Owning Gold & Silver is Terrorism
By John Galt
March 21, 2011
First a quick thank you and hello to all my readers at the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. who are doing the legitimate work of trying to prevent another 9-11 or other attack which would cripple our nation. You are the ones doing old fashioned police and investigative work which could save thousands of lives and prevent the decimation of the lives of Americans across our fair land.
Then there is U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins.
Ms. Tompkins successfully won a case against an old man who performed an illegal and foolish act by daring to infer that the silver coins he minted were “currency” and “dollar” by imprinting those words and/or promoting the coinage he struck as such. Even the most basic of counterfeiters knows and understands that once you replicate any portion of the American monetary system with the word “dollar” on the item reproduced, that individual knows he has violated a very basic Federal law. Hence when Von NotHaus, age 67, of North Carolina began to mint and promote the “Ron Paul Dollar” most of us who have collected or dealt with coins in our lives simply uttered the phrase “uh-oh” and/or “he’s toast” because it was not going to be long before the Feds visited the gentleman.
Fast forward to the courtroom and this story on Saturday March 19, 2011 from the Asheville Citizen-Times:
Liberty Dollar creator convicted in federal court
The U.S. Attorney performed as expected and won a case that even a wet behind the ears beginning prosecutor should be victorious, even if he or she finished in the lower 7th percentile of their law class and took the bar exam four times before passing. This is not a criticism of her techniques or experience however, it’s an observation that prosecuting stupid people usually is gravy, and thus anyone who expected a decision other than guilty was delusional.
Unfortunately, her Aphtae epizooticae (foot in mouth disease) acted up when she started speaking to the media. From the same article linked above written by Clarke Morrison:
“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said. “While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country.”
Are you serious? An old fart who sells what, maybe $0.000000000172413793 per year of the total United States economic output according to estimated Bureau of Economic Analysis figures is a unique form of domestic terrorism? Thus when the United States government determines that anyone who sells or purchases silver or gold coins or bullion, be they of domestic or foreign manufacture, for the expressed purpose of preserving a store of wealth and having the item on hand in case of an emergency such as a currency collapse, that individual could be perceived as a “clear and present danger” to the United States?!?!
This statement is a clear and present indicator that this administration is itching to unleash the unconstitutional hounds who endorse and love to abuse the Patriot Act on freedom loving Americans who enjoy their right to use the system of monetary units created by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution of the United States under Article I, Section 10 which states:
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
Thus one has to wonder if this is the next portion of the Constitution designated by the latest administration for the historic shredder. While old NutHaus made the most basic of mistakes in attempting to promote an item in direct competition with the Federal Reserve and the powers reserved to the government within the Constitution, does the intent of how one intends to use gold and silver suddenly make them an unique domestic terrorist? Ever since the Obamacare attempt to impose 1099′s on every living creature of the land, other methods of impeding the legal and lawful commerce in the purchase and sales of precious metals have been researched. Based on the statement of the U.S. Attorney above, criminalization of a legal act, the last resort of scoundrels and despots, appears to be the new tactic ‘we the people’ can look forward to as the economic and dollar situation deteriorates at an exponentially faster pace.
There is some good news however:
If ownership of silver does indeed become as criminalized as drug possession or dealing, J.P. Morgan Chase and the COMEX could have some executives spending a millennium or two behind bars.
Originally posted at Shenabdoah
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March 31st, 2011 at 9:27 am
Owning gold and silver is terrorism? Wow. How freakin’ stupid is that? When will we start the house-to-house storm trooper searches for jewelry? What about my gold tooth? And all you married folks better take those rings OFF NOW! And HIDE THAT BLING!
Our government in the last dozen years has gone off the cliff mentally – and the proof is that they don’t seem to comprehend WHY so many citzens don’t trust government – to do it’s job, to be honest, to NOT entrap and jail us, etc.
If you check out the ‘watch’ lists of behaviors that are ‘terrorism suspected’ behaviors, having a thought of your own is a cause to get on a watch list. Too much time at the library will get you on a list, e.g. Breathing is about the only thing you’re still allowed to do without being a suspect. But wait – how loudly are you breathing?
April 1st, 2011 at 7:48 am
You seem to gloss over the fact that the first two words of that section are “No state.” This piece of the Constitution does nothing to remove from the federal congress the power to do the things stated. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with your mission, I agree with everything this gentleman was doing, and I don’t think what he did should be constituted as morally wrong, much less a crime, in any way, shape or form. I just don’t think John Galt is doing anyone any favors when he blantanly twists the Constitution to conform to the point he is trying to make. The DOJ is absolutely WRONG for what they are doing to Bernard von NotHaus. Prove it legitmately!
April 3rd, 2011 at 1:23 am
I would like to briefly recap some thoughts I shared elsewhere, and then explore the issue of counterfeiting.
You are most certainly correct in your assessment of their blatant attempt to corrupt and criminalize the constitutional tender of gold and silver coin as domestic terrorism. The well intended bias of the Juries to faithfully uphold the Law was exploited by governance to manipulate and ensure conviction of a man whose intent was to use gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts as required by the Constitution.
