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This page features brief excerpts of news 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.
Highlights
Breaking News
This page features brief excerpts of news 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. Because most of our readers read the NYT we usually do not include the paper's stories in HIGHLIGHTS.
Name of source: http://www.newsobserver.com
SOURCE: http://www.newsobserver.com (12-19-07)
Drought provides advantages to scavengers and collectors who explore the expanded shorelines of the Triangle's shrinking reservoirs and lakes. The mud-encrusted fishing lures, waterlogged watches and other contemporary artifacts are theirs to keep.
But pocketing the shards of Native American pottery, spearheads and other remains from past cultures can get people in trouble.
Federal and state laws prohibit the removal of archaeological materials from public lands and carry stiff fines and potential jail time. That fact is unknown to many shore combers who think nothing of palming an arrowhead or other souvenir from a trip to Falls Lake or other public parks.
But pocketing the shards of Native American pottery, spearheads and other remains from past cultures can get people in trouble.
Federal and state laws prohibit the removal of archaeological materials from public lands and carry stiff fines and potential jail time. That fact is unknown to many shore combers who think nothing of palming an arrowhead or other souvenir from a trip to Falls Lake or other public parks.
Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 18:23
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Name of source: Edwin Black at The Cutting Edge
SOURCE: Edwin Black at The Cutting Edge (12-14-07)
A leading Holocaust survivors group has publicly called for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to radically alter its plans to sequester the long-secret Holocaust records of the International Tracing Service now held at Bad Arolsen, saying the Museum’s controversial plans will “create intolerable bottlenecks and sufferings” for survivors desperate to discover the fate of loved ones and the facts of their own enslavement. The Museum’s plan is to block off-site physical or electronic dissemination of the records to other institutions closer to the populations of elderly survivors in New York, Florida and California, requiring survivors needing more complex research to travel to Washington.
Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 14:19
Name of source: The Age
SOURCE: The Age (12-18-07)
IT HAD TO HAPPEN. UNDER the tinsel, wrapping paper and cards, Christmas has become a subject of scholarly interest. This is not from a theological angle where Christians have written extensively since Victorian times on the importance of Christmas. Just why we celebrate the way we do is increasingly a matter of debate.
Determining the meaning of Christmas is not a new idea. After all, Stephen Law in his 2003 book, The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas, presented a feisty and engaging overview. He asked: "Is Christmas a festival that atheists can, in good conscience celebrate?"
Bruce David Forbes goes some way to answering this and other Christmas conundrums. In his limpid and accessible book, Christmas: A Candid History, Forbes argues that it all depends on what Christmas you celebrate.
If you have ever wondered why shoppers rush like lemmings to emporiums and suburban consumer barns for bargains, Forbes provides some reassuring and indeed comforting insights. Even so, he observes: "I am frustrated by how hectic and commercialised the season has become, and worried that all of the cultural trappings can overwhelm spiritual aspects of Christmas."
If readers are looking for a rationale for celebrating Christmas with a renewal of its traditional religious significance, then they will be disappointed. This is not Forbes' intention. He gives an analysis of the consumer festival Christmas has now become while drawing a clear distinction between money and belief. He takes no moral position....
Determining the meaning of Christmas is not a new idea. After all, Stephen Law in his 2003 book, The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas, presented a feisty and engaging overview. He asked: "Is Christmas a festival that atheists can, in good conscience celebrate?"
Bruce David Forbes goes some way to answering this and other Christmas conundrums. In his limpid and accessible book, Christmas: A Candid History, Forbes argues that it all depends on what Christmas you celebrate.
If you have ever wondered why shoppers rush like lemmings to emporiums and suburban consumer barns for bargains, Forbes provides some reassuring and indeed comforting insights. Even so, he observes: "I am frustrated by how hectic and commercialised the season has become, and worried that all of the cultural trappings can overwhelm spiritual aspects of Christmas."
If readers are looking for a rationale for celebrating Christmas with a renewal of its traditional religious significance, then they will be disappointed. This is not Forbes' intention. He gives an analysis of the consumer festival Christmas has now become while drawing a clear distinction between money and belief. He takes no moral position....
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 22:00
Name of source: BBC
SOURCE: BBC (12-18-07)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the coffin of 19th Century revolutionary Simon Bolivar should be opened to find out how he died.
Speaking on the anniversary of his hero's death, Mr Chavez said an investigation was needed because some writings suggest he was murdered.
Most accounts maintain Bolivar died from tuberculosis in 1830.
One historian challenged Mr Chavez to produce a single piece of evidence to suggest foul play.
Speaking on the anniversary of his hero's death, Mr Chavez said an investigation was needed because some writings suggest he was murdered.
Most accounts maintain Bolivar died from tuberculosis in 1830.
One historian challenged Mr Chavez to produce a single piece of evidence to suggest foul play.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 21:51
SOURCE: BBC (12-16-07)
Part of the aircraft wreckage from the plane which carried Rudolph Hess to Britain is to be sold at auction.
The fighter bomber crashed in Scotland in May 1941 and Hess, Hitler's deputy, was captured and jailed.
The fighter bomber crashed in Scotland in May 1941 and Hess, Hitler's deputy, was captured and jailed.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:59
SOURCE: BBC (12-18-07)
If they managed to survive plague and pestilence, medieval humans may have enjoyed healthier lifestyles than their descendants today, it has been claimed.
Their low-fat, vegetable-rich diet - washed down by weak ale - was far better for the heart than today's starchy, processed foods, one GP says.
And while they consumed more they burnt off calories in a workout of 12 hours' labour, Dr Roger Henderson concludes.
But the Shropshire GP accepts that life for even prosperous peasants was tough.
But after examining the available records, Dr Henderson suggests that medieval meals were perhaps even better than the much touted "Mediterranean" diet enjoyed by the Romans.
Their low-fat, vegetable-rich diet - washed down by weak ale - was far better for the heart than today's starchy, processed foods, one GP says.
And while they consumed more they burnt off calories in a workout of 12 hours' labour, Dr Roger Henderson concludes.
But the Shropshire GP accepts that life for even prosperous peasants was tough.
But after examining the available records, Dr Henderson suggests that medieval meals were perhaps even better than the much touted "Mediterranean" diet enjoyed by the Romans.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:57
SOURCE: BBC (12-15-07)
The origins of a pint of Guinness appear to be much humbler than the man who gave the world "the black stuff" wanted us to think.
Recent testing by Trinity College Dublin of Guinness family DNA has shown that Arthur Guinness's claims of being a descendant of the Magennis chieftains of Iveagh, County Down, were nothing more than aspirational.
Despite this, when he married in 1761, he is even said to have had a silver cup engraved with the Magennis crest, which features the red hand of Ulster, a lion and a boar.
The research, featured in a new book, has shown that the family tree of the man, whose name still appears on kegs and pint glasses across the globe, actually stems from another County Down clan, the less revered and wealthy McCartans.
Recent testing by Trinity College Dublin of Guinness family DNA has shown that Arthur Guinness's claims of being a descendant of the Magennis chieftains of Iveagh, County Down, were nothing more than aspirational.
