Evolution?

Just read an interesting article on mutations and evolution from the website of Russia's Pravda newspaper. Yesterday whilst jogging, my mind wondered on to the area of how genetic mutations could be progressive. The thought pattern went a bit like this:

1. Mutations in the genetic code are completely random
2. The majority of these decrease/increase a current function in a pathological manner
3. How could this or the comparatively few 'improvement mutations' lead to progression in a species?
   

Anyhow, the link to the article from Pravda can be found here. I appreciate that the article has been simplified (as indeed most articles are in the media), and more depth on his thoughts would be helpful. All non-sensational comments would be appreciated.