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DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama cast himself Saturday as the leader the United States needs for it to stand up to and engage renegade nations such as North Korea. 'We need a president who'll have the strength and courage to go toe to toe with the leaders of rogue nations, because that's what it takes to protect our security," the Illinois senator told Democrats at a rally. "That's what I'll do as your next commander in chief." Obama and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton have had a running argument since clashing in last week's debate over how far the...

WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic congressional leaders both forecast a change in President Bush's Iraq war policy as the president prepared to sign legislation Friday providing funds for military operations through Sept. 30. "I think the president's policy is going to begin to unravel now," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), who described the just-passed measure as a disappointment because it did not force an end to U.S. participation in the conflict. At a separate news conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) predicted a change, and said Bush would show the way. "I...

With great fanfare, in March, Al Gore took Capitol Hill like a conquering hero as he testified on Global Warming before both houses of Congress. Fresh from conquests at the Academy Awards where his adoring Hollywood elites showered him with coveted golden statues for spreading their favorite propaganda, Gore was determined to turn his personal conquest into draconian federal law and ultimate human misery. Gore's words to Congress were predictable. The earth is warming. The polar ice caps are melting. Polar bears are on the run. And it's man's fault. Solution? Ban or control human activities. The mantra of the...

The petrodollar pipeline that recycles billions from oil producers back to the U.S. economy has turned crude-laden nations from Norway to Iran into the world’s biggest sources of global savings. These nations are also key sources of foreign demand for U.S. assets. Now new research predicts a trend that could affect the U.S. economy nearly as much as swings on crude exchanges: Oil producers might be looking to diversify how they spend and invest their cash. Such changes are worth watching — mainly because the flood of money generated for oil exporters by sustained high crude prices has become a...

OSLO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore predicted on Tuesday that President George W. Bush would shift to do more to fight global warming, under Republican pressure from California to New York. "I think there is a better than 50-50 chance that President Bush will change his policy in the next two years," Gore told an audience in Oslo after showing his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" about global warming during a tour of Europe. "Many of his strongest supporters are changing their positions and are becoming vocal in asking him to change," Gore told about 300 people including...

As the Senate prepares to consider anew the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador, Senators Schumer and Clinton are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to renounce another Democratic filibuster in light of the escalating war in the Middle East. The Foreign Relations Committee is set to hold a hearing on the nomination tomorrow, and several Democrats on the panel have voiced their unswerving opposition to Mr. Bolton's nomination. From New York's senators, however, there has been nothing but silence. Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Clinton voted to block Mr. Bolton's confirmation a year ago, but they have not...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006 – Commanders will shift U.S. forces in Iraq to deal with insurgent threats, but this does not mean more American troops will go into the country, nor that the announced rotation will change. Multinational Force Iraq commander Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. will shift forces already in Iraq to Baghdad, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in an interview with New York Times reporter Michael Gordon. "There is a very serious effort to make sure that it is not just weighted with additional U.S. capability, but also additional Iraqi capability,"...

NEW YORK - An important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean has begun to weaken because of global warming caused by human activity, something that could alter climate and the marine food chain in the region, new research suggests. It's not clear what climate changes might arise in the area or possibly beyond, but the long-term effect might resemble some aspects of an El Nino event, a study author said. El Ninos boost rainfall in the southern United States and western South America and bring dry weather or even drought to Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere in the western Pacific....

Rice signals shift in Iran policy Rice says she wants to support the aspirations of Iranians The US secretary of state is seeking new funds for a policy aimed at putting pressure on Iran's government and promoting internal opposition to it. Condoleezza Rice asked Congress for $75m to increase TV and radio broadcasts and fund dissident groups. Correspondents say the move comes amid US fears that the world community will not countenance tough action over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Critics of the US plan say the funds are not enough to make a difference. Former Clinton administration official Martin Indyk told...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Earth's north magnetic pole is drifting from North America at such a clip that it could end up in Siberia in the next 50 years, scientists said Thursday. Despite accelerated movement over the past century, the possibility that Earth's fading magnetic field will collapse or that the magnetic poles will flip is remote. But the shift could mean that Alaska may no longer be able to see the high-altitude shimmering displays of colorful lights called the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Scientists have long known that magnetic poles migrate and in rare cases, swap places. But exactly

Will Schiff Shift? "To shift, or not to shift: that is the question." -- Schiffspeare Today Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (Republican) said he would be willing to give up some of his allotted Federal monies for pork projects in his state to help fund recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina. Which raises the question whether California Congressman Adam Schiff (Democrat-29th District) would be willing to shift funds as well? Do you think Schiff should shift $500,000 from Children's Hospital cancer research to aid children's real-time medical needs in the Gulf? Should he shift $1 million for Griffith Park Observatory for "educational"...

