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: Newsweek
February 7, 2009
Ever since their 444 days spent in captivity, from November 1979 to January 1981, Bruce Laingen and John Limbert's names have been preceded by the words "Iran hostage," a grim honorific that's emblematic of the suffering and frustration that have marked U.S.-Iranian relations.
Laingen was the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Tehran when revolutionaries stormed the embassy. Limbert, a Persian speaker and former Peace Corps volunteer, was an English teacher at the time who l
Source: Independent (UK)
February 8, 2009
They are dismissed as primitive savages who charged into battle screaming and waving their claymores, only to be cut down by musket fire from well-drilled British army redcoats.
The defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces at Culloden, near Inverness, in 1746 is widely considered a triumph of modernity over the romance of a bygone age.
But new research has established this is yet another of the many myths about the rebellion based largely on government propaganda of th
Source: Times (UK)
February 8, 2009
THE morning sickness drug thalidomide, which caused pregnant women to give birth to babies without arms and legs, was first developed by the Nazis, probably as part of their chemical weapons programme, according to new research. Two separate academics have revealed the discovery of documents indicating that the drug did not originate with Chemie Grünenthal, the postwar German chemical firm, as has always been claimed.
If, as their research suggests, thalidomide was first developed
Source: Spiegel Online
February 6, 2009
Berlin paid tribute Thursday to the last person shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall. Chris Gueffroy died in a hail of bullets as he tried to flee East Germany on the night of Feb. 5-6, 1989. He was the last person to fall victim to the East German policy of shooting people trying to flee across the Berlin Wall -- although more were to die trying to escape from East Germany before the borders were opened on Nov. 9, 1989.
Gueffroy's mother, Karin Gueffroy, lit a candle to her dead so
Source: NYT
February 7, 2009
In her first weeks in the White House, Mrs. Obama has been the gracious hostess and loyal spouse, welcoming visitors to the Executive Mansion and accompanying President Obama to a prayer breakfast and to a charter school to read to second graders. But in a departure from her predecessor, Mrs. Obama has also begun promoting bills that support her husband’s policy priorities.
Last month, Mrs. Obama celebrated the enacting of a pay-equity law with a reception for women’s advocates at t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 6, 2009
The foot-wide stone was found by Hartlepool pensioner Connie Lofthouse, 79, after she recognised it from a programme charting its history and disappearance.
In 1989 it disappeared from a knoll near the Glenfinnan Monument at the head of Loch Shiel. There, on 17 August 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie raised a 16ft-high standard on the stone to rally his troops to march on Edinburgh.
In 1990 Mrs Lofthouse was given the stone while living in Kentallen near Glencoe. Two years l
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
February 8, 2009
A little-known English nun who helped to hide Italian Jews from the Nazis in wartime Rome is being considered as a possible saint.
Mother Ricarda Beauchamp Hambrough is credited with playing a vital role in saving the lives of more than 60 Jews by smuggling them into her convent.
The Bridgettines, the order to which she belonged, have now applied to the Vatican for permission to open her cause for sainthood.
If granted she will become one of four British wo
Source: Spiegel Online
February 6, 2009
What was it he had seen? A fire burning on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific? The next day, the captain of the Duke, an English buccaneer ship, sent an armed party to the island to investigate. When the men returned to the ship, they brought along two surprises: large numbers of spiny lobsters and a shaggy creature.
The figure that climbed on board the Duke on Feb. 2, 1709 was apparently human, but wild as an animal, barefoot and covered in goatskin. The creature, extremely
Source: Tehran Times
February 8, 2009
The Islamic Revolution “turned the Iranian nation into a determined, powerful, dignified and influential nation” in the world with voting rights, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a large group of Air Force commanders and staff ahead of February 10 celebrations which marks the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
The meeting with the Supreme Leader is held every year to appreciate the key role of the Air Force in the victory of revolution in 1979.
The Leader pointed to th
Source: BBC
February 7, 2009
"The new Russian journalism first lost its modesty, then its innocence."
The words of Alexei Simonov, a Russian media freedom campaigner, sound like an epitaph for "glasnost", the spirit of openness encouraged by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, which accelerated the collapse of communism.
