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: Nate Silver at http://www.fivethirtyeight.com
January 15, 2009
Although George W. Bush's approval ratings have rebounded slightly, as often happens at the end of a president's tenure, he will nevertheless finish his presidency with among the lowest scores since approval ratings came into widespread usage. Gallup pegs Bush's final approval numbers at a -27 net (34 percent approve, 61 percent disapprove), the worst for any outgoing president save Richard
Source: Foxnews
January 16, 2009
The Smithsonian Institution will keep its museum doors open through Inauguration Day, and has extra security staff on hand to accommodate the expected crowd.
FDR's "fireside chat" microphone. Satirical bronze sculptures of Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. And an iron wedge Abraham Lincoln used to split wood in the early 1830s.
These are just a few of the historical oddities the Smithsonian is putting on display for visitors coming to watch President-elect Ba
Source: Concord Monitor
January 15, 2009
Can we inveigle you with a challenge? As we celebrate our 200th birthday, the Monitor has been digging up all sorts of history, trivia and arcane knowledge. One of our recent finds was a list of 19th century vocabulary words culled by Minnesota historian Eric Ferguson from an 1830 memoir and posted on his website, celticfringe.net. Monitor editor Felice Belman asked us to play grade school geeks for a day and write an essay using the timeworn words, and now we're asking you to do the same.
Source: IHT
January 17, 2009
President George W. Bush leaves office next week with no evidence that public opinion toward him is softening during his final days in power, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
When asked about Bush's performance over the last eight years, 22 percent of Americans said they approved. That matched Bush's job-approval rating for much of last fall, the lowest marks of his presidency. Seventy-three percent disapproved of his performance in the new poll, slightly higher
Source: Christian Science Monitor
January 15, 2009
US presidents have delivered 55 inaugural addresses, and if there is a single word that best describes most of these speeches, it may be “stupefying.”
Yes, some of the most memorable political phrases in American history have come from inaugurals. “With malice toward none, with charity for all….” (Lincoln). “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (FDR). “Ask not what your country can do for you….” (JFK).
But the ones you learned about in high school are pretty
Source: CNN
January 17, 2009
In the last couple of years, several best-selling books have focused on the life and political skills of the nation's 16th president. And one man in particular has taken a particular interest in not just reading about the Illinois politician, but also modeling himself politically after him.
That man: Barack Obama, who will be sworn in as the nation's 44th -- and first African-American -- president Tuesday.
Obama will also be the first president to use the Lincoln Bible
Source: Newsweek
January 16, 2009
Imagine—just for a second—that it's 2020, and George W. Bush has restored his reputation. (I know, it's hard to imagine, but be creative.) Now try to answer this question: what would it take to actually make that happen?
The easy answer is that somehow between now and then, Iraq becomes a flourishing democracy, a source of cheap oil for the U.S., and a staunch ally in fending off the spread of terrorism in the region. Or that—by some sort of miracle—the American economy recovers, an
Source: AP
January 16, 2009
SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who helped unlock the secrets of Watergate as the shadowy "Deep Throat," was remembered Friday by family and friends as a man who stood up for truth in deceptive times.
About 300 people, including journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, attended the service in Santa Rosa to remember Felt, who died in December at the age of 95. The Washington Post reporters wrote the stories based on Felt's tips and guid
Source: Independent (UK)
January 17, 2009
The largest hoard of prehistoric gold coins in Britain in modern times has been discovered by a metal detectorist in East Anglia.
The 824 gold staters, worth the modern equivalent of up to £1m when they were in circulation, were in a field near Wickham Market, Suffolk. Almost all the coins were minted by royal predecessors of Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe who revolted against Rome in AD 60.
The solid gold staters – each weighing just over 5g – were made bet
Source: Spiegel Online
January 15, 2009
Visitors to Berlin who stroll away from Alexander Platz to take a look at the imposing Volksbühne theater and the Hans Poelzig designed Babylon Cinema nearby may be puzzled to notice a series of metal words embedded at zigzag angles into the pavement. A closer look, though, reveals that the installation is yet another monument to history in a city full of them.
