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Sept. 11 did nothing to break the 2000 stalemate in U.S. politics, with red (George W. Bush) states like Texas getting redder and blue (Al Gore) states like California getting bluer. "The war on terrorism has not transformed U.S. politics," says William Schneider, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "In fact, there are indications the opposite may happen. The war may become more political as it goes on." He cites the debate surrounding Iraq, which pits conservatives and Republicans who favor using U.S. ground troops to overthrow leader Saddam Hussein against liberals and Democrats who remain strongly opposed to...

At high noon in Dallas last week the nation's Roman Catholic leaders blinked. An archbishop had put the opportunity well: "This is a defining moment for us, a moment for us to declare our resolve once and for all ... to root out a cancer in our church." The bishops did a lot, no question. They did major surgery. But was it radical enough? Yes indeed, they voted 239-13 for a 3,500-word document, and the haggling has begun about what it really means - haggling that will go on endlessly. According to the news columns, the document requires the reporting...

The mail brings a letter from a self-identified African-American prison inmate (several of the same type have arrived since Sept. 11). He predicts Islam will take over the world and America's days are numbered. This man is one of many converts to radical Islam under a program indirectly funded by Saudi Arabian money through the National Islamic Prison Foundation, which underwrites a "prison outreach" program. This program is likely to be discussed at the fifth annual Islam in American Prisons Conference, scheduled for July 5-7 at the Holiday Inn O'Hare International in Rosemont, Ill. (www.ISNA.net, click on "Islam in American...

When the United States builds a missile-defense shield, it should leave a small hole right above Harvard University -- and Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown. Each of these institutions bans the U.S. Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) from conducting classes on its campus. Until they let ROTC back on campus, let them defend themselves. Now, when America is under attack, it is vital that America's youth know the military personally, rather than buying professorial slander about the military-industrial complex and the "dark side" of the U.S. armed forces. Still, many top-notch universities ban ROTC. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown...

Winston Churchill, many say, once said, "A man younger than 30 who's not a liberal has no heart and a man older than 30 who's not a conservative has no brain." But this fails to explain why so many Hollywood celebrities, even past their 30s, remain leftists. Hollywood Reporter writer Paul Bond explored this question. Hollywood non-liberals do exist, but the number of out-of-the-closet non-libs remains small. After ticking off names like Charlton Heston, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and a handful of others, the well pretty much runs dry. Why? Bond offers the following explanation, "Jack Wheeler, president of the...

Chinese Scientists to Head for Suspected ET Relics  A group of nine Chinese scientists will go to west China's Qinghai Province this month to closely examine the relics thought by some to have been left by extraterrestrial beings (ET). It will be the first time scientists seriously study the mysterious site near Delingha City in the depths of the Qaidam Basin, according to government sources with the Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where Delingha is located. The site, known by local people as "the ET relics", is on Mount Baigong about 40 kilometers to the southwest of Delingha City....

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I have a Firebird which is nine years old. Tonight I was driving it and the whole car started shaking, the base, the steering wheel, everything. I could still steer it but not well. The low traction light came on the dashboard. I slowed it down, then the light went off and I was able to drive it normally again. Scared the heck out of me but I made it home okay. A couple of weeks ago the ABS INOP light came on but I haven't had anything happen associated to this. I took it to the mechanic and got...

Kurdish envoys have told U.S. officials that they would not agree to an American military attack from northern Iraq without guarantees that Washington will remain in the area indefinitely to protect the Kurds.Also, a Turkish general has promised to fight any Kurdish 'mini state' in post-Saddam IraqEND

Local Minister Charged For Killing Turtle Florida's Five Species Of Sea Turtles Are Protected Posted: 6:14 a.m. EDT June 19, 2002 Updated: 8:15 a.m. EDT June 19, 2002 GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Environmentalists said they hope the trial of a pastor charged with killing an endangered sea turtle will help prevent more illegal turtle killings as scalloping season approaches. The Rev. Luscious Stevenson, 46, of Summerfield, was arrested May 14 on the Cedar Key fishing pier. Witnesses said they saw a man catch and kill a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, then put it in his cooler and continue fishing. "I...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 20 Bright Galaxy M81 Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler Explanation: Big and beautiful spiral galaxy M81, in the northern constellation Ursa Major, is one of the brightest galaxies visible in the skies of planet Earth. This superbly detailed view reveals its bright nucleus, grand spiral arms and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to the Milky Way. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable...

