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National Archives Celebrates 75th Anniversary




15 June 2009

Before the National Archives was founded, many governmental records were kept in poor conditions.  These are War Department records.
Before the National Archives was founded, many governmental records were kept in poor conditions.
On June 19, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation creating the National Archives. "There was a recognition by historians, by public officials and others that the history of the nation was being lost," says assistant archivist Michael Kurtz. "Records were kept by the agencies that created them. Fires, floods and other disasters really ate away at the nation's documented heritage."

A visitor to the National Archives examines the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
A visitor to the National Archives examines the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
Seventy-five years later, it is home to some of the most treasured documents in the United States.

Every day, visitors fill the rotunda of the National Archives to get a glimpse of the documents that are the foundation of the United States government: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But there is much more to the National Archives than just the so-called Charters of Freedom.

More than 9 billion records preserved

Since 1934 it has been responsible for all official governmental historical records: judicial, legislative and executive. Of course, not every government document is saved. Only one to three percent are deemed valuable enough to permanently archive. But, as Kurtz explains, that still adds up to more than nine billion records. While the paper records are vast, there are records in other formats as well including video, film, and digital.

"You have wikis and blogs, digital e-mail, all capturing government business," says Kurtz. He notes they present new challenges to the Archives. "Preserving them is not like having temperature- and humidity-control vaults for paper records, which will ensure the paper records last for hundreds of years. Digital media is much more fragile."

On the other hand, Kurtz says, the digital age has presented some opportunities for the National Archives, which can provide access to holdings to people who will never be able to come to the National Archives in person.

Basketball shoe and bathtub on display

The National Archives is celebrating its 75th anniversary with lectures and panel discussions, screenings of films, and an exhibit called "Big!," featuring some of its more unusual holdings.

"The original premise was to showcase some unique items that normally don't get displayed because of their size," says exhibits specialist Jennifer Johnson.

A replica of the
A replica of the "pond-like" bathtub created for President Taft
Those items include a Civil War-era battlefield map of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that measures four meters square and a bathtub modeled after the one made for President William Howard Taft, the largest U.S. president. He weighed about 145 kilos (320 pounds). "There were a series of items that were custom made for him, including his bed," says Johnson. "We have a telegram where it is asking for a bathtub, listing the dimensions and describing it as 'pond-like.'"

When the exhibition, Big!, closes next January, Shaq's shoe will go to the George W. Bush presidential library.  Presidential libraries are also part of the National Archives
When the exhibition, Big!, closes next January, Shaq's shoe will go to the George W. Bush presidential library. Presidential libraries are also part of the National Archives
There is also a shoe that belonged to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, which was given to President George W. Bush, and a casting of dinosaur footprints. Johnson says that was presented to Richard Nixon by two boys who discovered the fossilized prints in New Jersey. "When they discovered these footprints they petitioned Nixon to preserve that area of land so they could study it, and he did. So they gave him a casting of the footprints." Today, she notes, one of those boys is one of the leading paleontologists in the U.S.

There are also more conventional records in the exhibit, illustrating big events and big ideas in American history, like the lunar landing and D-Day, the Normandy invasion that led to the Allied victory in World War Two.

Exhibits like "Big!" give visitors a glimpse of the vast holdings of the National Archives, but the stars of the collection remain the Charters of Freedom


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Murphy's Law Rules Vegas Bachelor Party in 'The Hangover'




22 June 2009

The Hangover movie poster

Four friends travel to the gaming and carousing center of Las Vegas to give one of them a bachelor party on the eve of his wedding. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, just about everything does in a bawdy but very funny new film. Here's a look at The Hangover.

It's a road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where best friends Stu and Phil along with future brother-in-law Alan plan to give Doug a rousing celebration just before he gets married.

It starts with the promise of fun and maybe even a bit of debauchery as they raise their glasses in a toast to the groom; but things are quite different the next morning. Their hotel suite looks like a tornado has ripped through it: broken furniture, torn curtains, holes in the wall and, for some reason, a chicken cackling and strutting about.

