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: Factcheck.org (Annenberg)
March 25, 2009
[President Obama] said he is reducing “nondefense discretionary spending” to less than it was under the past four presidents. Not true. His own forecast for the final budget of his four-year term puts this figure higher than in many years under Reagan, Clinton or either Bush.
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In 2006, we criticized President Bush for bragging about reducing "nondefense discretionary spending" without mentioning that overall spending had increased dramatically. Obama is ad
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
March 25, 2009
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), along with co-sponsors Senators Kennedy (D-MA) and Byrd (D-WV), recently introduced a bill (S. 659) called the “Improving the Teaching and Learning of American History and Civics Act of 2009.”The bill would do the following.Authorize 100 summer academies for outstanding students and teacher
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
March 24, 2009
Ward Churchill acknowledged some flaws in his scholarship, but strenuously denied that any merited his 2007 dismissal by the University of Colorado, in testimony delivered today in a trial in which he is attempting to prove that his firing violated his First Amendment rights.
Throughout his second day on the witness stand, the controversial ethnic-studies scholar expressed defiance toward his accusers at the university, according to reports on the courtroom proceedings published in
Source: The Daily Beast
March 25, 2009
Is the new administration turning out to love secrets as much as the last one? The Justice Department is attempting to dismiss an Oregon civil lawsuit under the "state secrets" privilege, claiming that some of the information will jeopardize national security. The al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, which was suspected of funding terrorism, is suing White House officials, the National Security Agency, Treasury Department and the FBI, regarding warrantless wiretaps they claim were placed on
Source: WaPo
March 25, 2009
The latest budget cut in the District: a four-year-old holiday for city workers called Emancipation Day.
Under Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's proposed fiscal 2010 spending plan, the April 16 holiday, which commemorates the day in 1862 when President Lincoln freed the District's 3,000 slaves, would be discontinued next year. The reason? Not having to pay workers who work that day holiday rates would save the city about $1.3 million, the mayor's office said.
Emancipation Day was
Source: Jack Cafferty at CNN
February 24, 2009
People are losing faith in their ability to realize the American dream. While AIG pays out $165 million in bonuses to people who arguably contributed to the need for the federal government to hand them $170 billion of our money, and while politicians lie about who crafted the language that allowed this kind of stuff to happen (Are you listening Chris Dodd?), the average American is seeing his future disintegrate in front of his eyes.
Here are some numbers that suggest we are losing
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 25, 2009
Officials in Kazakhstan claim to have have a found the world's oldest person - a woman who will this week celebrate her 130th birthday.
If their records are correct, Sakhan Dosova is 16 years older than the oldest known human currently living.
The mother of ten, whose birth date is said to be March 27 1879, attributes her longevity to staying away from sweets, and the doctor. However, she is a fan of cheese and yoghurt, and says her sense of humour has kept her young
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 25, 2009
A self-portrait of Adolf Hitler, thought to be the first he ever painted, is to go under the hammer for the first time.
The watercolour painting is among 13 works by the Nazi dictator, created back in 1910 when he was just 21.
The small portrait has no nose or mouth, but the side parting hairstyle is unmistakable and experts are sure it is him because of the markings on the piece.
All of the pictures had been kept under lock and key in storage since thei
Source: AP
March 25, 2009
NORFOLK, Va. –- Nearly a century after the Titanic struck ice in the North Atlantic, a federal judge in Virginia is poised to preserve the largest collection of artifacts from the opulent oceanliner and protect the ship's resting place.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, a maritime jurist who considers the wreck an "international treasure," is expected to rule within weeks that the salvaged items must remain together and accessible to the public. That would ensure th
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
March 25, 2009
Children will no longer study the Second World War and Queen Victoria, but instead learn about Twitter and blogging under radical plans to overhaul primary school teaching.
The new draft curriculum commissioned by the Government claims that pupils can do without learning about the battle against Nazism and the rise and fall of the British Empire.
In a move which will horrify many parents, it would see children focus on internet tools such as Wikipedia and podcasting, as
Source: BBC
February 25, 2009
A gem-encrusted tiger's head from the throne of Tipu Sultan - the Indian king famed for resisting British rule - is due to be sold in the UK next month.
