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: NYT
June 11, 2007
Many Mormons here are rooting for Mr. Romney, a fellow church member whose success in business, Adonis looks and wholesome family tableau seem to them to present the ideal face of Mormonism to the world. Among the Republican front-runners, Mr. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, recently was the leader in campaign fund-raising; his candidacy is, for many Mormons, a historic moment of arrival.
But even for the many Mormons who support Mr. Romney, the moment is fraught with anx
Source: HNN Staff
June 8, 2007
The chief counsel to the Navy's Court of Inquiry into Israel's attack on the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty in 1967 repeats in today's edition of the San Diego Union a charge he first made in 2004 that Lyndon Johnson ordered a cover-up of the truth.
The Liberty was attacked on June 8, 1967 during the Six-Day War. 34 died and 171 were injured. Israel claimed it was an accident. But in an op ed today Ward Boston Jr. says "I know from personal conversations with the l
Source: Sofia News Agency
June 11, 2007
Archaeologists have discovered the most ancient ruler's symbol on Bulgarian territory, what was once the kingdom of the Thracian tribes. The Bulgarian archaeologists Daniela Agre and Deyan Dichev, who are leading the Strandzha expedition, made the announcement for the exceptional finding on the Bulgarian National Radio on Monday.
The artifact was unearthed near the village of Golyam Dervent. Dichev and Agre were researching a dolmen (dolmens were the first Thracian tombs) when they
Source: Reuters
June 11, 2007
Tourists puzzled by the jumble of buildings in classical and modern Rome can now find their bearings by visiting a virtual model of the imperial capital in what is being billed as the world's biggest computer simulation of an ancient city.
"Rome Reborn" was unveiled on Monday in a first release showing the city at its peak in 320 AD, under the Emperor Constantine when it had grown to a million inhabitants.
Brainchild of the University of Virginia's Bernard Fri
Source: The Telegraph
June 11, 2007
He was born a prince with a bloodline stretching back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the son of an Ethiopian emperor and heir to the treasures of one of Africa's richest royal dynasties.
But, taken as a boy to Victorian England by British soldiers who ransacked his father's mountain-top palace, Prince Alemayehu died alone aged 18 in Leeds, 128 years ago.
Now the Ethiopians want his body returned to mark their millennium which, according to the Ethiopian calenda
Source: Racine Journal Times
June 11, 2007
In 1943, 17-year-old Eberhard Fuhr was taken out of his high school classroom in Cincinnati, arrested by FBI agents, and sent off to an internment camp for "enemy aliens" in Texas, where he spent the next 4 1/2 years with his family.
The stories of the Germans have gotten little attention so far, but the Senate took a step toward changing that last week, voting to look into the treatment of Germans and other Europeans in the U.S. during World War II.Th
Source: ESPN
June 10, 2007
Millions of people have marveled at the view of Bridalveil Fall since John Muir first spotted it from a mile away when he entered Yosemite Valley in the spring of 1868. Not nearly as many see the "dainty little fall'' quite the way Muir did.
Now, a Santa Cruz, Calif., couple are hoping to restore some popularity to one of the classic early views of Yosemite, reopening a 19th-century door on what Muir came to regard as a holy vista — the "sanctum sanctorum of the Sierra.''
Source: AP
June 10, 2007
After more than 200 years in the family, the gold-encrusted sword Napoleon carried into battle in Italy will be auctioned off Sunday, across the street from one of his imperial castles.
The intricately decorated blade is 32 inches long and curves gently -- an inspiration Napoleon drew from his Egyptian campaign, auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said.
"He noticed that the Arab swords, which were curved, were very effective in cutting off French heads" and ordered
Source: AP
June 10, 2007
Born Mildred Jeter, she's known mostly by the name she took when she--a black woman living in segregated Virginia--dared break the rules by marrying a white man named Richard Loving.
The union landed the Lovings in jail, and then before the U.S. Supreme Court, and finally in the history books; 40 years ago Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of the couple, overturning laws prohibiting interracial unions and changing the face of America.
Mildred Loving is a matriarch to
Source: The Telegraph
June 10, 2007
Lady Thatcher has spoken publicly for the first time of her regret at the "impossible" situation she faced while trying to negotiate the handover of Hong Kong to China.
