All Hail Hillary Finally, a presidential candidate who, if elected, will end the war. How much you want to bet that before long, most all candidates, yes, even the R’s, will be running to get on the end the war bandwagon?

Bad Spuds Not even Idaho can escape corporate crooks. John H. Whittier, majority shareholder and former head of Wood River Capital Management has been indicted on charges of engaging in securities fraud that cost investors a cool $88 million, and that ain’t potatoes.

$180 Million A Day By contrast, Exxon and Shell managed to earn a paltry $180 million per day last year. Don’t begrudge them that though, because in a decade or so, these and their sister petrochemical companies will disappear in a cloud of exhaust as gas guzzling countries rush to embrace alternative fuels, and we won’t have to worry about war in the Middle East.

$86,666.66 Per Second No, not more excessive oil looting but the cost of a Super Bowl ad on CBS. Kevin Federline hasn’t been in such high paid company since getting the big Britney boot.

Score Card – Progress Iraq Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he’d done a good job in Iraq. I hope I’m around when they interview the guy who did a bad job. Washington is gearing up for another week of indecision and in-fighting as senators and congressmen try to figure out what’s going on amid the swirl of American and Iraqi misinformation. One thing is clear: those who want the money machine of war to keep on churning will vote to continue the war. One thing is not clear: where are the responsible senators and congressmen who have the guts to end the war now, not in 12 to 18 months, not in six months, NOW! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. CONTINUING THIS WAR IS THE ONLY DISASTER.

More Gaps at Gap Another CEO has been ousted as The Gap tries to figure out what business to be in. Selling good quality at a fair price with good service usually works. Of course, they first have to decide to whom they want to sell and then buy several hundred millions of dollars in TV ads to let us know if it’s us.

Boston Bombs As everyone in the world now knows, an advertising stunt for Turner Broadcasting, a Time Warner unit, blew up in everyone’s face this past week as panicky Bostonians were sure they had become targets of a terrorist plot. As it turns out, it was nothing more than a couple of creative types having a bad hair day. Red-faced and apologetic, Turner will pick up the $500,000 plus or minus tab that it cost Boston police to defuse the problem. Cheap, considering the millions in free advertising Turner got, and the admiration it no doubt gained from the millions of 18 to 24 year-olds who are the stunt's target market.

HP VII No not another sordid Hewlett-Packard story, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final J.K. Rowling offering in the (fill in adjectives) best selling series due out in July.

The SEC and Pequot This stinks more each time a new page is turned, and it’s beginning to sound like a few very powerful people need to go to jail. Stay tuned to a news source that isn’t beholding to big business for future developments.

Capitalism and Minimum Wages Isn’t it odd that a minimum wage has to be dictated by government? It seems to me that a company that can’t make enough to pay its employees a decent wage ought not to be in business. $7.50, the new minimum wage standard with which our government can’t seem to come to grips, is a $15,000 a year, OK for teenager pocket money, but try raising a family on that paltry sum.

That’s all for this week, my friends. Do what you can to stop the war.!