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WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas. The virus crippled the department's Consular Lookout and Support System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 12.8 million records from the FBI, State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists.In an internal message sent late Tuesday to embassies and consular offices worldwide, officials cautioned that "CLASS is down due to a virus...

Computer Virus Cripples State Department's Visa-Checking System for About Nine Hours The Associated Press WASHINGTON Sept. 24 — A computer virus disrupted systems at the State Department for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas for roughly nine hours. The virus crippled the department's Consular Lookout and Support System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 15 million records from the FBI, the State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists. In an internal message sent late Tuesday...

WASHINGTON - The State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide for several hours late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government briefly unable to issue visas. The virus crippled the department's Consular Lookout and Support System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 12.8 million records from the FBI (news - web sites), the State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists. In an internal message sent late Tuesday to embassies and consular offices worldwide, officials...

<p>The State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas.</p> <p>The virus crippled the department's Consular Lookout and Support System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 12.8 million records from the FBI, State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists.</p>

A Staten Island teacher who pleaded guilty to felony drug possession can return to the classroom if he completes a drug treatment program, an arbitrator has ruled. Michael Campbell, a dean and eighth-grade teacher at Intermediate School 72, can keep his job even though he was arrested in April 2002 for cocaine and marijuana possession, according to a decision made public yesterday. A spokesman for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the system would fight to keep Campbell out of the classroom. "This is another example of arbitrators blocking the department's efforts to remove people who are not fit to be...

<p>Someone once pointed out there are at least 50 colleges that claim to be among the top 25 colleges in the country. There is a similar congestion among the 400 "richest" Americans, as shown in data recently released by the Internal Revenue Service.</p>

<p>IN THE MONTHS LEADING up to the military action in Iraq, calls for a return to compulsory military service took on a new urgency. In January, Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) proposed legislation to renew the draft, noting that few of his colleagues have children serving in the military, and that his fellow African-Americans are overrepresented in the all-volunteer forces. Congressman Rangel, along with the sociologist Charles Moskos and the columnist Mark Shields, argued that a draft would get the children of America's elite into uniform and help create a broader sense of national solidarity. Other commentators have called for making the now-voluntary AmeriCorps national-service program the basis for a new draft.</p>

The political analysts were heavy at it, telling us that President Bush's jet landing on an aircraft carrier - and his bounding about in a flight suit after it came down - were undertaken to provide TV footage for the 2004 campaign. And no sooner were they done with making the event seem artificial and phony than we had another group of analysts (sometimes the same ones) parading their chief assessment of how things are going to go for the United States from here on: gloomily. This second group concedes the war is over and say they knew it would...

<p>Last fall, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial entitled "The Non-Taxpaying Class." The editorial, which dubbed those too poor to pay taxes "lucky duckies," won the Journal widespread ridicule from big-hearted egalitarians throughout the world of media and punditry.</p>

Source: University Of Arizona Date: 2003-02-14 Undergrads Discover New Class Of Star; "They Pulsate Like Jell-O"University of Arizona astronomy undergraduates have serendipitously discovered a new class of star that thrills astronomers who specialize in a relatively new field called "astroseismology." Astronomers worldwide will collaborate in continuous observations of one of these newly found stars for several weeks in May 2003. "Astronomers are always looking for new and better ways to study stars," said Elizabeth Green, assistant staff astronomer at Steward Observatory, who with her students discovered the new class of stars. They have found sub-dwarf B stars that pulsate...

This is my sixth entry into my left wing college entries. I've got a bunch of stuff this time. On Tuesday he handed out a sheet, and proported to say that the Republic'an and the Taleb'an wanted the same thing. He believes Republicans and the Taleban want all these things below. He refused to talk about everything on the list. He would only talk about those things on the list in which he had a prepared answer for. Prayer in School An official religion Against women's causes Our religion is the best You can't burn our flag Bomb First; Talk...

