Fed warns on Congressional scrutiny.......

The Federal Reserve warned on Thursday that a growing congressional threat to curtail its independence would destabilise markets and raise the cost of servicing US debt for “current and future generations”. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, has gathered the support of a majority of the House of Representatives for a bill that would audit the Fed’s monetary policy decisions. He told a Congressional hearing he wanted the power to prevent the Fed being "secret and clandestine and serving special interests”...Link

Update - HR 1207 - 256 Co-sponsors.....

Title: To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

FDA takes control of tobacco................

This week, the House of Representatives is considering a spending bill that would increase the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) budget by 11 percent. At the same time, the embattled agency is beginning to take on a new role as the primary regulator of tobacco products. Many legislators disagreed with the decision to place the FDA in charge of tobacco. The organization has, traditionally, regulated products that are beneficial if used properly; tobacco, on the other hand, is harmful or fatal if used as directed. Critics have argued that giving the FDA control of tobacco would, effectively, suggest that it can be consumed in a safe manner. However, according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal), the FDA's position as a "scientific organization with regulatory powers" puts it in an ideal position to handle the killer weed...Link

Bid to clip Fed's wings.................

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - A proposal from a long-time congressional foe of the Federal Reserve that could give lawmakers sway over monetary policy has won the support of a majority in the House of Representatives, alarming officials at the U.S. central bank. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, put forward by Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas, now has 250 co-sponsors in the House. It will get air-time on Thursday during a congressional hearing on Fed independence that will feature testimony from the Fed's No. 2 official, Donald Kohn...Link

Update - HR 1207 - 254 Co-sponsors

Title: To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

S.604 UPDATE.....6 co-sponsors....

Title: A bill to amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

Gold Fish...................

"We got 30 minutes!" It was 1:30 P.M., half an hour before the start of the commercial salmon-fishing season in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and I was sitting on the flying bridge of the F/V Erika Leigh with Lindsey Bloom, 29, one of perhaps a dozen female captains out of the 1,500 or so who convene here every June to chase one of the largest sockeye salmon runs in the world. Bloom, five foot two, her curly red hair pulled back into a ponytail, was hustling her three-man crew through final preparations. "How you guys doing down there?" she shouted to the back deck. It seemed less like a question than an order to keep moving...Link

Scientists create 'artificial brain cell'.......

The team has managed to pass messages within the mind in the same way as nerve cells, using a tiny piece of plastic which can transmit electricity. These messages are used by the brain to control many actions in the body. Correcting when they go awry could be the key to treating some diseases like Parkinson's disease researchers believe. Using the artificial brain cells, called a "delivery electrode", they have managed to control the hearing of guinea pigs...Link

Ron Paul’s bipartisan attack on the Fed...

Ron Paul's legislative history is a lesson in principled failure. Among the bills he has co-sponsored: ending U.S. cooperation with the United Nations, a repeal of antitrust law "to restore the inherent benefits of the market economy," and stripping the government of the right to set a minimum wage. Just last week, he again introduced a bill "to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990," which would presumably make schools less safe but which would reinforce our right to bear arms. For Paul, ideology almost always trumps politics...Link

What a tool............