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
February 11, 2011
HONOLULU — In the annals of the sea, there were few sailors whose luck was worse than George Pollard Jr.’s.
Pollard, you see, was the captain of the Essex, the doomed Nantucket whaler whose demise, in 1820, came in a most unbelievable fashion: it was attacked and sunk by an angry sperm whale, an event that inspired Herman Melville to write “Moby-Dick.”
Unlike the tale of Ahab and Ishmael, however, Pollard’s story didn’t end there: After the Essex sank, Pollard and his c
Source: NYT
February 10, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday recognized 28 men who died when their cold war radar station collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean 50 years ago.
A storm snapped the legs of the platform holding the radar station, known as Texas Tower No. 4, which had already been pummeled by bad weather including a hurricane. Fourteen airmen and 14 civilian contractors died when the tower crashed into frigid waters 85 miles southeast of New York City; only two of the bodies were found.
Source: CNN
February 10, 2011
During Donald Rumsfeld's first public appearance since the release of his new book, he praised many former elected officials and a surprising number of them were Democrats.
A man who has been a Republican during his entire political career told a crowd of some 700 people at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center that the first politician to influence him was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
A similar inspiration came just before his graduation from Princeton University,
Source: CBC News
January 28, 2011
Nunavut archaeological sites threatened by climate change may be saved thanks to new high-tech equipment, says the territory's director of culture and heritage.
Doug Stenton said new 3D technology and a ground-penetrating radar system can be used to quickly map the surface and sub-surface, and could be used to deal with sites affected by coastal erosion and melting permafrost.
The University of Manitoba has received funding to buy the technology and plans to use it in t
Source: Southern Maryland Online
February 3, 2011
ANNAPOLIS (February 3, 2011) — An effort to replace the statue of a Revolutionary War-era Maryland politician with a Civil War-era former slave is sparking debate about whose contributions to history are more important.
The women's caucus and the Legislative Black Caucus are both supporting legislation to have Harriet Tubman replace a statue of John Hanson, a Charles County planter and the first president of the Continental Congress, but they're running into opposition from Sen. Pre
Source: The Root
February 9, 2011
Sept. 3, 1944: It's a damp evening in the Alabama black belt, nearly midnight, but services at Rock Hill Holiness Church in the small town of Abbeville have just let out. Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old sharecropper, sets out along the town's fertile peanut plantations, accompanied for the walk home by two other worshippers from the African-American congregation. Moments later, a green Chevrolet rolls by -- and their routine journey takes a horrifying turn.
Wielding knives and guns, seve
Source: CounterContempt
February 9, 2011
...From at least 1984 through 1992, [Noam] Chomsky corresponded with a man who, during those time periods, was one of the leading authors and editors in the Holocaust denial movement. And it was a very friendly correspondence, complete with praise for the denier’s work, and an offer of assistance on Chomsky’s part.
The denier in question is L.A. “Lou” Rollins. At the time of the first Chomsky correspondence, Rollins was a writer and contributing editor at the Institute for Historica
Source: Pew Research Center
February 4, 2011
Americans like the idea of their government promoting democracy in other nations. But democracy promotion has historically lagged far behind other objectives among the public's long-term foreign policy goals.
In the most recent "America's Place in the World" survey, conducted in November 2009, just 21% said promoting democracy abroad should be a top long-range priority for U.S. foreign policy. Democracy promotion ranked last on a list of 11 long-term foreign policy objecti
Source: Huffington Post
February 10, 2011
AUSTIN — Declaring that there are "no sacred cows" in state government, Gov. Rick Perry outlined proposals to suspend two state agencies and consolidate others while renewing his call for lawmakers to balance the state budget without new or increased taxes as they confront a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall....
Perry called for lawmakers to suspend "non-critical" entities like the State Historical Commission or the Commission on the Arts until the economy im
Source: WaPo
February 9, 2011
The delegates used separate hotel entrances: Pennsylvania Avenue for Northerners, F Street for Southerners.
They shouted, argued and one day almost came to blows before their chairman, a former U.S. president, yelled, "Order!"
