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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Sept. 25, 2006 / 3 Tishrei, 5767

The Growth of a Nation

By Michael Barone


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Demography is destiny. The framers of the Constitution recognized this when they mandated for the first time in history that a census be conducted at regular intervals and that representation in the lower house of Congress be based on its results. The growth that the Census Bureau has reported over the ensuing two centuries has been unique among nations: from 3.9 million in 1790, mostly clustered along the Atlantic coastline, to 50 million in 1880, 100 million in 1915, 200 million in 1967, and now 300 million in October 2006. As George Washington expected, the United States has expanded across the continent, and even beyond. That expansion is a story with several different chapters, each one largely unexpected, and one still unfolding today.


The first chapter, from 1790 to around 1840, is a story of fertility, of unparalleled natural increase. During this period the average American woman gave birth to seven children. Not all survived, of course, but very many did. Americans probably enjoyed the best nutrition in the world: While European peasants subsisted mainly on bread, American farmers had a plentiful supply of meat. Although there was little immigration-never more than 79,000 a year, and as little as 6,000-our population increased by 28 to 31 percent per decade, probably the highest rate in history.


Then, in the 1840s, another chapter begins, a story of mass immigration. The potato famine in Ireland and the failed revolutions of 1848 in Germany resulted in a vast flow of immigrants across the Atlantic to the United States. In the years from 1847 to 1857, as Americans moved west and the nation grappled with the issue of slavery, 3.3 million immigrants arrived on our shores-16 percent of the pre-existing population.


Death toll. The Civil War reduced the flow of immigration and cost the lives of 600,000 Americans in a nation of 31 million (a death rate that would translate to the loss of nearly 6 million today). The end of the war produced a third chapter, which lasted into the 1920s. Immigration continued and accelerated-2.7 million in the 1870s, 5.2 million in the 1880s, 3.7 million in the 1890s, 13.4 million from 1900 to 1914. Starting around 1890, immigrants were increasingly people considered to be of a different race from most Americans-Italians, Jews, Poles, and other eastern Europeans-and they moved almost exclusively to big cities in the North. At the same time, even though wages were much higher in the North than the South, only a few southerners-black or white-moved to the North.


Immigration was sharply reduced by restrictionist laws in the 1920s and plummeted further in the Depression decade of the 1930s, which saw the lowest population increase-only 7 percent-in American history. But this turned out to be a brief chapter. Contrary to almost universal expectations, post-World War II America was an era of boisterous economic growth and of a baby boom that began just after the war and lasted for about 20 years. Americans were jostled out of their home states by the war and then continued moving, with huge flows to the West and, particularly after the civil rights movement got rid of racial segregation, to the South. California grew from 6.9 million to 10.6 million in the 1940s and 20.0 million in 1970; Texas from 6.4 million in 1940 to 11.2 million in 1970, and Florida from 1.9 million to 6.8 million in those years.


Demographers in the late 1960s expected the future to be like the recent past. They waited for the children of the baby boom to produce a new baby boom and discounted the likelihood of mass immigration. But a new chapter was beginning around 1970. Birthrates plummeted, and immigration-mainly from Latin America and Asia-surged. The move to the South and West continued: In 2000 California had 34.0 million people, Texas 20.9 million, Florida 16.0 million. Hispanics now outnumber blacks. Recently, we've seen signs of a new chapter. Divorce and abortion rates are down, and fertility rates are up, far higher than in other affluent nations. Democrats look for gains from Hispanics, Republicans in fast-growing exurbs (97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties since 2000 voted for George W. Bush in 2004). The lesson of the past is that America keeps changing and growing, often in ways we fail to anticipate.

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BARONE'S LATEST
The New Americans  

Now, more than ever, the melting pot must be used to keep America great. Barone attacks multiculturalism and anti-American apologists--but he also rejects proposals for building a wall to keep immigrants out, or rounding up millions of illegals to send back home. Rather, the melting pot must be allowed to work (as it has for centuries) to teach new Americans the values, history, and unique spirit of America so they, too, can enjoy the American dream.. Sales help fund JWR.

JWR contributor Michael Barone is a columnist at U.S. News & World Report. Comment by clicking here.




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