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: AP
Sep 29, 2009
Military officials are investigating a historian's report that the wreckage of an Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago has been found off the Southern California coast.
A volunteer group headed by amateur historian Pat Macha claims it found debris of the Lockheed-Martin T-33A that went missing on Oct. 15, 1955.
The Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Command says it appears likely Macha is correct but further investigation will be done. Perry, a spokesman for the
Source: History Today
Sep 29, 2009
The English naval commander Sir John Narbrough’s diary was discovered alongside a series of illustrated maps and drawings earlier this year with the family papers of the Earls of Romney at the Centre for Kentish Studies. The hand-written journal, which had been lost for the past 300 years, is now the subject of a desperate battle between a private collector and the British Library in their respective attempts to it for their own collections.
The document is currently owned by a fore
Source: NYT
Sep 29, 2009
WASHINGTON — To many Americans, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s February 2003 speech to the United Nations on Iraq’s unconventional weapons was powerfully persuasive. It was a dazzling performance, featuring satellite images and intercepts of Iraqi communications, delivered by one of the most trusted figures in public life.
Then a long and costly war began, and the country discovered that the assertions that Iraq possessed illicit weapons had been completely unfounded.
Source: NYT
Sep 29, 2009
HONG KONG — To prepare for the National Day holiday, retailers here have been stocking up on merchandise like designer bags, gold jewelry — and banned books.
Big downtown bookstores and airport kiosks alike carry paperbacks detailing the latest gossip about Communist Party cadres. More serious fare can be found at the city’s tiny “upstairs” political bookstores tucked above ground-floor storefronts. Inside are stacks of books on the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the T
Source: Secrecy News
Sep 29, 2009
DRAFT ORDER WOULD SET NEW LIMITS ON CLASSIFICATION
"No information may remain classified indefinitely," according to a draft of an Obama Administration executive order on national security classification policy.
As a statement of principle, this may seem tame and self-evident. But until now, no Administration has been willing to make such a categorical statement about the temporal limits of national security secrecy, and it may have significant policy consequ
Source: CNSNews.com
Sep 29, 2009
High-ranking government officials are usually protected from claims that they violated a person's civil rights. But in lawsuits stemming from law enforcement and intelligence efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks, three federal courts have left open the possibility that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and a lieutenant may be held personally liable.
In two cases, judges appointed by Republican presidents have refused at an early stage to dismiss lawsuits that were filed against As
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 29, 2009
Remains of the fabled dining hall have been discovered on the city's Palatine Hill, where emperors traditionally built their most lavish palaces.
The hall is said to have had a revolving wooden floor which allowed guests to survey a ceiling painted with stars and equipped with panels from which flower petals and perfume would shower onto the tables below.
The remains of the room were found by archeologists excavating the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, which was built for
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 29, 2009
Officials in Moscow say they have no record of a US researcher who claims to have examined a skull fragment said to belong to the late Nazi dictator.
Russia responded after a History Channel documentary claimed to have subjected the bone, which is kept in Moscow, to DNA testing and discovered it belonged to a woman and not Hitler.
The program suggested its findings bolstered the theory that Hitler did not commit suicide in 1945 as is widely thought.
But Vla
Source: BBC
Sep 29, 2009
The extension - assigned to the former Republic of Yugoslavia - has been replaced by .rs (for Serbia) and .me (for Montenegro).
Icann - which oversees the assigning of top-level domain names - allowed extra time for sites to make the transition before removing the .yu extension.
It is thought up to 4,000 websites have still not migrated to a new domain.
However, the Serbian National Register of Internet Domain Names has requested a postponement of several m
Source: BBC
Sep 29, 2009
Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, the top secret code-breaking hub of World War II, has been awarded nearly £500,000 of lottery funds.
The development money from the Heritage Lottery Fund will help the historic site become a world heritage and educational centre.
It is the first step towards a target of £10m to completely revamp the site.
