These conclusions appear in a research symposium entitled "Immigration and National Identity," edited by Gary M. Segura (University of Washington), in the June issue of the "Perspectives on Politics" -- a journal of the APSA. The symposium is online at http://www.apsanet.org/section(under)682.cfm and is comprised of four articles which consider different aspects of the social and political incorporation of Latino immigrants in the U.S. "The fight .. over who is an American, and what constitutes 'American-ness,' is and has been an ongoing one for virtually the entire history of the United States," observes Segura in the introduction.

In "Culture Clash? Contesting Notions of American Identity and the Effects of Latin American Immigration," Segura and Luis R. Fraga (Stanford University) examine immigration and national identity in the context of American political development. Tracing immigration fears to the pre-Declaration of Independence era, Segura and Fraga agree that Anglo-Protestant culture shaped American national identity but question whether ethno-religious and linguistic traditions are the most critical "binding ties of nationhood" or "the erosion of in the dominance of Anglo- Protestant culture is inherently destabilizing ..." They point to other successful multicultural democracies while cautioning against overlooking the less laudable aspects of Anglo-Protestant dominance which have historically negatively affected socially subordinate groups. Noting the role of the capacity for change in the longevity of the American republic -- rather than the maintenance of a static, idealized Anglo-Protestant identity -- they advocate a broader and comprehensive reading of American history in the immigration debate.

In "Mexican Americans and the American Dream" Richard Alba (University at Albany, SUNY) addresses the often-used claim that "Mexicans are on their way to forming a separate nation within the U.S." Underscoring the diversity within the Latino and Mexican immigrant population, the author observes that commonly used standards for assimilation such as comparisons of generations are misleading due to the fact that "different generations originate in different periods of Mexican immigration" as well as the varying impact of institutional discrimination over time. Alba challenges Samuel Huntington's recent work and concludes that direct evidence of the linguistic assimilation of Mexicans does "not support the notion of a cleavage into separate, language-based subsocieties," and instead reveals a pattern of "steady intergenerational progress." While Hispanic groups including Mexicans do show higher rates of bilingualism among second generation adults than European groups in the past, Alba points to high rates of recent immigration as a main cause and asserts that by the third generation "English dominance, if not monolinugalism, is the prevalent pattern." The author concludes by noting that while some identify cultural and social isolation as the key obstacles to assimilation, it is wise to also consider the barriers to opportunities for immigrants and work to reduce them.

Susan Eckstein (Boston University) authored the third article, "Cuban Emigres and the American Dream," which focuses on the Cuban immigrant experience and the claim that "Latin Americans are eroding our country's core Anglo-Protestant values." Eckstein observes that "what has been good for Cuban Americans has been good for America" in that the Cuban presence in Miami helped transform the city into a commercial hub spanning the Americas and from which all Americans benefit. Notably, the cultural aspects of that transformation were essential as Cuban identity and the Spanish language were central in spurring growth. Moreover, the enduring Catholic religious identity of most Cubans has not hindered their economic integration despite claims that Anglo-Protestant values are the keys to assimilation. Eckstein also examines the "social and cultural separateness" between Cuban Americans and non-Hispanics in Florida that has led Cubans to form their own municipal, voluntary and professional associations over time -- a key aspect of their success. However, despite the fact that Cuban Americans exhibit high rates of citizenship, voter registration and political participation, they remain "internally divided and increasingly so," a phenomenon driven by the changing nature of the type of Cubans immigrants -- from those who fled the Castro revolution and were typically privileged in the pre-revolution era, to those who have lived under the Castro regime. These different cohorts have "shared unequally in the American Dream" and differ in their levels of economic success, language adoption, political engagement and overall assimilation in the U.S. She concludes by observing that the Cuban-American experience has been uniquely shaped by its encounter with Anglo society in Florida and that "if there is not one single Cuban American experience, even less is there a single Hispanic experience."

