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
Oct 2, 2011
PEANUT ISLAND, Fla. — A nuclear bomb shelter was a must-have in the 1950s and ’60s.Magazines displayed backyard do-it-yourself versions. Castro Convertibles pitched its foldaway “jet beds” as bunker-ready. And a pair of publicity-savvy newlyweds actually spent their honeymoon inside one for 14 days.President John F. Kennedy, who was facing a series of nail-biting face-offs with the Soviets, even recommended a fallout shelter for all Americans “as rapidly as possible” in an October 1961 speech. Two months later, Kennedy was presented with his own top-secret tropical bomb shelter off Palm Beach, Fla., on an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean.Few even know it is here, but some area residents believe that the bunker is a must-see attraction that could put Peanut Island, a manmade islet, on the map....
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Oct 2, 2011
...The enigmatic work, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris, has been the subject of speculation for centuries. Now Donato Pezzutto, a Canadian doctor and amateur art historian, has come up with a startling theory about the work’s background.He maintains if the right and left halves of the painting are reversed and aligned, the landscape that emerges is a scene from central Italy which corresponds to the da Vinci’s own map of the area....
Source: AP
Oct 2, 2011
YORK, Pa. (AP) — A replica of a Civil War-era train could be rolling through central Pennsylvania in time for the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, if members of a York County nonprofit have their way.Steam into History Inc. says the project will combine the history of the Northern Central Railway and the Civil War in York County.Co-chair Bill Simpson tells the York Daily Record (http://bit.ly/o23lsr ) that he sees the train drawing railroad buffs and history enthusiasts from far and wide to the area.
Source: LiveScience
Oct 1, 2011
Instead of Neanderthals being dim-witted hunters who only dined on big game, new findings suggest they had more balanced diets, with broad menus that may have included birds, fish and plants.Neanderthals are currently our closest known extinct relatives, near enough to modern humans to interbreed, with Neanderthal DNA making up 1 percent to 4 percent of modern Eurasian genomes. A host of recent findings suggest they were not only close genetically, but may have shared many other traits with us, such as creating art.Still, the term "Neanderthal" has long been synonymous with "stupid." "Since they went extinct, conventional wisdom says they were dumber than us," said researcher Bruce Hardy, a paleoanthropologist at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio....
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee this week announced it would markup a bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) on October 18. Sen. Tom Harkin, (D-IA), the committee chairman, and Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) the ranking Republican have been engaged in negotiations since early this year in crafting the bill.While the legislation has yet to be introduced, according to Education Week, it will be a comprehensive bill. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline (R-MN) has taken the opposite approach passing a series of smaller bills targeted at specific issues and sections of the ESEA. For example, his committee earlier this year approved H.R. 1891 the “Setting New Priorities in Education Act.” This bill would eliminate 43 programs at the Department of Education including Teaching American History (TAH) grants.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
On Sept. 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a Fiscal Year 2012 funding bill (S. 1599) that includes $46 million for the Teaching American History (TAH) grants program at the Department of Education. However a draft House Appropriations Committee version of the bill released on Sept. 29 would eliminate funding for TAH.The Teaching American History Grants program received $46 million in FY 11, but that funding went to existing TAH grantees.The Senate Appropriations Committee also recently marked up the Fiscal Year 2012 Financial Services and General Government (FS&GG) funding bill (S. 1573) that includes $5 million for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).This amount is $1.986 million less than the NHPRC received in FY ’11. However, it is the amount the Obama administration requested for FY ’12. As passed earlier this year the House Appropriations Committee’s version of the FS&GG FY ’12 bill only provides $1 million for the NHPRC.The federal government continues to function on a week-long continuing resolution (CR) since the current fiscal year expires on September 30. When it returns from recess next week Congress is expected to consider a longer CR that will run until November 18.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has signed a cooperative agreement with the University of Virginia and its Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to provide pre-publication access to 68,000 historical papers of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington that have not yet been published in authoritative documentary editions.The agreement provides up to $2.5 million for the project.Documents Compass, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, affiliated with the University of Virginia, is carrying out this three-year project. Documents Compass, a program specializing in documentary editing in the electronic age, will update and improve existing transcriptions of the papers of the Founders of the Nation and make them available online through a new website. This work builds on its successful 2009 pilot project, funded through an NHPRC grant, which put online 5,000 unpublished documents from the Papers of James Madison and the Papers of John Adams.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
On September 29, the National Archives and Records Administration announced that it has selected IBM to provide operations and maintenance of the Electronic Records Archives system (ERA).This award represents the achievement of a goal established by the Archivist of the United States and is consistent with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget to conclude development of the ERA System by the end of September 2011.ERA is designed to receive, preserve, and provide access to the permanently-valuable electronic records created by the Federal government. Deployed in five increments, ERA has multiple instances to handle the unique needs of electronic records from Federal agencies, Presidential Administrations, and the U.S. Congress.As a central part of the National Archives mission to provide access to records documenting the actions of the Federal government, the ERA system has an Online Public Access component to make these electronic records searchable and accessible to the general public.The contract award is for one base year with nine one-year options. Performance of the contract will take place in Gaithersburg and College Park, Maryland and Rocket Center, West Virginia.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
