Summary: Recent trends continued last week with gold up, oil up much more, stocks down and, in the U.S., jobs down. These are the economic effects of a crumbling empire.

The mainstream media is reporting that the reason some international investors aren't investing in America any more is because they are unhappy with Bush's foreign policy. But the reason is not because investors are "unhappy" with the policies - it's because the policies have failed and have wasted over a trillion dollars. These policies have enriched a few insiders feeding at the trough while bankrupting the U.S. government. If there is one thing we can thank George Bush for, it is destroying the U.S. empire and making the United States just another country. And as a U.S. citizen, I mean that sincerely, not ironically.

So, what's in store for us next?

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The face of evil.

You've probably heard the story, or at least one like it. Husband kills wife and child, seemingly without remorse, then attempts to pass it off as a murder/suicide. And, remarkably, people believe him. The latest such example is Neil Entwistle, a British computer programmer, who murdered his American wife and 9-month-old daughter in 2006. He was recently sentenced to life in prison.

The trial made for a fascinating and disturbing spectacle. Aptly described by jurors as a complete narcissist, Entwistle put on quite the display during the presentation of a video of the bloody crime scene. But before we see his reaction for ourselves, let's see what the media tells us we see.

In the Chinese classic The Thirty-Six Stratagems, the eighth strategy reads, "Openly repair the gallery roads, but sneak through the passage of Chencang." That is to say, set a decoy by appearing to attack along an obvious path while sneaking up on the enemy from a less obvious route. While many pay close attention to the obvious and steady decline of American democracy into corporate fascism, more subtle and devious tactics go virtually unnoticed.

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A little-known, yet terrifying, court case threatens to pave the way to a strangling of the freedom of dissent we still have. It has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for Internet free speech, without a single high-profile law being passed in Congress and without a single word of debate, either congressional or in public.

The Iraq disaster and rising gas and food prices have people across the globe in a state of fear and shock. It's high times for Bush & Co.

Once oil passed $140 a barrel, even the most rabidly right-wing media hosts had to prove their populist cred by devoting a portion of every show to bashing Big Oil. Some have gone so far as to invite me on for a friendly chat about an insidious new phenomenon: "disaster capitalism." It usually goes well -- until it doesn't.

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