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: Yahoo News
October 1, 2009
WASHINGTON – A federal judge ruled Thursday that the FBI must publicly reveal much of its interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.
The FBI interviewed Cheney in June 2004 as it was investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity after her husband publicly criticized the Bush administration. Both the Bush and Obama administrations said they wanted to keep the interview confidential because future pre
Source: Google News
September 30, 2009
NEW YORK — Critics of China's communist government are protesting plans to light the top of New York's Empire State Building red and yellow to honor that nation's 60th anniversary.
Several supporters of Tibet protested Wednesday outside the iconic building, where a lighting ceremony is planned. The building often changes its lighting colors to mark holidays and big events.
Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner (WEE'-nur) of New York says the lights should not be used to
Source: NYT
September 30, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On the day Ray R. Moreno came home from Vietnam, the day antiwar protestors called him a baby killer, he decided to pack away his Army uniform for good. Memories and nightmares still intruded, but he rarely discussed them. Battle buddies were forgotten.
Until, that is, he started attending reunions of his troop a few years ago. Suddenly, a door reopened. “They were there; they understand,” Mr. Moreno, 58, said. “If we want to cry, we do. If we don’t, we don’t.”
Source: BBC
October 1, 2009
An ancient ape-like creature that may be a direct ancestor to our species has been described by researchers.
The assessment of the 4.4-million-year-old animal called Ardipithecus ramidus is reported in the journal Science.
Even if it is not on the direct line to us, it offers new insights into how we evolved from the common ancestor we share with chimps, the team says.
Fossils of A. ramidus were first found in Ethiopia in 1992, but it has taken 17 years t
Source: LAT
October 1, 2009
Once privately run, the Yorba Linda presidential museum is making a transition to government operation. And that has turned statues of Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai into political footballs.
The statues depict two old men relaxing in easy chairs. As others mill about the drawing room, the men engage in conversation, one gesturing at the other to underscore a point. For nearly 20 years the likenesses of China's communist leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai have sat perfectly still in
Source: BBC
October 1, 2009
British archaeologists have unearthed an amphitheatre at a ancient port outside Rome which may have played host to emperors such as Hadrian and Trajan.
The team, led by the University of Southampton, say the arena could have held up to 2,000 people and been used for gladiator games or animal baiting.
It was found inside a gigantic imperial-style palace within the well-preserved old harbour of Portus.
Experts said the entire site deserved greater recogniti
Source: BBC
October 1, 2009
Geologists in southern India say they have found hundreds of dinosaur egg clusters which could be about 65 million years old.
It was a chance find discovered when a team of scientists were locating a place to excavate an ancient riverbed in the state of Tamil Nadu.
As they dug deeper they saw layers of what looked like fossilised eggs.
The photos and samples were then sent to various universities who confirmed that they were dinosaur eggs.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 30, 2009
The number of “supercentenarians” – people aged over 110 – will soar in coming years, according to official forecasts.
England and Wales will be home to around 100 people in the age group by 2034, a 14-fold increase, it was claimed.
The Office for National Statistics put the rise down to projected improvements in life expectancy combined with a dramatic “baby boom” after the First World War. The rise comes despite concerns that the ben
Source: Fox News
October 1, 2009
Republicans are likening Rep. Alan Grayson's remark to Rep. Joe Wilson's widely criticized shout of "You lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress earlier this month.
A Democratic congressman under fire for saying that Republicans want Americans to "die quickly" if they get sick fanned the flames further Wednesday by comparing the U.S. health care system to a "holocaust."
Taking a page from Democrats who disciplined Rep. Joe Wilso
Source: AP
October 1, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI will attend a concert marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II being performed by young musicians from around the globe.
The Vatican says the Oct. 8 concert will feature music by Jewish-born composers Gustav Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn, and will be performed by the InterRegionales JugendsinfonieOrchester, which gathers young musicians from 10 nations.
