Killer robots have trundled out of the pages of science fiction and into Iraq. Armed with high-calibre machine guns, this new generation of robots will soon be killing people in at least two war zones. If they haven't started doing that already. The US has committed $200 billion to programs that will see one-third of all American combat vehicles and weapons replaced by robots, or automatons, by 2015. One of the most amazing articles you will read this month, right here. Apparently American soldiers trialling the killer robots, and IED defusing robots, are getting a bit too attached to their new metallic friends. Wonders one captain, will we see a day when humans are sent in first to clear the way for the robots? Depends how much the robots cost. If they're more expensive than paying off the family of a dead soldier, then probably yes.

They roll, they run, they crawl, they fly. They're ready to slaughter without question, or conscience. Killer robots. Coming to a war zone near you, all too soon.


Russia and China held war games together, and Russia, China and Iran issued a joint statement aimed at the United States, warning them to stay the hell out of East Asia. It didn't get much of a mention in the Western media. Too scary? If you don't know what the SCO is and why it's already more powerful and wealthy than NATO, or the UN, it's probably time to find out.


So how bad, how truly bad, are the financial problems of the United States? Well, put it this way, American lending standards and free and easy credit have been described as "unbelievable" by a top Swiss banker, and the world's central bankers are said to absolutely shitting themselves with fear over what 's going to happen. Soon. The warning is don't be fooled by the current recovery, the horror has only just begun.


Eat Your Greens To Stay Healthy And Fight Cancer, right? Well, maybe not. At least, you might be better off eating your Reds and Blues and Purples. Seems the pigmentation of the vegetables is where all the real anti-oxidation action is.


Who needs terrorism? More than 26,000 Americans were killed by drunk driving in 2005 and 2006.


An horrific and widespread drought continues to wreak havoc on China. Farmers are being told to switch from growing rice, which uses plenty of water, to potatoes. Spuds are more drought-resistant than rice. The Chinese have been farming their lands for more than 7000 years.


You can't be too careful when screening for potential terrorists at US airports. Particularly when the person being screened, for the third time, is a seven year old kid who's just had the time of his life at Disneyworld. This is less about keeping out terrorists, and more about intimidating innocent people. The bonus is that the kids and families held up for three or more hours during questioning, because their names are a close match to names on the 'no-fly' lists are usually Muslims. If you read about this sort of crap happening in North Korea, you'd think 'dictatorship'. Pathetic.


More bullshit about online "hooligans" make life unpleasant for blog readers and blog writers. There are plenty in power, and business, who would like to see blogs shut down completely, at least the ones not attached to, or controlled, by the mainstream media. Offended by nasty blog comments? Consider the choice. Deal with the arseholes, as you are forced to do in real life, or allow censors and anti-free speech activists to take away exactly what makes most blogs worth reading. They say they are pushing for tighter controls on blogs for the good of the blogstream, and all bloggers, and their readers. But they're lying. It's about censorship and control. Nothing more. The "hooligans" and "deeply offensive" crap is the cover story to ram through the measures of control and censorship.


While BushCo. and the NeoCons are still wetting their pants over Iran, Pakistan and India, along with China and Russia, are expanding their business and energy ties with Iran. UN sanctions? What UN sanctions? Iran will be pumping natural gas to India, via a pipeline the cuts through Pakistan, in the next decade, and Russia and China have quietly warned anyone who doesn't like that idea (the US) that they are mounting their own 'War on Terror'. That is, a war against any nation, or agency, who tries to sabotage the Iran to India pipeline. Not all terror is crazed fundamentalists detonating backpacks in crowded trains. There's also plenty of state-sponsored terrorism used to benefit some of the world's biggest corporations, particularly the oil and energy giants.

Pakistan, meanwhile, a supposed key ally on the US-led 'War on Terror' is now soft-peddling the Taliban. According to Pakistan's President Musharraf, not all members of the Taliban are terrorists.


An American pastor, who has been living in Israel for two decades, and recently applied for permanent residency, has instead been told to pack his bags and get the fuck out. Why? He was preaching Christianity.


Another story about an American pastor, this one spent two days 'lost' in an American airport.


If you've had enough of the endless lies and disinformation about what is happening in Iraq, particularly to American soldiers, then get reading on this article written by seven American active duty soldiers. The war isn't lost, they say, but it will be if Iraqis are not allowed to run their own country. The "surge" isn't working, and death tolls all round are on the rise. Americans are widely seen as occupiers, and the resentment is growing by the day. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army are now teaming up to kill Americans. More truth on one page than in 50 speeches by Vice President Cheney, or George W. Bush, or the efforts of some NeoCon columnist who's been given a Truman Show like tour of the Green Zone, and caught a glimpse of manufactured peace and stability in a movie-set reality Baghdad market.


