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: AP
July 4, 2009
A group that has been trying for years to build a Revolutionary War museum at Valley Forge National Historical Park is moving the multimillion-dollar project to downtown Philadelphia.
Officials with the group, the American Revolution Center, and the National Park Service said last week that they had reached an agreement to open the museum on the site of a former visitor center in Independence National Historical Park, near Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other historic sites
Source: NYT
July 4, 2009
The saga of Everett Ruess, an idealistic young wanderer whose disappearance in 1934 sparked one of the most enduring mysteries of the modern West, is not over yet.
Mr. Ruess’s family said last week that because of questions raised by Utah’s state archaeologist, they would seek independent retesting of remains found last year on the Navajo Indian Reservation in southern Utah. Scientists at the University of Colorado — in a joint announcement in April with National Geographic Adventur
Source: AP
July 2, 2009
Citing their free speech rights, three tour guides filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging an ordinance that will require them to pass a history test and get a license before speaking to groups about the history of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and other landmarks.
Mayor Michael Nutter signed the law in April amid concerns some guides were perpetuating gross inaccuracies, including the false claims that Benjamin Franklin had 69 illegitimate children and that three-time widow Be
Source: The Times (UK)
July 5, 2009
Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controls Formula One auto racing, said Friday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to "get things done."
In an outspoken interview with The Times of London, the 78-year-old British billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weaknesses and extolled the virtues of strong leadership.
Instead, Ecclestone endorsed the concept of a government based on tyranny.
Source: NPR
July 4, 2009
President Obama signed a bill Wednesday granting the Congressional Gold Medal to a group of women most Americans have never heard of: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP.
These were the first women to fly military aircraft. During World War II, they volunteered for noncombat duty, as test pilots and trainers. They freed up their male counterparts to go to Europe and fight in the war.
But even though they wore uniforms and worked on bases, they were never conside
Source: BBC
July 5, 2009
A woman whose talent for maths helped foil German V2 bombs in World War II has published her life story.
Eileen Younghusband, 87, from the Vale of Glamorgan, received the coded message that the first V2 rocket had been launched against Britain.
She had the secret task while in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).
Her book, Not An Ordinary Life has been published with the help of the Lifelong Learning centre at Cardiff University.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
July 3, 2009
Vladimir Putin has insisted he is not 'bow-legged' after US President Barack Obama described him as having 'one foot' in Russia's Cold War past.
Mr Putin also called on the United States to shelve plans for a missile defence shield in Europe.
There have been some signs of hope. The two Cold War adversaries are making progress towards a deal slashing their respective nuclear arsenals while Russia agreed to allow the United States to transport arms to Afghanistan across
Source: Foxnews
July 5, 2009
Former President George W. Bush looked back as far as the signers of the Declaration of Independence and as recently as the U.S. soldiers fighting wars abroad as examples of the patriotism and bravery that define Americans.
George W. Bush marked the Fourth of July with an address to a massive crowd in Woodward, Okla., that appeared thrilled to receive the former president for its holiday celebration.
The audience at the Rodeo Arena was the largest Bush has addressed s
Source: Telegraph (UK)
July 4, 2009
A previously unheard recording of a Russian spacecraft attempting to beat NASA's Apollo 11 in 1969's race to the moon has been released.
In July 1969, the telescopes at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, in Cheshire, were tracking the Americans' Eagle Lander carrying astronauts towards the moon's surface.
Sir Bernard Lovell, the astronomer, was among the team listening to transmissions coming from the area of space and began tracking the unmanned Soviet spacecraft Luna 15,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
July 4, 2009
Two treasure hunters face a legal battle over how they are going to split a reward of up to £500,000 for finding a rare hoard of more than 800 Celtic gold coins.
Metal detecting enthusiast Michael Darke, 60, realised he might be on the trail of a major treasure find when he found 10 Iron age coins buried in a meadow.
