History Carnival #4

is up at Blogenspiel. Another Damned Medievalist has gone to some lengths to make the Carnival something more like an essay this time, on the"relevance" of history and historians. Given the diverse material she had to work with, I say she did a lovely job.

And, if that's not enough, here's a quick roundup of history-related disputes between China and its neighbors [via Simon World]

Non sequitur: The ANWAR bill that just (51-48) passed the Senate squeaked by with the support of both Democratic senators from Hawai'i, Akaka and Inouye (also Landrieu of Louisiana) [thanks, Mom!]. That doesn't make a lot of sense, until you realize that the Alaska and Arizona Republican delegations were the ones most actively blocking the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act (a.k.a. the Akaka Bill). The Hawai'i votes were almost certainly a direct trade-off with the removal of McCain's and Kyl's blockage of the Akaka Bill's progress out of committee. This is the closest that the Akaka bill has ever gotten to a floor vote, and our senators are pulling out the stops to push it through. [Update: According to an interview on HPR with Inouye, it was the support of the vast majority of Alaskan tribes for drilling that tipped the balance for him. I respect the man, I really do, but I think that's rhetorical cover for the Akaka Bill...]