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: Telegraph (UK)
May 4, 2010
A sapper described as the bravest soldier of the First World War – and who gave his life on the Western Front – is to be honoured with a memorial in France after campaigners raised £24,000.
Sapper William Hackett was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross by George V but for 94 years his body has laid unmarked in No Mens Land.
Now a memorial is to be built in Givenchy in Northern France on the spot where Sapper Hackett died after a campaign led by a number of promine
Source: State Department
May 4, 2010
The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XIX, Part 1, Korea, 1969–1972. (Part 2 of the volume on U.S. bilateral relations with Japan, 1969–1972 will be published at a later date.) During the first Nixon administration, Washington confronted an array of difficult foreign policy questions concerning the Korean peninsula. The preponderance of documents published in this volume concern security issues. As in earlier years, U.S. policymakers con
Source: The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
May 4, 2010
“Socialism” is a negative for most Americans, but certainly not all Americans. “Capitalism” is regarded positively by a majority of the public, though it is a thin majority. There are certain segments of the public – notably, young people and Democrats – where both “isms” are rated about equally. And while most Americans have a negative reaction to the word “militia,” the term is viewed more positively by Republican men than most other groups.
These are among the findings of a nati
Source: USA Today
May 4, 2010
Forty springs ago, on the day the Vietnam War came home as it never had before, Mary Ann Vecchio was there. She's the girl in the haunting photo — crying, kneeling over the student's body.
That was Kent State University, May 4, 1970, a few days after Richard Nixon, who'd campaigned for president on an implicit promise to end the war, widened it by invading Cambodia.
Across the nation, students protested. At Kent State, where two days earlier the ROTC building was burned
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 4, 2010
Britain is not doing enough to mark the 65th anniversary of V-E Day, according to Second World War veterans' groups.
The anniversary falls this Saturday and with many veterans now in their late eighties or nineties, veterans suggested that a special effort should have been made for what may be the last major anniversary for many.
The government was, however, unable to say on Monday whether it would be organising anything more than the usual events to mark the date carri
Source: BBC Radio 4
May 3, 2010
You only really start to understand the place when you get a feel for its past. And a nation's history isn't only to be found on its battlefields, or in the ruins of its castles. It also lies in the bones of its culture - in its poems, in its music, and in the stories your neighbours might tell you.
The door-handles of my old Berlin apartment are beautiful. Brass, art nouveau and engraved with flowers worn smooth by more than 100 years of hands - the hands of those who lived here be
Source: AP
May 3, 2010
National leaders of the Kappa Alpha fraternity are investigating their Jacksonville State University chapter over the report of a display of the Confederate battle flag.
Larry Wiese, executive director of Kappa Alpha, said such a display at the fraternity house would violate the fraternity's bylaws....
Source: Medieval News
May 3, 2010
An archaeological dig covering over six kilometres of land in England has come up with discoveries from the medieval, Roman and Bronze age eras. The work is now being filmed by the BBC for a documentary Digging for Britain, which will be broadcast in August.
The Archaeology of the East Kent Access Road project is a survey being done in preparation for a new road being built on the Isle of Thanet on the eastern coast of England. The road runs close to the mouth of the Wantsum Sea Cha
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
May 3, 2010
The “Preserving the American Historical Record Act (PAHR)” (S. 3227) was recently introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Carl Le
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
May 3, 2010
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently transmitted to Congress a report entitled: “Records Management Self-Assessment 2009: An Assessment of Records Management Programs in the Federal Government.”
In September 2009, NARA issued a mandatory records management self-assessment to 245 Federal cabinet-level agencies and their components, and independent agencies. The goal of the initial self-assessment was to gather data to determine how effective Federal agenci
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
May 3, 2010
A ranking of agencies’ Open Government Plans compiled during an independent audit reveals the strongest and weakest agency plans, with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the top of the list and the Department of Justice (DOJ) at the bottom. Strikingly, the audit also found that several agencies that are supp
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
May 3, 2010
The National Park Service (NPS) has announced the availability of $14 million in Save America’s Treasures (SAT) Grants funding for fiscal year 2010. Applications for the grants are due by May 21, 2010.
The SAT program awards competitive, matching grants to federal, state, local, and tribal government entities, and nonprofit organizations for preservation and/or conservation work on nationally significant historic properties and collections. Applications and more information are avai
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
May 3, 2010
On April 30 “Discovering the Civil War,” a major new exhibit marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War opened at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
“Discovering the Civil War” will be shown in two parts in Washington, D.C. Part One, “Beginnings,” will run from April 30, 2010, through September 6, 2010, in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery in the National Archives Building. Part Two, “Consequences,” will open in the O’Brien Gallery on November 10, 2010. After the Washington
Source: Discovery News
May 3, 2010
One of my favorite stories to cover over the years at Discovery concerns the Transylvania dwarf dinosaurs. To recap, in 1895, the sister of an eccentric palaeontologist called Franz Baron Nopcsa discovered small dinosaur bones on their family estate in Transylvania. Nopcsa interpreted these as being the remains of dwarfed animals that had once lived on an island.
Nearly everyone thought he was nuts.
Science, however, is now proving Nopsca's theories to be valid.
Source: Discovery News
May 3, 2010
The once mighty Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptized, is now little more than a polluted stream that could die next year unless the decay is halted, environmentalists said on Monday.
More than 98 percent of the river's flow has been diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan over the years.
Every year, thousands of pilgrims take the plunge in the biblical river despite alarmingly high pollution.
Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian communities
Source: KCBD 11 (Lubbock, TX)
May 3, 2010
From Lubbock to Amarillo in length and from the Hub City to the New Mexico border in width – that's how much oil is covering the Gulf Coast. One local environmental expert believes this could be the worst and most devastating oil spill in our nation's history.
Texas Tech University's Environmental and Human Health Director Ronald Kendall was at the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. He said even after 20 years has passed and $3 billion spent to clean it up, the oil is still there.
Source: NYT
May 3, 2010
The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Monday with Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, in the Sinai resort of Sharm el Sheik, and the Obama administration’s envoy arrived in the region amid final preparations for the start of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks....
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told Army Radio that Israel must refrain from unilateral steps over the next four months, like building new settlements or evicting Palestinians.
Source: Balkan Travellers
May 3, 2010
The Bulgarian police recently captured a number of valuable archaeological artefacts and detained a known treasure hunter in an operation in the capital Sofia and the town of Nova Zagora.
In Sofia, after searches of several locations were carried out, the seized items included two ancient ceramic vessels, nine silver Roman coins, an ancient bronze application with a silver image of Medusa and a metal detector.
In Nova Zagora, the police found over 500 ancient coins, jew
Source: CNN
May 3, 2010
The United States has 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile and many thousands more that have been retired and are awaiting dismantling, according to a senior defense official.
The release of the number of warheads marks only the second time in U.S. history the government has released the once top secret information.
The Pentagon statistics show the nuclear stockpile was reduced by 75 percent between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and September 30, 2009, and 84 p
Source: BBC News
May 3, 2010
Visitors to the US Supreme Court will no longer be able to enter the building by climbing its famous marble steps.
The court cited security concerns as the reason entry to the 75-year-old building would be through new doors to the side of the wide central steps.
Two justices objected to the change, calling it unfortunate and unjustified.
Stephen Breyer described the steps and main entrance as "not only a means to, but also a metaphor for, access to the
