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: Deutsche Welle
May 5, 2008
Normal relations between Germany and Israel are unimaginable in light of the
Holocaust. But the two countries have managed to develop a friendly parthership
based on solidarity, even if its start was difficult.
German President Horst Koehler said during a speech to Israel's parliament, the
Knesset, that normality could not exist between Germany and Israel. That was in
2005, when the two countries had already been fostering diplomatic relations for
40 years. The feeling that nothing co
Source: Guardian
May 5, 2008
Archaeologists and scientists have revealed that 1,000 years ago cod was traded extraordinary distances across Europe, from the Norwegian Arctic to England and the Baltic.
The research may force yet another revision of the image of the Vikings, from longship ram-raiders, to mainly traders and colonising farmers, to the fishmongers of Europe. Vikings in York were eating cod caught off the Norwegian coast.
Source: http://www.wjbc.com
May 5, 2008
There are plenty of places in Downstate Illinois, including here in Bloomington-Normal, to find Abe Lincoln. Promoting them is the job of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is announcing congressional approval of $15 million over 15 years to promote the local projects. The allocation awaits the signature of President Bush.
Durbin says the $15 million over 15 years does not sound like much, but there will be plenty of publici
Source: NYT
May 5, 2008
A 246-foot tall, rocket ship-like monument to the late ruler of Turkmenistan, topped with a golden statue of himself that rotates to always face the sun, will be removed from the center of the Turkmen capital, state news media there have reported.
A decision by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to move the monument was his latest step in dismantling the personality cult of Saparmurat Niyazov, whose often bizarre decrees turned the isolated, energy-rich country into the punch li
Source: NYT
May 5, 2008
A memorial to Boris N. Yeltsin was dedicated late last month in a central spot in Russia’s most illustrious cemetery, a landscape of earnest tributes to generals and composers, mathematicians and diplomats. The veil was lifted, and there it was: a slab that brought to mind a giant, wobbly, tricolor birthday cake.
Many passers-by do not know what to make of it, which seems fitting, given that it honors a man whose legacy these days remains just as confounding.
Mr. Yeltsi
Source: NYT
May 5, 2008
As envisioned by its designer, the memorial to the victims who died on Sept. 11, 2001, when United Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., would follow the topography of the bowl-shaped land, creating a circular pathway ringed by trees, all focused on the “sacred ground” of the crash site near the bottom of the circle.
But almost from the moment the winning entry for the memorial was chosen in 2005 over 1,058 others it has been beset by controversy, most of it coming f
Source: AFP
May 5, 2008
A new building boom is sweeping Germany -- royal palaces destroyed during or after World War II that are set to rise again.
Planning is underway to rebuild long-destroyed palaces in Berlin, Hanover and Potsdam; a former royal hunting lodge in the west could also rise again soon; a palace in Dresden is nearing completion and last year, the exterior of a Braunschweig palace was completed.
After World War II, many German cities rebuilt damaged and destroyed palaces and his
Source: BBC
May 5, 2008
France has reopened a labyrinth of medieval quarries under the northern town of Arras which the British army converted into an underground hideout for 24,000 soldiers during World War I. The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby went to investigate.
Eighteen metres (60ft) underground and immediately I'm cold, slightly unnerved by the dimness of the light and very uncomfortable as the chalky ceilings constantly drip freezing water on my head.
Although these secret caves were a huge step
Source: The Trail (WaPo blog)
May 5, 2008
After sitting on the story for nearly eight years, Arianna Huffington said this afternoon that John McCain told her soon after the 2000 election that he did not vote for George W. Bush.
The private conversation took place at a Los Angeles dinner party, she said, and the senator's wife Cindy said she didn't vote for Bush either. The liberal blogger, who posted the account on her website today, said McCain's declaration came after a tirade in which he criticized Bush's tactics against
Source: LAT
May 5, 2008
Five years after his retirement, ex-firefighter Tom Bramell still likes to visit Station No. 6 for old times' sake, whistling in amazement at all the changes -- the strange faces and slick high-tech engines.
