effectively preventing terrorist recruitment.

17. CLOSING TIME: ASSESSING THE IRANIAN THREAT TO THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Talmadge, Caitlin
International Security, vol. 33, no. 1, Summer 2008, pp: 82-118

The author, with the political science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, contemplates how Iran might retaliate in the aftermath of a limited Israeli or U.S. strike; the most economically devastating of Iran's potential responses would be closure of the Strait of Hormuz. According to open-source order-of-battle data, as well as relevant material from military history and GIS maps, Iran does possess significant littoral warfare capabilities, including mines, antiship cruise missiles, and land-based air defense. The author asserts that if Iran were able to properly coordinate its efforts, it could halt or impede traffic in the Strait of Hormuz for a month or more. U.S. attempts to reopen the waterway would escalate rapidly into sustained, large-scale air and naval operations during which Iran could impose significant economic and military costs on the United States. Talmadge believes that the aftermath of limited strikes on Iran would be complicated and costly, suggesting needed changes in U.S. force posture and energy policy.

18. COLD WAR, PUBLIC OPINION, AND FOREIGN POLICY SPENDING DECISIONS: DYNAMIC REPRESENTATION BY CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT
Cox, Daniel; Duffin, Diane L.
Congress and the Presidency, vol. 35, no. 1, Spring 2008, pp. 29-54

The authors argue that conventional wisdom before the Vietnam War held that public opinion exerted no influence on U.S. foreign policy decisions. Scholars working in Vietnam's aftermath found episodic influence of public opinion on foreign policy, but missing in our understanding were examinations of public opinion's influence on foreign policy. A number of post-Vietnam scholars subsequently revealed a long-term relationship between public opinion and defense spending. This study extends that work by analyzing responsiveness to public opinion in different foreign policy arenas by different government institutions, and by accounting for a critical variable not relevant in most previous studies: the end of the Cold War. They construct a model explaining the influences of public opinion and the Cold War on spending proposals for defense and foreign economic aid by the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both public opinion and the end of the Cold War exerted direct influence on defense spending proposals by the presidency, while the Senate and the House respond primarily to public opinion inputs and the partisan composition of the Senate. In the case of foreign economic aid, the Cold War's end gives occasion for increasing spending proposals, contrary to the public's expectation that the end of the Cold War minimized the need for the U.S. to provide foreign economic assistance.

19. HOW AMERICAN TREATY BEHAVIOR THREATENS NATONAL SECURITY
Chayes, Antonia
International Security, vol. 33, no. 1, Summer 2008, pp. 45-81

Chayes, visiting professor at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, asserts that current U.S. treaty behavior is antiquated in an era of globalization and interdependence, and has produced growing concern among both allies and less friendly nations. The U.S. has generated confusion and anger abroad on such fundamental issues as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, human rights, civil liberties, environmental disasters, and commerce. The author emphasizes that such a climate is not conducive to international cooperation in the conduct of foreign and security policy. Among U.S. actions that have caused concern are the failure to ratify several treaties; the attachment of reservations, understandings, and declarations before ratification; the failure to support a treaty regime once ratified; and treaty withdrawal. The author argues that the structural and historical reasons for American treaty behavior are deeply rooted in the U.S. system of government and do not merely reflect superpower arrogance. Nonetheless, the world confronts too many global problems that will take for longer to solve, and probably cannot be solved, without the United States.

20. HOW TO LEAVE A STABLE IRAQ
Biddle, Stephen; O'Hanlon, Michael; Pollack, Kenneth
Foreign Affairs, vol. 87, no. 5, September/October 2008

The prognosis for positive change in Iraq is much more encouraging these days, the authors say, and the U.S. may be able start cutting back its troop presence starting in 2010. Sunni insurgents and extremists and the Shiite militias have either suffered crippling military defeat or have stood down and agreed to cease-fires. The Iraqi security forces (ISF) have grown more capable, reliable and credible, as has the Iraqi National Police. Although tensions remain severe, Iraqi political life is changing for the better, and the Iraqi people are rejecting the militias. If no longer a "failed state," Iraq is certainly a fragile one. Immediate challenges, the authors say, remain in integrating the Sons of Iraq into the ISF, dealing with returning refugees and internally displaced people, improving the Iraqi central government's administrative capacity and the country's economic progress, and preventing Kurdish-Arabic upheaval in Kirkuk. Given the hopeful circumstances of today, all-out civil war or a wider regional war can be avoided, the authors say.