Despite this, when he married in 1761, he is even said to have had a silver cup engraved with the Magennis crest, which features the red hand of Ulster, a lion and a boar.
The research, featured in a new book, has shown that the family tree of the man, whose name still appears on kegs and pint glasses across the globe, actually stems from another County Down clan, the less revered and wealthy McCartans.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 17:42
Name of source: Telegraph (UK)
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (12-20-07)
An American businessman has drawn the fury of residents of the Isle of Man by declaring himself king of the island with honours being offered to anyone willing to shell out thousands of pounds.
Businessman David Drew Howe, 38, claims to be a cousin to the Queen and a direct descendant of the Stanley family.
He crowned himself "undisputed" His Majesty King David of the Isle of Man, after placing a notice in the London Gazette.
When the notice went unchallenged he declared himself "de jure" King of the Isle of Man at the end of March this year.
Now a West Sussex based company, Noble Titles, is offering peerages in the name of King David - promising the money paid will go to charity.
Businessman David Drew Howe, 38, claims to be a cousin to the Queen and a direct descendant of the Stanley family.
He crowned himself "undisputed" His Majesty King David of the Isle of Man, after placing a notice in the London Gazette.
When the notice went unchallenged he declared himself "de jure" King of the Isle of Man at the end of March this year.
Now a West Sussex based company, Noble Titles, is offering peerages in the name of King David - promising the money paid will go to charity.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 21:49
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (12-17-07)
Maps more than 200 years old are being used to help find and protect Britain's natural treasure house of ancient trees.
Historical maps help reveal how landscapes once looked when vast swathes of the country were covered in forest.
As well as showing how much woodland we have lost they can also help pinpoint the ancient survivors.
Historical maps help reveal how landscapes once looked when vast swathes of the country were covered in forest.
As well as showing how much woodland we have lost they can also help pinpoint the ancient survivors.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:08
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (12-17-07)
The Queen will this week pass another milestone in her reign when she becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the nation.
On Saturday she will overtake Victoria, one of her most illustrious predecessors, but the event will pass without any fanfare at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen will spend the day at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh. There will be no public pronouncements.
Victoria died on Jan 22, 1901, aged 81 years, seven months, four weeks and one day.
On Saturday, the Queen, who will be 82 on April 21, will have outlived her great-great-grandmother.
On Saturday she will overtake Victoria, one of her most illustrious predecessors, but the event will pass without any fanfare at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen will spend the day at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh. There will be no public pronouncements.
Victoria died on Jan 22, 1901, aged 81 years, seven months, four weeks and one day.
On Saturday, the Queen, who will be 82 on April 21, will have outlived her great-great-grandmother.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 17:45
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (12-17-07)
Britain is losing its identity because of over-zealous political correctness and a failure to deal with immigration, the Chief Rabbi has warned.
Sir Jonathan Sacks said that the drive for a multi cultural society had left Britain increasingly intolerant and that too many people were embarrassed about their history.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he stressed that the historic Union with Scotland and the concept of Britain must be preserved.
Echoing the Telegraph's Call Yourself British campaign, he endorsed plans for a British Day, suggested a more inclusive national anthem should be created and urged the Government to give people a "British dream".
Sir Jonathan Sacks said that the drive for a multi cultural society had left Britain increasingly intolerant and that too many people were embarrassed about their history.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he stressed that the historic Union with Scotland and the concept of Britain must be preserved.
Echoing the Telegraph's Call Yourself British campaign, he endorsed plans for a British Day, suggested a more inclusive national anthem should be created and urged the Government to give people a "British dream".
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:40
Name of source: Time
SOURCE: Time (12-18-07)
No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's. The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking. The affect is now seamless, which makes talking to the Russian President not just exhausting but often chilling. It's a gaze that says, I'm in charge.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 21:37
Name of source: Inside Higher Ed
SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed (12-19-07)
In the 1970s and early 1980s, supporters rallied to create a federal holiday memorializing Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership in the civil rights movement and his union activism. For many students today, those efforts have translated to King-themed activities and a respite from coursework one day a year.
As usual, Ohio State University has no intention of holding classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year, when it will fall on Monday, January 21. But unique scheduling difficulties recently forced administrators to diverge from the typical calendar guidelines, which would have placed the winter quarter’s commencement ceremony on Easter Sunday and the summer quarter’s on Labor Day weekend. The resulting adjustment would have left students with more Fridays than Mondays, so a plan finalized partially with input from a group of faculty decided on a solution: holding classes that might have been held on the King holiday on the first Friday of the winter quarter instead.
The announcement to students and faculty this month has sparked a protest among a group of at least nine professors who feel that King’s day was singled out and that the decision to “make up” that day’s classes didn’t take into account their perspectives. “Is the holiday honoring Dr. King of any less importance than the Christian holiday of Easter or Labor Day?” they wrote in a letter to Brad A. Myers, the university registrar, this month. The question seemed to imply that making up classes from either of those holidays is never considered. (Labor Day is also on a Monday, but it falls in the summer, not winter, quarter.)
As usual, Ohio State University has no intention of holding classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year, when it will fall on Monday, January 21. But unique scheduling difficulties recently forced administrators to diverge from the typical calendar guidelines, which would have placed the winter quarter’s commencement ceremony on Easter Sunday and the summer quarter’s on Labor Day weekend. The resulting adjustment would have left students with more Fridays than Mondays, so a plan finalized partially with input from a group of faculty decided on a solution: holding classes that might have been held on the King holiday on the first Friday of the winter quarter instead.
The announcement to students and faculty this month has sparked a protest among a group of at least nine professors who feel that King’s day was singled out and that the decision to “make up” that day’s classes didn’t take into account their perspectives. “Is the holiday honoring Dr. King of any less importance than the Christian holiday of Easter or Labor Day?” they wrote in a letter to Brad A. Myers, the university registrar, this month. The question seemed to imply that making up classes from either of those holidays is never considered. (Labor Day is also on a Monday, but it falls in the summer, not winter, quarter.)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 20:44
SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed (12-17-07)
Most academic disciplines largely trust a decentralized approach to policing potential instances of plagiarism, counting on scholars to report situations when they occur, and journal editors or academic administrators to respond to and punish breaches upon learning about them. The assumption that wrongdoing will eventually become known, and that a cheater’s reputation will be destroyed (along, not unimportantly, with fears of legal dangers for getting involved) has led most scholarly societies to avoid playing a direct role in policing academic misconduct. (One disciplinary group that did investigate charges of plagiarism, the American Historical Association, gave up doing so in 2003.)
That approach makes sense if the appropriate people are fulfilling their appropriate roles in that informal system, says Gary A. Hoover, an associate professor of economics at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. But Hoover, whose personal experiences as a victim of academic piracy have led him to study the state of plagiarism within his chosen field, argues that the system falls down if incidents don’t get reported to those with the power to punish the perpetrators, or if those with that power don’t act.
And too often they don’t, Hoover argued in a presentation made to a group of government economists in Washington on Friday, based on a series of surveys and papers he has produced on the subject of economics plagiarism....