Vatican official Cardinal Walter Kasper said Thursday the concert aims to involve in
Source: AP
October 1, 2009
Tanks and other heavy weaponry rumbled across Beijing behind goose-stepping troops as China celebrated 60 years of communist rule Thursday with its biggest-ever military review — a symbol of its rapidly expanding global might.
The elaborate ceremony for the founding of the People's Republic unfolded on national television but behind tight security that excluded ordinary people from getting near the parade route through Tiananmen Square.
Precisely choreographed, the two-
Source: CNN
October 1, 2009
Count Sen. John McCain among those who are eagerly awaiting Sarah Palin's upcoming tell-all memoir.
During an event Thursday at Washington's Newseum, the Arizona senator was asked by NBC's David Gregory which part of the former Alaska governor's 432-page memoir he is looking forward to reading the most.
"The part I'm looking forward to most is the part where it energized our campaign and her selection put us ahead in the polls," McCain said of his vice preside
Source: Times (UK)
October 1, 2009
One of next year’s most eagerly anticipated films, a star-studded thriller featuring a thinly disguised version of Tony Blair, is in jeopardy because of the arrest of Roman Polanski.
The Oscar-winning director had recently finished filming The Ghost, his adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name starring Pierce Brosnan. But the film is without a musical score and needs sound mixing and extra dialogue before a distributor can be found. With Polanski, who is in Switzerland,
Source: BBC
October 1, 2009
The team, led by the University of Southampton, say the arena could have held up to 2,000 people and been used for gladiator games or animal baiting.
It was found inside a gigantic imperial-style palace within the well-preserved old harbour of Portus.
Experts said the entire site deserved greater recognition.
The excavation team, which also included archaeologists from Cambridge University, has spent two years at Portus, about 20 miles (32km) from the It
Source: Telegraph(UK)
September 30, 2009
A channel for Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who died in a Second World War Nazi concentration camp, has been launched on YouTube.
The site contains existing and new images, including the only known video footage of Anne - a shot a few seconds-long of her leaning out of an upstairs window during the wedding of a neighbour in July 1941.
It also includes an interview with her father, Otto Frank, a preview of the new virtual museum of the Anne Frank House, and a series
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
September 30, 2009
Labour caused outrage yesterday by inviting Martin McGuinness to its annual conference in Brighton - the scene of the IRA's murderous attack on Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet.
The former IRA commander made clear that he had no remorse for the Grand Hotel bombing.
His visit came less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Tory conference in Brighton.
Five died and 34 were injured in what was one of the worst Provisional IRA outrages
Source: BBC
September 29, 2009
Did the Varian Disaster, which took place exactly 2,000 years ago and stunned the Roman Empire into a temporary paralysis, mark a turning point in its all-conquering mindset? Does the slaughter in the Teutoburger Forest still affect us today?
Adrian Murdoch believes it was a decisive moment in the development of the West.
The importance of the battle to modern Germany is such that the anniversary has been marked by three separate exhibitions on the battle, opened by G
Source: National Security Archive
September 30, 2009
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on “Advancing Freedom of Information in the New Era of Responsibility,” Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs reported on improvements in FOIA processing since the 2007 FOIA amendments went into effect, but said the most recent statistics demonstrated that excessive backlogs still plague the system. Citing requests as old as 17 years, Ms. Fuchs asked the Committee to look closely at FY 2009 data when it is reported to determine whether anything has
Source: Yahoo News
September 29, 2009
Rumors of the"birther" movement's death appear to have been greatly exaggerated. The group has been demanding for months that President Obama produce a"valid" birth certificate to prove he's a natural-born citizen of the U
Source: Yahoo News
September 30, 2009
What do Sarah Palin and Bill Clinton have in common? Both are book authors but neither wrote their memoirs completely on their own.
Ghostwriter, collaborator, co-author. These sidekick writers go by many names, but they all serve the same purpose: to get the book finished. A true ghostwriter gets no public credit for the work but in reality there are varying degrees of involvement by these pinch writers.
With the announcement that Palin's memoir "Going Rogue: An Am
