The Boston Legal fan website
The James Spader monologue video "Stick It"can still be seen here.

Quick Overview

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was weaker than expected at 86.7.
  

• U.S. Industrial production was up 0.7% in February.
  

• Canada’s wholesale sales were up 1.8% in January.
  
  

• North American-based semiconductor equipment sellers posted a book-to-bill ratio of 1.01 in February, up from 0.97 in January, according to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group. This is the first time above parity since August of 2004.
  
  

• General Motors Corp.'s disclosures that it lost $2 billion more last year than previously reported and needs more time to sort out accounting errors.

GOP Senators Submit Bill Legalizing Warrentless Spying

Debt on top of debt
Congress raised the limit on the federal government's borrowing by $781 billion yesterday, and then lawmakers voted to spend well over $100 billion on the war in Iraq, hurricane relief, education, health care, transportation and heating assistance for the poor without making offsetting budget cuts.

(DEBT, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave- driver. The Devil's Dictionary)

Commodity Strategists: Rally to Resume, Lehman Says
Growth, geopolitical risk and potentially higher energy prices point to the possibility of another rise in commodity prices,'' Malvey, Lehman's New York-based chief global fixed- income strategist, said today in an interview. ``It's too early to conclude that the upward ascent has ended. We are more likely in the midst of a pause.''

Commodity Strategists: Rally to Resume, Lehman Says
``Growth, geopolitical risk and potentially higher energy prices point to the possibility of another rise in commodity prices,'' Malvey, Lehman's New York-based chief global fixed- income strategist, said today in an interview. ``It's too early to conclude that the upward ascent has ended. We are more likely in the midst of a pause.''

Commodity Strategists: Rally to Resume, Lehman Says
``Growth, geopolitical risk and potentially higher energy prices point to the possibility of another rise in commodity prices,'' Malvey, Lehman's New York-based chief global fixed- income strategist, said today in an interview. ``It's too early to conclude that the upward ascent has ended. We are more likely in the midst of a pause.''

Quick Overview

• U.S. consumer prices were up 0.1% in February and up 3.6% YoY
  

• The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional business index fell from 15.4 to 12.3 in March
  

• U.S. Housing starts were at an annual rate of 2.120 million units in February, down 7.9% from January's pace.
  

• Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui sought on Thursday to calm market expectations of an early rate hike, saying the central bank will keep rates near zero for a while despite ending its ultra easy policy last week.
  

• Retail sales in the U.K. were up 0.5% in February and up 2.1% YoY,
  
  

• YoY Canada’s consumer prices were up 2.2% in February.
  
  

• YoY consumer prices in the Euro zone were up 2.3% in February .
  
  

• The Swiss National Bank raised rates from 1.00% to 1.25%
  

• Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds rose by $2.45 billion in the latest week to $856.43 billion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.
  

• The Green Coffee Association said that U.S. coffee stocks were at 5.193 million bags. Up 243,980 bags in February.
  

• The US DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 55 billion cubic feet to 1.832 trillion cubic feet. YoY supplies are up 32%.
  

Every Man Needs a Theory
While we shared many of their views, we saw the war as a historical necessity. Every empire needs to find a way to look ridiculous; it has to lose its pants, in other words, when the theory holding it up finally disintegrates. Nature loathes a monopoly. A successful empire has a monopoly on the use of organized force. Nature conspires against it, tries to undermine it and eventually ruins it. Every great empire also needs to take Baghdad at one time or another. The English took it. The Mongols took it. The Romans took it several times. Why shouldn't we?

Wouldn't that be a good way to weaken the empire, too? It would cost a fortune, stir up enemies, and tie up the imperial army in a futile campaign against nobody of importance. If you wanted to destroy the U.S. Empire, it would seem to be the perfect project. All nature needed to accomplish her dirty plans was an American administration foolish enough to undertake it. In Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, she found her stooges.

US backs first-strike attack plan
The US will not shy away from attacking regimes it considers hostile, or groups it believes have nuclear or chemical weapons, the White House has confirmed.

Quick Overview

• The economy headed into the spring season with solid momentum, helping to generate more employment opportunities and keep factories humming, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
  

• The New York Federal Reserve's regional index increased from 21.0 to 31.2 in March, stronger than expected.
  