<p>Sometimes it's maps -- not actions -- that speak louder than words.</p> <p>Many commentators have portrayed the 2002 election as a victory of Republicans over DFLers. Last week in these pages editorialists attributed the 2002 election results as causing a purported "fractured state split along regional, economic, philosophical and partisan lines," and worse, after the election, our state's "celebrated political consensus has vanished from Minnesota and with it has gone much of the civility in public life."</p>

Not long ago Judge Richard Posner published a list of the top public intellectuals. Professor Wolfe was 98th of 100. The title of this book also includes, "What Middle-Class Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Racism, Welfare, Immigration, Homosexuality, Work, The Right, The Left and Each Other. The author's reputation as a "public intellectual" plus an all-encompassing title augurs for extraordinary expectations from this book. The author's professional experience certainly meets expectations. Alan Wolfe is a professor of political science and Director for the Boisi Center For Religion and American Life at Boston College. He is the author and...

Originally published in 2000 this book received favorable reviews from the liberal left, but little recognition from anyone else. This is unfortunate since Professor Zweig, an economist at SUNY, has attempted to re-define social class not by consumption pattern, income or lifestyle but by power at work and in society. According to Professor Zweig the Capitalistic Class owns most of America and makes most of the important policy decisions: the capitalistic class is about 2 percent of the adult population. The Middle Class own small businesses, serve as middle managers in large corporations, populate the professions and are represented in...

Published in 2000 this book has an afterword about the 2000 election. The authors are clearly partisan Democrats; however, the contents and the conclusions are of great interest to anyone who has thought out political views. The author's focus is on the "white working class" which they define as any white person without a college degree. Since over three-fourths of Americans do not have a college degree and three-fourths of the population is still white, the number of potential white working class voters is 55% of those casting votes. Teixeira and Rogers believe this class of voters is the "forgotten...

David Brooks asserts there is a new upper class. He claims this "upper class" is an amalgam of bourgeois and bohemian values. He describes this alleged new class with the neologism "bobo." It seems like the same old bourgeoisie to me, but Mr. Brooks does persuasively describe the many changes that have occurred in the upper-middle class. Not only is Mr. Brooks a master, erudite wordsmith, but he is also entertaining. This is not surprising since he is a conservative public intellectual who is senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor for both Newsweekand the Atlantic Monthly....

The first sentence of this book is, "This book describes the emergence of a new social class." In this the author fails. What he describes is the upper middle-class and the many changes it has both undergone and wrought. This book is well researched, well written and thoroughly referenced. Some of its conclusions are unique and valid and the book is worth the price and the read. Before going further, it is important to understand the author's background. Richard Florida is H. John Heinz Professor of Regional Economic Development at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also is...

Ship to Be Built From Trade Center Steel Sat Dec 28, 2002, 8:29 PM ET By JOEL STASHENKO, Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. - Steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center was headed to a Mississippi shipyard Saturday for use in the USS New York, a warship named in honor of those who perished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It was the Navy's idea to incorporate the steel into the vessel, said Capt. Kevin Wensing, a Navy public affairs officer in Washington. He said the steel was removed Friday from the New York landfill that holds...

P>The cover of the 2000 edition of this book states, "THE BOOK THAT HELPED MAKE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENT." No one will accuse either the author or publisher of being modest. It is hard to imagine a book making a man President, but many do believe this book influenced the election. In any case, President Bush said this book was second to the Bible in his thinking about social policy. Bush strategist, Karl Rove, called the book the roadmap to "compassionate conservatism." When originally published in 1993 the book seemed heretical but now it seems prophetic. Regardless of whether it...

Inequality Serves a Social and Economic Purpose By Christopher J. Coyne[Posted November 13, 2002]In a recent article, Paul Krugman pines for the lost America of the 1950s and 1960s, which he characterizes as a "middle class society".[1]  While inequality existed, Krugman tells us, it was not nearly as bad as the Gilded Age where robber barons ran roughshod over the less fortunate.  It is Krugman's contention that the United States has returned to a Gilded Age as extravagant as the original, characterized by the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.  While pointing out the many social and economic "problems" in the...