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: Kansas City Star
May 26, 2010
Dust puffed from the ground with each step Johanna Smith took along the ruts of the Oregon Trail near Glenns Ferry.
A stiff, bone-dry wind swept across the sagebrush plateau overlooking the three islands in the Snake River where pioneers crossed with their stock and wagons.
It was one of the most demanding obstacles along the 2,170-mile trail from Missouri to Oregon in the 1800s.
"I've learned a lot about the emigration," said Smith, who is a volu
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 26, 2010
Rome culture officials said that, after several months of work to make the area safe for visits, the public will be allowed to add the underground section to tours of the arena starting in late summer. No exact date has been set.
Architect Barbara Nazzaro said that tourists will be able to see the spaces where lions, tigers and bulls were kept in cages before they were hoisted on elevators to ground level for entertainment in the ancient arena.
Source: FrontPageMag
May 26, 2010
President Obama may soon discover his predecessor, George Bush, was more than correct in designating North Korea an “Axis of Evil” state.
As the United States announced on Monday it would conduct joint naval exercises with the South Korean navy in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago, North Korea, the nation deemed responsible for the disaster that cost 46 lives, raised tensions by putting its military forces on a war footing.
Asia Times repo
Source: The Root
May 26, 2010
A handful of Malcolm X scholars say the 45-year-old mystery of who really pulled the trigger and killed the iconic black leader has been solved, and are wondering why the news media aren't giving it more attention.
Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a historian who writes for the Woodson Review and other publications of the respected Association for the Study of African American Life and History, identified the trigger man on his blog last month as William Bradley, about 72 years old, and known
Source: LA Times
May 26, 2010
Space shuttle Atlantis returned from orbit on its last scheduled voyage Wednesday, closing out a 25-year flying career and safely bringing back six astronauts who boosted the International Space Station's power and size.
The smooth landing was indicative of the entire 12-day mission -- NASA's third-to-last shuttle flight.
"That was pretty sweet," Mission Control radioed after Atlantis glided through a clear morning sky and rolled down the runway. "That wa
Source: The Hook (VA)
May 25, 2010
Dish had a chance recently to enjoy a bite to eat in Thomas Jefferson’s renovated kitchen, and to visit his restored wine cellar, projects that are part of a new exhibition at Monticello called “Crossroads,” which will attempt to bring to life the cellar-level intersection between Jefferson’s day-to-day life above and the lives of the enslaved servants, chefs, and house mangers below.
The new kitchen features an elaborate stew stove along the front wall, an idea Jefferson brought ba
Source: AP
May 25, 2010
The castle on the Hudson River is crumbling.
One of the stranger sights on the river, Bannerman's island castle is a high-walled ruin topped with turrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. In reality, the century-old structure off the river's eastern shore was a warehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.
The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer tourist attraction. Visitors — many who know the castle f
Source: The Moscow Times
May 25, 2010
Dozens of Muscovites resumed a protest Monday to prevent work to raze historical buildings on a protected plot of land where developers plan to build an elite apartment complex.
About 50 people, including members from the youth branches of Yabloko and A Just Russia, prevented builders from working on Kadashevsky Tupik, a small street in downtown Moscow near the protected Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi.
Preservationists say construction of the Five Capitals apartm
Source: National Security Archive at GWU
May 25, 2010
Today the National Security Archive publishes its fifth installment of the diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, the man behind some of the most momentous transformations in Soviet foreign policy at the end of the 1980s in his role as Mikhail Gorbachev's chief foreign policy aide.
In addition to his contributions to perestroika and new thinking, Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev was and remains a strong proponent of openness and transparency, providing his diaries and notes to historians trying to
Source: Ria Novosti
May 25, 2010
The Soviet leadership had at least two real chances to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but Stalin cancelled the plans over fears that Nazi Germany could strike a separate peace deal with the West, a retired Russian general said on Tuesday.
"A concrete plan to assassinate Hitler in his bunker was developed, but Stalin suddenly cancelled it in 1943 over fears that after Hitler's death his associates would conclude a separate peace treaty with Britain and the United States," Gen. (
Source: AP
May 25, 2010
An archaeological dig has uncovered thousands of pieces of slave pottery and other artifacts at an industrial site on the South Carolina coast.
