- My name is Edgar J. Steele. This is a Nickel Rant.
-
- You may have heard about the recent Federal raid and
seizure of the assets and records of NORFED (National Organization for
the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act), a private company owned by Bernard
Von NotHaus, that has been selling gold and silver bullion coins labeled
"Liberty Dollars" through an arguably-questionable multi-level-
marketing (MLM) scheme.
-
-
-
-
- The Washington Post recently reported that "The
ardent supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic Texas libertarian
whose campaign for the presidency is threatening to upend the battle for
the Republican nomination, got word yesterday of a new source of outrage
and motivation: reports of a federal raid on a company that was selling
thousands of coins marked with the craggy visage of their hero."
-
-
-
- Neither Legal NORFED
-
- American Liberty Dollars (ALDs) mostly are made of silver
and gold.
-
- As reported by the Post, the ALD's latest iteration carries
a likeness of Ron Paul. I actively promote both silver and Ron Paul.
-
- I condemn police-state measures at all levels of government
in all countries throughout the world.
-
-
-
-
- Speaking of bias, let's get my biggest bias in the financial
arena out in the open before we go any further: I absolutely loathe and
despise the Federal Reserve Bank (the"Fed") and all that it
does, both directly and through its various corporate (usually Goldman
Sachs) and government (e.g., Treasury Secretary, now a sinecure for Goldman
Sachs executives) officials in robbing from all of us, but having its
greatest impact upon the most defenseless among us: the old, the infirm,
the poor and the uneducated.
-
- Facially, this is a no-brainer, right? I should be a
big supporter of NORFED, right? I'm not.
-
- Change Happens - You Can Make a Difference!
-
- I'm coming around, though. Witness today yet another
change in my outlook, brought about by people just like yourself, dear
reader.
-
- This column has been simmering in the back of my mind
now for two weeks, ever since I first heard of the Federal raid on NORFED,
and my outlook has undergone a near-complete about-face in that time.
-
-
-
-
- One of these days I will write about how my beliefs about
abortion were changed 180 degrees by others - and "by others"
I mean people just like you, not those writing weighty tomes on the subject
or lengthy diatribes laden with scientific or religious argot. The primary
upshot of that article will be to demonstrate how even old, calcified
and opinionated dogs like I can learn new tricks from ordinary folks -
just ordinary folks making a difference, one person at a time.
-
- And you thought your opinion doesn't matter. You couldn't
be more wrong! When you state your opinion to those who value you, who
consider your thought processes to be worthy, you have an effect, even
if you see nothing at the time. Even if they argue with you over it.
Especially if they argue with you over it. Every single person counts
with me, just as you do with everybody you know. I read every, single
word of every email I receive from list members, though I no longer can
respond to but a handful of them each week, and what you say to me has
an effect, rest assured!
-
- I Can't Make "Private" Comments to Others,
But That's OK
-
- I often get involved in private exchanges concerning
one thing or another with other writers and with a variety of members
of this list (usually, one and the same). I watched the NORFED controversy
fester and grow on the Internet, then weighed in with a private comment
to a few others. I have seen some forum comments claiming that I could
not possibly have written the following, but rest assured that I did so:
-
- _____
-
- "Guys! This is getting out of hand. Trust me, Ol'
Bernie had only a profit motive in putting out those Ron Paul coins, just
as he always has through the Norfed/Liberty Dollar fast shuffle. When
silver's spot was $9, Bernie peddled his $20 Liberty Dollars to associates
for $19. That's right. Wealth sharing never has been one of Ol' Bernie's
strong suits.
-
- "Now he's got you guys shilling for him in his effort
to burn customers who sent him money for undelivered product. That's right,
too: Bernie is selling a product. Just because it got seized (even if
illegally, which I think it was) does not relieve him of his liability
to his customers.
-
- "I told Bernie in person, at his request, two years
ago, what was going to happen to him if he didn't get right with God.
He didn't like it and he never changed, except to cloak himself in the
Ron Paul flag.
-
- "I've read all 38 pages of the affidavit sworn in
support of the search warrants and they are after him for two things:
running a Ponzi scheme and issuing coins confusingly similar to legal
tender (if that isn't the intent, then why denominate them in dollars?),
then encouraging his "dealers" to treat them as they would legal
tender. Bernie has a problem and Ron Paul has nothing to do with it.
-
- "What's the difference between Bernie and Mickey
Mouse? Disney Dollars are used only on Disney properties, not at the local
7-11.
