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.theroot.com
Oct 3, 2008
Not since the civil rights movement, when stars like Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr. led marches and protest rallies, have so many black Hollywood denizens actively engaged in the political process.
In his bid for the presidency, Barack Obama has engaged a new cadre of African-American celebrities, drawn to his campaign's themes of change, hope and cooperation.
"This election is very important to my future, my children's future and the future
Source: Independent (UK)
Oct 3, 2008
Two metres beneath the Kent countryside, archaeologists have found the beginning of British history. Excavations at Richborough in east Kent have uncovered the original beach – now two and a half miles from the sea – where the Roman legions started their conquest of Britain almost 2,000 years ago. The site represents the moment Britain's prehistory ended and its history began.
The archaeologists from English Heritage have only exposed four square metres of the beach, but the discove
Source: Independent (UK)
Oct 3, 2008
"This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons." In the normally prosaic world of public safety announcements, they were probably the two most chilling sentences ever recorded in readiness for release across Britain's airwaves.
But secret documents released today, revealing for the first time the full text of the warning to be broadcast by the BBC in the event of a nuclear war, show that Whitehall was obsessed as much with th
Source: Times (UK)
Oct 3, 2008
The most senior Yugoslav army officer to be charged with war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia went on trial yesterday in The Hague.
General Momcilo Perisic, the former Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, pleaded not guilty to thirteen charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including aiding and abetting the Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo, and the Bosnian Serb forces which massacred up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 3, 2008
Detailed notes of discussions during the Suez crisis of 1956 taken by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Norman Brook show the extent to which the British Government sought to cover up its "collusion" with Israel as a pretext for invasion of Egyptian territory after Nasser's nationalisation of the strategically important waterway.
Previous documents have confirmed that Eden held secret talks with French officials in October 1956 to formulate a plan in which Israel was to attack Eg
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 3, 2008
Historian Irving has offered a place at his home in Windsor, Berks, for German-born Australian national Gerald Toben who faces extradition to Germany on a European arrest warrant.
The German authorities claim Toben launched a campaign between 2000 and 2004 in which he posted anti-Semitic claims on the internet that "denies, approves or plays down" the mass murder of the Jews.
Toben's alleged conduct was "evil", City of Westminster Magistrates Court
Source: BBC
Oct 3, 2008
World War II tunnel digger John Fancy whose actions inspired the film the Great Escape, has died.
He was an adventurer, a charmer, above all, a nuisance. Warrant officer John Fancy volunteered for the RAF seeking adventure and he certainly found it.
Just nine months after the beginning of hostilities in the WWII, the young and dashing RAF observer was shot down.
His Blenheim bomber had just successfully hit its target in the Ardennes when he came under h
Source: Liverpool Echo
Oct 3, 2008
THE Liverpool to Manchester Railway has been proposed as a United Nations World Heritage site.
The line, opened 1830, heralded the beginning of the railway age and saw the first trials of Stephenson’s Rocket.
If it is successful, it will join the city’s waterfront on the list of some of the most important cultural sites in the world.
Now, councillors are calling on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to award the line the accol
Source: AP
Oct 3, 2008
The World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid, powered by tugs and accompanied by a festive Hudson River traffic jam, was returned Thursday to the Manhattan pier where it has served for 24 years as a military and space museum.
Onlookers gathered along the riverbanks and in passing pleasure craft as the huge vessel was ceremoniously escorted Thursday on its 5-mile journey from Staten Island.
The Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum had occupied the Manhattan space until late
Source: BBC News
Oct 3, 2008
Thousands of people in Mexico City have paid tribute to those who died when security forces opened fire on a student demonstration 40 years ago.
The killings took place a few days before the Mexican capital hosted the 1968 Olympic Games.
The number of deaths in the incident is still disputed and no one has ever been jailed for involvement.
There were scuffles between police and demonstrators at the anniversary march, and about 20 people were arrested.
