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: Orlando Sentinel
December 13, 2007
Orlando | For 45 years, history buff Frank Laumer has obsessively pieced together minute details of an ambush near here that set off the Second Seminole War in 1835.
The author of two respected books on the attack known as Dade's Battle even dug up the bones of one participant and discovered the hat size of another.
Still, there is one major piece of the battle sought by Laumer. But an Orlando bank -- on behalf of a client fed up with artifact seekers -- has threatened
Source: http://tvnz.co.nz
December 14, 2007
A new development on the outskirts of Canterbury has unearthed hundreds of Maori artefacts dating back 500-600 years.
The Pegasus Town development 25 kilometres from Christchurch is now being recognised as a significant cultural and historical site in New Zealand.
Initially the site where the discovery was made was to be a golf course, but those plans have changed now to preserve the history that has been found there.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 17, 2007
Britain is losing its identity because of over-zealous political correctness and a failure to deal with immigration, the Chief Rabbi has warned.
Sir Jonathan Sacks said that the drive for a multi cultural society had left Britain increasingly intolerant and that too many people were embarrassed about their history.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he stressed that the historic Union with Scotland and the concept of Britain must be preserved.
Echo
Source: BBC
December 15, 2007
Through the steamed-up windows of a black cab, beaded with heavy raindrops, a white-haired old lady peers out on to London.
Impatiently, she wipes the glass with her sleeve and shakes her head, perplexed.
"I don't recognise anything," she mutters and sits back on her seat, indignant at having been deceived by the slipperiness of memory.
Tereska Torres is a French writer who worked with General de Gaulle's Free French forces in London during World
Source: WaPo
December 15, 2007
More than 200 years after they were written, huge portions of the papers of America's founding fathers are still decades away from being published, prompting a distinguished group of scholars and federal officials to pressure Congress to speed the process along.
Teams of experts have been laboring since Harry Truman was president in the late 1940s to compile and annotate the letters, correspondence and documents of George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and
Source: NYT Editorial
December 16, 2007
Fort Griswold in Groton, site of one of the saddest battles of the Revolutionary War and the only major battle in Connecticut, will soon get some long-overdue financing. Last week, Gov. M. Jodi Rell directed the State Bond Commission to release $500,000 for much-needed repairs, including a repointing of the fort’s obelisk, which rises 135 feet to honor the 88 men who died at the Battle of Groton Heights a few weeks before the war ended.
The obelisk, which resembles the Washington Mo
Source: NYT
December 16, 2007
HERE’S another way Republican voters tend to be different from Democratic voters: They like — no, love — their presidential candidates. Not always, of course. But from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Dwight Eisenhower, Republicans voters have displayed a zeal for their candidates that Democrats could only envy.
Which is what makes this Republican presidential contest so striking. It is hard to think of another campaign when Republicans have seemed less excited about their choices
Source: BBC
December 14, 2007
The Assyrian Hall at the Iraqi National Museum is breathtaking.
Stone panels from the royal palace at Khorsabad run along the walls.
The carvings on the friezes depict daily life in the Assyrian royal court, which at its height about 3,000 years ago controlled a region stretching across much of the modern Middle East.
In one panel a distinctly regal king looks at his subjects as a courtier fans him. Another panel shows priests carrying out religious rituals
Source: WaPo
December 13, 2007
The discovery of two photographs believed to be of President Abraham Lincoln in profile was presented last month at a very appropriate event, the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, Pa., where scholars and students of the 16th president gather each November to discuss new works and discoveries about the man. Although not everyone was convinced, many were willing to say the two successive images most likely included the president as he was arriving at the stage to deliver the Gettysburg Address on Nov.
Source: NYT
December 17, 2007
They call themselves America’s forgotten soldiers.
Four decades after the Central Intelligence Agency hired thousands of jungle warriors to fight Communists on the western fringes of the Vietnam War, men who say they are veterans of that covert operation are isolated, hungry and periodically hunted by a Laotian Communist government still mistrustful of the men who sided with America.
