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<p>By John R. Lott Jr.</p> <p>Despite Saddam Hussein's capture this weekend, many are still pessimistic about controlling the levels of violence in Iraq.</p> <p>Yet, this pessimism largely depends on the numbers one relies on. Take what has become a surprisingly controversial number: Baghdad's murder rate (search). Some assert that in October Baghdad had one of the highest murder rates in the world, while others point to numbers that it was below even the U.S.'s own murder rate. The political overtones are obvious, not just in terms of the Bush administration's successes but as people try to explain why the numbers are as high or as low as they are.</p>

Day By DayEmail your views to Ahmed Jarallah ( Editior - in - Chief) email: ahmedjarallah@hotmail.com or jarallah@arabtimesonline.com Dumb Will Remain Dumb 'Death to the King... Long live the King'... These are some of the common slogans people shout during the reign of a ruler. If Saddam Hussein had been aware of this fact, he should have known the people were also aware of it. He should have also known that people don't stand by their leaders when they lose their power and authority. This was evidenced when people came out on the streets of Baghdad Sunday (as shown...

Volume 2, Issue 6 November-December 2003 Iraqi Weapons: Five Unanswered QuestionsBy Shabnam FarukiDespite the fact that no cache of mass destruction weapons has been found in Iraq, a number of crucial questions about Iraq's past weapon efforts - raised by nearly a decade of U.N. inspections - remain unanswered. Today, much of the world has concluded that Iraq's erstwhile arsenal of illegal weaponry was not an imminent threat to regional or international security. But as late as May 2003, U.N. inspectors catalogued an array of chemical and biological agents, munitions and missilry that they believed might still be in...

Iraqi Academy of Science forms Leading scientists want to direct research toward the benefit of the Iraqi people | By Stephen Pincock    LONDON—Iraqi scientists are meeting here over the next two days (November 27-28) to begin the process of setting up an independent Academy of Science.The 12 leading researchers, nine of whom still work in Iraq, are holding their inaugural meeting at Britain's Royal Society because of the current security situation in Baghdad. Their goal is to establish a free voice for Iraqi science after decades of abuse under Saddam Hussein."The Iraqi Academy of Science will be an...

The Truth About Veterans, Bush and DemocratsAntonio Williams Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003 America is a promise, a promise that hard work and sacrifice will be rewarded in the end. No one should hold this promise higher than our government, and no one deserves more than those who've donned the uniform of the United States military. While we went to work and slept peaceably in our beds, they freed Europe, conquered communism, and brought justice to the unjust. Through two World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, and today in the war in terror, our military fought for liberty and...

Sens. Daschle and Sarbanes Silent on Misuse of Patriot ActWes Vernon, NewsMax.comTuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 WASHINGTON – While taking potshots at the Bush administration over the USA Patriot Act, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., apparently wants to retain the ability to jump either way on the issue, depending on whether there is another terrorist attack on U.S. soil or a backlash over civil liberties develops among the voters. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, in pursuit of votes regardless of safety implications, continue to pound away at the commander-in-chief on life-and-death issues in wartime. Republican National Committee is fighting...

NHGRI awards $163 million Five research centers will do large-scale genome sequencing | By Maria W Anderson    The National Human Genomic Research Institute (NHGRI) recently awarded grants totaling $163 million in fiscal year 2004 to five US research centers for large-scale genome sequencing projects. Over the next 3 years, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, The Institute for Genome Research (TIGR), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new Broad Institute, and Agencourt Biosciences will sequence the genomes of several target organisms totaling 54 billion base pairs.Jane Peterson, head of the extramural research division and...

Genomes from scratch Synthetic infective bacteriophage generated from a random pool of DNA oligonucleotides | By Cathy Holding    The ability to generate synthetic DNA sequences has many potential applications not open when using conventional cloning techniques, such as investigations into archaeological, extinct, or otherwise unavailable genes and genomes. In addition, the synthetic generation of entire genomes could facilitate novel methods of energy production, has pharmaceutical and industrial applications, and ultimately paves the way to understanding the basics of life itself. The synthesis of large segments of DNA has until recently been difficult, costly, and time consuming, but in...

Armored snail Hydrothermal vent gastropod has a foot covered in mineralized iron sulfide scales | By Andrea Rinaldi    Given that hydrothermal vents—geysers on the deep ocean floor emitting mineral compounds that support a thriving ecosystem—were only discovered in 1977, it is perhaps unsurprising that novel organisms showing unique environmental adaptations are regularly reported from expeditions to these areas. In the November 7 Science, Anders Warén and colleagues at the Swedish Museum of Natural History report a gastropod mollusk from black-smoker chimneys in the Indian Ocean with its soft foot covered by a chain mail of imbricating scale-shaped iron...