On September 15, the White House released an Open Government Status Report detailing a series of changes they have made to make the Executive branch more open since the beginning of the Obama Administration in January 2009.The report focuses on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Open Government Directive, Data.gov, spending transparency, White House transparency, and efforts to limit the use of security restrictions to keep information secret. Notably, the report acknowledges that the Administration has more work to do to meet the level of unprecedented openness the President committed to creating on his first day in office, and includes a description of the Administration’s plans to build on their transparency initiatives.The report focuses on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Open Government Directive, Data.gov, spending transparency, White House transparency, and efforts to limit the use of security restrictions to keep information secret.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
The National Archives and Records Administration is completing a multi-year nationwide reappraisal of the historical significance of our nation’s court records. Recent articles and postings have led to some confusion on what is occurring. In reality, the National Archives has developed objective criteria by which District Court case files are identified for permanent retention.Archives appraisal staff led a nationwide project, meeting with District Court judges and clerks, legal scholars and historians, reviewing files for each type of civil case to determine the value, having the scholars and historians review the appraisal and recommended disposition, and publishing the schedule in the Federal Register seeking public comment.Under the previous schedule for District Court civil case files, only the case files that went to trial were scheduled as permanent records. Non-trial cases were appraised as temporary unless they were specifically identified to be “historically significant.” The National Archives believed that non-trial cases often had historical significance, but were not being identified.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
On September 8, the National Coalition for History joined OpenTheGovernment.org, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and other groups in sending a letter urging the Administration to create a Presidential Advisory Committee on Open Government under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA).The hope is this committee will be a key objective in the initial U.S. OGP Action Plan scheduled to be announced today as part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).The OGP is an initiative that will bring together partners from many countries and sectors to support governments’ efforts to become more transparent, accountable, and participation.This Committee would help raise the profile of open government on the international stage, throughout the U.S. federal government, and set an example for other countries. A Presidential Advisory Committee on Open Government, subject to the constraints and responsibilities of FACA, is a good model for effectively developing an action plan and can help build a stronger foundation for open government work. Learn more about the proposal here.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
On August 18, 2011, the National Archives released the statement below, addressing an allegation that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had been destroying documents it wasn’t authorized to destroy.“In July 2010, the National Archives contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding an allegation that the SEC had been destroying files pertaining to Matters Under Inquiry (MUI) for the past 17 years. Because a NARA-approved disposition schedule did not exist for these records, the SEC did not have authority to dispose of them per the Federal Records Act, 44 USC 3314 and 36 CFR 1220.18.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Sep 30, 2011
OpenTheGovernment.org recently released the 2011 Secrecy Report, a quantitative report on indicators of government secrecy. This year’s report chronicles positive changes in some indicators of secrecy as a result of the Obama Administration’s openness directives.The indicators tracked by the report also show a national security bureaucracy that continues to expand the size of the secret government. Formerly known as the Secrecy Report Card, this year’s edition includes a “Progress Report on Openness and Secrecy in the Obama Administration” that shows success, although uneven, in carrying through on past commitments and some troubling trends.One more significant addition to the 2011 Secrecy Report is the inclusion of FOIA data from users’ perspectives. The report analyzes the often inexplicably long delays users face in receiving information they request from the government and brings attention to other issues that continually complicate users’ attempts to get government information.
Source: CNN.com
Sep 30, 2011
Washington (CNN) - Standing over the letter, one would never know its unique story. Worth millions at auction, reading it unveils that it stands as a testament to religious freedom in America. But as it stares up, idly sitting there, the stories of “erotic” behavior, twisted ownership and historic encounters are lost on those lucky enough to see it.The primary spirit of the letter is clear – the United States government will assure religious freedom, giving “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”George Washington wrote those words in a 1790 letter to the the congregation of a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. He was hoping to reassure the congregation that the budding government of the United States would allow free expression to all religions. Since then, Jews in America have flourished.The letter is addressed “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island,” but it is kept from public view, which hurts and angers those who think private ownership defies the letter’s original sentiment.