In her first interview for almost five years, the former prime minister has revealed her disappointment at failing to persuade Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese premier, to let Britain extend its lease on the colony.
In a rare dropping of her guard, she admits to feeling "sad" when,
Source: The Telegraph
June 10, 2007
The Titanic faced disaster from the moment it set sail, experts now believe.
Research suggests that, even if the ocean liner had not struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage, structural weaknesses made it vulnerable to any stormy sea.
The flaws, uncovered by researchers who found, filmed and analysed previously undiscovered portions of the Titanic's keel, also reduced the length of time the vessel remained afloat after hitting the iceberg on April 14, 1912 - scupperi
Source: Washington Post
June 10, 2007
YAEDA VALLEY, Tanzania -- One of the last remaining tribes of hunter-gatherers on the planet is on the verge of vanishing into the modern world.
The transition has been long underway, but members of the dwindling Hadzabe tribe, who now number fewer than 1,500, say it is being unduly hastened by a United Arab Emirates royal family, which plans to use the tribal hunting land as a personal safari playground.
The deal between the Tanzanian government and Tanzania UAE Safari
Source: The Press Telegram
June 10, 2007
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Friedrich Adolph, the last surviving sailor in Uruguay from the famed German battleship Admiral Graf Spee that sank off this country's coast at the outset of World War II, has died, his family said. He was 89.
Adolph died Friday and had been "very sick," according to his grandson, Tobias Friedrich AdolphThe Graf Spee was considered one of the most sophisticated battleships of its time.
The battleship prowled the South Atlantic, sinking as
Source: NYT
June 9, 2007
In the months before the 1967 Middle East war, Israel was in a spiral of self-doubt, the 19-year experiment of an independent Jewish state looking shaky.
There were existential worries about destruction by Arab armies, fierce denunciations of the political leadership and deep anxiety about a sinking economy.
Forty years later, Israel is rich and its army one of the best in the world, yet the public mood is oddly similar. There is a quiet panic about a potentially nucle
Source: NYT
June 7, 2007
When it comes to high-profile presidential pardons, the big one, of course, was President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon of Richard M. Nixon.
Ford issued the pardon on Sept. 8, 1974, pre-empting the possibility of a trial for Nixon, who had resigned on Aug. 9 because of the Watergate scandal without being charged with any crimes.
Explaining his decision, Ford described the Nixon family’s situation as “an American tragedy in which we all have played a part.”
“It co
Source: NYT Editorial
June 7, 2007
Appearing last month before the state’s highest court, a lawyer representing eight same-sex couples led a spirited attack on Connecticut’s refusal to grant gay couples the freedom to marry. He also challenged the notion that civil union laws — like those enacted in Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, and most recently New Hampshire — are a constitutionally adequate alternative.
The plaintiffs’ argument was laced with references to Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
June 8, 2007
On June 7, the House Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education cleared its fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget for the programs under its jurisdiction.
The subcommittee approved $120 million for the Teaching American History grants program at the U.S. Department of Education. While this reflects level funding from FY 2007, the subcommittee rejected the Bush administration’s request that the program be cut by nearly 60 percent, to a level of $50 million.
Source: Romensko
June 8, 2007
Charlie Savage, Washington correspondent for The Boston Globe has won the twentieth annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. The $5,000 award recognizes journalists whose high standards for accuracy and substance help foster a better public understanding of the Presidency. This year, the award will be presented by Jack Ford, son of President Ford and chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, at a National Press Club luncheon on June 11th.
In selecting Cha
Source: http://www.interfax
June 8, 2007
German psychologist Gunter Kruse, who in recent years has been engaged in drawing up Lenin's family tree, maintains that one of the world proletariat leader's great-grandmothers was burnt at the stake as a witch.
"I went as far back as the middle ages and discovered one of Lenin's ancestor who lived in the 13th century", Kruse reported after spending several years in archives, drawing up the Western European branch of Lenin's family tree.
According to Kruse, t
Source: http://www.djournal.com/
June 8, 2007
A strip of the past runs not far from the southern corporate limits of this northern Lee County city.
The 300 feet or so left of the first concrete road built in Mississippi, stands as a reminder of the work that has pushed Lee County forward in so many ways.
Bobby Smith, District 2 supervisor, knew that when he had to pave most of what is now known as County Road 681. But he left the strip for posterity, notified the state Department of Archives and History and wants