<p>Now it's official. Democratic presidential candidates will square in a nationally televised debate in Greenville on Jan. 29, five days before South Carolina's crucial primary election, Joe Erwin, state Democratic Party chairman said Wednesday.</p> <p>Greenville was selected over Charleston and Rock Hill, plus the other five states holding Feb. 3 primaries.</p>

WASHINGTON – Ending a boycott, Democrats on the Senate Environment Committee joined Republicans in voting overwhelmingly to send Mike Leavitt's nomination as head of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Senate floor for a vote. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 16-2 today to advance the Utah governor's nomination. Democrat Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut voted no, and Democrats continued to voice strong concerns about the Bush administration's environmental policies. "We're not even treading water, we're going backwards," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. .... Inhofe and the nine other Republican members on...

TAMPA, Fla. – A child molester was beaten unconscious by one of his past victims while they shared a jail holding cell, authorities said. The former victim, a 22-year-old man being held on a probation violation, recognized Kevin Kinder as the man who abused him and three other boys when he was 11. He jumped on Kinder, punched him repeatedly and knocked him unconscious Thursday, said the man's lawyer, Ricky Escobar. "It's such a fluke that these two ended up in the same place at the same time," said the former victim's mother, Judy Coronett. "But think about how [my...

<p>Like molasses oozing out of a Mason jar, Southern culture is slowly slipping away. The proportion of people living in the 13 Southern states who identified themselves as Southerners fell from 78 to 70 percent between 1991 and 2001 — and it wasn't just because of so many Yankees moving in.</p>

Report: Pope Unable to Finish Speech in Slovakia Fox banner headline, nothing further

Driven From the Garden of Narcissus Gerald L. Rowles, Ph.D. America is "a very different country than we were 200 years ago,'' intoned the newly elected Senator Hillary. And indeed she is right, but arguably not, in the way she intended. America is different in at least three intertwined ways from the time of its birth more than two hundred years ago. First, we are a country of celebrity. The motion picture and television industries have created the mega-star; one who is seen on the larger than life screens of theatres, or seen ubiquitously in every home with a television...

I've been writing to Lindsey Graham on various topics for several months now. I always receive a response, not a form letter either. But today I got a piece of mail from him that really impressed me and I felt worth posting. The background: Some time back I read a thread here, and didn't realize the original post was a couple of years old. Well, I felt kinda dumb, because I had written to Senator Graham about it. It was the issue of the island up by Alaska and the Russians and all that. Senator Graham wrote back: Dear xxx,...

<p>MONTPELIER -- When babies are born here, hospitals usually notify members of the expectant family, share the good news with any inquiring friends -- and contact a specially designated coordinator for the state of Vermont.</p> <p>Once the newborn goes home, a state worker or volunteer approaches the parents. With permission, the visitor arrives bearing the good wishes of the community, along with story books, immunization cards, ointment, first-aid manuals, and antipoison medicine. If the parents seem to be struggling, the visitor puts them in touch with a state service center. If the situation in the home is dangerous, officials say, the visitor can alert authorities, though they insist that is not the purpose of the program.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fourteen Ohio teen-agers trying to get a free "high" off plants out of their gardens ended up in the emergency room, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The youngsters evidently thought they could get stoned by eating the seeds of a local plant called the moonflower but did not realize they were toxic, the CDC said. "Plants with large fragrant flowers that bloom at dusk are referred to as moonflowers," the CDC said Thursday in its weekly report on death and illness. There are several species, some of which are toxic, including Datura stramonium,...

Man Suspected of Killing Woman Over a Beer Fri August 22, 2003 09:11 AM ET ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - A New Mexico man was charged with beating a woman to death with a lead pipe because he did not want to share his Budweiser beer with her, according to court documents. Charles Lee Vennevy, 26, was charged with killing 41-year-old Yvonne Garcia and beating her male companion last Monday night before leaving them for dead in downtown Albuquerque. Vennevy is in custody and bail was set on Wednesday at $1 million cash, according to a criminal complaint obtained on Thursday....

Cowgirl, 101, saddled up right to the end By Jon Herskovitz in Dallas August 22, 2003 Connie Reeves, a Texas cowgirl whose motto was "Always saddle your own horse" and who taught more than 30,000 girls to ride, has died aged 101 after being thrown from her favourite mount, officials at her ranch said. Reeves died of cardiac arrest on Sunday at a San Antonio hospital 12 days after being thrown from her horse, Dr Pepper, according to Waldemar Camp for Girls, a ranch about 110 kilometres north-west of San Antonio where Reeves taught riding. "Texas lost one of its...