Top Picks ~ Week of March 3, 2008



Frozen in Grand Central Station
A video by Improv Everywhere
It’s been exactly four weeks since we posted our Frozen Grand Central mission. The response has been unbelievable. The YouTube video has 6.8 million views and counting. Continued . . .

Money & Markets

Goldman Sachs CEO Gets $100 mln in Pay, Stock
By Jonathan Stempel – Reuters (7 Mar 2008)

Northern Rock Bail-Out Beats Covert US Remedy
By Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist – London Telegraph (6 Mar 2008)

Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore
By Farah Stockman – Boston Globe (6 Mar 2008)

4-Week MZM Growth is 27% On An Annualized Basis
Research Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

MZM is an acronym for "Money Zero Maturity" ~ A measure of the liquid money supply within an economy. MZM represents all money in time deposits, plus all money market funds. From investopedia.com.

Alabama County Won’t Pledge $184 Million for Swaps
By Martin Z. Braun – Bloomberg.com (6 Mar 2008)

Double Bubble Trouble
By Stephen S. Roach – New York Times (5 Mar 2008)

Dollar Still Stronger Than It Might Be, IMF Says
By Lesley Wroughton – Reuters (6 Mar 2008)

NY Fed Chief Says Low Rates Are Needed For Some Time
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa – Reuters (6 Mar 2008)

Italy Intervenes in Bond Market As Spreads Soar
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (6 Mar 2008)

With Inflation Rising, European Central Banks Hold Rates Steady
By Matt Moore & Jane Wardell – Associated Press (6 Mar 2008)

US Dollar Still Goes Far . . . Filling Wheelbarrows in Zimbabwe
By Angus Shaw – Associated Press (5 Mar 2008)

Al Gore’s Convenient IPO
By Ron Grover – BusinessWeek (6 Mar 2008)
View Gore’s Current Media, Inc., S-1 filing with the SEC. Click the document at right.

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Hedge Funds Frozen Shut
By Matthew Goldstein – BusinessWeek (5 Mar 2008)

Japan May Move to Support Tumbling Dollar
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (4 Mar 2008)

Strategic Assets to be Protected in National Interest
Press Release: New Zealand Government (3 Mar 2008)

List of Billionaires (2007) ~ At Wikipedia

What is Depression Money or Scrip?
It was used during the depression era (1930’s) as a substitute for government issued currency.

Fears of a Commodity Crash Grow
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (4 Mar 2008)

The Gruesome Reality of HSBC’s US Affairs
By Patrick Hosking – TimesOnline (4 Mar 2008)

ECB Chief Prods US About ‘Strong Dollar’ and Paulson Duly Squeaks Up
By Huw Jones & Swaha Pattanaik – Reuters (3 Mar 2008)

Feds Rescue Attempt Has Failed
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (3 Mar 2008)

As Dollar Falls, Israelis See Virtues Of Their Own Currency
By Dina Kraft – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (2 Mar 2008)

Commodity Boom Backfires on Consumers
By Michael Mackenzie – Financial Times, London (29 Feb 2008)

VISA IPO to Raise Cash and Transfer Litigation Risk
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Prisons as Mission Aligned Social Investment
By Phil Cubeta – GiftHub.com (29 Feb 2008)

HSH Lawsuit Claims UBS ‘Acted Fraudulently’
By James Wilson – Financial Times (27 Feb 2008)

‘Strong Dollar’ Paulson Would Get Rid of the Penny
By Martin Crutsinger – Associated Press (29 Feb 2008)

Katya Rivas’ Passion: Judas Delivers Jesus
By Katya Rivas – Scoop Independent News (26 Feb 2008)

Auto Parts Patents Will Raise Repair Costs
By Jim Ostroff – Kiplinger Letter (29 Feb 2008)

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Precious Metals

Barrick Irritated by Delay of Pascua Lama Mine in Argentina, Chile
By Helen Popper – Reuters (6 Mar 2008)

Gold Roundtable (2nd Hour)
Financial Sense Newshour – Hosted by Jim Puplava (1 Mar 2008)

Central Bank Sales Over the Next 19 Months to Reduce by 400 Tonnes?
By Julian D.W. Phillips – Kitco (29 Feb 2008)

Gold Upstream, Poison Downstream in Philippines’ Wild Mining Zone
By Cecil Morella – Agence France-Presse (2 Mar 2008)

Looks Like a Commercial Signal Failure in Silver
By Dan Norcini – JSMineset.com (1 Mar 2008)

The New Global Gold Rush
By Andy Hoffman – Toronto Globe & Mail (29 Feb 2008)

IMF Says Any Gold Sales Will Only Substitute for Unsold Central Bank Quotas
By Chris Powell – GATA (29 Feb 2008)

Anything to Divert Gold Demand from Physical to Paper
By John Spence – MarketWatch.com (28 Feb 2008)

IMF Gold Sales May Be Off-Market Transactions
From Reuters (28 Feb 2008)

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Mortgage Market

Housing Crisis Ends US Political Truce [Must register to view full article]
By James Polliti & Krishna Guha – Financial Times (29 Feb 2008)

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Food & Health

Winter Rains and Snow Won’t Ease Drought Much
By Andrew C. Schneider – The Kiplinger Letter (7 Mar 2008)

“Low-Level” Radioactive Waste
Information from the Nuclear Information & Resource Service

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)
By Jack Hedin – New York Times (1 Mar 2008)

NZ, Cuba Discuss Agricultural Cooperation
Press Release: Prensa Latina (25 Feb 2008)

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Life

The Myth of Charter School Success
By Walter P. Coombs & Ralph E. Shaffer – Los Angeles Times (12 Feb 2008)

Beautiful Death-Star Could Threaten Earth
Press Release: University of Sydney – Scoop Independent News (4 Mar 2008)

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More Americans Turning to Web For News
Reuters (29 Feb 2008)

Improv Everywhere
We’ve donated to their efforts, you can too by clicking here.

My favorite veterinarian, Greg Markellis of All Creatures Great and Small Veterinary Clinic in Kalispell, Montana, doing a tooth extraction on a grizzly bear.

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Geopolitical

FBI Documents Contradict 9/11 Commission Report
By Larisa Alexandrovna – UnansweredQuestions.org (6 Mar 2008)

Who Leaked The Details of a CIA-Mossad Plot Against Iran?
By Yossi Melman – Haaretz.com (6 Mar 2008)

Pentagon Bans Google Teams From Bases
Associated Press (6 Mar 2008)

The US Military Has Seen the Future, and it Involves Urban Warfare
By Greg Grant – GovernmentExecutive.com (1 Mar 2008)

Voters to Decide on Presidential Arrests
Channel 5 – Brattleboro, Vermont (3 Mar 2008)

Sludge Report #182: Bigger Than Watergate III
~ Prepare for a Train Wreck
By C.D. Sludge – Scoop Independent News (5 Mar 2008)

Lobbying Database ~ OpenSecrets.org

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The True Cost of War
By Aida Edemariam – Information Clearing House (29 Feb 2008)

Chávez Sends Tanks to Colombia Border
By Richard Lapper & Anastasia Moloney – Financial Times (2 Mar 2008)

Across Putin’s Russia – Election Coverage
Financial Times (3 Mar 2008)

Putin, Medvedev Pledge Unified Path
By Jim Heintz – Associated Press (2 Mar 2008)

Scruggs Scores Dismissal in Alabama Contempt Case
By Jamie Heller – Wall Street Journal (29 Feb 2008)

False Flag Prospects, 2008 – Top Three US Target Cities
By Captain Eric H. May – GlobalResearch.ca (23 Feb 2008)

Throw Out the Old Electoral Maps in 2008
By Michael Barone – Rasmussen Reports (1 Mar 2008)

UN Rally to End To Female Genital Mutilation
Press Release: United Nations (29 Feb 2008)

Interview with Cuban Ambassador to New Zealand, Jos&#xE9 Luis Robaina Garcia
By Alastair Thompson – Scoop Independent News (29 Feb 2008)

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