Other, more mysterious finds soon followed, including a trip to an abandoned Institute of Oceanography storeroom, where the young explorers found crystals growing from the floor and unidentifiable species of sea creatures preserved in large vats of formaldehyde...

...Another more alarming discovery from the Soviet era was the nearly 350 kilograms of radioactive material that the Diggers found under Moscow State University. "It was stored in special cases, and the cases were overturned and broken, with the material leaking out," Mikhailov recalled...

...During their deepest foray under the earth, an 840-meter trip under southwestern Moscow, the Diggers came across a sink hole through which three underground streams converged, forming, in Mikhailov's words, a subterranean Niagara Falls.

what about the “demonstration effect” of eliminating Hussein on the behavior of other autocratic regimes in the region—for example, Iran. Other “rogue” states look at the difference in U.S. policy toward non-nuclear Iraq and nuclear North Korea. They note that Iraq got invaded, and North Korea will likely get concessions. What would you do if you were the leaders of Iran? Just what they are doing—accelerating their nuclear program (which somehow came as a shock to the administration).

The latest cutback came two weeks ago, after 13 traditional animators submitted five scenes they had done on computer to vie for six “3-D” spots left to cast on Chicken Little. “The real controversy of this,” noted an onlooker, “is that they were pitted against one another and the playing field wasn't fair. Those who just finished the training program called 'Boot Camp' were up against those who finished Boot Camp six months ago and had more time to finesse, complete and present a more finished test.

"Lo, and the beast shall walk among ye. And his ears shall be two; and his paws will be four. He shall smite your existing copyright laws and make a wasteland of the public domain. And he shall take your young and make them his minions. Ye shall call him Mickey the Mouse." Revelation, Chapter 33, Verse 47.

(this is a joke, btw. Disney is not evil. It is a wonderful fairyland of pixies and elves).

The US government, which is spending $4bn a month keeping its troops in Iraq, admitted yesterday that the cost had risen rapidly, and that the price of reconstruction was "almost impossible to exaggerate".

In an interview with the Washington Post, the head of the occupation authority, Paul Bremer, said it would require a huge undertaking and countless billions to rebuild the infrastructure and economy. It is estimated that it will cost $2bn to meet the current demand for electricity, and $16bn to deliver drinking water.

"It's a mess," said one senior congressional aide who asked not to be identified. "Seized assets are down to almost nothing. Oil money is a mirage in the near term."

And, according to a recent report to lawmakers, even the gold-colored bars, which were seized with much fanfare by U.S. forces, appear to be melted-down shell casings made mostly of copper. Disappointed American officials had believed they were bullion worth $600 million or more.

"Down with America!" the demonstrators, almost all young men from a poor Shiite neighborhood, chanted as they marched past the palace now used by the U. S.-led coalition that runs Iraq. "Down with the ruling council!" they added, referring to the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council, which Washington views as a transitional body to a democratic government.

I look at Bush, taunting the camera, daring America's enemies to "bring it on" and I see a sick and disgusting man – the worst face of America sneering in the spotlight. A man who doesn't bother to care about the enormity of his job, the enormity of its consequences, and the enormity of this glorious Republic we've brought forth.

When I look at George W. Bush, I don't see a patriot. I see a lying, psychopathic narcissist. And it pains me, it grieves me, it WOUNDS me to realize that this puts me not only in the minority… but in the "whacko fringe."

"We just do not have enough rifles to equip all of our soldiers. So in certain circumstances we allow soldiers to have an AK-47. They have to demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon ... demonstrate an ability to use it," said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

Now U.S. troops who have picked up AKs on raids or confiscated them at checkpoints are putting the rifles to use — and they like what they see.

Some complain that standard U.S. military M16 and M4 rifles jam too easily in Iraq's dusty environment. Many say the AK has better "knockdown" power and can kill with fewer shots.

The survey released Saturday showed that 49 percent of registered voters would not back the president for a second term if the vote were held now. Forty-four percent would support Mr. Bush's re-election.

