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.bridgwatermercury.co.uk
Jul 21, 2007
ALMOST exactly 65 years after a World War Two plane crashed at Pawlett, killing its crew, the aircraft has been recovered - thanks to a ten-year labour of love by a Somerset man.
Plane enthusiast Tim Hake confesses to being "obsessed" with aviation archaeology, finding, researching and sometimes recovering aircraft from war-time crash sites.
Source: Daily Mail
Jul 21, 2007
A young German soldier poses proudly with his parents in a crumpled and torn old photograph.
It is typical of the type of photo thousands of soldiers would have had taken during the early days of Second World War to remind them of family and home.
But this particular snapshot holds a secret that could unlock a 60-year-old mystery – the whereabouts of a fabled hoard of looted Nazi gold worth 20 million pounds.
For scrawled in fading blue ink on the back of t
Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com
Jul 21, 2007
Archaeologists have confirmed that artefacts found in Buon Rau village, Hoa Tien Commune, in Krong Pak (Dac Lac) are as much as 3,000 years old.
Local farmers first unearthed what they thought to be antique ceramics and stone tools in 2001 while planting coffee and pepper. They passed them to Dac Lac museum and archaeologists began excavating a 1.5ha site in Buon Rau in 2003.
Source: Announcement posted on Iraq Crisis list
Jul 21, 2007
We are planning an exhibit on the ongoing looting of sites in Iraq that will
open in the Oriental Institute next April 10, the 5th anniversary of the
looting of the Iraq Museum. Although the special exhibit gallery at the OI
is of modest size, we hope that the exhibit will significantly increase
public awareness of the issue. We have contacted a number of interested
scholars, and wanted to make sure this announcement went out to a broad
audience to invite your suggestion and commment.
Source: Andrew Roberts in the Daily Mail
Jul 21, 2007
During the latter half of World War II, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) undertook a massive clandestine operation of which the full, extraordinary details are only now coming to light.
Between 1942 and 1945, a section of SIS - known as MI19 - secretly recorded no fewer than 64,427 conversations between captured German generals and other senior officers, all without their knowledge or even suspicion. The 167 most significant of these are about to be published for the fi
Source: BBC
Jul 21, 2007
A fresco painting by a Renaissance master which once decorated the bedroom of Pope Alexander VI in the Vatican has gone on show in Rome.
A leading Italian art historian and curator says he has documentary proof that it was once part of a much larger painting depicting the aged Pope kneeling in front of his youthful mistress, Giulia Farnese.
This is an unusual example of "damnatio memoriae" - a Latin phrase meaning "damnation of memory".
Source: AP
Jul 20, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO -- The site of a World War II explosion that killed 320 people -- more than 200 of them black sailors -- and sparked enough outrage about the treatment of the black survivors to fuel a movement to desegregate the military could become part of the National Park System under a new bill.
The measure, announced by U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., on Friday, would make Port Chicago Naval Magazine in the eastern San Francisco Bay eligible for federal funding to operate a v
Source: BBC
Jul 20, 2007
A last ditch bid to save an historic clipper from being broken up will be made later.
The Carrick, which pre-dates the Cutty Sark, was built at Sunderland in 1864 and is now berthed at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, Ayrshire.
North Ayrshire Council granted provisional permission for the ship to be demolished in February as it would cost almost £20m to restore it.
About 100 campaigners from Sunderland will call for the ship to be returned.
Or
Source: Peggy Noonan, in the WSJ in the course of a review of Robert Novak's memoir
Jul 20, 2007
Rowland Evans was Mr. Novak's partner in their successful column for 30 years. They complemented each other, Evans the patrician Democrat and Mr. Novak the rougher-edged Republican. But Mr. Novak says Evans, who died in March 2001, misled him about the depth of his friendship with frequent column subject Robert F. Kennedy, and the frequency of their contacts. Mr. Novak found out while researching his book, and from Evans's own mouth: the oral histories he left behind. Mr. Novak speaks of Evans i
Source: Times (UK)
Jul 20, 2007
Children must be taught landmark dates in chronological order from primary school, to give them a common sense of British history and identity, Ofsted tells the Government today.
