STARTING THE WEEK WITH A SHOUT for our vast audience o­n the Continent...

GANG OF FOUR is streaming all over the 'net. Brooklyn Vegan has the linkage.

HUEY LEWIS has a fan base among the developmentally disabled, according to an article that seems way too politically incorrect for the SF Weekly.

SUB-POP label co-founder Jonathan Poneman is interviewed by Reuters, about the label's history and how the Internet made the Postal Service the label's second-best-selling act.

INDIE LABELS are joining the Recording Industry Association of America.

THE RIAA, having not gotten much from its battle against filesharing, is gearing up to fight CD burning.

DIY MUSICIANS, including Ani DiFranco, the Churchills, Christopher Dallman and the Sharp Things, are profiled in the Free New Mexican.

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN IN 2008? There is a website, which appears to be a hoax. But the cool slogan and poster could draw him in...

JULIA ROBERTS may become a stay-at-home mom.

THE DA VINCI CODE: Sony studio officials have consulted with religious experts o­n how they might alter the plot of the novel to avoid offending the devout.

JANICE DICKINSON: I have to agree with The Superficial that the self-proclaimed first supermodel has a super driver's license photo.

SUSAN SARANDON joins Jamie Lee Curtis in criticizing cosmetic surgery: "I'm scared of plastic surgery. You're somewhere between a burn victim and a female impersonator, and then there's kind of an Asian thing going o­n..."

TOM SIZEMORE has been diagnosed with priapism -- a rare medical condition that leaves him sexually insatiable -- which doctors believe could have been caused by years of alcohol and drug abuse. It would explain why he dated Heidi Fleiss...

IRAQ: Bomb attacks o­n U.S. supply convoys have doubled over the past year but casualties have declined with increased armoring of vehicles, according to the U.S. general in charge of logistics. A major chemical production facility, suspected to have been built by insurgents, was uncovered by US forces during a raid this week near Mosul; early tests suggest substances that could be used in explosives. Iraq's Oil Minister said that his country posted the highest level of crude sales in the country's petroleum history in July.

THE 9/11 COMMISSION releases its statement o­n the "Able Danger" controversy. The full statement is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

GUIDED BY VOICES: Robert Pollard has more GbV demos posted. And former GbV force Tobin Sprout has set up his own website.

THE LENNON LEGACY is assessed at the London Observer.

ROAD SONGS: USA TODAY's travel and music writers each select a favorite road-trip song, with a link to other playlist recommendations.

REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD is just killing music, with "albums" of covers performed by Belle and Sebastian and Elliot Smith.

IRAQ EXIT STRATEGIES: Gen. George Casey, the U.S. ground commander in Iraq, reportedly has been privately rebuked by the Bush administration for openly discussing plans to reduce troop levels there next year. Although many suspect that Bush wants to draw down troops ahead of the 2006 election (and all things being equal, I'm sure he would like to if he can), it's notable that the drawdown talk was coming from the military, not the Administration. Although no o­ne wants to set a timetable to encourage terrorists to wait out the coalition, I suspect the military wants to make clear it won't be there in full force forever, for reasons of: (a) Iraqi politics; (b) assuaging concerns of military families; and (c) perhaps most important, sending a message to Iraqi forces not to become dependent. And for those who see an anlogy between Iraq and Vietnam, Henry the K offers lessons o­n exit strategies.

LONDON: Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has been banned from setting foot o­n British soil again. Britain launched a crackdown o­n foreign-born Muslim ideologues Thursday, arresting ten and announcing they would be deported.

GOOD SAMARITAN races up a fire escape and catches a six-year-old girl who fell from the roof of her day care center.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer's band, Babyshambles, had their equipment seized by police after a secret gig in London, due to noise complaints. And he's trying to get back in with galpal Kate Moss by buying her expensive lingerie, which we really know is a gift for him. Graphic footage of Doherty deliberately harming himself will not appear in a forthcoming fly-on-the-wall documentary about the former Libertines' singer, much to his chagrin, I'm thinking.

t. A. T. u. RETURNS: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

TOP FIVE WAYS MP3 has changed the world, according to C|Net.

FAUXRENER: Mick Jones is restarting Foreigner without Lou Gramm. Caveat Emptor (which would be true anyway).

IRAQ II: Camp Liberty, o­ne of the best-appointed compounds in the constellation of American military bases in Iraq, has the vague feel of a college campus, albeit with sand underfoot, Blackhawks overhead and the occasional random mortar attack. The New York Times version of this story also has photos. The Altlanta Journal-Constitution blogs conditions at Camp Taji; the comments show that not all the troops live like this.

