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Avoid the rush, and get all your holiday cookout necessities today! Are you ready for some grillin'? Grill ... check!Something to grill ... check!Whew, it's hot out here! Something cold to drink ... check!

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 July 2 The Average Color of the Universe Credit: Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry (JHU) Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky was smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. To determine this,...

<p>The senseless American effort to undermine and marginalize the International Criminal Court must come to an end. The U.S. case against the court is bogus on its face. The real problem is the Bush administration's wholesale rejection of multilateralism and its desire to curry favor with the extreme right of its political base.</p>

<p>Valinda Jo Elliot was beginning to panic.</p> <p>The lush pine forests that first seemed so refreshing, now felt forbidding.</p> <p>The 31-year-old hiker had been lost for three days. She was tired, dehydrated and desperate when she heard the rotors of a helicopter.</p>

Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, plans to make service in his youth militia a prerequisite for high school graduates entering college or the job market, reports said today. The youth militias, aligned with Mugabe's ruling party, were involved in brutal attacks on the opposition during presidential elections in March, human rights groups said. The move is viewed by observers in Zimbabwe as part of Mugabe's efforts to encourage its minority white and Indian populations to leave the country. Mugabe's critics say he has been exacerbating racial tensions in the country in order to deflect attention from the nation's crumbling...

In the famous Hippie anthem, "Blowin' In The Wind," Bob Dylan asks a lot of "How many's..." Of course, the questions in the song are abstract and metaphorical, and are intended to make one reach deep within themselves to face a profound truth. "How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?" You get the idea. After nearly 40 years of soul-searching, our soon-to-be geriatric set of overly-enlightened, self-appointed social/moral guardians have deciphered what has been blowin' in the wind...

Israel put 18 Americans back on a flight back to the United States on Tuesday as part of a policy of refusing entry to foreigners seeking to show solidarity with the Palestinians. The Americans arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday with the aim of going to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Tova Ellison said. The US group included naturalized citizens born in Pakistan, Egypt and Iraq, she said. Two other members of the US group were admitted because they have Israeli citizenship. A British citizen traveling with the Americans was put on a flight...

S.F. Syphilis Campaign Tones Down Ads Thu Jun 27, 7:06 AM ET By MARGIE MASON, Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The San Francisco health department toned down its campaign to combat rising syphilis infections after the company that owns the city's bus shelters refused to display a male genitalia cartoon. Viacom Outdoor objected to the Healthy Penis 2002 ads on five bus shelters in the city's predominantly gay Castro District, saying they would offend children and families. But Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, head of the health department's sexually transmitted disease unit, said the $50,000 campaign comes at a...

In her just-finished interview with JC Watts, Katie Couric employed a tried-and-true technique of liberal journalists trying to preserve an illusion of objectivity. Instead of using her own words to attack the Republican party, Katie threw into JC's face a bitterly partisan editorial from the NY Times. She then asked JC, with a look like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, whether he agreed with the NY Times. Here's the NY Times editorial quote that Katie threw at JC:"Mr. Watts was welcomed into the fold in 1994 by a virtually all-white party establishment that was eager to put a black...

<p>DERBENT, Russia -- On a winter night five years ago, Ayman al-Zawahri slipped into Russia across a narrow wedge of land between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Dr. Zawahri, now America's most wanted man after Osama bin Laden, was on a risky clandestine mission as head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a militant group that was scattered, battered and nearly bankrupt after years on the run.</p>

At 82, Phyllis Porter of Lynnfield is one smokin' babe. And she should be. Porter had a face lift, breast implants, Botox injections, lip resculpting and a chemical peel - 7 1/2 hours and about $25,000 worth of surgery - to find the fountain of youth.<!ENDSUMM!> ``I think I look good,'' Porter told the Track. ``My husband likes the way I look and I don't care what other people think.'' Boston plastic surgeon Sheldon Sevinor did Porter's marathon makeover two years ago at the Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary. They don't keep records but the Lynnfield grandmother may be the...

