The act hadn't been enforced and it was kind of a paper tiger. This will just potentially allow any acquisition to go through a little quicker and with less regulatory scrutiny.

Utilities had been trading in sympathy with energy producers all year. Both sectors had a great run through Sept. 30, but they fell out of bed at the start of the fourth quarter.

The attorney general conceded that the Patriot Act isn't perfect, and that it can be changed without damaging law enforcement's ability to stop terrorists,

Evil is an act, not an appetite. How many haven't wanted to slash the throat of some boor across the dining room table? Present company excepted of course. Everyone has the appetite. If you give in to it, it, that act is evil. The appetite is normal.

He's gone after six weeks, but his story-line sends him off to Somalia and he will eventually come back . . . possibly to All Saints , ... We'll just have to wait and see.

Hopefully, Jeanne will be the last hurricane for a while. It's quite a balancing act, but we're just a handful of days from the election.