The fourth article, "Mexican Immigrant Political and Economic Incorporation," was co-authored by Frank D. Bean, Susan K. Brown and Ruben G. Rumbaut (all from the University of California, Irvine) and investigates the empirical basis of the claim that American identity and culture is being undermined by a "trend toward cultural bifurcation" driven by Mexican and Latino immigration. The authors observe that despite the widespread use of data in the immigration debate, "actual longitudinal data that track individual immigrants over time or measure true intergenerational change ... have largely been lacking." Available information is based on "short-run, static depictions of the incorporation experiences of new immigrants," and understandably "invites the conclusion that ... Mexican immigrants in particular, are generating a permanent and largely illegal underclass." Drawing upon new survey data, they address two important claims: that Mexican immigrants are not transitioning to residency or citizenship, and that Mexican immigrants aren't making educational gains. The new data show the proportion of Mexican immigrants who transition to legal residency after arrival has doubled in the past 20 years, making clear that "unauthorized migration status can and often does change ... and is not a permanent, static property of Mexican immigrants." Notably, almost half of illegal immigrants had transitioned to citizenship 30 to 35 years after arrival. These transitions, in turn, have opened other doors to assimilation as "substantial education gains are evident across generations" as well: 52 percent of those whose immigrant fathers had naturalized have received college degrees or college education, compared with 43 percent of those whose immigrant fathers were still legal residents and 13.6 percent of those whose fathers were still unauthorized. The authors conclude that their research "uncovers considerable upward economic mobility" rooted in patterns of transition to authorized status and educational improvement over time -- "findings contrary to ... fears about their intentions and unassimilability."

This research speaks directly to fundamental questions such as the nature of American society and its core principles, the ability of recent immigrant groups to attain the American Dream, their social and political status in the United States and the choices facing policy makers today in the debate over immigration. Given the importance of Latino immigration, the symposium, states Segura, aimed to bring together scholars from a variety of intellectual traditions while devoting "considerable effort to investigating the empirical claims regarding Latino immigration and assimilation often made by those who perceive threat."

The aftermath of the Khobar bombing is just one example of how successive U.S. governments have mishandled Iran. On June 25, 1996, President Clinton declared that "no stone would be left unturned" to find the bombers and bring them to "justice." Within hours, teams of FBI agents, and forensic and technical personnel, were en route to Khobar. The president told the Saudis and the 19 victims' families that I was responsible for the case. This assignment became very personal and solemn for me, as it meant that I was the one who dealt directly with the victims' survivors. These disciplined military families asked only one thing of me and their country: "Please find out who did this to our sons, husbands, brothers and fathers and bring them to justice."

It soon became clear that Mr. Clinton and his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, had no interest in confronting the fact that Iran had blown up the Towers. This is astounding, considering that the Saudi Security Service had arrested six of the bombers after the attack. As FBI agents sifted through the remains of Building 131 in 115-degree heat, the bombers admitted they had been trained by the Iranian external security service (IRGC) in the Beka Valley, and received their passports at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, along with $250,000 cash for the operation from IRGC Gen. Ahmad Sharifi.

We later learned that senior members of the Iranian government, including Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and the Spiritual Leader's office had selected Khobar as their target and commissioned the Saudi Hezbollah to carry out the operation. The Saudi police told us that FBI agents had to interview the bombers in custody in order to make our case. To make this happen, however, the U.S. president would need to personally make a request to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

So for 30 months, I wrote and rewrote the same set of simple talking points for the president, Mr. Berger, and others to press the FBI's request to go inside a Saudi prison and interview the Khobar bombers. And for 30 months nothing happened.

Left behind in the Riggs archive are a treasure trove of old ledgers, signature books and personal checks written by some of the 23 presidents who banked there, as well as a number of other men and women who shaped American history.

Mary Beth Corrigan is the PNC/Riggs Bank archivist. She's in charge of the collection and says that everything is "clearly arranged," as you might expect at a bank.

Famous names, including John Tyler, James Buchanan, Alger Hiss, Brigham Young, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Richard Nixon, all find themselves catalogued in the bank's subterranean vault.

Corrigan, an historian by training, has been working on the collection since she was hired by Riggs in 1998 to mine the archives, a job not yet finished.

Researchers re-examined beads excavated from one site in Israel and one in Algeria.

The beads date to around 100,000 years ago —about 25,000 years older than similar beads found in South Africa that were previously considered the record holder.

