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: http://www.thenorthwestern.com
May 31, 2009
All 12 American POWs who died when the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima may have their names added to a memorial in time for an anniversary observance, thanks to efforts by one northeast Wisconsin woman.
Cathy Huber of Combined Locks was intrigued by a May 24 Appleton Post-Crescent report about the American prisoners of war — including Appleton native John J. Hantschel — the mystery surrounding their deaths and Japanese historian Shigeaki Mori's determination to have th
Source: NYT
May 31, 2009
It is a company that helped lift hundreds of thousands of American workers into the middle class. It transformed Detroit into the Silicon Valley of its day, a symbol of America’s talent for innovation. It built celebrated cars, like Cadillacs, that became synonymous with luxury.
And now it is filing for bankruptcy, something that would have been unfathomable even a few years ago, much less decades ago, when it was a dominant force in the American economy.
Rarely has a
Source: AP
May 31, 2009
Japan's ambassador to the United States apologized Saturday on behalf of his country for the 65-mile forced walk of U.S. troops and allies during World War II that left some 11,000 prisoners of war dead.
"As former prime ministers of Japan have repeatedly stated: The Japanese people should bear in mind that we must look into the past and to learn from the lessons of history," Ichiro Fujisaki said at the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, the San Antonio Express-N
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 31, 2009
Veterans of the D-Day landings are to hold their last official commemorations on the beaches of Normandy as they prepare to disband their association.
About 800 servicemen who took part in the 1944 landings will return to northern France next week to mark the 65th anniversary of the invasion which unlocked the liberation of occupied western Europe.
Another 1,000 British veterans will be forced to mark the milestone at home because of increasingly frail health.
Source: AP
May 31, 2009
Japan's ambassador to the United States apologized Saturday on behalf of his country for the 65-mile forced walk of U.S. troops and allies during World War II that left some 11,000 prisoners of war dead.
He said his country was extending a heartfelt apology for "having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences."
Former POW Hershel C. Boushey told the ambassador that he did not
Source: San Franciso Chronicle
May 31, 2009
Each year, Peter Fischer drives from his Berlin home to this small rural town 75 miles away to keep alive what he says is a flame of truth.
Fischer, who is an expert on aging, long believed East Germans were above the anti-Semitism that had gripped the nation a generation earlier. But two things - the taunts of the son of a former SS member who told him that it was time to turn the ovens back on at Auschwitz, and a tour of the infamous Polish camp in 1987 - persuaded him to dedicat
Source: BBC
May 31, 2009
Wartime hero and double amputee Sir Douglas Bader has been commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque.
Sir Douglas played a key role as a pilot during the Battle of Britain in World War II despite losing both legs in a flying accident in 1931.
Subsequently, he raised money for the disabled and worked to change attitudes towards those who suffered amputations.
The plaque was unveiled on Sunday at the pilot's former home in Petersham Mews, Kensington
Source: The Daily Beast
May 31, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor's critics have zeroed in on a firefighter affirmative-lawsuit currently before the Supreme Court to allege that she shows racial favoritism, but does her record bear out the accusation? Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSBlog looks over all 96 cases dealing with race-related claims that she presided over. "Of the 96 cases, Judge Sotomayor and the panel rejected the claim of discrimination roughly 78 times and agreed with the claim of discrimination 10 times; the remaining 8 involved oth
Source: BBC
May 31, 2009
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed in China's crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
There has been no official inquiry so the exact death toll remains unclear.
Among the crowds in Hong Kong on Sunday was Xiong Yan, a leading student protester during the 1989 demos, now living in exile in the US.
Source: BBC
May 31, 2009
Romeo and Juliet's Adult Boutique is due to open in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on Friday after it was given planning permission.
Mayor Jenny Fradgley said: "It can't be good for the image Stratford is trying to promote for itself."
But the shop owner Katie Gilbert said the Bard's plays had many sexual references and "he would be proud".
Ms Fradgley feels the shop could lower the tone and was not in line with the
Source: BBC
May 31, 2009
The prime minister told BBC One's Andrew Marr programme if any royal wants to be at the commemorations on 6 June he would "make that possible".
