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: PolitiFact
4-8-13
It’s one of Margaret Thatcher’s most memorable quotes, spoken to President George H.W. Bush after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait: "Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly."It evokes the image of a weak-spined Bush, bolstered by the Iron Lady.Dick Cheney, the defense secretary who would become vice president, recently called it "an old wives’ story."And we said: Really?
Source: Salon
4-10-13
Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, cited the Bible’s Great Flood as an example of climate change that proves it’s not necessarily man-made.“I would point out that if you’re a believer in in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy,” Barton said during a Subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing to discuss the Keystone XL pipeline, Buzzfeed reports.
Source: TheAtlanticWire
04-08-13
Do you think racists are all the same? You are wrong. Country star Brad Paisley announced to the world on Monday that he is an "Accidental Racist" in a song that has earned lots of criticism. Before we unpack how one can be accidental about their racism (and why that doesn't exucse the racism), perhaps, in a way, he's onto something. While racism is pretty much just racism there are so many different species of racists....
Source: TheRoot
04-09-13
A perfectly matched intimacy of scale and subject resides in this remarkable image from the ancient past. A young black man sits on a low mound, looking down with puffed cheeks as he extracts a thorn from his foot. He is dressed simply in a cap and a short cloak pinned at the shoulder with a gem. Some of the original skin color remains on the youth's face, and the cloak crossing his chest bears slight traces of yellow stripes.
Less than 7 inches high, the figurine preserves the subtlety of a larger, lost original of the third century B.C. The type is known as the Spinario, or "thorn puller." The terra-cotta version shown here dates from circa 135 B.C., a good deal later than the original but still much earlier than other surviving copies. The engaging candor of self-absorbed, fleeting everyday activity typifies the Hellenistic culture of the last few centuries before the common era....
Source: YahooNews
04-06-13
The mud of a south-central Pennsylvania cornfield may soon produce answers about the fate of British prisoners of war — and the newly independent Americans who guarded them — during the waning years of the American Revolution.
A few miles east of York, the city that briefly served as the fledgling nation's capital after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, more than a thousand English, Scottish and Canadian soldiers were imprisoned at what was then known as Camp Security....
Source: TheRoot
4-08-13
On April 15, 1947, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jack Roosevelt Robinson, at the age of 28, became the first African American to play for a major-league baseball team since the 1884 season, when Moses Fleetwood "Fleet" Walker played for the Toledo Blue Stockings between May 1 and Sept. 4. (William White, a student at Brown, played one game for the Providence Grays of the National League in 1879, hence technically breaking the color barrier.) Before a crowd of 26,623 spectators (of whom approximately 14,000 are thought to have been black), though he got no hits, Robinson scored a run to contribute to the Dodgers' 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves....
Source: CNN
04-08-13
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87.
She suffered a stroke Monday, her spokeswoman said. A British government source said she died at the Ritz Hotel in London.
Thatcher's funeral will be at St. Paul's Cathedral, with full military honors, followed by a private cremation, the British prime minister's office announced.
Thatcher served from 1975 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness....
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
3-29-13
The famous story of Cleopatra’s suicide gets points for drama and crowd appeal: Her lover, Mark Antony, had been defeated in battle by Octavian and, hearing that Cleopatra had been killed, had stabbed himself in the stomach. Very much alive, after witnessing his death, the beautiful last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt pressed a deadly asp to her breast, taking her own life as well.But what if Cleopatra didn’t commit suicide at all?Pat Brown, author of the new book, The Murder of Cleopatra: History’s Greatest Cold Case, argues that the “Queen of Kings” did not take her own life. Rather, she was murdered, and her perpetrators managed to spin a story that has endured for more than 2,000 years....
Source: Archaeology News Network
4-8-13
The Turkish Islamic government of Premier Recel Tayyp Erdogan will kick start the restoration of the St. Peter's Cave in Antakya, the world's oldest church carved into a mountainside. According to Christian tradition, the first of the apostles celebrated the first mass here 2,000 years ago and about a millennium ago the Crusaders turned it into a chapel.The renovation has started, according to Turkish press reports, under the direction of the Museum of Antakya which has jurisdiction over the cave church of St. Peter, who was the first bishop of Antioch after leaving Jerusalem and before travelling to Rome. The church is carved into Mount Silpius which dominates ancient Antioch on the Orontes, once the 'queen of the East' and one of the three capitals of the Mediterranean with Rome and Constantinople. Today it lies on the outskirts of the Turkish town of Antakya, close to the border with Syria and its bloody civil war. According to the Turkish opposition, Jihadist militia transit through this area to cross the border into Syria. The cave is 13-metres deep and seven-meters high and was at risk of collapse. The mountain around it is crumbling in a number of areas....
Source: Medievalists.net
3-26-13
One of the most important symbols of medieval Scotland, St Oran’s Cross, will be re-erected for the first time in centuries, as part of the celebrations of the 1450th anniversary of the established of a monastery on Iona in Scotland.St Oran’s Cross dates back to the eighth century and is the world’s first Celtic High Cross. It was chiselled out of schist stone blocks quarried from the Ross of Mull, close to Iona, weighs more than a tonne and stands nearly four-and-a-half metres tall.The cross may have been commissioned by a King, possibly Óengus son of Fergus king of the Picts, following his conquest of the area around AD 741. It was created by the finest carvers in Scotland. Historians speculate that it could be an imitation in stone of the Golgotha jewelled cross, erected at Jerusalem by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in AD 417. It may have been coloured in red and gold to replicate jewels, in imitation of timber or metal prototypes....
