] President George W. Bush will propose a nearly $470
] million boost in NASA's budget for fiscal 2004, an
] administration official said on Sunday, promising
] investigators would look into whether past cutbacks
] played any part in the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

Someone shouldn't have had to die in order to make this happen.

Forbes.com: Bush to propose budget increase for NASA

This URL should be good for following the article flow related to the Columbia Shuttle Disaster for the next few hours.

Google Search Cluster of Shuttle Columbia Disaster Artices

] The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf
] War says he hasn't seen enough evidence to convince him
] that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul
] Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. He
] thinks U.N. inspections are still the proper course to
] follow. He's worried about the cockiness of the U.S. war
] plan, and even more by the potential human and financial
] costs of occupying Iraq.
]
] And don't get him started on Defense Secretary Donald
] Rumsfeld.
]
] In fact, the hero of the last Gulf War sounds
] surprisingly like the man on the street when he discusses
] his ambivalence about the Bush administration's hawkish
] stance on ousting Saddam Hussein. He worries about the
] Iraqi leader, but would like to see some persuasive
] evidence of Iraq's alleged weapons programs.
]
] "The thought of Saddam Hussein with a sophisticated
] nuclear capability is a frightening thought, okay?" he
] says. "Now, having said that, I don't know what
] intelligence the U.S. government has. And before I can
] just stand up and say, 'Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we
] need to invade Iraq,' I guess I would like to have better
] information."
]
] He hasn't seen that yet, and so -- in sharp contrast to
] the Bush administration -- he supports letting the U.N.
] weapons inspectors drive the timetable: "I think it is
] very important for us to wait and see what the inspectors
] come up with, and hopefully they come up with something
] conclusive."

Desert Caution (washingtonpost.com)

] Iraq will chair the United Nations' most important
] disarmament negotiating forum during the panel's May
] session.
] At the rules-minded United Nations, it's not a country's
] status with international weapons inspectors, but the
] letters in its name that determine which member state
] chairs the Conference on Disarmament.
] "The irony is overwhelming," a U.S. diplomat said.

Iraq to chair U.N. disarmament conference

] Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Iraq has
] links with the al-Qaida terrorist network but that the
] extent of their cooperation is unknown.
]
] Blair's comment came a day after President Bush said in
] his State of the Union speech that there was evidence
] that Saddam Hussein ``aids and protects terrorists,
] including members of al-Qaida.'' Bush offered no new
] evidence, but said Secretary of State Colin Powell would
] present the U.S. case to the United Nations next week.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Blair Says Iraq Has Links to al-Qaida

Has hundreds of links to news and information about over 20 different Middle Eastern countries. You can tab to a list of links about a specific country that you're interested in, read news headlines, and toggle between pages in English or Arabic.

albawaba.com: middle east news information

] Many questions remain about Iraq's nuclear, chemical and
] biological weapons programs and arsenal — and it is Iraq's
] obligation to provide answers. It is failing in spectacular
] fashion. By both its actions and its inactions, Iraq is
] proving not that it is a nation bent on disarmament, but that
] it is a nation with something to hide. Iraq is still treating
] inspections as a game. It should know that time is running out.

Condoleezza Rice NYTime OpEd peice.

Why We Know Iraq Is Lying

] Rosen, 44, seems to have planted herself squarely in the
] path of inevitable technological change. In fact, she's
] far from naive: She knows downloadable music is the
] format of the future.

An interview with Hillary Rosen

Wired 11.02: Hating Hilary

] The Gulf inhabitants have welcomed this giving Gulf News
] an average daily circulation of 91,000. The Gulf News has
] a commitment to follow the issues which interest its
] readers. This has helped shape the newspaper into one
] which is closely involved with what the people resident
] in the region want to read about, reflecting their
] concerns and interests.

Gulf area local newspaper out of the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf News Online

Anti-war protests in SF, about 6 blocks away from my old flat.

Helicopter Pictures of SF Demo : SF Indymedia