-
- "Sorry, but I'm getting tired of silently sitting
by and watching Bernie being turned into the saint he ain't. Much more
of this and he will be proposed as Ron Paul's running mate.
-
- "There are a few bccs on this communique, but I
still am resisting the strong urge to write a column excoriating Bernie
for this mess. If I see much more of this, though, I'm not going to be
able to hold back."
-
- _____
-
- That little stream-of-consciousness squib of mine quickly
got posted to a few on-line forums and passed around. I heard from lots
of people, mostly supporting my condemnation of the outrageous profits
made on the Liberty Dollar by good ol' Bernie (Bernard Von NotHaus, founder
of NORFED) and some recalling his involvement in something similar many
years ago. I also heard from others, including NORFED/ Liberty Dollar
fans and dealers, Ron Paul supporters and a variety of conspiracy-minded
folks, many encouraging me to support good ol' Bernie.
-
- Bernholm Syndrome?
-
- After a few exchanges and over a week of mulling things
over, I have concluded that good ol' Bernie still ain't no saint. However,
I also have concluded that merely making a huge profit on his little MLM
scheme doesn't, in itself, make him a criminal. It does make him greedy
and his customers suckers, though.
-
- So what's my attitudinal shift? Regardless of Bernie's
intent, I am willing to applaud his actions that have resulted in an admittedly
Quixotic challenge to the worthiness of the dollar (FRN) as the sole
"legal tender" allowed in use in America.
-
- Strictly by accident, good ol' Bernie has committed an
act of civil disobedience (yes, yes - to those who disagree with the political
content of such an act, its perpetrator also is known as a "criminal").
Now Bernie, ever the opportunist, seizes upon the civil disobedience
aspect and, like the dumb cluck that Chevy Chase once played on Saturday
Night Live back when it was worth watching, says, "I meant to do
that!" Yeah, sure, Bernie - thousands wouldn't believe you, but
I do. Even so, you get credit for being in the right place at the right
time to make such a claim.
-
- To the most ardent of Bernie's acolytes, I commend a
close reading of the true account of the origin of the term "Stockholm
Syndrome."
- Why, some go so far as to suggest that good ol' Bernie
be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! Actually, I suppose Bernie is more
deserving of that singularly meritless award than Al Gore, the latest
recipient, for spouting his global-warming nonsense (just tell me why
the current global warming being experienced by Mars is any different
from Earth's, Al, and I will take that back).
-
- BernieBucks - Just Another Fiat Currency
-
- Two years ago, at the Silver Summit conference in Coeur
d'Alene, just as silver's spot was passing $9, good ol' Bernie and I had
an extended conversation in which (among a great many other things) he
tried to get me to become one of his reps. My cost for his 1-oz silver
coins? $19. Good ol' Bernie refused to answer my repeated question about
what happened to the $10 difference.
-
- I confess the news that "Mr. von NotHaus was in
the process of revaluing it (the ALD) at $50 a piece," when the
Feds shut him down recently disturbs me even more than his bump from $10
to $20 back when silver began its meteoric rise from below $5 per ounce.
-
- Lessee now: $50 less today's spot price for 1 ounce
of silver ($14.30), less the cost of minting (50 cents per coin, per a
quote I got from Sunshine Mining, Bernie's supplier, for quantities of
1,000 or more), leaves ... $35.20. Let's say that good ol' Bernie sells
them to you, his valued dealer, for $45, a bigger discount than he offered
me two years ago - why, that leaves Bern with ... $30.20 profit per coin.
So much for Bernie's recent claim of not being in it for the bucks -
and FRN bucks, at that, which is the currency in which good ol' Bernie
demands that he be paid (after all, he's no sucker).
-
- While we're on the topic of the ever-shifting face value
(in FRNs, no less) of BernieBucks, let me point out that the gravamen
of fiat currency is that its worth simply is dictated by its issuer -
by fiat, that is. So 'splain me sumpin' agin (to phrase it in a way
that us Idahun hill folk can understand): Why is it that ALDs, even those
made of silver or gold, aren't a fiat currency?
-
-
-
-
- On the other hand, speaking of FRNs and fiat currency,
the Federal Reserve System is a true world-class scam, running a much
larger, genuine Ponzi scheme called "fractional reserve banking."
And talk about counterfeiting! What the Federal Reserve does in simply
printing money (or creating billions from electrons) is far worse than
the Liberty Dollar, which at least contains (or purports to be backed
by) something of value: silver and gold. And, you know, I don't have
to use BernieBucks to conduct business, but I do have to use FRNs.
