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: Editorial in the WaPo
October 13, 2007
HISTORIANS WON a small victory last week in their quest to lift the heavy cloak of privilege from papers generated by the president and his White House staff. A federal judge ruled that the National Archives should have the final say on when those papers are publicly released. But that action takes care of only part of the problem. Congress has before it a law that would make as many of those documents available as possible. The only obstacle is Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
Source: Hofstra University--Press Release
September 28, 2007
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Attorney Norman E. Kent '71, '75 has established an endowed scholarship named for his friend Allard K. Lowenstein, the late Long Island congressman and champion of civil rights in the 60s and 70s.
The scholarship will be awarded to a qualified upperclassman selected on the basis of financial need, academic achievement and an undergraduate record that demonstrates a history and commitment to advancing the cause of equality and civil rights for all
Source: Reuters
October 14, 2007
Greece on Sunday began moving the ancient sculptures from the temples of the Athens Acropolis to a new museum, designed specifically to prod the British Museum into returning its own prized collection of Parthenon marbles.
Dozens of bystanders, some in tears, watched as three cranes relayed a massive stone slab from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. It was carved with four youths leading bulls to sacrifice to the goddess Athena.
"I am trembling, it touches my soul,&quo
Source: NYT
October 14, 2007
WHAT if they held a debate and everybody came? So far this presidential primary season, we’ve been able to watch seven Democratic and seven Republican candidate debates. Not many people, even those who like me are paid to follow the campaigns, have watched all 14 of them. Democratic debates are reported to tend to attract mostly Democratic audiences, Republican debates mostly Republican audiences.
Voters who are in the middle, who do not yet feel committed to either party — and ther
Source: NYT
October 12, 2007
LAST month the City of New York gave Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn an alternate name: Abolitionist Place. It’s an acknowledgment that long before Brooklyn was veined with subway lines, it was a hub of the Underground Railroad: the network of sympathizers and safe houses throughout the North that helped as many as 100,000 slaves flee the South before the Civil War.With its extensive waterfront, its relatively large population of African-American freemen — slavery ended
Source: Vanity Fair
November 1, 2007
Promised real power as Bill Clinton's vice president, Al Gore found he had a rival for that role: the First Lady. And when Hillary decided to run for the Senate, a tense competition got ugly. In an excerpt from her new book about the Clinton White House years, [Sally Bedell Smith] reveals how conflicting agendas—the triangle of a scandal-ridden lame-duck president, the wife he'd betrayed, and his designated successor—sapped Gore's 2000 campaign as the bond between two couples dissolved into dis
Source: NYT
October 13, 2007
LEVITTOWN — Sixty years ago this month, the first families moved into this suburban outpost, and soon there were 17,447 houses that as the song “Little Boxes” noted derisively, were “all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all looked just the same.”
The Cape Cods that first became available in 1947 — with four rooms, one bathroom and among other modern amenities a Hotpoint electric range in every kitchen — were offered for $6,990, and 800-square-foot ranch homes went for $7,990.
Source: NYT
October 12, 2007
The Australian prime minister, John Howard, proposed a referendum on Thursday to change the Constitution to recognize the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia’s history.
Mr. Howard, who is expected to call parliamentary elections in the next few days, said he wanted what he described as a “New Reconciliation” with the country’s indigenous people.
“If re-elected, I will put to the Australian people within 18 months a referendum to formally recogni
Source: AP
October 11, 2007
In 1559, a hurricane sent up to seven Spanish sailing vessels to the bottom of Pensacola Bay, hampering Don Tristan de Luna's attempt to colonize this section of the Florida Panhandle. Now, almost 500 years later, a second of those ships has been found, helping archaeologists learn about the settlement, which ended in 1561.
Some 650 pieces of artifacts — mostly pieces of pottery and wood — were on display Thursday for about 100 people who gathered at the north end of Pensacola Bay B
Source: http://www.bib-arch.org
October 8, 2007
The JD1.25 million Lot’s Museum at the Dead Sea is expected to open to the public early next year, tourism authorities said on Sunday.
Tourism Ministry Assistant Secretary General Ihab Amarin said construction of the museum has been completed, with work under way to furbish the museum’s exhibits.
