February 21, 2009
http://www.spaceweather.com/
"The sun is blank--no sunspots. Sunspot number: 0"
"Far side of the Sun: This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far
side of the sun."
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet

The face of the Sun is without blemish:
http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...jaqmnunh r836

Please visit:
http://blog.nj.com/southjersey_impac...SolarCycle.jpg

The right panel shows the face of the Sun as it looked on a good day during
the late Modern Warm Period. Sunspots are the apparent size of craters on
the moon. The left panel shows a spotless Sun as seen today.

Please write to Al Gore so that Al knows that the Sun is not living up to
his religious expectations. Al Gore is a divinity school dropout. George
Carlin had a better grasp of the true nature of God's creation, than does Al
Gore.

Please visit:
http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsl...es/sun-etc.jpg
which shows the relative sizes of the Sun and planets. Compared to the Sun,
Jupiter is the size of a pea, earth is the size of a grain of sand.

Posted: February 20, 2009, 12:17 PM ET

World Markets Slide Over Ongoing Economic Woes

Continuing concerns over the depth and breadth of the economic meltdown
rippled through world markets Friday, pushing U.S. stocks to extend deep
losses and sending overseas markets tumbling.

The Dow fell 133.97, or 1.79 percent, to 7,331.98 in early Friday trading.
On Thursday, the Dow fell to its lowest level since Oct. 9, 2002, the depths
of the last bear market.

Stocks have slumped or fallen flat over the past two weeks as investors
expressed skepticism over the Obama administration's financial rescue plan
and in reaction to weak economic data reports. The market's inability to
rally appears to signal that investors don't have a sense of when the
recession, already 14 months old, will end.

Overseas, stock prices fell almost 2 percent in Japan and plummeted in key
European markets Friday, partially in reaction to the Dow's weak close on
Thursday.

Key financial stocks, including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.,
dropped in premarket trading after being battered Thursday. Both Citigroup
and Bank of America have been among the hardest hit by the crisis in the
financial industry and have received billions in government aid to help
shore up their books.

Weak fourth-quarter earnings reports from Lowe's and J.C. Penney also
provided new evidence of the recession's continued impact on the business
and retail sectors of the economy.

"You can look at everybody's trading screen and see nothing but red," Tim
Smalls, head of United States stock trading at Execution LLC in Greenwich,
Conn., told the New York Times.

In a monthly report on Friday, the Bank of Japan said economic conditions
were deteriorating rapidly and were likely to continue to worsen for the
time being.

Asian stocks slumped on Friday to their lowest since early December. Asian
finance ministers will consider expanding a currency swap scheme to $120
billion from $80 billion at a meeting this weekend to help protect their
economies, Reuters reported.

"People just don't know where the bottom is," Desmond Tjiang, Hong
Kong-based chief investment officer at Fortis Investment Management, told
the Associated Press.

In Thailand, exports plummeted 26.5 percent in January. Asia's export-driven
economies are suffering as demand for cars, cameras and other goods drops
off in the West.

European stocks dropped to a six-year low as investors fretted about the
prospect of more capital increases and possible bank nationalizations as the
economic downturn deepens.

"We're near the cliff's edge, very close to capitulation, the mood is very
gloomy," Jean-Claude Petit, head of equities at Barclays Wealth Managers
France, told Reuters.

Concerns are also intensifying over the level of exposure of Western
European banks to struggling Eastern European economies. Investors headed
for safe-haven gold and government bonds, while oil fell.

Germany's upper house approved a $62.88 billion stimulus package on Friday
to help it withstand its worst recession since World War II.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said countries are
considering how relatively strong euro zone nations may be able to help
weaker members of the currency union, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in
January. The rise in the Consumer Price Index, which is a key measure of
inflation, was the largest gain since July. The uptick may ease fears that
the U.S. could face a protracted stretch of falling prices known as
deflation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased
0.2 percent. Economists were anticipating core inflation would rise 0.1
percent.


---- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources