Free Republic

The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve By Gabor Steingart in Washington Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power. The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization, the US...

ROME — Resolving the global food crisis could cost as much as $30 billion a year and wealthier nations are doing little to help the developing world face the problem, United Nations officials said Tuesday. At a U.N. food summit attended by dozens of world leaders, Jacques Diouf, head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, opened the meeting by sharply criticizing wealthy nations who he said were cutting back on agriculture programs for the world’s poor and ignoring deforestation — while spending billions on carbon markets, subsidies for farmers and biofuel production. “The developing countries did in fact forge...

A group supporting North American integration is holding its fourth annual "North American Model Parliament" for 100 university students from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The North American Forum on Integration, or NAFI, began is "Triumvirate" sessions Monday in Montreal's City Hall with a plan to conclude Friday.

Plans to eliminate Eurosceptics as an organised opposition within the European Parliament are expected to be agreed by a majority of MEPs this summer. The European Union assembly’s political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings. Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP’s pan-European Eurosceptic “Independence and Democracy” grouping. Under the rule change, the largest and msot pro-EU groups would tighten their grip on the Parliament’s...

The United Nations has taken it upon itself to investigate the American presidential campaign. Why does the UN have such an interest in our election? Because since Barack Obama is black and will be the Democrat nominee, the United Nations wants to investigate whether racism plays a role in the presidential campaign. Excuse me, but just when did the UN get the authority to become involved in our national elections? Will this be enough to generate a groundswell of opinion against this rancid organization? Probably not, and that's sad. It's time for the UN to go .. go anywhere but...

A senior Bush administration official said Friday that the U.S. now accepts the "reality" of the International Criminal Court, and that Washington would consider aiding the Hague tribunal in its investigation of atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region. "The U.S. must acknowledge that the ICC enjoys a large body of international support, and that many countries will look to the ICC as the preferred mechanism" for punishing war crimes that individual countries can't or won't address, John Bellinger, the State Department's chief lawyer, told a conference in Chicago marking t he 10th anniversary of the tribunal's founding treaty, the Rome Statute....

(TomDispatch) -- Oil at $110 a barrel. Gasoline at $3.35 (or more) per gallon. Diesel fuel at $4 per gallon. Independent truckers forced off the road. Home heating oil rising to unconscionable price levels. Jet fuel so expensive that three low-cost airlines stopped flying in the past few weeks. This is just a taste of the latest energy news, signaling a profound change in how all of us, in this country and around the world, are going to live -- trends that, so far as anyone can predict, will only become more pronounced as energy supplies dwindle and the global...

In his March 26 speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, McCain never mentioned the need to preserve American sovereignty. He could have reassured conservatives by stating his forthright opposition to Senate ratification of the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty, which provides for international control over billions of dollars worth of oil, gas and minerals and undermines American claims to North Pole riches. But he chose not to. Instead, as the Washington Post put it, McCain promised “a collaborative foreign policy,” conducted in coordination with other nations. The New York Times said he distanced himself from “unilateralism” in...

Last week, I focused on Sen. Obama's speech about his "former" pastor. I thought the speech was both fascinating and scary in how it revealed so much of what the senator actually believes. Who would have thought that in such a short time, there would be another speech that seems equally revealing and that has conservatives grumbling. Though not given all the advance billing of a "major address" like Sen. Obama's speech, the comments delivered by Sen. John McCain on Wednesday have conservatives such as myself up in arms. To Sen. McCain.... when you give a speech like that --...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery today at the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, California: When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in New London, Connecticut, and a Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. My father immediately left for the submarine base where he was stationed. I rarely saw him again for four years. My grandfather, who commanded the fast carrier task force under Admiral Halsey, came home from...

And I've counted three times, the word "collective"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial firms face a "new world order" after a weekend fire sale of Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve's first emergency weekend meeting since 1979, research firm CreditSights said in a report on Monday. More industry consolidation and acquisitions may follow after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Sunday said it was buying Bear Stearns (BSC.N) for $236 million, or $2 a share, a deep discount from the $30 price on Friday and record share price of about $172 last year. "Last evening the Bear Stearns situation reached a crescendo, as JPMorgan agreed to acquire the...

Sign of Contradiction and the new world order by Michael D. O’Brien Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rising of many in Israel, a sign that will be rejected—and you yourself shall be pierced by a sword, so that the hearts of many may be laid bare.” (Luke 2: 34-35) Raised on older translations of sacred Scripture, I have heard the phrase “sign of contradiction” throughout my life, and know that it expresses dimensions which in newer translations are rendered alternatively as “a sign that will be...