"Our paper supports the scenario that modern humans in Africa developed behaviours that are considered modern quite early in time," said study co-author Francesco d'Errico of the National Center for Scientific Research in Talence, France.

"These people were probably not just biologically modern but also culturally and cognitively modern, at least to some degree."

Archeologists look for personal ornaments and art as proof of symbolic thinking.

The find includes three shells, two from Skhul in Israel, and one from Oued Djebbana, Algeria, the team reports in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The researchers concluded people deliberately selected the shells and transported or traded them, given how the beads differ from natural shells, and the 200-kilometre distance between the Algerian site and the seashore.

"We think that the African evidence may point to the beads being used in gift-giving systems which function to strengthen social and economic relationships," said archeologist Marian Vanhaeren of the University of California.

"The European evidence suggests the beads were used as markers of ethnic, social and personal identity," the study's lead author added in a release.

The shells were left by scavenging marine snails now found in the shallow waters of the central-eastern Mediterranean.

The newly analyzed shells and those from Blombos in South Africa come from the same genus of snail, the researchers said. The South African beads were all punctured in the same place and looked as if they were once strung together.

All of the shells are too tiny to be used as a food source, the researchers said.

Before the Blombos paper in 2004, it was generally thought that humans developed symbolic thought about 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The site in Kaesong, which lies a few kilometers from the inter-Korean border, is the location of Manwoldae, the ancient kingdom¡¯s royal palace. Korean scholars have applied to UNESCO to designate the site as a World Cultural Heritage. In 2004, UNESCO designated the royal tombs of the Koguryo Kingdom in North Korea as a World Cultural Heritage.

Please note that the AAAS website assists you in composing a letter to the Minister of Justice. Go to: http://shr.aaas.org/aaashran/alert.php?a_id=321 We hope that you can send the recommended urgent appeals immediately.

Please remember to write in your professional capacity. Thank you.

With best wishes,
Antoon De Baets, Ingrid Sennema, George Welling (Network of Concerned Historians)

American Assocation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Human Rights Action Network

FORENSIC SCIENTISTS FACE THREATS IN PERU

14 June 2006

Case number: pe0514_for

Issues: Harassment or intimidation

FACTS OF THE CASE:

In April 2006, there was a marked increase in hostile acts committed against a team of forensic anthropologists and experts working on clandestine mass graves in Peru. During that time, their computers have been stolen along with their expert reports and the results of their work. There was an attempted break-in of the home of one member of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropologist Team. In November 2005, five experts working on a the recovery of 60 bodies related to the case"Los Molinos" received intimidating threats on their cell phones the day before carrying out their work. Threats were also made to experts working on an exhumation in Ayacucho between May and August last year.

There is great concern for the team's physical safety as well as for their emotional health and morale as they continue their difficult work in an environment of intimidation and hostility.

Peru experienced two decades of extreme political violence during the 1980s and 1990s as the government waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign against state terrorist groups. Reports indicate that more than 69,000 people were killed or disappeared. Both the government and the rebel groups Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement were responsible for the deaths and violence.

In 2001, the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission began its work in clarifying what occurred during the period of violence and to identify the responsible parties. The commission made recommendations to conduct exhumations of bodies from mass graves. Many of the exhumations are occurring in Ayacucho, the region that witnessed the worst of the violence and where many of those responsible and connected to those responsible for human rights violations continue to live. This creates a difficult environment in which to conduct exhumations and other human rights work.

Forensic teams throughout Latin America, particularly in Guatemala, have reported death threats against them presumably from individuals associated with the violence. Increased international attention to the forensic teams has been effective in pressuring governments to ensure the safety of these scientists.