That approach makes sense if the appropriate people are fulfilling their appropriate roles in that informal system, says Gary A. Hoover, an associate professor of economics at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. But Hoover, whose personal experiences as a victim of academic piracy have led him to study the state of plagiarism within his chosen field, argues that the system falls down if incidents don’t get reported to those with the power to punish the perpetrators, or if those with that power don’t act.
And too often they don’t, Hoover argued in a presentation made to a group of government economists in Washington on Friday, based on a series of surveys and papers he has produced on the subject of economics plagiarism....
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 21:08
Name of source: Haaretz
SOURCE: Haaretz (12-17-07)
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has been instructed by the cabinet to continue its work at the Mugrabi walkway near the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The cabinet recently instructed the IAA to complete the work "as soon as possible, with full transparency and with the cooperation of the relevant bodies."
Excavations at the site, a walkway leading to the Mugrabi Gate at the Temple Mount, were halted in June after they raised an international protest. At the end of September, following a report in Haaretz that the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs had approved the continuation of the work, Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadele appealed the decision to the cabinet secretariat and it was frozen. Two weeks ago, Majadele acceded to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's request to withdraw his appeal.
On November 29, the cabinet approved the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs decision, instructing the IAA to "remove any finding that is not archaeological, and provide a solution to elements of conservation, esthetics, security, safety and possible social impairments." The latter element was a reference to homeless individuals who have taken shelter in structures at the site that have no archaeological value.
Excavations at the site, a walkway leading to the Mugrabi Gate at the Temple Mount, were halted in June after they raised an international protest. At the end of September, following a report in Haaretz that the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs had approved the continuation of the work, Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadele appealed the decision to the cabinet secretariat and it was frozen. Two weeks ago, Majadele acceded to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's request to withdraw his appeal.
On November 29, the cabinet approved the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs decision, instructing the IAA to "remove any finding that is not archaeological, and provide a solution to elements of conservation, esthetics, security, safety and possible social impairments." The latter element was a reference to homeless individuals who have taken shelter in structures at the site that have no archaeological value.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 17:17
Name of source: AP
SOURCE: AP (12-18-07)
A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta — the version that became part of English law — was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said.
The document, which had been expected to draw bids of $30 million or higher, was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the spokeswoman said.
Sotheby's vice chairman David Redden called the old but durable parchment "the most important document in the world, the birth certificate of freedom."
The document, which had been expected to draw bids of $30 million or higher, was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the spokeswoman said.
Sotheby's vice chairman David Redden called the old but durable parchment "the most important document in the world, the birth certificate of freedom."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 12:37
SOURCE: AP (12-17-07)
aqi archaeologists working in a city south of Baghdad unearthed more than 1,000
antiquities and delivered them Monday to the National Museum, which has struggled to rebuild its
collection since it was looted in the U.S.-led invasion.
The museum has been closed to the public since 2003, but curators have been trying to recover some
of the 15,000 stolen relics and piece together a collection.
Qais Hussein, who directs Iraqi archaeological digs, said the antiquities presented Monday were
discovered by three teams at the beginning of the year in the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, 130
kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad.
antiquities and delivered them Monday to the National Museum, which has struggled to rebuild its
collection since it was looted in the U.S.-led invasion.
The museum has been closed to the public since 2003, but curators have been trying to recover some
of the 15,000 stolen relics and piece together a collection.
Qais Hussein, who directs Iraqi archaeological digs, said the antiquities presented Monday were
discovered by three teams at the beginning of the year in the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, 130
kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 02:42
SOURCE: AP (12-18-07)
A 4,000-year-old clay tablet authorities suspect was smuggled illegally from Iraq was
pulled from eBay just minutes before the close of the online auction, authorities said Tuesday.
Criminal proceedings have been launched against the seller, identified only as a resident of Zurich, officials said.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:35
SOURCE: AP (12-17-07)
White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws and let them keep their guests a secret.
The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.
Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.
The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.
Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 21:40
Name of source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
SOURCE: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH) (12-18-07)
On Monday, the House approved an omnibus funding package that incorporates the eleven fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills that have yet to be passed by Congress. The Democratic majority has released the breakdowns for the appropriations bills. What follows are the numbers as released by the Appropriations Committees for programs of interest to the historical and archival communities.
It is important to note that these are NOT the final appropriations numbers for these programs since the omnibus bill must pass the House and Senate and be signed by the President. The hope is that Congress will be able to finish work on the FY ‘08 budget before it adjourns for the holidays on Friday.
Here is a brief summary. A fuller analysis will follow later in the week once the bill has been passed.
It is important to note that these are NOT the final appropriations numbers for these programs since the omnibus bill must pass the House and Senate and be signed by the President. The hope is that Congress will be able to finish work on the FY ‘08 budget before it adjourns for the holidays on Friday.
Here is a brief summary. A fuller analysis will follow later in the week once the bill has been passed.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 01:24
Name of source: LAT
SOURCE: LAT (10-1-07)
Every once in a while you come upon a special website that you can't leave (unless you decide to blog about it). Obviously, Top of the Ticket is one of these special sites. But besides that, we've found one for anyone who's ever been exposed to a political advertisement, even if you're not a political junkie. It's a living video history of television commercials for presidential campaigns from the start of television to 2004.
You can watch the actual commercials roll by in black and white for Adlai Stevenson from 1952 ("the Guv that we luv"). No wonder he lost--twice. It was actually Stevenson's opponent, Dwight Eisenhower, who changed the face of political advertising, thanks to the advice of one Rosser Reeves, a Madison Avenue adman who wrote the immortal lines, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands."
You can watch the actual commercials roll by in black and white for Adlai Stevenson from 1952 ("the Guv that we luv"). No wonder he lost--twice. It was actually Stevenson's opponent, Dwight Eisenhower, who changed the face of political advertising, thanks to the advice of one Rosser Reeves, a Madison Avenue adman who wrote the immortal lines, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 01:03
Name of source: The Star
SOURCE: The Star (12-17-07)
They have learned how long it would take a runaway slave to walk to freedom from deep in the south.
A year.
"Now think how much longer it would take if you had children with you," prods the teacher. "Or if you lost your shoes wading through the river to throw bloodhounds off your scent."
Not a paper rustles; even the girl eating lunch at the back is fixed on the front.
In this unusual new "sold-out" class at a Scarborough high school, students are learning a new kind of history: African history.
As the Toronto District School Board debates trying an "African-centred" alternative grade school next year to battle the high black dropout rate, this course – and a dozen like it sprinkled through Toronto's 150 public high schools – provide a glimpse of how such a school might work.
"This is my history, miss. The first university in the world was in Timbuktu – in Africa!" gushes Karar Jafar, 18, who moved to Canada five years ago from Libya.
A year.
"Now think how much longer it would take if you had children with you," prods the teacher. "Or if you lost your shoes wading through the river to throw bloodhounds off your scent."
Not a paper rustles; even the girl eating lunch at the back is fixed on the front.
In this unusual new "sold-out" class at a Scarborough high school, students are learning a new kind of history: African history.
