Minister of Neo Political Correctness from West Palm Beach, United States writes Have we EVER treated one of your PM's in such a shabby manor? --------That would require most Americans to have a clue as to what's beyond their borders. It's hard to protest the leader of another country and watch the latest news on Britney and Lindsay at the same time. GWB is standing up to islamofacism (I used that before he did). -----Yes he's fighting it so well by abandoning the prime terror target in Afghanistan and starting a non related, oil war in Iraq. You call it fighting terror. The world calls is taking your eye off the ball. YOU were first in WW1 and 2 yet now we hear the calls "honest broker" which mean the destruction of Israel. ---We weren't first in these wars but we were well ahead of you. Those were just wars because most Canadians came from lands directly involved in the conflict.

'MAD' JIM CRAMER LOSES GOLDEN $50K BET

The host of CNBC's "Mad Money" now owes $50,000 after losing one of the worst wagers of his entire career to rival trading wiz Eric Bolling.

Cramer, who favors the phrase "Boo Ya," made an on-air bet with Bolling about a year ago that financial services would be the hottest sector of 2007.

Bolling, a former trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange, placed his money on oil and gold.

Investors who took Cramer's advice would have taken a 30 percent hit to their portfolios as the stocks of financial titans such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch got hammered by the mortgage crisis.

On the other hand, investors savvy enough to follow Bolling's bet on gold and oil would have hit the jackpot, as the hot commodities jumped over 60 percent in the same period.

Cramer, through a spokesman, blamed his loss on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's failure to cut interest rates more aggressively.

Speech by Gauteng Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa at the opening of the ...

Together with municipalities and Eskom, and in line with the National Electricity Emergency Plan, we have agreed on a range of measures to manage the crisis in the short, medium and long term.

The first and most important step is to reduce our consumption of electricity by at least 10 percent. All provincial government offices which have not already done so will change to energy efficient globes and switch off lights and appliances at night and when not in use.

In line with the President's call, we call on the public to name and shame those who fail to comply. Departments that were named by Radio 702 as failing to comply such as the Departments of Public Transport, Roads and Works, the Gauteng Legislature building and the Johannesburg Roads Agency will have to take immediate corrective measures.

Major grain merchandiser does away with HTAs

DTN Markets Blogger Pat Hill reports Thursday that the Andersons will no longer write hedge-to-arrive contracts for grain for delivery after August of 2008.

Hedge-to-arrive contracts are forward contracts that don't set the basis until a later date. When basis is wide, that's often a good deal for ag producers. But given the increasingly speculative nature of futures markets, it's become harder and harder for grain merchandisers to hedge that basis risk.

According to the DTN story, there aren't any other major grain firms that have sworn off on hedge-to-arrive contracts yet. But some have reportedly increased fees for those contracts.


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Overseas sales help Sara Lee post profit

Sales of household and body care products and North American retail bakery sales were also strong, Sara Lee said, helping it weather record-high commodities prices that have plagued many competitors.

Sara Lee predicted 2008 revenue of $13.4 billion, while analysts said they expect revenue of $13.22 billion.