(Sources of information for this case include: Personal correspondence with members of the Peruvian forensic team, Human Rights Watch, and the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission [http://www.cverdad.org.pe].)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

American Convention on Human Rights:
**Article 16: Everyone has the right to freedom of association.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
**Article 19(1): Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
**Article 22: Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
**Article 15(3): The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.
**Article 6: The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.
The Human Rights Defenders Declaration:
**Article 12(2): The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights].
**Article 6(a): Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: To know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including having access to information as to how those rights and freedoms are given effect in domestic legislative, judicial or administrative systems.
**Article 6(b): Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: As provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms; **Article 6(c): Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
**Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
**Article 20(1): Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

**Requesting that the government assure the safety and wellbeing of the Peruvian forensic anthropologists and provide any protection deemed necessary by the team; and
**Asking officials to investigate threats against the individuals and to hold those responsible accountable.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Dr. Alejandro Tudela Chopitea
**Minister of Justice
**Ministry of Justice
**Scipión Llona 350
**Miraflores
**Lima 18 PERÚ
**Fax: (011) 51 1 422 3577
**Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:

His Excellency Eduardo Ferrero Costa
**Ambassador of Peru
**1700 Massachusetts Ave, NW
**Washington, DC 20036
**Fax: 202-659-8124
**Salutation: Dear Mr. Ambassador

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful. To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

"It's a turning point," says Micha Brumlik, a professor at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. "For the first time the public is showing that they don't feel ashamed for crimes committed by others in the past," though he adds that many still feel responsible.

For decades after World War II, only far-right German parties flew the flag proudly and patriotic talk was shunned. In 2004, when Horst Koehler left his International Monetary Fund post to become Germany's president he told a packed Parliament, "I love Germany." A hush fell over the room.

Suddenly, all that has changed. Speaking to Bild am Sonntag newspaper recently, Chancellor Angela Merkel lauded the fact that, "People are waving flags without having to justify themselves."

But it's not just the lack of shame that separates today's celebrations from past moments of revelry.

"They're far larger, and the outpouring of emotion is much greater," says historian Erik Eggers. "There's never been anything like this before since World War II."

The surge of patriotism has been a boon for some businesses. Manfred Kronenberg, who owns the 150-year-old Dommer flag company, says sales are 10 times higher than during two previous peaks: the 2002 World Cup and Germany's jubilant 1989 reunification. "It seems everybody wants to have a flag," he marvels.

The connection between soccer and patriotism runs deep. Germany's surprise 1954 World Cup victory helped the nation's economy rise from the ashes of World War II and made a humiliated people feel they were "somebody again."

Millions took to the streets to celebrate. But the revelry was quickly dampened.

After Germany scored the final goal, a few stadiumgoers began singing the banned first verse of the German national anthem. This caused a stir in the foreign press. One Danish newspaper wrote that the only thing missing was a "Sieg Heil" salute.

Alarmed, politicians tried to rein in the public's glee. West German President Theodor Heuss urged the 80,000 fans who had gathered at Berlin's Olympic stadium after the game not to cheer too loud.

But now, no one is hushing German declarations of pride. And there are other signs, too, that this World Cup is a turning point in Germany's quest to come to terms with its Nazi past.

The German soccer federation has struggled for decades to keep its zealous support for Hitler's regime under wraps. In the run-up to this year's games it threw open its archives and commissioned a book on the subject.

What's more, Germans are beginning for the first time to speak about their own suffering during World War II, when Allied bombings laid waste to many cities. And they're starting to see the Third Reich-era in less black-and-white terms.

In his recent book, renowned historian Goetz Aly, for example, looks at why Hitler was so popular, despite being undeniably sinister. Mr. Aly argues that it was largely his generous social programs, remnants of which benefit Germans to this day.

And Hitler humor, unthinkable just a few years ago, is starting to crop up in Germany. Turkish-born comic Serdar Somuncu has been known to read from "Mein Kampf" as part of his routine. The first German-made film to portray Hitler in a comic light will hit theaters next January. It's name: "Mein Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler."

Another Hitler spoof, this one a theatrical production, is running at Hamburg's Schauspielhaus through the end of June.

The action centers around the Fuehrerbunker, where the defeated dictator is planning his suicide. Then, suddenly, he hits on a scheme to save his empire from ruin: plan a World Cup soccer tournament.

The kitschy slapstick pokes fun at German soccer zeal. But there's a dark undercurrent. In one scene, Hitler and his bunker mates, overjoyed at the prospect of a World Cup victory, burst into John Lennon's "Imagine" as they swoon over a soccer ball.

Just then, the Fuehrer's secretary unfurls a giant swastika flag. Echoing through the theater is the line: "Someday you'll join us and the world will be as one." Suddenly, the audience quits laughing.