Then, the day before Valentine's Day 1861, one of the aged attendees passed away in his hotel room, begging colleagues from his deathbed to save the Union so he could die content.
They failed.
Indeed, there was
Source: AP
February 10, 2011
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A fight is brewing in Mississippi over a proposal to issue specialty license plates honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which it calls the "War Between the States." The group proposes a different design each year between now and 2015
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
February 10, 2011
It isn’t often that a map visually displays a moral issue facing a divided nation and then affects a President’s response. Yet nearly 150 years ago, the U.S. Coast Survey — NOAA’s predecessor organization — produced such a map that, according to historians, President Abraham Lincoln used to coordinate military operations with his emancipation policies.Created in September 1861, the map entitled “Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the s
Source: AFP
February 9, 2011
ROME (AFP) – Archaeologists have unearthed a set of six marble sculptures in Rome that likely belonged to a high-ranking official of the Roman Empire, Italy's culture ministry said Wednesday.
Led by Roberto Egidi, the group of archaeologists dug up five marble heads representing members of the Severan imperial dynasty as well as a statue of the Greek god Zeus while excavating a public site.
The figures were buried in an ancient fountain of a lavish Roman villa along the
Source: The Independent (UK)
February 8, 2011
For 200 years, the silver coins settled silently into the Atlantic seabed, 3,000 feet beneath the waves. They gathered in clumps like rocks across a vast swath of ocean floor near southern Portugal, crusting over with sediment and weighing a total of 17 tonnes.
The coins were certainly of no use to the 250 sailors who carried them from Peru on what was probably the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which sank in 1804, torn apart by British cannon fire. But now, transpo
Source: CNN
February 5, 2011
Prehistoric paintings of antelope, snakes and giraffes that have survived for around 5,000 years are now under threat from looting and a lack of protection.
The rock paintings, which include renderings of dogs and sheep as well as human figures, were discovered at Dhambalin, in a unique sandstone shelter close to the Red Sea in Somaliland, a breakaway state from war-torn Somalia.
They were found by Dr. Sada Mire in 2007, in what she says was first ever survey initiated
Source: BBC
February 10, 2011
A memorial statue of Charles Dickens could be erected in Portsmouth despite the Victorian author requesting that none should be built.
Plans are in place as part of the bicentenary of the Oliver Twist creator's birth in April 2012.
His great-great grandson Gerald said the Dickens' family backed the plans.
The author was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812 where he spent the first three years of his life.
His birthplace has been turned into a
Source: BBC
February 10, 2011
A 15th century landmark in the Borders could be given a roof made from local turf in a bid to keep it watertight.
Smailholm Tower, between St Boswells and Kelso, has suffered damage to its upper floor with rain leaking through its stone flag roof.
However, trials over the past two years with turf and clay soft-capping have helped to address the problem.
Historic Scotland now hopes to make the arrangement permanent and is seeking permission to proceed with t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 10, 2011
The chances of finding accommodation in Rome for the beatification of the late John Paul II are dwindling fast, with as many as two and a half million pilgrims expected to throng the city for the ceremony.
Hotels in the capital have been criticised for taking advantage of the demand, with room prices tripling in some cases.
Modest two-star hotels are asking for 700 euros a night while some four-stars are charging up to 1,760 euros for a suite.
Hotels and
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 9, 2011
The three surviving children of Ronald Reagan have rubbished efforts by Republican presidential hopefuls to claim his mantle as a conservative reformer, branding Sarah Palin "a soap opera".
Celebrations to mark the centenary of the late president's birth have coincided with the need of what critics call a mediocre group of candidates to burnish their reputations to send Reagan-fever jumping to unprecedented levels.
Speaking at a dinner to honour the 40th pre
Source: Newsweek
February 7, 2011
TunisiaTyrant:Zine al-Abidine Ben AliYears in Power:
1987–2011Method of Toppling:
Twitter-fueled youth revoltThe Aftermath:
Whoever thought Washington’s man in Tunis would fall and take the Arab world with him? The former intel chief was a CIA favorite, but his family’s extravagance led to his downfall. The future is far from clear.
