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Back in 1980 the US space programme was in the doldrums. Apollo was fading into history and there hadn't been a US astronaut in space for five years. The quirky space shuttle, much diminished from its initial vision, was still waiting to make its maiden flight. But that fall came Cosmos, a revolutionary documentary series with a compelling host. Both the television universe and the real one have never been quite the same. Carl Sagan, by equal measure professorial and childlike, offered space enthusiasts a new paradigm. Buck Rogers was out; refined and groovy cosmic citizen was in. Here was...

CNN) - Former Vice President Joe Biden challenged Republican voters in New York's 23rd congressional district to teach conservative "absolutists" a lesson in the special House election Tuesday by voting for the Democratic candidate in the race "We aren't asking you to switch your party," Biden said at a rally for Democrat Bill Owens in Watertown, New York Monday morning. "We are just saying join us in teaching a lesson to those absolutists who say no dissent is permitted within your own party."

The FTC pulled the plug on the Cutwail botnet by shutting down Internet Service Provider Pricewert LLC when the agency filed a complaint Thursday alleging that it actively and knowingly participated in the distribution of child pornography, spam and malware. Security experts say that the Cutwait botnet was one of the most notorious botnets, accounting for up to 35 percent of global spam levels in May, security experts said. The FTC issued a complaint accusing the San Jose-based Pricewert, also known as 3FN and APS Telecom, of actively recruiting and colluding with criminals that sought to distribute illegal and malicious...

It isn’t so much that Dick and Rummy are back. It’s that they never left. They had no intention of turning America’s national security over to the Boy Wonder. The two best infighters in Washington history weren’t yielding turf to a bunch of peach-fuzz pinkos who side with terrorists. Let W. work out at the S.M.U. gym in Dallas, waiting for history to redeem him; Dick and Rummy are leaning forward into history, as they always do. Cheney is tawny with TV makeup; there’s no point taking it off. The gigs are nonstop, and he has a big Obama-bashing speech...

She first made national headlines when a hangman's noose was found dangling from her Columbia University office door. Now, Madonna Constantine, the controversial former Teachers College professor fired last year for plagiarism, is resurrecting the image with a $200 million lawsuit that charges her former employer with an "academic lynching." The strongly worded, 92-page claim -- which veers into spy-time territory with its allegations of coverups, evidence destruction and conspiratorial "schemes" -- was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday. A spokesman for Teachers College said the case was "totally without merit, and we intend to defend against it vigorously." Constantine's...

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove, in a FOX News interview, called Joe Biden a "liar" over the vice president's claim this week of having privately castigated former President George W. Bush. Rove was the latest former Bush aides to challenging the veracity of Biden's story and an earlier episode in which Biden claims to have similarly rebuked Bush, who said he doesn't remember the incidents. "It didn't happen," Rove, a FOX News contributor, said in an interview scheduled to air on "On the Record" at 10 p.m. EDT. "I hate to say this, but he's a serial exaggerator. If I...

Ward Churchill won his case against the University of Colorado today as a Denver jury unanimously decided he was fired in retaliation for his controversial essay on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The jury gave Churchill $1 for

Breaking on Fox, no further details as of yet.

Former Gov. Bill Owens said in a deposition it's a good thing the University of Colorado ignored him when he urged that professor Ward Churchill be fired over a controversial essay. "I'm glad that the university, its counsel, and others who had a chance over a period of years to look at the law and look at the case didn't follow my advice and, in fact, chose to ignore it," Owens said in the deposition, taken one week ago today. Had CU fired Churchill for the essay - as Owens wanted - the school would have violated Churchill's free-speech rights,...

Joe Biden will deliver a high-profile first attack in a sustained anti-McCain offensive in a speech called "Bush 44" Monday in the key battleground state of Michigan. While the lines of attack have long been drawn, Biden will assert — as the title indicates — that a McCain presidency would amount to a third Bush term and will focus, in a detailed, comprehensive and aggressive way, on John McCain's domestic policies and harsh campaign tactics, a campaign aide told Politico. Biden will deliver the speech in St. Clair Shores, Mich., in Macomb County, the area whose voters inspired Democratic pollster...

NEW YORK Barack Obama has been paraphrasing a line from a recent Tom Toles cartoon. In the drawing, The Washington Post/Universal Press Syndicate creator showed John McCain standing with Sarah Palin near the White House. The Republican presidential candidate says: "Watch out, Mr. Bush! With the exception of economic policy and energy policy and social issues and tax policy and foreign policy and Supreme Court appointments and Rove-style politics, we're coming in there to shake things up!" Obama, in a sarastic reference to McCain's supposed desire for change, initially used a version of the Toles-cartoon dialog without crediting the source....

