This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: BBC
September 13, 2009
A Greater Manchester street has been honoured as the "bravest little street in England" in memory of 161 male residents who fought in World War I.
A blue plaque was awarded to remember the men who joined up from 60 houses in Chapel Street, Altrincham.
King George V first singled out the street's courageous residents after it provided so many volunteers. It was bulldozed in 1960 to build flats. The sign was erected by Trafford Counci
Source: BBC
September 10, 2009
A Georgian cave has yielded what scientists say are the earliest examples of humans making cords.
The microscopic fibres, discovered accidentally while scientists were searching for pollen samples, are around 30,000 years old.
A team reports in the journal Science that ancient humans probably used the plant fibres to carry tools, weave baskets or make garments. Some of the fibres are coloured and appear to have been dyed.
Source: BBC
September 12, 2009
As former comrades have passed away, history has closed in on Claude Choules, the 108-year-old who is now Britain's last witness to combat in World War I.
Claude resides on the other side of the world in a nursing home in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia.
And though his body is failing - he is blind and partially deaf - he still possesses a lively mind.
Source: Breitbart
September 12, 2009
Latvian enthusiasts on Saturday unveiled a replica of a 1910 Farman 4 aircraft that they built from original, century-old plans.
Guntars Senkans, who led a team of vintage plane fans, said they had spent 15 years scouring archives in Latvia and neighbouring Russia for plans of the plane, which was designed by French aviator and aircraft designer Henri Farman.
They then spent three years building the 560-kilo (1,234-pound) plane, which has an original 1912 US-made Curtis
Source: Google News
September 12, 2009
FORT ROSS, Calif. — Nearly two centuries ago, Russian colonists selected a patch of sloping grassland along California's rugged North Coast for a new settlement. It was from this spot about 80 miles north of San Francisco that they hoped to harvest Redwoods, grow crops and hunt seals for the lucrative fur trade.
Today, Russian Americans throughout Northern California honor their past by visiting Fort Ross Historic State Park. Hundreds drive up a winding coastal highway to picnic at
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 12, 2009
A letter written by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the height of the Blitz reveals how close she and her husband, George VI, came to being killed in a bombing raid.
Handwritten 69 years ago to the day by the then Queen Consort, it reveals how the Royal couple leapt for their lives after a bomb exploded in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Three servants were injured in the attack.
The 14-page letter, on notepaper headed with the royal crest, is featured in the of
Source: Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
September 13, 2009
Vanity Fair runs a fascinating profile of Henry Paulson, the man who relunctantly became the Treasury Secretary for an upopular, lame duck president during a time of historic crisis. "Paulson spent most of his time at Treasury slogging down the field, facing one crisis after another. History will decide whether Paulson's policy choices were wise or ill-advised. Economists and politicians are already
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 13, 2009
The row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber has reignited after he was given a standing ovation during a reception with 150 African politicians.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was treated as a hero by the delegation, in his first public appearance since his return to Libya three weeks ago.
After less than five minutes, the bomber, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer, began to cough and signalled he wanted to leave.
The African MPs said they
Source: AP
September 13, 2009
A Dallas newspaper reports that the FBI is investigating a "stolen" handwritten condolence note by Jacqueline Kennedy to Ethel Kennedy that was penned shortly after Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 assassination.
The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that investigators and Kennedy family members suspect the note was taken from Robert and Ethel Kennedy's Virginia home.
The note has changed hands several times and has sold for as much as $25,000.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 13, 2009
The Loch Ness monster will go on display at London’s Natural History Museum if it is caught under a deal negotiated with bookmakers William Hill.
The museum has secured the rights to showcase Nessie’s remains should it be captured, in exchange for verifying her existence on behalf of the bookmakers.
Under the deal, formalised in 1987 and revealed in archive documents released by the museum, William Hill pays the museum an annual fee on return for the guarantee its exp
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 13, 2009
Tens of thousands of conservative 'tea party' protesters have staged the biggest demonstration of Barack Obama's presidency, thronging Capitol Hill to denounce runaway government spending.
The protest on Saturday demonstrated the potency of grassroots opposition to Mr Obama despite a landmark speech to Congress last week that attempted to quell opposition to his overhaul of the health-care system.
Saturday's march marked the end of a summer in which angry scenes at &qu
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 13, 2009
The biggest manufacturer of Harris tweed has dropped the word "Scottish" from its marketing campaign in America amid fears of a consumer backlash over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Harris Tweed Hebrides said it had to “de-Scottishify” the product after receiving feedback that sales could suffer.
The company, whose chairman, Brian Wilson, a former government minister, believes it was a mistake to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, has removed ref
Source: Fox News
September 13, 2009
White House senior adviser David Axelrod says that the demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Saturday do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.
Axelrod said that President Obama has made clear he wants to "build on the system that we have," dismissing concerns that the president is proposing a large-scale government intervention and claiming broad support for the president's plan.
The rally, and others like it, have
Source: Foxnews
September 12, 2009
The terminally ill Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie jetliner bombing and recently released from prison has taken a sharp turn for the worse in the past day, his brother and doctors told Reuters.
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, "has deteriorated rapidly since yesterday. He is unable to speak to anyone," his brother Abdenasser Megrahi told Reuters Saturday at the Tripoli Medical Centre.
Abdel al-Megrahi is being treated in a speci
Source: CNN
September 13, 2009
A day after tens of thousands of conservatives gathered in Washington to protest the policies of the Obama administration, a top White House aide said that President Obama doesn’t think the protests and the growing conservative movement against Obama are motivated by racism.
“I don’t think the president believes that people are upset because of the color of his skin,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
Pointing to the upcom
Source: Ronald Brownstein (Atlantic blog)
September 11, 2009
Thursday's annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau's principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush.
It's not a record many Republicans are likely to point to with pride.
On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty i
Source: Slate
September 11, 2009
When no second terrorist attack occurred in 2001, experts adjusted their time horizons. "If we get through the summer without some sort of attack, we'll be pretty fortunate," said George Vinson, a security adviser to then-California Gov. Gray Davis, in June 2002. In February 2003, Tom Ridge, the nation's first secretary of homeland defense, publicly estimated an 80 percent likelihood that terrorists would attack the United States within the next few days. In August 2003, the World Mark
Source: Slate
September 12, 2009
In the United States, the sudden bankruptcy of America's fourth-largest investment bank was the cathartic culmination of a process that had been building since subprime lenders began to go bust in 2007. Before Lehman was allowed to fail, we had witnessed the shocking demise of well-known firms such as Bear Stearns and of much larger institutions Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (the two largest U.S. financial institutions as measured by the size of their balance sheets), and AIG. Throughout the summer of
Source: Fox News
September 11, 2009
NEW YORK —
There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults.
Prayers are more intense, visits with family longer. Mosques become a refuge.
Eight years after 9/11, many U.S. Muslims still struggle through the anniversary of the attacks. Yes, the sting has lessened. For the younger generation of Muslims, the tragedy can even seem like a distant memory. "Time marches on," said Souha Azmeh Al-Samkari, a 22-y
Source: NYT (Digest)
September 12, 2009
SEOUL — South Korea has long felt under-recognized for its many achievements; it
built an economic powerhouse from the ruins
of a vicious war in just decades and, after
years of authoritarian rule, has created one
of Asia’s most vibrant democracies.
Now, one South Korean woman, Lee Kinam, is determined to wring more recognition from the world with an unusual export: the Korean alphabet. Lee is using a fortune she made in real estate to try to bring the alphabet to places where n