Justin Bartha,Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in scene from The Hangover
Justin Bartha,Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in scene from The Hangover
The three of them have no recollection whatsoever of the night before. Three of them? One is missing: the groom!

So now they have to retrace their steps, figure out what happened, find Doug and get him back home in time for the wedding, which is to take place that afternoon.

The ensemble cast of The Hangover features Justin Bartha as the misplaced groom and he says the comedy gets more and more outrageous as the friends learn about their wild-and-crazy night.

Justin Bartha as groom, Doug Billings in The Hangover
Justin Bartha as groom, Doug Billings in The Hangover
"There are definitely moments where you say 'this is shocking' and hilarious. This movie has a ton of those moments. It really does," Bartha says."There's a naked gangster that jumps out of a trunk onto someone's shoulders, beats them up and then runs away. I've never seen that in a movie …and I always have wanted to."

Ed Helms plays Stu who is a dentist so when he wakes up with a tooth missing he knows strange things must have gone on.

Ed Helms as Stu Price in The Hangover
Ed Helms as Stu Price in The Hangover
"A lot of things in the script were initially not explained and it's so much fun to portray the aftermath of this night and let the audience try to put pieces together with our guys as they move through the story," says Helms.

Among those pieces: Stu, who has a fiancée back in Los Angeles, has somehow married a cheerful exotic dancer named Jade played by Heather Graham.

Heather Graham as Jade in The Hangover
Heather Graham as Jade in The Hangover
"I actually thought it was fun to play such a colorful character and not just the 'sidekick' to the guys," Graham says. "I got to be this quirky character on my own and I made up my own back-story where I was a spiritual new age stripper just trying to share my sexuality with the world for the great goal of spirituality."

Bradley Cooper is Phil, the groom Doug's best friend and organizer of the bachelor party, which turns into a frantic mystery.

Bradley Cooper as Phil Wenneck in The Hangover
Bradley Cooper as Phil Wenneck in The Hangover
"That's the cool part of the movie," Cooper says. "If you like these three guys together and you care about what they're doing then you're going to go on the ride because you are in the exact same head space that the guys are in.

Rounding out the quartet is Zach Galifanakis as the groom's quirky future brother-in-law. A veteran improvisational comic, Galifanakis says some of the funniest scenes were not originally in the script.

"The outline of the movie was a very good blueprint, but any comedy director wants you to improvise and we did improvise a lot," he says. "There were a lot of lines that were fine in the script but things change when you shoot so you kind of go with the flow."

The director is Todd Phillips, whose previous films include the hit Old School - another 'buddy' comedy - and he says it was important to make the real Las Vegas environment part of "The Hangover" story.

Director Todd Phillips on the set of the movie
Director Todd Phillips on the set of the movie
"I just think comedy plays so much better when it plays against reality, so I always want it feel as organic as possible. If we're going to shoot in Caesars Palace [hotel] I'd like to cut inside and be in the Caesars lobby," Phillips says. "I'd like to be shooting at Caesars pool or their valet (parking area). All of that stuff is really important."

The Hangover also features a cameo by boxer Mike Tyson along with several prominent Las Vegas celebrities.


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China Arrests Prominent Dissident on Subversion Charges




24 June 2009

Liu Xia, the wife of prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo, wipes away tears at a lawyers office in Beijing, 24 Jun 2009
Liu Xia, the wife of prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo, wipes away tears at a lawyers office in Beijing, 24 Jun 2009
Chinese state media says a leading dissident, Liu Xiaob, has been formally arrested on charges of carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing China's socialist system. He had has been in police custody since the end of last year.

Police took Liu Xiaobo away on December 8, on day before the public release of a manifesto - called Charter 08 - which called for sweeping reforms to China's rigid political system. He was among more than 300 Chinese intellectuals who signed Charter 08. The document called for a new constitution guaranteeing human rights, election of public officials, freedom of religion and expression and an end to the Communist Party's hold over the military, courts and government.