As the Toronto District School Board debates trying an "African-centred" alternative grade school next year to battle the high black dropout rate, this course – and a dozen like it sprinkled through Toronto's 150 public high schools – provide a glimpse of how such a school might work.
"This is my history, miss. The first university in the world was in Timbuktu – in Africa!" gushes Karar Jafar, 18, who moved to Canada five years ago from Libya.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 23:36
Name of source: NYT
SOURCE: NYT (12-18-07)
In the disease-scarred bones of a Homo erectus from Turkey, scientists have found evidence of a peril that human ancestors encountered in their migrations out of Africa: tuberculosis.
Paleontologists examining small lesions etched inside the 500,000-year-old skull said this was the earliest known sign of a form of tuberculosis that attacks the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain. Previously, the earliest physical traces of TB were only a few thousand years old, in mummies from Egypt and pre-Columbian Peru.
Paleontologists examining small lesions etched inside the 500,000-year-old skull said this was the earliest known sign of a form of tuberculosis that attacks the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain. Previously, the earliest physical traces of TB were only a few thousand years old, in mummies from Egypt and pre-Columbian Peru.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:39
SOURCE: NYT (12-18-07)
It is difficult to say which is more surprising: that the Newark Public Library owns prints by Picasso and Rauschenberg, a page of the Gutenberg Bible and a 1493 handwritten tome known as the Nuremberg Chronicles, or that William J. Dane, a dapper, refreshingly irreverent art scholar from New Hampshire, has been tending to this astounding collection for six decades.
Mr. Dane does not like to talk about his age, but it is worth noting that he was old enough to join the Army during World War II and fight through France, Belgium and Germany.
“I don’t want this to be a story about some old dumbbell who stayed at the same job for 60 years,” he said last Friday, adjusting his tie, which was adorned with burgundy-and-green bunches of grapes.
In a well-timed distraction, Mr. Dane pulled up his sleeve to reveal a rhinestone-slathered watch that would have put Liberace to shame. “You like my bling,” he said deadpan. “It’s an hour fast because I haven’t figured out how to change the hands.”
Mr. Dane, who carries the regal title “keeper of the prints,” has been cradling and nourishing one of the country’s most impressive collections of prints, posters and rare books since he left the scorched battlefields of Europe and ambled into the library’s main branch on Washington Street, whereupon he was immediately hired as a clerk.
Mr. Dane does not like to talk about his age, but it is worth noting that he was old enough to join the Army during World War II and fight through France, Belgium and Germany.
“I don’t want this to be a story about some old dumbbell who stayed at the same job for 60 years,” he said last Friday, adjusting his tie, which was adorned with burgundy-and-green bunches of grapes.
In a well-timed distraction, Mr. Dane pulled up his sleeve to reveal a rhinestone-slathered watch that would have put Liberace to shame. “You like my bling,” he said deadpan. “It’s an hour fast because I haven’t figured out how to change the hands.”
Mr. Dane, who carries the regal title “keeper of the prints,” has been cradling and nourishing one of the country’s most impressive collections of prints, posters and rare books since he left the scorched battlefields of Europe and ambled into the library’s main branch on Washington Street, whereupon he was immediately hired as a clerk.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:25
SOURCE: NYT (12-18-07)
George Romney had big ideas for his youngest child.
In 1957, Mitt Romney, 10, with his father, George W. Romney, at their home in Detroit. More Photos >
Mitt Romney had already made millions as the founder of a giant buyout firm. But his father wanted Mitt to follow him into politics, convinced he could unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.
“It was Mitt’s dad that kicked us over that one,” Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife, recalled of the losing 1994 Senate race. “If people understood that equation of George Romney and his impact on my life and on Mitt’s life, they wouldn’t be so curious about why Mitt is running for president. He is why Mitt is running.”
George W. Romney made his fortune turning around the American Motors Corporation before becoming governor of Michigan, then staged a bid for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, only to watch his hopes collapse on the eve of the first votes. Now nearing that pivotal time in this year’s race, Mitt Romney said he felt as if his own campaign to become the Republican nominee was, in a sense, an extension of his father’s.
“Like a baton has passed, like a relay team where the baton passed from generation to generation,” Mr. Romney said in an interview. He added, “I am a shadow of the real deal.”
In 1957, Mitt Romney, 10, with his father, George W. Romney, at their home in Detroit. More Photos >
Mitt Romney had already made millions as the founder of a giant buyout firm. But his father wanted Mitt to follow him into politics, convinced he could unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.
“It was Mitt’s dad that kicked us over that one,” Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife, recalled of the losing 1994 Senate race. “If people understood that equation of George Romney and his impact on my life and on Mitt’s life, they wouldn’t be so curious about why Mitt is running for president. He is why Mitt is running.”
George W. Romney made his fortune turning around the American Motors Corporation before becoming governor of Michigan, then staged a bid for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, only to watch his hopes collapse on the eve of the first votes. Now nearing that pivotal time in this year’s race, Mitt Romney said he felt as if his own campaign to become the Republican nominee was, in a sense, an extension of his father’s.
“Like a baton has passed, like a relay team where the baton passed from generation to generation,” Mr. Romney said in an interview. He added, “I am a shadow of the real deal.”
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:44
SOURCE: NYT (12-18-07)
George Romney had big ideas for his youngest child.
In 1957, Mitt Romney, 10, with his father, George W. Romney, at their home in Detroit. More Photos >
Mitt Romney had already made millions as the founder of a giant buyout firm. But his father wanted Mitt to follow him into politics, convinced he could unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.
“It was Mitt’s dad that kicked us over that one,” Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife, recalled of the losing 1994 Senate race. “If people understood that equation of George Romney and his impact on my life and on Mitt’s life, they wouldn’t be so curious about why Mitt is running for president. He is why Mitt is running.”
George W. Romney made his fortune turning around the American Motors Corporation before becoming governor of Michigan, then staged a bid for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, only to watch his hopes collapse on the eve of the first votes. Now nearing that pivotal time in this year’s race, Mitt Romney said he felt as if his own campaign to become the Republican nominee was, in a sense, an extension of his father’s.
“Like a baton has passed, like a relay team where the baton passed from generation to generation,” Mr. Romney said in an interview. He added, “I am a shadow of the real deal.”
In 1957, Mitt Romney, 10, with his father, George W. Romney, at their home in Detroit. More Photos >
Mitt Romney had already made millions as the founder of a giant buyout firm. But his father wanted Mitt to follow him into politics, convinced he could unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.
“It was Mitt’s dad that kicked us over that one,” Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife, recalled of the losing 1994 Senate race. “If people understood that equation of George Romney and his impact on my life and on Mitt’s life, they wouldn’t be so curious about why Mitt is running for president. He is why Mitt is running.”
George W. Romney made his fortune turning around the American Motors Corporation before becoming governor of Michigan, then staged a bid for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, only to watch his hopes collapse on the eve of the first votes. Now nearing that pivotal time in this year’s race, Mitt Romney said he felt as if his own campaign to become the Republican nominee was, in a sense, an extension of his father’s.
