In California…Idyllwild, though chock full of brush, a real danger during what amounts to the in-state October “fire season,” takes issue with its fire officials. Not being able to stand what it considers authoritarian bullying and unnecessary displays of power, the area has treated its department in a manner Capt. Jim Marietta likened to “the old Frankenstein movies..where the town is approaching with pitchforks.” Yikes.

OPEC Puts Kabosh on Output Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reduced its production by 1.5 million barrels a day, citing the credit crisis and thus decrease in demand as output limiting incentives. Or is it the advent of the Escalade Hybrid?? We’ll never know…

Stocks: Like Lava Down a Mountain Alas; here we go again. Stocks plummeted 300 points this morning causing a sell off that itself was due to what The New York Times reported were “dismal corporate earnings and poor economic data around the world.”

But…Iowa Proof Some Local Banks Ok Yet some banks have showed that on a smaller scale, things are fine. Farmers Savings Bank of Colesburg, Iowa has had no foreclosures, no tightening credit! Well that’s refreshing. Relying on the same customers they’ve had as well as a very local internal farming-based economy, lending is on the up-and-up (or at least at a constant) and these banks are continuing as they were.

Pakistan Taking on the Taliban Tribal militias, or “lashkars,” are one of the tools the country’s employed while it wages a war against the Taliban and backer Al Qaeda. As both militant presences and the war in neighboring Afghanistan has become more, rather than less, Pakistan’s looked for fr help anywhere it could find it. Though often untrained as well as untried, these tribal militias have proven to be valiant and will hopefully be helpful in that fight.

Tags: farmers savings bank, fire department, frankestein, idyllwild, iowa, kabosh, opec, output, pakistan, stocks, taliban, tribal militia