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Senator Rand Paul Responds to Obama on Libya Posted by Matt Hawes

Posted 06/17/11

The latest press release from Senator Rand Paul's office:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Sen. Rand Paul issued the following statement regarding President Obama's mishandling of the situation in Libya.

"The Obama Administration has failed miserably in its attempt to justify their unconstitutional war in Libya. Their attempt yesterday to convince Congress that we are in fact not engaged in hostilities was breathtaking in its implications for both Libya and for future presidential war authority.

"The argument that our military is not engaged in hostilities because the Libyan military is unable to effectively retaliate has two major problems. First, according to the Administration's report, attacking Libyan air defense is one of the primary roles our military is playing. Of course they aren't shooting back well, we blew up their air defense system.

"If you take the Administration's logic to its natural, if extreme-sounding, conclusion, the bigger problem is this: Under their logic, the President could attack a country, even with nuclear weapons, and not consider it to be a war needing Congressional approval if the country is unable to retaliate. This policy completely violates his constitutional authority. It also sends a dangerous signal to rogue nations and schoolyard bullies alike: If we hit you hard enough that you can't hit back, it doesn't count as an attack."

Do You Remember the Crime? Posted by Robin Grammer

Posted 06/16/11 Last updated 06/16/11

"There is No Risk of an Economic Bubble"

Do you remember the "historically low interest rates" that had been manipulated by the Federal Reserve?

Do you remember the lies that we were fed from government and academia as the Federal Reserve inflated the most horrendous economic bubble since the Great Depression?

Do you remember the idiotic laughter as pundits on both sides of the political divide ridiculed the few people that tried to warn us of our coming economic troubles?

Do you remember the propaganda that we were asked to swallow as incompetent members of Congress allowed the Federal Reserve to march our country towards an economic crash?

Barney Frank in 2005: What Housing Bubble?

"The Biggest One-Day Loss in American History"

Do you remember the record bankruptcies and credit card defaults? Do you remember the sweeping layoffs as companies across the country axed thousands of employees day after day?

Do you remember how millions of people lost their homes and watched their retirement funds evaporate?

Do you remember how suited ex-banksters snaked their way into powerful bureaucratic positions so that they could scheme for taxpayer-funded favors?

Do you remember how they fear-mongered in backroom deals about the imposition of martial law if Congressman didn't vote for the bailouts?

Do you remember how the stock markets continually jerked and crashed as politicians hand-picked politically connected companies to bailout while other companies drowned?

Do you remember how people across the country stepped forward in protest to rebel against the bailouts? Do you remember the millions of calls into the offices of Congress to tell them we stood in unison against this extortion of middle class Americans?

Do you remember how Congress ignored us?

"U.S. Taxpayers Bailout Bankers to the Cost of $700 Billion"

Do you remember cringing at the headlines as the rich ex-bankers successfully lobbied for the bailouts of their rich banker buddies with your personal credit card? Do you remember how billions of dollars went to the executives of failed banks?

Do you remember how the federal government snatched up banks and auto-makers as if we were caught in some twisted chapter of Atlas Shrugged?

Do you remember how the same people that demanded that we bailout these billionaire bankers, but would not tell us who received the $2 trillion dollars in emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers?

Ben Bernanke: "I don't know who received the money"

The Federal Reserve has continually denied responsibility for creating the bubble that has consumed the last ten years of American economic prosperity and has destroyed the livelihoods of millions of Americans.

Despite being probed by the few members of congress who had the courage to press the issue, the Federal Reserve has quietly dodged every Congressional attempt to acquire information about how it has manipulated the economy or to whom it has shoveled trillions of dollars.

Americans understand that this is a scam. When Congressman Ron Paul introduced a bill to audit the Federal Reserve, the American public rallied behind the initiative.

When the public spoke out against the shady and unaccountable practices of the Federal reserve, the audit bill secured 317 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 32 co-sponsors in the Senate.

However, this unprecedented call for oversight did not go unchallenged.