“Like a baton has passed, like a relay team where the baton passed from generation to generation,” Mr. Romney said in an interview. He added, “I am a shadow of the real deal.”
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:44
SOURCE: NYT (12-17-07)
Nashville | On Saturday morning, cars jammed the street outside James and Laura Jane Bowen’s home. Friends chatted in the yard, hands around coffee cups.
With history buffs and curious neighbors looking on, an archaeologist directed the excavation of the Bowens’ lawn in search of a 201-year-old grave and, possibly, the resolution of a long-standing historical puzzle.
The dig’s goal was to solve a mystery over the grave of Charles Henry Dickinson, who was killed in an 1806 duel with a future president, Andrew Jackson. The location of Mr. Dickinson’s final resting place has been in contention since the 1960s, when historians in Maryland claimed to have found his coffin.
“The day we moved in, the guys across the street came in and said, ‘Have you heard about the body? Are you going to help excavate it?’ ” said Mr. Bowen, as he watched with his daughter, Lily, in his arms.
With history buffs and curious neighbors looking on, an archaeologist directed the excavation of the Bowens’ lawn in search of a 201-year-old grave and, possibly, the resolution of a long-standing historical puzzle.
The dig’s goal was to solve a mystery over the grave of Charles Henry Dickinson, who was killed in an 1806 duel with a future president, Andrew Jackson. The location of Mr. Dickinson’s final resting place has been in contention since the 1960s, when historians in Maryland claimed to have found his coffin.
“The day we moved in, the guys across the street came in and said, ‘Have you heard about the body? Are you going to help excavate it?’ ” said Mr. Bowen, as he watched with his daughter, Lily, in his arms.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 17:27
Name of source: http://www.praguemonitor.com
SOURCE: http://www.praguemonitor.com (12-11-07)
Archaeologists have uncovered parts of Prague's oldest ramparts, dating back to the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, thus verifying the then Jewish globetrotter Ibrahim ibn Jaqub's description of Prague as "a town made of stone and lime," the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote Monday.
The fortification, the remnants of which have been uncovered at Malostranske namesti square in what is now the historical centre of Prague, were made of wood and clay and might have been up to 6 metres high.
The archaeologists uncovered the remnants of wall in the cellar of the Academy of Performing Arts building, 5 metres underground. A thousand years ago the walls were part of one of Prague's main entrance gates, through which the town was entered from the western and souther directions.
The fortification, the remnants of which have been uncovered at Malostranske namesti square in what is now the historical centre of Prague, were made of wood and clay and might have been up to 6 metres high.
The archaeologists uncovered the remnants of wall in the cellar of the Academy of Performing Arts building, 5 metres underground. A thousand years ago the walls were part of one of Prague's main entrance gates, through which the town was entered from the western and souther directions.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:12
Name of source: Press Release
SOURCE: Press Release (12-14-07)
QUEBEC | On behalf of Canada's Environment Minister John Baird, Mr. Luc Harvey, Member of Parliament for Louis-Hebert, today announced the discovery of Fort Sainte-Therese, one of five forts erected by the Carignan-Salieres regiment between 1665 and 1666.
"Thanks to the exceptional collaboration of the Municipality of Carignan, the region's historical societies, heritage organizations and local researchers, Fort Sainte-Therese has finally been located on the grounds of the Canal Chambly National Historic Site of Canada", said Mr. Harvey. "Our Government is proud to be here today to unveil this discovery and ensure it is preserved for future generations."
The mayor of Carignan, Mr. Jean-Guy Legendre, was pleased with the discovery of Fort Sainte-Therese. He emphasized the major historic significance of the defensive work in the young colony, and how the site was linked to the Carignan-Salieres regiment for which the city was named. The City of Carignan will contribute financially to the archaeological research and the presentation of the site for the 2009 festivities celebrating the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's arrival in the Richelieu Valley.
"Thanks to the exceptional collaboration of the Municipality of Carignan, the region's historical societies, heritage organizations and local researchers, Fort Sainte-Therese has finally been located on the grounds of the Canal Chambly National Historic Site of Canada", said Mr. Harvey. "Our Government is proud to be here today to unveil this discovery and ensure it is preserved for future generations."
The mayor of Carignan, Mr. Jean-Guy Legendre, was pleased with the discovery of Fort Sainte-Therese. He emphasized the major historic significance of the defensive work in the young colony, and how the site was linked to the Carignan-Salieres regiment for which the city was named. The City of Carignan will contribute financially to the archaeological research and the presentation of the site for the 2009 festivities celebrating the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's arrival in the Richelieu Valley.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:10
Name of source: Daily Mail
SOURCE: Daily Mail (12-13-07)
To many First World War soldiers, the Christmas Truce of 1914 was a morale-boosting break from the horrors of trench warfare.
But the famous day when the British exchanged gifts and played a game of football with their German enemy was not remembered fondly by everyone on the Western Front.
A letter written at the time by a young soldier to his father tells of experiences which were a far cry from the impromptu sporting events and carol singing experienced by other troops.
But the famous day when the British exchanged gifts and played a game of football with their German enemy was not remembered fondly by everyone on the Western Front.
A letter written at the time by a young soldier to his father tells of experiences which were a far cry from the impromptu sporting events and carol singing experienced by other troops.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:06
SOURCE: Daily Mail (12-13-07)
To many First World War soldiers, the Christmas Truce of 1914 was a morale-boosting break from the horrors of trench warfare.
But the famous day when the British exchanged gifts and played a game of football with their German enemy was not remembered fondly by everyone on the Western Front.
A letter written at the time by a young soldier to his father tells of experiences which were a far cry from the impromptu sporting events and carol singing experienced by other troops.
But the famous day when the British exchanged gifts and played a game of football with their German enemy was not remembered fondly by everyone on the Western Front.
A letter written at the time by a young soldier to his father tells of experiences which were a far cry from the impromptu sporting events and carol singing experienced by other troops.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:06
Name of source: Business Week
SOURCE: Business Week (12-17-07)
Want a present that will raise some eyebrows -- or maybe hackles -- this Christmas? A Finnish charity is selling rings engraved with a swastika to raise money for the country's 80,000 World War II veterans.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:03
SOURCE: Business Week (12-17-07)
Want a present that will raise some eyebrows -- or maybe hackles -- this Christmas? A Finnish charity is selling rings engraved with a swastika to raise money for the country's 80,000 World War II veterans.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:03
SOURCE: Business Week (12-17-07)
Want a present that will raise some eyebrows -- or maybe hackles -- this Christmas? A Finnish charity is selling rings engraved with a swastika to raise money for the country's 80,000 World War II veterans.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
A silver ring [costing $86] featuring a swastika is being sold to raise money for Finnish World War II veterans....
The rings are replicas of the 1940 "Air Defence" ring, which was part of a wartime effort to raise money for the Finnish air force. The campaign encouraged Finns to donate their gold wedding bands and other valuables to support the war effort. In exchange they received a ring made of iron. The swastika is a traditional symbol in Finnish culture, and a blue swastika was used as the symbol of the Finnish Air Force between 1918 and 1945.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:03
Name of source: USA Today
SOURCE: USA Today (12-17-07)
Bob Fuchigami was 12 years old when he and his family were told to leave their 20-acre farm in northern California. The peach trees that his immigrant parents had planted were about to yield their first big crop.
