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: West Central Tribune (MN)
October 29, 2009
Union soldiers and Dakota warriors who clashed in a violent conflict 147 years ago may be remembered on the western Minnesota prairie where they gave their lives, and where the bodies of some still lie.
Gene Flaten, representing the Wood Lake Battlefield Preservation Association, told the Yellow Medicine County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that the group is hopeful of seeing the site of the Sept. 23, 1862, Battle of Wood Lake designated as a national historic site within a year
Source: Shreveport Times (LA)
November 2, 2009
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has taken up a banner of history that has fallen, at least on the field of battle.
She and fellow Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, of Virginia, have introduced the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Act of 2009 “to establish a Commission to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War,” a release from her office states.
“We must remember the legacies of the Civil War,” Landrieu said. “The United States emerged completely altered after t
Source: Voice of America
November 2, 2009
November 9th marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Most analysts and historians agree that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev played a pivotal role in the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and beyond. His policies of "perestroika" - restructuring - and "glasnost," or openness, paved the way for the dissolution of communist power in Eastern Europe and ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Robert Le
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 1, 2009
People have changed the planet's climate, warming the atmosphere by churning out greenhouse gases.
But that process didn't start during the Industrial Revolution. It began thousands of years ago, according to a controversial hypothesis, before anyone uttered the phrase "global warming."
The warming, triggered by a relative handful of farmers, some cutting and burning forests and others planting rice paddies, could be the best way to explain one of the stranges
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
November 2, 2009
When Barack Obama campaigned for president, the first-term senator from Illinois set a high bar for himself. Making history as the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office almost seemed beside the point. In Reaganesque fashion, he wanted to transform America.
Then the financial markets collapsed. The economy teetered on the edge. By the time Mr. Obama was elected, almost one year ago, an anxious nation was ready for answers. Could Washington stave off a full-fledged depressi
Source: NBC
November 2, 2009
Sept. 9, 1963: In this interview on NBC’s Huntley-Brinkley report, President John F. Kennedy—fresh off his 'victory' in the Cuban missile crisis—discusses U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Hear more excerpts from never-before-released tapes of President John Kennedy discussing Vietnam policy.
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 1, 2009
The Background
Some 2.3-million people are incarcerated in the United States. From the 1920s to 1975, the imprisonment rate hovered around 110 per 100,000 U.S. residents; it has since rocketed to 760—proportionally five to 12 times as high as any other industrialized nations.
The annual bill: $64-billion.
Reacting to that scale and to increasingly harsh methods of imprisonment, scholars across the social sciences and humanities are energetically stud
Source: McClatchy
November 2, 2009
ARLINGTON, Texas — Rick Kupke was busy encrypting classified messages inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when the Marine Corps guard yelled over the radio, "They're coming over the wall!"
Hundreds of Iranian student protesters were scaling the 7-foot wall around the embassy and making their way into the building through the tear gas being sprayed.
It was Nov. 4, 1979, and the administrative officer told Kupke to send a telegram to the State Department saying,
Source: Salon
November 1, 2009
This story is part of a special Salon investigation of problems at Arlington National Cemetery.
Air Force Master Sgt. Marion Grabe passed away on Christmas day in 2007. She had served 26 years as an operating room nurse in the Air Force she loved, including 17 months in a Manila hospital treating wounded soldiers during the Vietnam War.
In death, Grabe wanted to mark her service to her count
Source: BBC
November 2, 2009
The ancient Nazca people of Peru are famous for the lines they drew in the desert depicting strange animal forms.
A further mystery is what happened to this once great civilisation, which suddenly vanished 1500 years ago.
Now a team of archaeologists have found the demise of the Nazca society was linked in part to the fate of a tree.
Analysing plant remains they reveal how the destruction of forests containing the huarango tree crossed a tipping point, ca
Source: NYT
October 26, 2009
TAESUNG FREEDOM VILLAGE, Korean demilitarized zone — Kim Han-seul, a fifth grader, has the most heavily armed crossing guard in the world.
Each morning, his school bus picks him up at a bustling town outside the demilitarized zone that separates South and North Korea. It drives through wire fences, tank traps and military checkpoints along a road flanked by minefields.
After a 50-minute drive escorted by a military jeep with a United Nations flag, the bus unloads Han-se
Source: WSJ
November 2, 2009
Sandwiched in between China and India, two of the world's biggest new sources of energy demand, Myanmar is believed to have significant untapped reserves of natural gas. But its tangled history of government restrictions and, more recently, allegations of human-rights violations have limited outside investment to develop its resources.
The country now known as Myanmar was one of the world's first oil producers, with some exports as early as 1853. Foreign investment followed, with si
Source: WSJ
November 2, 2009
LEWIS RUN, Pa. -- Tuesday, voters in this small borough, population 573, will decide whether one of the longest-lasting, though little-known, political teams will stay together.
Mayor Albert Montecalvo and his right-hand man, Council President Frank Langianese, both 87 years old, are up for re-election, seeking their 15th and 16th terms. The pair, who were next-door neighbors as children, have worked together for 56 years on matters like water, sewer and garbage collection.
Source: Yahoo News
November 2, 2009
WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.
On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions abo
Source: Yahoo News
November 2, 2009
LONDON – Women faced their share of trouble at the Tower of London, including three queens who were beheaded there.
But treachery has long been considered a thing of the past at the notorious 11th century fortress. At least until now.
If charges made Monday are true, the Tower — a popular tourist attraction and home to Britain's Crown Jewels — will add bullying to the list of foul deeds committed there. The victim: the first woman selected to join the all-male ranks of
Source: Newsweek
October 29, 2009
YouTube has built a global reputation as the place to go for video clips of singing cats, laughing babies, reckless drivers, and raucous wedding processionals. But there's more to the site than pointless entertainment; there is a growing collection of university lectures available, including one by a Harvard Business School professor talking about consumer psychology in the recession, and Cambridge University historian David Starkey discussing the history of the British monarchy. Earlier this ye
Source: Press Release--Francis Gary Powers Jr.
November 2, 2009
The November 1 issue of the Cold War Times is now posted for viewing online at www.coldwartimes.com. Over the past decade, the Cold War Museum has made great strides in honoring Cold War veterans and preserving Cold War history. I am writing to provide you with a brief update.
Location, Location, Location
Progress continues with our efforts to find a permanent home for The Cold War Museum. When negotiations ceased with Fairfax C
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
November 1, 2009
The row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber was reignited last night after it emerged he has been released from hospital.
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August after a medical assessment concluded he had only three months to live because of his prostate cancer.
But the 57-year-old former Libyan intelligence agent and his family now say that, while weak and terminally ill, he is not close to death, and continues to
Source: Times (UK)
November 2, 2009
Three greying men, one in a wheelchair, one leaning on a stick, shuffled on to a theatre stage normally occupied by high-kicking chorus girls to discuss old times — the good old days when the Berlin Wall came down and they were in charge of the world.
The 20 years since have taken their toll on Mikhail Gorbachev, George Bush Sr and Helmut Kohl, but this weekend they were determined to celebrate and be celebrated.
Margaret Thatcher, regarded by many as one of the key p
Source: Times (UK)
November 2, 2009
The USS New York, a new battleship built with steel from the World Trade Center, sailed into New York harbour today on its maiden voyage and delivered a 21-gun salute near Ground Zero.
The $1 billion US Navy assault vessel, whose bow includes 7.5 tonnes of steel recycled from the 2001 terror attack, will be officially commissioned in its namesake city on Saturday.
Rescue workers and families of those killed in the attack gathered on the Manhattan waterfront to watch t
