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: WHAS11 Kentucky
January 20, 2006
Letters written by early presidents, a famous explorer, and the Confederacy’s leader will be returned soon to the Filson Historical Society, and the 70-year-old history buff who admitted pilfering them is facing possible prison time. Donald Eckard Sr. of Louisville pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to eight felony counts of art theft. He admitted that on four visits to the Filson Society, he stole the eight letters—the oldest of which were penned by Thomas Je
Source: Wa Po
January 20, 2006
More than a decade and $21 million after it began, the final and longest-running independent counsel investigation in U.S. history ended yesterday with allegations from the prosecutor that "a coverup at high levels of our government" prevented him from bringing further charges in the case of Henry G. Cisneros, former secretary of housing and urban development.In a 474-page report, independent counsel David M. Barrett conceded that he was "not able to say with
Source: News.telegraph
January 17, 2006
The great puzzle of what Lady Jane Grey, England's shortest-reigning monarch, looked like has been cracked. A little improbably, the answer may have been sitting in a house in south London for the last 100 years.A likeness of Lady Jane has proved as elusive as a likeness of Shakespeare but Christopher Foley, a prominent London art dealer who has spent months researching the Streatham portrait, said yesterday that he was "very certain" that it was a cont
Source: CNN
January 18, 2006
Copenhagen's National Gallery has said two of its paintings that were previously believed to be fake Rembrandts were actual works by the Dutch master.Once again, the press gets it wrong. There is a huge difference between a "fake" (something designed to deceive), a work "in the style of" (artists have tried out other artists' styles for centuries), and a work by one of the artist's students or followers. You can safely bet that nine times out of ten
Source: Guardian
January 17, 2006
Spanish investigators believe they may have found proof that neanderthal man reached Europe from Africa not just via the Middle East but by sailing, swimming or floating across the Strait of Gibraltar.Prehistoric remains of hunter-gatherer communities found at a site known as La Cabililla de Benzú, in the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta, are remarkably similar to those found in southern Spain, investigators said.
Stone tools at the site correspond
Source: BBC News
January 19, 2006
Scientists at Dundee University have helped to recreate the face of a man dubbed the Iron Age David Beckham because of evidence he gelled his hair. Clonycavan Man, named after the area he was found, was one of two bodies discovered in a peat bog in the Republic of Ireland in 2003. The chemical composition of the peat mummified the body, enabling scientists to recreate his face.
Source: BBC News
January 19, 2006
Archaeologist Dorothy King, who breaks the mould of the dusty academic, is an outspoken critic of Greek demands to take back the Elgin Marbles from the UK.
Her stance - that a loan might be possible one day - is not what those who want the Marbles to stay in London want to hear. "I think a lot of the people who want them to stay are not happy because they thought I'd be firmer," she says.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
January 19, 2006
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS, amid changes meant to make it financially self-sustaining, put nearly 900 titles on a list of discontinued books last summer. Authors of some of those books say that they were not contacted and that contractual obligations leave their works in limbo.
Two historians whose books are in limbo are frustrated. In October 2002 the Smithsonian Institution Press released Picturing the Past: Illustrated Histories and the American Imagi
Source: Yahoo News
January 19, 2006
Sleek skyscrapers dominate this city's skyline, but the squat old water tanks nestled between them are the latest rescue mission for preservation groups.
After the Great Fire of 1871, hundreds of the wooden tanks were installed atop commercial and apartment buildings to guarantee a supply of water for firefighting. Mechanized pumps made them obsolete, and only about 130 are in use.Jonathan Fine, president of Preservation Chicago, a non-profit group, says that when he
Source: NYT
January 19, 2006
The publisher and the translator of a new English-language edition of "Night," Elie Wiesel's harrowing account of life in the Nazi death camps, said yesterday that the new edition corrects several small factual errors in the previous translation, including a reference to the author's age when he entered the camps.
Oprah Winfrey's choice of "Night" as the next selection for her television book club on Monday immediately sent the book to the top of national best-se
Source: CNN
January 19, 2006
For the 57th straight year, a mystery man paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe by placing roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark his January 19 birthday.