With 140,000 U.S. troops tied down stabilizing Iraq, 34,000 in Kuwait, 10,000 in Afghanistan and 5,000 in the Balkans, what good options would George W. Bush have if, say sometime next spring, North Korea's Kim Jong Il decided to test the resilience of the relatively small "trip-wire" force of 37,000 American troops in South Korea? Where would the Pentagon turn if it had to rush additional combat troops to the 38th parallel? Might a lack of ready reinforcements force Washington to consider using nuclear weapons to save South Korea from defeat?

In Iraq, corporate Bushites at least expect to get away with the oil. And this is basically what young American soldiers are dying for: Executive Order No 13303, signed by George W Bush in late May.

This states with respect to "all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein", that "any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void". In other words, according to Jim Vallette of the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington, "Bush has in effect unilaterally declared Iraqi oil to be the unassailable province of US oil corporations."

The Iraqi resistance is very much aware of Executive Order 13303 - and that's why it sabotaged, and will continue to sabotage, the crucial Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.

Has U.S. use of depleted-uranium weapons turned Iraq into a radioactive danger area for both Iraqis and occupation troops?

This question has already had serious consequences. In hot spots in downtown Baghdad, reporters have measured radiation levels that are 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal background radiation levels.

It has also opened a debate in the Netherlands parliament and media as 1,100 Dutch troops in Kuwait prepare to enter Iraq as part of the U.S./British-led occupation forces. The Dutch are concerned about the danger of radioactive poisoning and radiation sickness in Iraq.

Here's the Washington Post: "Unless unexpected change takes place in Baghdad, the United States should lead a force to remove Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and locate and destroy its chemical and biological weapons and its nuclear program."

The New Republic: "Saddam's megalomaniacal aspirations and repeated pattern of aggression make him an even less attractive candidate to join the nuclear club than Kim Jong Il."

The Wall Street Journal: "As a madman pursuing nuclear weapons, Saddam doesn't need al Qaeda ties to be dangerous."

The Washington Times: "[T]here can be no reasonable doubt that Saddam Hussein is a menace who must be disarmed—by force, if necessary. Those who remain opposed to the use of force...simply have chosen to ignore the evidence."

Yes, indeed, there were some people who chose to ignore the evidence in the runup to the war: President Bush, Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And those were the folks many editorial pages were relying on when they expressed certainty about the imminent threat from Hussein—and thus the need for a preemptive war.

During his promotional visit to Britain this week Arnold Schwarzenegger groped Denise Van Outen on the Big Breakfast and behaved in a similarly oversexed and over here fashion with a clearly panicked Melanie Sykes on ITV's Celebrity.

The Sun in England newspaper reports that Sykes was chatting with Arnold when, as cameras rolled, he grabbed her around the waist.

She pushed his hand away, saying: "Get your hands off me - I'm scared."

MY DAUGHTER, who is 15, recently informed me that she has become a socialist. She attended a few rallies against the war in Iraq, and was persuaded by leaflets outlining various capitalist atrocities. She now stands on the street distributing the "literature" of the Socialist Party, and inviting passers-by to sign petitions against Coca-Cola.

When she informed me that she is now a member of the youth wing of the party of Mr Joe Higgins, I thought, thank you Mr Bush, for that. Thank you for turning my daughter into a goddamn commie.

Now, in a development the irony of which is self-evident, in recent months al Qaeda has indeed established itself inside Iraq. Several US officials I have spoken to who investigate or analyze al Qaeda say that Iraq has become an important battleground for al Qaeda in past months. The officials use words such as "magnet" and "super magnet" to describe the attraction Iraq has for al Qaeda members and other "jihadists".

As many impartial observers have pointed out, NASA's entire argument that the Shuttle is necessary and worthwhile to repair Hubble has actually been ... a flat-out shill from the start, a deliberate and dishonest attempt to further trick Congress into providing the massive funds needed to develop the Shuttle.

