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: NYT
May 16, 2006
George Crile, a television news producer who specialized in attacking difficult, controversial subjects, most famously in a documentary for CBS alleging that Gen. William C. Westmoreland and his military colleagues deliberately underestimated enemy troop numbers in the Vietnam War, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 61.Mr. Crile, who spent much of his career working on the CBS program "60 Minutes," took on formidable topics, many in foreign
Source: NYT
May 15, 2006
SEATTLE, May 14 — As a member of the United States Senate, Henry M. Jackson was famous as a cold war hawk who fought for three decades against détente with the Soviet Union.
Now, after a nearly quarter-century fight, the University of Washington has decided to display prominently a bronze bust of Mr. Jackson at the school that bears his name.
The debate over the Jackson bust — actually, a series of quiet discussions rather than a knock-down drag-out battle — ended last
Source: NYT
May 15, 2006
VISOKO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Semir Osmanagic stopped to shake hands and have his photograph taken with a group of mud-flecked Bosnian villagers, pickaxes in hand, on a steep hillside above this small medieval trading town on a bend of the Bosna River. They have dug away four feet of roots and clay to expose slanted slabs of sedimentary stone. "Look at that megalith, it's got to weigh 40 tons," Mr. Osmanagic said eagerly, pointing to one of the rough
Source: NYT
May 17, 2006
On the sacred walls and inside the dark passageways of ancient ruins in Guatemala, archaeologists are making discoveries that open expanded vistas of the vibrant Maya civilization in its formative period, a time reaching back more than 1,000 years before its celebrated Classic epoch.
The intriguing finds, including art masterpieces and the earliest known Maya writing, are overturning old ideas of the Preclassic period. It was not a kind of dark age, as once thought, of a cul
Source: The Daily Telegraph
May 17, 2006
This summer, it is likely that hordes of gum-chewing, cathedral-exploring, tomb-clambering tourists - usually sent to try the patience of Britain's clergy - will be made suspiciously welcome. Vicars will be monitoring closely as coach parties disgorge fat-walleted adults and their noisy children, interested in nothing but the gift shop.
For as those who run Westminster Abbey have found, one particular best-selling book has set cash registers ringing out like cathedral bells in a num
Source: Inside Higher Ed
May 15, 2006
The Muslim Student Union has a full slate of activities planned for this week on the theme of “Holocaust in the Holy Land.” Among today’s events are a rally around the idea of “Hamas: The People’s Choice.” And if you missed the point of the week’s theme of equating Israel to Nazi Germany, there is a lecture/rally on Thursday called “Israel: the Fourth Reich.”Not surprisingly, many Jewish students at Irvine are angry. They are not calling for events to be banned,
Source: netscapenews
May 15, 2006
In 2004, archaeologists announced they had found a cave where they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples, offering extraordinary proof of a central New Testament figure and his theology.
The cave includes a huge cistern with 28 steps that lead to an underground pool of water. Some 250,000 pottery shards were also found and are presumed to be remnants of small water jugs used in the Christian baptismal ritual performed by the fiery New Testament preacher. Wall carv
Source: Japan Focus
May 15, 2006
HANOI - Vietnam, which is bidding for World Trade Organization membership and is already signatory to a trade deal with its former nemesis in Washington, is still grappling with the huge social and economic consequences of its military conflict with the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.
The legacy of the United States' use of Agent Orange tops that list. From 1962 to 1971, the US military dumped an estimated 83 million liters of highly toxic herbicides, including Agent Orange, m
Source: NYT
May 14, 2006
Britain's biggest union for college and university teachers plans to ask its 67,000 members to consider boycotting Israeli lecturers who do not publicly dissociate themselves from what it called Israel's "apartheid policies."The language is from a resolution to be put before the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education at its annual conference in Blackpool from May 27 to 29.
The move has reopened a fiery debate that seized anoth
Source: Yahoo News
May 15, 2006
Armed looters with metal detectors have been plundering one of Cambodia's most important temples, the archaeological group Heritage Watch said Monday. Looters have been plundering the area around Preah Khan, Cambodia's largest temple enclosure, trying to remove the few statues remaining in the complex as well as searching for valuable bronze artefacts, Heritage Watch director Dougald O'Reilly said in a statement.
The temple, in the northern province of Pre
Source: Wa Po
May 15, 2006
I had been told that only very special Civil War historians – the ones with personal contacts – were allowed to see the archival holdings of the Army’s Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pa. When talking about the institute, some of these historians spoke in a whisper, as though it were an elite private club, and said that just mentioning the treasure-trove of Civil War photographs there could mean a loss of privileges.Then, in March, I met Steve Perry
Source: LAT
May 15, 2006
Archaeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest celestial observatory in the Americas -- a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as the stone pillars of Stonehenge.
The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-high pyramid with precise alignments and sight lines that provide an astronomical calendar for agriculture, archaeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri said.
Source: TheState.com (SC)
May 14, 2006
The cost of preserving and promoting the Hunley submarine has soared to nearly $100 million — thanks largely to a powerful politician’s behind-the-scenes work to steer public money toward his pet project.
The Hunley is one of South Carolina’s biggest financial undertakings in modern times. Not counting university expansion projects, the Hunley ranks behind only a few large road and bridge projects. It even exceeds the $62 million State House renovation in the 1990s.
Source: BBC
May 13, 2006
Brazilian archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's past.
The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy.
Its appearance is being compared to the English site of Stonehenge.
It was traditionally thought that before European colonisation, the Amazon had no advanced so
Source: 24hourmuseum.org
May 15, 2006
Loyd Grossman, chairman of the 24 Hour Museum and the Campaign for Museums launched the major new Anglo-Saxon and Viking Gallery at Norwich Castle on July 6.
The £300,000 gallery has been built to showcase Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service’s outstanding collection of post-Roman, pre-Norman artefacts.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 14, 2006
The most controversial incident in the colourful life of Lawrence of Arabia was made up by the celebrated hero, according to new forensic evidence.
The brutal sex attack on Lt Col T E Lawrence by Turkish soldiers, which allegedly took place while he was serving as the British liaison officer during the Arab revolt, was considered so contentious that it was covered up by the British Army.But now, a new history of the Arab revolt is to claim that Lawre
Source: Wa Po
May 11, 2006
A powerful congressional committee, citing the "exceptionally high" salaries of executives at the Smithsonian Institution, amended an appropriations bill yesterday to say no salary at the museum complex should be higher than the $400,000 the president of the United States is paid.
In 2005, Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small received a base salary of $573,832, according to records the House Appropriations Committee released yesterday. In a boisterous meeting, the panel
Source: ap
May 12, 2006
A Democratic candidate for Alabama attorney general denies the Holocaust occurred and said Friday he will speak this weekend in New Jersey to a "pro-white" organization that is widely viewed as being racist. Larry Darby concedes his views are radical, but he said they should help him win wide support among Alabama voters as he tries to "reawaken white racial awareness" with his campaign against Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson.
Source: BBC News
May 13, 2006
Thousands of people have gathered at the Vatican in Rome to mark the 25th anniversary of the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II. A statue of the Virgin of Fatima, who the Pope believed saved his life, was flown in from Portugal for a special Mass at St Peter's Basilica.
John Paul was critically wounded when he was shot three times by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca on 13 May 1981.
A simple marble slab now marks the spot of the shooting in St
Source: USA Today
May 12, 2006
Millions of visitors to national parks across the country this summer will find higher fees, closed facilities, reduced maintenance and fewer rangers to explain the natural wonders because of the squeeze of tight budgets.From Maine to California, park managers are struggling with higher fixed costs and operating budgets that haven't kept pace with inflation.