What is it about President George W. Bush's "vision" for Palestine that seems to have some people in a knot? It's understandable if Prime Minister Jean Chretien is miffed, since Bush kind of upstaged his "action plan" for Africa that is as pie-in-the-sky as Bush's vision for Mideast peace. But why everyone else? Some feel Bush's proposals for a Palestinian state are the most positive and decisive to come from an American president. Others feel it's all hogwash. Frankly, it's hard to see what the fuss is all about. Bush says, in effect - no, not "in effect," but categorically...

TANFORD, Calif. — The Supreme Court's voucher decision clears the way for a major expansion of parental school choice. Opponents of choice can no longer use the First Amendment's religious Establishment Clause to attack voucher programs, now that the Supreme Court has declared the Cleveland program constitutionally acceptable even though most voucher recipients went to parochial schools. The state of Ohio provided vouchers worth up to $2,250 to low-income parents in Cleveland who chose to send their children to private schools that charge them tuition of no more than $2,500 per child. The voucher was offered as an alternative to...

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative group is running radio ads in South Dakota this week, urging Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to stop blocking consideration and confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees Concerned Women for America says last week's ruling "absurd ruling" that the words 'under God' in the nation's Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional proves the nation's desperate need for judge who respect the law." In a statement, Concerned Women for America says President Bush has nominated men who will respectfully interpret - not make -laws. "Last week's ruling clearly demonstrates the need for good men and women on...

<p>Federal prosecutors are expected to level criminal charges against some of Wall Street's former high-flying Internet analysts as soon as next week, sources told The Post.</p> <p>While it is unclear who might be charged, those under the gun include former Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget as well as others who were the targets of a lawsuit brought recently by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, sources familiar with the federal probe said.</p>

It is no secret that Bush and his advisors are trying their best to drum up support and preparing to attack Iraq in the near future. US vice president Dick Cheney's trip to the Middle East failed in convincing the Arab countries, at least publicly, to join America against Iraq. Unfortunately, now the Bush administration is trying to persuade the Kurds to join them instead. The Kurds, as well as other groups, often referred to as opposition groups by the Bush administration, are meeting in New York in the next few weeks to discuss the Iraqi issue. And, I might...

Why drug tests flunk If the Supreme Court rules in favor of drug testing in public schools, will students come clean? Kids at schools in Indiana, where drug tests rule, say no way. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Janelle Brown April 22, 2002 | RUSHVILLE, Ind. -- According to the students at rural Rushville Consolidated High School, there are a dozen ways to pass a drug test. You can march down to the local video store and buy a packet of "Karma" urine-cleansing powder. You can toss salt in your urine sample...

<p>Ten months after 9/11, too many officials remain reluctant to address head-on the question of how much support for terrorism exists within the U.S. Muslim community.</p> <p>Efforts at the worthy goal of reassuring Muslim-Americans that their community isn't being stigmatized have left many government officials suddenly sharing a platform with known supporters of Islamic terrorism.</p>

It sounds like a great concept for a new toy: a laser-powered paper airplane. But scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have bigger ideas in mind, like tiny, unpiloted airplanes powered by laser beams from the ground that can endlessly observe volcanoes or monitor climate. In the longer term, they say, laser beams from satellites or high-altitude balloons may perhaps propel planes at several times the speed of sound at high altitudes where the air is too thin for jet engines to operate. In the meantime, they have a laser-powered paper airplane. In the June 10 issue of Applied...

<p>July 2, 2002 -- IF tomorrow's leaders are learning their ethics at American colleges and universities today, then we have many more Enrons and WorldComs in our future.</p> <p>But the details undermine any grounds for optimism.</p> <p>Specifically, 73 percent respond that the view of ethics most often transmitted was the politically correct "what is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity," compared to a mere 25 percent who indicate "the copybook choice" that "there are clear and uniform standards of right and wrong by which everyone should be judged."</p>