• The U.S. Treasury said foreign purchases of U.S. securities totaled $78.0 billion.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil supplies were up 4.8 million barrels to 339.9 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were down 900,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were down 2.8 million barrels.
  
  

• YoY the U.K.'s unemployment rate for November to January increased to 5.0% from 4.7% .
  

• Canada's manufacturing shipments were down 0.7% in January to C$51.8 billion. Excluding motor vehicles and parts -- shipments were up 0.3%.
  

• YoY China's industrial production was up 16% in the first two months of 2006.
  

When Democracy Looks Like Civil War
Recent studies offer a damning assesment of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq. Thanks to US political and military failures, the country could soon become failed state. Experts warn that it's time to implement an emergency plan before civil war breaks out.

Farmers Face Immigrant Workers Shortage
"I wound up hiring some locals that weren't worth hauling to the field," he said. "It was the worst harvest labor in my life and I've been in the farming business 35 years. But we got it in."

Quick Ovevrview

• The U.S. current account deficit totaled $224.9 billion in the fourth quarter, more than expected. For 2005, the current account shortfall totaled $804.9 billion.
  
  

• Global trade imbalances are a market-driven phenomenon that government policies can do little to address, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a letter released on Tuesday.
  
  

• February retail sales fell 1.3%, the first drop in six months, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Excluding autos, sales were down 0.4%.
  
  

• Business inventories rose 0.4% in January, and business sales rose by 1.3%, the Commerce Department said Tuesday
  
  

• The U.S. government warned Venezuela on Tuesday it would suspend Venezuelan flights to the United States if Caracas carries out a threat to ban or restrict U.S. carriers flying to Venezuela.
  

• The International Coffee Organization estimates the 2006-2007 world coffee production at 121 million bags, up from 107.2 million bags the previous year.
  

• The International Energy Agency reduced its forecast of world demand growth in 2006 from 1.78 to 1.49 million barrels a day.
  

Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship
Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve has moved U.S. interest rates up into a zone where policy-makers need to weigh the risk of raising them too far as they debate future moves, a top Fed official said.
  
  

• Japan's GDP growth in the fourth quarter was revised down from an annual rate of 5.5% to 5.4%. Bank of Japan Governor Fukui said that he is not yet ready to discuss raising Japan's interest rate.
  

• The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday a more advanced test showed an animal that tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease during the weekend was positive for the illness.

Search for Katrina's dead stymied by bureaucratic wrangling
There is unfortunately little public pressure on government officials to speed up the search for Katrina's dead, said Peter Scharf, a criminologist at the University of New Orleans.

The Health Report: Cheerful Men at Lower Risk of Heart Disease

Neil Osterweil, MedPage Today staff writer, reported recently that cheery, optimistic men are less likely to die of heart disease than sour, pessimistic men. When questioned about this theory, Mr. Osterweil cited the most visible people in the news today.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. government ran a monthly budget deficit of $119.20 billion in February – this is an all-time monthly record. Last years Feb. deficit was 113.9 billion.
  
  
  

• The U.S. unemployment rose from 4.7% to 4.8% in February.
  

• Canada's unemployment rate improved from 6.6% to 6.4% in February
  

• Japan's machinery orders were down 6.2% in January, but up 9.8 YoY.
  
  

• The USDA's 2005-2006 U.S. ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was lowered from 2.401 to 2.351 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were raised from 555 to 565 million bushels.
  Wheat unchanged at 542 million bushels.
  Sugar was lowered from 1.661 to 1.510 million tons.
  Cotton was lowered from 7.00 to 6.60 million bales.
  
  

• For 2006, the USDA estimates a 5% increase in beef production and a 3% increase in pork production.
  

• The USDA reduced its estimate of the Florida orange crop from 158 to 154 million boxes with a projected yield of 1.58 gallons per box at 42.0 degrees Brix.
  

'SECRET DOCKET' IN D.C. COURTS
In a study released this week, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says that, over a five-year period, D.C. defendants in more than 450 out of 2,600 criminal cases were indicted, tried, prosecuted and sentenced to jail in complete secrecy.