Congressman Mel Watts - whose district encompasses the corporate headquarters of Bank of America - attempted to torpedo our efforts for more accountability by replacing the language of the bill with his own toothless language.

When the Campaign for Liberty sent out the alert about Mel Watts' attempt to undermine our audit efforts, Americans responded and his treachery was voted down with a huge bi-partisan majority.

By the time the Senate took action on the bill, the Federal Reserve had actually hired its own lobbyist and was fiercely resisting every attempt to tear down its veil of secrecy.

Unfortunately, Senator Bernie Sanders - who had introduced the bill in the Senate - caved under the pressure of the Federal Reserve lobbyists and the Obama Administration by significantly watering down the language of the bill.

Congressman Ron Paul speaks about the betrayal in the Senate

Despite having most of the language of the bill watered down or removed, what the public began to learn was astounding.

What was the Federal Reserve up to? Where was the money going?

It was going to middle-eastern dictators and billionaire housewives.

The small bit of audit language that remained intact in the bill uncovered that the Federal Reserve had provided at least 46 low-interest loans to the Arab Banking Corporation, of which the Central Bank of Libya owns a majority stake.

Totaling more than $26 billion, these loans shifted capital from the job markets of our country to the government and banking system under Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Yes, the same Muammar Gaddafi that has recently been condemned for turning his military against his own people.

It was also found that $220 million was given directly to Christy Mack, wife of the chairman of Morgan Stanley, and to Susan Karches, the widow of the former president of Morgan Stanley's investment banking division.

Under the agreement for the "loans," Mack and Karches can keep all of the profits on their investments while the Treasury and the Federal Reserve would have to absorb 90% of all losses on the investments.

This has nothing to do with protecting our economy or creating jobs. This is political wrangling and corporate welfare at the expense of the American taxpayer.

This insanity has to end. For too long the Federal Reserve has manipulated our economy to disastrous results without oversight. For too long the Federal Reserve has shuffled taxpayer dollars in dangerous political games without transparency.

It is time for a full Audit of the Federal Reserve.

Congressman Ron Paul has reintroduced the bill for a full audit of the Federal Reserve. This time he has a partner in the Senate who won't stab us in the back when the Federal Reserve and the Obama Administration start pulling strings.

Congressman Paul's son, Senator Rand Paul, has introduced companion legislation in the senate and has pledged to continue to help us drive this vital issue forward.

We already have huge momentum on this issue as 157 members of the house have co-sponsored this bill. However, several Maryland legislators have yet to co-sponsor this bill. Can you help me mobilize Maryland behind this issue?

1. Please sign the petition below so that we can let our legislators know that we stand for oversight in our economic policy and transparency with our tax dollars.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/MD/mdauditthefed62011.php

2. Please send this petition to your friends to let them know about the insane economic policies of the Federal Reserve.

When we last pushed for transparency we proved that the winds of change are in our favor. Only with your help will we finally be able to tear down the walls of secrecy surrounding the Federal Reserve.

Bernanke knows best? Posted by matt burrow

Posted 06/16/11 Last updated 02/03/12

Did you know?

Ben Bernanke is hoping you don't.

As the old saying goes, "knowing is half the battle."  If that's the case, Campaign for Liberty is well on its way to winning an historic battle, the first ever full-scale audit of the Federal Reserve.

Yesterday, CBS News released an article titled the "5 best bills you've never heard about."  And yes, one of the featured bills is Congressman Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 459, S. 202), better known as Audit the Fed.

According to CBS:

"Behind the smoke screen of the news cycle, there are several genuinely excellent pieces of legislation that remain more or less entirely shrouded from public view...They warrant far greater attention than they're getting."

It's up to us at C4L to fully expose the out of control Fed for all the damage done to our dollar, and Ron Paul's bill to Audit the Fed will do just that!

As you know, Audit the Fed was C4L's main focus last Congress, and the results were newsworthy to say the least.

