Obeying the Constitution ~ Georgia HB 430 Constitutional Tender Act Introduced

[peaceandlove]

Constitutional Tender Act Testimony before the Banking Subcommittees of the Georgia House

OBEY THE LAW ~ OBEY THE CONSTITUTION ~ GOLD/SILVER AS LEGAL TENDER

Posted by bickelj on 03/27/09 7:15 PM
Last updated 03/25/09 12:31 PM

Today was exciting. Between the hours of 10 am and 12 pm, several Citizens stood up and spoke in favor of the Constitutional Tender Act (full text). The first was Representative Bobby Franklin, then Dr. Bill Greene, Aaron Krowne, me (Jesse Bickel), Sean Mangieri, and Franklin Sanders.

I encourage the committee to support the Constitutional Tender Act for two reasons. The first is respect for the Constitution of the United States. The second is concern for the future of Georgia and her banking institutions.

The Constitution of the United States recognizes sovereignty of the states in article ten of the Bill of Rights. However, the states are forbidden to make "any Thing but gold or silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts" in Article I section 10. The central government is given no power to make a tender at all. Furthermore, on August 16, 1787 a motion to strike out the power of Congress to "emit bills on the credit of the U. States" carried nine to two. All the discussion regarded "bills of credit" to be "paper money." Article I section 8 of the Constitution allows Congress the power to "Coin money" which obviously concerns coins and not paper. Indeed, why would the founders grant the Congress the power to create money that the States would be forbidden from making a tender? Despite Washington DC's ignorance and hostility to the Constitution of the United States, we in
Georgia have an obligation to do our best to follow it. The Constitutional Tender Act is a good start at compliance with the Constitution.

I am worried that the banks of Georgia may protest the Constitutional Tender Act on the grounds that it creates compliance costs. My hope is that they will see the wisdom in the act, as it will allow banks in Georgia to continue operating under dire circumstances. In the short term, compliance will require some work. In the long term, I urge the banking sector to consider the case of wholesale dollar rejection. If foreign creditors, the Federal Reserve, and the Congress allow the US dollar to collapse, people will probably not deposit their paper money into banks. This act does nothing to stop the current business of dealing with paper money, but it offers a future benefit for banks who comply with it. Banks already offering an alternative to dollar-only accounts will be ahead of the curve in what is shaping up to be a currency crisis. It should be noted that the act offers no prohibition on fees to open or hold an account denominated in Constitutional money. Obviously the banks must maintain profitability, so I would not expect them to offer safekeeping of money for free.

In conclusion, it is in the interest of the people of Georgia and the banks in Georgia to support the Constitutional Tender Act.

State Representative Bobby Franklin's quick summary: Video (3:20)

Representative Bobby Franklin's introduction and Q&A: Video (28:28)

Dr. Bill Greene's testimony: Video (8:30)

Aaron Krowne's testimony: Video (7:23)

My testimony (Jesse Bickel): Video (5:42)

Sean Mangieri's testimony: Video (5:21)

Franklin Sanders' testimony: Video (7:24)


INFORMATIVE and EDUCATIONAL

SEE LINK for Complete Article including link to the Tender Act and all the videos: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=14144&cpg=1#comments

[orthodoxymoron]

A study of the U.S. Constitution in it's historical setting by reading the Federalist Papers...and generally looking at the state of the world in the 1700's...is a deeply spiritual experience. This experience is enhanced by visiting historical sites within the United States. The actual document is pretty plain and short...which is exactly what is required. The formation and application of this document is where things become very, very interesting! It's too bad that the present crisis was required to turn the minds of many back to the U.S. Constitution. I'm hoping that a deeply intellectual and spiritual revival of the Constitution will bring reason and peace to this very troubled world. Go Georgia!:original:

[peaceandlove]

Is there ANY Gold Inside Fort Knox, the World's Most Secure Vault?

March 28, 2009

Chris Ayres in Los Angeles

It is said to be the most impregnable vault on Earth: built out of granite, sealed behind a 22-tonne door, located on a US military base and watched over day and night by army units with tanks, heavy artillery and Apache helicopter gunships at their disposal.

Since its construction in 1937 the treasures locked inside Fort Knox have included the US Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible and Magna Carta.

