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: Fox News
Sep 22, 2012
BERLIN – Germany has launched a war crimes investigation against an 87-year-old Philadelphia man it accuses of serving as an SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp, The Associated Press has learned, following years of failed U.S. Justice Department efforts to have the man stripped of his American citizenship and deported.Johann "Hans" Breyer, a retired toolmaker, admits he was a guard at Auschwitz during World War II, but told the AP he was stationed outside the facility and had nothing to do with the wholesale slaughter of some 1.5 million Jews and others behind the gates.The special German office that investigates Nazi war crimes has recommended that prosecutors charge him with accessory to murder and extradite him to Germany for trial on suspicion of involvement in the killing of at least 344,000 Jews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland....
Source: NYT
Sep 22, 2012
Though even some of his closest aides did not know at the time, Kennedy recorded more than 260 hours of Oval Office conversations, telephone calls and dictation into his Dictaphone. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation has culled the highlights into a new book of annotated transcripts and two audio CDs. Some of the audio portions will be available online. The book, “Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy,” with a foreword by his daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and an introduction by Ted Widmer, a presidential historian at Brown University, offers “the raw material of history,” said Thomas Putnam, the director of the Kennedy Library.
Source: NYT
Sep 22, 2012
JOSEPH GOEBBELS, in a pinstripe suit, his hair slicked back, gave a simple but philosophical speech about the importance of music. Then, smiling, he handed over the violin to a young woman.The passing was captured on film: the violin’s elegant outline, the figure on its flamed-maple back, the wear pattern of its varnish.Japan’s ambassador to Germany, Hiroshi Oshima, was on hand to witness the transfer. Nejiko Suwa, 23, played her new gift on the spot....
Source: AP
Sep 21, 2012
A Harvard University journal says it hasn't fully verified research that purportedly shows some early Christians believed Jesus had a wife, even though Harvard's divinity school touted the research during a publicity blitz this week.The research centers on a fourth-century papyrus fragment containing Coptic text in which Jesus uses the words "my wife." On Tuesday, Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King announced at an international conference that the fragment was the only existing ancient text in which Jesus explicitly talks of having a wife.Harvard also said King's research was scheduled to be published in the Harvard Theological Review in January and noted the journal was peer-reviewed, which implied the research had been fully vetted...
Source: NYT
Sep 21, 2012
PARIS — President François Hollande inaugurated a new Holocaust memorial center on Friday with an address that underscored the direct approach he has taken to France’s collaborationist past, a grim and still uncomfortable chapter that French leaders and politicians have often preferred to skirt.The reality of French collaboration with the Nazis has been demonstrated and accepted, Mr. Hollande said in his address at the memorial, in Drancy, a city north of Paris that was the site of a major transit camp for Jews being deported to death camps in the east. He urged that the nation now turn to the “transmission,” or passing on, of that difficult history.
Source: Lee White for the National Coalition for History
Sep 21, 2012
September 21, 2012The Honorable Nathan Deal Governor of the State of Georgia 206 Washington Street Suite 203, State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334Dear Governor Deal:On behalf of the National Coalition for History (NCH) and other organizations listed below, I am writing to express our serious concerns regarding the continued uncertainty about the fate of the Georgia Archives, which as you know is currently slated to close on November 1 absent any resolution of funding issues. We appreciate your public commitment to keep the Archives open and accessible to the public.The National Coalition for History is a consortium of more than 60 organizations that represent tens of thousands of historians, archivists, political scientists, educators, students and researchers, both in the United States and abroad, including many in Georgia. As historians and conservators of American history and culture, we care deeply about the services, programs, and activities provided by the Georgia Archives.
Source: NYT
Sep 21, 2012
When Karen L. King, a historian of early Christianity, announced this week that she had identified a fragment of ancient Coptic text in which Jesus utters the words “my wife,” she said she was making the finding public — despite many unresolved questions — so that her academic colleagues could weigh in.And weigh in, they have. A few said that the papyrus must be a forgery. Others have questioned Dr. King’s interpretation of its meaning. Some have faulted her for publishing a paper on an item of unknown provenance. And many have criticized her decision to give the scrap of papyrus the attention-getting title “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” as if it had equal weight to other, lengthier texts that are known as Gospels.But even some of those casting doubt are also applauding her work. Many scholars said in interviews that they were excited by the discovery, because if it is genuine, it suggests at least one community of early adherents to Christianity believed that Jesus was married....
