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LITITZ, Pa. - President Bush (news - web sites) summoned support from Democrats whose "dreams and goals are not found in the far left wing" of their own party on Wednesday in a late-campaign appeal for crossover votes. Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) said that when it comes to Iraq (news - web sites), the man in the White House "doesn't get it, and he can't fix it." Bush has made a habit of "dodging and bobbing and weaving" when it comes to tons of missing explosives outside Baghdad, added the four-term Massachusetts senator, and Vice President Dick...

Osama: The Making of a Terrorist" by a former Washington Post correspondent, Jonathan Randal, is less a biography of Al Qaeda's mastermind Osama bin Laden than a history of the contemporary jihadi movement, from its emergence in the mountains of Afghanistan during the 1980's war against the Soviet Union, through the planning of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, to its current metastasis in the wake of the Iraq war. Though much of the material in "Osama" is familiar from earlier books and newspaper and magazine articles, the volume does a nimble and often highly compelling job of leading the...

The making of the next Al Gore By Mickey Edwards May 15, 2004 AFTER AL GORE lost the last presidential election, frustrated Democrats publicly blamed his defeat on everybody but Al Gore. They blamed Katherine Harris and Ralph Nader. They blamed Bill Clinton and the Supreme Court. Privately, however, they blamed Gore himself. The country was at peace, the economy strong. Bill Clinton had moved the Democratic Party away from its leftist inclinations and back to the political center. How, they wondered, could Al Gore have blown it? Forget Florida; the bigger question was, why was it even close?It is...

Libyans to reveal just how close they were to making a nuclear bomb By Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Francis Elliott 21 December 2003 A Libyan team last night began talks in Vienna, headquarters of the UN's atomic energy agency, to reveal just how close the North African nation and its maverick leader, Muammar Gaddafi, came to possessing nuclear weapons. The move follows Friday's startling announcement - on the eve of today's 15th anniversary of Lockerbie - that Libya will dismantle its programmes to create weapons of mass destruction after months of secret negotiations with Britain and the US. Colonel...

Contact: Mary Tobin mtobin@ldeo.columbia.edu 845-365-8607 The Earth Institute at Columbia University Climate linked to the quality of musical instrument making Little ice age and maunder minimum enabled stradivari violins Image credit: Mark Inglis There has been considerable debate surrounding the reasons why instruments crafted in the late 17th and early 18th centuries are tonally superior to modern instruments. Theories range from the skill of the craftsman to secret techniques such as a special varnish, the drying of the wood, the storage time, or even the use of old wood from historic structures. Lloyd Burckle of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia...

Looking for Signposts on the Roadmap to Peace By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 10, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Hamas supporters are upset because Israelis are defending themselves. The Associated Press (AP) reported today that: Clamoring for revenge, thousands of Hamas supporters Saturday buried two militants killed in an Israeli raid, and a senior Palestinian official urged the United States to intervene to prevent the unraveling of a six-week-old truce. The militants and an Israeli soldier were killed Friday when troops raided a bomb lab in a West Bank refugee camp, sparking a gunbattle. A Palestinian stone-thrower also was killed by troops....

Making Germany sexy By Clare Murphy BBC News Online Germany is starting a series of campaigns to improve the country's image abroad, seeking to replace the dogged stereotypes of Nazis and sunbed stealing tourists with a more relaxed, hip and even erotic portrayal of its people and language. Adding insult to the injury caused by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who last week compared a German politician with a Nazi, a junior Italian minister this week described Germans as "uniform supernationalistic blonds" who "loudly invade" Italy's beaches each summer. The remarks by both Mr Berlusconi and his employee, Stefano Stefani,...

<p>In a state known as fertile ground for the surreal, it seems only fitting that California's next governor could be a former bodybuilder, ``Dating Game'' contestant and Hollywood actor who wore a leather loincloth in his breakthrough role.</p> <p>But if all the stars line up, the Terminator is ready to storm California's sedate capital and transform it into an unparalleled political spectacle befitting a state that brought the world Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, Burning Man and the American Taliban.</p>

Making Waves Over Noah’s FloodSome research backs the biblical story and some finds no evidence of the catastrophe By Robert Cooke STAFF WRITER January 14, 2003 Scientists are seriously challenging a recent, fascinating proposal that Noah's epic story - setting sail with an ark jam-full of animal couples - was based on an actual catastrophic flood that suddenly filled the Black Sea 7,500 years ago, forcing people to flee. In a detailed new look at the rocks, sediments, currents and seashells in and around the Black Sea, an international research team pooh-poohs the Noah flood idea, arguing that all the...