Previous News and Commentary -- August 2008

The U.S. Mint has suspended sales of American eagle gold coins and is refusing orders from dealers, two coin and bullion dealers confirmed Thursday. The mint's suspension of gold coin sales follows its tight rationing of sales of silver eagle coins, begun in May, when sales to the public were terminated and sales to the mint's 13 authorized dealers were tightly limited. MORE=>

Either This is the Greatest Silver and Gold Buying Opportunity of All Time, or the End of a Bull Market

By Franklin Sanders,

The Moneychanger

August 15, 2008

Twenty-eight years brokering silver & gold have not prepared me for what I met this morning. One of my wholesalers said he was not selling anything, only buying, until further notice…Bottom line: silver & gold remain in a powerful bull market with another seven or more years to run. The bull market is handing you a gift: buy. Bottom was probably seen today, but recovery will take some while. Dollar rally may carry to 82, but will peter out in 3 months at most, probably sooner. Stocks may reach 12,500, but will come down hard thereafter. MORE=>

Attack on Georgia Gives Boost To Big US Weapons Programs

Russia's attack on Georgia has become an unexpected source of support for big U.S. weapons programs, including flashy fighter jets and high-tech destroyers, that have had to battle for funding this year because they appear obsolete for today's conflicts with insurgent opponents. MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: “Russia’s attack on Georgia has become an unexpected source of support…? Unexpected by whom?

Surely not by the White House, which by all appearances works overtime to fill the wallets of the defense equipment manufacturers with greenbacks and which has been poking a flaming stick up the nose of Russian bear for years now by saddling up to the former U.S.S.R republics and Poland, promising them everything but the moon if they will just let Washington protect them from Moscow, get them into NATO and be their best friend.

Certainly not master Illuminist strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is apparently running the show in Washington. He was instrumental in getting the U.S.S.R. sucked into a losing war three decades ago and in his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard, promoted the U.S. takeover of Central Asia.

The only persons likely to regard Russia’s retaliatory attack on Georgia as an unexpected source of support for big U.S. weapons programs are the American sheeple, the overwhelming mass of which has been obsessed with following the Olympics in China for the past two weeks and could have cared less about anything else during that period of time.

Author Randolph Bourme once said that war is the health of the state. A more accurate assertion would have been that both war and threats of war is the health of the state. In the minds of many Americans, now that the Olympics in China are off the front burner, and certainly major movers and shakers in the press corps, the current standoff between the U.S. and Russia could at any time escalate itself into a nuclear war fought between the two super powers or if not that at least a nasty new Cold War.

As long as this belief prevails Congress will have the green light to get on with authorizing expenditures of terabucks on new defense hardware. So expect the White House propaganda machine to continue to frame Russia as the bad boy in the Georgia conflict and keep the image of imminent nuclear war with Russia over the Georgia on our TV screens for a while, or at least for long enough for Congress to appropriate the money to pay for new war toys the slick lobbyists of the defense industries continue to push on Capitol Hill year after year.

Major General Smedley Butler was right all along in his book, War is a Racket, which was published in 1935. War was a racket before and during General Butler’s days in the military and it has continued to be a racket ever since.

Mothers in All Colors - Slide Show with Music

Click on link to download. Enjoy. You deserve a break today! Source: SlideShow.com

Housing Starts Probably Slumped in July: U.S. Economy Preview

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. builders began work in July on the fewest houses in 17 years and the economic outlook dimmed, indicating the real-estate slump is at the epicenter of the growth slowdown, economists said before reports this week. MORE=>

US May Ease Spying Rules for State and Local Police

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years. MORE=>

Gestapo: Hitler’s Police Secret Police Force – VIDEO

Documentary about Hitler's secret Police, the feared Gestapo. 51 minutes. Illuminating. Provides viewer with historical perspective. Excellent production using black and whlte film clips. Narratation is excellent.

They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-1945

By Milton Mayer

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

Gold & Silver - The August Lows are Upon Us!

By Peter DeGraaf

Upon analyzing over 30 years of data involving the gold price, we conclude that the seasonal lows usually occur in March and June. Quite often however, after the June low a secondary low is experienced in August. This secondary low is usually slightly higher than the primary low. People who have resisted the temptation to buy the June low will usually take advantage of this last opportunity before the start of the Christmas rally that seems to happen almost every year. MORE->

“Normal People Don’t Want Impeachment”

By Devvy Kidd

Those were the words spoken by Bill O'Reilly on July 30, 2008. I happened to catch the segment while in my hotel room. According to Bill O'Reilly, "normal people" don't want President Bush impeached. Perhaps one must define 'normal' in Bill's world? (Didn't we do that with the other Bill and the definition what is is?) I guess O'Reilly considers phone sex with a subordinate employee normal since it appears he got caught on tape. MORE=>

Out Damn Blot: A Letter to Powell

By Ray McGovern

Dear Colin,

You have said you regret the "blot" on your record caused by your parroting spurious intelligence at the U.N. to justify war on Iraq. On the chance you may not have noticed, I write to point out that you now have a unique opportunity to do some rehab on your reputation. If you were blindsided, well, here's an opportunity to try to wipe off some of the blot. There is no need for you to end up like Lady Macbeth, wandering around aimlessly muttering, Out damn spot…or blot. MORE=>

What Has Really Been Occurring In the Russian-Georgian Conflict?

