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: Telegraph (UK)
May 20, 2009
The last Speaker to be ejected from the Commons was Sir John Trevor, a lawyer, who was made a King’s Counsel by Charles II.
In 1685 he was appointed Master of the Rolls and also the Speaker of the House of Commons by James II.
He was a partisan of James II and was deprived of office on the accession of William III. In 1690, however, he once again returned to parliament as Speaker
As Speaker, he was memorable for being severely cross-eyed. The affliction was
Source: NYT
May 19, 2009
Federal authorities are investigating the loss of a computer hard drive containing a huge quantity of personal information from Bill Clinton’s presidency in an apparent security breach at a National Archives record center, government officials said Tuesday.
Government officials briefed on the matter said the breach, which was confirmed in April, involved the loss of a drive containing a terabyte of computerized data, which could include millions of individual pieces of information,
Source: The Daily Beast
May 17, 2009
Might Donald Rumsfeld be left off the guest list for Bush administration reunions? In a piece for GQ, Robert Draper interviews former officials and discovers"intense feelings of ill will toward Donald Rumsfeld." In interviewing these officials, Draper writes, it"becomes evident that Rumsfeld impaired administration performance on a host of matters extending well beyond Iraq to impact America's relations with other natio
Source: Fox News
May 19, 2009
One scientist thinks he know why the Neanderthals went extinct: We ate them.
A team led by Fernando Rozzi, of France's National Center for Scientific Research, re-examined modern human bones found in a cave near Les Rois in southwestern France and found that one jawbone was instead Neanderthal.
Crucially, it was covered in cut marks, indicated it had been butchered. The human bones were untouched.
"For years, people have tried to hide away from the ev
Source: http://www.prnewschannel.com
May 18, 2009
Does the CIA lie to the President and senior members of Congress? The answer is yes, according to publisher and presidential historian Tim Miller. He says there’s no doubt Nancy Pelosi could be telling the truth about not knowing about the water-boarding torture used on suspected terrorists, all while the CIA has been lying.
Miller, who is CEO of FlatSigned Press, refers to at least two examples surrounding the CIA and JFK’s assassination when making his claim that the intelligence
Source: National Geographic
May 18, 2009
The glittering "grills" of some hip-hop stars aren't exactly unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500 years ago, a new study says.
Ancient peoples of southern North America went to "dentists"—among the earliest known—to beautify their chompers with notches, grooves, and semiprecious gems, according to a recent analysis of thousands of teeth examined from collections in Mexico's National Insti
Source: VOA
May 19, 2009
A slump in tourism is aggravating Egypt's economic woes and affecting the lives of those who depend on the industry for a living. About 20 percent of Egypt's foreign currency earnings come from tourism. In 2008, almost 13 million foreign tourists visited Egypt, taking in its pharaonic and Islamic sites along the River Nile. But now, the drop in revenue is hitting the country hard.
Empty tour boats line the River Nile, as boat captains desperately solicit passengers from the meager c
Source: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk
May 18, 2009
Letters from the 1940s written by a Bristol schoolboy who discovered the remains of a Roman villa in Lawrence Weston have been uncovered.
The villa in Long Cross Road was unearthed in 1947 during the construction of the Lawrence Weston housing estate.
George Boon took an interest in archaeology at an early age, and helped protect the site from developers.
He would go on to become one of the world's leading figures in Romano-British archaeology for more than
Source: National Geographic
May 18, 2009
Demand for the mercury compound vermilion was strong enough to support a large-scale mercury mining industry in the Andes as far back as 1400 B.C., according to a new study (see pictures from the expedition).
A bright red pigment, vermilion was used in ancient Andean rituals and is frequently found adorning gold and silver ceremonial objects in ancient burials of kings and nobles in South America.
The find extends the record of New World mercury production back by more
Source: Spiegel Online
May 15, 2009
Was the cradle of civilization also the birthplace of atrocity? Historians have been researching the most extreme forms of torture in the ancient world. Among other things, they have found that, back then, "sitting in the tub" was actually a pretty nasty way to kick the bucket.
