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
May 13, 2008
One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls is going on display in Jerusalem this week — more than four decades after it was last seen by the public. The 24-foot scroll with the text of the Bible's Book of Isaiah had been in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum since 1967. It went on display two years earlier, but curators replaced it with a facsimile after noticing new cracks in the calfskin parchment.
The museum decided to put the scroll back on show for three m
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 13, 2008
Albert Einstein regarded religions as "childish" and "primitive legends", a private letter he wrote a year before his death has revealed.
The great scientist's views on religion have long been debated, with many seizing upon phrases such as "He [God] does not throw dice" as evidence that he believed in a creator.
But the newly-unveiled letter, a response to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, has cast doubt on the theory that Einstein had any bel
Source: WaPo
May 13, 2008
Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University,
Source: Malloy website
May 13, 2008
HNN Editor: A few weeks ago Sean Malloy, an assistant professor at the School of Social Sciences at the University of California Merced, posted pictures purportedly never seen before of the effects of the Hiroshima bombing. He has now withdrawn those photographs after questions were raised about their provenance.
The Robert L. Capp collection at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University contains ten photographs p
Source: Reuters
May 12, 2008
France may posthumously clear the names of hundreds of soldiers shot for refusing to obey orders to fight during World War One, the minister in charge of veterans' affairs has told a newspaper.
"I am considering a way of rehabilitating, on a case by case basis, those shot as an example during the First World War," Jean-Marie Bockel told Monday's edition of Le Figaro.
"My officials are considering the overall dossier minutely because not all the cases are
Source: Dallas Morning News
May 12, 2008
For more than 30 years, members of the clandestine Naval air squadron VO-67 could not talk about their role in the Vietnam War.
Now, as they prepare to go to Washington on Wednesday to receive the presidential unit citation – the highest award for heroism given to a military unit – they find the recognition bittersweet....
In late 1967, the members of naval anti-submarine patrol units began receiving orders to report for a special operation.
The 300 officer
Source: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov
May 12, 2008
U.S. Navy mine-hunting technology has a potential dual use to help NOAA find historic shipwrecks by allowing maritime archaeologists to “see” below the seafloor. With greater resolutions and access to deeper depths, maritime archaeologists can better understand submerged cultural and historic resources without disturbing those sites.
This technology will be put through its paces at AUVfest 2008 from May 12 – 23 in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Hosted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (N
Source: National Geographic News
May 12, 2008
Inca surgeons in ancient Peru commonly and successfully removed small portions of patients' skulls to treat head injuries, according to a new study.
The surgical procedure—known as trepanation—was most often performed on adult men, likely to treat injuries suffered during combat, researchers say.
A similar procedure is performed today to relieve pressure caused by fluid buildup following severe head trauma.
Source: Washington Times
May 12, 2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Rose Law Firm billing records, found in the White House residence in January 1996 two years after they had been subpoenaed by government regulators, disappeared shortly after the first lady was warned that the firm's billing problems were "very serious" and the then-ongoing Whitewater investigation could result in criminal charges, newly obtained records show.
More than 1,100 pages of grand jury testimony, investigative reports, memos, charging doc
Source: Oregonian
May 12, 2008
Portland Public Schools is poised to adopt a new curriculum today, making the district the first in the state to use a textbook exploring Oregon's racial history.
'This is not your traditional Oregon history kids may have learned in social studies class in fourth grade,' said Marcia Arganbright, district director of curriculum and instruction.
'Beyond the Oregon Trail: Oregon's Untold History' is one of four books recommended for eighth-grade social studies classes.
Source: AP
May 12, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court tossed itself off a big case Monday.
The court could not take up an apartheid dispute involving some of the largest U.S. companies because too many of the justices had investments or other ties with those corporate giants.
It appeared to be the first time in at least a quarter-century that the justices' financial holdings prevented them from taking a case.
The result is that a lawsuit will go forward accusing dozens of corporations of
Source: Evan Thomas in Newsweek
May 12, 2008
The outcome of this November's election may hinge on a single question: which presidential candidate will prevail among the "Reagan Democrats"? Those traditionally Democratic voters made history—and a place in the political lexicon—in 1980 when they bolted their party's disarrayed ranks to swing the polls in Ronald Reagan's favor. Until recently, however, few liberal-leaning historians took a respectful look at the Reagan phenomenon. That's finally changing, with the publication of Sea
Source: http://www.newbernsj.com
May 11, 2008
With roots that date to a period of religious intolerance in Colonial North Carolina, worshippers at New Bern's First Baptist Church gave thanks Sunday for religious freedom, beginning a year-long 200th anniversary celebration.
Since the church was founded in the home of Elijah Clark at Middle and Craven streets in May 1809, its influence has gone beyond the boundaries of the city, with pastors who were instrumental in the formation of the state Baptist organization and its educatio
Source: AFP
May 11, 2008
Wikipedia, the upstart Internet encyclopedia that most universities forbid students to use, has suddenly become a teaching tool for professors.
Recently, university teachers have swapped student term papers for assignments to write entries for the free online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia is an "open-source" web site, which means that entries can be started or edited by anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
Writing for Wikipedia "seems l
Source: thinkspain
May 11, 2008
The wreck of a 13th or 14th century ship has come to light on a construction site in Barcelona's Barceloneta district - beside the Balaurd del Migdia and behind Francia train station - that used to be under water.
The remains were discovered at around seven metres below sea level on the site of a new residential apartment block being built by the Sacyr Vallehermoso company on a plot previously owned by Renfe.
Since July 2006, when work began, experts from Barcelona's Ar
Source: NYT
May 11, 2008
The secret of his transformation, which has brought him to the brink of claiming the Democratic presidential nomination, can be described as the politics of maximum unity.
He moved from his leftist Hyde Park base to more centrist circles; he forged early alliances with the good-government reform crowd only to be embraced later by the city’s all-powerful Democratic bosses; he railed against pork-barrel politics but engaged in it when needed; and he empathized with the views of his Pa
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 11, 2008
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas are about to go at it again. And again. And again.
Illinoisans will soon start seeing a lot more stovepipe hats and mustache-less beards as the state hosts a series of events celebrating the landmark Lincoln-Douglas debate over the morality of slavery.
Reunion Tour '08 kicks off June 14-16 in Springfield, where Lincoln will redeliver his famous "House Divided" speech in the Old State Capitol. While Lincoln's June 16, 1858
Source: AP
May 11, 2008
GRAFTON, W.Va. — On this 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, the woman credited with creating one of the world's most celebrated holidays probably wouldn't be pleased with all the flowers, candy or gifts.
Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation — she felt it signified the purity of a mother's love.
Jarvis, who never married and never had children, got the Mother's Day idea after her mother said it would be nice if someone created a memorial to mother
Source: BBC
May 11, 2008
John Prescott urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown but says the former PM was "scared" of his chancellor.
In his memoirs, serialised in the Sunday Times, Mr Prescott says he also urged Mr Brown to stand down and fight Mr Blair from the Labour back benches.
The ex-deputy prime minister also says Mr Blair reneged on several promises to step aside for Mr Brown, who he describes as "annoying and prickly".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he
Source: Roger Pulvers in Japan Times
May 11, 2008
When it comes to making amends, it's never too late. If there were a single principle to guide us in our relations with others — either on a personal or a broader scale — it would be this.
On Feb. 19, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast of the United States, across the Pacific from America's then-enemy. More than 110,000 of these people, over 60 percent of them American
