By: Darryl_R_Schoon
Aug 27, 2008
I have a bad feeling about what’s about to happen. The Great Depression is the closest that comes to mind. I, like most, was not alive during the 1930s when it happened. Nonetheless, what once was feared in private is now being discussed in public. It’s going to be bad. It’s [...]

Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced a major shift in the priorities of both governments and individuals and an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources. This shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human [...]

By G. Asgar Mitha

In 2002, David Rockefeller wrote in his book Memoirs (Chapter 27, The Proud Internationalists) that “some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as internationalists and of conspiring with others around the world to build a [...]

by Zahir Ebrahim
The blogosphere is now filled with a plethora of interesting analysis and postmortem of the Russian-Georgian conflagration. Many scholars, academics, and activists are weighing in with their analysis on what happened. The two most illuminating (as usual) have come from globalresearch.ca and can be read here and here. Some others have also provided [...]

J. Victor Marshall
In Russia even more than in America, “Kosovo” rhymes with “I told you so.”
Many Americans don’t realize that the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which broke away in 1999 after US-led NATO forces bombed Serbia for 78 days, helped set the stage for the recent conflict between Russia and neighboring Georgia.

Richard Silverstein
August 27, 2008
In all the coverage of Joe Lieberman’s address to the Christians United for Israel gala last month, only Justin Vogt, writing for The National, seems to have noticed that Lieberman tacitly called for Israel to attack Iran.

August 27, 2008
Frank Barbera, CMT, is a veteran money manager and currently the editor of The Gold Stock Technician [GST] Newsletter, published since 1993. Barbera uses technical indicators to analyze precious metals and mining stocks, as well as oil and the overall market. Barbera has also managed private equity capital for a number of [...]

Commentary: Have a strong plan and enough cash to weather financial storms
By Chuck Jaffe
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — The common-sense standard financial advice for consumers is to keep several months of cash-flow needs in an emergency account, separate from long-term investments and available on a moment’s notice in case trouble strikes.
These are not “standard” times. The [...]

By Eric Dash and Geraldine Fabrikant
August 27, 2008
WASHINGTON: Sheila Bair anticipated the U.S. mortgage crisis long before most other regulators. But she said she never dreamed it would wreak so much havoc on so many banks.
More than a year after the credit crisis first flared, Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., [...]

By Jeff Randall
26/08/2008
If, like me, you are a sad addict of financial punditry across all media (I particularly enjoy some of the more eccentric websites), you will know there’s currently an acute polarising of opinion between the Micawbers, who think that we’re over the worst and foresee recovery next year, and those at the other [...]

by Wilton D. Alston
Exclusive to STR
August 27, 2008
“It is the continuing decline in faith in the politicization of society that has, for well over a year, made the 2008 presidential race the preoccupation of the mainstream media. The media must continue to advertise the products and services of the establishment owners, just as it does [...]

‘Do As You Are Told, Or We Will Kill You’
by Jeff Knaebel
“Communism is power based upon force and limited to nothing, by no kind of law and by absolutely no set rule.”
~ Lenin’s Collected Works, Vol. XVIII, page 361
The (American) “security organs” can designate and kill as they see fit

by Bob Murphy
In Monday’s Wall Street Journal, L. Gordon Crovitz had an op ed, “Privacy? We Got Over It.” The article is amazing not for what it says, but for what it omits. That someone could discuss privacy concerns with virtually no reference to the danger of government abuse is astounding, and shows that the [...]

by Gary North
The media have covered such recent events as the Olympics, the selection of Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and what John McCain is going to do about the selection of the Vice President of the Republican Party. Now the media will focus on the national convention of [...]

American politicians are for sale – and so is our foreign policy
Justin Raimondo
August 27, 2008
“Politics stops at the water’s edge” is an old aphorism that aptly describes the history and current trend of American politics. The period marking the run-up to World War II was the last time we saw any meaningful discussion of [...]

by Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt
August 27, 2008
What a difference four and a half years makes. When I first penned “The Wild Weapons of DARPA,” in March 2004, I was a new TomDispatch writer; the war in Iraq was not yet a year old; the war in Afghanistan had been bubbling for less than two [...]

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.
Medvedev says that the deployment of an anti-missile system close to Russian borders “will of course create additional tensions.”

By Alison Vekshin
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said its “problem list” of banks increased 30 percent in the second quarter to the highest total in five years as more commercial real-estate loans were overdue.
The list had 117 banks as of June 30, up from 90 in the first quarter [...]

