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: ABC News
Dec 3, 2009
John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist who advocated armed violence, is drawing a diverse crowd this week to study how his fight against slavery continues to play in America.
A former Vietnam-era radical, a victim of human trafficking and an award-winning author are joining academics, activists and a descendant of the anti-slavery leader for a two-day symposium. The event commemorates the sesquicentennial of Brown's 1859 burial at his former Adirondack homestead just outside this
Source: NYT
Dec 3, 2009
TAISHAN, China — Hundreds, maybe thousands, of towers rise from the rice fields here in a tableau that is more Tuscan countryside than Chinese landscape.
It is a sight found nowhere else in China: rectangular towers, some made of concrete, some built of stone or other materials, jutting four or five stories high from the flatlands. They have balconies and turrets and Roman-style arches. There are metal shutters to keep out criminals and portholes where defenders can take aim at assa
Source: Reuters
Dec 3, 2009
Entering the Munich court this week to cover the trial of John Demjanjuk, 89, accused of helping to force 27,900 Jews into gas chambers at an extermination camp in 1943, was like stepping into a history book.
Inevitably, the spotlight was on Demjanjuk himself.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s most wanted Nazi war suspect lay under a white blanket on a mobile bed in the middle of the courtroom. Was this old, expressionless and clearly weak man really the “face of evil”?
Source: NYT
Dec 3, 2009
Until recently, Carl E. Clark, 93, was still driving his car around Menlo Park. Then came a fall, a new hip and recovery in a rehabilitation hospital. But it was another wound he wanted to talk about — one that happened 64 years ago.
“The Navy and the civilian media held back things that lots of us did,” Mr. Clark said. “For obvious reasons: the prejudice and bigotry that was going on at that time.”
He is part of “the greatest generation” whose valor remains largely inv
Source: Huffington Post
Dec 3, 2009
Sarah Palin declared on Thursday that the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate is "rightfully" an issue with the American public, and that it is "fair game" for politicians to question Obama's citizenship.
The comments came during an interview with conservative radio host Rusty Humphries, who asked Palin whether she planned to "make the birth certificate an issue" if she runs for president in 2012.
"I think the public righ
Source: Speigel
Dec 3, 2009
It was supposed to be the beginning of a new era for Germany's Social Democrats (SPD). Following state elections in Brandenburg, held concurrently with the Sept. 27 general elections in Germany, SPD Governor Matthias Platzeck entered into a governing coalition with the far-left Left Party. Such an alliance has long governed the city-state of Berlin. But following the SPD's election-day debacle -- a miserable result of just 23 percent of the vote -- the party saw fit to begin opening itself up to
Source: The National Security Archive
Dec 3, 2009
President George H.W. Bush approached the Malta summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 20 years ago this week determined to avoid arms control topics and simply promote a public image of "new pace and purpose" with him "leading as much as Gorbachev"; but realized from his face-to-face discussions that Gorbachev was offering an arms race in reverse, according to previously secret documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive (www. nsarchive.org).
Source: The National Security Archive
Dec 3, 2009
30 years after the release of Jacobo Timerman, the former newspaper editor and Argentina's most famous political prisoner during the military dictatorship, the National Security Archive today posted declassified documents that confirm that his case almost resulted in the fracture of the military regime. One September 1979 document states, "President Videla, the civilian Minister of Justice, and the entire Supreme Court threatened to resign" if the military high command refused to relea
Source: WSJ
Dec 3, 2009
VIENNA, Va. -- From a dim basement just down the street from a train station here, Mohsen Sazegara is working to overthrow the leadership of Iran.
He's done it before. Thirty years ago, as a hot-headed young revolutionary in a Paris suburb, he helped topple Iran's last monarch, the shah, putting today's Islamic regime in power.
"Iranians across the world have found each other again," says Mr. Sazegara, sipping homemade sour-cherry juice, an Iranian summertime
Source: AP
Dec 3, 2009
Italian officials unveiled new discoveries Thursday in an ancient Roman luxury complex filled with priceless mosaics, elegant porticos and thermal baths.