But one thing remains exactly the same, and it's what Bramell misses the most about his firefighting days. The sturdy little object hangs from the ceiling in the firehouse's engine bay, emitting its familiar faint orange glow.
He calls it the long-lived lightbulb of
Source: Times (UK)
May 5, 2008
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” quipped Sir Winston Churchill. For a man remembered as a towering statesmen his prediction has proved overwhelmingly true - although not in Dundee.
This week, in a symbolic moment, the city where Churchill spent 15 years as an MP before being cast by voters into political wilderness will begin its reconciliation by unveiling its first memorial to Britain's most celebrated leader.
The small bronze plaque, just 70cm b
Source: http://www.newarkadvocate.com
May 5, 2008
Trying to preserve the Union during a tumultuous time in history, several prominent local men conspired and manufactured artifacts to support an emerging anti-slavery theory.
Known as Newark's Holy Stones, the artifacts later were proven to be fake. But two local men have done extensive research to discover the reasons behind the conspiracy.
Brad Lepper, an Ohio Historical Society archaeologist, first learned of the pair of hand-carved stones found in the Newark area in
Source: LiveScience
May 5, 2008
The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s was arguably one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. New computer simulations reveal the whipped-up dust is what made the drought so severe.
Scientists have known that poor land use and natural atmospheric conditions led to the rip-roaring dust storms in the Great Plains in the 1930s. Climate models in the past few years also have revealed the effect of sea surface temperatures on the Dust Bowl.
"What is new
Source: Newsweek
May 5, 2008
In 1931, when Franklin Roosevelt was considering whether he should, and could, run for the presidency, he called in three physicians to advise on his physical capability. They reported that the man who had contracted polio ten years earlier, losing all movement in his legs, was indeed in good health—and, furthermore, that he had "no symptoms of impotentia coeundi." "In plain English," writes historian Joseph E. Persico, "he could sustain an erection."
I
Source: WaPo
May 4, 2008
The new black revolution, as singer Gil Scott-Heron famously predicted, is not being televised.
It is raging online.
A growing cadre of young black activists is using the Internet in an attempt to eclipse traditional civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and hit the refresh button on the civil rights movement. Bloggers with names such as the Cruel Secretary, and blogs called What About Our Daughters? and the African American Political Pundit, have railed against
Source: http://www.independent.ie
May 4, 2008
Priceless archaeological treasures are being "left exposed in open-air sites" because the National Museum of Ireland has accumulated so many artifacts that it has no place to store them.
An unanticipated consequence of the massive road-building programme is that archaeology is one of the State's largest growth industries.
Source: http://www.eveningsun.com
May 4, 2008
Marilynn Phillips says she is "cautiously optimistic" about the response of the National Park Service to her concerns about the accessibility of the new Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center.
In fact, the disabilities-rights activist said she may hold off on filing a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission if the matter is addressed soon by park officials.
Phillips visited the newly opened center last week and said she
Source: http://www.centredaily.com
May 4, 2008
For decades, visitors willing to shell out a few extra dollars at Gettysburg National Military Park could be entertained - or bored - watching an electric light display showing troop movements in that pivotal Civil War battle.
With the opening of a new museum and visitor center that offers a bigger "wow" factor for the park's nearly 2 million yearly visitors, the National Park Service has decided that its 1960s-era electric battlefield map has outlived its usefulness.
Source: AP
May 4, 2008
The 130-acre property was exactly what Michel Guite and his family wanted: an old Vermont farm with mountain views, rolling hills and meadows.
There was, however, one wrinkle: The property included a small family cemetery — with the grave of a War of 1812 veteran — surrounded by a fence on a scenic knoll.
His proposal to move the graveyard so he can build a house and barn has set off protests. The town has passed a resolution aimed at blocking the move, a descendant of
Source: NYT
May 4, 2008
BLACK liberation theology was a radical movement born of a competitive time.
By the mid-1960s, the horns of Jericho seemed about to sound for the traditional black church in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. was yielding to Malcolm X. Young black preachers embraced the Nation of Islam and black intellectuals sought warmth in the secular and Marxist-tinged fire of the black power movement.
As a young, black and decidedly liberal theologian, James H. Cone saw his
