In the news department today, I've got a couple of issues to deal with from my column on Wednesday... and also the column from Tuesday.

If you recall, I ran a story and link about how you could check to see if the bank you were making your mortgage payments to, actually had the original mortgage note... or not. I had two horrified readers contact me about this. They told me in no uncertain terms that the "Where's the Note?" link is part of an SEIU web-page. Apparently SEIU stands for "Service Employees International Union"... an organization that really freaked out these two readers. If you scroll down to the bottom of page one on that web page... the SEIU privacy policy is right there... along with their [and others] logo. So, if you haven't submitted your request through this link, I would advise you not to. If you really want to know where your mortgage note is, I suggest you contact your mortgage company directly and do it the old fashioned way. I apologize for this, as my intentions were nothing but honourable... as, I'm sure, was the person who sent me the link in the first place.

And from my Tuesday column... and I can't believe I made this mistake, because I really do know better, even though I live up here in Canada. Alan Mark Grayson, who is currently serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 8th congressional district is a Democrat... not a Republican. I apologize for my error to all my readers who I offended... and I thank the huge number of you that were kind enough to point out the error of my ways.

My first real story of the day is one that we've all seen on TV over the last thirty-six hours... the miracle in Chile... and it really was a miracle. The yahoo.com headline reads "They're all out: 33 miners raised safely in Chile"... and the link is here.

The next story is courtesy of Australian reader Wesley Legrand. It's a story from London's Financial Times that was reprinted in a cnbc.com article on Tuesday. The headline reads "US Cities Face Half a Trillion Dollars of Pension Deficits". This is a very disturbing story... and the further you read, the more disturbing it becomes. It's a 2-minute read that I feel is worth your time... and the link is here.

Here's Wesley's second contribution to today's column. It's another Financial Times story... but this one is posted over at cnn.com. The headline reads "Fears of global currency war rise". Now Thailand is getting into the act. That country is introducing a 15% withholding tax on foreign holdings of bonds, the latest in a string of attempts by emerging economies to curb destabilizing capital inflows. Imbedded in the story are several video clips about the possibility of a global currency war... and the link to all of that is here.

The next item for your reading pleasure is a GATA release. It's the latest market letter from Murray Pollitt of Pollitt & Co. in Toronto. Pollitt says that the "signs are all there for an earth-shaking currency collapse." This is a must read... and his commentary is headlined "Economic Hallucinations"... and the link is here.

Before I get into my gold-related stories, I have three graphs for you today. The first is from Wesley Legrand... and, as you can see by the credits on the graph itself, it's been around the block a time or two... and for very good reason. The graph title is self explanatory... and needs no further embellishment from me.

Another Australian provided the next two graphs... that being Nick Laird over at sharelynx.com. I was just about to e-mail him and ask for these, when they suddenly appeared in my in-box. Nick can obviously read my mind. The first is the PM Funds Index, which you've seen in this column on a regular basis. I'm delighted to see that it has finally broken above its old highs from back in 2008.

The second chart, which I also post regularly, is the Silver Seven Stock Index. It hasn't broken out to new highs yet, but it's certainly heading in the right direction in a hurry. The 'Silver Seven' include Coeur d'Alene Mines, First Majestic Silver, Hecla Mining, Pan American Silver, Industrias Peñoles, Silver Wheaton... and Silver Standard Resources. They are all equally weighted in this graph.

I only have two gold-related stories for you today. The first is a GATA release that Chris Powell has headlined "BIS collects a lot more gold, but from whom?". Imbedded in Chris Powell's preamble is a story that's posted over at the mineweb.com bearing the headline "BIS Taking in More Gold -- Who Are the Counterparties This Time?" As author Rhona O'Connell asks in the opening paragraph... "It's 10 a.m. Eastern time -- do you know where your gold is?" Chris Powell's preamble, plus the mineweb.com story itself, are both worth your time... and the link is here.

My last golden offering of the day is a piece that's posted over at The Atlantic magazine. The headline reads "Uncle Sam’s Mysterious Hoard". The author asks... "In lean times, why is $300 billion worth of government treasure simply sitting in vaults?" In researching this article, the writer can't figure out why he can't get answers from the U.S. government about the U.S. gold reserves. GATA has been asking these questions for about eleven years with the same results. We're hopeful that our lawsuit against the Fed will yield some results. The article is a must read... and the photo is worth the trip all by itself... and the link is here.

And this just in from King World News at 5:17 a.m. this morning. It's commentary from James Turk that's headlined "Gold, Silver & What Bulls Dream About". This blog is a short read... and a must read... and the link is here.