Source: Fox News
Sep 21, 2012
WARSAW, Poland – Capitalizing on low water levels in Warsaw's Vistula River, police are teaming up with archaeologists to recover gigantic marble and alabaster treasures that apparently were stolen from royals in Poland by Swedish invaders in the mid-17th century.A police Mi-8 helicopter hovered over a riverbed on Thursday, lifting ornaments such as the centerpiece of a fountain with water outlets decorated with Satyr-like faces.For police, it was gratifying to provide the chopper and assist Warsaw University archeologists in "this very important mission of retrieving priceless national treasures," said Mariusz Mrozek, a spokesman for Warsaw police....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 21, 2012
The discovery was made following the work of a team of German historians. Volunteers spent hours digging a muddy field looking for the RAF crew after the witness guided them to the site near Frankfurt.A Rolls Royce engine and landing gear of the Lancaster bomber was found followed by 'hundreds' of fragments of human bones in what would have been the cockpit.The dig was questioned by some locals who could not understand why the team were searching for British airmen who bombed their cities.Uwe Benkel, who led the search, said they felt obliged to find the missing men and bring comfort to their families who knew nothing of how or where they died....
Source: AP
Sep 21, 2012
Some of the loudest cheers Saturday at San Diego's gay pride parade were for active-duty troops marching in military dress, the first time that U.S. service members participated in such an event while in full uniform.Dozens of soldiers, sailors, and Marines marched alongside an old Army truck decorated with a "Freedom to Serve" banner and a rainbow flag. They were joined by dozens more military personnel in civilian clothes, but the uniforms stood out among the flower-bedecked floats and scantily clad revelers.Spectators waved signs reading, "Thank you for your service." A woman held a placard that said: "My gay son is a Naval officer.""Today is so important," said Navy Lt. Brian McKinney, who marched with his civilian partner, Hunter Hammonds. "It's about putting on my uniform and taking pride in my service, my fellow service-members, my family and myself. It's something I'm incredibly thankful for."In a memorandum sent to all its branches this year, the Defense Department said it was making the allowance for the San Diego event even though its policy generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades.
Source: Herald Online (SC)
Sep 20, 2012
McCONNELLS — After six years of research, historians say they have pinpointed the site of Huck’s Defeat – a skirmish in York County that set the stage for larger victories that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War against the British.The precise location of the battle officially remained a mystery for more than a century until York County historian Michael Scoggins and a team of archaeologists explored a 10-acre patch of land in Historic Brattonsville. The Culture & Heritage Museums of York County announced the discovery Thursday.History books can be updated to say that Huck’s Defeat took place near the home of James Williamson, a settler who lived close to the present-day town of McConnells in southwestern York County, Scoggins said.The discovery paves the way for a new, national historic site open to the public at the Brattonsville living history village, where Williamson’s 18th century plantation and the Huck’s Defeat battlefield are located....
Source: WaPo
Sep 20, 2012
CHICAGO — Ask Chicago guitar legend Buddy Guy about the future of the blues and he’ll give a depressing — but direct —answer.“It’s scary,” Guy said during an interview upstairs at his club, Buddy Guy’s Legends, in Chicago’s South Loop. “I’m still going to play my music because I love what I’m doing, but we need all the support we can to keep the blues alive.”After five decades in the business, Guy is doing what he can to make sure the genre — and his late contemporaries like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Junior Wells — lives on. Earlier this year Guy wrote his autobiography, “When I Left Home,” and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member is mentoring Massachusetts eighth-grader and blues guitarist Quinn Sullivan....