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A professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who was propelled into the national spotlight when a noose was found on her office door last fall has been found to have plagiarized the work of a former colleague and two former students, the college has announced. The college, in statements to the faculty and the news media, said an 18-month investigation into charges against the professor, Madonna G. Constantine, had determined there were “numerous instances in which she used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years.” ... Dr. Constantine, in an e-mail...

'NOOSE' PROF A PLAGIARISTM STOLE STUDENTS' WORK AT COLUMBIA February 21, 2008 -- The black Columbia University professor who last fall found a hangman's noose pinned to her office door plagiarized the work of another faculty member and two students, according to a school investigation released yesterday. The plagiarism probe was already under way last year when a 4-foot twine noose was discovered on the door of psychology and education professor Madonna Constantine's office, officials at the university's Teachers College said.

Excerpt - PORTSMOUTH — Presidential hopeful Delaware Sen. Joe Biden stated unequivocally that he will move to impeach President Bush if he bombs Iran without Congressional approval. Biden spoke in front of a crowd of approximately 100 at a Seacoast Media Group forum Thursday, which focused on the Iraq War and foreign policy. When an audience member expressed fear of another war with Iran, he said he does not typically engage in threats, but had no qualms about issuing a direct warning to the oval office. “The President has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran and if he does, as...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top Democratic Senator Joseph Biden Tuesday told the US war commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, that his military "surge" was failing to translate into political peace in Baghdad. "We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home," the Senate's foreign relations committee chairman said at the start of a second day of hearings with Petraeus in Congress. After a moment of silence on the sixth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, Biden assailed President George W. Bush's strategy launched in February of surging another 28,500 US troops into Iraq. "The one thing virtually...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's war strategy is failing and the top military commander in Iraq is "dead flat wrong" for warning against major changes, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. Ahead of two days of crucial testimony by Bush's leading military and political advisers on Iraq, Sen. Joseph Biden indicated that he and other Democrats would persist in efforts to set target dates for bringing troops home. "The reality is that although there's been some mild security progress, there is in fact no security in Baghdad or Anbar province where I was dealing with the...

If there's one person who should be relieved about the firing of Don Imus, it's CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric. All the airtime and ink devoted to Imus' getting fired from his radio show and its simulcast on MSNBC in the wake of racist comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team has obscured the latest foul in Couric's rocky rookie season. For those of you who missed it: A posting on Couric's blog, ostensibly a nostalgic piece about the use of libraries in the Internet age, not only was ghost-written by Melissa McNamara, a producer on the CBS...

Biden Vows to Narrow Bush's Iraq Mandate Feb 15 1:22 PM US/Eastern By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday he would move to repeal the authority Congress gave President Bush in 2002 to send U.S. troops into Iraq and replace it with a narrower mandate. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the legislation was based on the idea that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was designed to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "The WMDs were not there," Biden said in prepared remarks at the Brookings Institution,...

Senator Biden announces White House bid 26 minutes ago US Senator Joseph Biden has announced he will seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "I am running for president," Biden told NBC television's "Meet the Press programme on Sunday. He said he would file the necessary papers for a White House bid with federal authorities sometime during the month of January. "I am filing for exploratory committee before the month is out," he said. Biden, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one of the most powerful panels in Congress, first said several months ago he was mulling a...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Sen. Joe Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's incoming chairman, wants to get tough with Mexico, calling it an "erstwhile democracy" with a "corrupt system" responsible for illegal immigration and drug problems in the U.S. Biden, D-Del., was in Columbia on Monday in his first postelection trip to this first-in-the-South presidential primary state as he continues to line up support for his presidential bid. During a question-and-answer session before more than 230 Columbia Rotary Club members, Biden was asked about immigration problems. Biden, who favors tightening the U.S.-Mexico border with fences, said immigration is driven by money...

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., bucked a trend by announcing his intention to run for president over the weekend - distinguishing himself from other visiting hopefuls who have dodged the question on their respective visits to Iowa. Biden swept through eastern Iowa on Sept. 23, stumping and raising money for Democratic congressional hopeful Dave Loebsack during a two-day tour of the state. "I'm coming back next year to do something else," Biden said near the end of his speech in Cedar Rapids, referring to next fall's run-up to Iowa's January 2008 caucuses, which signal the official start of the presidential election...

