Greg In The Desert

But for investors who want to hedge against potential economic turmoil, "buying gold is a very good idea for 2009," says Chuck Butler, president of EverBank World Markets in St. Louis.

Cash4Gold is completely ready and willing to screw you. They are far away (unless you live in Pompano Beach, Florida), casting a big infomercial net across late-night television, trying to snag gold as cheaply as they can from anyone. They don't care if you are insulted by the first offer, because they have a larger offer in their front pocket. A MUCH larger offer, ready to hand over as soon as you turn to exit.

We talked to seven state troopers from across the country—Florida, New Jersey, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Oregon, and New Mexico—and asked, “What are the five best things a motorist can do when pulled over, and what are the five worst?” We wanted to know which procedures would render a traffic stop as painless as possible for both parties. There wasn’t a perfect consensus, but the answers went pretty much like this:

It is, though, the “foreign” kebab that is being kicked out of Italian cities as it becomes the target of a campaign against ethnic food, backed by the centre-right Government of Silvio Berlusconi.

The drive to make Italians eat Italian, which was described by the Left and leading chefs as gastronomic racism, began in the town of Lucca this week, where the council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening within the ancient city walls.

President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are moving to cap Wall Street bonuses and pay.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it’s “very safe” to assume that new rules guiding the administration’s financial rescue will address bonuses and executive pay.

“People come here because they want to work hard and get paid a lot for working hard,” one investment banker said Friday as he wended his way, lunch bag in hand, through the World Financial Center. “I think there’s a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”