The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that archeologists digging at the Berkeley County site found 58,000 pieces of colonoware, a handmade pottery crafted by slaves. Officials say it is one of the largest concentrations ever found in the country.
Other artifacts include bone buttons, silver coins, pipe stems and porcelain d
Source: AKI
May 25, 2010
An ancient Etruscan home dating back more than 2,400 years has been discovered outside Grosseto in central Italy. Hailed as an exceptional find, the luxury home was uncovered at an archeological site at Vetulonia, 200 kilometres north of Rome.
Archeologists say it is rare to find an Etruscan home intact and believe the home was built between the 3rd and 1st century BC.
Using six Roman and Etruscan coins uncovered at the home, archeologists believe the house collapsed i
Source: New Zealand Herald
May 25, 2010
New Zealand has lost one of its World War II flying aces, Flight Lieutenant Peter Francis Locker Hall, who has died in England aged 88.
The former teacher was credited with shooting down eight German aircraft while based in Britain as a pilot with the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 488 squadron of Mosquito fighter planes.
After returning from a mission over Europe on one engine in an aircraft damaged by flying debris, Flight Lieutenant Hall (left) and his British navigat
Source: AP
May 25, 2010
The castle on the Hudson River is crumbling.
One of the stranger sights on the river, Bannerman's island castle is a high-walled ruin topped with turrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. In reality, the century-old structure off the river's eastern shore was a warehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.
The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer tourist attraction. Visitors — many who know the castle f
Source: Boston Globe
May 25, 2010
Past clapboard houses with white fences, in a tree-filled yard next to the local high school is an unusual sight: a large sign painted to look like a Confederate flag.
In most other parts of the country the flag is a searingly divisive symbol of racial segregation. But here, it is also a display of pride for the Walpole High School Rebels.
For years, Confederate flags filled the bleachers at football games while fans sang “Dixie,’’ the Old South anthem. Yearbooks were e
Source: AP
May 25, 2010
Plunging into the waters off Alexandria Tuesday, divers explored the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from which Cleopatra ruled, swimming over heaps of limestone blocks hammered into the sea by earthquakes and tsunamis more than 1,600 years ago.
The international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world and retrieving stunning artifacts from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire anne
Source: AOL News
May 25, 2010
The CIA had a bag of dirty tricks ready for Saddam Hussein in preparation of the 2003 American invasion of Iraq that included making him look like a pedophile. It also had something similar planned for Osama bin Laden.
The Washington Post blog Spy Talk, citing former CIA officials, said one devious tactic involved creating a video showing the Iraqi strongman purportedly having sex with a teenage boy.
The ex-CIA officials said the idea was then to "flood Iraq with t
Source: BBC
May 25, 2010
An advert for a clothing shop that features Adolf Hitler dressed in pink has provoked outraged reactions in Italy.
The posters were put up in the city of Palermo in Sicily, with the caption: "Change your style. Don't follow your leader".
The swastika on Hitler's armband has been replaced by a heart.
But the local association of wartime resistance fighters said the adverts were offensive to those who had fought fascism.
Source: BBC
May 25, 2010
Authorities in Greece have arrested a Swiss man and a Greek Orthodox deacon suspected of trafficking hundreds of bones to be sold as religious relics.
The Swiss man was detained at Thessaloniki airport when 197 bones and three skulls were found in his luggage.
He said he had received them from the deacon, who was found to be holding hundreds more bones when he was held north-east of Thessaloniki.
The bones that the 43-year-old Swiss man was carrying were
Source: AP
May 25, 2010
A Swedish university has invited an artist who angered Muslims by caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad to finish a lecture that was disrupted by violent protests.
Officials say Lars Vilks has agreed to return to Uppsala University in the fall to complete his lecture about the limits of freedom of expression in art.
Angry protesters interrupted the lecture May 11 when Vilks showed a film about Islam and homosexuality.