The sale takes place less than a month after personal possessions of the Indian independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, were sold in the US.
Auctioneers Bonhams say the head is one of the most important Tipu Sultan belongings to be sold.
It had been left undiscovered in an English castle for at least 100 ye
Source: AP
February 25, 2009
During World War II, the best brains in Britain cracked Germany's encrypted secrets but never broke their own code of silence.
Now gray-haired and using walking sticks and at least one wheelchair, the legendary code breakers returned for a reunion Tuesday at Bletchley Park, where they labored in the grim, blacked-out rooms and played a key role in defeating the Nazis.
The code breakers who worked here in anonymity helped alter history, frustrating Adolf Hitler's ambitio
Source: Independent (UK)
March 24, 2009
Greece has returned to Italy two murals smuggled from an Italian church more than 20 years ago, the Culture Ministry said today.
The frescoes dating to the 13th century were seized from the church in the southern region of Campania, in 1982. Greek police found them in 2006 on a small island in the southern Aegean during an anti-smuggling mission.
"This is one step further in our cooperation with the Italians," Culture Minister Antonis Samaras said in a state
Source: Deutsche Welle
March 24, 2009
Solemn ceremonies were held at Belgrade monuments to children and journalists killed in the NATO sorties as the sirens were sounded across the ex-Yugoslav republic for 60 seconds from midday (1200 CET).
Ministers gathered at the same time to lay wreaths at spots where people were killed during the air war -- at the time the biggest military operation in NATO history.
"The attack on our country was illegal, contrary to international law, without a decision by the Un
Source: Deutsche Welle
March 25, 2009
The March, 25, 1949 deportations saw people seized from their homes without warning and transported, literally like cattle, to the frozen ends of the earth, marking one of the lowest points even by the standards of the Soviet Union's oppressive history.
In a short period of time, around 100,000 Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians were sent to Siberia in cattle trucks to scratch a living from the permafrost in labor camps. Some died on the way, some died as the years passed - and a few
Source: Reuters
March 19, 2009
Iraq has received its first group of Western tourists since the fall of Saddam
Hussein in 2003, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said on Thursday.
The group of eight holidaymakers -- five Britons, two Americans and a Canadian -- arrived on March 8
and toured Iraq's landmark historic sites, including the Biblical city of Babylon, fabled home to
the Hanging Gardens.
Their three week trip was organized by a British adventure tour operator, ministry spokesman
Abdul-Zahra al-Tel
Source: BBC
February 24, 2009
Three British divers have admitted illegally removing artefacts from an Atlantic Ocean shipwreck in 2002.
Peter Devlin, Steve Russ and Malcolm Cubin, all from Cornwall, admitted the charges at a court in Santiago, Spain.
The commercial divers were accused of stealing gold and diamonds and of destroying Spain's cultural heritage.
They each received two six-month prison sentences, suspended for two years, and fined a total of 5,000 euros (£4,600) after adm
Source: AP
February 24, 2009
The U.S. government said Tuesday it is asking German officials for travel documents needed to deport accused World War II Nazi guard John Demjanjuk, who is charged in Europe with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided an e-mail to The Associated Press showing that it has contacted the German government in its effort to deport Demjanjuk, once accused but ultimately cleared of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka concentration camp in occupied Poland
Source: AP
March 24, 2009
During World War II, the best brains in Britain cracked Germany's encrypted secrets but never broke their own code of silence.
Now gray-haired and using walking sticks and at least one wheelchair, the legendary code breakers returned for a reunion Tuesday at Bletchley Park, where they labored in the grim, blacked-out rooms and played a key role in defeating the Nazis.
The code breakers who worked here in anonymity helped alter history, frustrating Adolf Hitler's ambiti
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 24, 2009
The achievements of eccentric inventor Harry Grindell Matthews' who came up with a prototype mobile telephone and a 'death ray' are being revived by a science teacher.
Author Jonathan Foster said Matthews' contribution to science had been largely overlooked despite his many inventions.
Lauded as 'Death Ray Matthews' in the press in the 1920s, he claimed his contraption could stop a motorbike engine, explode gunpowder or kill a mouse.
