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: CNN
January 14, 2009
As President George W. Bush prepares for his last week in office, he and
First Lady Laura Bush spent time Tuesday talking with CNN's Larry King.
In a wide-ranging interview, the First Family reflects on the past eight
years of the presidency, including 9/11 and the war on terror.
They also discussed what awaits President-elect Barack Obama and his
family when he takes office on January 20. The following is an edited
version of the interview.
Larry King: Are you going to
Source: Slate
January 14, 2009
Historians will be debating George Bush's presidency for decades to come—in fact, they've already started—but in one area, at least, he leaves an unambiguous legacy: He will break, once and for all, Tecumseh's Curse.
The curse—also known as the Curse of Tippecanoe, the Zero-Year Curse and the 20-Year Curse—refers to the fact that since 1840, every president elected in a year ending in a zero has died, been killed, or been shot while in office. Some curse scholars (I use the term loo
Source: National Security Archive
January 14, 2009
At a hearing today concerning the risks posed by the presidential transition to the recovery of millions of missing e-mails from the Executive Office of the President (EOP) in the National Security Archive's lawsuit seeking restoration of those e-mails, the White House acknowledged that it has done little to recover e-mail files from computer workstations and nothing to collect external media storage devices that could hold e-mails. These admissions came despite the issuance of a report and rec
Source: National Security Archive
January 15, 2009
The federal magistrate judge overseeing the White House e-mail litigation today said the issue had reached "true emergency conditions" with only "two business days before the new President takes office" and that "the importance of preserving the e-mails cannot be exaggerated," according to the court's Memorandum Opinion issued this morning along with an Order and posted on the National Security Archive website, http://www.nsarchive
Source: Guardian (UK)
January 15, 2009
French presidents have rushed to build a great cultural monument by which to be remembered, from Georges Pompidou's art centre and François Mitterrand's Louvre glass pyramid to Jacques Chirac's museum of indigenous art. Now Nicolas Sarkozy wants his own project: a museum of the history of France.
The president, whose emphasis on French pride and "national identity" has already caused controversy, declared this week that an all-encompassing history museum would reinforce &q
Source: AP
January 14, 2009
ROME –- One of the Vatican's most secrecy shrouded tribunals, which handles confessions of sins so grave only the pope can grant absolution, is giving the faithful a peek into its workings for the first time in its 830-year history.
The Vatican has long lamented that fewer and fewer Catholics are going to confession, the sacrament in which the faithful can receive forgiveness if they sincerely confess their sins to a priest.
To combat the decline, the so-called "tr
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 15, 2009
George W Bush has said farewell to Americans, asking the nation that elected him twice, but now regards him as the worst US president of the modern era, to understand that he had always tried to do the right thing.
In a nationwide television address, he said that though he may have made mistakes, he never shirked a tough decision and had always put the country's interests first.
Underlining how thoroughly the September 11, 2001 attacks had shaped his thinking, he said
Source: CNN
January 15, 2009
In the eyes of the world, President Bush is a bully engaging in "cowboy diplomacy" who has hurt America's image abroad or a liberator who has freed millions from tyranny.
Considering Bush's history before he entered the Oval Office, it is somewhat surprising that his actions in the international sphere will largely define his presidency.
During the 2000 election, then-Texas Gov. George Bush's lack of international experience was not viewed as a liability, and
Source: Chicago Tribune
January 15, 2009
The son watched his father, vowing not to repeat his mistakes.
The weekend before George W. Bush defeated Texas Gov. Ann Richards in 1994, he stood in the backyard of his Dallas home hitting tennis balls into the swimming pool for his dog to fetch and ruminated about the future with his media strategist, Don Sipple.
"At one point, Bush talked about his father, and he said, 'Sip, my man, don't underestimate what you can learn from a failed presidency,' " recall
Source: Foxnews
January 15, 2009
The Obamas, who have been staying at a hotel in Washington, couldn't move into Blair House until Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a temporary guest, left.
Five days before he moves into the White House, President-elect Barack Obama and his family were moving across the street from it on Thursday -- into Blair House, the government's official guest residence.
