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: TheDailyBeast.com (summary of AP story)
Jan 14, 2009
Bush may be out of office next week, but the torture issue isn't going away. In an interview with Bob Woodward, Susan J. Crawford, the official charged with deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial, says that the United States tortured Mohammed Al Qahtani, the so-called "20th hijacker" from September 11. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture," she says. The techniques used against Al Qahtani included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, sexu
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 14, 2009
Drawings of the moon completed by British cartographer Thomas Harriot and pre-dating Galileo are to go on public display.
The 17th century "moon maps" by Harriot appear to reveal that the Englishman preceded the famous Italian scientist in viewing the moon through a telescope.
One of Harriot's drawings is dated July 26 1609, six months prior to Galileo's well documented achievement in December 1609.
The lunar drawings by Harriot will form part of an exh
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 14, 2009
Ancient Persians were the first to use chemical weapons when they gassed Roman soldiers with toxic fumes 2,000 years ago, researchers have discovered.
Archeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare yet after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers' found underground in Syria 70 years ago.
Clues left at the scene revealed the Persians were lying in wait as the Romans dug a tunnel during a siege – then pumped in toxic gas – produced by sulphur crystal
Source: LAT
Jan 14, 2009
Barack Obama will be sworn into office on Tuesday -- just weeks before the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Obama's inaugural theme, "A New Birth of Freedom," has, fittingly, been drawn from his fellow Illinoisan's Gettysburg Address, and he's supposed to be sworn in using Lincoln's own Bible. The inaugural menu is based on what supposedly were some of Lincoln's favorite foods, and even the inaugural china is a replica of that used in the Lincoln White House. Despite these conn
Source: Politico.com
Jan 14, 2009
President Bush is naming a high-powered staff to launch him on a productive post-presidency that, at least at first, will be busy behind the scenes and quiet on the surface.
The Office of George W. Bush will be in Dallas, near his presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
The president plans to write a book, give speeches, help build his presidential library and start a “freedom institute” to prolong his legacy, with a special emphasis on his “freedom age
Source: CNN
Jan 14, 2009
As President George W. Bush prepares for his last week in office, he and
First Lady Laura Bush spent time Tuesday talking with CNN's Larry King.
In a wide-ranging interview, the First Family reflects on the past eight
years of the presidency, including 9/11 and the war on terror.
They also discussed what awaits President-elect Barack Obama and his
family when he takes office on January 20. The following is an edited
version of the interview.
Larry King: Are you going to
Source: Washington Post
Jan 14, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama will attend a private prayer service on the morning of his inauguration at the historic St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square, according to the Presidential Inauguration Committee.
Kevin Griffis, spokesman for the inauguration committee, said yesterday that the prayer service will not be open to the public.
St. John's, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, is known as the "Church of the Presidents." Since James
Source: Politico
Jan 14, 2009
President Bush said Tuesday night that the nadir of his presidency was “being called a racist” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“I think being called a racist because of Katrina was a low point,” Bush said in an interview with CNN’s Larry King.
In the days immediately following the disaster, Bush came under fire for what many characterized as a slow federal response to aiding victims, especially in the heavily African-American, Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New
Source: Reuters
Jan 14, 2009
DALLAS -- President George W. Bush may be looking for a little peace and quiet when he moves out of the White House and into a suburban Dallas cul-de-sac, but the years ahead won't be entirely leisurely.
When Bush turns over responsibility for two wars and a foundering U.S. economy to President-elect Barack Obama on January 20, he will turn to the well-trodden post-presidential path of legacy-building.
He plans to open a presidential library and a policy centre at South
Source: CNN
Jan 14, 2009
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ordered the Bush White House to preserve its e-mails, just days before a new administration takes over.
The court's preservation notice Wednesday stems from a ongoing lawsuit by private groups over allegedly missing electronic messages, and allegations the White House failed to properly monitor its internal communications among staff.
