Who Loves Ya, Baby?

The true origins of celebrating the notion of romantic love on February 14 are not well documented, though the exchange of elaborate, handmade gifts between paramours was well established by the middle of the eighteenth century in England, and began to really take off in the United States once Esther Howland (herself now considered something of a saint by the American Greeting Card Association) began selling mass-produced Valentine’s cards in the 1840s.

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A Wing And A Prayer

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke responded to worldwide stock market declines of 5% Monday with a 75 basis-point cut in the Fed Funds rate Tuesday morning. The Fed’s largest single rate cut in 23 years was more notable for its coming just a week before the regularly scheduled meeting of the Fed Board of Governors on January 30.

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Update on Freedom’s March

It’s been called “the defining struggle of our time” by the rootin’-tootin’est vice president this country has ever had. Faced with criticism over his policies, or doubt concerning progress in the so-called War on Terror, our least-popular president ever invariably fends off nattering nabobs of negativism with one of his own favorite mantras: “freedom’s on the march.”

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