It was May 1942, five months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Fuchigami and his parents and siblings were among more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans ordered to report to internment camps. The Fuchigamis ended up at one in dusty southeastern Colorado.
He and his family, like many others held in the camps during World War II, never returned to their previous lives and were left with only memories. And the 10 camps themselves, quickly dismantled at the end of the war, also became memories.
Now, the National Park Service is asking former internees like Fuchigami how it can preserve what is left of the camps and the stories they hold. The Service stands to get $38 million to help cities and groups develop educational programs.
"There was a kind of a rush to cover up that piece of history and maybe not deal with it," said National Park Service historian Kara Miyagishima.
It was May 1942, five months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Fuchigami and his parents and siblings were among more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans ordered to report to internment camps. The Fuchigamis ended up at one in dusty southeastern Colorado.
He and his family, like many others held in the camps during World War II, never returned to their previous lives and were left with only memories. And the 10 camps themselves, quickly dismantled at the end of the war, also became memories.
Now, the National Park Service is asking former internees like Fuchigami how it can preserve what is left of the camps and the stories they hold. The Service stands to get $38 million to help cities and groups develop educational programs.
"There was a kind of a rush to cover up that piece of history and maybe not deal with it," said National Park Service historian Kara Miyagishima.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 22:00
Name of source: National Security Archive
SOURCE: National Security Archive (12-18-07)
The House of Representatives at 5:18 pm today unanimously passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill (S. 2488) that passed the Senate by unanimous consent on December 14. The bill aims to fix some of the most persistent problems in the FOIA system, including excessive delay, lack of responsiveness, and litigation gamesmanship by federal agencies. Following today’s approval by the House, the OPEN Government Act will be sent to the President's desk for approval.
“Our six government-wide audits of FOIA performance show that these bipartisan changes to the Freedom of Information Act are common sense solutions,” remarked Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archive. “This bill establishes tracking systems for FOIA requests like FedEx uses for packages, actually penalizes agencies for the first time for delays that our audits found could reach 20 years, and sets up an office to mediate disputes as an alternative to litigation.”
“Our six government-wide audits of FOIA performance show that these bipartisan changes to the Freedom of Information Act are common sense solutions,” remarked Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archive. “This bill establishes tracking systems for FOIA requests like FedEx uses for packages, actually penalizes agencies for the first time for delays that our audits found could reach 20 years, and sets up an office to mediate disputes as an alternative to litigation.”
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:37
Name of source: Romenesko (media column)
SOURCE: Romenesko (media column) (12-17-07)
A caller to the Tampa Tribune wanted to know why the media weren't reporting a story about Hillary Clinton and the Black Panthers -- a tale the woman had heard on Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story." Joseph H. Brown writes: "The reason the press hasn't 'covered' this story is that it's totally untrue. It's an urban legend that's been snaking its way across the Internet for years."
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 21:31
Name of source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
SOURCE: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists (12-18-07)
The National Archives says it is exploring new methods to accelerate the disclosure of records at Presidential libraries.
Archivists "decided to undertake an in-house study in the spring of 2007 to review ways to achieve faster processing of Presidential records," stated Emily Robison, acting director of the Clinton Presidential Library, in an October 2 declaration that was filed in a lawsuit brought against NARA by Judicial Watch.
"As a result of this study, a one-year pilot project was initiated to implement the most promising proposals," she said. The pilot project was first reported by Josh Gerstein in the New York Sun on October 4.
In response to a request for further information about the project, NARA released a list of procedural changes it is using or considering to expedite processing of records. These include "cease routine referral of classified items... for classification review" and "halt printing e-mail attachments that do not easily open." See:
An extensive interview with Sharon Fawcett, assistant archivist for presidential libraries, explores the role of President Clinton and Senator Clinton in the processing of records at the Clinton Library, the genesis of President Bush's executive order on presidential records, and the procedural and resource constraints under which the Presidential records review process operates.
See "Inside the Clinton Archives" by Alexis Simendinger, National Journal, December 17:
http://news.nationaljournal.com
The Department of the Navy has updated its "Records Management Manual" with considerable detail on the various categories of Navy records and how they are to be handled. See SECNAV Manual 5210.1, November 2007 (473 pages, 5 MB PDF file):
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 14:02
SOURCE: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists (12-18-07)
The U.S. intelligence community is reverting to old patterns of cold war secrecy, warned the former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), to the detriment of U.S. intelligence.
"The reality that I see is an Intelligence Community that is retreating into greater secrecy and old cultural habits, even in the short time since I left the NIC in early 2005," said Amb. Robert L. Hutchings in recent testimony.
"Try to get a CIA analyst to go on the record at an academic conference, or participate in an interactive website or blog with experts from outside government or other countries, and you will see how deeply ingrained are the old Cold War cultural habits and mind-sets," he said.
"What this means, additionally, is that the Intelligence Community is not attracting the 'best and brightest' into their ranks. They go elsewhere."
See his prepared testimony from a December 6 hearing of the House Intelligence Committee here:
One of the aspects of the trend towards increasing secrecy is what appears to be a newly restrictive approach to pre-publication review of writings by current or former intelligence employees.
Earlier this year, the Central Intelligence Agency refused to permit former intelligence officer and author Valerie Plame Wilson to publish certain information about her career that had already been disclosed in the Congressional Record.
The publishers of Ms. Wilson's memoir devised a novel and effective solution: They hired journalist Laura Rozen to write an afterword, based entirely on information gathered in the public domain, filling in many of the missing details of Ms. Wilson's account. Laura Rozen, who writes for Mother Jones and for the War and Piece blog, tells the story here:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 13:51
Name of source: Deborah Lipstadt at her blog
SOURCE: Deborah Lipstadt at her blog (12-17-07)
According to MEMRI, Syrian Cleric Muhammad Sa'id Ramadhan Al-Bouti said on Al Jazeera that Benjamin Franklin had called upon Americans to Deport Jews from the U.S.
Simply put: this is completely false. No proof of this statement has been found in anything Franklin said. In addition, it contains language that was not used in Franklin's times, e.g. homeland. Moreover, the statement never surfaced before the 1930s. And it comes from a book which no one has ever seen.
If you need more evidence that this a hoax and an antisemitic canard, the ADL has done a good analysis of the history of this fraudulent claim. Significantly, this ADL piece quotes a number of leading Franklin scholars who debunk this nasty effort.
Simply put: this is completely false. No proof of this statement has been found in anything Franklin said. In addition, it contains language that was not used in Franklin's times, e.g. homeland. Moreover, the statement never surfaced before the 1930s. And it comes from a book which no one has ever seen.
