Today

S&P reports that :"DIVIDENDS SURGE" Last month's dividend increase total was the highest for a February since 1981. The full year could be the best since 1998.
The Federal reserves Beige Book shows increasing economic activity in all twelve U.S. districts.

The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said that its preliminary data shows 2004 world copper consumption exceeding production by 706,000 tons, up from 2003's production deficit of 386,000 tons. For all of 2004, world refined production was up 3.6% while consumption was up 5.5%. The biggest gains in demand came from the U.S., Japan, and China..

The DoE said that:
Crude supplies increased 3.2 million barrels last week to 302.6 million barrels.
Unleaded supplies were down 200,000 barrels
Heating oil supplies were down 800,000 barrels.
(The problem appears to be with the refineries not being able to keep up with demand, and not a shortage of crude).

Manufacturing in the U.K. increased 0.2% in January, stronger than expected.

Industrial production in Germany increased 3.1% in January, more than expected.

Japan's index of leading indicators increased from 41.7 to 55.0 in January, the first sign of expansion in five months.

There is renewed talk that the People's Bank of China has been considering pegging their currency to a wider basket of currencies - not just the dollar.


How Much Can Your Mind Keep Track Of?
People cannot process more than four variables at a time,
research shows... The number of individual variables we can mentally handle while trying to solve a problem (like baking a lemon meringue pie) is relatively small: Four variables are difficult; five are nearly impossible.

Researchers from Stanford University have constructed an extremely small transistor from a pair of single-walled carbon nanotubes and organic molecules.
The tiny transistor could eventually be used in ultra-low-power electronics. Transistors made from organic molecules are currently slower than today's transistors made from silicon, but are cheap and easy to work with.

Data Broker Says 32,000 Personal Records of U.S. Citizens Were Possibly Compromised
....The company played down the impact of the security breach on its profits, reaffirming its target of higher earnings and at least 5 percent growth in revenues excluding acquisitions. ...
Reed Elsevier specializes in the education, legal and science sectors, publishing more than 10,000 journals, books and compact discs, as well as almost 3,000 Web sites and portals. It also organizes 430 trade exhibitions.
(See above ”how much can you keep track of” -- But they surely have their priorities straight – EARNINGS are not impacted!!)

Plus Ça Change . . .
So, boys and girls, you see that there's no trouble at all to manufacturing a war in the modern United States. The same blueprint serves for all occasions; the U.S. regime need only employ the raw materials at hand; and the people fall for the same tricks every time – or, at least, by the time they wake up to what has been done, it's too late.

Curbing terror or menacing freedom?
However, harsh anti-terror laws are no guarantee that terrorism will stop. Worse still, they risk doing more harm than good.

(19 terrorists in 6 weeks have been able to command 300 million North Americans to do away with the entirety of their civil liberties that took 700 years to advance from the Magna Carta onward. The terrorists have already won the political and ideological war with one terrorist act. It is mindboggling that we are that weak as a society: Rocco Galati)