Source: WaPo
Sep 20, 2012
PARIS — In its boldest development in a generation, the Louvre Museum has a new wing dedicated to Islamic art, a nearly €100 million ($130 million) project that comes at a tense time between the West and the Muslim world.Louvre curators tout their new Islamic Art department, which took 11 years to build and opens to the public on Saturday, as a way to help bridge cultural divides. They say it offers a highbrow and respectful counterpart to the recent unflattering depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in Western media that have sparked protests by many Muslims.Still, one of the Louvre’s own consultants acknowledged that some Muslims could be “shocked” by three images of Muhammad with his face exposed in the new wing. Many Muslims believe the prophet should not be depicted at all — even in a flattering way — because it might encourage idolatry....
Source: WaPo
Sep 20, 2012
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Struggling with a chronically stagnant economy and one of the highest crime rates in the world, Jamaica is turning for help to a black nationalist leader who died more than 70 years ago.Marcus Garvey, who inspired millions of followers worldwide with messages of black pride and self-reliance, is being resurrected in a new mandatory civics program in schools across this predominantly black country of 2.8 million people....
Source: WaPo
Sep 20, 2012
There is no blood or spittle on the black skirt set, the honor roll report card and the 1960 diploma from Little Rock’s Central High School.These ordinary markers from a girlhood education, being donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, bear no obvious testament to their power to rend a nation.But in the middle of the American Century, as the country reckoned with its oldest business, battles over race and citizenship were fought by people who placed their highest stakes in ordinary places — lunch counters, water fountains, schools. For Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the “Little Rock Nine,”who in 1957, under escort from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, became the first black students to desegregate Central High, these items are artifacts of assertion....
Source: Politico
Sep 20, 2012
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told House GOP lawmakers in a closed meeting Thursday that this election was just like the 1980 contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.Ryan said Carter lead Reagan late in the race, and Republicans have taken to comparing 2012 to the campaign three decades ago....
Source: WaPo
Sep 19, 2012
Some people find certain numbers to be of great significance. For example, the Chinese find the number 8 to be very lucky. Americans find 13 to be very unlucky.The big number this week is 47, as in the 47 percent of irresponsible, freeloading voters that Mitt Romney decided months ago he can’t and won’t try to win over.Turns out 47 percent has a historical place in presidential campaign history. President Richard M. Nixon may have been the first to employ it, using it to great effect 40 years ago in his 1972 reelection campaign against Sen. George McGovern....
Source: WaPo
Sep 19, 2012
BERLIN — A collection of more than 400 recently rediscovered prints in which Dennis Hopper documented the U.S. arts scene of the mid-1960s, the civil rights movement and much more is going on show in Berlin — an exhibition that his children say offers an intimate glimpse at his youth.The black-and-white small-format photos in the exhibition, “Dennis Hopper — The Lost Album,” were taken between 1961 and 1967, when Hopper was out of favor in Hollywood and before he directed “Easy Rider,” which became a huge and unlikely success....
Source: WaPo
Sep 19, 2012
“I think it's important to place a red line before Iran. And I think that actually reduces the chance of military conflict because if they know there's a point, a stage in the enrichment or other nuclear activities that they cannot cross because they'll face consequences, I think they'll actually not cross it. And that's been proved time and again. President Kennedy put a red line before the Soviets in the Cuban missile crisis. He was criticized for it, but it actually pushed back the world from conflict and maybe purchased decades of peace.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on CNN’S “State of the Union,” Sept. 16, 2012Earlier in the week we looked at the Israeli Prime Minister’s comments on how close Iran was to acquiring the material for a nuclear weapon. Now, let’s examine the historical facts concerning his example of a “red line” — President John F. Kennedy’s actions during the Cuban missile crisis, which occurred almost exactly 50 years ago.
Source: NYT
Sep 19, 2012
LOS ANGELES — The space shuttle Endeavour traveled 122,883,151 miles during its 25 missions, bursting out of the atmosphere at more than 17,000 miles an hour. On the last flight of its 20-year career, a three-day victory lap across the country on the back of a transport aircraft, it will log a few thousand miles more before touching down for the final time on Friday at Los Angeles International Airport.But the final segment of Endeavour’s journey has proved perhaps the toughest yet: 12 miles through the dense urban landscape of Los Angeles, past streetlights and trees, to say nothing of city bureaucracy and politics, on its way to retirement at the California Science Center.
