Journalism

Watergate was “the ultimate stress test” for the nation, says Timothy Naftali, director of the Nixon Library. It was also a stress test for the National Archives and the Nixon Library. . . .
. . . continued at the L.A. Times op-ed page HERE

More than a million people teach at colleges and universities in the United States, but only one faces a Republican demand for his e-mails: William Cronon, who teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. . . . What does it take to become the target of this kind of attack?
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

When Elizabeth Taylor died, Al Jazeera English reported that her greatest role was Cleopatra.
They didn’t report that she had offered herself as a hostage at Entebbe in exchange for the 100 hijack victims held by terrorists at that airport in Uganda in 1976. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

When John Lennon sang “Imagine there’s no heaven” in 1971, rock critics called the song “utopian.” But 40 years later, researchers have found that religion is indeed disappearing in nine countries . . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.

In a striking act of interfaith solidarity, 30 Jewish Studies faculty from seven campuses of the University of California have called on the Orange County district attorney to drop criminal charges against 11 Muslim students.
. . . continued at Huffington Post HERE

Ramona Ripston, who is stepping down as head of the ACLU of Southern California after almost forty years, is both a visionary who transformed the meaning of civil liberties and a dynamic and beloved figure on the LA left.  Her most significant achievement was expanding the practice of civil liberties law to include litigating for economic justice.
Continued at TheNation.com: HERE.

100 faculty members at UCI, including five deans, have signed a letter to the Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas calling on him to drop criminal charges against 11 students who disrupted a speech on the UCI campus by the Israeli ambassador to the US last year.
. . . . Continued at Huffington Post HERE.

On what would have been Ronald Reagan’s hundredth birthday, we find the past offers lessons for the present: does the United States have to fight a war when it is attacked by a ruthless group of militant Islamic fundamentalists? Reagan’s response to attacks on US forces in Beirut in 1983 suggests a way out of the Afghan war for Obama: invade Grenada.
. . . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.

The Arizona legislature is considering a proposal to authorize the carrying of weapons on campus by faculty members. The idea is simple — in case of trouble in the classroom, somebody needs to be able to blast away at problem students. But the question arises, should all faculty members be armed?
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

A new batch of Nixon White House tapes and documents were released by the National Archives in 2010, putting the former president back on page one. Herewith, the top ten:

10. “The Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks.” –to Chuck Colson,  White House hatchet man, Feb. 13, 1973.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE