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: CBS
Apr 10, 2011
We are about to visit a place few people have seen firsthand: the Vatican Library, a vast collection of historic treasures beyond compare. It was founded over five centuries ago, when Europe was coming out of the Dark Ages. It was a period of so-called humanism when the Catholic church was open to new ideas in philosophy, science and the human spirit.
It's the pope's library, but it contains much more than just church documents. There are manuscripts going back nearly 2,000 years o
Source: CBS
Apr 10, 2011
Five years ago, the FBI announced that it was reopening more than 100 unsolved murder cases from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s. The goal of the "Cold Case Initiative" was to try and mete out justice in what seemed to be racially motivated killings that were never prosecuted.
Not many 50-year-old cold cases ever get solved - memories fade, evidence is lost, witnesses and suspects die or disappear. But that's not the case in the death of Louis allen, a mostly for
Source: CNN
Apr 10, 2011
Reports that surfaced last week about the remains of a "gay caveman" found in the Czech Republic have prompted scientists to take on an unlikely foe -- an overhyped news media that may be overblowing the archaeological find.
Hawks joined a chorus of fellow paleoanthropologists, archaeologists and other bone experts who carefully dissected media reports about the dig, which began to increase after first appearing in British and Czech newspapers.
The reports ste
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 10, 2011
The Vatican has warned against ticket scams and unscrupulous hoteliers as Catholic pilgrims begin the countdown to the beatification of Pope John Paul II in Rome on May 1.
At least one million pilgrims are expected to begin arriving as early as Easter to mark the beatification, the final step before the "blessed" is officially declared a saint.
The Vatican has released a detailed schedule of events for the beatification and warned against people selling coun
Source: Ynet News
Apr 9, 2011
Two days before Israel commemorates the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Adolf Eichmann's trial, a leaked document reveals that West Germany attempted to influence one of the judges in the case.
According to the document, which was released by German newspaper Der Spiegel, West German authorities considered assisting the judge with getting reparations. Though the measure was eventually ruled out, it betokens the fear that prevailed in West Germany at that time that Israel woul
Source: NYT
Apr 9, 2011
The Republican Party’s presidential-nominating process has always been run by elites. Oh, the voters have their brief moments of triumph, hoisting up an unelectable right-winger (i.e., Pat Buchanan) or an uncontrollable moderate (John McCain, the circa-2000 version). But the establishment always wins. Meeting in their K Street offices and communicating through organs like George Will’s column and National Review, the main financers and organizers settle upon a useful frontman, a reliable vessel
Source: NYT
Apr 9, 2011
Few would argue that she was a good choice. But as you watched the almost giddy reception that greeted the departure of the New York City schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, last week — “She wasn’t in the class for the full semester so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to give her a grade,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers — it was hard not to wonder whether the debate over school reform has reached a point where debate is no longer possible.
Source: NYT
Apr 9, 2011
FORT SUMTER NATIONAL MONUMENT, S.C. — If the period leading to the outbreak of the Civil War was a confusing patch in American history, the threat of a government shutdown threw the spirited preparations for a commemoration of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter 150 years later into almost as much chaos.
“It’s been complete confusion,” said Gary Alexander, one of the 90 National Park Service employees working on the commemoration.
Because the budget impasse threatene
Source: NYT
Apr 9, 2011
When Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, staunchly defended Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi recently, he seized headlines for an organization that has made little news in recent years.
In an often-fiery speech on March 31 at Mosque Maryam, the group’s South Side headquarters, Mr. Farrakhan recalled the decades of friendship and millions of dollars Colonel Qaddafi had lent the Nation of Islam over the years.
“What kind of brother would I be if a man ha
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2011
Archaeologists having started digging up a pub beer garden in search of a legendary Victorian circus elephant.
The Tregaron Elephant has long had its place in local folklore, and is thought to have been buried behind the town's Talbot Hotel after dying on tour.
The small-scale excavation started on Saturday morning and the hunt for clues about the animal's final resting place will continue until next Thursday.
About 10 people from the University of Wales Tr
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2011
A sailor who helped rescue passengers from the Titanic is the subject of a renewed campaign in his home town.
Records show Fifth Officer Harold Lowe was in the only lifeboat that went back to the sinking ship to rescue people from freezing waters in April 1912.
He was hailed a hero on his return to Barmouth, Gwynedd where it is hoped a plaque will be mounted next year.
Mr Lowe's grandson, John Lowe, 68, is to attend a meeting to discuss hopes for a memorial
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2011
Relatives of victims of the Lockerbie bombing have asked their lawyers to request a meeting with Libyan defector Moussa Koussa.
He is thought to have been a senior figure in the Libyan intelligence service when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988.
Last week the former Libyan foreign minister arrived in the UK.
Mr Koussa said he was "no longer willing" to work for Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.
Scottish police invest
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2011
On the 100th anniversary of The Book of Khalid, the first English-language novel written by an Arab, the work seems remarkably relevant to the popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East today.
The Book of Khalid was written by Ameen Rihani, a respected Arab-American intellectual who was born in Lebanon in 1876.
It is the story of two Lebanese friends who migrate to New York.
The hero, Khalid, begins his new life peddling religious trinkets.
Source: CNN
Apr 9, 2011
Before the Civil War ended, re-enactments began.
Soldiers, freshly home from combat, recreated battle scenes to educate townspeople and honor fallen comrades.
For Gettysburg's 50th anniversary in 1913, more than 50,000 Confederate and Union veterans returned to Pennsylvania to celebrate America's reunification. The former foes, ages 61 to an alleged 112, re-enacted the gruesome clash to an awe-struck audience.
After the Civil War's centennial commemoration
Source: LA Times
Apr 8, 2011
The artifacts — terra cotta floor tiles, an irrigation channel, bowls, beads and other evidence of 18th century mission life and the Chumash tribe that preceded it — may impede efforts to develop the parcel.
When archeologist John Foster started peeling the asphalt from a parking lot in downtown Ventura, he knew he wouldn't have to dig deep to find a cache of long-buried relics.He just didn't realize how many he'd find and from how many different eras.
Digging down 5 feet, Foster and his crew have f
Source: Spiegel Online
Apr 8, 2011
...The public discourse about war is characterized by contempt for the bloody sides of the military profession, a contempt to which soldiers themselves conform when they are asked to describe their experiences. But there is also another view of war, one in which it is not only an endless nightmare, but also a great adventure that some soldiers later remember as the best time of their life.
In World War II, 18 million men, or more than 40 percent of the male population of the German
Source: Reuters
Apr 8, 2011
A rare World War Two German bomber, shot down over the English Channel in 1940 and hidden for years by shifting sands at the bottom of the sea, is so well preserved a British museum wants to raise it.
The Dornier 17 -- thought to be world's last known example -- was hit as it took part in the Battle of Britain.
It ditched in the sea just off the Kent coast, southeast England, in an area known as the Goodwin Sands....
Source: The Vancouver Sun
Apr 8, 2011
A Vernon site where human remains were found last week has been identified as an ancient, archeological site.
The orchard off Pleasant Valley Road remains taped off and has been turned over to the Coroners Branch and the Provincial Archeology Branch for further investigation.
Vernon RCMP are working closely with the property owners while waiting for the results of the remains from an anthropologist.
The anthropologist located additional remains on Thursday.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 8, 2011
Much myth surrounds the notorious fraternities and secret societies of Ivy league universities, such as Yale's Skull and Bones, but what are the facts behind the fiction?
George H. W. Bush is perhaps the most famous alumni of The Order of Skull and Bones, Yale's oldest and most determinedly secretive society. Founded in 1832 following a dispute among Yale's debating societies, it has long been a source of speculation and intrigue due to its history of nurturing the elites of the da
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 8, 2011
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan defector, could be allowed to leave the country, William Hague has said.
The foreign secretary said Mr Koussa, who faces inquiries from the International Criminal Court and families of the victims of Libyan terrorists, would not be forced to return to Libya, adding: "There are quite a range of places that he could go to live."
Mr Hague's comments, in an interview with Sky News, came as relatives of the Lockerbie bombing victims accep