A leading public school is planning to stop its pupils playing rugby partly because of increasing fears of litigation over injuries. Richard Youdale, the headmaster of the 700-pupil King's School, Ely, Cambs, wrote to parents, who pay fees of more than £15,000 per year, explaining that rugby would be phased out over the next four years to be replaced by hockey, rowing and football. In the letter, which acknowledged that the decision "will cause distress in a number of quarters", he explained: "Since rugby is a game which is notoriously difficult to referee and increasingly subject to litigation, it is...

It's been a rough few years for historians. The higher the rung, the greater the fall. Plagiarism infected the works of superstar authors Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose. Both are prolific writers who fell prey to pressures of time, sloppy researchers, careless rewrites and history as big business, all of which interrupted their 20 minutes of academic celebrity. More serious charges have been leveled against Michael Bellesiles, professor of history at Emory University, whose "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture," published in 2000, was hailed as containing enough scholarly ammunition to shoot down the National Rifle...

The appalling story of the pedophile priests deserves all the negative press it has been getting. But is the press critical of them because they are pedophiles or because they are priests? After all, there are many other pedophiles, some of them with their own organization, and they are welcomed on our leading academic campuses, as well as getting a free pass in the mainstream media. Even as regards the pedophile priests, the media shy away from the plain fact that these cases are primarily cases of homosexual abuse of children. Fear of the homosexual lobby always seems to immobilize...

New York wild card NEW YORK -- Amid the uncertainties of election politics, one 2002 outcome had seemed assured. Republican George Pataki surely would be elected to a third term as governor of New York against either of two flawed Democratic challengers. Yet, the political community now is not so sure because of a newly introduced wild card. The wild card is B. Thomas Golisano, a Rochester, N.Y., billionaire making his third independent run for governor. Since his previous campaigns were ineffective, what reason is there to take him seriously this time? There are 75 reasons. Golisano has promised to...

A democratic tax cutter Memo To: Democratic Presidential Hopefuls From: Jude Wanniski Re: How to Win in 2004 One of the reasons we sometimes refer to the Republican Party as "the Stupid Party" is that when it uses the process of trial and error in designing policy, it almost always chooses the "error." For generations Republicans tried to persuade the voters that they should vote for "fiscal responsibility," i.e., tax increases. No matter how many times they failed, they simply doubled their bets. You're all too young to remember, but Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign featured ATTACKS on the Kennedy tax...

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(New York-AP) -- The New York City Council is considering creating a commission to explore the economic and psychological impact of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves. Deputy Majority Leader Bill Perkins says no one's calling for compensatory damages yet.Councilman Charles Barron, who helped introduce the bill, says a vote on whether to create the commission could come this summer.Barron says the proposal calls for the commission's work to last for one year. He calls slavery an ``injury'' that's been ``passed down from generation to generation.''The resolution also encourages the creation of an annual Reparation Awareness Day on April...

Conspiracy theories are as American as apple pie, but rural places along the Canadian border have provided home base to a curiously high proportion of those obsessed with nefarious plots. In her book "Lone Patriot: The Short Career of an American Militiaman," Paris-based New Yorker correspondent Jane Kramer has come home to chronicle the short, delusional life of the Washington State Militia that arose east of Bellingham during the mid-1990s. Its leader, an unemployed ship painter-turned-commander-in-chief named John Pitner, convinced ragtag followers that an invading army had picked state Route 9 through rural Whatcom and Skagit counties as the New...

Self-obsessed Aaron Brown06/17/2002 It comes as no surprise to media bias observers that CNN's Aaron Brown reports every story as if it is all about him. Last Monday night, 6/10/2002, he went over the top. "Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown. So here's a nice day at the office. The administration says the half-century-old doctrine of containment in matters military is outdated and the United States in the future will exercise, if it so chooses, a first strike option against terrorists in those countries that harbor them. We've always said we are not a country that starts wars -- and...