Hands Off Google! ..It was therefore only a matter of time before ideologues, cretins, and government regulators – or do I repeat myself? – conspired to bring it down.

Taking a Byte Out of Free Expression .. But in reconsidering Google’s decision, I see potential benefits to the cause of liberty that go far beyond the superficial interest in making money. This optimism arises from the uncertainties that lie hidden in complex systems. The study of chaos informs us that our inability to identify and measure the seemingly endless factors at work within a complex world, makes outcomes increasingly unpredictable with the passage of time...

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve voted unanimously Tuesday to raise the benchmark U.S. interest rate a quarter-point to 4.5%. They also suggested that "further policy firming may be needed."
  
  
  

• U.S. consumer confidence jumped in January to the highest level in almost four years, the Conference Board said.
  
  

• Surface trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico rose 12% in November from a year earlier to $62.9 billion, the Department of Transportation said.
  
  

• The Labor Department said that the employment cost index rose 0 .8% in the fourth quarter, about as expected. For 2005, the index was up 3.1%, the smallest gain in nine years.
  
  

• The Chicago purchasing managers' index dropped from 60.8 to 58.5 in January.
  
  

• Yesterday's Texas Crop Weather report from the USDA said that only 1% of the winter wheat crop was rated good to excellent, but 88% was rated poor and very poor.

• The weather damage to wheat in the Ukraine is expected to be significant. They are a major exporter now but probably not in 06/07.
  

• The average retail price of diesel fuel rose 1.7 cents to $2.489 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
  
  
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.2% in November and up 3.0% YoY.
  

• Japans unemployment rate improved from 4.6% to 4.4% in December, better than expected – YoY household spending was up 3.2% in December.
  

Pentagon Can Now Fund Foreign Militaries

UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of...$7 trillion (and solve the world's problems at a stroke)

Palace Revolt
For nine months, from October 2003 to June 2004, he had been the central figure in a secret but intense rebellion of a small coterie of Bush administration lawyers. Their insurrection, described to NEWSWEEK by current and former administration officials who did not wish to be identified discussing confidential deliberations, is one of the most significant and intriguing untold stories of the war on terror.

Quick Overview

• The Department of Commerce said that December’s personal incomes were up 0.4% while consumer spending was up 0.9%.
  
  

• Japan's retail sales were up 1.1% in 2005, the first annual increase in nine years. Industrial production was up 1.3% in 2005.
  
  

• Kansas may be the next state to follow Minnesota’s lead in mandating biodiesel, if its legislature passes a bill introduced in the state Senate Jan. 19 that would require all diesel sold in Kansas to contain a blend of at least 2% of fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats.
  
  

• Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday -- $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year.
  

Savings Rate at Lowest Level Since 1933
The Commerce Department reported Monday that the savings rate fell into negative territory at minus 0.5 percent, meaning that Americans not only spent all of their after-tax income last year but had to dip into previous savings or increase borrowing.

Greenspan hikes into sunset
Tomorrow's session of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be the last for Dr Greenspan, 79, after more than 18 years in which he has steered the Fed through economic golden years punctuated by recession and financial crisis.

Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?
Demand for energy, in all its forms, is rising
Supplies of key fuels - notably oil and gas - show signs of decline
Mainstream climate science suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions within two decades would be a prudent thing to do
Meanwhile the Earth's population continues to rise, with the majority of its six billion people hankering after a richer lifestyle - which means a greater consumption of energy.

Quick Overview

• The Department of Commerce's said that U.S. GDP in the fourth quarter was up an annual rate of 1.1%, a listless showing that was the worst in three years. For all of 2005, GDP was up 3.5%.
  

• New home sales were at an annual rate of 1.269 million units in December, up 2.9% from November's rate. For all of 2005, there were 1.282 million new homes sold, a new record high -- 6.6% more than the previous year.
  

• The USDA said there were 97.102 million head of cattle in inventory on January 1st, up 1.7% YoY.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in Japan were down 0 .1% in December.
  

• Mexico's central bank reduced the benchmark lending rate by half a percentage point to 7.75 percent. The bank said it has little room to keep cutting rates after bringing it down to a 15-month low.
  
  

• Exxon Mobil the world's largest oil company, expects that oil prices will fall as the current bullish cycle slows, the company's head of exploration operations said on Friday.