Australia's 'Next Prime Minister' has found himself caught up in a scandal surrounding a drunken visit he made to a New York strip club in 2003, while on an official visit to the UN. The strip club trip was arranged by Rupert Murdoch's favourite editor, and Kevin Rudd, currently the Australian opposition government leader, claims he didn't know he was going to a strip club until he was inside. If Rudd gets too close to actually winning the coming federal election, you can expect some photos of Rudd inside the club to suddenly be discovered and splashed across the front pages of every newspaper in the country.

Politicians are controlled by the manner in which they have allowed themselves to be compromised. Rudd will now have to play Murdoch's game if he wants to be prime minister of Australia, or he will pay a very heavy price.


"A Gentle Humping Motion" - One of Australia's most famous bloggers has been fired from his mainstream media gig for imaging what Kevin Rudd got up to in that New York strip club. He wrote about Rudd trying to grope a stripper and getting rejected, cracking a fat, dry-humping a pillow back in his hotel room and then taking care of himself, in the traditional manner. The blog was online for but a few hours. It got pulled, the whole blog was yanked, and the blogger, Jack Marx, got the sack. All on his birthday.


You can call him a war pig, a terrorist, or the Worst American President In History. And George W. Bush won't react. But if you dare to call him a 'Fashion Victim', you might just get a call from the White House.


How happy are Americans with their lives, and lifestyles? Damn happy, or at least 94% of them are fairly well satisfied with how their lives are going, according to this poll. New Yorkers remain pretty hard to please.


A NeoCon agency, posing as a group concerned with American family values, believes that President Bush is restrained by all that nasty democracy. Democracy, you see, just doesn't work. This is why Bush should wipe away all that freedom and liberty and declare himself President For Life. Then get busy nuking Iran, and nuking Iraq. Once all the Iraqis are dead, says an editor of the Family Security Matters website, then Americans can flood in and make a new America in the Middle East. You'll wish this was just some stupid joke. It's not. It's awesomely, mind-numbingly real. Save American families by nuking Iranian families? Beyond demented, and of course, buried by Fox News and all the other so-called conservative media howlers who always try to hide the darkness and puerile violent extremism within their own ranks.

Also, check out the first comment that goes with this story to find out just how much fun it is to be a Muslim nurse in America right now.


The US Army is using up so much ammunition - some one billion rounds per year - during training and fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, that police across America are facing bullet shortages, and working out ways to cope with delivery delays of up to a year for ammunition. Warehouses once full of ammo, are now empty. The vast demand for copper and lead by China has also made bullets more expensive.

BTW, if you happen to have 25 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition lying around that you want to unload, the US Army wants to hear from you. Soonish.


Iran : Evil, dangerous, deadly, want nukes, crazy, according to the NeoCons. According to a German historian, Iran has not started a war - that is it has not attacked or launched offensive military operations - for 1000 years.


UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been told by British commanders that their troops can't achieve anything more in south-east Iraq, and it's time to pull them out. Now. Some 500 British soldiers are holed up in 'Basra Palace' and are hit by an average of 60 insurgents attacks per day. The British troops are helping to hold the 'Palace', in part, because it is a location from where the CIA is said to be keeping a close eye on Iran. In Afghanistan, since April, half of all British front line troops have been wounded and "patched up".


Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Centre once stood, before fires caused by the 9/11 attacks allegedly collapsed three skyscrapers in seconds, is still claiming the lives of firefighters. There's going to be some troubling superstitions and fears gaining credence after two firefighters died at the site yesterday. Many NYC firefighters view Ground Zero as 'sacred ground', where hundreds of their friends and colleagues lost their lives, many of whose remains were never recovered before rebuilding work began. You can expect to hear this question raised soon by the tabloid media : Is Ground Zero Cursed?


If you want to be taken seriously as a Republican candidate for president in 2008, you better be rich. That goes for the Democrats, too. A serious run at the White House is expected to now cost candidates $200-500 million. Which probably explains why only an elite group of American millionaires and billionaires who have their sights set on the West Wing have any real chance of winning.


Villagers in some of the most flood-devastated regions of India, now have to fight off starving animals for food and shelter. The toll of victims now reaches into the millions. Since mid-July, some 850 people have been killed by landslides, drowning and waterborne diseases. Misery unimaginable.


Japan recently endured its hottest day in recorded history. The shocking heat wave killed at least 13 people. The mercury hit 40.9 Celsius. That's cricket weather in Australia.


Australian cities have five to ten years to find new sources of fresh water, or they will face shortages, or even bone dry pipes. Australia is basically a huge desert and scrub land, fringed by shrinking rainforests and pasture lands. The droughts increase and spread, the deserts grow, and the city populations climb as the ground and spring water levels are depleted.


What happens when a 13 foot long saltwater crocodile takes on a huge bull shark in remote Northern Australia? Find out here.