Source: Fox News
4-6-13
The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is running into opposition from historic preservationists as the agency tries to cut losses by selling off buildings.The postal service lost $15.9 billion last year, after losing $5.1 billion in 2011 -- as online services continue to replace money-making mail deliveries.Hundreds of post offices are on the National Register of Historic Places, which largely protects them from being demolished, or are protected under deals with new owners....
Source: AP
4-6-13
YORK, Pa. – The mud of a south-central Pennsylvania cornfield may soon produce answers about the fate of British prisoners of war -- and the newly independent Americans who guarded them -- during the waning years of the American Revolution.A few miles east of York, the city that briefly served as the fledgling nation's capital after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, more than a thousand English, Scottish and Canadian soldiers were imprisoned at what was then known as Camp Security.The fight to preserve the plot where those soldiers and their captors worked and lived has lasted almost twice as long as the Revolutionary War itself. And the end is in sight -- if its backers can raise the last few hundred thousand dollars needed to pay for it....
Source: NYT
4-6-13
Across much of Syria, the country’s archaeological heritage is imperiled by war, facing threats ranging from outright destruction by bombs and bullets to opportunistic digging by treasure hunters who take advantage of the power vacuum to prowl the country with spades and shovels. Fighting has raged around the Roman ruins of Palmyra, the ancient city in central Syria, once known as the Bride of the Desert. And the Syrian Army has established active garrisons at some of the country’s most treasured and antiquated citadels, including castles at Aleppo, Hama and Homs. For decades Ebla has been celebrated for the insights it offers into early Syrian civilization. The scenes here today offer something else: a prime example of a peculiar phenomenon of Syria’s civil war — scores, if not hundreds, of archaeological sites, often built and inhabited millenniums ago because of their military value, now at risk as they are put to military use once more.
Source: Salon
4-6-13
A team of activists, politicians and celebrities has launched a campaign seeking the posthumous pardon of former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was convicted under a racially motivated sentence a century ago.Mike Tyson, Harry Reid and John McCain have all lent their support to the campaign, starting a Change.org petition asking President Obama to posthumously pardon the world’s first African-American boxing champion of his racially motivated 1913 felony conviction.
Source: Newsmax
4-3-13
“I made one unforgivable mistake when I was in North Vietnam, and I will go to my grave with this,” Jane Fonda says on the Oprah Winfrey Network.The actress and activist made an infamous trip to North Vietnam in 1972 where she was photographed singing with members of the North Vietnamese military as she sat on an anti-aircraft gun.She was criticized then — and ever since — and says she understands the anger....
Source: AP
4-4-13
BAGHDAD – British archaeologists said Thursday they have unearthed a sprawling complex near the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq, home of the biblical Abraham.The structure, thought to be about 4,000 years old, probably served as an administrative center for Ur, around the time Abraham would have lived there before leaving for Canaan, according to the Bible.The compound is near the site of the partially reconstructed Ziggurat, or Sumerian temple, said Stuart Campbell of Manchester University's Archaeology Department, who led the dig."This is a breathtaking find," Campbell said, because of its unusually large size -- roughly the size of a football field, or about 260 feet on each side. The archaeologist said complexes of this size and age were rare....
Source: CNN.com
4-4-13
(CNN) -- Babylon was one of the glories of the ancient world, its walls and mythic hanging gardens listed among the Seven Wonders.Founded about 4,000 years ago, the ancient city was the capital of 10 dynasties in Mesopotamia, considered one of the earliest cradles of civilization and the birthplace of writing and literature.But following years of plunder, neglect and conflict, the Babylon of today scarcely conjures that illustrious history.In recent years, the Iraqi authorities have reopened Babylon to tourists, hoping that one day the site will draw visitors from all over the globe. But despite the site's remarkable archaeological value and impressive views, it is drawing only a smattering of tourists, drawn by a curious mix of ancient and more recent history....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
4-5-13
When George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, died 90 years ago this week he was one of the most famous men on Earth. He occupied the family seat at Highclere Castle, but wintered in Egypt every year. By 1923, Carnarvon had spent an estimated £35,000 on excavation, hunting for glory.Finally he got it. His man in the field, Howard Carter, had discovered the steps down to the unbroken seals on the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of Kings. Carnarvon dashed from England, and together they broke in a small portion of the door. “Well, can you see anything?” the Earl asked. “Yes,” came the famous reply, as Carter waved his candle and caught the glint of gold, “wonderful things.”The story was a press sensation in a gloomy post-war world still mourning the dead of that terrible conflict and the influenza pandemic that had followed shortly afterwards. The tomb was formally opened in February 1923, with visiting royalty, dignitaries and the world’s press in attendance....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
4-4-13
Private David Jenkins survived the battle, at which a force of just 150 British and colonial troops held off an attack on their isolated outpost by 4,000 Zulu warriors.However, when the official list of those who had fought there was drawn up, just days after the clash, his name was accidentally omitted.Curators at the National Army Museum, though, have now investigated his case and concluded that the solder, who served with the 1st Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, was present at the fighting, on the banks of the Buffalo River, in South Africa, and should have been included on the roll.They began their investigation after being contacted by Jenkins’ relatives, who recognised his image being used in a picture to promote a new exhibition at the museum....
Source: WaPo
4-3-13
LOS ANGELES — There’s a scene in “42” in which Jackie Robinson, the first black player in modern Major League Baseball, endures intolerably cruel racial slurs from the Philadelphia Phillies’ manager.It’s early in the 1947 season. Each time the Brooklyn Dodgers’ first baseman comes up to bat, manager Ben Chapman emerges from the dugout, stands on the field and taunts him with increasingly personal and vitriolic attacks. It’s a visible struggle, but No. 42 maintains his composure before a crowd of thousands.As a viewer, it’s uncomfortable to watch — although as writer-director Brian Helgeland points out, “if anything, the language we have in that scene was cleaned up from what it was.”...