The bigger the balls, the smaller the brains
...males in some species "make an evolutionary trade-off between intelligence and sexual prowess",

'Suicide Seeds' Could Spell Death of Peasant Agriculture, UN Meeting Told Developed by multinational agribusinesses and the U.S. government, Terminator has the effect of preventing farmers from saving or replanting seeds from one growing season to the next...
...If commercialized, activists said, Terminator would force farmers to return to the market for seeds every year, adding to their annual costs. This also would spell the end of locally adapted agriculture through seed selection, because most farmers in the world today routinely save seeds from their harvest for replanting.

China to drive world economy as US stumbles: economists

Quick Overview

• A congressional report released on Thursday said the U.S. budget shortfall will hit $337 billion this year, a figure that is up $23 billion from an August estimate and excludes more funds needed for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
  
  

• U.S. Jobless claims were up 11,000 last week to 283,000.
  

• U.S. Durable goods orders increased 1.3% in December, more than expected. Excluding transport, orders were up 0.9%. For all of 2005, orders totaled a record high $2.51 trillion.
  

• Brazil's unemployment rate fell in December to its lowest level in nearly four years, slipping to 8.3 percent as fewer people actively looked for work during an economically sluggish holiday season, the government said Thursday.
  
  

• YoY Japan's December exports were up 17% and imports were up 27%, because of higher energy prices.
  

• USDA said tariffs charged on the Gulf to Japan trade route have averaged $36.33 a metric ton during the past three months, down from $50.08 a ton one year ago.
  
  

• Silver prices rose to hit a new 19-year high on fund-buying Thursday. Some of the move may be a "catch-up" to gains that previously had been occurring in gold, analysts said, and some buying is market speculation that Barclays Global Investors may win government approval to launch a silver exchange-traded fund.
  

• The DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 81 billion cubic feet to 2.494 trillion cubic feet.
  

India sees record 75.5 million tonnes wheat output
NEW DELHI: India is expected to produce a record wheat output of 75.5 million tonnes this year, well above about 72 million tonnes in 2005, the Food Ministry said on Wednesday, but traders cautioned it was too early to make a call.

Tech leaders press Bush on U.S. competitivenessAfter decades of uncontested global dominance, the United States is now at risk of falling behind emerging powerhouse nations such as China and India, according to C&I believers. If we don't move fast to improve our education system, boost research funding and fix overly restrictive immigration laws, the U.S. will soon lose its place as the world's biggest and most inventive economy.

Environmental Report Rates New Zealand No. 1
The United States ranked below nearly every major country in Western Europe, although it outperformed Russia and several Eastern European nations, including Hungary and Poland

Quick Overview

• U.S. Existing home sales were at an annual rate of 6.6 million units in December, down 5.7% from November's pace. There are 2.8 million homes for sale in the U.S. -- a five month supply.
  

• China's GDP was up 9.9% in 2005 to $2.3 trillion. That puts China in the number five position,
  just behind Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States. .

• YoY Mexico's economy expanded a slower-than-expected 2.7 percent in November.
  
  

• GDP in the U.K. was up 06% in the fourth quarter and up 1.8% for all of 2005.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in Australia were up 2.8%
  

• The Ifo index of business confidence in Germany increased from 99.7 to 102.0 in January
  

• South Korea's GDP was up 4.0% in 2005.
  

• Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it is developing the Ford Escape Hybrid E85, a research vehicle marrying hybrid electric power and ethanol capability
  
  
  

• The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said that:
  2005 Cotton Output was 5.7 Mln MT, down 9.8% YoY.
  Total grain output in 2005 rose 3.1% to 484 million tons.
  Meat production for the year rose 6.3%.
  2005’s Oilseed and sugar output were unchanged from 2004.
  
  Ag Minister Du Qinlin said that, although grain output has risen in the past two years, production has still failed to meet demand. He says it will be increasingly difficult to boost output due to China's growing population, water shortages, and a decrease in the size of farm lands.
  Du said that China will likely face a shortage of grains next year, as demand is expected to exceed output by 15 million tons, demand for grains are expected to reach 495 million tons in 2006.
  China also said that they imported 1.39 million tons of sugar, up 14% from a year ago.
  
  

• There is speculation that a decision may be nearing on a Barclays silver ETF.
  
  

• Regulators in India will allow mutual funds to launch gold ETF’s.
  
  
  

• The DoE said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 2.3 million barrels to 319.1 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 3.2 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 1.6 million barrels.
  
  
  
  
  

White House Was Told Hurricane Posed Danger The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people.....

...."I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," Mr. Bush said in a television interview on Sept. 1. "Now we're having to deal with it, and will."