The home of the code-breakers has been open to the public since 1994 but is in an advanced state of dilapidati
Source: Time
Sep 29, 2009
Beyond the lavish palaces of the last Shah in north Tehran, beyond the sweeping Enqelab (or Revolution) Street, which cuts through the city center, and even beyond the southern outskirts of the city's rambling tenements, looms the Islamic Republic's most notable landmark: the $2 billion tomb of its founder, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. Though situated on a desolate piece of desert convenient only if you're headed to the international airport, the enormous scaffolding-enclosed shrine, still under
Source: Google News
Sep 29, 2009
LOS ANGELES — Military officials are investigating a historian's report that the wreckage of an Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago has been found off the Southern California coast.
A volunteer group headed by amateur historian Pat Macha claims it found debris of the Lockheed-Martin T-33A that went missing on Oct. 15, 1955.
Source: Salon
Sep 29, 2009
A top official at Arlington National Cemetery steered millions of dollars to a handful of contractors operating a series of different companies over the past several years. When the contractors would leave one company and start another, the official would hire them again, yet the work they were hired to do has never been completed. The firms have ostensibly worked since 2003 to computerize burial records at the cemetery, but to date, despite receiving as much as $5.6 million, they have produced
Source: BBC
Sep 29, 2009
A former Prisoner of War camp in County Durham is being sold on eBay.
Harperley camp, near Crook, was turned into a tourist attraction in 2004, but the owners can no longer afford to complete its restoration.
The camp housed German and Italian prisoners in World War II and won ancient monument status after being bought by its present owners in 2001.
James and Lisa McLeod had hoped to turn it into a national visitor centre. It has gone on sale for £900,000
Source: BBC
Sep 29, 2009
As China prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many people in Taiwan will not be celebrating what for them is the loss of a civil war.
They will instead see the event as a reminder of a major turning point in history that dramatically impacted their lives.
About two million refugees from China, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers, fled to the island - changing its political, economic and social structure, and l
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 29, 2009
The mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex may have succumbed to a fatal sore throat, scientists believe.
Researchers have found that the undisputed king of the dinosaurs may have been ferocious killer, but it was susceptible to a bacterial infection that stopped it eating.
They believe the illness, which is similar to one that continues to affect eagles and hawks today, was so severe it would have led to a painful death from starvation.
The findings emerged after sci
Source: Fox News
Sep 29, 2009
Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for Bush, writes in his book, "Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor," that administration officials politicized the award and decided not to give it to the Harry Potter author because of her repeated references to witchcraft -- despite the Bushes' vocal praise for her books.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil award, is awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the security or na
Source: BBC
Sep 29, 2009
Harperley camp, near Crook, was turned into a tourist attraction in 2004, but the owners can no longer afford to complete its restoration.
The camp housed German and Italian prisoners in World War II and won ancient monument status after being bought by its present owners in 2001.
James and Lisa McLeod had hoped to turn it into a national visitor centre. It has gone on sale for £900,000.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Sep 29, 2009
To the RAF aircrews, the sight of the eastern German city ablaze looked like a terrifying vision of hell. As the vast stream of 796 four-engined Lancaster heavy bombers swept over Dresden on that night of February 14, 1945, almost 2,000 tons of explosives and incendiaries were dropped onto the inferno.
One Lancaster pilot recorded in his diary: 'The glow could be seen 50 miles away. The target area was almost like day. Down below, the town was a mass of flames, a pool of fire. It w
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Sep 29, 2009
PHILADELPHIA -- Dan McSweeney has a few ideas for saving the United States.
That would be the SS United States -- the fastest ocean liner in the world. Bigger than the Titanic and fast enough to water-ski behind, she's a steamship so sophisticated, her capabilities remained a Cold War secret for decades.
She transported royalty and starlets. Her crew served frog legs in first class. Before the dawn of the jet age, the SS United States was the Concorde of her era.