This one is to Rosa Luxemburg, or Red Rosa as she was known, and is made up of quotations from the early 20th century socia
Source: Chicago Tribune
January 16, 2009
In the summer of 1966, three years after delivering his "I Have A Dream" speech, Rev. Martin Luther King spoke to several hundred congregants in the sanctuary of a Highland Park synagogue.
Barely a footnote in the civil rights movement, King's visit continues to resonate at Congregation Solel, which for the first time will commemorate the unlikely event with a special service Friday, three days before Martin Luther King Day.
"I believe that the presence
Source: BBC
January 16, 2009
A wealthy businessman who stole and defaced pages from priceless books in the British and Bodleian libraries has been jailed for two years.
Farhad Hakimzadeh, 60, of Knightsbridge in London, pleaded guilty in May to 14 counts of theft from the libraries in London and Oxford.
Judge Peter Ader said the offences were "very serious" whether or not they were motivated by financial profit.
Source: CBS
January 16, 2009
President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent.
Seventy-three percent say they disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled his job as president over the last eight years.
Mr. Bush's final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70
Source: NPR Nina Totenburg
January 15, 2009
When a president leaves office after eight years, journalists typically write retrospectives about his time in office. The vice president is barely mentioned, if at all. But President Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, is like no other in American history.
Before Cheney, discussion about the vice presidency focused on how to make the office stronger, more effective. Not any more.
"Vice President Cheney has been the most powerful vice president that we've ever had,
Source: Washington Post
January 16, 2009
Streams of people, these momentous next few days, will flood the city of Washington to honor the man becoming the next president.
And with every step, they will tread in the shadows of greatness.
Consciously or not, they will trace paths blazed long ago by Jefferson, Jackson and Adams. They'll pass the spot where Lincoln slept, and the one where he was killed. They'll cross the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt blazing through an urban forest, hear echoes of the fateful cannon f
Source: CNN
January 16, 2009
Mary Dowden smiles when she thinks about this moment in history. At 80 years old, she's the granddaughter of a slave who was born in a cotton field outside of Como, Mississippi.
It's difficult to put into words how she feels about Barack Obama, the issues so complex for a black country girl who lost both her parents by the age of 18 and then had to work a hard-scrabble life as a sharecropper.
"I was really afraid for him, because I didn't want nobody to kill him,&q
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
January 16, 2009
The President of the United States has broad and essentially unfettered authority to issue pardons for offenses against the United States, a new Congressional Research Service report on the subject explains.
"It also appears that a pardon may be revoked at any time prior to acceptance or delivery" of the warrant of pardon, according to the CRS assessment, which finds no flaw in the recent decision by President Bush"not to execute" a previously announced pardon in the case of real estate deve
Source: BBC
January 16, 2009
While Mr Bush has been severely criticised for the invasion of Iraq, his green credentials and the general deterioration of relations with the rest of the world, his African record has won considerable support.
More controversially, Mr Bush led the international community in declaring that the atrocities in Darfur amounted to genocide.
The US put increasing pressure on Sudan, but since Mr Bush refused to recognise the International Criminal Court in The Hague, refused
Source: Times (UK)
January 16, 2009
Robert Burns owed his fame to the English, an academic said at the start of a three-day celebration of the poet’s life. Jon Mee, of the University of Warwick, said that hostility south of the border to Burns’s work spurred the poet to be more radical.
Source: Belfast Daily Telegraph
January 16, 2009
The notorious serial killer who stalked London's East End, butchering prostitutes and terrorising the population, may not have been Jack the Ripper - but Jill.
An Australian scientist has used swabs from letters supposedly sent to police by the Ripper to build a partial DNA profile of the killer. The results suggest that the person who murdered and mutilated at least five women from 1888 onwards may have been a woman.
Ian Findlay, a professor of molecular and forensic d