The Shuttle is so expensive to fly -- each of its Hubble servicing missions costs between $700 million and $1 billion -- that, for the cost of only two such missions (and perhaps less), a complete new duplicate Hubble could be constructed comparatively cheaply from the blueprints for the original (with whatever improved equipment and new experiments seemed appropriate) and launched on a Titan booster without any need to risk human lives.

“I don’t run around every day with a gun in my hand,” Arnold Schwarzenegger has said. “So I want kids to understand the difference.” Fat chance, when plenty of adults -- including Schwarzenegger -- don’t seem interested in making the distinction.

In early July, with the Bush administration smoothing the way, the candidate-to-be went to Iraq and recited lines from movies in front of cheering U.S. soldiers.

Stepping forward to entertain troops in a summer palace that formerly belonged to Iraq’s dictator, Schwarzenegger had his opening line ready: “First of all, congratulations for saying ‘Hasta la vista, baby’ to Saddam Hussein.” Not content to start with a phrase from “Terminator 2,” the actor closed with a line from his first Terminator movie: “I'll be back.”

WTF?

"Zsa Zsa Saddam" is one of a series spoof images of the ousted Iraqi dictator that are due to be posted on walls and billboards around his former stronghold of Tikrit by troops of the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion 22nd Armoured Regiment.

The idea is both to boost the morale of U.S. soldiers, ridicule the deposed leader and, also, help identify those who are still loyal to Saddam.

"The bad guys are going to be upset," Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell told Reuters. "Which will just make it easier for us to know who they are."

Sergeant David Cade, a psychological operations specialist, added: "It's mostly good for troop morale, but if we can put these posters up in Tikrit and the enemy can't take them down, then at least it shows who owns the streets."

A popular Sunni Muslim cleric has provided grass- roots and financial support to a leading anti-American Shiite cleric, a rare example of cooperation across Iraq's sectarian divide that has alarmed U.S. officials for its potential to bolster festering resistance to the American occupation, senior U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

The ties mark one of the first signs of coordination between anti-occupation elements of the Sunni minority, the traditional rulers of the country, and its Shiite majority, seen by U.S. officials as the key to stability in postwar Iraq.

When TV presenter Anna Richardson interviewed Arnold for Big Screen at the Dorchester Hotel, he asked her pointblank if her breasts were real. He then pulled her onto his knee, circled her nipple with his finger, squeezed it and announced: ‘Yeah, they are real.’

And when Denise Van Outen interviewed him for The Big Breakfast, he slapped her bottom then brushed his arm against her breast. Afterwards, he smirked: ‘It was a handful. I never know if my wife’s watching. I’ll tell her it was a stuntman.’

I see dead people. Lots of them.

"Many conservatives and supporters of the Iraq War --the mass of Americans who shrug off civilian deaths when they are not American civilian deaths--obviously have a pronounced problem with visualizing numbers and applying moral standards.

In other words, they are stupid and evil.

Therefore, the need for a visual aid for the numerically and morally challenged.

The Pentagon, the US military and American analysts are reluctant to acknowledge popular support for the Iraqi resistance. But the chaos has tribal sheiks, Baghdad businessmen and many ordinary Iraqis speaking in such harsh anti-American terms that it is hard not to conclude there is a growing body of Palestinian or Belfast-style empathy with the resistance.

If the accounts of the resistance given to the Herald in interviews in the past 10 days are accurate, US intelligence is way behind understanding that what is emerging in Iraq is a centrally controlled movement, driven as much by nationalism as the mosque, a movement that has left Saddam and the Baath Party behind and already is getting foreign funds for its bid to drive out the US army.

TO LISTEN TO THE FUSS Europeans are making about their weather, anyone would think that it was actually hot over there. In Paris, shops have experienced a run on electric fans. In Sweden, a male bus driver showed up for work in a skirt after his company informed him that he was not allowed to wear shorts. In Amsterdam, zookeepers are giving iced fruit to their chimpanzees to cool them off.

