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: AP
Sep 22, 2008
Derek Jeter climbed the mound, surrounded by his teammates, and began the final farewell.
Microphone in hand, the New York captain addressed the 54,610 fans who came to say so long to Yankee Stadium, his words booming around the old ballpark where the voices of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle had echoed years before.
"So take the memories from this stadium, add it to the new memories that come with the new Yankee Stadium and continue to pass t
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Sep 22, 2008
HERE, as the dirt was scraped away, lay the last, sad unspoken message from the soldiers who died on the Sandakan death marches: the brass buckles from their long-perished uniforms, the adjusters from their haversacks, neatly stacked together in the soil of Borneo.
Then there was the globular shape resting on top of the buckles, in pride of place. Lynette Silver rubbed away the dirt, spat on it and rubbed again. Now she could see an outline map of Australia and, now, a crown on top,
Source: WaPo
Sep 21, 2008
With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaching in 2011, Prince William County officials and historians have begun meeting to determine how the war should be commemorated.
The county played a key role in the war's early stages, hosting the first major battle -- the First Battle of Bull Run, or First Battle of Manassas -- at what is now Manassas National Battlefield Park. Although that event and other large battles in Prince William are more well known, there are other, small
Source: NYT
Sep 21, 2008
As the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, John Kerry sometimes used 50 words to make a point when 25 would do. And he had a knack for foot-in-mouth verbiage, most famously when he declared, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.” But there was one word he was very careful not to utter.
During the first presidential debate, when the moderator, Jim Lehrer, noted that Mr. Kerry had repeatedly accused President Bush “essentially of lying” about his Ira
Source: International Herald Tribune
Sep 21, 2008
For most Vietnamese, though, McCain's story is an obscure artifact of a receding history. In a week of interviews around Hanoi, neither his imprisonment nor his presidential candidacy seemed to arouse much excitement.
Vietnam's relations with the United States are on an even keel, and Vietnam has little at stake in the election.
While McCain wins points among some Vietnamese for having supported the normalization of relations with the United States in 1995, his story, f
Source: http://www.womensenews.org
Sep 21, 2008
After Marsha and David King finished law school in Georgia in 1976 and 1977 respectively and established themselves on a solid financial footing, they started the family that they wanted.
Today, every available surface of their living room is jammed with family photos.
"When we did have children, it was incredible; it was wonderful. We were two dedicated parents; we needed every asset we had," said Marsha King, whose two daughters are now grown.
K
Source: BBC
Sep 21, 2008
Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built.
The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.
The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright.
The duo found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a ce
Source: http://www.fredericksburg.com
Sep 21, 2008
May 21, 1864: An election loomed, and America was embroiled in a war that was becoming unpopular, as it dragged on and casualties mounted.
Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant needed a victory. He had just lost 35,000 men in two weeks of intense fighting near Spotsylvania Courthouse. President Abraham Lincoln wanted to be re-elected, but as the war continued with few victories for the Union, that re-election was in jeopardy.
And the American public knew more about the horrors of
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 21, 2008
Taxpayers will have to foot a £1.6 million bill to buy the 0.22 acre plot from a firm of property speculators, even though its true value is just £15,000.
A judge who reluctantly ordered the council to pay the extortionate fee described the law as "utterly deplorable" .
There are now fears of a rash of similar cases in London and other cities which were bombed by the Luftwaffe.
The wrangle centres on a scrap of land measuring roughly 20 yards b
Source: Deutsche Welle
Sep 21, 2008
Lutherans gathering in the eastern German town of Wittenberg have officially launched a decade of celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the congregation that he hoped the memorial decade would be a time for Lutherans to try harder to help other faiths, especially Islam, integrate into German society. The break from the Catholic Church began in 1517 when a monk called Martin Luther nailed 95 demands to the door o
Source: BBC
Sep 21, 2008
Miners in Lesotho have discovered a huge gem stone which may become the largest ever polished diamond.
The stone weighs 478 carats and is the 20th largest rough diamond ever found, said Gem Diamonds.
The company said the uncut rock was recovered recently from the Letseng mine, owned by the company in Lesotho.
The diamond, which is as yet unnamed, has the potential to yield a 150 carat cut stone, and could sell for tens of millions of dollars, the company
Source: BBC
Sep 21, 2008
Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300 BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious temple was built.
The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.
The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright.
The duo found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a
Source: AP
Sep 21, 2008
Two generations ago, bullets flew and tear gas canisters exploded among the magnolias as segregationists fought federal authorities over the court-ordered admission of the first black student to the University of Mississippi.
It was the flagship school in what was then the most defiantly white supremacist state in the union. Now, Ole Miss is a diverse university where racial conflict is a topic for history classes rather than a fact of everyday life, and it's hosting the first presi
Source: Tehran Times
Sep 21, 2008
An anthropologist said that the nails around the ancient Pahluj skeletons imply an unknown style of burial carried out for females during the early Islamic era.
“We face an unknown style of burial, in which nails have been located upside down on the earth, maybe in order to hold a sheet of wood above the bodies in the graves,” Farzad Foruzanfar told the Persian service of CHN on Saturday.
“The bodies have not been buried in coffins because no remains of wood have been
Source: BBC
Sep 21, 2008
RAF pilots who defeated the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain are being remembered at a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey.
Veterans and their families are attending, along with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The service marks the 68th anniversary of the battle that cost 544 airmen.
It was these crewmen Winston Churchill referred to in his phrase "never was so much owed by so many to so few
Source: Observer (UK)
Sep 21, 2008
The painted pub sign, one of the oldest popular visual arts traditions in Britain, is locked in decline. That is the fear of conservationists who hope to alert pub chains and breweries to a 'catastrophic' loss of the traditional skills involved and a failure to preserve a heritage that dates back to Roman times.
The growing corporate ownership of public houses across the British Isles has led to the standardisation of what is on offer, both inside and outside the bar. The situation
Source: Observer (UK)
Sep 21, 2008
An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists at Oxford University who are trying to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity.
Modern fridges are notoriously damaging to the environment. They work by compressing and expanding man-made greenhouse gases called freons - far more damaging that carbon dioxide - and are being manufactured in increasing numbers. Sales of fridges around the world are rising as demand increases in
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 20, 2008
The Catholic Church has been accused by a leading heritage group of failing to look after its buildings.
Dr Ian Dungavell, director of the Victorian Society, said there was widespread dismay at the Church's "intransigent" policy of closing churches, many of which have thriving congregations.
St Marie's Church in Widnes, an Italian Gothic church designed by Edward Welby Pugin, is on a list of the ten most endangered Victorian buildings in Britain, to be publish
Source: NYT
Sep 20, 2008
Seven years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the remains of 13 of the 19 men responsible have been identified and are in the custody of the F.B.I. and the New York City medical examiner’s office.
But no one has formally requested the remains in order to bury them.
“Politically, one can understand that this is a hot potato,” said Muneer Fareed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America and a former professor of Islamic studies. “People don’t want
Source: WaPo
Sep 20, 2008
Historic. Breathtaking. Revolutionary.
It would be hard to find a superlative that would overstate how much the parameters and contours of American economic policy have been reshaped over the past two weeks.
The degree of government intervention into the workings of the private marketplace is unprecedented. Three giant financial institutions taken over. Government purchases of vast quantities of hard-to-sell assets from banks, investment banks and anyone else whose demi