-
- But, then, good ol' Bernie has been issuing paper BernieBucks,
too, which in legal fact are nothing more than personal IOUs, so I really
have to wonder about his claim to be promoting the use of real money
versus FRNs.
-
- So What Does Ron Paul Have to Do With BernieBucks?
-
- A correspondent finally provided me a video in which
Dr. Paul himself makes clear that he never authorized the use of his face
on the Liberty Dollar: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XhWRDP8v9ss
.
-
- Dr. Paul also makes clear his statesmanlike demeanor
when he tacitly approves the minting of what he calls "competing
currencies" (of which he approves), particularly when made of gold
and silver versus the "artificial currency" mandated under American
Legal Tender laws.
-
- Calling it an "act of civil disobedience,"
Dr. Paul reminds the listener that one who acts in such a manner must
be prepared to go to jail until unjust laws might be changed.
-
- I really have to say this again: Ron Paul is the real
deal. His calm composure under fire, willingness to take on any issue
and give a square, measured, even temperate, answer underscores just how
presidential Ron Paul really is. The problem is that the average American
quite simply is too stupid to understand most of what Dr. Paul actually
says and, instead, wants to ding him for not having a deep, "Presidential-sounding"
voice.
-
- No Intent to Deceive? Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha...mmmph...snort...('scuse
me)
-
- Bernie goes to great lengths to state that he does not
intend the ALD to be mistaken for legal tender or to be used directly
in competition with US-Treasury-issued currency and coins. That is pure
bushwa, to use the technical term employed by my college freshman Economics
professor nearly 45 years ago in explaining why America could not possibly
have both guns and butter at the same time. Of course Bernie intends
both things.
-
- If BernieBucks had been issued as a selfless act of civil
disobedience, which is how Bernie today likes to depict his actions,
I'd support him wholeheartedly, but his intent clearly was to siphon off
your hard-earned savings into his own pockets (ironically, in the form
of Federal Reserve Notes, don't forget), while giving you something that
is worth no more than any common silver "round" (1- ounce bullion
coin worth spot plus 50 cents).
-
- In their defense, Bernie and his followers insist that
it is impossible to confuse ALDs with legal tender, among a great many
other things, some true and some patently ridiculous. Here - you be
the judge on that issue:
-
-
-
-
-
-
- For those who might have guessed wrong, that is a real
silver dollar on the left and one of Bernie's silver Liberty Dollars on
the right.
-
- Admit it - you had to look twice, at least. The one
on the left sells for a premium over a silver bullion coin because it
is "legal tender." The one on the right sells for a premium
over a silver bullion coin because ... well, because some people will
pay it, believe it or not.
- Just Whose Fight Is This, Anyway?
-
- When I said "shilling" in my "private"
message above, I meant just that. Bernie asks for donations to finance
HIS fight. Bernie suggests HIS customers file a class-action suit against
the USA, NOT Bernie. Bernie states that the government owes his customers,
not himself. Was his stuff wrongfully taken? Sure. Why is it our job
to get it back for him?
- One odd result of this whole mess is the eBay bonanza
being reaped by some sellers of the few Ron Paul BernieBucks out there
for hundreds of dollars each. This must be driving Bernie nuts ... profits
on his "coins" that he isn't getting. Or is he, do you suppose?
Suppose the eBay sellers are good ol' Bernie?
-
- New America. An idea whose time has come.
-
- My name is Edgar J. Steele. Thanks for listening. Please
visit my web site, www.ConspiracyPenPal.com, for other messages just like
this one.
-
- -ed
- Copyright ©2007, Edgar J. Steele
-
- Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate
both the written and audio version of this Nickel Rant among private
individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full
in all not-for-profit publications. The audio version of this Nickel
Rant may also be freely used in its entirety by for-profit broadcasting
entities, but is not to be included in any recorded format which then
is sold to others. The audio version of this Nickel Ranttm may be rebroadcast,
either live or archived on the Internet, either copied or linked directly
to my web site, profit and nonprofit alike, so long as it is used in its
entirety. In fact, I encourage any and all radio hosts to use it freely.
Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved.
-
- On-Line link to this rant in HTML format: http:// www.conspiracypenpal.com/rants/berniebucks.htm
-
- Downloadable audio files of BernieBucks:
- http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/rants/berniebucks16-16.mp3
- http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/rants/berniebucks32-24.mp3
- http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/rants/berniebucks48-44.mp3
- Streaming mp3: Good (16 kb/16 khz) Better (32 kb/24
khz) Best (48 kb/44 khz)
|
