The Saudis supply about one-sixth of United States oil imports. But what gives Saudi Arabia its considerable political strength is its role as the only producer with the spare capacity to replace millions of barrels a day of lost oil. That amount could be drained from the market temporarily by an attack on Iraq, according to the administration's internal assessments as well as outside experts." NYT(reg/req)

The children include 15-year-old Bronx schoolkid Gregory Rhymes, who stands only 5-foot-6 but says he tips the scales at 400 pounds and has diabetes after eating McDonald's nearly every day since he was 6. "I normally order the Big Mac, fries, ice cream or shake - I like to super-size my orders," the Mac-aholic said in an affidavit. 

His mom, Ruth Rhymes, claimed she wouldn't have let her son gorge himself on McDonald's calorie-crammed food if she knew it contain high levels of fat and salt.

"I always believed McDonald's food was healthy for my son," she said in papers filed in Manhattan federal court." From the New York Post

Dear Bill: We're moody.

The Iraqi dictator rises early, works long hours and always keeps his desk immaculate. At 64, he exercises daily and eats a healthy diet of fresh fish, fruit and vegetables. He's a family man, married for more than 40 years, and a hands-on dad who used to take his two sons to his prisons, so they could watch his enemies being tortured and killed." The Toronto Star republishing a freelance piece from the Washington Post which reviewed Mark Bowden's extraordinary profile of Saddam in the May 2002 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Credit where credit is due.

As the story goes, Saddam's mother, Subha, was prevented from killing herself and her unborn child by a compassionate family of Iraqi Jews. 

"The British government is preparing for war against Iraq on the growing assumption that Saddam Hussein will fail to disclose his full weapons armory, or will quickly prove unwilling to cooperate with the stringent conditions of the new UN weapons inspection regime." UK Guardian

Spurred by fears of a "dirty bomb" attack that could spread radioactive poisons across major cities, U.S. and international nuclear experts have begun quietly searching former Soviet republics to recover the remains of the ... project before someone else does.

"It's like talc -- extremely dispersible," said Abel Gonzales, director of radiation and waste safety for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations-chartered nuclear watchdog. "You don't even need a bomb. Just open a can and people will die."

Shahidi (Jihad martyrs) believe by their nefarious acts that they ascend immediately to heaven. Using their beliefs against them, wrapping their corpses in 'unclean' pigskin prevents them from entering heaven for eternity." 
From IsraelNationalNews.com.