21. MCCAIN'S CHOICE
Chollet, Derek; Goldgeier, James
National Interest, no. 96, July/August 2008, pp. 68-72

While the future direction of American diplomacy hangs in the balance, neoconservatives and realists are battling on the Republican foreign policy agenda. Senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Derek Chollet, and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, James Goldgeier, offer an inside look at the struggle for the foreign policy strategy of the Republican Party. Presidential candidate John McCain describes himself as a "realistic idealist" and would rely on U.S. leadership of a multilateral organization based on a community of values. Standing up for values should remain an important part of foreign policy, but a future McCain administration must also be willing to compromise in order to make progress in several areas around the globe.

22. MEDITERRANEAN FLYOVER: TELEGRAPHING AN ISRAELI PUNCH?
Friedman, George
Investors Insight, August 7, 2008

According to Friedman, an analyst at Stratfor, Israel's widely publicized June military exercise using more than 100 aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean raises a number of questions about U.S. and Israeli intent about attacking Iran. Raising doubts about a number of possible explanations, Friedman speculates that the likeliest explanation is an obvious one that Iran's government itself asserted: The United States and Israel are waging psychological warfare for political reasons, suggesting to Iranians that their President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has led his country into a dangerous situation. Friedman writes, "We tend toward the view that this is psychological warfare for the simple reason that you don't launch a surprise attack of the kind necessary to take out Iran's nuclear program with a media blitz beforehand."

23. MIDDLE EAST MUDDLE
Ross, Dennis
National Interest, no. 92, November/December 2007, pp. 30-39

Ambassador Dennis Ross, currently at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, offers his views on American military activities in several areas of the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, and Israeli-Palestinian issues. In each of these areas, Ross feels the help of Saudi Arabia is critical, as they have a significant role to play in the application of statecraft to the region. In Iraq, statecraft means redefining the American objective as containment to prevent instability there from spreading to the rest of the region. For Iran, it would mean using Iran's economic vulnerabilities to change Tehran's behavior on the nuclear issue. The essential objective for American statecraft on Israeli-Palestinian issues should be ensuring that the Palestinian cause remains led by a secular movement and not an Islamist one.

24. NORTH KOREA: THE BEGINNING OF A CHINA-U.S. PARTNERSHIP?
Glaser, Bonnie; Liang, Wang
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, Summer 2008, pp. 165-180

According to Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, "This whole six-party process has done more to bring the U.S. and China together than any other process I'm aware of." The authors agree that there is little question that U.S.-China cooperation regarding the North Korean nuclear problem has contributed to an improvement of relations between the two countries. Although there was early agreement that they shared the goal of achieving a denuclearized Korean peninsula through peaceful means, cooperation on this issue was not inevitable. The Americans were focusing on a multilateral approach while the Chinese saw it as a bilateral issue between the U.S. and North Korea. In February 2003, however, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell convinced the Chinese that President Bush was determined to resolve the crisis diplomatically but that this must be done multilaterally. China then began applying pressure and multiparty talks began in April. Several lessons about U.S.-China relations can be learned from the North Korea experience. Cooperation requires a sufficient overlap of interests; Beijing is still reluctant to get involved in international disputes unless they affect it directly. Substantial disagreements remain between China and the United States, especially concerning sanctions; security cooperation is still hindered by suspicions about each other's long-term intentions.

25. THE STRATEGIC CENTRAL ASIAN ARENA
Giragosian, Richard
China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 133-153

Central Asia has emerged as a pivotal arena of international security, with an enhanced strategic significance that has superseded the region's geographic isolation and geopolitical marginalization. Security in Central Asia is now a key factor in the broader calculus of Russian, Chinese, and American interests. Moreover, stability in both Central Asia and along its periphery further impacts a secondary set of states, including India, Iran and Japan. This paper examines the interests of the various powers in Central Asia and the quest for stability and security in the region.

26. TOWARD A HUMANIST FOREIGN POLICY
Coon, Carl
Humanist, vol. 68, no. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 21-23

The author, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, makes the argument that the United States needs to recognize in developing a more effective and practical 21st century foreign policy that it may have to sacrifice some of its national sovereignty to cooperate effectively on global problems with the rest of the world. The United States can not insist on total security for Americans alone, and expect full cooperation from everyone else. Cooperation in international relations requires, as he argues, some sacrifices and some concessions from each of its partners. Any human society that endures has rules that constrain its members in ways that make cooperation possible, Coon notes. "So we prize liberty but fear anarchy. We are all for free choice but insist that everyone should respect the law of the land," Coon says. A world at peace is and should be the primary long-term goal of a well developed foreign policy, he says. In arguing the case for a humanistic foreign policy, Coon sets forward a simple set of principles to guide interstate relations, that abhors violence and seeks fairness and help for those most in need.