The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree- plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

The Taliban has wrested control of most of Zabul province in southeastern Afghanistan-- for the first time recapturing a province since being ousted from power by the US military in November 2001-- geopolitical analytical firm Stratfor reported.

Stratfor said its sources have confirmed reports first published on a Web site maintained by Muslim jihadists, jihadunspun.com, that Taliban fighters, in concert with al Qaeda forces, have have retaken Zabul.

The other story is how the guys and gals in Ward 57 are being treated. Outside of Jessica Lynch. The nurses have to scramble and snag wound vacuums that work – some of them don't – canisters for the vacuums are in short supply. The nurses, most of them, try very hard. So does the infections doctor – a great guy. But the ortho surgeons – well, basically it is – do what is quick, get it over, get them out – so they have room for the next one. Right now though my son-in-law has about 5" left on his right thigh – and a VA doctor in Denver who has 30 years experience says with time and no infection a stump can be made to fit a computerized leg.

Military fatalities in Iraq.

Ted Rall's latest.

The DOD recently has been forced to announce the “mystery” deaths of Gulf War II soldiers and that at least 100 other men and women have become ill ... According to a family member of one of the military victims, the DOD recently, has changed its label of the illness and is now calling it “pneumonia” in sharp contrast to what a physician on the scene reported. Due to continuing pressure for sound answers, the DOD was again forced to send an investigative team to Iraq, however the convenient, repeated lack of diagnosis, unfortunately translates into lack of treatment, and lack of compensation for the veteran.

The Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate is soliciting information and follow-up discussions to support research and development of concepts for rapid- prototyping of space systems based on a kind of space "LEGO_TM".

The abd al-Kerim family didn't have a chance. American soldiers opened fire on their car with no warning and at close quarters. They killed the father and three of the children, one of them only eight years old. Now only the mother, Anwar, and a 13-year-old daughter are alive to tell how the bullets tore through the windscreen and how they screamed for the Americans to stop.

"We never did anything to the Americans and they just killed us," the heavily pregnant Ms abd al- Kerim said. "We were calling out to them 'Stop, stop, we are a family', but they kept on shooting."...

...A terrible misunderstanding took place. The Americans thought they were under attack from Iraqi resistance forces, according to several Iraqi witnesses. These are the circumstances of most killings of Iraqi civilians: a US patrol comes under rocket-propelled grenade attack and the soldiers panic and fire randomly.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that it is a new species of ape, or a new subspecies or some form of hybrid," said Duane Rumbaugh, a professor at Georgia State University.

NEWSFLASH - ALL HOPE IS LOST...

...say family and friends announcing the death of 100 year-old entertainer Bob Hope, who perished in the ring of a Thai kickboxing tournament. Family members had pled with Hope not to come out of retirement to reclaim his Fist of the Fire Dragon title, lost to martial artist Bruce Lee in 1968.

Hope, who was famous for fighting while wearing a suit made entirely of baboon skulls, went down in a valiant blur of roundhouse kicks and flying somersaults. His opponent, a Spanish fighter known as The Fighting Spaniard, blew a cloud of some mysterious substance in Hope's face before crushing his windpipe.

We have no confirmation of rumors that Hope's son, 82 year-old Dark Phoenix Hope will enter the tournament to avenge his father's death.

The new information indicates a pattern in which President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their subordinates -- in public and behind the scenes -- made allegations depicting Iraq's nuclear weapons program as more active, more certain and more imminent in its threat than the data they had would support. On occasion administration advocates withheld evidence that did not conform to their views. The White House seldom corrected misstatements or acknowledged loss of confidence in information upon which it had previously relied:

Through emails and chatrooms a picture is emerging of day-to- day gripes, coupled with ferocious criticism of the way the war has been handled. They paint a vivid picture of US army life that is a world away from the sanitised official version.

In a message posted on a website last week, one soldier was brutally frank. 'Somewhere down the line, we became an occupation force in [Iraqi] eyes. We don't feel like heroes any more,' said Private Isaac Kindblade of the 671st Engineer Company.