He called his friend Keith Lewis, 54, for advice and invited him the following weekend to help him search the land at Dallinghoo near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
July 4, 2009
Thirty thousand Germans condemned as traitors by Nazi courts in the Second World War are to get a posthumous pardon.
Twenty thousand were executed, often for crimes as trifling as writing a diary entry criticising Hitler. The other 10,000 were sentenced in wartime but not executed.
Relatives expressed some satisfaction that at last their ancestors will have the stigma of traitor lifted from them.
Source: Calgary Herald
July 3, 2009
A pair of Alberta brothers accused of pillaging Yukon's history are gearing up for an unusual legal battle that sees them fighting against charges while simultaneously suing the wreckage of a Second World War bomber.
Brian and John Jasman are accused of excavating a B-26 Marauder-- an American bomber plane--from the depths of Watson Lake without a permit under the Yukon Territory's Historic Resources Act after they salvaged the nose piece in the spring.
The wreckage had
Source: Independent (UK)
July 5, 2009
Some of the last, frank thoughts and confessions of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq have been revealed in transcripts of a remarkable series of interviews with the former dictator's interrogators.
Under questioning by the FBI during 20 formal interviews and at least five "casual conversations" over a four-month period from February to May 2004 after his capture by US troops in December 2003, Saddam said he had made a mistake in destroying Baghdad's stockpile of weapons o
Source: The Canadian Press
July 4, 2009
Ed Spaeth was researching his family tree when he discovered an 18th-century ancestor likely was buried in the woods just down the hill from his Hudson Valley home.
Although he can't pinpoint Francois Martin-Pelland's grave, historical evidence has led Spaeth to the nearby grove believed to be the final resting place of hundreds of other Revolutionary War soldiers posted here when Fishkill was the main supply source for Gen. George Washington's northern army.
Today, com
Source: AP
July 4, 2009
The onetime presidential rivals both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their U.S. Independence Day radio and Internet addresses Saturday.
President Obama sought to rally support for his domestic initiatives, while Sen. John McCain called for Americans to support millions of Iranian election protesters.
Source: AP
July 4, 2009
The Saturday Evening Post, a centuries-old publication that helped make illustrator Norman Rockwell a household name and showcased some of America's greatest writers, is returning to its roots to show readers the value of a quiet read in an increasingly frenetic digital age.
A redesign launching with its July/August issue combines the Post's hallmarks -- art and fiction -- with folksy commentary and health articles. The revamped Post promises a more relaxing option for people who ar
Source: Politico.com
July 3, 2009
Bill Clinton. George Bush. Jimmy Carter. They’re all pretty easy to pronounce.
But Barack Obama is not so simple. And before he was world famous, people regularly butchered his African name (Bay-rack anyone?). As president, Barack Obama takes care to get pronunciations correct — from heads of state and foreign nations to the director of a small nonprofit in Jersey City.
The text of Obama’s daily briefings includes phonetic spellings of names and places, or the person briefing
Source: AP
July 3, 2009
Aaron Weisinger, a 26-year-old from Walnut Creek, Calif., was one of the lucky ones. He will be part of the first group of tourists in eight years to climb the 354 steps, 146 of them up a narrow spiral staircase, to stand atop the statue's head and peer from under the spikes of her crown.
Reasons vary for why the crown has been closed for so long, and there are questions about the role terrorism played in that.
In May, the Obama administration announced that the crown w
Source: BBC
July 3, 2009
Russian delegates have walked out of an OSCE session in Vilnius after it voted for a remembrance day for the victims of both Nazism and Stalinism.
The pan-European security and democracy body passed a resolution equating the roles of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in starting World War II.
Moscow's delegation boycotted the vote after failing to have it withdrawn.
The resolution, meant to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, said th
Source: BBC
July 3, 2009
The African Union is ending its co-operation with the International Criminal Court after it charged Sudan's president with war crimes.
Omar al-Bashir is accused over alleged atrocities in the Darfur region.
Reports from an AU meeting in Libya said the delegates agreed a statement saying they would not co-operate in the "arrest and surrender" of Mr Bashir.