U.S. Society and Values

27. AMERICAN MUSLIMS AND THE USE OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
Kanjwal, Hafsa
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, vol. 9, no. 2, Summer/Fall 2008, pp. 133-139

The author, who served on the board of the Muslim Students Association at Georgetown University, argues that one of our major challenges will be to address the growing mutual suspicion, fear, and misunderstanding between Western and Muslim societies. Cultural diplomacy should take precedence over public relations diplomacy, and the American Muslim community needs to develop a sophisticated cultural presence before it can be coherent on a civic or political level to create a cohesive and accessible American Muslim identity. There is a large percentage of Americans who are Muslim but feel they have been left out of the "core," which is often preoccupied on theological issues. Through case studies, the author highlights cultural material being produced by the American Muslim community, such as MuslimGirl Magazine, and Musa Syeed, the young American Muslim filmmaker who produced the award-winning documentary "A Son's Sacrifice."

28. COLLEGES SHOULD PLAN -- AND TEACH -- FOR AN OIL-SCARCE WORLD
Carlson, Scott
Chronicle of Higher Education, July 10, 2008

The looming global energy crisis will affect all facets of modern life -- including colleges, points out the author. As with most large institutions, modern colleges are very energy-intensive, are not always closely connected with the local community in which they are located, and draw students from a wide geographic area, resulting in long commutes. Most colleges plan to be around in the next several decades, so Carlson says that they need to fundamentally rethink all aspects of their operations -- how buildings are heated and cooled, how food is delivered and prepared, what courses are offered. Coming generations may live in a world vastly different from the present day, so "colleges that offer an education that equips students to live in that world will remain relevant."

29. HAVE YOU GOOGLED YOUR TEACHER LATELY? TEACHERS' USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Carter, Heather; Foulger, Teresa; Ewbank, Ann Dutton
Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 89, no. 9, May 2008, 5 pp.

Social networking sites have become so popular that some young teachers do not seem to recognize the need to exercise care before they post on popular sites such as MySpace, FaceBook or YouTube. The authors, all of whom are involved in teacher education at Arizona State University, recognize that social networking is a potentially beneficial tool for educators and cite some of the ways in which experienced teachers have used it to enhance instruction, to establish deeper relationships with students or to remind students of deadlines and quizzes. But the inability of some to understand that teachers are held to a higher standard of moral behavior than the general population has resulted in a growing number of incidents that are affecting the entire profession, as careers are ruined by a nude photo, intemperate remarks about professional frustrations, reference to sex or alcohol or use of profanity. State certification procedures often mandate that teachers shall not "engage in conduct which would discredit the teaching profession." The Ohio Education Association is now strongly discouraging its members from joining social networking sites. U.S. courts, while recognizing the free speech rights of teachers, balance those rights against the ability of the government employer to maintain an efficiently-run organization. The authors want teacher preparation and in-service programs to make all teachers aware of the public nature of the Internet and of the negative impact exposing their personal lives can have on their careers.

30. THE INNOVATION IMPERATIVE
Bracco, Tara
American Theatre, July/August 2008, pp. 36-41

American theater is looking for innovative methods to increase their attendance and solvency. In November of last year, the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) held a two-day event called "Cultivating Innovation: From the Board Room to the Box Office", focusing on new ideas to help non-profit theaters. The author cites the New York Metropolitan Opera, which is increasing opera's audience by transmitting production into several hundred movie theaters in North America and Europe, and is advertising on New York buses and doing telecasts on screens in Times Square and Lincoln Center. Another area ripe for reconsideration is the traditional expectation that 50 to 70 percent of theater's budget should be derived from ticket sales; this is changing, as endowments have grown in size, allowing some theaters to cut ticket prices to attract a younger audience and increase attendance. In the end, each theater company must find its own innovative way to financial stability.

31. WHAT I LOVE ABOUT TAP
Pollak, Max
Dance Magazine, May 2008, pp. 38-40

Tap dancing is an American art form which has continuously evolved since its inception in the 19th century, with roots in Africa and the British isles. Dancing from those two very different locations combined into tap dancing in post-Civil War America, where "recent immigrants and freed slaves would challenge each other to show off their best moves." Tap dancing gained commercial appeal and "was dominated by versatile and charismatic figures. All of them were superb entertainers, multitalented, graceful, and often hilariously funny." For sound effect tap dancers originally used a wooden soled shoe. In the 1920's an innovation, the use of aluminum in the shoe allowed faster and louder tapping. Tap dancing was popular in vaudeville and theater act shows. Starting in the 1920's it was brought to an even bigger audience through cinema. After WWII tap dancing returned to its jazz roots: improvisation. Today, the art of tap is being maintained and taught by new tap dancers. Their innovation in utilizing new rhythms is a testament to the vitality of tap dancing.

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