Kelly Bundy has lost her boobs

Actress Christina Applegate will continue shooting her TV series "Samantha Who?" as she undergoes reconstructive breast surgery following a double mastectomy.

The 36-year-old star revealed on Tuesday she had both breasts removed after being diagnosed with cancer last month.

Applegate, who was given the all clear following the operation, is now scheduled to undergo reconstructive surgery over the next eight months.

A spokesperson for the star insists she will be "on a normal shooting schedule," adding that the procedure "is not affecting production."

Interesting Times Revisited

On this date in 1990, Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

Official: Obama picks Biden for VP

By LIZ SIDOTI and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.


Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

Read more here

Russia keeps Georgia positions, US and France call for withdrawal

by Michael Mainville

TBILISI (AFP) - Russian soldiers were still holding key positions inside Georgia on Saturday, a day after Moscow pulled out most of its troops, as the United States and France called for further withdrawals.

Two weeks after rolling into the former Soviet republic, several columns of Russian tanks and troops withdrew Friday from deep inside Georgian territory and allowed Georgian police to regain control of the key city of Gori .

But a top general said strategic routes would remain occupied and some 500 "peacekeepers" were to remain in a buffer zone around the Moscow-controlled separatist region of South Ossetia.

"The pullback of Russian troops and units passed without incident and was completed on time" at 7:50 pm (1550 GMT), Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Read more here.

Dungeon monster Fritzl trial in private

By ALEX PEAKE

DUNGEON incest monster Josef Fritzl’s trial will be held behind closed doors, a court official revealed yesterday.
The public and press will “quite certainly” be excluded to protect his victims in Sankt Poelten, Austria, he said.

It means the full story of how Fritzl kept daughter Elisabeth caged as a sex slave for 24 years may never be known.

Elisabeth, 42, had seven children by her evil father, 74.


Three were taken to live upstairs with Fritzl and wife Rosemarie, 69.

The others — Kerstin, 19, Stefan, 18, and Felix, five — were held in the cellar with their mum at the home in Amstetten.

Most evidence will be from Elisabeth on video.

It is not known if the cellar children will testify, when the trial will start or the charges.

The public will be allowed in only for the formal start — set to last three days — and after the verdicts.

One Austrian legal expert said: “The authorities want to protect Elisabeth and her children and stop the trial from becoming some sort of ghoulish daily freak show.

Georgia leader says Russians not pulling back

By ANDREW E. KRAMER New York Times

TBILISI, GEORGIA — A day before Russian forces were to pull back from positions inside Georgia under a self-declared deadline, Georgia's president said Thursday he saw "very little if any movement" of troops from occupied areas.

Speaking beside a visiting American general in Tbilisi to show support for the Georgian government and coordinate humanitarian aid, Mikheil Saakashvili said in some cases Russian forces had advanced farther into Georgia on Thursday and had "been taking over additional sites in my country."

Read more here.

US troops could be withdrawn from Iraq's cities by the middle of next year under a new security deal being hammered out by the American and Iraqi Governments.



The security deal will come into effect when the United Nations mandate governing military operations in Iraq expires at the end of the year.



The new agreement will set out a broad withdrawal timetable for US troops.



The first stage would have them leaving Iraq's big cities by the middle of next year and out of the country altogether by 2011.



US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who made a surprise visit to Baghdad overnight, says the new deal has been made possible by the success of the so-called military surge.



"The reason we are where we are today is that the surge worked. Iraqi forces have demonstrated that they are strong and getting stronger," she said.



The US and Iraq hope to sign the new deal within the next few months.

Pic(k) of the Day

Speculation on Biden as Obama vp choice

WASHINGTON: With Barack Obama expected to announce his vice presidential pick by Saturday, speculation that Joe Biden — the Senate's top Democratic foreign policy expert — will be his nominee highlights fears that the presidential candidate's inexperience in world affairs compared to Republican John McCain could be costing him in the polls.

Obama, a relative newcomer on the national political scene, made history by becoming the first black candidate to lead a major U.S. political party's presidential ticket. But he has endured a hammering by McCain, a veteran Arizona senator, combat pilot and former Vietnam prisoner of war, over what Republicans contend is his lack of national security experience.

The Illinois senator has remained quiet about his vice presidential pick. But he plans to appear with his running mate Saturday, after the pick is announced via text message to supporters and two days before the start of the party's national convention.

He also is believed to be considering Govs. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Russia blocks port city as deadline looms

Troops set up new mortars, dig trenches near Poti despite pullback pledge.

POTI, Georgia - Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city on Thursday, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor.



Armored personnel carriers and troop trucks blocked the bridge to the Black Sea port city of Poti, and Russian forces excavated trenches and set up mortars facing the city. Another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area.

Although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that his forces would pull back by Friday, Russian troops appear to be digging in, raising concern about whether Moscow is aiming for a lengthy occupation of its small, pro-Western neighbor.

Read more here.

More Monster Summer Fun

The Canadian Press

FORT CHIPEWYAN, Alta. — Information about a mutated fish caught downstream from Alberta’s oilsands region will be sent to a joint government-industry group that monitors the health of rivers and lakes.

The 2.5-kilogram goldeye caught last week in Lake Athabasca has two mouths, one beneath the other.


Two boys pointed the deformed fish out to Stuart Macmillan, Parks Canada’s manager of resource conservation at Wood Buffalo National Park, who studied it before handing it over to the Mikesew First Nation.

“We had just pulled up to the dock and some kids came over and said, `Hey, we’ve got a fish over here with two mouths,” Macmillan said Tuesday.

“It was really unusual. The fish has an obvious abnormality. I had never seen anything like that myself before. I can’t speculate on what might have caused it.”

Read more here.

Louis Gerstner Will Retire as Chairman, Become Senior Advisor to Buyout Funds

August 19, 2008

Washington, DC – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. will retire as Chairman, a post held since January 2003, and become a Senior Advisor to Carlyle’s Asia, Europe, Japan and U.S. buyouts funds, effective September 30, 2008. A successor has not been named.

Carlyle Co-founder Daniel A. D’Aniello said, “Lou joined Carlyle at a critical time in our global growth and development, helping us to institutionalize and mature key aspects of the firm. As Lou reduces his overall role, we are grateful that he will move into a Senior Advisor position focusing on our major buyout funds. Lou’s decades of operational experience at the pinnacle of the corporate world have been critical to our buyout decision making these past five years and thankfully we will continue to benefit from his wisdom and counsel.”

Mr. Gerstner said, “Initially, I committed to be Chairman of Carlyle for one year. But year after year I continued to be impressed with Carlyle’s value creation model and its efforts to globalize the firm. However, at this point in my life, I have a number of goals and interests yet to fulfill, requiring me to step back at Carlyle. That said, I am pleased to continue my relationship with this remarkable organization in this more focused role advising Carlyle’s buyout funds.”

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gerstner was Chairman of IBM from 1993 to December 2002 and Chief Executive Officer of IBM from 1993 until March 2002.

Upcoming Music Compilations

1. 7 Years Tribulation: 9/11 7 Years Later (pre-production)
2. Untitled Halloween Compilation
3. Rainy Night on the Rocks II (the long awaited follow-up)
4. If I Should Die Before I Wake: Good Night and Sweet Dreams
5. What a Bitch: Anthems of the Bitch Brigade

So keep your eyes peeled!

Interesting Times Revisited

On this date in 1979, social studies teacher Albert Fentress of Poughkeepsie New York lures an 18-year-old boy into his basement, ties him up, murders him, and then cooks and devours the boy's genitals. Fentress is found totally nuts and is sentenced to psychiatric care.

Pic(k) of the Day