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: BBC
March 5, 2010
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the Russian authorities of rolling back the democratic reforms he began in the 1980s.
In a speech to mark the forthcoming 25th anniversary of perestroika, he said the current government "wants to carry out its programme of modernisation practically without the people".
He criticised the ruling United Russia party, led by the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as "like the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Source: CNN
March 5, 2010
First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday will donate her 2009 inaugural gown to the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian and the White House announced.
The gown, designed by New York designer Jason Wu, is the one-shoulder, white-chiffon dress that the first lady wore to all 10 inaugural balls the evening of President Obama's inauguration.
According to Melina Machado at the history museum, the frock will be the center point of a new gallery entitled "A
Source: CNN
March 6, 2010
Karl Rove, often described as President George W. Bush's brain, defended the former president in a new book against claims that he lied to the American public in order to invade Iraq in 2003.
Rove, a long-time political advisor who joined Bush in the White House after the 2000 campaign, said the U.S. wouldn't have gone to war with Iraq if the administration knew that weapons of mass destruction wouldn't be found.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Rove argued, may have destro
Source: AOL News
March 6, 2010
For more than 66 years, Ruth Garmong has thought daily of her beloved Bill, the high school sweetheart she wed just before he left for World War II and died in a plane crash in Burma.
Garmong, now 85, was pregnant when Staff Sgt. William C. Fetterman perished in 1943. She remarried and had two more children, but her late second husband, with whom she shared most of her life, "always knew he was second choice."
Because of a second tragedy, though, Garmong was n
Source: Reuters
March 5, 2010
Communist Party chiefs led a procession of largely elderly people across Red Square on the 57th anniversary of Stalin's death, laying flowers at his grave by the Kremlin wall.
The solemn visit is an annual tradition for communists steeped in nostalgia for the Soviet era. But this year, it comes as Russia's bitter debate over Stalin's legacy sharpens ahead of May 9 celebrations marking 65 years since the Nazi defeat.
For the first time in decades, Stalin's image may appe
Source: Boston Globe
February 5, 2010
But on NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?’’ celebs with perfectly hued hair including Sarah Jessica Parker and Brooke Shields will be seeking their own genealogical roots. The new show, which premieres tonight at 8 on Channel 7, represents the reality-TV extension of the urge that Alex Haley stoked in the mid-1970s with “Roots’’ and that now flourishes on websites such as ancestry.com, genealogy.com, and myheritage.com. People remain driven to understand who they are in terms of where they came fr
Source: BBC
March 5, 2010
Rare and intimate photographs taken of the leaders of the Cuban revolution during its early years have sold for £31,730 at auction in Gloucestershire.
The 14 black-and-white photos include images of President Fidel Castro and fellow communist leader Che Guevara.
Dating from 1959 to the early 1960s, 12 were taken by Mr Castro's official photographer Alberto Korda.
The prize lot, a picture of Mr Guevara game fishing, fetched £6,600 at Dominic Winter Auction
Source: BBC
March 5, 2010
Gordon Brown has told the Iraq inquiry the war had been "right" - and troops had all the equipment they needed.
The PM also insisted he had not been kept in the dark by Tony Blair despite not being aware of some developments.
His own intelligence briefings had convinced him that Iraq was a threat that "had to be dealt with", he said.
But the main issue for him was that Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions - and that "rogue states&
Source: BBC
March 5, 2010
Former Bosnian president Ejup Ganic will remain in jail in London while his application for bail is considered.
Mr Ganic, 63, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Monday at the request of Serbia, where he is wanted on war crimes charges.
But the Bosnian authorities say he should be extradited there instead.
Thousands of Bosnians protested outside the British and Serbian embassies in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo demanding his release.
Source: BBC
March 5, 2010
The Obama administration has said it will seek to block a controversial bill describing as genocide the World War I killing of Armenians by Turks.
