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: Washington Times
November 14, 2005
As one would expect, the newspaper library has an unmistakably musty aroma. But it's the pungent aroma of vinegar that has historical preservationists scrambling to keep from losing valuable portions of what is billed as the nation's largest state newspaper collection on microfilm. Condensation has seeped into the oversized metal canisters that hold some of the library's vast collection of archival newspapers, says Ara Kaye, a senior reference specialist. The det
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
November 14, 2005
The first time he visited the University of Pennsylvania, in the 1980s, British-born Brendan O'Leary was unimpressed. The ride from the airport was depressing and the Philadelphia winter harsh.
"It wasn't the best introduction," O'Leary recalled.
After becoming a star political scientist at the London School of Economics, O'Leary accepted an invitation from Penn to be a visiting professor for 2001-02.
Penn, like other major American research universities, has
Source: SFC
November 14, 2005
Japan's lost tribe of Japanese Americans is calling home. At a gathering called a honeymoon by one delegate, 40 prominent Japanese Americans and Japanese leaders gave birth to a plan to end their long separation.
A long-standing bridge between Japan and Japanese Americans was blown up by World War II. Under a cloud of suspicion after Pearl Harbor, most Americans of Japanese ancestry were forced into relocation camps.To demonstrate loyalty to America, many forso
Source: Rick Shenkman, reporting from Hofstra for HNN
November 10, 2005
Speaking at a Hofstra University three-day conference devoted to his presidency, a feisty Bill Clinton tonight implored historians to treat him fairly when they assess his legacy. Earlier in the day historian Douglas Brinkley had told a reporter that Clinton would have been judged a great president but for his impeachment. Clinton, quoting Brinkley by name, said it was a mistake to let his presidency be defined by impeachment since impeachment was wrong. As he has in the past, he charged that
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
November 12, 2005
Joseph Smith's name isn't in the Bible, but he is considered by 12 million people to be one of Christianity's foremost prophets, founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and creating the Mormon faith --- and sparking controversy within the Christian community that still simmers today.This year marks Smith's 200th birthday, and to celebrate the occasion, Mormons throughout the nation are holding open dialogues about their enigmatic leader. Says Chris White, an assistant professor at Georgia State University:"Foreign observers, like [Leo] Tolstoy, have called Latter-day Saints a 'quintessentially American religion.' Their story is really an American story --- living on the American frontier in the 19th century; they embraced American values of industry and commerce and capitalism and attracted white Americans."But they have always run against the grain of Protestants --- their doctrinal distinctiveness, their plural marriage and their own impulse to be a separate people and marry among themselves. And then they had these new angels that scandalized Americans. And so they have also been persecuted from upstate New York to Missouri to Salt Lake, where no one else wanted to go."(Salt Lake City remains the church headquarters today.)
Source: NYT
November 12, 2005
The head of the American Revolution Center has complained in a letter to the NYT that the paper left the misimpression that the plans for a museum have ended. All that's ended is the relationship with the National Park Service.Here's the letter, published by the NYT:
To the Editor:
While the American Revolution Center has ended its partnership agreement with the National Park Service at Valley Forge, this in no way translates into an end to the und
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
November 12, 2005
Words such as "McCarthyism" and "chill" buzzed through a group of Temple University professors and students who gathered on campus yesterday to discuss a state legislative committee's investigation of political diversity at state-run colleges.
The "teach-in," sponsored by the Temple Association of University Professionals, drew an audience overwhelmingly convinced that the committee's very existence is a threat to academic freedom.