The 1,800 square-meter (2,000 square-yard) complex, dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries, has been excavated intermittently since 2004, when the ruins were accidentally discovered during the renovation of a Renaissance palazzo that stands above them.
In the latest excavation, which began in March, archaeologists uncove
Source: Pew Research Center Publications
Dec 3, 2009
The Obama administration has exerted a considerable amount of diplomatic energy on Turkey: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited there in March, the president himself followed in April and next week Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will call on the White House. Nonetheless, the administration continues to face serious challenges in this strategically important nation. While overall ratings for the U.S. have improved throughout much of the world, in Turkey they remain dismal -- on
Source: CNN
Dec 3, 2009
At 108 years old, Cpl. Frank Buckles said Thursday he hopes he lives to see the day when there's a memorial on the National Mall honoring all Americans who fought in World War I.
Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the war that ended in 1918, came to Capitol Hill in support of legislation to pay tribute to his comrades.
Lawmakers are considering whether to help fund a national rededication of an old city monument already on the Mall or to forgo such support in f
Source: Politics Daily
Dec 3, 2009
Just as President Obama has outlined his broad strategy for Afghanistan and is pushing ahead with other global initiatives, the percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. should mind its own business and let other countries get along on their own has reached an all-time high, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations conducted Oct. 28 - Nov. 8.
The Pew survey found 49 percent of Americans holding that view. The previous highs were 41 perce
Source: Fox News
Dec 3, 2009
LONDON — A toll bridge built in 1769 across the River Thames has sold for more than $1.66 million at auction.
The Swinford bridge brings in about 320,000 in toll payments from about 4 million vehicle crossings a year.
Due to a quirk in British law, toll revenue collected from the picturesque stone structure about 65 miles northwest of London can be collected tax-free.
Source: Yahoo News
Dec 3, 2009
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project.
The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus' quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if
Source: Pew Research Center
Dec 3, 2009
As President Obama seeks to expand America’s global role on issues ranging from Afghanistan to climate change, the U.S. public is turning decidedly inward. For the first time in more than 40 years of polling, a plurality (49%) says the United States should “mind its own business internationally” and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.
The quadrennial survey finds both the general public and members of the Council on Foreign Relations apprehensive and uncer
Source: American Revolution Center
Dec 3, 2009
Who cares about the American Revolution and why should something that happened more than 200 years ago matter today?
These are among the questions raised by a recent national survey, sponsored by The American Revolution Center, which revealed an alarming lack of knowledge of our nation's founding history, despite near universal agreement on the importance of this knowledge.
The study, conducted in the summer of 2009 among a demographically representative random sampl
Source: The Evening Telegraph
Dec 2, 2009
Dr Barrie James, who lives in Great Stukeley, Huntingdon, had his book Hitler's Gulf War: The Fight For Iraq published two weeks ago.
It is his first historical account and focuses on the World War Two battle for Baghdad in spring 1941.
During the 30-day conflict, 1,500 British soldiers managed to fight their way across 500 miles of desert to defeat 30,000 armed Iraqi forces aided by the Germans and Italians.
He said: "It was a fascinating period that
Source: CNSNews
Dec 2, 2009
If Santa is making his list and checking it twice, he may be surprised to find that for the first time since 2005, more American corporations are celebrating Christmas as a part of their seasonal marketing and ad campaigns.
The conservative religious freedom group Liberty Counsel released its annual “Naughty and Nice” list last week, putting businesses in the “naughty” or “nice” column based on whether Christmas is included in advertising and in-store displays.
“There’s
Source: NYT
Dec 2, 2009
MANILA — Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, filed last-minute papers on Tuesday declaring her candidacy for a seat in the Philippine Congress next year.
Mrs. Marcos, 80, served in Congress once before, in the 1990s, representing the province where she grew up, Leyte. This time, she aims to represent the province of Ilocos Norte, the Marcos family’s stronghold in the northern Philippines.
