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: WaPo
January 5, 2006
From October 1771 to March 1816, Francis Asbury was a traveling evangelist in the American Colonies and fledgling United States. No American during that period is known to have traveled as widely as he.
Those travels left a legacy of Methodist churches, particularly those serving African Americans, that bear his name. In Washington, Asbury United Methodist Church has been at 11th and K streets NW since 1836, when it was founded by blacks fed up with discriminatory treatment, said Lo
Source: History Today
January 5, 2006
Over 200 new entries have been made to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The new list of those intended to represent the nation include the late Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and comedian Spike Milligan. Editor Lawrence Goldman wrote of the Queen Mother: ‘By the time of her death the monarchy, and the royal family more generally, had come to represent the nation, both to itself and to the rest of the world.’ Labour politician Barbara Castle and Moors murderer Myra Hindley are also a
Source: Washington Times
January 6, 2006
Cuba's secret service was behind the assassination of President Kennedy, according to a German filmmaker who claims to have eyewitness evidence solving one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.
Wilfried Huismann, director of a documentary to be screened on German public television tonight, said he has witnesses saying Lee Harvey Oswald, was acting on behalf of G2, Cuban President Fidel Castro's foreign intelligence service. Mr. Castro, said
Source: CNN
January 5, 2006
Archaeologists excavating a pyramid complex in the Guatemalan jungle have uncovered the earliest example of Mayan writing ever found, 10 bold hieroglyphs painted on plaster and stone.
The 2,300-year-old glyphs were excavated last April in San Bartolo and suggest the ancient Maya developed an advanced writing system centuries earlier than previously believed, according to an article published Thursday in the journal Science.The glyphs date from betwee
Source: Wa Po
January 5, 2006
Montgomery County has agreed to buy an 18th-century house with an attached log cabin that was once home to a former slave whose autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," county officials said.
The Montgomery Planning Board is expected to approve the $1 million contract today for the three-bedroom home and acre on Old Georgetown Road, just south of Tilden Lane in Rockville. A log cabin off the dining room was once a detached "summer kitc
Source: Civil War Courier
January 5, 2006
The University of the South will celebrate its 150th anniversary from 2007-2008.
If the current fight between traditionalists and administration officials over the university’s attempt to remake its image and allegedly distance itself from its storied Southern past is any indication, the party punch may turn sour.
Source: Civil War Courier
January 5, 2006
As recently as Feb. 2004, Franklin, the battlefield where the Army of Tennessee was broken Nov. 30, 1864, was considered lost. No one had ever reclaimed battlefield ground of that size once development had taken place.
One hundred forty-one years later, preservationists in Franklin became the first.
On that date, several hundred people were on hand to witness the tearing down of the Pizza Hut on Columbia Pike, believed to be the spot where Confederate Gen. Patrick Clebu
Source: BBC News
January 5, 2006
In an obscure corner of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, lies one of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran.
It is a reminder of the role which Central Asia once played in Muslim history - a fact often overlooked after seven decades of Soviet-imposed atheism.
The library where the Koran is kept is in an area of old Tashkent known as Hast-Imam, well off the beaten track for most visitors to this city.
Source: Juan Cole's Blog (Informed Comment) (1-4-06 & 1-5-06)
January 5, 2006
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports [Ar.] that the Debaathification Committee in Iraq has begun pulling all works that praise the Baath regime in Iraq, which ruled 1968-2003, from the shelves of university libraries. The newly banned works include theses, research papers, books and other publications. They will be sequestered in a high-security special library and kept away from university students because "they are far from the scientific spirit" and because they glorify "the Baath ideolog
Source: WaPo
January 4, 2006
The Florida Supreme Court struck down a statewide voucher system Thursday that allowed children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense _ a program Gov. Jeb Bush considered one of his proudest achievements.It was the nation's first statewide voucher program.
In a 5-2 ruling, the high court said the program violates the Florida Constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public education.
About 700 children are attending privat
Source: Bloomberg News
January 4, 2006
French President Jacques Chirac said a law obliging schools to teach a ``positive'' version of the nation's conduct in colonial times should be revised after protests that it was a whitewash.