"I want people to remember," says Director Erik Gedeon of the scene, "that when it comes to national pride, in a second the dream can become a nightmare."

Mr. Gedeon's play has caused something of a stir. A handful of theatergoers have stomped out. Others have booed throughout the production.

But it has also gotten standing ovations and mostly positive reviews. Die Welt called it "fantastic," while the German Press Agency said it was "brilliant." Just one more sign, says Eggers, that "for Germany, World War II is finally over."

He pauses, then adds, "Over, but not forgotten."

Alexander VI was notorious for his love of luxury and women -- he openly had four children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, by his previous mistress, Vanozza Catanei.

When Fabio Chigi, a scholarly and deeply spiritual man, became Pope Alexander VII in 1655 he had the fresco broken up as part of a campaign to obliterate the legacy of his infamous Borgia namesake.

According to Franco Ivan Nucciarelli, an art historian at Italy's Perugia University who has reconstructed the saga of the ''lost fresco'', the portraits of the Madonna and the infant Jesus ended up in the Chigi family collection, over time becoming misattributed to another artist, Perugino.

Professor Nucciarelli said, however, that he had identified them from a contemporary copy of the lost Pinturicchio masterpiece. The fragment depicting the infant was recently bought for an undisclosed sum from the Chigi family by Giuseppe Margaritelli, a Perugia industrialist.

He has donated it to the Guglielmo Giordano Foundation, a museum in the town, where it will go on show this year.

Fabio Isman, art correspondent for Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, said the Chigi family still had the corresponding fragment showing Farnese as the Madonna but apparently did not intend to part with it.

''As for the portrait of the kneeling Borgia pope, its fate is unknown,'' he said.

Claudio Strinati, superintendent of fine arts in Rome, said there was no doubt that the newly discovered work was by Pinturicchio.

Born Bernardino di Betti in Perugia, Pinturicchio assisted Perugino in his frescoes in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

The collection includes letters, notes and checks written by, among others, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Brigham Young and Gen. John Pershing.

Now, Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, which took over Riggs on May 13, 2005, is in the midst of a project to gather and inventory the artifacts, which include shelves of crumbling ledgers that go back a century and a half.

Click on the Source link above for a list of stories about Dan Rather's departure.

The report found that black children started out school trailing behind their white counterparts and essentially never caught up—even when their schools were as well equipped as those with predominantly white enrollments.

What mattered more in determining children’s academic success, concluded the authors, was their family backgrounds.

“This was the 1960s,” the policy expert Marc S. Tucker recalled. “The idea that who one’s parents were and what happened in the home is a far greater determinant of one’s future than what schools could do was a pretty grim commentary and one that was very hard for people to accept.”

Analysis continues after the mummies were run through a CT scanner and other tests, but the preliminary results are startling. The two baby crocodile shaped mummies were originally sold to worshippers at the temple at Hawara, to be buried in ritual pits as an offering to the god Sobek. There was clearly a history of problems with the animal sellers: a pharaonic decree a century earlier had ordered that each mummy should contain the body of one animal.
The museum's kitten mummy did indeed hold a very small cat, and there was a sacred ibis within the spectacularly elaborate wrappings of another. The crocodiles however were spectacularly lacking in crocodile: one held a minute vertebra, the other a handful of straw, rags and mud without a scrap of any animal content at all.

Following the visit of two Iranian archeologists to Germany and Austria, the condition for a joint cooperation between Iranian and German archeologists was prepared and a team of archeologists of Bochum Mining Museum of Germany is to come to Iran to carry out excavations in Chehr Abad historical salt mine, the burial ground of the discovered famous salt men in Zanjan province.

"After signing a memorandum of understanding between Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) and Germany's Bochum Mining Museum and defining the budget for this project by ICHTO, this project will officially start," said Roustayi, an archeologist from Iran's Archeology Research Center who went to Germany on behalf of Iran to discuss the criteria for a joint archeological cooperation Iran and Germany.

According to Roustayi, considering that the German team is consisted of a number of skilled archeologists whose area of specialty include those branches of archeology in which few experts are involved, this cooperation is very important for Iran and would result in some great achievements.