If you need more evidence that this a hoax and an antisemitic canard, the ADL has done a good analysis of the history of this fraudulent claim. Significantly, this ADL piece quotes a number of leading Franklin scholars who debunk this nasty effort.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 20:53
Name of source: Bloomberg News
SOURCE: Bloomberg News (12-17-07)
Shlomo Venezia was a slave laborer in the crematoriums at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
For eight months in 1944, he loaded the corpses of his fellow Jews into the Nazi ovens -- 12 hours a day, seven days a week, cadaver after cadaver until it became a mechanical task, like feeding a heating furnace with cords of wood.
"Men are animals,'' Venezia says, recalling in a conversation in his Rome clothing shop how he hardened himself. "They resist things you can't ever imagine.''
In his memoir, ``Sonderkommando Auschwitz,'' Venezia provides an unflinching account of the barbarous banality of the Nazi death machine. Originally published in French as an interview with a journalist, a new Italian version of Venezia's story is written as a continuous narrative, offering page after page of grim insights.
For eight months in 1944, he loaded the corpses of his fellow Jews into the Nazi ovens -- 12 hours a day, seven days a week, cadaver after cadaver until it became a mechanical task, like feeding a heating furnace with cords of wood.
"Men are animals,'' Venezia says, recalling in a conversation in his Rome clothing shop how he hardened himself. "They resist things you can't ever imagine.''
In his memoir, ``Sonderkommando Auschwitz,'' Venezia provides an unflinching account of the barbarous banality of the Nazi death machine. Originally published in French as an interview with a journalist, a new Italian version of Venezia's story is written as a continuous narrative, offering page after page of grim insights.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 20:51
Name of source: Times (London)
SOURCE: Times (London) (12-13-07)
She was the English aristocrat who became so enamoured with Hitler that she shot herself in the head at the outbreak of war.
Unity Mitford, the daughter of Lord Redesdale, had been so entwined in the Führer’s inner circle that British secret services described her as “more Nazi than the Nazis”. But could this cousin of Winston Churchill have been closer to Hitler than anyone suspected?
An article published today raises the possibility that Mitford, who survived her suicide attempt, may have given birth to his child.
If the theory that this baby was born in a tiny Cotswolds village and rapidly adopted were true, Hitler’s child could be living somewhere in Britain today....
Unity Mitford, the daughter of Lord Redesdale, had been so entwined in the Führer’s inner circle that British secret services described her as “more Nazi than the Nazis”. But could this cousin of Winston Churchill have been closer to Hitler than anyone suspected?
An article published today raises the possibility that Mitford, who survived her suicide attempt, may have given birth to his child.
If the theory that this baby was born in a tiny Cotswolds village and rapidly adopted were true, Hitler’s child could be living somewhere in Britain today....
[Martin Bright, writing in the New Statesman about this story], who remains deeply sceptical about the possibility of a Hitler Jr, has thrown in the towel.
The makers of a forthcoming Channel 4 documentary, Hitler’s British Girl, examined theories surrounding Mitford’s notorious life and concluded that there was very little evidence that she was pregnant or ever had a sexual relationship with Hitler.
Whereas some might consider the idea of her giving birth to the Führer’s only offspring to be a harmless and intriguing tale, Richard Evans, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, thinks differently. “Unity Mitford’s relationship with Hitler was basically political,” he said. “She was a hard-line Nazi and a rabid racist and antiSemite, and I’m worried that gossip about her personal life might take attention away from these facts.”
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 19:18
Name of source: Independent (UK)
SOURCE: Independent (UK) (12-17-07)
It's gone down as the social event of the age – Robert Dudley's three-week bash for Elizabeth I. Now new documents reveal just how lavish it was.
***
If you want to marry the Queen, you have to know how to party. At least, that seems to have been the Earl of Leicester's thinking more than 400 years ago.
Almost no one in England had a good word to say about Robert Dudley, one of the most colourful figures from the years when Elizabeth reigned – apart from the monarch herself, and other women who fell for him. In the eyes of the court, he was a murderer, a schemer, and an adulterer. When he died, soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, it was said that there was more rejoicing in England over Dudley's end than over the humiliation of the Spaniards.
But for all his faults, he was a charmer with a remarkable knack for cajoling titled ladies to join him between his expensive, monogrammed sheets. If there was one man that Elizabeth really fancied in all her self-denying life, it was Robert Dudley.
And he certainly knew how to party. The bash he threw in Kenilworth Castle, near Coventry, in the summer of 1575 failed in its political objective – to ensconce him as the most powerful man in England – but it lived on in the memory of Tudor partygoers as indelibly as the Woodstock festival has lingered in the recollections of old hippies. It set the standard for every other lavish party thrown for the remaining 28 years of Elizabeth's reign. Other rich aristocrats tried to do a Kenilworth, but nobody did it quite like the Earl of Leicester.
***
If you want to marry the Queen, you have to know how to party. At least, that seems to have been the Earl of Leicester's thinking more than 400 years ago.
Almost no one in England had a good word to say about Robert Dudley, one of the most colourful figures from the years when Elizabeth reigned – apart from the monarch herself, and other women who fell for him. In the eyes of the court, he was a murderer, a schemer, and an adulterer. When he died, soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, it was said that there was more rejoicing in England over Dudley's end than over the humiliation of the Spaniards.
But for all his faults, he was a charmer with a remarkable knack for cajoling titled ladies to join him between his expensive, monogrammed sheets. If there was one man that Elizabeth really fancied in all her self-denying life, it was Robert Dudley.
And he certainly knew how to party. The bash he threw in Kenilworth Castle, near Coventry, in the summer of 1575 failed in its political objective – to ensconce him as the most powerful man in England – but it lived on in the memory of Tudor partygoers as indelibly as the Woodstock festival has lingered in the recollections of old hippies. It set the standard for every other lavish party thrown for the remaining 28 years of Elizabeth's reign. Other rich aristocrats tried to do a Kenilworth, but nobody did it quite like the Earl of Leicester.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 17:40
Name of source: Earth Times
SOURCE: Earth Times (12-15-07)
A German museum has announced plans for 16 screenings of the ultimate Nazi hate movie, Jud Suess, as part of an exhibition picking apart how Nazi propaganda worked. The 1940 costume melodrama was used to stoke up hatred of Jews in 21 nations. It was a favourite of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who had funded it.
"The film is an overwhelming success. The audience was seething," he gloated in his diary in 1940. "This is the first really anti- Semitic film."
The movie, a remake of a story that had previously had a pro- Jewish slant, depicts a Jewish businessman, Joseph Suess, manipulating the government of a German ducal state, raping a German girl and being condemned.
It will be shown at the Baden-Wuerttemberg history museum in Stuttgart, the city where the real Joseph Suess Oppenheimer was executed on trumped-up charges in 1738.
"The film is an overwhelming success. The audience was seething," he gloated in his diary in 1940. "This is the first really anti- Semitic film."
The movie, a remake of a story that had previously had a pro- Jewish slant, depicts a Jewish businessman, Joseph Suess, manipulating the government of a German ducal state, raping a German girl and being condemned.
