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: NYT
Aug 31, 2005
Even as the economy grew, incomes stagnated last year and the poverty rate rose, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first time on record that household incomes failed to increase for five straight years. Over all, the poverty rate increased to 12.7 percent, from 12.5 percent in 2003. Poverty levels have changed only modestly in the last three decades, rising in the 1980's and falling in the 1990's, after having dropped sharply in the 1960's. They reached a low of 11.1 percent in 1973
Source: Houston Chronicle
Aug 31, 2005
Nearly half a century after they faced down a mob to integrate Little Rock Central High School, the Little Rock Nine stood together outside the Statehouse on Tuesday and unveiled statues of themselves in that defiant walk. Some cried as they pulled away the sheets draping their individual statues and saw themselves as they were in 1957.
Elizabeth Eckford looked at the statue of herself leading the way into the school and smiled and joked about the mo
Source: Wa Po
Aug 31, 2005
Cindy Sheehan: anti-American communist? That was the accusation coming yesterday from the Heritage Foundation, which hosted author John J. Tierney Jr. for a forum titled "The Politics of Peace: What's Behind the Anti-War Movement?" Tierney researched the movement for a book and came up with some choice descriptions. "I have to say it is communist," he told an audience at the conservative think tank, also describing the groups involved as "revolutionary socialistic"
Source: Wa Po
Aug 31, 2005
Charities and the federal government launched what aid agencies predicted could be the longest and costliest relief effort in U.S. history, as workers began arriving last night in states devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and as the U.S. military organized an intensive response by already stretched National Guard and active-duty forces. The American Red Cross, working in concert with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called its plan to house and feed tens of thousands of people the biggest
Source: Chicago Trib
Aug 31, 2005
Despite an emphasis on the theme of race, the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is staffed overwhelmingly by white workers--an unacceptable irony for a complex that celebrates history's Great Emancipator, the head of a minority watchdog group charged Tuesday. "When you look at what the man stood for and what he was about, it just doesn't match," said Roy Williams, who heads the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government.Williams called
Source: CNN
Aug 31, 2005
A deal reached between school officials and a conservancy group paves the way to demolish the landmark hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, but would allocate money to help preserve historic schools around the district.Under the agreement passed Tuesday by the Los Angeles Unified School District board, a group of historic preservationists will drop lawsuits seeking to prevent the district from razing the hotel, in exchange for the district giving $4.
Source: MosNews
Aug 31, 2005
As Russia prepared to mark the 150th anniversary of the heroic defense of its southern port of Sevastopol, Russian historians released sensational archive data refuting the traditional interpretation of the reasons and outcome of the Crimean War (1853-1856), RIA-Novosti reported Wednesday.Scholars have discovered sensational documents at the Foreign Ministry’s archives of the Russian Empire, Sheremet’s colleague, historian-orientalist Mikhail Yakushev added. Those papers she
Source: AP
Aug 31, 2005
A retired carpenter who has lived in the United States for more than 50 years was stripped of his U.S. citizenship Tuesday for taking part in a police organization that helped the Nazis round up Ukrainian Jews during World War II. Osyp Firishchak, 86, could face deportation proceedings under an order issued by federal Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan.In his decision, the judge said Firishchak lied during a three-day civil trial when he denied being a member of the Ukrainian Auxili
Source: Guardian
Aug 31, 2005
A shock campaign involving mutilated Michelangelos and beaten-up Botticellis is to be launched at Italians over the next few weeks, to get them used to the idea of contributing personally to the upkeep of their vast cultural heritage.Italy's state-owned broadcaster, Rai, has been enlisted for the onslaught featuring the destruction of some of the country's most famous art treasures and cultural sites under the slogan: "Without your help, Italy could lose something."