By Daniel Taylor
Related: Australian paper proclaims: A New World Order as U.S. prosperity falls
After the recent Georgian incursion into South Ossetia, discussion has been rampant regarding America’s influence and dominance on the world scene. Some are proclaiming that Russia has laid to rest aspirations for a so called New World Order. From one angle this [...]

Stephen Steenkamer
In his speech, “On the Threshold of the New World Order: A Rebirth for the United Nations,” Biden called for meddling in the former Soviet Union and China, imposing a “free economy” on these countries — i.e., allowing the international bankers to freely loot and pillage — and expanding NATO and allowing it [...]

by David Flynn
August 26, 2008
On 8/8/08 this year at the opening ceremonies for the Olympics in Beijing, an all star cast of current and retired world leaders attended. George Bush Jr., Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown were there to name a few. The obvious question was, why? What was so important about these Olympic [...]

Tuesday August 26
Private housing index shows home prices tumbling by record amount nationwide in June
NEW YORK (AP) — A widely watched index released Tuesday showed home prices dropping by the sharpest rate ever in the second quarter, but the data for June suggest the severity of the housing slump may be waning.

by James Howard Kunstler
As the political conventions descend like the soggy forces of nature they have become — the tropical depressions of politics — the Republican party will be seen, with growing clarity, as the party that wrecked America. So many shoes are about to drop, and so many dominoes lined up to fall [...]

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on….or by imbeciles who really mean it.” – Mark Twain
The United States of America is about as far from united as we’ve been since the Civil War. The two major parties agree on virtually no major issues. The only [...]

by Christopher Laird
Where are we now in the credit crisis, and why isn’t the massive Fed and ECB weekly lending working to loosen interbank lending? Why is the credit crisis not really improving? Where is this going next? We describe what may happen next as Credit Crisis II in this article.

by Lenora Foerstel
August 26, 2008
The Trilateral Commission was founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller as an off-shoot of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR). David Rockefeller was chairman of the CFR in 1970 and subsequently became the founding chairman of the Trilateral Commission. Soon the membership of the Commission had grown to 300 members, including [...]

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
August 26, 2008
Thinking about the massive failure of the US media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark–indeed brainwashed–about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.

By Martin Hutchinson
Aug 27, 2008
The echoes of the 1930s in the current situation are not confined to foreign policy. Economically also, the parallels between the 1929-32 downturn and the current difficulties are becoming alarmingly apparent. It must be remembered: the Great Depression became such, as distinct from a garden-variety downturn, though egregious policy errors [...]

By Becky Barrow
26th August 2008
Millions of families will be put under severe strain by the worst economic crisis since the 1970s, one of Britain’s most powerful bankers warned yesterday.
Charles Bean, deputy governor of the Bank of England, said families are facing ‘difficult social issues’.

Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Reading Fort Collins Now, formerly Fort Collins Weekly, one has to ask if Julia Cobb got her journalism degree out of a crackerjack box. Reporting on the events outside the DNC yesterday, Cobb describes Alex Jones’ confrontation with the neocon Michelle Malkin as follows:

Phony anarchist group calls Alex Jones “agent provocateur” and a racist during confrontation
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
During Alex Jones’ confrontation with Neo-Con poster child Michelle Malkin at DNC yesterday, the phony right-wing ideologue enjoyed the support of seemingly strange bedfellows, the self-proclaimed liberal anarchist group Re-Create 68, who subsequently attempted to smear Jones [...]

John Mauldin
Aug 25, 2008
Let’s turn to Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE). There must be some people who think their shareholders won’t lose everything, as their shares still actually trade. This just goes to show that you can fool some of the people some of the time. And as we’ll see, some of those people [...]

By Greg Peel
Aug 26
The following appeared at the top of major US bullion dealer Kitco’s website last night:
“IMPORTANT NEW NOTICE: Demand for bullion products has increased significantly in recent days. As a result, we may experience delays in supply and possibly delays in processing and shipping by our vaults. We apologize for this inconvenience and [...]

The Mogambo Guru
26 August 2008
There comes that “Kodak moment” (elsewhere referred to as that “Wile E. Coyote moment” when he has run off the cliff and is surprised to see himself momentarily suspended in mid-air) when burgeoning governments and the dysfunctional economies that grow up around them have grown and evolved into their final, [...]

