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: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 9, 2009
Working-class men are no more likely to get into well-paid careers
than they were a generation ago, according to academics.
A study claims that there has been"little obvious sign of any
decline" in the influence of family background on life chances.
It says that although many more people now go to university, this does
not necessarily mean they will earn more as employers struggle to make
sense of the"ever-expanding plethora" of qualifications.
Source: Washington Independent
Jul 9, 2009
Last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) gave a short talk and Q&A at at the National Press Club about his book “Saving Freedom.” DeMint told a room of around 100 people about a conversation he’d had with an Iranian immigrant who was panicking about the surge of government spending and control under President Obama and the Democrats. Americans should listen to immigrants like her, said DeMint.
"They understand socialism. They understand tyrants. But none of us have ever had it
Source: Think Progress (liberal website)
Jul 9, 2009
Yesterday, a number of blogs reported that right-wing Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was the lone dissenter on a House vote to acknowledge the role that slave labor had in constructing the U.S. Capitol. The resolution would merely authorize the placement of a marker inside the new Capitol Visitor Center to acknowledge the work of slaves.
In an attempt to quell the criticism, King spun his vote as an effort to defend religion. He said in a statement that he opposed the slave labor resolution becau
Source: BBC
Jul 9, 2009
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the world-famous Getty art museum in Los Angeles as a brush fire rages in nearby mountains, officials say.
The museum, home to priceless works like van Gogh's Irises, remains closed.
Ventilation systems were shut down to prevent smoke damage to the museum's priceless art collection.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 9, 2009
The Prince of Wales has praised Henry VIII as an environmentalist with a keen interest in architecture.
Delivering this year's Richard Dimbleby Lecture, the Prince said: "Henry instigated the very first piece of green legislation in this country.
In 1543 Henry passed laws to protect forests by preventing shipbuilders from felling too many oak trees.
Source: AP
Jul 9, 2009
Four cemetery workers have been charged with dismembering bodies after police found what they called "startling and revolting" conditions at a historic cemetery near Chicago.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says workers at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip allegedly dug up more than 100 graves, dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves and resold the plots to unsuspecting members of the public.
Burr Oak is the final resting place of many famous African-Americans,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 9, 2009
President Barack Obama has told African leaders it is time to stop blaming colonialism and "Western oppression" for the continent's manifold problems.
Ahead of a visit to Ghana at the weekend, he said: "Ultimately, I'm a big believer that Africans are responsible for Africa.
"I think part of what's hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we've made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of ne
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 9, 2009
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has pledged to help rebuild an Italian village which was all but destroyed by April's earthquake, 65 years after Nazi troops carried out a massacre of civilians.
Mrs Merkel was accompanied by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, for her tour of the devastated hamlet, which took place on the sidelines of the G8 summit in nearby L'Aquila.
They inspected the ruins of the local church, which will be rebuilt with the help of £2.6
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Jul 8, 2009
A day after a state judge vacated a jury verdict holding that University of Colorado officials had violated Ward Churchill’s First Amendment rights by firing him, the university announced that it would bill the former ethnic-studies professor more than $10,000 in out-of-pocket costs it incurred while defending against his wrongful-termination suit, The Denver Post reported.
The university cannot seek reimbursement for all of its legal costs, but as a successful defendant in a civil
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 8, 2009
A 350ft crop circle of an ancient Mayan symbol, said to be a sign of an impending apocalypse, has appeared next to Silbury Hill in Wiltshire.
The giant pattern - thought to represent a traditional Mayan head-dress - appeared next to the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe last week.
Members of the crop circle community believe the mystic symbol is a signal of the end of the 5,126-year Mayan 'Long Count' calendar on December 21, 2012.
Source: http://www.thaindian.com
Jul 8, 2009
Xanadu, the city built by Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and mentioned by Italian traveller Marco Polo, has been unearthed by Chinese archaeologists who have sketched its layout.
“The most exciting findings are the layout of the moat in front of the Mingde Gate to the royal capital in the three-month excavation,” said Yang Xingyu, a senior archaeologist.
Xanadu, also spelled Shangdu, was built in 1256 under the command of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of Yuan or Mongol Dy
Source: Spiegel Online
Jul 8, 2009
The German government, along with the Austrians and Swiss, pulled their support for a huge hydro-energy project in Turkey this week. The required dam would have flooded an ancient city and displaced more than 10,000 people. German papers praised the decision, asking why it took so long to make.
It was meant to be one of the most ambitious energy policy programs ever undertaken by the Turkish government, but on Tuesday, Germany, Austria and Switzerland withdrew their backing for the
Source: BBC
Jul 8, 2009
When did a lavatory become a loo? And why were Victorian trousers "unmentionables"? The world's first historical thesaurus, which is to be published after more than 40 years of research, claims to have the answers.
Loved by writers, not to mention crossword cheats, Roget's Thesaurus has never been out of print since it was published in 1852 to "assist in literary composition".
The best known dictionary of its kind, which groups synonyms - words with
Source: Chicago Tribune
Jul 8, 2009
More than 100 graves have been dug up in historic Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip over the last several years and the bodies dumped "in a massive pile on cemetery grounds" so the plots could be resold, authorities say.
Sheriff Tom Dart says the scheme had been going on for the last 4 years in the cemetery, where many famous African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till, Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington.
That could make identifying the bodies and matching the
Source: NYT
Jul 8, 2009
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the C.I.A. concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month, seven Democratic committee members said.
In a June 26 letter to Mr. Panetta discussing his testimony, Democrats said that the agency had “misled members” of Congress for eight years about the classified matters, which the letter did not disclose. “This is sim
Source: AP
Jul 8, 2009
The House on Tuesday acknowledged the use of African-American slaves in the construction of the U.S. Capitol, ordering officials to place a marker inside the new Capitol Visitor Center using some of the original stone quarried by those slaves for the historic building.
"This physical and permanent marker will pay tribute to the blood, sweat and tears of the African-American slaves who helped build this magnificent building and ensure that their story is told and never, never,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 8, 2009
Pakistan's president has admitted his country created terrorist groups
to help achieve its foreign policy goals.
Asif Zardari told a meeting of former senior civil servants in
Islamabad, it was time to be honest about their deployment."Let us be truthful to ourselves and make a candid admission of the
realities," he said."The terrorists of today were the heroes of
yesteryears until 9/11 occurred and they began to haunt us as well."
These groups were not thrown up because of government
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 8, 2009
The National Archives are being "dumbed down", stripped of funding and are in danger of being turned into little more than a "glorified family history centre", a researcher claimed yesterday.
The records at Kew, west London, have provided some of the best insight into past political thinking, fears about security through the ages and quirks of royal behaviour.
However, Ruth Wilcock, who has worked there for 34 years, said she fears that the Archives are be
Source: AP
Jul 8, 2009
Spread upon a table are a sampling of gifts to former President George W. Bush: a purse made of vines from the Thai queen, a Texas Rangers jersey autographed by pitcher Nolan Ryan and a framed mosaic of St. Peter's Basilica from the pope.
The gifts, documents and electronic records accumulated during Bush's two terms have gone from the White House to a warehouse in suburban Dallas, just a few miles north of a turnpike named for his father. They will remain there until Bush's $300 mi
Source: AP
Jul 8, 2009
After decades of failed efforts, the latest venture to create a cultural hub honoring Douglass in the city where he spent his most influential years is close to fruition. All it needs is staff — at least five people to complement the Hunts' nonprofit efforts and run the new resource.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony drew a big crowd to the Frederick Douglass Resource Center over the Fourth of July weekend. The main gallery is adorned with 19th-century photographs, maps and handwritten lett