Kindblade said morale was poor, and he attacked the leadership back home. 'The rules of engagement are crippling. We are outnumbered. We are exhausted. We are in over our heads. The President says, "Bring 'em on." The generals say we don't need more troops. Well, they're not over here,' he wrote.

The Times' article details a searing tale of a 9 year-old child called Sanariya, raped by a stranger, and now beaten daily by its brothers and parents for the 'shame' of the incident. The article says there is no policing in Baghdad, and abduction of women has become so common that parents wait outside girls' schools all day until their children return safely.

British troops are trying to control rioting mobs in the Iraqi city of Basra after a power cut raised temperatures to boiling point. Angry crowds hurled rocks, bricks and other missiles at soldiers in different areas of the southern city, says an Army spokeswoman.

General Ricardo Sanchez, America's Boss of Bosses in Iraq, has ordered occupying troops to lighten up a bit, recognizing what the whole world understands that spraying a crowd of civilians with automatic fire does not win hearts and minds. I think he does need, however, to speak with the troops who ripped Iraqi flags from the graves of Hussein's sons and stomped the rough graves with their boots. If Iraqis themselves did this, it would be a fair expression of past hatred, but American soldiers doing it is nothing short of stupid.

Last fall, a majority of Americans said Saddam Hussein was personally involved in Sept. 11, something even the administration didn't dare to claim.

But three months after victory was declared, the proof of a meaningful Iraq-al-Qaeda link is even more elusive than before. And, with the furor over weapons of mass destruction providing cover, the administration has quietly slunk away from its prewar charges.

The alienation of ethnic Pashtuns in Afghanistan and their lack of representation in the political process could end in disaster, a global think-tank has warned.
The report, published by the International Crisis Group (ICG), said the situation is fostering resentment against the government and adding to the threat of regional instability.

Six Afghan soldiers and a driver for the U.S.-based aid agency Mercy Corps were killed on Thursday in a raid by suspected guerrillas of the former Taliban regime in the troubled southern province of Helmand, police said.

"He has told the press he is 'very liberal' about social programs, supports abortion and homosexual adoption, and advocates 'sensible gun controls.'

"As much as when you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, 'Hey, she must be stupid or must have nothing else to offer', which maybe is the case many times. But then again there is the one that is as smart as her breasts look, great as her face looks, beautiful as her whole body looks gorgeous, you know, so people are shocked."

Not as shocked, perhaps, as California's women voters will be when they hear that particular quote, as surely they will. Davis's political rottweiler and California's answer to Alastair Campbell, Garry South, is already hard at work making sure that all the dirt on Schwarzenegger gets into the public domain early and often.

Space Invaders Shrine Great site dedicated to the classic arcade game. You can play a superb flash version of Space Invaders here.

Arnie "Fuck You Asshoyle" Shwarzenneggar Schwarzenegger'
Arianna Huffington
Gary "what you talkin' bout Willis?" Coleman
Angelyne (Pamela Anderson on steroids)
Gallagher (the melon smashing "comedian")
Larry Flynt (publisher of the pornographic Hustler magazine.

Larry Flynt for Governor!

When the firing stopped, Zaid, 13, opened a door and stuck his head out to shake off the shattered glass. At that point, Mohammed says, a single American bullet killed him. "My brother's blood will not go for nothing," Mohammed screamed in anguish two days later, his wounds from the shooting still swathed in bandages. "I'll take revenge on those American sons of b______."

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to its lowest level in more than a century, revealing German warships sunk to slow advancing Soviet forces in World War II.

As the Danube's depth at this remote spot in eastern Serbia fell to levels not seen since records began in 1888, the wreckage of an old battle ship last week slowly emerged above the surface by the Romanian border...

Still boasting a rotating canon platform as well as metal holders for shells, it has become an attraction for locals and tourists, its badly-damaged bow sticking up above the water in a hilly, wooded stretch of Europe's main waterway.