Source: LiveScience
Sep 30, 2011
Researchers have identified what is believed to be the world's earliest surviving Christian inscription, shedding light on an ancient sect that followed the teachings of a second-century philosopher named Valentinus.Officially called NCE 156, the inscription is written in Greek and is dated to the latter half of the second century, a time when the Roman Empire was at the height of its power.An inscription is an artifact containing writing that is carved on stone. The only other written Christian remains that survive from that time period are fragments of papyri that quote part of the gospels and are written in ink. Stone inscriptions are more durable than papyri and are easier to display. NCE 156 also doesn't quote the gospels directly, instead its inscription alludes to Christian beliefs....
Source: Fairfax Times
Sep 30, 2011
After criticism in regard to factual errors removed it from classrooms last school year, a fourth-grade Virginia history textbook gained reapproval by the State Board of Education on Sept. 22.Factual errors were discovered in “Our Virginia: Past and Present” by a College of William & Mary history professor whose child brought the book home from school. In March, the Board of Education voted to remove its approval of the book and another book published by Five Pond Press — “Our America to 1865.”At that time, the board agreed to reconsider approval of the books if the publisher corrected the errors. In June, Five Pond Press submitted a second edition of both books with reviews. Initial review began in July, followed by a 30-day public comment period, during which time eight comments were submitted. Most of the feedback focused on credibility of the textbooks because of the initial errors, as well as remaining errors found in the book, according to state education staff....
Source: Reuters
Sep 29, 2011
KABUL (Reuters) - While everyone else is worrying about Afghanistan's future, a dedicated band of men and women is gathering up its past, hoping that a growing museum collection will show the world Afghan culture is more sophisticated than the tide of news reports suggest.Kabul's rebuilt National Museum, near the haunting remains the bombed-out royal palace, is running out of secure rooms to house centuries-old Buddhas, gold and silver coins from antiquity and other rare artefacts.Many of the museum's original pieces were broken, destroyed or stolen during the Taliban era or the civil war that preceded it in the 1990s, but some have been pieced back together and a series of archaeological digs have also unearthed new treasures.Among the fresh discoveries are a wooden Buddha dating back to the fifth century and Buddha heads made of clay and plaster....
Source: Richmond Times Dispatch
Sep 29, 2011
Steven Spielberg and the production team from his film “Lincoln” will attend a reception on Monday at the Executive Mansion, one of the locations the crew plans to use for filming.Gov. Bob McDonnell will host the soiree to welcome the crew to the state and “thank all involved in landing this major job-creating project for Virginia,” according to the governor’s office.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Sep 29, 2011
WHEN word spread of the sensational discovery of the well-preserved Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century, ''Pompeiian red'' became the favoured colour for smart dining rooms - as it remains today.But, it seems, it may be time to get out the paint chart.Research presented to Sapienza University in Rome concludes that large swathes of the vivid Pompeiian red frescoes in the town actually began life yellow - and were turned red by the gases emitted from Vesuvius as it erupted in AD79.Advertisement: Story continues below
Experts have long realised that some of the characteristic vivid reds of the frescoes in Pompeii and Herculaneum were originally yellow. But a new study, conducted by Italy's National Institute of Optics, suggests the sheer extent of the colour change....
Source: WSJ
Sep 28, 2011
SOFIA, Bulgaria—On June 18, Bulgaria's capital awoke to find the statues in a monument to the Soviet armed forces brightly spray-painted as Superman, Ronald McDonald, Santa Claus, Captain America and The Joker.The characters, according to graffiti the pranksters left at the base of the monument, were now "in step with the times."...Ex-communists—rebranded as socialists—are still a force here. Until 2009, when they lost elections amid corruption allegations and economic failings, the Bulgarian Socialist Party was politically dominant. But as the EU's poorest country undergoes an austerity program to boost investor confidence, some are nostalgic for the more certain days of communism.To fight that trend, the government opened a museum Sept. 19 to showcase some of the more shameful sides of Bulgaria's communist past through wacky art and kitsch sculptures. Bulgaria is the latest ex-Soviet bloc country to open such a collection, and its Museum of Socialist Art is also the biggest, the government says....