A congressional panel on Thursday approved the resolution, paving the way for a possible vote by the House.
But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration would "work very hard" to prevent this.
Turkey voiced strong protests after the vote and recalled its ambassador from Washington
Source: Fox News
March 5, 2010
President Obama thinks Karl Rove "hates" him; President Bush should have declared a "federal takeover" in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; and the Iraq war never would have happened without those pesky WMDs -- which were never found.
Those are just some of the "Rove-elations" Republican strategist and longtime Democratic antagonist Karl Rove provides in his new book, "Courage and Consequence."
Rove writes that the Bush admini
Source: CNN
March 5, 2010
A new memoir by Karl Rove details the circumstances that led to the selection of former Vice President Dick Cheney as President George W. Bush's running mate.
The highly anticipated release of "Courage and Consequence," purchased by CNN Friday at a Washington area bookstore ahead of its release date next week, is a wide-ranging look at Bush's rise in politics as seen through the lens of his longtime strategist and aide. Rove also chronicles his life and political career.
Source: CNN
March 5, 2010
White House advisers are considering recommending alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be tried in a military court instead of a civilian one in New York City, a senior administration official told CNN on Friday.
In November, Attorney General Eric Holder announced his intention to try Mohammed in a New York civilian court.
A firestorm of opposition erupted from both New York officials and top Republicans after Holder's announcement.
New York polic
Source: Armenian Weekly
March 2, 2010
Like swallows returning to Capistrano, Congress’s annual determination to debate the history of the Ottoman Empire is a sign of spring. The Turkish government’s approach to the American Jewish community to help sink the proposed congressional resolution officially recognizing the horrific killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century as genocide is a similar ritual. Unlike the swallows, however, both Congress and the Turks are out of their habitat.
During the flowe
Source: SPACE.com
March 2, 2010
The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
"Perhaps more impressive is how much the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 5, 2010
Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, was a member of the Nazi party, a new book has claimed, contracting the German-born Dutch war hero's life-long denials.
"Bernhard, a secret history" has revealed that the prince was a member of the German Nazi party until 1934, three years before he married Princess Juliana, the future queen of the Netherlands.
Annejet van der Zijl, a Dutch historian, has found membership documents in Berlin's Hu
Source: Living Lake Country (WI)
March 3, 2010
Alonzo Cushing - one of four brothers for which an elementary school and city park are named for - will be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Battle of Gettysburg in which he was killed on July 3, 1863, according to U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin).
Secretary of Army John McHugh notified Feingold's office last week that Cushing would receive the country's highest military honor, according to Matt Nikolay, veterans' affairs case worker
Source: BBC News
March 2, 2010
So who was Scotland's first female MP?...
Katharine (Kitty) Murray, the Duchess of Atholl and the MP for Kinross and West Perthshire from 1923 to 1938.
She certainly seems to be a woman of contradictions at first sight.
She maintained a woman's place was in the home, even speaking against votes for women - but ended up in the most prestigious boys' club of them all, becoming our first MP....
When she first entered Westminster she was one of onl
Source: York Daily Record (PA)
March 5, 2010
Another batch of non-historic trees is being cut down to bring the Gettysburg Battlefield closer to its 1863-appearance.
And the trees on a half-acre parcel south of the West End Guide Station on Route 30 could open the view to another place that could eventually be changing its appearance - the Gettysburg Country Club.
The area, northwest of the borough, saw significant fighting on the first day of the three-day battle. The Park Service also plans on thinning trees al
Source: Niagara Falls Review (Canada)
March 5, 2010
It is fairly commonplace throughout history for soldiers and civilians directly involved in a conflict to gather "souvenirs" of sorts.
These could include uniform parts salvaged from a battlefield, buttons, bits of ammunition and weapons from the enemy. These relics were frequently kept in a family for generations as memorials to fallen family members or of past heroic actions.
The War of 1812 was no different, soldiers who fought picked up souvenirs of certai
