<?php if (is_home())   { ?>

<div class="text">
                        <h2 class="blogimage"> Recent Blog item</h2>
                        <ul class="commonlist">


<?php $my_query = new WP_Query('cat=8&showposts=2');
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID; ?>
     <?php

$newscontent = get_the_content($more_link_text, $stripteaser, $more_file);
$newscontent = apply_filters(’the_content’, $newscontent);
$newscontent = str_replace(’’, ‘’, $newscontent);
?>
<li><h5><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title();?></a></h5>
<p><?php echo substr(strip_tags($newscontent), 0, 103); ?></p>
<div class="date"><a href="#"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/images/comments.png" alt="" /> <?php comments_popup_link('Comments 0', ' Comments 1', '% Comments'); ?></a> | <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">readmore</a></div></li>
<?php endwhile; ?>

                        </ul>
                  </div>
<?php } ?>