you should really get rid of all that internal style stuff and use an external style sheet like i have shown in my tutorial
Unfortunately, using an external style sheet in these examples makes it more difficult for the user to follow. Having the style rules "right there" allows for quicker reference between the rules and the elements they affect.

but i will try out your code (it better be valid css )
The HTML of my original code actually validates perfectly using the W3C's HTML Validator.

EDIT: that new code is better but it still looks awfull here is my css code for you to trouble shoot
Start by replacing your CSS with:

Code:
body * { *
 * * * * * *position: relative;
 * * * * * *background-color: #003366;
 * * * * * *color: #00E000;
 * * * *}
A:link {
 * * * * * *color: #FF9900;
 * * * * * *text-decoration: none;
 * * * * * *}
A:visited {
 * * * * * *color: #B6B6B6;
 * * * * * *text-decoration: none;
 * * * * * *}
A:active {
 * * * * * *color: #B6B6B6;
 * * * * * *text-decoration: none;
 * * * * * *}
A:hover {
 * * * * * *color: #979797;
 * * * * * *text-decoration: none;
 * * * * * *} 

#content {
 * * * * * *position: absolute;
 * * * * * *width: 57%;
 * * * * * *height: 400px;
 * * * * * *left: 21%;
 * * * * * *top: 130px;
 * * * * * *padding: 3px;
 * * * * * *font: 11px/16px verdana, arial, sans-serif;
 * * * * * *text-align: justify;
 * * * * * *border: 2px solid #E07000;
 * * * * * *}

#leftcol {
 * * * * * *position: absolute;
 * * * * * *width: 18%;
 * * * * * *height: 400px;
 * * * * * *left: 0%;
 * * * * * *top: 130px;
 * * * * * *padding: 3px;
 * * * * * *font: 11px/16px verdana, arial, sans-serif;
 * * * * * *border: 2px solid #E07000;
 * * * * * *}

#rightcol {
 * * * * * *position: absolute;
 * * * * * *width: 18%;
 * * * * * *height: 400px;
 * * * * * *right: 0%;
 * * * * * *top: 130px;
 * * * * * *padding: 3px;
 * * * * * *font: 11px/16px verdana, arial, sans-serif;
 * * * * * *border: 2px solid #E07000;
 * * * * * *}
#header { 
 * * * * * *position: absolute;
 * * * * * *left: 0px;
 * * * * * *top: 0px;
 * * * * * *width: 100%;
 * * * * * *height: 120px;
 * * * * * *text-align: center; 
 * * * * * *}
Then replace your HTML with:

Code:
<div id="header">
<img src="http://www.ultimategaming.info/images/personalbanner.png" alt="personal site banner">
</div>
<div id="leftcol"><?php
 include("personalnav.php");?><br><br><?php include("search.php");?><br><br><?php include("meta.php");?></div>
<div id="content"><?php $number="5"; include("personal/show_news.php");?></div>
<div id="rightcol"><?php include("blogaffiliates.php");?></div>
Then, to ensure that you're forcing modern browsers to use "standards-compatible" mode, replace your Doctype declaration with this:
Code:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
Note that, in particular, I have changed the columns to ID'd layers, not simply div.classes. This is the preferred implementation in this case, since you will only have one set of columns like this, and will also give you more flexibility if you ever script any of this. Also note that I have specified a minimum height of 350 pixels for your columns, which should look good over a broad range of window sizes. If you don't want to specify a minimum height, just pull the "height" rules out of the rightcol, content, and leftcol CSS definitions.

When you're done, it should look like this, which I believe is the effect you were going after:
New General CSS Site

Just let me know if you need any more help.

dmeister