"We have time to address their concerns," Republican leaders said in a joint statement. "Therefore, the House Republican Leadership will offer members the time needed to evaluate the legislation."

It was unclear whether the legislation would come up this year. The temporary provisions don't expire until 2007, but leaders of both parties had hoped to pass the act and use it to further their prospects in the fall's midterm elections.

The statement said the GOP leaders are committed to renewing the law "as soon as possible."

The four-decade-old law enfranchised millions of black voters by ending poll taxes and literacy tests during the height of the civil rights struggle. A vote on renewing it for another 25 years had been scheduled for Wednesday, with both Republican and Democratic leaders behind it.

The abrupt change of plans in the House could affect the renewal in the Senate, where an identical bill was set for consideration next week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

"There's less pressure to do it if the House is not doing it," Specter said in a telephone interview.

The shift came after a private House GOP caucus meeting earlier Wednesday in which several Republicans also balked at extending provisions in the law that require ballots to be printed in more than one language in neighborhoods where there are large numbers of immigrants, said several participants.

"The speaker's had a standing rule that nothing would be voted on unless there's a majority of the majority," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., who led the objections. "It was pretty clear at the meeting that the majority of the majority wasn't there."

The legislation was approved by the Judiciary Committee on a 33-1 vote. But despite leadership support, controversy has shadowed the legislation 40 years after it first prohibited policies that blocked blacks from voting.

Several Republicans, led by Westmoreland, had worked to allow an amendment that would ease a requirement that nine states win permission from the Justice Department or a federal judge to change their voting rules.

The amendment's backers say the requirement unfairly singles out and holds accountable nine states that practiced racist voting policies decades ago, based on 1964 voter turnout data: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Westmoreland says the formula for deciding which states are subject to such "pre-clearance" should be updated every four years and be based on voter turnout in the most recent three elections.

"The pre-clearance portions of the Voting Rights Act should apply to all states, or no states," Westmoreland said. "Singling out certain states for special scrutiny no longer makes sense."

The amendment has powerful opponents. From Republican and Democratic leaders on down the House hierarchy, they argue that states with documented histories of discrimination may still practice it and have earned the extra scrutiny.

"This carefully crafted legislation should remain clean and unamended," Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who worked on the original bill, which he called "the keystone of our national civil rights statutes."

By his own estimation, Westmoreland says the amendment stands little chance of being adopted.

The House also could bring up an amendment that would require the Justice Department to compile an annual list of jurisdictions eligible for a "bailout" from the pre-clearance requirements.

That amendment, too, has little chance of surviving floor debate.

Other efforts to chip away at the act have faltered under pressure from powerful supporters.

One such measure, sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, sought to strip a provision that requires ballots to be printed in several languages and interpreters be provided in states and counties where large numbers of citizens speak limited English.

However, Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., called that logic an effort to mix the divisive debate over immigration reform with the Voting Rights Act renewal. Three-fourths of those whose primary language is not English are American-born, he said.

The Musee du Quai Branly - the biggest museum to be built in Paris since the Pompidou centre in 1977 - is Mr Chirac's attempt to cast himself as the defender of art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. A long-time fan of indigenous artefacts, he also wanted to leave Paris with an architectural imprint to rival Francois Mitterand's legacies, such as the glass pyramid at the Louvre. Asked this week whether the museum would one day become known as "Musee Chirac", the 73-year-old president said he would be honoured if it did.

Controversy has surrounded the 11-year project from the start. It was initially to be called a museum of "primitive" or "primary" arts but was instead named after its location as the term was considered demeaning.

The historian Gilles Manceron said this week that the museum, designed around a jungle theme, still risked perpetuating colonial stereotypes and that non-Euro pean art should be shown alongside European works and not ghettoised.

Jean Nouvel, the celebrated Paris architect who designed the interlinking buildings on the banks of the Seine, described his museum on stilts as "a snake or a lizard into which you walk and discover not so much a building as a territory - a zoo really".

Le Monde hailed the "spectacular" displays but some found the museum too dark, cluttered and lacking in explanation of objects. Others complained of headaches and eye-strain from the darkened rooms.