Liu helped draft and revised the document. His lawyer, Mo Shaoping, has said he believes police detained Liu a day ahead of the manifesto's release because they considered him a key organizer.

China's official Xinhua News Agency quotes a Beijing police statement as saying Liu is charged with agitation activities aimed at subverting the state and overthrowing the socialist system. The statement also accuses him of spreading rumors and defaming the government.

Fifty-three-year-old Liu is a former university professor. In his writings, he has called for civil rights and political reform.

In an interview with AP Television last July, Liu urged the Chinese government to provide a legitimate way for Chinese people to protest.

Liu says, if the government does not set up places to protest, then it will have to face the prospect of protests happening at any time, anywhere, without any control - especially in what he describes as sensitive areas. He says the government knows it will be bad for China's image to crack down violently on protests.

Liu had spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square. In the 1990's, he also spent three years in a labor camp and eight months under virtual house arrest.


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US Lawmakers React to Obama Statement on Iran




23 June 2009

President Obama's latest remarks on Iran, in which he said the U.S. and the world are appalled and outraged by the Iranian government's crackdown on dissent, have met with praise but also some continuing criticism from members of Congress. The situation in Iran continues to be on the minds of U.S. lawmakers:

After almost two weeks of nearly constant criticism from minority Republicans who said he wasn't speaking out strongly enough, President Obama received some praise from the Republican leader in the House of Representatives.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (r) and Republican Representative Mike Pence, 23 Jun 2009
House Minority Leader John Boehner (r) and Republican Representative Mike Pence, 23 Jun 2009
Representative John Boehner told reporters he believes the president did sharpen his criticism of the Iranian government for its violent response against demonstrators.


"I think the president did step up his criticism of the Iranian regime," said John Boehner. "I congratulate him for that, and we need to keep up the pressure on them."

In a 405 to 1 vote last week, the House approved a compromise resolution largely crafted by Republicans condemning ongoing violence by the Iranian government and pro-government militias against demonstrators, and the suppression of independent electronic communications through interference with the Internet and cell phones.

Appearing Tuesday on the Public Broadcasting System's The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called President Obama's remarks strong. But Graham described as unpersuasive the president's continuing assertion that the U.S. must avoid being seen to be meddling in Iran so Iran's government will not use this as an excuse to intensify its crackdown on the opposition.

On the same broadcast, Democratic Senator John Kerry said the president has been absolutely correct in his statements about Iran, asserting that tough rhetoric against the Iranian government would be counterproductive.

In his remarks on Tuesday, President Obama paid tribute to Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death, recorded on a camera phone just after it occurred, was seen worldwide, calling it heartbreaking and fundamentally unjust.

The killing continued to reverberate in Congress. As the House Appropriations Committee voted to send a State Department and foreign aid funding bill to the full House of Representatives, Democrat Nita Lowey voiced congressional solidarity with demonstrators in Iran.

"While this bill is not related to the ongoing post-election events in Iran, we would be remiss to not express our solidarity with the protesters persuing electoral freedom in Tehran, consistent with our democratic values," said Nita Lowey.

Saying she fully supports President Obama's diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, Lowey supported an amendment to close a loophole in U.S. law regarding sanctions targeting Iran's energy sector.

The amendment would prevent the U.S. Export-Import Bank from entering into any deals with foreign companies that significantly contribute to Iran's refined petroleum resources, part of efforts to pressure Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program.

Speaking for the amendment, Republican Mark Kirk referred to the killing of Neda Agha Soltan and post-election events.

"I think it is very important that the U.S. taxpayer not subsidize a project which will help [President] Ahmadinejad out of his gasoline shortage problem," said Mark Kirk. "We saw this weekend the video of the death of Nada, a young girl on the streets of Tehran, as well as about a dozen others [and] reports even by the Governing Council of Iran that the votes in 50 Iranian cities were more than the number of people that lived in those cities."

In other Iran-related statements, Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the Obama administration should order U.S. embassies around the world to rescind invitations for Iranian officials to attend July 4 Independence Day Celebrations.