C4L's Audit the Fed amassed an astounding 320 cosponsors in Democrat-dominated House, enough for intial passage, and even garnered 32 cosponsors in the statist-laden Senate.  This was no small feat for a two-year old organization taking on the most powerful and secretive institution in the world.

But now, with more allies in the House and Rand Paul leading the charge in the Senate, it's time to seize momentum!

As CBS points out, the once accepted notion that "Bernanke knows best" no longer suffices as legitimate monetary policy:

"Considering America's sustained high unemployment rate and a growing perception that the Fed is beholden to Wall Street rather than democratically-elected officials, Bernanke's anti-accountability argument seems awfully weak."

To further strengthen the anti-Fed cause, a December 2010 Rasmussen poll showed that 74% of Americans support a full audit of the Fed.

Needless to say, this is the issue of our time, and Audit the Fed remains at the core of C4L's mission.

We're still in the early phases of this, the 112th Congress, and H.R. 459 has already picked up an impressive 157 cosponsors.  Encouraging numbers, but not good enough!

Remember, "knowing is only half the battle."

Contact your Congressman and Senators today.  Demand they sign onto Audit the Fed!  Considering the trillions of taxpayer dollars being funneled by the Fed to prop up failed banks and foreign countries, there's no time to waste. 

After you've done that, forward the link to your family and friends and ask that they do the same.

The time to Audit the Fed is now.

Are you up to the challenge?

Believe me, the forces at the Fed are banking all their power on the chance that good people do nothing.  You and I can't afford to let that happen. 

After all, we know better.

Lawmakers Sue Over Libya Posted by Tim Shoemaker

Posted 06/15/11

A bipartisan group of ten Congressmen are suing the White House over violation of the War Powers Act in Libya. 

The ongoing debate over Libya is stirring up members on both sides of the aisle.  On Monday night, the House passed an amendment to prohibit funding of the operation unless Congress acts to authorize the war.

The simple, one sentence amendment read, "None of the funds made available by this Act may be used in contravention of the War Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1541)."  It passed by a vote of 248-163.

The Senate has yet to assert its war making prerogative.  It's still unclear what, if any, action Harry Reid is planning.

The decision to sue the President is an interesting, albeit unusual, tactic.  The press release states:

This challenge goes beyond Libya and challenges the claim by the Administration that the President has the inherent authority to order combat operations without the approval or declaration of Congress.

This is an action for injunctive and declaratory relief. In addition to challenging the circumvention of express constitutional language, it will also challenge arguments that no one (including members of Congress) has "standing" to submit this question to judicial review. These members will ask the federal district court for review of the constitutional question and for recognition that the Constitution must allow for judicial review of claims of undeclared wars under Article I.

Read the rest.

FBI Expands Investigative Powers Posted by Tim Shoemaker

Posted 06/13/11

In yet another sign of the growing surveillance state, the FBI is creating quite a controversy over new powers outlined in the new edition of its manual, the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide.

The New York Times reports:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an "assessment." The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision. [emphasis added]

 

In other words, an FBI agent could look into you or your organization's activities without any opportunity for you to find out through Freedom of Information Act requests -  because no record was ever made of their inquiry. 

The FBI spokeswoman goes on to say it's "too cumbersome" for agents to be required to open an inquiry for each "quick search." 

At the risk of sounding childish -- Duh!

In a free society, it is intentional for police or law enforcement to meet certain criteria for searches and inquiries, maintain records of their activity, etc., so there can be diligent oversight conducted into the use of such powers to prevent abuse.

In a closed society, it's much easier to be in law enforcement.  There's no need to go rooting through someone's trash when you can just pick people up off the street and hold them indefinitely for questioning without charges - in fact, I'm sure they'd catch a lot of "terrorists" and "criminals" that way.  But that's not America.

America was founded with higher ideals.  Every American should be outraged at the new expansion of power the FBI is seeking to make investigating Americans more convenient.  Unfortunately, America has been sacrificing the principles of a free society, enshrined in our Constitution, for the expediency of law enforcement - all in the name of keeping us safe.