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

“He did everything that we asked of him, including arming the KLA�, said Albanian lobbyist Joe DioGuardi. The Albanians collected one million dollars for the presidential campaign of this senator. Americans of Albanian heritage collected a million dollars in one evening for the presidential campaign of Republican Senator John McCain, said the Albanian American Civic League yesterday, the lobby group headed by former Congressman Joe DioGuardi. A reception for McCain was held January 22 at the Saint Regis Hotel in Manhatten, and the senator, who is now leading in the runoff for the Republican party candidacy in the November elections,...

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal. Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas. The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush urged disgruntled conservatives on Monday to rally around John McCain, calling their criticism of the Republican presidential front-runner "grossly unfair." The father of President George W. Bush said he was annoyed by attacks within the conservative wing of the Republican Party against the Arizona senator, the all-but-certain Republican nominee to face Democrats in November election. Many conservatives distrust McCain because of his moderate views on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform and for having originally voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Persuading them all to vote for McCain in November will be...

Bush says Turkey entry to EU would aid peace"Turkey sets a fantastic example for nations around the world to see where it's possible to have a democracy that co-exists with a great religion like Islam," Bush said at a White House meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gul. (Jan 8th 2008) Bush: Palestine will emerge before I leave officeUS President George W. Bush said Thursday he believes Israel and the Palestinian Arabs will sign a peace treaty enabling the creation of "Palestine" on the historical land of Israel by the end of his term in the White House, a year from...

 CRC Highlight Democracy Alliance: Billionaires for Big Government What’s Next for George Soros’s Democracy Alliance? (From January 2008 edition of Foundation Watch)   Billionaires for Big Government: What’s Next for George Soros’s Democracy Alliance? By Matthew Vadum and James Dellinger (Capital Research Center) (Editor’s note: This special report on the Democracy Alliance updates our December 2006 issue of Foundation Watch.) Summary: Just three years ago the Democratic Party was in disarray. Despite record high-dollar donations from affluent supporters, Democrats had failed to reclaim the White House and Congress. Shell-shocked by their defeat, George Soros and other wealthy liberals formed...

Britain set to release secret UFO files   Published: Dec. 23, 2007 at 4:24 PM   LONDON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The British government will soon release previously classified details regarding hundreds of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects. The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday that this coming spring, the Defense Ministry will release to the general public 160 files about alleged UFO sightings. Since the British government department began keeping records about the unusual reports in 1950, more than 10,000 sightings have been recorded. With officials failing to explain 5 percent of those sightings, a growing number of Freedom...

Can the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty not only be delayed but defeated outright in the Senate? That's the question that conservatives are delightfully pondering as a remarkable series of events has put the pact, supported by the Bush Administration and the liberal leadership in the Senate, in serious jeopardy. Perhaps the most significant development is the announcement by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell that he will oppose the White House and vote against the treaty. As opponents of the treaty make their case in advertisements and on cable TV and talk radio, Republican senators are increasingly hearing from...

Al Gore and the IPCC have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is an impressive testament to the abiding affection and political influence of former President Ronald Reagan that the fate of a controversial treaty now before the U.S. Senate may ultimately turn on a single question: What would Reagan do?As we had the privilege of working closely with President Reagan in connection with the foreign policy, national security and domestic implications of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty or LOST), there is no question about how our 40th president felt about this accord. He so strongly opposed...

Road plans in Texas have conspiracy theorists in an uproar I am driving along a mostly empty road in rural Fayette County, Texas, about an hour east of Austin, looking for the NAFTA superhighway -- the one that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón mocked as a conspiracy theory when they were asked about it at their trilateral meeting in Montebello, Que., in August. Critics, who say that behind the leaders' denials lurks a larger, nefarious plan to unite North America, fear that such a roadway will eventually be a four-football-stadium-wide artery connecting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada,...

President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, "whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God" – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003. Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi. Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah's top competitor in the Mideast. As the president and Nakouzi walked from the Oval Office to the Map Room in the White House residence, Nazouki asked, "But I want to tell you – and I hope this doesn't bother you at all...

CBNNews.com - President Bush is hosting a controversial event at the White House Thursday evening, with an invitation to Muslim officials and clerics to join him for prayer and dinner in observance of the holy month of Ramadan. Many Christians question the president's decision to make the Islamic celebration of "iftar" into a standard religious observance for the White House. Iftar officially breaks Muslims' daytime fast. Islam, referred to by some politicians as a religion of peace, is viewed by many conservative Americans as a faith rooted in violence and hostility toward non-Muslims, collectively referred to as "infidels." One of...

A national defense analyst says it's absolutely crazy that Pentagon officials will push the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to recommend the quick ratification of the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty. Cliff Kincaid, president of America's Survival, has already expressed his concerns that the Chinese have been using their huge trade advantage with the U.S. to build up their navy, while the U.S. Navy plans to further reduce the number of ships in its fleet. (See earlier article) But Kincaid says instead of changing course and rebuilding to counter the Chinese threat, top Naval officials, including Chief of Naval Operations...

Illinois U.N. official predicts new world order Says there may be universal peace in the next 10 years Wednesday, December 5, 2001 By Rex Robinson Daily Southtown Staff writer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a day when war raged in Afghanistan and the strained relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians worsened, a U.N. official predicted there could be world peace within 10 years. Edward Widmer, president of the Illinois Division of the United Nations Association of the United States, told the Bolingbrook Rotary Club that despite the chaos in the world today, he anticipated there will eventually be a major shift. "Within 10 ...

Since the U.S. Federal government has become increasingly independent minded, often openly acting directly at odds with the will of the people they are sworn to represent, American voters are becoming increasingly interested in finding out exactly who their government is taking orders from, since it clearly isn’t them.

Does Sen. Hillary Clinton, the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, endorse efforts to form a world government? Video footage recently has surfaced that could force her to either affirm or distance herself from sentiments she expressed in 1999 during a ceremony in which former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite accepted the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award from the World Federalist Association. In his acceptance speech, Cronkite embraced the idea that the U.S. would be subsumed into a regional or world government. His views were seconded by Clinton in a closed-circuit television link-up. (Story continues below) Cronkite said, "Today...

I kid you not.Go see for yourself, to the link above, at US.GOV, the official website of the United States of America.Go to the right. Read the text closely. For oldertimer Freepers, get out your reading glasses.

Politicians, regulators and financial specialists outside the United States are seeking a role in oversight of American markets, banks and rating agencies in the wake of recent problems related to subprime mortgages. Their argument is simple: The United States is exporting financial products, but losses to investors in other countries suggest that American regulators are not properly monitoring the products or alerting investors to the risks. "We need an international approach, and the United States needs to be part of it," said Peter Bofinger, a member of the German government's economics advisory board and a professor at the University of...

Texas drivers are tired of traffic gridlock. We want new roads built sooner rather than later, but we do not want a Trans-Texas Corridor that would surely invite more illegal drugs and more illegal aliens. Legislators have gotten our message but since both highway funds, the State Highway Fund (a gasoline tax) and the Texas Mobility Fund (bond money), have been pilfered for other uses, there is no money for road building. Members of the Texas Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee met on August 7 to discuss this funding dilemma. Committee Chairman John Carona suggested a new constitutional amendment...

MONTEBELLO, Quebec — President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico yesterday ridiculed the notion that their countries are conspiring to create a regional supergovernment similar to the European Union. "I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and by what some are trying to say takes place," said Mr. Bush, responding to concerns raised by conservative and liberal groups and some U.S. lawmakers. "It's quite comical actually, to realize the difference between reality and what some people on TV are talking about." Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper joked that a superhighway rumored to...

Property Rights activist and ranger, Wayne Hage said, "Either you have the right to own property or you are property." The backbone of the plan was a call for "public/private partnerships." Sustainable Development is not freedom. Not one of the three principles apply.

He’s pissing into the wind with that idea. Neither Left or Right will wear it Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, never shy of provocative rhetoric, had some sharp words for President Bush and Congress on Tuesday, saying he is “sickened” they are on vacation “while young Americans are being massacred by people who should not be here.” Gingrich said two suspects in the recent murders of three youths in Newark, N.J., turned out to be illegal immigrants with criminal records and that Bush should call Congress into special session to deal with the situation “if he is serious about...

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) – A woman screaming “you’re not a real conservative, sir” was removed by police from a welcoming reception for likely GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson Wednesday morning. A second protester was also taken from the room. Houston police officers escorted the woman — as well as a man — from the hangar at Hobby Airport, where Thompson was shaking hands with a crowd of supporters. They were not arrested. The woman questioned Thompson as he talked to reporters. She asked him why he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and noted that the organization...

NAFTA Superhighway Has Giuliani As Key Player Submitted by admin on Tue, 2007-06-26 20:28.A NAFTA superhighway extends North through Texas into Oklahoma and Colorado, and it's a four lane huge superhighway.On March 23, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, former Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin and former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, authorized the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), now under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Most Americans have little to no knowledge of this seemingly innocuous sounding unofficial treaty and therefore believe there is little reason to be alarmed.However, what could be misinterpreted as legislation which has...

A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she once was...

TONY Blair wants to hand the European Union radical new powers in his last act as Prime Minister, it emerged today. The Prime Minister has welcomed controversial plans to bring back the troubled EU constitution by the back door - totally bypassing the need for public referendums on sweeping new powers for Brussels. ... scheme and our hard-won veto on European directives would be torn up. Britain could also lose the right to impose quotas on immigration. Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "If Tony Blair thinks he can hoodwink the British people by smuggling in the rejected EU consitution...