Built in 1824, Blair House has provided a temporary home to every president since Andrew Jackson. Since 194
Source: Foxnews
January 15, 2009
Most Americans say President George W. Bush is a good person, but that history will judge him harshly, according to a FOX News poll released Thursday.
Despite record low job approval ratings, most Americans think George W. Bush is a good person. And as he prepares to leave the presidency, more than twice as many people think history will be cruel to Bush as think history will be kind.
Just over half (53 percent) think history will be cruel to Bush and 30 percent thin
Source: WaPo
January 15, 2009
The Washington Post's key coverage of George W. Bush's presidency.
Roundtable: Woodward, Gellman on Bush Legacy
The Post's Eugene Robinson, Bob Woodward and Barton Gellman weigh the successes and failures of George W. Bush's presidency during a roundtable discussion. [video]
Bush in Photos
From Texas to Washington
A look back at George W. Bush's life, from his East Coast and Texas roots to his eventual rise to office.
Bush Abroad
Source: AP
January 15, 2009
WASHINGTON -- A federal court tore into the Bush White House on Thursday over the issue of millions of apparently missing e-mails, saying the administration failed in its obligation to safeguard all electronic messages.
In a four-page opinion, Magistrate Judge John Facciola said the White House is ignoring the court's instructions to search a full range of locations for all electronic messages that may be missing.
The Executive Office of the President, the magistrate sa
Source: Washington Post
January 15, 2009
A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge yesterday that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files.
Civil division trial lawyer Helen H. Hong made the disclosure at a court hearing provoked by a 2007 lawsuit filed by outside groups to ensure that politically significant records created by t
Source: Eveningsun
January 14, 2009
Five plywood boards are now plastered on the side of the Eternal Peace Light Memorial in Gettysburg after someone vandalized the monument last week.
The boards block most of the words spray painted in blue and black, though one phrase - "U can't get us" - is still visible.
Gettysburg National Military Park officials say the damage cannot be addressed until temperatures warm up because of the monument's unique material.
Overlooking the battlefie
Source: BBC News
January 15, 2009
A debonair 40-something Senator, with a toothy smile and a lofty turn of phrase.
A made-for-television First Family. A fashion-forward First Lady. Generational change at a time of national self-doubt. No wonder the chatter in Washington is of a Black Camelot, with Barack Obama cast as Jack Kennedy, and his wife, Michelle, playing Jackie.
Stepping before the press for the first time as President-elect, with his heavily pregnant wife looking on, JFK joked that he looked f
Source: BBC
January 15, 2009
A Russian ex-KGB agent could soon be in control of London daily newspaper the Evening Standard.
Billionaire businessman Alexander Lebedev is believed to have made an offer for a 76% share of the paper.
He has previously revealed that he used the paper to find out information when he was a young spy based in London.
In 2006, he teamed up with ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to buy the Russian paper Novaya Gazeta.
Source: CNN
January 15, 2009
For almost 60 years, Grace Britton Sweet has had the right to vote. She can vividly recall the day she registered.
As an African-American woman living in the South, she was one of a few black Americans who had the right to cast a ballot as early as 1953. In states like Alabama, literacy tests were given as a way to bar African-Americans from voting. If a black person was unable to answer questions such as, "If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons mus
Source: Guardian (UK)
January 15, 2009
Heritage Royal Air Force museum showcases black and Asian pilots who battled for Britain.
Mohinder Singh Pujji was one of 18 qualified Indian pilots to join the RAF in 1940. Now 90 he is the only one left to tell the tale and is still disgusted at the lack of recognition given to the role of black and Asian airmen and women during the war.
Pujji was treated as a hero in wartime Britain. He was ushered to the front of cinema queues and often treated to free meals in res
Source: Foxnews
January 15, 2009
Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ryan Crocker, who served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Making his final visit to the State Department, President Bush said the U.S. should engage the world with what he calls the "transformative power of freedom and liberty."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented Bush with the flags of Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Liberia and Lebanon -- countries she says have joined the "circle of freedom" during th