In 1991, South Ossetia was promised independence from the Soviet Union, and the Georgian Republic. However, when Georgia became independent it saw an opportunity to grab some land, and the terminals for two major oil pipelines. Since Georgia is essentially bankrupt and an economic basket case, they saw this as a viable option. MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: A retired Lt. Col. in the U.S. military, who is currently residing in Russia, wrote this article. This article identifies and corrects misinformation the sadistic folks in Washington who are trying to promote WWIII have presented as fact.

Blowback From Bear-Baiting

By Pat Buchanan

Mikheil Saakashvili's decision to use the opening of the Olympic Games to cover Georgia's invasion of its breakaway province of South Ossetia must rank in stupidity with Gamal Abdel-Nasser's decision to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. Nasser's blunder cost him the Sinai in the Six-Day War. Saakashvili's blunder probably means permanent loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. MORE=>

Breath-Taking Collapse

By Roger Wiegand

While tout TV, international banksters and market manipulators did their level best to hide it, prime supports are caving-in with scary rapidity. Most all global stock markets have posted the arbitrary 20% declines, or more taking them “officially into recession.” The USA was there long ago but has not been recognized for several nefarious reasons. Canada is the last major nation not in official recession. Stock markets tell us the future for months in advance and it’s not at all pretty. MORE=>

Gold Ends Below $800, Down More Than 8% For Week

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures tumbled Friday to close below $800 an ounce for the first time this year, as strength in the U.S. dollar prompted a weekly loss in gold prices of more than 8%. Silver futures dropped 9.9% for the day and lost 16.4% for the week. MORE=>

Wag the Dog: How to Conceal Massive Economic Collapse

By Ellen Brown

Last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up. Strangely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300 points, the dollar strengthened, and gold and oil were crushed. What happened? MORE=>

Gitmo Jurors Disappointed Convict Could Be Held After Sentence Completed

The military jurors who gave Osama bin Laden's driver a light sentence want him freed from Guantanamo once he completes it in December and were frustrated to learn the military can hold him indefinitely, one of the panelists said Wednesday. MORE=>

Contructing a Homestead Greenhouse: From Small to Large

For those of us living close to the land, the production of a dependable and healthful food supply is a primary objective. To that end, some consideration will likely be given, at one time or another, whether to construct a small greenhouse for homestead use. A greenhouse can provide countless hours of enjoyment and a steady supply of wholesome food. The benefits of producing your own healthy plants and crops, extending the growing season, and even the possibility of helping to heat your home are certainly possibilities when utilizing the homestead greenhouse. We have also been able to make several varieties of our own favorite garden plants available for sale to neighbors in the community. MORE=>

August 15

Gold, Silver Slump, Leading Commodities Drop on Dollar, Growth

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Gold plunged below $800 an ounce, silver dropped as much as 12 percent and oil, corn and copper slumped as the dollar's rebound reduced the appeal of commodities after a six-year boom. MORE=>

Political Pipeline: How Anti-Iran Policy Contributed to War in the Caucasus

Much has been written about the war between Russia and Georgia. Neoconservatives, as Justin Raimondo pointed out, have suddenly discovered the "democratic" republic of Georgia, which has been a historical "victim" of the Russian "empire." Never mind that not only was Georgia not a democracy before it was devoured by the Soviet Union in 1921, but also that the war, started by Georgia's forces, was a strategic blunder by Georgia's president, the confrontational, demagogic, American-trained lawyer Mikheil Saakashvili, who dared foolishly to take on his giant neighbor, thinking naively that NATO would rush to help him. MORE=>

Georgia’s Saakashvili Defends the “New World Order” On Glenn Beck Show - VIDEO

At one minute, five seconds into the clip here from Glenn Beck’s neocon propaganda hour, we hear the sock puppet Saakashvili make reference to the New World Order. According to Saakashvili, he is not concerned so much for his own personal safety, he is more worried about the “region,” in other words the little globalist and NATO fiefdoms carved out of the corpse of the former Soviet Union, only the latest additions to the New World Order. MORE=>

Bush Dispatches US Military Forces to Georgia Under Guise of Humanitrian Aid

In a major escalation of the conflict with Russia over Georgia, President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the Caucasus. Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the second time in three days, this time flanked by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and announced the military buildup, casting it as a humanitarian relief operation. MORE=>

LC Editor’s Comment: Once the camel has poked his nose under the flap of the tent from the outside, just how long will it be before he will be standing entirely withing the tent?

US and Poland Set Missile Deal

The United States and Poland reached a long-stalled deal on Thursday to place an American missile defense base on Polish territory, in the strongest reaction so far to Russia's military operation in Georgia. Russia reacted angrily, saying that the move would worsen relations with the United States that have already been strained severely in the week since Russian troops entered separatist enclaves in Geor