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: Yahoo News
Jul 5, 2009
The surviving parts of the world's oldest Christian Bible will be reunited online on Monday, generating excitement among biblical scholars still striving to unlock its mysteries.
The Codex Sinaiticus was hand written by four scribes in Greek on animal hide, known as vellum, in the mid-fourth century around the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great who embraced Christianity.
Not all of it has withstood the ravages of time, but the pages that have include the whole of
Source: BBC
Jul 5, 2009
A woman whose talent for maths helped foil German V2 bombs in World War II has published her life story.
Eileen Younghusband, 87, from the Vale of Glamorgan, received the coded message that the first V2 rocket had been launched against Britain.
She had the secret task while in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).
Her book, Not An Ordinary Life has been published with the help of the Lifelong Learning centre at Cardiff University.
Source: Foxnews
Jul 5, 2009
Former President George W. Bush looked back as far as the signers of the Declaration of Independence and as recently as the U.S. soldiers fighting wars abroad as examples of the patriotism and bravery that define Americans.
George W. Bush marked the Fourth of July with an address to a massive crowd in Woodward, Okla., that appeared thrilled to receive the former president for its holiday celebration.
The audience at the Rodeo Arena was the largest Bush has addressed s
Source: The Times (UK)
Jul 5, 2009
Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controls Formula One auto racing, said Friday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to "get things done."
In an outspoken interview with The Times of London, the 78-year-old British billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weaknesses and extolled the virtues of strong leadership.
Instead, Ecclestone endorsed the concept of a government based on tyranny.
Source: Independent (UK)
Jul 5, 2009
Some of the last, frank thoughts and confessions of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq have been revealed in transcripts of a remarkable series of interviews with the former dictator's interrogators.
Under questioning by the FBI during 20 formal interviews and at least five "casual conversations" over a four-month period from February to May 2004 after his capture by US troops in December 2003, Saddam said he had made a mistake in destroying Baghdad's stockpile of weapons o
Source: BBC
Jul 4, 2009
Next summer marks 70 years since the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers - renamed the Home Guard in July 1940 by Winston Churchill.
From starting out as groups of poorly equipped, but enthusiastic, men in May 1940, the organisation was trained and armed to combat a German invasion.
In 1968, the exploits of a fictional unit was first broadcast on the BBC.
Dad's Army ran until 1977 and the series has its own appreciation society.
Hand-writ
Source: BBC
Jul 4, 2009
The recent damage caused to Lenin's monument in Kiev has provoked a debate about the future of the capital's only public monument to the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Ukrainian Nationalist Congress party is proud to proclaim that it smashed the statue's nose and left hand.
Kiev police have arrested a number of men suspected of causing the damage. After 19 years of Ukrainian independence, statues of Lenin are still quite common
Source: http://www.islandpacket.com
Jul 4, 2009
Welcome to South Carolina, where we never have to make up anything peculiar because our peculiarities are way too peculiar.
The tales of Gov. Mark Sanford's affair with an Argentine woman he calls his "soul mate" will live in infamy. But the almost addictive daily Sanford episodes won't have to dance alone. This kind of story from the political class has plenty of company in South Carolina.
We may not have seen anything this racy since the ex-wife of a jailed
Source: NYT
Jul 4, 2009
Opponents lined up quickly when Honolulu Christian Church announced plans to convert a modest residential lot in the Hawaiian capital into parking for its growing congregation.
Surely there were enough spots on the street, opponents said. Turning the small driveway into a parking lot entrance would create safety and traffic problems. The cute old house on the property, built in the 1940s, is worth preserving.
Besides, the president used to live there.
“We d
Source: NYT
Jul 4, 2009
In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of “a nuclear free world.” He railed against discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads.
The student was Barack Obama, and he was clearly trying to sort out
Source: AP
Jul 4, 2009
Visitors to the National Archives here know they will find the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building’s magnificent rotunda.
But they can no longer find the patent file for the Wright brothers’ flying machine or maps for the first atomic bomb missions in the archives inventory.
Many historical items the archives once possessed are missing, including Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln, presidential portraits of Fra
Source: AP
Jul 4, 2009
A group that has been trying for years to build a Revolutionary War museum at Valley Forge National Historical Park is moving the multimillion-dollar project to downtown Philadelphia.
Officials with the group, the American Revolution Center, and the National Park Service said last week that they had reached an agreement to open the museum on the site of a former visitor center in Independence National Historical Park, near Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other historic sites
Source: NYT
Jul 4, 2009
The saga of Everett Ruess, an idealistic young wanderer whose disappearance in 1934 sparked one of the most enduring mysteries of the modern West, is not over yet.
Mr. Ruess’s family said last week that because of questions raised by Utah’s state archaeologist, they would seek independent retesting of remains found last year on the Navajo Indian Reservation in southern Utah. Scientists at the University of Colorado — in a joint announcement in April with National Geographic Adventur
Source: NPR
Jul 4, 2009
President Obama signed a bill Wednesday granting the Congressional Gold Medal to a group of women most Americans have never heard of: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP.
These were the first women to fly military aircraft. During World War II, they volunteered for noncombat duty, as test pilots and trainers. They freed up their male counterparts to go to Europe and fight in the war.
But even though they wore uniforms and worked on bases, they were never conside
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jul 4, 2009
Thirty thousand Germans condemned as traitors by Nazi courts in the Second World War are to get a posthumous pardon.
Twenty thousand were executed, often for crimes as trifling as writing a diary entry criticising Hitler. The other 10,000 were sentenced in wartime but not executed.
Relatives expressed some satisfaction that at last their ancestors will have the stigma of traitor lifted from them.
Source: The Canadian Press
Jul 4, 2009
Ed Spaeth was researching his family tree when he discovered an 18th-century ancestor likely was buried in the woods just down the hill from his Hudson Valley home.
Although he can't pinpoint Francois Martin-Pelland's grave, historical evidence has led Spaeth to the nearby grove believed to be the final resting place of hundreds of other Revolutionary War soldiers posted here when Fishkill was the main supply source for Gen. George Washington's northern army.
Today, com
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 4, 2009
Two treasure hunters face a legal battle over how they are going to split a reward of up to £500,000 for finding a rare hoard of more than 800 Celtic gold coins.
Metal detecting enthusiast Michael Darke, 60, realised he might be on the trail of a major treasure find when he found 10 Iron age coins buried in a meadow.
He called his friend Keith Lewis, 54, for advice and invited him the following weekend to help him search the land at Dallinghoo near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 4, 2009
A previously unheard recording of a Russian spacecraft attempting to beat NASA's Apollo 11 in 1969's race to the moon has been released.
In July 1969, the telescopes at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, in Cheshire, were tracking the Americans' Eagle Lander carrying astronauts towards the moon's surface.
Sir Bernard Lovell, the astronomer, was among the team listening to transmissions coming from the area of space and began tracking the unmanned Soviet spacecraft Luna 15,
Source: AP
Jul 4, 2009
The onetime presidential rivals both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their U.S. Independence Day radio and Internet addresses Saturday.
President Obama sought to rally support for his domestic initiatives, while Sen. John McCain called for Americans to support millions of Iranian election protesters.
Source: AP
Jul 4, 2009
The Saturday Evening Post, a centuries-old publication that helped make illustrator Norman Rockwell a household name and showcased some of America's greatest writers, is returning to its roots to show readers the value of a quiet read in an increasingly frenetic digital age.
A redesign launching with its July/August issue combines the Post's hallmarks -- art and fiction -- with folksy commentary and health articles. The revamped Post promises a more relaxing option for people who ar
