Greg In The Desert

The big reason? As investors look for security in troubled financial times, gold prices over the past year have been hovering near highs last seen two decades ago, closing Feb. 2 at $903 an ounce. 

At the same time, costs for television ad time are dropping as more-traditional advertisers cut spending, creating an opening for aggressive advertising by gold-buying outfits. Industry leader Cash4Gold even broke into the elite Super Bowl advertising showcase, shelling out $3 million for a spot. Its ad on Sunday featured MC Hammer and Ed McMahon, both known for their financial woes, kissing good-bye their various metallic treasures, ranging from golden golf clubs to a gold toilet.

The so-called ’sour grapes’ lawsuit by three Democrats defeated in the primary officially is done, with the deadline for appeal having passed.

Former state senators James Taylor and Shannon Robinson and state representative Dan Silva all lost in the Democratic primary and blamed some progressive non-profits based in Albuquerque for their loss. So, in August of last year, the three sued to get the election overturned. The suit was tossed out of District Court by District Judge Linda M. Vanzi in November and the three former lawmakers vowed to appeal.

The surprising answer, according to teams of biologists and molecular geneticists from Stanford University, UCLA, Sweden, Canada and Italy, is that the black coats are the result of historical matings between black dogs and wild gray wolves.

White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro reacted to new Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids at medical cannabis collectives in California, saying he expects President Obama to end that policy when a new DEA Administrator is seated. “The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” Shapiro said.

INTEL Corp today announced plans to close its assembly and test plant in Shanghai, which employs 2,000 workers, and shift its operations to a cheaper region. 

But Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, said it will increase investment in China by US$110 million.

Intel will close the Shanghai plant, its first in China costing US$500 million, within the next 12 months. The chipmaker will shift the operations to the western Chinese city of Chengdu.

Intel said it will give the 2,000 workers the opportunity to apply for jobs in its plants in Chengdu and Dalian.

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, that:

1. That the State of Arizona hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.

Suddenly, you find yourself in the center of a circle of boys and they are all calling you “Gay Gabe” and then they push a smallish, fourth grader into the center with you and begin to chant, “FIGHT! FIGHT!! FIGHT!!!” You know who this other boy is and don’t want to fight. He’s got a bad reputation and is just two days back from two weeks suspension. Then… He hits you. You try to run but the circle of boys tightens and they push you back to the center. You yell at them to let you go but they don’t hear you through their chanting.

Associated Press is going after Shepherd Fairey for copyright enfringement for appropriating their Obama photo for his iconic Hope poster. Fairey has always been forthcoming about the shot by photographer Manny Garcia, who was on assignment for AP when he snapped it at the National Press Club in DC three years ago.

A federal grand jury probe of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys during the Bush administration is focusing on the role played by recently retired Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and former senior Bush White House aides in the 2006 dismissal of David Iglesias as U.S. attorney for New Mexico, according to legal sources familiar with the inquiry.

The Vatican has ordered a bishop who denied that Jews were gassed in chambers during the Holocaust , to publicly recant his views if he wants to serve as a senior cleric in the Roman Catholic Church.