Mr Gorbachev's nemesis - Boris Yeltsin - got re-elected in 1996 with the help of powerful businessmen, whose media told voters that it w
Source: AP
February 7, 2009
When you think of Abraham Lincoln, you think of ... Idaho?
As the nation prepares to commemorate the Feb. 12 bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, Western states that didn't exist until after Lincoln's 1865 assassination, much less his 1809 birth near Hodgenville, Ky., are grabbing a piece of the famous birthday.
Problem is, the connection between the architect of the Emancipation Proclamation and the nation's post-Civil War states is sometimes thin. In Idaho, for example, o
Source: Reuters
February 7, 2009
The burden of endless public engagements must be exhausting yet they have fulfilled them for 57 years with dignity and without complaint. Their stamina, workload, and composure are remarkable.
There was only a slight drop in the number of engagements last year from 440 to 417 carried out by the Queen even though at 82, she is at an age when most women would have been retired for 20 years. The Duchess of Cornwall, 61, carried out 220 compared to the Duke of Edinburgh, who at 87, perf
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2009
Three decades after Iran's Islamic Revolution, activists who took part in the events that saw the Shah toppled – and which ushered in an era of unrelenting hostility to the West – despair at how their dreams have been so little realised.
Now, as Iran prepares to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its revolution on Tuesday, many of those who ran through the streets of Tehran in 1979 are disappointed with the results.
As students, their behaviour shook the world, bringing
Source: AFP
February 7, 2009
A bishop under fire for denying the Holocaust wants to examine the historical evidence before any possible renunciation of his belief that not a single Jew died in Nazi gas chambers, a report said.
"If I find proof I would rectify (earlier statements)... But all that will take time," Bishop Richard Williamson was quoted as saying by the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
The British-born bishop denied the existence of the gas chambers in an interview with Swe
Source: BBC
February 6, 2009
Archaeologists are using the appearance of a mysterious hole at Broughty Castle green in Dundee to discover more about what lies underneath the grass.
It is suspected there may be several military buildings below the ground, including pits where mines were armed.
There were plans in the 1880s to put a minefield in the Tay for extra defence.
The archaeologists will also study why the 30cm hole opened up, so the safety of the area can be improved and conse
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
February 6, 2009
Imagine a time when Seattle had far more trees than people -- if you can.
It was 1909, a year of optimism, when women were poised to get the vote in Washington, and the harsh realities of World War I and the Great Depression were years away.
In the heady post-Gold Rush boom years, civic leaders decided it was time to put Seattle on the map. The plan: Stage the city's first world's fair. The global bash -- the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition -- aimed to attract more resi
Source: LAT
February 5, 2009
Organizers of Orange County’s annual Black History Parade have canceled Saturday’s event, saying they couldn’t raise enough money to cover its cost.
The procession of floats, school bands and community leaders through Santa Ana began in 1979 as a modest affair but had grown in recent years to include more than 100 entries.
But the parade’s sponsor, the Orange County Black Historical Commission, said the poor economy made it impossible to raise the $50,000 to $60,000 nee
Source: WaPo
February 6, 2009
The mutton chops and top hat, the powdered white curls and wooden teeth.
How could a child not be fascinated by iconic presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln?
The life history and legacy of the first and 16th presidents are American classroom staples that never go out of style. "Their exploits as young men have appeal for children of all ages," says Jonathan Brand, high school history teacher and headmaster of Chelsea Academy in Front Royal, Va. &quo
Source: Media Matters (liberal watchdog group)
February 6, 2009
A February 6 Washington Post article about Leon Panetta's Senate confirmation hearing as CIA director reported that "Panetta said he would oppose 'extraordinary rendition,' the forced transfer of detainees to another country, in cases in which the suspects might be tortured" and that Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) "noted that the Clinton administration had ordered dozens of renditions." However, the article did not note Panetta's response to Bond's statement that "during the Clint
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
February 5, 2009
Google today unveiled what could be the largest collection of digital books formatted for cellphones. The company took 1.5 million of the books it has scanned through its partnership with several major college libraries and prepped them for the small screen of iPhones or phones using Google’s Android operating system.
The collection only includes books that are in the public domain, so it highlights classics like Emma and This Side of Paradise.
