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: Chicago Tribune
Dec 17, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — At first, the purpose behind the midday raid at a human-rights group's office here was murky. Police, some clad in masks and camouflage, cut the electricity to Memorial's offices and demanded to know if any drugs or guns were kept on the premises.
Five hours later, after police had opened every computer and walked out with 11 hard drives, the reason for their visit became clear to Memorial Director Irina Flige.
On the hard drives, a trove of sca
Source: BBC
Dec 17, 2008
Turkey's prime minister has criticised a Turkish internet petition which
apologises for the"great catastrophe" of 1915 when Armenians were
massacred.
The petition was launched by more than 200 Turkish academics and newspaper
columnists earlier this week.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said:"I find it unreasonable to apologise
when there is no reason".
Source: CNN
Dec 17, 2008
The Army is making sure it impresses its next commander-in-chief when he
is sworn in next month. It is planning to honor President-elect Barack
Obama with the biggest fife and drum corps that the Army has ever put
together.
The Army's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps marches with surgical precision,
and its bass drums boom loud enough to set off car alarms 10 yards away.
On January 20, it will march near the start of the procession from the
Capitol to the White House.
The corps
Source: Politico.com
Dec 17, 2008
Barack Obama's path to the presidency included beating what had been one
of the nation's most powerful families. But, in an unusual twist, his
election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty
politics.
His secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former
president. The Senate seat she’ll vacate is being pursued by Caroline
Kennedy, the daughter of a president and the niece of two senators. Joe
Biden’s Senate seat may go to his son Beau. Colorado S
Source: FoxNews.com
Dec 17, 2008
Archaeologists are revealing some of their finds from a historic Richmond
site that once was the center of Virginia's slave-trading past.
The discoveries announced Wednesday include the remains of a brick
foundation at what was once known as Lumpkin's Slave Jail. A cobblestone
courtyard and the remnants of a kitchen were also found.
Lumpkin's Jail was named after Robert Lumpkin, who was known as a"bully
trader" for his rough handling of enslaved men, women and children.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Dec 17, 2008
People have long tossed objects at the high and mighty; Zeidi's flying footwear—a serious insult in the Arab world—is just one variation.
In biblical times, David made his point with Goliath by flinging a rock. Thirty years ago, Steve Dahl's anti-disco crusade had fans throwing marshmallows at the Village People.
Remember when members of the anti-fur community used to throw paint on women wearing fur coats? We don't hear much of that these days. But last month in Paris,
Source: Politico.com
Dec 17, 2008
Presidents past, present and future will dine together at the White House shortly after New Year's.
The White House announced Wednesday evening that President Bush will host a lunch for President-elect Barack Obama and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush on Jan. 7.
Obama's family is likely to be living in a Washington hotel at the time.
Source: AP
Dec 17, 2008
A supermarket is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake. Deborah Campbell, 25, of nearby Hunterdon County, N.J., said she phoned in her order last week to the Greenwich ShopRite. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request.
Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the store denied similar requests from the Campbells the last
Source: BBC
Dec 17, 2008
The ruins of an entire city have been discovered in northern Peru,
researchers say.
Archaeologists say the find could provide the missing link between the
ancient cultures of the Wari people and the earlier Moche civilisation.
The site, near the Pacific coastal city of Chiclayo, probably dates to the
Wari culture which ruled the Andes of modern Peru between the 7th and 12th
Century.
Source: BBC
Dec 17, 2008
Italy's parliament speaker has criticised the Roman Catholic Church for
failing to do enough to oppose anti-Semitic race laws in 1938.
Gianfranco Fini, who began his career in a neo-fascist party, was speaking
at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the laws.
Vatican Radio quickly reacted by denying his accusations.
The 1938 laws led to the deportation of thousands of Jews to Nazi
concentration camps where many of them died.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 17, 2008
Two sons of a Nazi concentration camp survivor have met for the first time
after discovering each other while researching their father's wartime
history.