``It's not up to the law to write history,'' he said today in his annual address to journalists at the Elysee Palace in Paris. ``The current text is dividing French people. It must be re-written.'' After three weeks of violence in poor neighborhoods with large
Source: NYT
January 4, 2006
At 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Willard is two blocks from the White House. It is where Julia Ward Howe wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," where President Ulysses S. Grant popularized the term lobbyist for the political-influence peddlers who pursued him there; where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked on his "I have a dream" speech.
But the Willard was closed in 1968 and scheduled for demolition. The celebration, "Willard 2006: A Hotel's Lega
Source: NYT
January 4, 2006
Frank Wilkinson, a Los Angeles housing official who lost his job in the Red Scare of the early 1950's and later became one of the last two people jailed for refusing to tell the House Un-American Activities Committee whether he was a Communist, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 91.Mr. Wilkinson, whose experiences inspired a half-century campaign against government spying, had been ill for several months and was recovering from surgery and a fall, said Donna Wilkinson, his w
Source: CNN
January 4, 2006
A Marine was being held at Camp Lejeune on a charge of desertion for not going to war in Vietnam 40 years ago, a military spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Pvt. Jerry Texiero, 65, was arrested in August in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and brought to Camp Lejeune on December 14, authorities said.Texiero was charged December 21 with desertion, but no date had been set for preliminary hearings in military court, base spokeswoman Lt. Col Annita Best said.
Source: Times of London
January 5, 2006
STORMY waves cut short the voyage of the Chinese merchant vessel as it left a southern port laden with exquisite porcelain 800 years ago to sell its wares along the ancient trade route known as the Marine Silk Road.
Now Chinese scientists want to awaken the ship from its slumber in the silt 20 nautical miles off the coast of Guangdong, which British sailors have long known as Canton. The treasure on board is truly amazing and impossible to value. Initial excavations have revealed b
Source: cronaca.com
January 5, 2006
A U.S. treasure hunter's bid to scavenge a famed War of 1812-era shipwreck off the coast of Nova Scotia has met a storm of protest from underwater experts, who say the province's rich maritime history is being pillaged by modern-day pirates. HMS Fantome was laden with loot believed to have been stolen from Washington -- including from the White House and Capitol building -- when it ran aground on a treacherous shoal south of Halifax in November, 1814. The crew of the British
Source: BBC News
January 4, 2005
A new documentary exploring the death of John F Kennedy claims his assassin was directed and paid by Cuba.
Rendezvous with Death, based on new evidence from Cuban, Russian and US sources, took three years to research.
One source, ex-Cuban agent Oscar Marino, said Havana had exploited Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested but shot dead before he could be tried. Conspiracy theories on the killing have variously accused Cuba, Russia and the
Source: Washington Times
January 3, 2005
Leaders of a Hawaiian group have vowed not to divulge the location of a cache of native artifacts obtained from a museum and then buried, despite the jailing of their director.
"We have a greater responsibility to our beliefs than we do to the federal government," said William Aila, who is among four members of the group found in contempt of court last week by Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra. One of the four, executive director Edward H
Source: Post-Star (Greenwich, NY)
January 4, 2006
The home where women's suffragist Susan B. Anthony spent part of her young adult life will be auctioned at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Washington County Municipal Center. Auctioning will begin at $202,000, according to the property's former owner, Michael Ramos. The home at 2835 county Route 29 was built in 1832. Local historians say it is important because of its connection to Anthony’s early life. She lived with her family in Greenwich from age 6 through 19.Several local activi
Source: The Daily News (Jacksonville, NC)
January 4, 2006
Archaeologists working with the Queen Anne's Revenge Project have found a coat button and some hardware that looks like it might be part of a set of shackles - both items that could have belonged to the pirate Blackbeard or one of his crew.The artifacts are buried in separate concretions of sand and shell raised from a shipwreck on the ocean floor.
"We're planning to work on the two concretions during January to extract the button and the possible shackles,