Source: AP
Oct 3, 2008
The Navy has confirmed the wreckage of a sunken vessel found last year off the Aleutians Islands is that of the USS Grunion, which disappeared during World War II.
Underwater video footage and pictures captured by an expedition hired by sons of the commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, allowed the Navy to confirm the discovery, Rear Adm. Douglas McAneny said Thursday in a news release.
McAneny said the Navy was very grateful to the Abele family.
&
Source: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com
Oct 2, 2008
The year 1858 was one of turmoil and wonder. One hundred and fifty years ago the world was coming together. The United States signed a commercial treaty with hitherto self-isolated Japan, gold seekers rushed to Pike’s Peak, there was talk of a railroad to California, and the first briefly successful transatlantic telegraph cable was laid.
The world was also coming apart, or at least rearranging itself in unfamiliar ways. The British Crown abolished the East India Company and began
Source: AP
Oct 2, 2008
The state Board of Education says it recently discovered what students yawning through social studies class may already know -- their textbooks are boring.
Members of the board, which routinely approves books for schools statewide, said the publications were so dull they recently tried to reject the list of social studies texts.
They later changed their minds after state schools chief Suellen Reed urged the group to approve the books so that schools could buy them at
Source: AP
Oct 2, 2008
Deborah Anderson had heard the urban legends about the contraceptive effectiveness of Coca-Cola products for years. So she and her colleagues decided to put the soft drink to the test. In the lab, that is.
For discovering that, yes indeed, Coke was a spermicide, Anderson and her team are among this year's winners of the Ig Nobel prize, the annual award given by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine to oddball but often surprisingly practical scientific achievements.
Source: Guardian (UK)
Oct 2, 2008
The best view of a newly discovered archaeological site in Kent is from the trains thundering past a few feet away. Passengers heading towards the Ramsgate ferry ports glance incuriously out at what was a jungle of brambles and nettles a few weeks ago, not realising that they are seeing almost 2,000 years of history rewritten.
The recently uncovered structure at Richborough is a small medieval dock, neatly constructed by joining up double-decker-bus-sized lumps of Roman walls which
Source: Politico
Oct 2, 2008
Hours ahead of the vice presidential debate, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized the selection of PBS's Gwen Ifill as moderator because she is writing a book called "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."
“Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it," McCain said on "Fox & Friends." "But I have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professio
Source: http://www.murfreesboropost.com
Oct 2, 2008
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill last week to reauthorize the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program, which has preserved over 15,000 acres of battlefield land from the Civil War.
“Tennessee is steeped in Civil War history – 38 significant battles were fought in our state,” said Congressman Bart Gordon, a longtime supporter of the Preservation Program. “In Rutherford County alone, there are six Civil War battlefields, and with the passage of this bill, each site
Source: FoxNews.com
Oct 2, 2008
The mayor of a Kansas town issued an apology Thursday for appearing as a drag-queen in blackface last weekend as part of a fundraising event, according to the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Arkansas City Mayor Mel Kuhn participated in and won a drag queen contest held as part of an annual fund raiser sponsored by Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an agency that supports foster children in the court system, the NAACP s
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 2, 2008
A botanist who claimed to have found dozens of rare plants faked his discoveries, according to new evidence.
Professor John Heslop-Harrison won acclaim after finding plant species on islands off the west coast of Scotland 60 years ago but there have long been doubts over the authenticity of his work.
Karl Sabbagh, author of a book about the botanist, has gained access to previous unseen archives which reveal that Heslop-Harrison's own colleagues harboured serious concer
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Oct 2, 2008
A veteran state archivist who stole hundreds of historical state artifacts over a decade and sold some on the Internet apologized today, as a judge sentenced him to 2 to 6 years in prison.
Daniel Lorello, 55, of Rensselaer, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in August,six months after state investigators charged him with swiping items that included two Davy Crockett almanacs.
The since-fired Lorello had once coordinated a three-year plan to renovate storage of state record