Not smarter than 5th grader? Dumber than a voter? Expect a 2011 crash?
By Paul B. Farrell
Aug. 25, 2008
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Most investors are not only dumber than a fifth grader but also stupider than an American voter. Not you, right? We’ll see.
Stick with me closely today. I want you to review and [...]

By Stephen Foley
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
The number of unsold homes on the market in the United States is at levels not seen for at least 40 years, and prices are continuing to slide, according to a disheartening new survey.
With participants throughout the financial system saying that the credit crisis cannot end until the US [...]

by Vin Suprynowicz
I’m a coin collector, in a small way. British issues of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, mostly: Pistrucci, the Wyons – apogee of the engraver’s art.
To determine the market value of such coins, advanced collectors keep up to date on current auctions, stuff like that. But as a starting point, the [...]

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Time magazine recently took a break from advocating the nationalization of health care, a massive enlargement of the welfare state, and swooning over Barack Obama (who’s been on the cover seven times to date this year) to compile a list of America’s worst vice presidents. It’s mostly politically-correct baloney with just enough [...]

Of Moose and Pit Bulls
by Fred Reed
I wonder whether the United States hadn’t ought to re-ponder the place of the military in society and in the world. There is not the slightest chance that this will happen, but wondering has not yet been forbidden. It appears to me that bureaucratic clotting set in years back, [...]

Pat Buchanan compares Moscow to Hitler-aligned Mussolini snubbed by the West
By Patrick J. Buchanan
August 26, 2008
A year after taking power, in June 1934, Adolf Hitler made his first visit abroad – to his idol Benito Mussolini in Venice.
Babbling on incessantly about “Mein Kampf “and the Negroid strain in Mediterranean peoples, the fuhrer made a dismal [...]

Police department arrests, jails, investigates 10 officers in 4 months
August 25, 2008
One police department appears to be suffering from a serious case of officers behaving badly.
After one cop was charged with raping a woman while on duty last week, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is having trouble with two more of its officers – bringing [...]

By Roger Simmermaker
August 26, 2008
ZebulonUSA
What would you do if you worked in manufacturing and watched your co-workers lose their jobs as a result of corporate downsizing? Would it frustrate you to notice that there was no corresponding downsizing in consumer purchasing? More and more Americans today recognize that their country seems to be getting [...]

By: Ted Twietmeyer
There have been many emails over the years from readers who often won’t tell me where they are from. But with names like Ian, Jon and others it isn’t too hard to figure out. It’s especially obvious when a reader calls me a Yank and the email address has “.uk”

PART 2
By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D.
August 25, 2008
[Note: Obama campaign hypocrisy continued on FOX News Sunday, August 17. Obama National Campaign co-chair Senator Claire McCaskill said regarding Senator McCain’s strong response to the Russian invasion of Georgia that he shouldn’t be intervening because “we only have one Commander-in-Chief and one Secretary of State at [...]

By: Devvy
August 25, 2008
Back on December 18, 2006, I wrote a column on Joseph Biden’s decision to once again run for president. Biden has now been tapped as Marxist Barack Hussein Obama’s choice for vice-president. One columnist wrote this was akin to a Watergate suicide. Biden was dropped like a hot potato by the DNC [...]

August 25, 2008
Less than three months from now either Obama or McCain will be the president-elect. Should we be concerned? Not whatsoever. Here’s why:
A government too big to fail
We have an aging population. More people will be claiming entitlement benefits. Will taxes be raised? [...]

Regulator, insurer boosts its staff and provisions as it faces its biggest challenge in decades
By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
August 24, 2008
ATLANTA — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is one of those agencies with a low profile but essential role similar to plumbing or electricity — you don’t notice it until the power’s out or the [...]

President Medvedev has said that Russia is ready to break off its relations with NATO if necessary. His comments came after a meeting with Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, at the port of Sochi.
August 25, 2008
Dmitry Rogozin briefed Medvedev on NATO’s attitude towards the current situation in South Ossetia. In his view they’re applying [...]

A top official warned of widening loan fraud in 2004, but the agency focused its resources elsewhere.
By Richard B. Schmitt
August 25, 2008
WASHINGTON — Long before the mortgage crisis began rocking Main Street and Wall Street, a top FBI official made a chilling, if little-noticed, prediction: The booming mortgage business, fueled by low interest rates [...]