Cartels Face an Economic Battle.......

ARCATA, Calif. -- Stiff competition from thousands of mom-and-pop marijuana farmers in the United States threatens the bottom line for powerful Mexican drug organizations in a way that decades of arrests and seizures have not, according to law enforcement officials and pot growers in the United States and Mexico...Link

Ron Paul Calls for Delay.................

In a letter they will send to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd this afternoon, Reps. Ron Paul (R., Tex.) and Alan Grayson (D., Fla.) will ask that the Senate hold off on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s confirmation hearing until the central bank releases more information about its rescues...Link

Electrical Wire Tears Apart Tree - Watch more Funny Videos

Gold sets record high above $1,040 per ounce.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold eased from record highs on Wednesday as investors took profits, but sentiment remained bullish and a fresh record was within sight as the dollar's weakness and inflation concerns reinforced bullion's appeal as a hedge. Both spot gold and U.S. gold futures have benefited from factors including technical buying, growing talk of countries diversifying foreign reserves or settlement currencies away from the dollar, and inflation concerns fueled by current massive fiscal stimulus measures and aggressive monetary easing...Link

House cuts workweek to 2 1/2 days..........

In theory, the best job in American politics is the President of the United States. But the president's now got some competition: House Representative. The Democratic-led House -- in the middle of the biggest healthcare fight in a generation -- has now trimmed their workweek to just two and a half days, leaving members of Congress plenty of time to ski or play golf. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) promised after the Democrats won the House in 2006 and then after Obama's election this year that the House would hold longer workweeks. But as the fall of 2009 wanes, the House has taken to starting on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm and adjourning "before the sun goes down" on Thursdays...Link

Time to Declaw PATRIOT Act............

You remember the USA PATRIOT Act, don’t you? It was that 342-page bill that sped through a supplicant Congress within weeks of 9/11, dismantling our privacy rights like a castoff Hollywood set. A reauthorization in 2006 made some things better and some worse, but mostly the law stayed the same – really bad for American freedom. Well, it is time to revisit this act of congressional cowardice that vastly expanded the ability of the government to unjustly intrude on our private lives. Three provisions will expire by the end of the year, which means Congress will have to act...Link

Update - HR 1207 - 301 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.

Fed stay in bailout disclosure case.....

WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday granted the Federal Reserve's request for a stay of a ruling that would have forced the U.S. central bank to release the names of banks that participated in its emergency lending programs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted the stay of a lower court ruling in August that ordered the release of the data sought by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request, according to Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller...Link