Source: Epoch Times
Aug 30, 2005
An international team of researchers have discovered after chemical analyses, that organics absorbed and preserved in pottery jars from the Neolithic village of Jiahu, in Henan province, Central China contained a beverage of rice, honey, and fruit made as early as 9,000 years ago. The discovery was made by an international team of researchers including the University of Pennsylvania Museum’s archaeochemist Dr. Patrick McGovern of MASCA (Museum Applied Science Cen
Source: White House Website
Aug 30, 2005
President Bush on Tuesday said, "I'm also proud to stand with those whose achievements we commemorate today, the military veterans of World War II. In war, America called you from your farms and your schools and your factories to defeat two of the most ruthless armies the world has known. ... And in a lasting peace that has been your greatest legacy, America confirmed the power of freedom to transform the bitterest of enemies into the closest of friends."
Here's the
Source: Reuters
Aug 30, 2005
A quarter of a century after its birth, Poland's Solidarity remains an inspiration for Europe and pro-democracy movements round the world, leaders and activists said on the eve of the union's 25th anniversary.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the spirit of solidarity which was the driving force of the 1980s non-violent revolt that led to the overthrow of communism was still much needed in today's European Union.
Source: Yahoo News
Aug 30, 2005
The National Archives announced on Tuesday that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., had discovered a "large volume" of unreviewed and unreleased Roberts documents that were filed under a code instead of under Roberts' name. Additional employees from the Archives have been sent to the Reagan library to review the documents to determine what or how much can be released, officials said.Roberts' confirmation hearing will begin nex
Source: Expatica
Aug 30, 2005
German President Horst Koehler Tuesday in Warsaw assured Poles no serious political force in Germany wants or intends to revise the history of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. The statement came in response to Polish fears that a planned Berlin-based centre documenting the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe after the WWII defeat of Nazi Germany could be used to skew or revise historical facts about Germany's role as the primary aggressor during the war.
Source: Guardian
Aug 30, 2005
Travelling in Africa, you sometimes find it hard to avoid being scared or, perhaps more honestly, creepily thrilled by horrors that catch you entirely by surprise. Driving by the seaside, you notice big numbers on placards on the dunes. What are they? Oh, that's where the ex-president used to have people shot. This has been a year in which such images were supposed to be turned upside down. The thesis of the Africa 05 festival is that we have become too used to bad news from the continent.
Source: Daily Telegraph (London)
Aug 30, 2005
Almost completely forgotten during the bitter battles over Japan's anthem is that the origins of this contentious piece of music can be traced back to John William Fenton, bandmaster of Britain's 10th Foot Regt, 1st Bn.Fenton arrived in Japan in 1868, the year Japanese modernisers overthrew the medieval shogunate and replaced it with a constitutional monarchy.
His regiment, later renamed the Royal Lincolnshire Regt, had come to protect the small foreign communit
Source: Boston Globe
Aug 30, 2005
As Governor Mitt Romney mulls a race for president in 2008, his strategists expect their "family values" candidate who opposes gay marriage, abortion, and some forms of embryonic stem cell research to find a natural base of support among religious conservatives. But an examination of the views of powerful Christian right groups suggests that, even as some of these voters might appreciate Romney's lifelong commitment to his church, the governor's Mormon faith could become an obstacle f
Source: Balt Sun
Aug 30, 2005
Starting today in Washington World War II veterans from the China-Burma-India theater will observe the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, commemorating the victory over Japan. These veterans of what has been called the "forgotten theater" will have a weeklong reunion, their last."Everyone is old or gone," said Helen Rogan Heil. "Lots of others are sick or physically unable to make trips. This is like a family breaking up. The reunion is our last hurr
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Aug 30, 2005
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION will move its annual meeting from San Francisco next year -- as it did last year and as a handful of other scholarly organizations have done recently -- because of a labor dispute involving the city's hotel workers.
Source: Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Aug 30, 2005
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is trying to get 10,000 signatures on this petition (launched at 11:00 am EST Tuesday, Aug. 30) immediately - and more names as the weeks go by. The petition is designed to draw attention to allegedly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity on California campuses, both inside and outside the classroom. THE PETITION:
To: Governor of Califormia, University of California and California State University Officials
Open Let
