Trade Deficit Reaches $58.2 Billion:

The New York Times reports that "imports of goods and services climbed to $206.4 billion" during January, creating a deficit of $58.2 billion, up half a billion over December.

Oil and gas prices reached another record yesterday with crude reaching $109.72 per barrel, as speculators continue to drive the market to artificial highs. The best guess is that oil should cost around $80 per barrel.

One in Four Teen Girls Infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases:

A national study reveals that, while teen pregnancy rates may have fallen, STDs are still endemic among teens. (Read the NYTimes story here.)

Spitzer Resigns:

National Public Radio reports that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has just announced his resignation in the wake of the recent revelation that he has hired high priced prostitutes, including requesting them to travel across state lines, on multiple occasions.

While we're on the topic, here's a good one from David Letterman: "Holy cow! We can't get bin Laden, but we got Spitzer" (from today's NYTimes).

Question of the Hour:

Okay, you're a man about to sit at a table with Senator Clinton, do you offer to pull the chair out for her because she's a woman, the gentlemanly thing to do, or do you seat yourself and allow her to do the same because she's just as good as any man?

It's a trick question.

Speaking of health care, back on March 10, 2006, the Great Man said, "And so I'm for medical liability at the federal level." — George W. Bush. Well, it's hard to see why not!

The Partitioning of the Sub-Continent:

Few in the west know much about the partitioning of India in 1947 other than the little they may have learned if they've seen the 1982 award winning movie, Ghandi. Today's Washington Post carries a story that's a good place to start learning more about the region and the difficulties that exist between India and Pakistan, two countries that possess nuclear weapons and have already fought wars. The story focuses on the night that twenty-six women in one family allowed the men in the family to lop off their heads with a sword in order to avoid being kidnapped and raped. During the partitioning of 1947, more than 70,000 women were abducted and raped. More than 500,000 people were murdered, and some 14,000,000 people were displaced.

While in the U. S., people have difficulty remembering what took place last week, most of the rest of the world have long memories.