Lawmakers in Canada appear to be paving the way for "deep integration" with the U.S. and Mexico with a proposed measure that advances the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America promoted by the Bush administration, notes WND columnist Jerome Corsi. It's an issue Corsi has fully investigated for his newest book, "The Late Great USA." The conservative minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is pressing for "The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement", which would enable a Canadian company to challenge laws in provinces that block the North American Free Trade Agreement. Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver author...

USA Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to bring the immigration "compromise" bill back to the floor for debate as early as tomorrow, and Mr. Reid wants to ram something he can plausibly spin as "reform" through the Senate by the the Fourth of July. But Mr. Reid, President Bush, Sen. Ted Kennedy and the Democratic and Republican politicians supporting this bill have a little problem called the American people, who are speaking by phone, fax and e-mail in one voice: Give us a bill that actually improves border security. Americans are rejecting the hodgepodge of restatements of existing...

A New Deal for Globalization By Kenneth F. Scheve and Matthew J. Slaughter From Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007 WAGES FALLING, PROTECTIONISM RISING Over the last several years, a striking new feature of the U.S. economy has emerged: real income growth has been extremely skewed, with relatively few high earners doing well while incomes for most workers have stagnated or, in many cases, fallen. Just what mix of forces is behind this trend is not yet clear, but regardless, the numbers are stark. Less than four percent of workers were in educational groups that enjoyed increases in mean real money earnings...

Pursuing the "North American" Agenda Vol. 40, No. 2 September 2006 The hottest issue at the grassroots is illegal immigration and what our government is not doing to stop it. The question most frequently heard is, Why doesn't the Bush Administration get it? Maybe the Bush Administration doesn't want to stop the invasion of illgal foreigners and wants to declare them all legal through amnesty lite and guest-worker proposals. Maybe the Bush Administration is pursuing a globalist agenda by means of a series of press releases (without authority from Congress or the American people). Consider this chronology. On March 23,...

With his record of defending American borders and national sovereignty in ruins, President Bush has decided to conclude his second term in office by making common cause with those who think America's future lies in appeasing the "international community." He apparently wants his "legacy" to be that he cared for the rest of the world. Watch your wallets―and your freedom. The latest phase of this "legacy building" campaign began with a plea on Wednesday for more money to fight AIDS. This provided a photo opportunity for the President to pose with a black child. So far, about $200 billion has...

Secretive Bilderberg meeting set for Turkey Kissinger, Rockefeller, media moguls among those scheduled to attend Posted: May 30, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com The super-secret Bilderberg Group, an organization of powerful international elites, is set to meet this week somewhere in Turkey – but even the precise location is a mystery. The meeting begins Thursday and continues through Sunday. Those expected to attend include Donald Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of the Washington Post, Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, John Vinocur, senior correspondent of the International Herald Tribune,...

In his 1995 book "The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy," the late Christopher Lasch argued that America's political and cultural elites had opened up a gap between themselves and ordinary Americans. "Many of them have ceased to think of themselves as Americans in any important sense, implicated in America's destiny for better or worse," he wrote. They are increasingly detached from their fellow citizens and drawn to an international culture, Lasch said, or what we would today call a transnational culture. Consider the current immigration debate in this light. In the transnational view, patriotism, assimilation and...

Deep-six the Law of the Sea by Phyllis Schlafly Posted: 05/21/2007 Borrowing the famous words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away," we can now see that old treaties never die, they can be resurrected years or even decades after taking what we thought was a knockout punch. President George W. Bush is scheduled to announce any day that he will breathe new life into the old United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which President Ronald Reagan rejected in 1982. Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley has asked Senate Foreign Relations Committee...

Following are allegedly the RNC immigration talking points dated today, and borrowed from Hugh Hewitt's site since they're not to be found at www.rnc.org.Click on the Hugh Hewitt link above for Hewitt's commentary (which he calls "5 pages of crap"). BORDER SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION REFORM  Republicans Standing Together to Fight for Tougher Enforcement and an Immigration System That Better Serves American Interests  As negotiations continue, Republicans are demanding the following from the Democrat majority: v Beefed-up border security. Republicans are insisting on dramatic and immediate improvements to border security, including 18,000 Border Patrol agents and 370 miles of fencing, as...

The New World Order GOP By Patrick J. Buchanan Wednesday, May 16, 2007 A federal program, Ronald Reagan used to say, is the closest thing to eternal life here on earth. Even the Gipper conceded he failed to get control of the federal behemoth. At least he tried. But what can be said for the conservative movement today, as one witnesses the Wall Street Journal battle to save the $400,000-a-year tax-free sinecure of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, imperiled because Wolfie parked his World Bank squeeze over at State at a fatter salary than Condi Rice's? There was a time...