For several prominent investors and at least one senior US congressman it is not the security of the facility in Kentucky that is a cause of concern: it is the matter of how much gold remains stored there - and who owns it.

They are worried that no independent auditors appear to have had access to the reported $137 billion (£96 billion) stockpile of brick-shaped gold bars in Fort Knox since the era of President Eisenhower. After the risky trading activities at supposedly safe institutions such as AIG they want to be reassured that the gold reserves are still the exclusive property of the US and have not been used to fund risky transactions.

In other words, they want to be certain that the bullion has not been rendered as valueless as if a real-life Goldfinger had stolen it.

“It has been several decades since the gold in Fort Knox was independently audited or properly accounted for,” said Ron Paul, the Texas Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate, in an e-mail interview with The Times. “The American people deserve to know the truth.”

Mr Paul has so far attracted 21 co-sponsors (up to 44 now) for a Bill to conduct an independent audit of the Federal Reserve System - including its claims to Fort Knox gold - but an organisation named the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) is taking a different approach.

It has hired the Virginia law firm William J.Olson, PC, to test President Obama's promise to bring “an unprecedented level of openness” to the Government and next month it will file several Freedom of Information requests for a full disclosure of US gold ownership and trading activities.

“We're taking the President at his word,” said Chris Powell, of GATA. “If you go online you can find out how to build a nuclear weapon but you won't find any detailed records on central gold reserves.”

Article continues: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5989271.ece

Source: http://solari.com/blog/ Catherine Austin Fitts' Blog

[peaceandlove]

Bloomberg TV Interviews GATA Chairman Bill Murphy

Catherine and Financial Permaculture, March 25, 2009 at 6:03 pm

"The Bank for International Settlements has admitted to influencing the gold price."

Video (5:41): http://solari.com/blog/?p=2351#comments

[peaceandlove]

Concentrated shorts proven to suppress gold and silver

By cpowell
Created 2009-03-28 01:06
9:05p ET Friday, March 27, 2009

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):

GATA Board of Directors member Adrian Douglas, editor of the Market Force Analysis letter (http://www.marketforceanalysis.com/ [1]), has combined data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to show that the suppression of the prices of gold and silver in the last several years correlates exactly with the growing concentration of the short positions held by two U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC.

Short of the official admissions of the gold price suppression scheme collected and published by GATA over the years, Douglas' report is probably the best proof yet, and certainly the most detailed. Douglas' report is titled "Pirates of the COMEX" and you can find it in PDF format at GATA's Internet site here:

http://www.gata.org/files/PIRATES-OF-THE-COMEX.pdf [2]

GATA's supporters may be wearying of our many similar requests, but only persistence pays off, so we ask you to print copies of Douglas' report and send them -- by regular mail, not e-mail, which is ignored -- to your U.S. senators and representatives with a covering letter requesting an explanation as to why nothing is being done to stop this market manipulation. For our friends outside the United States, please send copies with similar letters to your own national legislators.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

Continues with links and pdf's. http://gata.org/node/7307/print

Source: http://gata.org/node/7307/print Catherine Austin Fitts' blog

[peaceandlove]

NYSE Runs Out of Gold Bars: What Happens Next?

March 27, 2009

In the first Great Depression, the government tried, for several years, between 1929 and 1933, to maintain a fiction that the U.S. dollar was still convertible and as “good as gold”, in spite of having irresponsibly printed more dollars than they had gold to back them. Back in the 1920s, just like during the last 22 years, the Federal Reserve had run its printing press overtime, and, as a result, it couldn’t deliver. The U.S. Treasury eventually ran out of the gold, in the face of overwhelming public demand, resulting in the infamous gold confiscation order, by President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1933. History may be repeating itself, except that the government no longer makes any pretension to maintaining a gold standard, or any standards at all. Instead, nowadays, the futures exchanges offer to trade gold for a floating number of dollars, and, it appears, they have printed more paper contracts than they can redeem, at least when it comes to 1 kilogram bars.

The NYSE-Liffe futures exchange has, it seems, run out of 1 kg bars of gold.

Article continues: http://seekingalpha.com/article/128150-nyse-runs-out-of-gold-bars-what-happens-next


Source: http://solari.com/blog/ Catherine Austin Fitts' blog