"The administration's most profound strategic mistake was not finishing the job in Afghanistan — which everyone agreed was the central front in the War on Terror — and rushing to war in Iraq, which was not. Today, Afghanistan is on the brink of collapse and Iraq on the verge of chaos. In addition, five years after 9/11, each member of the so-called 'Axis of Evil' is more dangerous; terrorist attacks around the world have nearly quadrupled; the administration's simplistic equation of democracy with elections has helped empower extremist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas; and Katrina and the 9/11 Commission have...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said Monday that Democrats shouldn't shy away from pointing out Republican failures on national security. "If anything is shown by the British uncovering the plot on the airliners, it's simple -- we are not protected," Biden said. Biden, who has said he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, was in Iowa to campaign for Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, who is in a heated re-election campaign in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. Biden said the report of a bipartisan commission named to review the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is an example of...

After more than 30 years in the United States Senate and nearly 20 years after his first try for his party’s Presidential nomination, Joseph Biden has no doubts about making another run for the White House. “I’m in,” the Delaware Democrat said Friday as he began a five-day visit to the first-in-the-nation primary state. “I know I’m supposed to hedge, but I’m in.” Biden dropped out of the 1988 nomination race amid allegations of plagiarism. He then suffered a cerebral aneurysm virtually on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. He recalls being given a 30 percent chance of surviving....

A University of Colorado committee recommended on Tuesday firing a professor who called some of the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," citing repeated research misconduct. The panel's recommendation now goes to university officials for a final decision. Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, denied the allegations. He has vowed to fight his dismissal with a lawsuit...

by Mark Finkelstein May 3, 2006 Imagine you're a US Senator. A citizen has just suggested that the CIA Director and named FBI agents merit the death penalty as much as convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. Do you: A. condemn such an outrageous comment? B. move on to another topic? C. congratulate the citizen for making "an absolutely accurate point"? If you're Joe Biden [D-DE], the answer, incredibly, is 'C'. Here's how it went down. In a 'Hardball' devoted to reactions to today's jury decision giving life in prison to Moussaoui, both Rudy Giuliani and Biden had expressed regret that Moussaoui...

He's accused of acting like a villain from one of his best sellers. James Patterson's ex-lover claims the scribe was a callous cad who stole her ideas, character names and even turns of phrase - then dumped her after saying they'd marry.... "He's a thief," [she] Sharp said. "He copies the material he's reading, taking the best parts. But no one wants to see him exposed. He makes too much money for too many people." Sharp says that shortly after they started dating, Patterson asked for her help in fleshing out the character Christine Johnson, the love interest for Alex...

Red America, my new blog at washingtonpost.com, has been under attack since its launch. It is a conservative blog on a mainstream media site, so many of the attacks were expected. If one bothers to read it, I believe it stands as a welcome addition to the opinion debate. The hate mail that I have received since the launch of this blog has been overwhelmingly profane and violent. My family has been threatened; my friends have been deluged; my phone has been prank called. The most recent email that showed up while writing this post talked about how the author...

NEW YORK A two-day effort by liberal bloggers to find, and publicize, numerous examples of plagiarism committed by new Washington Post blogger Ben Domenech culminated today in calls that he give up his new position--from some of his conservative supporters. One of them, most dramatically, is columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin. As an editor at Regnery, Domenech handled her most recent book. Conservatives had hailed Domenech's appointment to write the Red America blog. "I cheered for Ben, the editor of my last book at Regnery, when he announced his new position," Malkin wrote on her Web site today. "I criticized...

Biden: Domestic Spying Not Impeachable Offense Senator Biden says the President's wire tapping program is neither legal, nor necessary, but he says it's not an impeachable offense. By Annie Nefosky Monday, December 19, 2005 Senator Biden says for the President to order the monitoring of U.S. citizen's phone calls with suspected terrorists is not legal or necessary, but he says it's not an impeachable offense. But Biden says he wants to find out how extensive the monitoring is. "We want to find out, what has he done? All he said is generically he's done this." On the war in Iraq,...

The ranking Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden of Delaware, told NBC "Meet the Press” host Tim Russert, Sunday, that "unless we fundamentally change the rotation dates and fundamentally change how many members of the National Guard we’re calling up, it’ll be virtually impossible to maintain 150,000 folks this year.” But the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner of Virginia, disagreed, saying that in conference with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, that top military leader opined: "That’s inaccurate, that assumption. We can do it. And we will do...