Peter Beschorner, said he was overjoyed at meeting the half-brother he did
not know he had.
Mr Beschorner, 67, was searching for information about his Jewish father,
Hans, a former inmate at the Dachau Nazi concentration camp, who later
fled to Britain.
He had no idea he had a brother, Klaus Mueller, 76, who was also d
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 17, 2008
Greece's most famous ancient monument, the Acropolis, became the latest
stage for the country's deep political crisis on Wednesday when protesters
draped it with banners calling for anti-government demonstrations across
Europe.
On the twelfth day of unrest since a police officer's fatal shooting of a
schoolboy triggered riots and arson, protesters unfurled two large pink
banners from the stone walls of the ancient hilltop citadel, which looms
over Athens."Thursday 18/12 demonstra
Source: Time Mag.
Dec 17, 2008
On Friday, Dec. 5, the President-elect sat down with TIME managing editor Richard Stengel, editor-at-large David Von Drehle and Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey in Obama's spartan transition offices in Chicago to discuss his plans for the coming months, the improbability of his victory and how he's fighting to stay in touch with the real world from inside the presidential bubble. Excerpts from their conversation:
What kind of mandate do you have?
Well, I think we won
Source: HNN Staff
Dec 17, 2008
How does America today compare with America of 2001 when President Bush took office. Click on the SOURCE link above for a handy set of statistics compiled by ProPublica, which describes itself as "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. We strive to foster change through exposing exploitation of the weak by the strong and the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them." The statistics measure GDP, debt
Source: NYT
Dec 17, 2008
John W. Powell, an American journalist who in 1959 was tried for sedition in a rare and highly public case after he asserted in print that the United States had used biological weapons in the Korean War, died on Monday in San Francisco. He was 89 and had lived in San Francisco for many years.
The cause was complications of pneumonia, his son John S. Powell said.
Mr. Powell’s case was one of the rare federal prosecutions for sedition — inciting resistance to the governme
Source: Chicago Tribune
Dec 16, 2008
Since it was shuttered in 1989, the imposing brick structure of St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church has provided neighbors and passersby with a reminder of the rich Catholic heritage of Chicago’s Near Northwest Side.
But the 104-year-old church also has been the subject of a contentious struggle between the Chicago archdiocese and preservationists seeking to rescue the Romanesque building from the wrecking ball.
Touching off another battle to preserve its crumbling walls
Source: History Today
Dec 16, 2008
Nineteenth century books containing the first detailed coloured images of the Holy Land ever to be published in the West, in 1842, have recently been found in the Yorkshire Museum Library. The books were found by volunteers whilst they were cataloguing the museum’s library. They consist of a complete version of The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia by David Roberts. The volume contains hand-coloured lithographs of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, which he took during his visit
Source: NYT
Dec 16, 2008
It’s official. The old Clinton gang really is back together again. Answering the phones these days for the co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition, John D. Podesta, is none other than Betty Currie.
Emerging from retirement in southern Maryland to volunteer at Obama headquarters, Ms. Currie was the personal secretary to President Bill Clinton, who became caught up in an independent counsel investigation into his trysts with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Si
Source: BBC
Dec 16, 2008
Three ancient statues, engraved with a little-understood sub-Saharan
language, have been unearthed in Sudan.
The ram statues symbolise the god Amun, and include the first discovery of
a complete royal dedication in Meroitic script, only found before in
fragments.
It is the oldest written sub-Saharan language and dates from the Meroe
period of 300BC to AD450.
Source: Washington Times
Dec 16, 2008
Can a president use the levers of popular culture to restore, or perhaps burnish, his legacy?
Central to the drama of Ron Howard's riveting new movie, "Frost/Nixon," is that a disgraced ex-president hoped a successful performance in a series of high-stakes television interviews could be parlayed into a broader effort to rehabilitate his public image - maybe even restore him to the bosom of Washington's power elite.
Similarly, outgoing President Bush has legacy