ABORTION STAND HALTS CLINTON'S SHIFT TO MIDDLE By IAN BISHOP Post Correspondent May 6, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is putting the brakes on her move to the political middle by opposing legislation that would bar helping underage girls cross state lines for an abortion without their parents' consent. Clinton — despite preaching moderation in recent speeches — will toe the Democratic line in the Senate in an effort to block a GOP-backed bill that just passed the House and makes it illegal for anyone to help a girl get a secret out-of-state abortion. "I don't believe...

SACRAMENTO -- A day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed his willingness to postpone the start of new legislative districts, a major backer of his ballot measure blasted the governor Thursday for retreating from his earlier demand for swift change. Los Angeles businessman Bill Mundell said his committee has gathered 900,000 signatures to place the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, and added he is not interested in delaying its implementation past 2006. "We believed the governor when he told us that the timeline was non-negotiable," Mundell said in a prepared statement. "The people want redistricting reform now. The people have...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A major shift in the century-old policy for suppressing the wildfire danger in Southern California's national forests could be coming this summer. Unchecked growth has left the region's woodlands dangerously overgrown and the new plans will be part legacy of 2003's deadly firestorms, part science and part popular opinion. U.S. Forest Service planners have worked three years on the new management guidelines and they are now poring over nearly 11,000 separate concerns contained in more than 3,000 letters and e-mails sent in response to an initial draft released last year. Plans for the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Los...

2 county officials make shift to GOP By Kurt Allen/Assistant Managing Editor When Robyn Flowers and Barbara Hale were trying to find their place in the world of politics, it was almost a given it would be the Democratic Party. Growing up in the South, Democrats ruled the region, and there was little thought given to being Republican. "I think probably, like most people my age, if you were born and raised in Texas, you've been a Democrat because that's what your family did," said Hale, Walker County's court-at-law judge. How the times do change. Now the South, and Texas...

Until the 18th century, there was basically only one kind of Judaism, that which is now called Orthodox. It meant living by the religion's 613 laws, and doing so suffused Jews' lives with their faith. Then, starting with the thinker Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) and moving briskly during the Haskala, or "enlightenment," from the late 18th century, Jews developed a wide variety of alternate interpretations of their religion, most of which diminished the role of faith in their lives and led to a concomitant reduction in Jewish affiliation.These alternatives and other developments, in particular the Holocaust, caused the ranks of the...

Throughout the 1990s, Turkish foreign policy analysts had an easy job. After all, Turkish foreign policy was predictable. Ankara cooperated enthusiastically with Washington, whether in the Middle East or in the Balkans. Turkey aligned itself with Israel and kept at arms length from Middle Eastern neighbors such as Syria and Iran. In Europe, Ankara traded heavily with the European Union (EU) but did not allow the EU to dictate foreign policy. The European Union's frequent allegations and criticism of human rights abuses in Turkey, especially with regard to Turkey's fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan) terrorists, soured...

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Life After Daschle Will a 55-seat majority be enough to end Senate obstructionism? BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL Friday, November 5, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST The pressure builds on those red-state Senators up for election in 2006. Is New Mexico's Jeff Bingaman going to vote down a Miguel Estrada nomination, with a state home to the largest proportion of Hispanics in the country? Look too for Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota to be heeding the Ghost of Daschle's Past. The GOP's best shot for leveraging this fear of home state voters is...

NEW YORK For the second day in a row, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today were the only newspaper sites to shift their electoral-college numbers in E&P's exclusive tracking of seven major newspaper Web sites with electoral-college maps. Sen. John Kerry lost votes on both sites. President Bush's vote count remained steady at USA Today and increased at the L.A. Times. Bush now has an average of 199 votes to Kerry's average 188 across the seven sites. At least 270 electoral votes are needed for election. The Los Angeles Times pushed Michigan's 17 electoral votes from Kerry to the...