AFGHANISTAN: U.S. Marines and Afghan troops launched an offensive Saturday to take a remote mountain valley from insurgents tied to the deadliest blow o­n American forces since the Taliban regime was ousted nearly four years ago. And they are using donkeys for their supply chain. Meanwhile, several hundred former Taliban members have returned from exile in Pakistan to join a government reconciliation program.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Trouble in Crazytown? The infallible Star magazine reports that Holmes may be getting cold feet about marrying Cruise, as a rift develops over wedding plans. Holmes still wants a Roman Catholic priest at their wedding out of respect for her parents, but Cruise wants o­nly a few family members and close Scientology friends. He also wants to hold the wedding in a Scientologist-friendly location, according to the source, such as the Scientology Celebrity Center in Los Angeles or aboard the Scientology yacht.

BRADGELINA UPDATE: Jennifer Aniston gets an apology from Kimberley Stewart, who may have noticed she's living in a glass house.

THE ISLAND: The producers of the laughably-bad Parts: The Clonus Horror have finally filed a copyright case, asking a New York court to have the sci-fi thriller pulled from theaters.

IRAQ III: Michael Yon sees more battle in Mosul and photographs it, but the words are compelling, too. A piece from the American Forces Press Service reports that nearly three dozen Iraqi army or police units are assessed as in the lead or independent; it seems like logistics and supplies are the sticking points for many units (which is better than having problems with training or morale). Major K meets the Iraqi Soldiers of the 1st Brigade -- the Brigade that took back Haifa Street in Baghdad -- and is impressed. Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: Memo to aspiring counterfeiters -- Benjamin Franklin appears o­n the 100 dollar bill, not Abraham Lincoln.

RECORD OIL PRICES? Not after adjusting for inflation.

HOWARD ZINN, author of A People's History of the United States, claims that America is an occupied country. Which I would take more seriously if Zinn did not already think that America has been occupied since 1492.

LONDON II: The Guardian, having published a column by an employee who was a member of a radical Islamic group, follows up with an op-ed by Saad al-Fagih arguing that, "No o­ne will be more pleased than Osama bin Laden with the new measures announced by Tony Blair." Not mentioned was that al-Fagih seems to be a member or associate of Al Qaeda. And Harry's Place rounds up links o­n the investigation of the allegedly moderate Muslim Council of Britain.

CINDY SHEEHAN continues her anti-war vigil near President Bush's ranch. She has supporters holding vigils for her. David Duke backs her. Members of her family members disagree and she is now separated from her husband. At Iraq the Model, Mohammed responds to her question of why the U.S. is in Iraq. At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, columnist Robert L. Jamieson, Jr. will probably have his e-malibox fill with hate mail from folks who normally agree with him. And Newsweek has a piece suggesting that President Bush does not treat meetings with grieving families like a frat party as Sheehan has charged. Sen. McCain, often a thorn in Bush's side, says ""any charge of insensitivity or uncaring o­n the part of this president is absolutely false."

MILBLOGGING gets an article in the Washington Post titled "The New Ernie Pyles." The Post Watch blog notes that the article manages a negative tone, when most milbloggers are not anti-war. It was hard to avoid noticing that the WaPo article was less representative than John Hockenberry's article at Wired. But if you put both together you get a feel for the range of opinion.

PODCASTING: KEXP's pioneering ways get coverage in the Seattle Times. In the next few weeks, KEXP says it will become the first to make its live radio broadcasts suitable for cellphones and handheld organizers.

FERRETS: After nine years of slippery, slinky competition, the Ferret Olympics is being forced to change its name because the U.S. Olympic Committee has threatened to sue.

SWANS are taking advantage of the gay-friendly atmosphere of Massachussetts. Yet there are still eggs, which aren't faring well.

CATS: Two teenagers performed a caesarean section o­n a dead cat they found along a New Brunswick road, saving two of four kittens.

DOGS are graduating from bomb-sniffing school. ALSO: Quite by chance, I came across this at Ask Yahoo: "Why do dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows?"

CATS AND DOGS: Jo Shoesmith, and her ex-husband, Marty Stephens, are having to rethink the joint custody arrangement for their aging dog, Misha. At the outset, friends and family had thought the notion of a pet custody arrangement a bit extreme -- even their lawyers scratched their heads when they thought about how, exactly, to word such a thing.

LIKE BUNNIES? New Zealander Brendan McMahon likes bunnies like bunnies. It landed him in jail.

LIGERS get coverage from National Geographic due to the Napoleon Dynamite factor. And "Liger" is o­ne of the top search engine requests that brings up this site.

PETA sought to have Minnesota ban the catching of the state fish -- the Walleye. Gov. Tim Pawlenty responded by planning to go out for a walleye dinner.

FOUR CHEETAH CUBS were born at the San Diego Zoo. Awww...

THOUSANDS OF TOADS invade Big Sandy, Montana. It was just two years ago that the town's streets were blocked by 10-foot drifts of tumbleweeds.

SURF'S UP for Aussie Mice. Kowabunga! Columnated ruins domino...