Buckingham Palace has said there would be no royal presence because no-one was invited, but denied claims of a snub.
Mr Brown will represent the UK at the event in Normandy, to mark those who died storming the beaches 65 years ago.
Source: BBC
May 31, 2009
Millvina Dean was nine weeks old when the liner sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 on its maiden voyage from Southampton after hitting an iceberg.
The disaster resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people in the north Atlantic, largely due to a lack of lifeboats.
The 97-year-old, who remembered nothing of the fateful journey, passed away on Sunday at the care home in Hampshire where she lived, a friend told the BBC.
Source: Lee P. Ruddin
May 31, 2009
On 1 June 1939 His Majesty’s submarine Thetis sank in Liverpool Bay while on her diving trials. Her loss is still the worst peacetime submarine disaster that the Royal Navy has suffered with ninety-nine men drowning.
Why did it take so long to find the Thetis especially after those aboard had so skillfully managed to get her stern a good 18 feet above sea level? Then, once found, why was no action taken to cut into the submarine to get those trapped aboard out?
Now, a
Source: NYT Magazine
May 31, 2009
So far, the former president has avoided causing trouble for the new one. Before Hillary Clinton was picked for secretary of state, some Obama advisers were wary of bringing a freelancing Bill Clinton inside the tent. But to their surprise, Clinton has done nothing to complicate Obama’s life so far. As of early May, Clinton had never been mentioned during the daily White House senior staff meetings as an issue to be dealt with, according to two officials who attend. By contrast, one of them said
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
May 30, 2009
On May 29, 2009, the National Archives and Records Administration announced a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of an external hard drive containing copies of backup tapes from the Executive Office of the President (EOP) of the Clinton Administration. NARA learned in late March 2009 that the hard drive was missing from a processing room at NARA’s College Park, Maryland facility.
Source: http://www.courier-journal.com
May 30, 2009
The three kilns date to the 19th century, remnants of an industry that burned limestone into lime and shipped it to cities along the Ohio River to make bricks, mortar and plaster.
Preservationists and Indiana officials thought enough of the structures, built into hillsides near Utica, Ind., to protect them from the Ohio River Bridges Project as part of a massive preservation plan.
But the kilns are now at risk -- part of a dispute over who is responsible for keeping the
Source: Salon
May 30, 2009
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba denied reports that he has seen the prisoner-abuse photos that President Obama is fighting to keep secret, in an exclusive interview with Salon Friday night.
On Thursday an article in the Daily Telegraph reported that Taguba, the lead investigator into Abu Ghraib abuse, had seen images Obama wanted suppressed, and supported the president's decision to fight their release. The paper quoted Taguba as saying, "These pictures show torture, abus
Source: AP
May 30, 2009
The bronze likeness of Lt. Richard W. Dowling, a Confederate officer, has survived two hurricanes in the last five years, an accomplishment as against the odds as the victory he and few dozen rebel Texas soldiers won against a huge Union force almost 150 years ago.
But the double whammy of Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike last year left the Sabine Pass Battleground Park in shambles. Trees were toppled and ripped out. Historical markers were snapped off and creature comforts
Source: NYT
May 30, 2009
Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black member of the Supreme Court, ended his 24 years there bitter and frustrated. He had been unable, he said, to persuade his colleagues in many cases concerning racial equality, the cause to which he had devoted his life.
“What do they know about Negroes?” Justice Marshall asked an interviewer. “You can’t name one member of this court who knows anything about Negroes before he came to this court.”
But the other justices did get to
Source: AP
May 30, 2009
The official manual of South Carolina's Legislature continues to label some of the state's former politicians as "Negro" or "scalawag" — apparent remnants of disgruntlement over Reconstruction that are drawing fresh scrutiny.
A spokesman for the state's lieutenant governor, who is eyeing a run for the top office, has sent a letter asking for an update. But civil rights leaders don't seem too bothered by the listings, which even led to portraits of the state's two