Iranian attendance at the events, Ros-Lehtinen said, could be equated to fraternizing with the oppressors of people in Iran who yearn to live free.

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Tech-Savvy Protesters Battle Iranian Government in Cyberspace




18 June 2009

Picture of Mousavi supporters in Tehran 17 Jun 2009 posted on photo-sharing site Twitpic by user
Picture of Mousavi supporters in Tehran 17 Jun 2009 posted on photo-sharing site Twitpic by user 'madyar' via AFP.
In the days since Iran's contested presidential vote, demonstrators have proved resourceful and adept in bypassing a government clampdown on information sharing. Aided by mobile phones and an array of Internet services, technology-savvy Iranians have organized among themselves and communicated with the outside world, sending personalized and unfiltered accounts of events as they unfold in their country. We examine the role technology is playing in Iran's post-election saga, and how it is affecting the balance of power between some autocratic regimes and the people.

Iranians have seized the world's attention through gripping, first-hand people-to-people reporting. Surf the Internet, and you will find countless uploaded videos depicting defiance, as well as chaos and violence on the streets.

At the same time, messages disseminated through Web-based services like Twitter and appearing on social networks like Facebook have helped demonstrators coordinate activities, warn each other of danger, and keep the world informed on a minute-by-minute basis.

It is precisely the global outreach of ordinary Iranians that impresses Virginia-based social media entrepreneur and author Geoff Livingston.

"To see it happen in Iran and to see the global community embrace it and pick up on it and watch it as it happens - we have never seen anything like this before," he said.

With foreign journalists either forced to leave Iran or confined to their hotels, major news organizations have come to rely heavily on Iran's fledgling crop of citizen journalists.

"There are no reliable [official] sources right now in Iran," said VOA Persian News Network television anchor Hamideh Aramideh. "People are the reliable sources. They are not just one, two, three hundred. They are thousands."

Aramideh's Facebook page has added thousands of new Iranian contacts in recent days.

Iran's demographics help explain the country's post-election dynamic, according to Alex Vatanka, Senior Middle East Analyst for Jane's Information Group.

"It is a reflection of the youthfulness of the country," he said. "A country of 70 percent being under the age of 30. It is youthful, it is technologically-savvy, it is able to use the latest gadgets."

But Vatanka adds that the use of technology is not limited to Iranian demonstrators.

"Authorities also can use Facebook and other social networking services as their own as a way of rallying support," he said. "And, they can monitor what is being said in cyberspace. Monitor who is saying what."

Iran's authorities have limited options when it comes to blocking communication, according to blogger and author Daniel Drezner, who teaches international politics at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

"The obvious option is to try to disrupt the means of communication," he said. "But it is worth recognizing that, even if you shut down Twitter, word-of-mouth still works, just as it did over a century ago."

Drezner says Iran is only the latest country in which technology has facilitated a popular uprising.

"Democratic movements have undoubtedly benefited from this," he said. "We have had a whole series of 'color revolutions' where we have seen this kind of thing. That said, there are two caveats. The first is: it is a dynamic process where you do have governments over time learning how to thwart these things. For example, while you had an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the government in Belarus was very quick to crack down on any possibility of a social movement. The second [caveat] is that sometimes things happen through these technologies that would have happened anyway. It is simply that we would not have observed them otherwise."

Geoff Livingston says authoritarian governments stifle their citizen's ability to communicate at their own peril.

"That really puts them in a dangerous spot, because in order to prevent this [information sharing] from happening, they have to stunt their own technological development," he said. "Which means they have to stunt their own economic development and their own welfare. Do you become North Korea - walled off from the world with no technology? Or do you embrace this and start moving towards democracy?"

Web-based services have taken special measures in response to developments in Iran. Twitter delayed scheduled maintenance that would have disrupted the service. YouTube is relaxing restrictions to allow videos from Iran that contain scenes of violence, saying the images are "important" for the world to see.


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