Far from knowing the order of key events, such as the Battle of Hastings or the signing of Magna Carta, pupils have no overview of history and cannot answer the “big questions” it poses, the schools’ inspectorate has found.
Not only are key events in British and world history overlooked, but wi
Source: http://www.splcenter.org
Jul 20, 2007
The neo-Confederate movement isn't known for its racial diversity, but there long has been one dedicated black man willing to fight for the Southern cause: H.K. Edgerton. A constant fixture at protests in support of Confederate symbols, Edgerton at one point walked from his home in Asheville, N
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 20, 2007
History is becoming an endangered subject as growing numbers of children drop the subject at 14, according to Ofsted, the education watchdog.
Less than a third of pupils study GCSE history, meaning few learn about important historical themes when they are "mature enough" to do so.In a critical report published today, inspectors said pupils were being driven away because of overloaded timetables and lessons that were often dumbed down.
&quo
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 20, 2007
Two amateur treasure hunters are in line for a pay-out of up to 500,000 pounds after a small pot they found buried in a field turned out to contain the most important hoard of Viking silver and gold found in this country for 150 years.
Packed inside the ornately carved 8th century silver gilt pot, experts at the British Museum found 617 coins, jewellery and ingots from as far afield as Samarkand, Afghanistan, Russia, France, and Ireland. The pot had been buried in a field near Harro
Source: LAT
Jul 20, 2007
AMID ALL THE frenetic early maneuvering in the 2008 GOP presidential race, Republicans may be missing the elephant in the room: namely that the head of the herd is bleeding to death on the carpet.
That would be President Bush, whose approval rating scraped new lows last week. Bush won't be on the ballot in 2008, of course, but throughout American history, outgoing presidents have cast a long shadow over the campaign to succeed them. And when a departing president has been as unpopul
Source: Boston Globe
Jul 20, 2007
More than 60 years after a group of German officers tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler, international recognition that has eluded them for years may soon be on its way -- despite resistance from within Germany.
As the country marks the anniversary of the July 20, 1944 plot, historians say a new film starring Tom Cruise about the doomed attempt to blow up Hitler would bring the subject to a global audience. But it may trivialize the story too, they warn.The film's
Source: BBC
Jul 20, 2007
The most important Viking treasure find in Britain for 150 years has been unearthed by a father and son while metal detecting in Yorkshire.Metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan, who uncovered the treasures, said the find was a "thing of dreams". The pair, from Leeds, said the hoard was worth about £750,000 as a conservative estimate.
The ancient objects come from as far afield as Afghanistan in the East and Ireland in the West, as well as what is
Source: Leonard Garment, in a letter to the editor of the NYT
Jul 20, 2007
To the Editor:
Re “National Archives Release 11 Hours of Nixon Tapes” (news article, July 12):
Richard M. Nixon’s tape-recorded description of me, in a 1972 conversation with Charles Colson, as “house Jew” for Nixon’s second term was a characteristic piece of cynical Nixonian shorthand.
From the beginning of my service in the Nixon administration in 1969 I was a partisan of Jewish issues, particularly those involving the security of Israel.
As
Source: AP
Jul 20, 2007
President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday and temporarily hand presidential powers over to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said.
Press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Friday that Bush will have the procedure done at his Camp David, Md., mountaintop retreat....Because the president will be under the effects of anesthesia, he has elected to implement Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, making Cheney acting president
Source: AP
Jul 19, 2007
Archaeologists excavating the seabed off Cyprus have discovered the tools of ancient mariners, which they believe were used by foragers more than 10,000 years ago _ before the island had permanent settlements.
The underwater discovery of what archaeologists said were the oldest materials recovered off the island's coast could shed fresh light on the early history of Cyprus and Mediterranean seafaring.
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2007
Only one out of 18 publishers managed to spot plagiarised versions of Jane Austen novels, a writer says.
David Lassman, 43, from Bath, had his own attempt at a novel rejected by a string of publishers.
So he retyped parts of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, before sending them to publishers and agents.
Not only did most of the literary experts fail to spot the trick - none offered him a book contract.