In total, Julius Caesar reckoned that he had 1,192,000 enemies killed during his reign. Meanwhile the Emperor Tiberius would have young men's urethras laced shut before force-feeding them wine. And,
Source: AP
May 19, 2009
It is a forgotten tale from an almost forgotten saga.
Nearly 2 1/2 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military was island hopping through the South Pacific, slowly whittling away at Japan's war-fighting ability.
In an area of the vast naval base known as West Loch, almost three dozen large landing ships brimming with fuel, ammunition and other equipment sat lashed together in preparation for a brutal invasion code-named "Operation Forager."
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 19, 2009
China has released one of the last prisoners described as 'hooligans' who were jailed after the Tiananmen Square protests 20 years ago.
Liu Zhihua was 24 years old when he helped to organise a strike at a factory in Xiangtan to protest at the treatment of students in Tiananmen Square. He was imprisoned for the now-defunct crime of "hooliganism", and is the final trade union leader to be released.
According to Dui Hua, a human rights group, Liu has just been r
Source: CNN
January 19, 2009
Scientists hailed Tuesday a 47-million-year-old fossil of an ancient "small cat"-sized primate as a possible common ancestor of monkeys, primates and humans.
Scientists say the fossil, dubbed "Ida," is a transitional species, living around the time the primate lineage split into two groups: A line that would eventually produce humans, primates and monkeys, and another that would give rise to lemurs and other primates.
The fossil was formally named Da
Source: San Jose Mercury
May 18, 2009
A man accused of killing a U.S. journalist because of his investigative work admits his role, giving testimony that implicates two more in the slaying. Sound familiar?
Perhaps doubly so. It's the story not only of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey, shot to death on a downtown Oakland sidewalk in August 2007, but also of Don Bolles, an Arizona Republic reporter killed by a car bomb in Phoenix in June 1976. In the 31 years between, there was no other case in which multiple defendant
Source: Washington Post
May 19, 2009
A federal appeals court ruled this morning that the White House does not have to make public internal documents examining the potential disappearance of e-mails during the Bush administration.
In upholding a ruling last year by a federal judge, the appeals court found that the White House's Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group fil
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
May 19, 2009
After more than 60 years of self-loathing and shame because of the
Nazis, the Germans have fallen in love with themselves.
A study has shown that increasing numbers of Germans think they should
be proud about their country.
Germany is preparing to celebrate 20 years of the downfall of the
Berlin Wall and the 60 years since the founding of the post-war
Republic that replaced the Third Reich.
A study, carried out by the Identity Foundation in Duesseldorf, showed
twice as
Source: Guardian (UK)
May 15, 2009
Hidden in the jungle one mile in on the access road to the village of Sittee River is an important landmark in Belize’s colonial history. It is the remnants of the steam powered Serpon Sugar Mill which was established in 1865 and marked the start of Belize’s industrial era. The mill was bought by William Bowman and it, along with the Regalia, bought and owned by an American, fueled Belize’s economy for about thirty years.
Estimates are that at its peak, the Serpon Sugar Mill was
Source: NYT
May 17, 2009
Have you met Rotus?
This is a question President Obama has taken to asking some of his visitors to the White House. In a bureaucratic world awash in abbreviations and acronyms, this one in particular seems to amuse him.
Mr. Obama, of course, is Potus (president of the United States). Michelle Obama is Flotus (first lady of the United States). And the title of Rotus (receptionist of the United States) is worn by Darienne M. Page.
“This is the receptionist of
Source: NYT
May 17, 2009
As Israel celebrated its Independence Day last month — an event that Palestinians call the nakba, the catastrophe — the videotaped accounts of Mrs. Natur and Mr. Tamir are part of efforts to preserve the narratives of both sides of the war that led to Israel’s tumultuous birth in 1948.
While historians debate the reliability of first-person accounts given decades after the event, advocates argue that they give voice to ordinary people’s experiences of historic times. ...
On t
Source: Fox News
May 18, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.
According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which