“If I surrender, I will be punished,” said Xang Yang, a wiry 58-year-old still capable
Source: National Coalition for History blog
December 14, 2007
The National Archives and Records Administration announced this week that the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system has passed a significant milestone, with the successful completion of government testing of the first delivery of software from the developer, Lockheed Martin Corporation. When completed, the ERA will provide the means for preserving virtually any kind of electronic record, free from dependence on any specific hardware or software.
Source: WaPo
September 16, 2007
Almost 40 years ago, a 21-year-old Mitt Romney watched as his father's presidential campaign stumbled to a halt. George Romney's 1968 bid for the White House failed for several reasons -- his notorious remark that U.S. generals had brainwashed him into supporting the Vietnam War, the surprise entry into the race of fellow liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller, Richard M. Nixon's establishment appeal. But his Mormonism wasn't among them."I don't recall ever having been asked about his beliefs or about the Mormon church," says Charles Harmon, the elder Romney's press secretary at the time. Walter DeVries, Romney's chief strategist during the race, never considered his boss's religion a political liability. "I just don't remember it coming up," he notes.George Romney's candidacy did spark some news stories about the refusal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to allow blacks to join the priesthood, a policy that was reversed in 1978. But his strong civil rights record as governor of Michigan inoculated him against charges of racism, and reporters otherwise paid virtually no attention to his religion.
Source: New Zealand Herald
December 14, 2007
The Ingilby family's greatest claim to fame is to have held on to Ripley Castle, in Yorkshire, for 698 years - 26 generations - in spite of having been on the wrong side of just about every conflict in English history.
"We were foolish enough to be Catholics under Elizabeth I." says the present baronet, Sir Thomas Ingilby, with a smile that suggests he's actually rather proud of his pig-headed ancestors.
"We were strong supporters of the king in the Civil
Source: China View
December 13, 2007
China Thursday reiterated its principle of "taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" as the country mourned the victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese 70 years ago.
"We commemorate the day, to ponder upon the past, which can provide guidance in days to come, to take history as a mirror and look forward to the future, and to cherish peace," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang in response to a question at a regular pre
Source: AP
December 13, 2007
The Chicago History Museum won a collection of rare documents, letters and memos detailing the Black Sox scandal at an auction that ended Thursday.
The museum offered about $100,000 for the collection, topping 35 other bids, said suburban Chicago auctioneer Mastro Auctions.
Source: National Security Archive
December 14, 2007
The National Security Archive yesterday rebutted the government's argument for dismissal of the Archive's lawsuit in federal district court seeking to recover 5 million or more Executive Office of the President e-mails that are missing from the period 2003 to 2005.
"It is remarkable that the government wants to stop the public from trying to protect records that belong to the people of the United States, particularly records that tell the story of this country’s policies,"
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 14, 2007
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French far-Right leader, has gone on trial for allegedly describing the Nazi occupation of France as "not especially inhumane" - the latest act in a humiliating coda to his controversial career.
The leader of the Front National party is due to face charges of conspiring to justify war crimes and to deny Nazi crimes against humanity, both violations of France's Holocaust denial legislation. He faces a maximum one-year prison term, a £32,000 fine and a
Source: BBC
December 14, 2007
Five war medals belonging to a Scottish sailor have sold for a record price at auction.
George MacKenzie Samson from Carnoustie in Angus was awarded the decorations, including a Victoria Cross, for his bravery during World War One.
In 1915, during the Gallipoli landings, he helped rescue wounded men despite coming under heavy fire.
The medals were expected to fetch £180,000 at most but were bought by a private collector for £247,000.
Source: BBC
December 13, 2007
A County Antrim pigeon who received a medal for his war-time bravery is being remembered at a special ceremony in England.
Paddy the pigeon was bred in Moyleen, Carnlough.
He was decorated for being the first bird to fly back with news of the D-Day landings in Normandy in World War II.
Paddy is one of 62 animals who received the PSDA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, for bravery in the war.
Source: Times (London)
December 13, 2007
The Times caused a sensation almost 80 years ago when it revealed the discovery of an extraordinary street grid of a Roman town in Norfolk. It published dramatic aerial photographs that were taken from an RAF aircraft and which showed the pattern left in parched barley fields during the exceptionally dry summer of 1928.
Today The Times can reveal that the site of Venta Icenorum, which dates primarily from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD – and which may have been home to Boadicea, the a