It will be shown at the Baden-Wuerttemberg history museum in Stuttgart, the city where the real Joseph Suess Oppenheimer was executed on trumped-up charges in 1738.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 17:14
SOURCE: Earth Times (12-16-07)
Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British pilot, who carried out World War II bombing raids over Germany has joined a campaign to rescue Berlin's most famous wartime ruin - the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, near the Kurfuerstendamm. The church, which was built at the end of the 19th century, was destroyed during a British air attack in November 1943. Only its gaping, ruined tower remained and was later restored as a dark reminder of the war.
Now, the tower is in a dire state of decay, needing repairs costing 3.5 million euros (about 5 million dollars).
When Gray, 85, read in a British newspaper about the crumbling condition of the tower, he promptly fired off a letter to Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church's advisory board, urging that the tower be restored, and a fund launched to help raise the costs of its repair.
"The tower has to remain in place as a permanent reminder for future generations of the horror of war," Gray warned.
Now, the tower is in a dire state of decay, needing repairs costing 3.5 million euros (about 5 million dollars).
When Gray, 85, read in a British newspaper about the crumbling condition of the tower, he promptly fired off a letter to Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church's advisory board, urging that the tower be restored, and a fund launched to help raise the costs of its repair.
"The tower has to remain in place as a permanent reminder for future generations of the horror of war," Gray warned.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:53
Name of source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net
SOURCE: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net (12-13-07)
Hunters of the fabled Yamashita treasure are leaving trails of destruction in Mt. Banahaw and are frustrating efforts to rehabilitate the mystical mountain, according to a top official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Saying the “real treasure” is Banahaw itself, Sally Pangan, DENR protected area supervisor, appealed to the believers of the Yamashita treasure to stop their futile search. She said she had yet to hear any reports of discovery.
Legend has it that before his surrender, World War II Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered the burial of treasures plundered from Asian temples in different parts of the country.
Saying the “real treasure” is Banahaw itself, Sally Pangan, DENR protected area supervisor, appealed to the believers of the Yamashita treasure to stop their futile search. She said she had yet to hear any reports of discovery.
Legend has it that before his surrender, World War II Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered the burial of treasures plundered from Asian temples in different parts of the country.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:59
Name of source: Sunday Mail
SOURCE: Sunday Mail (12-16-07)
IN the dying days of the Second World War, the Nazis fought a desperate battle to develop the atomic bomb before the Allies.
More than 60 years later, a scientist has revealed how he hid the secret of creating the catastrophic weapon from Adolf Hitler.
Erwin Klinge had been hired by the dictator to create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. But the German-born pastor - who has lived in Scotland for 20 years - and his team buried the plans to stop the Nazis aquiring the bomb.
At his home in Beith, Ayrshire - where he lives with Elfreda, his wife of 62 years - Erwin, 85, described his remarkable life that led from the labs of the Third Reich to world-wide charity work.
More than 60 years later, a scientist has revealed how he hid the secret of creating the catastrophic weapon from Adolf Hitler.
Erwin Klinge had been hired by the dictator to create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. But the German-born pastor - who has lived in Scotland for 20 years - and his team buried the plans to stop the Nazis aquiring the bomb.
At his home in Beith, Ayrshire - where he lives with Elfreda, his wife of 62 years - Erwin, 85, described his remarkable life that led from the labs of the Third Reich to world-wide charity work.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:55
Name of source: Charleston Gazette
SOURCE: Charleston Gazette (12-9-07)
Seven months after the Civil War ended and one week before ratification of the 13th Amendment made slavery unconstitutional, two West Virginia companies of an all-black Union Army regiment gathered near Philadelphia to receive their final pay and discharge papers.
The date was Dec. 13, 1865, and the place was Camp Cadwalader, an Army base a few miles from Camp William Penn, where the men of the 45th U.S. Colored Infantry began their basic training in June 1864.
Among the regiment’s recruits, according to Army records, were 212 “colored men mustered into the service of the United States to the credit of West Virginia.”...
The year after the war ended, the state of West Virginia issued 26,000 medals to honor West Virginia troops for their service. The two West Virginia companies of the 45th Colored U.S. Infantry were among those authorized to receive the medals, but only two or three were ever collected, according to [state Archives historian Greg] Carroll.
The date was Dec. 13, 1865, and the place was Camp Cadwalader, an Army base a few miles from Camp William Penn, where the men of the 45th U.S. Colored Infantry began their basic training in June 1864.
Among the regiment’s recruits, according to Army records, were 212 “colored men mustered into the service of the United States to the credit of West Virginia.”...
The year after the war ended, the state of West Virginia issued 26,000 medals to honor West Virginia troops for their service. The two West Virginia companies of the 45th Colored U.S. Infantry were among those authorized to receive the medals, but only two or three were ever collected, according to [state Archives historian Greg] Carroll.
The more than 200 medals from the two West Virginia African-American infantry companies are among about 4,000 unclaimed West Virginia Civil War service medals still being held at the Cultural Center for descendants to claim.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:52
Name of source: Orlando Sentinel
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel (12-13-07)
Orlando | For 45 years, history buff Frank Laumer has obsessively pieced together minute details of an ambush near here that set off the Second Seminole War in 1835.
The author of two respected books on the attack known as Dade's Battle even dug up the bones of one participant and discovered the hat size of another.
Still, there is one major piece of the battle sought by Laumer. But an Orlando bank -- on behalf of a client fed up with artifact seekers -- has threatened to charge him with trespassing if he comes searching for it.
At 80, a frustrated Laumer fears time is running out for his quest, which has earned honors and praise from historians.
"Dade's Battle is like a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces," he said. "And this is the last big one."
Laumer's holy grail is a cannon, a key weapon in the critical but little-known victory over U.S. soldiers by the Seminoles and their black allies, most of them escaped slaves. The loss of 108 soldiers in that battle set off what Laumer and others call "America's first war over slavery."
The author of two respected books on the attack known as Dade's Battle even dug up the bones of one participant and discovered the hat size of another.
Still, there is one major piece of the battle sought by Laumer. But an Orlando bank -- on behalf of a client fed up with artifact seekers -- has threatened to charge him with trespassing if he comes searching for it.
At 80, a frustrated Laumer fears time is running out for his quest, which has earned honors and praise from historians.
"Dade's Battle is like a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces," he said. "And this is the last big one."
Laumer's holy grail is a cannon, a key weapon in the critical but little-known victory over U.S. soldiers by the Seminoles and their black allies, most of them escaped slaves. The loss of 108 soldiers in that battle set off what Laumer and others call "America's first war over slavery."
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:47
Name of source: http://tvnz.co.nz
SOURCE: http://tvnz.co.nz (12-14-07)
A new development on the outskirts of Canterbury has unearthed hundreds of Maori artefacts dating back 500-600 years.
The Pegasus Town development 25 kilometres from Christchurch is now being recognised as a significant cultural and historical site in New Zealand.
Initially the site where the discovery was made was to be a golf course, but those plans have changed now to preserve the history that has been found there.
The Pegasus Town development 25 kilometres from Christchurch is now being recognised as a significant cultural and historical site in New Zealand.
Initially the site where the discovery was made was to be a golf course, but those plans have changed now to preserve the history that has been found there.
Monday, December 17, 2007 - 16:44
