Justices take up gun rights in D.C. case

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gets to write on a blank slate when it takes up the meaning of the Second Amendment "right to keep and bear arms" and the District of Columbia's ban on handguns.

The nine justices have said almost nothing about gun rights, and their predecessors have likewise given no definitive answer to whether the Constitution protects an individual's right to own guns or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

The case that will be argued Tuesday is among the most closely watched of the term, drawing 68 briefs from outside groups. Most of those support an individual's right to own a gun.

"This may be one of the only cases in our lifetime when the Supreme Court is going to interpret an important provision of our Constitution unencumbered by precedent," said Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett.

Fed expected to cut rates by 1 point

Sinking in a pool of desperado, the Fed is expected to cut interest rates by a full point on Tuesday, crushing the life out of the US dollar. Recent financial news has thrown the economy into a recession that sees no light at the end of the tunnel. To top it off inflationary pressures from continued high priced oil, metals, and commodities are sapping the US consumer to a breaking point. Realestate forclosures are sky rocketing as well as job losses.

The financial news corespondents faces wrenched today as the news surfaced that a large financial institution collapsed in a matter of days. They were hoping that the bottom had been hit in this mess only to find a deeper pool of destruction awaiting this Monday morning.

Riding this storm out is proving to be historical. The mess is hitting the fan too fast. Nothing thus far that the Fed has done has helped. No one now knows where the bottom is or if there is one. The only lucky or smart investors today have seen this coming a year or so ago and have invested in precious metals to help stabilize their portfolio.

More to come,

Thomas, Chief Editor

100-year-old model for electric car coming back

To promote itself, Detroit Electric--a new joint venture between Zap and China's Youngman Automotive Group--plan to release a limited number of cars based around the Detroit Electric, an electric car produced by the Anderson Electric Car Co. in the early part of the 20th century.
Anderson produced various models of the Detroit Electric from 1907 to 1939. Customers included Henry Ford and Rockefeller. It was also featured on a stamp. TV host Jay Leno has some of the cars in his collection.
When the opportunity came up to buy the brand, Zap and Youngman decided to go for it, said Zap co-founder and CEO Steve Schneider. The reissued car will be based on a model from around 100 years ago.

"For the bride to be, or the bride of many Junes ago, a Detroit Electric," read a company advertisement from decades ago. "No other bridal present means so much, expresses so perfectly all you need to say."

The company advertised quite a bit in Cosmopolitan. During the 1910s, Anderson employed 1,100 people (and not a drunkard, scalawag or reprobate among them!).

Back in 1917, a Detroit Electric cost anywhere from $1,775 to $2,375--in other words, fit for the proletarian or plutocrat. The cars could go 65 miles to 100 miles on a battery charge, but only go at speeds ranging from 6 miles per hour to 25 mph.

Although the company was growing in the 1910s, prices continued to drop on combustion cars, which started to sap sales in the 1920s. The stock market crash of 1929 then took a toll on the company. It lingered through the 1930s before collapsing in 1939.

But it wasn't for lack of enthusiasm.

"The magnificent Detroit Electric is easily the enclosed car sensation of the year," read another ad. Huzzah!

Detroit, in its new incarnation, will start coming out with electric economy cars in 2010.

U.S. Feb. industrial production falls 0.5%

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. industrial production took a bigger-than-expected decline in February, falling by 0.5% as output fell sharply at utilities, the Federal Reserve reported Monday.