Just want to bring to you attention some names you used after 9/11 on the radio. You talked of John Vigiano a father of two that lost his sons John a fire fighter and Joe a police officer. My question to you is "What happened to you?" Do you even realize that most of these 9/11 family members that you felt proud to broadcast and associate yourself with are still strong supporters of our President and his leadership (including Iraq?) I would know because I met many of them as friends of my family. Problem with this war is many...

A leading Democratic senator has unveiled a plan to gradually withdraw US troops from Iraq, just days after another respected member of Congress caused a stir by calling for an immediate pullout of US forces. Senator Joseph Biden has said that he would like to see 50,000 US troops pulled out from Iraq in 2006, with additional troops to be withdrawn the following year. The timing of a US troop pull-out from Iraq, Biden said, is "the question on the minds of most Americans." "Here is my conviction: in 2006, American troops will begin to leave Iraq in large numbers....

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Bush administration needs to "level with the American people" about the war in Iraq if it wants to stem eroding support for the conflict, and to step back from the unrealistic goal of establishing a liberal democracy there, Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden said on Sunday. "Persuading the people to let you win -- that's exactly what they've lost," Biden said on Fox News Sunday, referring to a quote from British World War Two Prime Minister Winston Churchill by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier in the show. "They have persuaded the American people we can't...

Senator Biden's Curve Ball - Different Standards 12 Years Later - Tuesday September 13, 6:06 pm ET WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Progress for America Inc. (PFA) president Brian McCabe today delivered the following statement on Joe Biden's Senate Judiciary Committee doublespeak: "In 1993, Senator Biden counseled Ruth Bader Ginsburg not to prejudge cases and she complied, refusing to answer approximately 55 questions, including questions about public education, labor laws, abortion, and many other topics. Twelve years later, he insists that Ginsburg answered questions that she clearly did not and badgers Judge Roberts for following her lead. Just because Senator...

I was wrong about Roberts Posted: September 13, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern Joseph Farah © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com John Roberts still has most conservatives buffaloed. They just can't believe George W. Bush would betray them so boldly. But he has. Even I, the ultimate skeptic, am just beginning to fathom the extent of the shell game that has been played on conservatives – most of whom are actively working on behalf of the confirmation of a new chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who will make Ruth Bader Ginsberg look like a moderate. That's right. Up until now, I've been...

NEW YORK - Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), the Delaware Democrat who has already expressed interest in running for president in 2008, has taken another step that signals a White House candidacy: He's writing a book. "Biden, in writing his first book, will tell the story of his remarkable 30-year career in the United States Senate — from journeyman days as a 29-year old Senator too young to be sworn in, to his rise to become one of the most powerful Democrats," publisher Random House said Thursday in a statement. Biden's planned book follows in the tradition of...

Who wrote the Bible? The Bible is an Extraordinary Book: A book which claims infallibility; which aspires to absolute authority over mind and body; which demands unconditional surrender to all its pretensions upon penalty of eternal damnation, is an extraordinary book and should, therefore, be subjected to extraordinary tests. .. The Truth is that the Bible is: A Collection of Writings of Unknown Date and Authorship Rendered into English From Supposed Copies of Supposed Originals Unfortunately Lost. … “And if you understand, then you will recognize the truth. And he who understands will keep silent.” What do we see as...

Democratic Party historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said Friday morning she was disappointed that ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter haven't been invited to speak at Ronald Reagan's funeral. "It would have been a good thing to have them speak, especially for Carter," she told radio host Don Imus. "I feel bad for him. It's been a bad week when you think about how many people have said, 'After the horrible Carter years, here came Reagan.'" "Carter has so thoroughly reestablished himself in his post-presidency," she added, that "having him have a chance to speak would have been nice, yes." Asked...

Did anyone else hear Senator Biden on with Imus this morning? He claims that while visiting with President Reagan, while nobody else was around in the oval office after Robert Bork had been, well, Bork'd - that Reagan said, "Congratulations". Then Senator Biden replied something like, "well it's not anything we want to be congratulated on, we just didn't feel he was the right man for the job" (or something along those lines), to which the President supposidly replied, "that's ok, no great loss". Is it just me or does that sound like someone making up a story after the...

CHICAGO (AP) - The daughter of Sen. Joseph Biden ( news, bio, voting record), D-Del., was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer early Saturday, police said. Ashley Blazer Biden, 21, of Wilmington, Del., was with a group of people on a North Side street where several bars are located when someone else threw a bottle at a police officer, police said. When officers went to arrest another person, Biden blocked the officer's path and made intimidating statements, Officer JoAnn Taylor said. Biden was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. She was released from custody...