Afghanistan is spiraling out of control and risks becoming a "narco-mafia" state, some humanitarian agencies warn.

Already the signs are there - a boom in opium production, rampant banditry and huge swaths of territory unsafe for Western aid workers. The central government has almost no power over regional warlords who control roads and extort money from truck drivers, choking commerce and trade.

If the country slips into anarchy, it risks becoming a haven for resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. And the point of U.S. military action here could be lost - a major setback in the war against terrorism.

Make your own Tom Servo!!! I've been spending the last couple of days sorting out my collection of MST3K video tapes. I've always wanted my own Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot dolls. I'm not sure I posess the skills to make ones this good though. If you've never seen the show, you should. Here's another good fan site: Don's MST3K site

Only 30% of UN members were meeting their obligation to report al-Qaida movements and financing, he said. "Individuals or entities associated with al-Qaida" were still able to acquire weapons and explosives where and when they needed them, as shown by several recent attacks.

Inocencio Arias, chief of the UN's counter-terrorism committee, was hardly more encouraging in a week when a Congressional inquiry criticised 9/11 intelligence failures. "After two years, a lot of people are sleeping again," Arias said. Withholding assistance would be a less tactful way of putting it.

...In London, meanwhile, the Commons foreign affairs committee warned that Osama bin Laden still has the capability "to lead and guide the organisation towards further atrocities". The committee also finally reached a conclusion that opponents of the Iraq invasion arrived at long ago: that "the war in Iraq might in fact have impeded the war against al-Qaida", in part by attracting recruits. In any event, threat levels had not been significantly reduced.

Would you buy a used intelligence dossier from this man?

Downing Street will seek to defend itself over the death of David Kelly by portraying the scientist as a Walter Mitty character who exaggerated his role in the Government's intelligence case against Iraq.

Coming shortly before Dr Kelly's funeral on Wednesday, the description of one of Britain's most respected weapons experts as a fantasist is certain to spark fury among friends and former colleagues.

Thing is, the airlines also know that the public will accept any degree of inconsideration, stupidity, and humiliation. Which is why we get them. We're patsies.

Next, clonking down the jetway, we picked up our Bistro Bags. You know, nasty little sandwich, nickel bag of chips, thingy of peeled dwarf carrots. They call them Bistro Bags because somebody in marketing figured it would make us think we were having a European Dining Experience instead of a sorry bag-lunch. We boarded. No one actually said "Moo."

Most of the victims of the Patriot Act have been Muslims and Arabs. With appearance profiling it's obvious that the next wave of suspects will be Jews, Greeks, Italians and Latinos, and so on until no one's safe unless he looks like a Viking, which takes us back to Aryan Supremacists and Hitler's Master Race. In America. I don't know about you, but members of my family have fought in every American war in the past century, and they didn't fight for that weasel's right to finger people who look insufficiently Nordic, or who might read something to the left of The New York Post.

Give the Mona Lisa a make-over! Inject Botox into her face, collagen into her lips, and go nuts with the scalpel and breast augmentation.

The North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong allies were bright, skilled, resourceful, well led, and very brave.

In Iraq, we're fighting Arabs.

YPL presents: Life-sized Blow Up Priest Doll Yiz dirty Godless heathens. Yiz are all goin' to burn in de fires of eternal hell, where the divil will poke ye in de arse with a big fork.

"My life now centred around sleepless nights and stand-bys dodging the Brits and calming nerves to go out on operations. But the people stood by us. The people not only opened the doors of their homes to lend us a hand but they opened their hearts to us. I learned that without the people we could not survive and I knew that I owed them everything."

In its latest report, the House of Commons foreign affairs committee also argues that nearly two years on from the 11 September atrocity it cannot conclude the threat from al-Qaeda has diminished.

In fact, the MPs say, the terror organisation continues to pose "a substantial threat to British citizens" and it still has a "dangerously large number of foot soldiers" and the resources to finance terror attacks.