Some of the 25 spectators drawn to a tiny, locked graveyard in downtown Baltimore for the ceremony climbed over the walls of the site and were "running all over the place trying to find out how the guy gets in," according to Jeff Jerome, the most faithful viewer of the event.
Source: NYT
January 18, 2006
Listen more kindly to the New York Irishmen who assure you that the blood of early Irish kings flows in their veins. At least 2 percent of the time, they are telling the truth, according to a new genetic survey.
The survey not only bolsters the bragging rights of some Irishmen claiming a proud heritage but also provides evidence of the existence of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the fifth century A.D. regarded by some historians as more legend than real.
Source: Newsletter of the American Revolution Round Table
January 19, 2006
Last November, in front of the Ontario County Court House in Canandigua, NY, a group of Americans celebrated the 211th anniversary of a treaty that few people know about. It was signed by Timothy Pickering, agent for the United States, President George Washington and 50 chiefs and warriors of the Iroquois Confederacy. The treaty marked a shift from the language of conquest to the language of diplomacy and mutual recognition. After the Revolution, the American government regarded the four Iroquoi
Source: Newsletter of the American Revolution Round Table
January 19, 2006
In 2002 the Onondaga Historical Association decided to put its attic in order. They hired archivist Phil McCray, a pro from Cornell. After 2 1/2 years, he announced the job was done, and revealed his big surprise: four pages of a paper entitled: "The 1775 General Association for the Rights and Liberties of America." It is considered New York's declaration of independence from England. McCray found this precious document in a grocery box. Most people thought it had been destroyed in a f
Source: Guardian
January 19, 2006
Three years after Iraq's ancient treasures were first stolen and smashed, the cradle of civilisation is still being looted. It's a catastrophe, says former arts minister Mark Fisher.The media joined archaeologists in condemning President Bush and the US. Eleanor Robson, a council member of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, compared the US under President Bush to the Mongol hordes, and the destruction of the museum's collection to that of the librar
Source: BBC News
January 19, 2006
Namibia's Herero community is seeking reparations from Germany for the suffering experienced during colonial rule.
The Herero say that German policy at the time amounted to genocide.
Many Herero who rebelled, became prisoners of war. Starvation and torture were widespread. Of an estimated 65,000 Herero, only 15,000 survived.
Source: UPI
January 19, 2006
The German parliament Thursday decided to rid Berlin of one of its last communist remnants, the Palace of the Republic. The Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, voted to tear down the roughly 30-year-old rectangular building, which housed the communist East German parliament during the height of the Cold War. The demolition is expected to begin at the end of the month despite continuing opposition from several East Germans, including celebrities such as writer Gu
Source: Scotsman
January 19, 2006
IT looks like nothing more than an old rock. Standing alone near the end of the runway at Edinburgh Airport, the Cat Stane barely warrants a second glance from the few people that ever walk past it. But the remains of what appears to be a Latin inscription, just visible beneath the moss, offer a tantalising clue to the flurry of interest it has generated. The rough rock, which stands 4ft high, dates back more than a thousand years - and may be the final resting p
Source: Tennessean
January 19, 2006
The Nashville recording studio where Elvis Presley cut the RCA hit Heartbreak Hotel, the King's first breakout hit, is being torn down to make way for that unmistakable sign of urban progress: A parking lot.The studio, wedged between Broadway and Demonbreun at 1525 McGavock St. and purchased by auto-dealership magnate Lee Beaman in 1999, was the longtime home of the United Methodist Television, Radio and Film Commission.
Its most recent occupants of
Source: Washington Times
January 19, 2006
On most afternoons, veterans from Israel's 1948 war of independence can be found around a table at a cafe in central Tel Aviv.
They are contemporaries of Ariel Sharon, the lionized Israeli prime minister who lies in a coma after suffering a massive stroke.
For them, the end of Mr. Sharon's political career also signals something of a swan song for their generation, which came to Israel in the shadow of two world wars and then fought for the country's birth and