“The building is finally ready and we expect the opening at the end of this year or early next year, once the exhibits are ready,” said Amarin.
The museum, located
Source: Aspen Times
October 6, 2007
A controversial Holocaust denial film is raising questions about free speech at GrassRoots TV, the Aspen community-access station.
Steve Campbell, founder of Citizens for 9/11 Truth, asked the station to air “Judea Declares War on Germany: A Critical Look at World War II” on Monday, but GrassRoots TV board members stopped the screening.
The one-hour program features Dr. Frederick Töben, an Australian national and member of the Adelaide Institute, an organization that de
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 12, 2007
Spain is to ban all public references to the Franco regime under a controversial Bill that seeks to make amends to the victims of the Spanish Civil War and ensuing 36-year dictatorship.
All statues, street names and symbols associated with the dictator and his supporters will be removed as part of the Law of Historic Memory, which was presented to the Madrid parliament this week.
Even plaques and stained glass windows showing the Falange symbol of the yoke and arrows o
Source: Daily Mail
October 11, 2007
A chilling new book about Hitler's Lebensborn programme - the sinister project to create the perfect Aryan race to rule the world for 1,000 years - shows the Nazis kidnapped thousands of children from occupied countries to fill the demand for future manpower.
Lebensborn, or Fount of Life, was hitherto thought to be just a breeding programme where S.S. "studs" mated with suitable female specimens in Nazi nursing homes.
Nine months later the offspring were
Source: AP
October 12, 2007
The remains of nine U.S. airmen including two from Massachusetts, one from New Hampshire and one from Vermont, missing in action since a World War II mission over Germany, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial, the Pentagon said.
The B-24 crew took off from North Pickenham, England, on July 7, 1944, to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane was last seen by other crews in the target area. Captured records showed that it cra
Source: http://www.saipantribune.com
October 11, 2007
Recently discovered rare Kodachrome slides taken on a remote Pacific Island during World War II will lead Gregg Hagley of Grand Rapids and his two sons on a historic journey.
Staff Sergeant Raymond H. Hagley of the 73rd Bombardment Wing of the 20th Air Force took the slide photos while stationed at Isley Field on Saipan in 1944/1945. Before Hagley passed away in January 1991, he gave the slides to his son, Gregg Hagley. “I knew they were special, just how special I wasn't sure until
Source: The Courier Mail (Australia)
October 12, 2007
Historians are divided over whether Prime Minister John Howard's blueprint for how history should be taught adequately covers the nation's past.Bond University history lecturer Shirleene Robinson described the guide as narrow and selective, whitewashing away the worst aspects of Australia's history, especially its sometimes racist past.
"I think in many ways it's a very white perspective," Dr Robinson said.
She said the guide appeared to u
Source: BBC
October 11, 2007
Plans have been unveiled to refurbish a visitor centre on the site where rebel leader Owain Glyndwr is thought to have set up his parliament 600 years ago.
The group behind the £2.7m project in Machynlleth, Powys, intends to bid for heritage lottery funding.
Source: Fox News
October 12, 2007
Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president and current Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, said Friday that Hitler’s treatment of Jewish people in Europe was due in part to their being “a pain in the neck.”
Rafsanjani’s comments came during a sermon for "International Jerusalem Day" on Iranian TV.
Rafsanjani noted that Jews caused problems for European governments because they “had a lot of property” and “controlled an empire of propaganda.” He also said th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 5, 2007
The mysteries of the Order of the Knights Templar could soon be laid bare after the Vatican announced the release of a crucial document which has not been seen for almost 700 years.
A new book, Processus contra Templarios, will be published by the Vatican's Secret Archive on Oct 25, and promises to restore the reputation of the Templars, whose leaders were burned as heretics when the order was dissolved in 1314.
The Knights Templar were a powerful and secretive group o
Source: AP
October 12, 2007
The Vatican has published secret archive documents about the trial of the Knights Templar, including a long-lost parchment that shows that Pope Clement V initially absolved the medieval Christian order from accusations of heresy, officials said Friday.
The 300-page volume recently came out in a limited edition — 799 copies — each priced at $8,377, said Scrinium publishing house, which prints documents from the Vatican's secret archives.
The order of knights, which ultim