Source: Boston Globe
November 12, 2005
A local history buff who was arrested after he protested the unveiling of a statue of sitcom witch in this historic city was cleared of the charges. The statue, donated by the TV Land cable channel, portrays Montgomery straddling a broom. Sorell was indignant that the statue was erected just a few yards away from where innocent people were condemned to death during the Salem witch trials of 1692. To protest, Sorell carried a sign that read: "Elizabeth Who? Is She from Salem?" Sorell t
Source: Press Release
November 13, 2005
Colonial Williamsburg is rolling out the red carpet for Hollywood's newest rendition of the old story of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas. "The New World," a big-budget movie about the settling of Jamestown in 1607, will make its East Coast debut Dec. 21 at Kimball Theatre. It will have two red-carpet, invitation-only screenings, Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation announced Friday. The film dramatizes encounters between white colonists an
Source: Deseret News
November 10, 2005
The physics of 9/11 — including how fast and symmetrically one of the World Trade Center buildings fell — prove that official explanations of the collapses are wrong, says a Brigham Young University physics professor. In fact, it's likely that there were"pre-positioned explosives" in all three buildings at ground zero, says Steven E. Jones. In a paper posted online Tuesday and accepted for peer-reviewed publication next year, Jones adds his voice to those of previous skeptics, including the auth
Source: Guardian
November 2, 2005
The British government operated a secret torture centre during the second world war to extract information and confessions from German prisoners, according to official papers which have been unearthed by the Guardian. More than 3,000 prisoners passed through the centre, where many were systematically beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand still for more than 24 hours at a time and threatened with execution or unnecessary surgery.Some are also alleged to have
Source: Boston Globe
November 10, 2005
A tooth, believed to have been extracted from Napoleon's mouth, was sold at auction in London, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, for 12,939 pounds (19,200 euros, US$22,600). The tooth, part of a small collection of Napoleon Bonaparte items, was bought by a private collector from England who asked to remain anonymous, said Chris Albury from Dominic Winter, an auction house in Swindon, southwest England. Albury said the previous owner, who died recently, was a Napoleonic scholar. The tooth came with papers
Source: CNN
November 11, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- The relationship between this city and native son Muhammad Ali always comes back to the story of the brash Olympic boxing champ -- then known as Cassius Clay -- tossing his 1960 gold medal into the Ohio River in disgust over entrenched racism.
But the story may be apocryphal -- Ali later told friends he simply misplaced the medal -- and as the years passed, Louisville and Ali eventually came to appreciate each other.Now,
Source: NYT
November 12, 2005
Hundreds of political scientists and former members of the Clinton administration met at Hofstra University yesterday to debate the legacy of President Bill Clinton, part of a three-day gathering that was part college reunion, part policy powwow and part dogfight.
They parried and thrust on panels that considered everything from the Middle East peace process to the White House office of correspondence, trade agreements to global warming, old Democrats and new, offering a rough draft
Source: NYT
November 10, 2005
Bill Clinton took an early stab yesterday at inscribing his place in the history books, opening a three-day conference about his presidency with a heartfelt speech recounting the highs and lows - mostly the highs - of his eight years in office.
Working from notes and bullet points his aides said he had spent more than a week pulling together, Mr. Clinton spoke for more than an hour at Hofstra University's sports arena before an enthusiastic and near-capacity audience of faculty memb
Source: NYT
November 11, 2005
YESTERYEAR'S clichés can be correct. At least for an unpopular president, it really is the economy, stupid. Approval ratings under 40 percent usually reflect a lack of confidence that the administration knows how to manage economic problems.That is not to say that economic issues are the only ones that matter. Iraq and Hurricane Katrina hurt.
But a look at presidential approval ratings over the last three decades shows that very low ratings tend to c
Source: Live Science
November 11, 2005
In 1837, Charles Darwin sketched a stick-figure tree in a page of Notebook B, one of many private notebooks in which he worked out the details of a new theory he was developing. The tree had spindly branches and a single root labeled with the number "1." Scrawled at the top of the page, in Darwin's cursive handwriting, are the words "I think."
Notebook B will be one of many items on display in "Darwin," a new exhibit opening on Nov. 19 at the American M
Source: Reuters
November 11, 2005
President George W. Bush ripped into Democratic critics of the Iraq war on Friday, charging them with trying to rewrite history by accusing the White House of manipulating intelligence before the war.
Bush, facing waning public support for the war that has helped push his approval ratings to new lows, hit back at critics who have said his administration misused intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the war.Democrats responded to Bush's Vet
Source: AP
November 11, 2005
More help is needed from Iraq's neighbors, particularly Iran and Turkey, to recover thousands of antiquities looted from Baghdad's National Museum during the battle for the city in 2003, says the U.S. investigator leading the search.
While Jordan has recovered 2,000 objects, no Iraqi antiquities have been reported in Iran or Turkey, which have long, porous borders with Iraq."I find that incomprehensible," said Col. Matthew Bogdanos, a Marine Rese
Source: Boston Globe
November 11, 2005
A 200-year-old house believed to have been a way station on the Underground Railroad has been almost entirely knocked down, angering preservationists.
City officials said the owner, real estate agent Eric Stevens, had permits to renovate the home, not to demolish it. The city has stopped
work on the house, but critics say it is too little, too late.\"We fear it\'s pretty much lost to us,\" said James Igoe, president of Preservation MASS.
