The U.S. “strong dollar” policy continues to work its magic:

The dollar faced renewed downward pressure on Tuesday, falling to fresh three-year lows against the yen and within sight of record lows against the euro, amid mounting concern over the scale of the US current account deficit.
Economists believe stronger US growth will not prevent the slide in the dollar, since it would lead to a further widening of the current account deficit, expected to reach $570bn this year.
The dollar dropped below Y110 for the first time in three years, prompting market reports that a subsequent rally was the result of further intervention by the Bank of Japan.

The dollar also hit a seven-year low against the Canadian dollar.
While this trend may provide a short-term boon for U.S. exporters, it can’t be sustained indefinitely. At some point, foreign intervention won’t cover for America’s growing trade and governmental deficits. And then we’re going to have problems on both sides of the oceans.

What kind of music might you be hearing more of in restaurants?
Classical :

Researchers found that classical music, often associated with affluence, was the most successful in encouraging people to part with their cash, with diners spending more than �24 ($40) a head.
But when the music was Britney Spears, diners spent less than �22 ($36.75) a head, they found.
With no background music, spending fell to around �21 ($35).

Now if they can only determine which type of classical music makes patrons feel least overweight. . . .

Be careful what you publicly wish for:

Kendel Ehrlich, wife of the state’s Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, had been criticizing what she views as the entertainment industry’s negative influence on youth, during a domestic violence prevention conference last week in the city of Frederick.
“Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would,” Ehrlich laughingly told the audience, accusing the 21-year-old Grammy Award-nominated singer of exaggerating the importance of sex for young girls.

Shoot Britney?
My.

I thought this race-driven eyesore would fade away into Internet obscurity. But apparently not.
CalPundit notes that President Bush’s new campaign weblog links to his I’m-compassionate-because-I mingle-with-black-people photo album. Guess they’re pretty proud of their photo ops.

It’s looking more and more like the rock band Hell on Earth’s claim that they would feature a suicide of a terminally ill person at a concert and broadcast it over the Internet was a hoax.
The only thing clear at this point is that the webcast of the a suicide did not take place, because the site was attacked and/or overwhelmed by traffic. (The site was reportedly being bombarded with 800 hits per second, which suggests a lot of people are comfortable watching that kind of thing.)
As for the other details, there’s been conflicting reports as to whether or not:

there was an actual concert on Saturday;
there was a suicide Saturday in conjunction with the concert; and
if there will be another concert next week, possibly including a suicide.

This confusion casts suspicion on the story. The entire episode smells of a ploy to generate media buzz.
Billy Tourtelot, the group’s leader, claimed that the suicide had been planned in accordance with the victim’s wishes to promote the cause of assisted suicide. A public spectacle like this would have done just the opposite. So hopefully this whole thing was just a bluff.