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: AP
January 21, 2009
WASHINGTON –- Gone are the huge crowds for President Barack Obama's inauguration. Left behind is political junk fit for a museum.
Larry Bird and Harry Rubenstein, two curators from the National Museum of American History, collected dozens of objects, from hats and homemade signs to buttons and other paraphernalia, to tell the story of the first black president to future generations.
"You really felt that you were part of something that was bigger than yourself,&quo
Source: CNN
January 20, 2009
Ann Nixon Cooper craned her neck and leaned her head forward. On the television set across the room, Barack Obama moved forward and put his hand on the Bible.
At 107 years old, Cooper said she always believed she might live to see a black man sworn in as president of the United States.
Ann Nixon Cooper celebrated her 107th birthday last week. The "107" charm necklace she had on for this day was given to her by Andrew Young, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
January 18, 2009
The Civil War's H.L. Hunley has been recovered, but it's giving up its secrets only grudgingly.
It could be one of the nation's oldest cold-case files: What happened to eight Confederate sailors aboard the H.L. Hunley after it became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship?
Their hand-cranked sub rammed a spar with black powder into the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston on a chilly winter night in 1864 but never returned.
Its f
Source: The Clanton Advertiser (Alabama)
January 19, 2009
About 30 people gathered at the Confederate Monument on the state Capitol grounds Monday to mark the part of Alabama's dual state holiday that attracts the smallest crowds and least attention.
The group came to honor Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The third Monday in January was a state holiday recognizing Lee long before the Legislature made it a dual holiday also honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The event, organized by the Alabama Division of th
Source: The Argus
January 20, 2009
When staff at Wakehurst Place dredged a pond to encourage more wildlife to the site, they only expected to find leaves and silt.
But instead they discovered wartime relics dropped by soldiers based at the site ahead of the D-Day landings.
The historic finds at the gardens in Ardingly, near Haywards Heath, were discovered when work was carried out on the pond.
They are believed to have been thrown or dropped into the water by British and Canadian soldiers
Source: AP
January 20, 2009
A copy of the Magna Carta is the centerpiece of a new exhibition at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.
The exhibition runs Jan. 22 to June 20 and will include scenes from life in England in 1215, the year the Magna Carta was recorded.
Source: Foxnews
January 21, 2009
Russia's military said Wednesday that an old Soviet-built nuclear-powered satellite has spewed fragments in orbit, but insisted they do not threaten the international space station or people on Earth.
The military's Space Forces said the decommissioned Cosmos-1818 satellite "partially fragmented" in July.
In 1978, the Soviet Cosmos-954 nuclear-powered satellite scattered radioactive debris over a lightly populated area of Northern Canada on its fiery re-entry,
Source: BBC
January 21, 2009
Britain is out of step with governments around the world who have compensated nuclear test veterans who fell ill, the High Court has heard.
Benjamin Browne QC, representing 1,000 ex-servicemen, said science has made a link between health and their role in the 1950s tests in the South Pacific.
At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, Britain carried out a series of nuclear weapons tests in mainland Australia, the Montebello islands off the west Australian coast and
Source: BBC
January 19, 2009
Ancient Persians were the first to use chemical warfare against their enemies, a study has suggested.
A UK researcher said he found evidence that the Persian Empire used poisonous gases on the Roman city of Dura, Eastern Syria, in the 3rd Century AD.
The theory is based on the discovery of remains of about 20 Roman soldiers found at the base of the city wall.
The findings were presented the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting.
Source: IHT
January 21, 2009
In his Inaugural Address, President Barack Obama quoted not Abraham Lincoln or the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom he has often referenced in his speeches, but George Washington, speaking to his bedraggled troops during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, when, as Obama put it, "The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood."
The "father of our nation," the new president said, "ordered these words be read to the people: 'Let it be to
Source: Telegraph(UK)
January 21, 2009
Barack Obama has applied to have military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay suspended as he got straight down to work after his historic inauguration.
Hours after attending a series of inaugural balls, the new President headed for the Oval Office where he issued a request to halt proceedings in 21 pending cases including one relating to the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Obama was expected to launch straight into tackling his top military and economic challenges, in the hope of getting hi
Source: Mercury News
January 19, 2009
Think of it as a back-to-the-future road trip. To attend the inauguration of the nation's first African-American president, a group of San Jose students piled into a van and revisited the landmarks of the past — the Southern bridges, churches and lunch counters that were the backdrop of the country's civil rights struggle.
The journey began in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - whose birthday is observed the day before Barack Obama is sworn in - was assassinated. It continue
Source: Politico.com
January 20, 2009
The new White House website debuted Tuesday with several surprisingly candid biographies of the nation’s presidents and first ladies.
The site puts a journalistic spin on previous presidents, assessing their weaknesses and strengths and wavering between critical and kind.
Consider a few.
Why Jimmy Carter was a one-term president: “Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government 'competent and compassionate,' responsive to the American people and their expectations. His a
Source: WaPo
January 21, 2009
The presidential oath of office is required of a new president before he can execute his powers, and the Constitution is clear that its 35 words must be spoken exactly.
Which is what makes the oath President Obama took yesterday so interesting. It might be that the more than 1 million spectators didn't actually witness Obama being sworn in.
Because of a noticeable gaffe by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Obama transposed the words. He should have said he will "f
Source: NYT
January 20, 2009
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address on Tuesday was a stark repudiation of the era of George W. Bush and the ideological certainties that surrounded it, wrapped in his pledge to drive the United States into “a new age” by reclaiming the values of an older one.
It was a delicate task, with Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney sitting feet from him as Mr. Obama, only minutes into his term as president, described the false turns and the roads not taken.
To read his words literally, Mr. Ob
Source: WaPo
January 20, 2009
Barack Obama takes office today with a realistic prospect of joining the ranks of history's most powerful presidents.
The more familiar observation, that he confronts daunting trials, enhances that prospect. Emergencies have always brought commensurate new authority for the presidents who faced them, not only because the public demanded action but also because rival branches of government went along.
Obama arrives with a rare convergence of additional strengths, some of
Source: BBC
January 19, 2009
BBC World News America has unearthed a fascinating clip of Dr Martin Luther King speaking to the BBC's Bob McKenzie in 1964 in which Dr King predicts an African-American president "in less than 40 years."
[HNN Editor: The BBC headline uses the timeline of 40 years. King himself in the clip says less than 25 years. Click on the SOURCE link to watch the clip.]
Source: AP
January 21, 2009
Waving cardboard red, white and blue "W"s, thousands welcomed George W. Bush and his wife on Tuesday to their post-presidential home in Texas.
"The presidency was a joyous experience, but as great as it was, nothing compares with Texas at sunset," Bush said to cheers from the crowd of about 25,000 as former first lady Laura Bush stood at his side. "Tonight I have the privilege of saying six words that I have been waiting to say for a while — it is good to be
Source: AP
January 21, 2009
The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech was missing his references to communism and dissent, while a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when the topic was mentioned.
The comments by the newly installed U.S. president veered into politically sensitive territory for China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains a tight grip over the Internet and the entirely state-run media. Beijing tolerates little di
Source: Independent (UK)
January 21, 2009
British passengers on the Titanic died in disproportionate numbers because they queued politely for lifeboats while Americans elbowed their way on, an Australian researcher believes.
David Savage, a behavioural economist at the Queensland University of Technology, studied four 20th-century maritime disasters to determine how people react in life and death situations. He concluded that, on the whole, behaviour is influenced by altruism and social norms, rather than a "survival o