It has been a thorny legal and political issue for outgoing Bush officials, who are in the process of t
Source: NPR
Jan 14, 2009
Every incoming president back to George Washington has spoken the 37 words in the oath of office:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
But where does the oath come from?
Marvin Pinkert, executive director of the National Archives Experience, says, "If I went up to 12 people
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 14, 2009
Petrol giant Esso has been forced to withdraw advertising posters after it emerged their slogan was the same as the that of Buchenwald concentration camp.
The oil firm and its partner coffee chain Tchibo had not realised the phrase "Jedem den Seinem" – which roughly translates as you get what you deserve – was virtually identical to the words on the gates of the camp
Salomon Korn, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, branded the slogan e
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jan 14, 2009
The spokeswoman said the government was in contact with Polish authorities about what was required.
"We consider it a core duty of Germany to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive," she said.
Decaying site
An estimated 1.1 million European Jews died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz during World War II. The concentration camp, built in 1940, is badly in need of repair.
Without foreign assistance it faces falling into decay, according
Source: BBC
Jan 14, 2009
The former Czech President Vaclav Havel is in a serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery at a hospital in Prague.
The 72-year-old hero of the 1989 Velvet Revolution has had health problems for many years. He steered Czechs to democracy after the fall of communism.
He was elected Czechoslovakia's first post-communist president in 1989 and then became president of the Czech Republic formed in 1993.
Source: BBC
Jan 14, 2009
400-year-old "Moon maps" created by a little-known Englishman are to go on display to mark the launch of the International Year of Astronomy.
Experts say they prove their creator - Thomas Harriot - beat Galileo to become the first man to view the Moon through a telescope.
British astronomers hope that, 400 years on, Harriot will finally get some of the wider recognition that he deserves.
Source: BBC
Jan 14, 2009
Developers say they have discovered the remains of at least 50 anti-French resistance fighters and war victims at a site in central Hanoi.
Workmen found bones and skull fragments while clearing the site of a market.
They also found handcuffs and leg irons, which suggested that some of the dead were prisoners.
The grave dates from 1946-1947, when fighting between Vietnamese resistance and French troops reoccupying the country after World War II broke out.
Source: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com
Jan 14, 2009
1996 statement: ‘I favor legalizing same-sex marriages'[--Barack Obama]
During the final weeks of the presidential campaign last fall, several media outlets contacted Windy City Times because of an old Internet story from the 1996 Illinois State Senate race. In that campaign, Outlines newspaper, which merged with Windy City Times in 2000, reported that 13th District candidate Barack Obama supported gay marriage. Reporters wanted to know what exactly Obama had said.
Outlines newspap
Source: National Geographic magazine
Jan 13, 2009
Slate may show early colonist efforts to communicate with Indians.
With the help of enhanced imagery and an expert in Elizabethan script, archaeologists are beginning to unravel the meaning of mysterious text and images etched into a rare 400-year-old slate tablet discovered this past summer at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America.
Both sides of the scratched and worn 5-by-8 inch (13-by-20 centimeter) tablet are covered with words, symb
Source: Reuters
Jan 13, 2009
An Antarctic expedition has found what they believe to be camera parts abandoned by a renowned Australian photographer during a historic trip to the frozen continent nearly a century ago.
James "Frank" Hurley, who died in 1962, was the official photographer of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) led by the country's most famous polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. He was also the official photographer of the Australian armed forces during both World Wars.
Source: The Cleveland Daily Banner
Jan 13, 2009
Dr. Richard Jones of Lee University will give a slide lecture on biblical archaeology. The lecture is the last program associated with the Museum Center at Five Points’ current exhibit, “Treasures of the Holy Land: Cleveland’s First Museum.”
The slide lecture, entitled “Biblical Archaeology on the Karak Plateau, Jordan” will be given on Jan. 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the museum center.
Jones’ talk will be on the biblical archaeology uncovered during his work through Lee Univ
