POP QUIZ: Everything Old Is New Again

So I was reading the reports of Geraldine Ferraro's comments regarding Jesse Jackson back in 1988, which almost exactly mirror her remarks regarding Barack Obama.  If you haven't seen the quotes, have a look:

Here's her remarks from a fundraiser yesterday:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

And here are her remarks from 1988 about Jesse Jackson:

"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

This got me thinking... we are in the middle of a constant time loop, in which history continues to repeat itself over and over.  And so, with the help of LexisNexis, I have compiled the following six news stories.  Can you correctly guess the years of the news stories, letters to the editor, or editorials/columns listed below?  The answers are listed at the bottom -- no peeking!

Disclaimer:  In some cases, I have made minor edits removing dates or names that would directly identify the year of the article.

WHITE HOUSE ADMITS CENSORING TESTIMONY
New York Times

The White House confirmed today that it had censored Congressional testimony on the effects of global warming by a top Government scientist, but it insisted that the changes reflected policy decisions, not scientific conclusions.

In his original text, before it was changed, Dr. Hansen asserted that computer projections showed that global warming caused by pollution from human activity would cause upheavals in the earth's climate. He warned of substantial increases in temperature, drought in mid-latitudes, severe storms and other stresses.

Gore said Dr. Hansen's testimony was changed because the Bush Administration did not want to take action to cope with the expected global warming trend.

What year was this story from?




SEND THE MILITARY TO SECURE OUR BORDERS
The Washington Post

The flow of illegal aliens into this country is now estimated by reliable sources to be between 12 million and 15 million, and an estimated 2 million more illegals are expected to sneak through U.S. borders next year.

These illegal aliens are costing billions in tax dollars for Social Security, welfare, unemployment, public housing and legal defense costs. As many as 500,000 illegals are buying fake Social Security cards, drivers' licenses and birth certificates each year.

These are some of the reasons many experts support a plan to assign about 5,000 military troops to assist border patrol officers in apprehending the millions of illegal aliens.

In what year was this letter to the editor printed?




TOP COURT TO HEAR CLAIM OF WIRETAP IMMUNITY
Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition [...] claiming absolute immunity for national security decisions involving domestic wiretaps.

"When the President's designee performs national security functions, absolute immunity is required," Mr. Lee told the Supreme Court.

Attorneys said warrants were required for wiretaps of domestic groups.  If [the] claim is upheld, "high government officials could with absolute immunity engage in unlawful warrantless surveillances," they said.

What year?




PANEL URGES SWEEPING REFORM OF US HEALTHCARE
The Boston Globe

"Our nation cannot call itself healthy if as many as one out of four Americans may lack adequate access to health care," said the National Leadership Commission on Health Care.

"Half of those, as many as 37 million Americans, lack any health insurance at all, and over 11 million of the uninsured are our children, the future of our society," added the commission, which includes a broad, bipartisan array of business, union, political, health care, legal and academic leaders.

Universal access "does not imply that every American should enjoy completely free access to needed health services," the commission states. Instead, it said that people should bear some of the cost of their care, up to an annual maximum that varies with income.

What year did this report come out?




HOME PRICES AND SALES OFF SHARPLY
The New York Times

Over all, the number of homes sold dropped 1.5 percent in October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 657,000 units, the Government reported. It was the second consecutive monthly decline, and it left the rate of sales more than 14 percent below the level a year earlier.

Prices and sales suffered the most in the upper end of the housing market, the segment where growth had been concentrated during the last two years, according to academic experts and industry consultants.

In what year did this story hit the news racks?




FOES CLASH ON U.S. PLAN TO DRILL FOR OIL IN ARCTIC
The New York Times

Debate over the Interior Department's proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling opened here today amid seemingly irreconcilable differences between proponents and opponents of development.

At issue was an Interior Department recommendation that all the refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain be available for oil exploration and extraction.

In testimony at an Interior Department hearing, oil company executives said the refuge represented the best hope of a major new oilfield on land in the United States. They insisted that the country's national security and economic needs required that they be allowed to explore and develop the coastal range of the refuge.

This story came from which year?




























ANSWERS:

WHITE HOUSE ADMITS CENSORING TESTIMONY:  1989
SEND THE MILITARY TO SECURE OUR BORDERS:  1989
TOP COURT TO HEAR CLAIM OF WIRETAP IMMUNITY:  1984, fittingly
PANEL URGES SWEEPING REFORM OF US HEALTHCARE:  1989, again
HOME PRICES AND SALES OFF SHARPLY:  1987
FOES CLASH ON U.S. PLAN TO DRILL FOR OIL IN ARCTIC:  1987