Bernard von NotHaus erred by minting gold and silver coins as $ ’Dollars’ that could be mistakenly construed as ‘Money’ officially minted and backed by the authorities of the United States government. During bygone eras in which a wide variety and wealth of gold and silver were traded as privately minted coin, foreign coin, and U.S. coin and were commonly mixed in transactions and exchanges daily, the prosecution of any individual minting or tendering gold and silver as a Counterfeiter would have been absurd and laughable upon the merest mention or inference. However, excepting a minority of states and communities that have retained a proper understanding of gold and silver coin and ‘Money’ versus Fiat Currency, given that the whole of our society has for generations known nothing but Federal Reserve Notes as Legal Tender, our jurisprudence has been swayed to convict those engaging in Constitutional Tender and refusing to participate in the corruptions of Fiat Currencies backed by the value of nothing.
Here is where our opinions stray with different focus of the Constitutional implications.
Bernard von NotHaus may very well be deserving of harsh critic for his foolish approach in dealing with the U.S. Treasury and United States after he founded NORFED and a private currency and then minting Liberty Dollars in such fashion that he could be held to account for the stupidity of the populace for no longer being savvy as the generations before them were in easily distinguishing between private, foreign, and U.S. coin. But it is remarkable to note that the investigation and prosecution occurred only after he advocated something which no other private mints has, the circulation and free exchange of the coins as legal tender. No doubt the vested powers and authorities of the United States were merely acting as an enforcement agent protecting the interest of the Federal Reserve, whom is the only and sole entity that could suffer harm by the circulation of gold and silver as legal tender, and which is the privately held monopolistic banking cartel having complete control over and pulling the strings to engineer in accordance with their pleasure and whim every aspect of our society, to include our governance, our media, our elections, our jurisprudence, our economy, and yes, even matters of War, Treaty, and Peace which sways the profit margins of the nations and corporations that are subservient to the Federal Reserves control of the free flow of the currency of the United States, and indeed, the world.
Not a single cent of our currency circulates within the United States unless it is created out of thin air, valueless, worthless, and loaned into circulation by THEM as DEBT that must be collateralized by the full faith and credit of our nation and with the hard and tangle assets of our citizens and ultimately repaid with Interest. This is the Root Evil of the economic realities and calamities that have besought our nation since their creation in 1913. By inflating and then deflating the currency, and controlling to whom the currency is loaned, at will they can engineer any desired scheme to alter any aspect of our society and force the bankruptcy of entire communities, regions, and even nations so as to force the transfer of wealth pledged to them in exchange of the fiat currency they issue, even if it means plunging nations into Great Depressions and World Wars for their profit and ambitions of domination and power.
There is a long and sordid history of nations being plunged into Civil War and international Wars for daring to refuse the advances of private central banks, and even Presidents have been murdered for daring to rebuke or reign in their control or influence of our nation and the free flow of gold and silver. Bernard von NotHaus may have his failings as a man that deserve our criticism and our scorn, but he is simply yet another whom sought to challenge and has fallen before the monolithic and ruthless conspiracy described so well by President Kennedy, whom was himself assassinated several short months after he dared to order the reinstatement of legal tender worth its weight in silver and issued independently of the control of the Federal Reserve.
Yes, this prosecution does present some very serious concerns that our government will persecute anyone attempting to use gold and silver tender as a terrorist. However, with such ambitions, and respect to the outcome of this trial on the charges of counterfeiting and the related charge of conspiracy, a close review of the charges and of the convictions reveals that the alleged violations of the U.S. Code for which he was brought to trial actually outlaw the use of gold and silver coin in direct violation and contradiction of Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution which forbids making any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.
von NotHaus foolishly erred and invited the bias of the Jury because of the confusion raised by his minting $ marks and the word Dollar on Liberty Coins, but the simple fact is that he did not counterfeit any current Coin of the United States, and no fraud could have been perpetrated in any transaction for which they were tendered because their value was secured by their own weight of metal when minted, excepting the copper clad coins that were also minted. But again, they were not a counterfeit of any current Coin of the United States.
The gold and silver coin minted by the United States is the legal tender that the Union uses to pay its sovereign debts. Although this coin passes into general circulation, the States and the People are under no obligation to use it exclusively and are free to tender any coin so long as its value is secured by the weight of gold and silver. The challenges to the statues of the U.S. Code which outlaw the use of gold and silver have long been frustrated by the governments refusal to allow due process in criminal prosecutions and in limiting standing in civil matters to force the issue before the Supreme Court. This is a frustration compounded by the control and influence that the Federal Reserve wields over both the election of our federal officers for Congress and the Presidency, as well as the appoint of officers to the judiciary of the Supreme Court and inferior tribunals, and to the U.S. Treasury and to all other governmental agencies and government corporations vested and wielding powers derived from the United States.
I would not be so quick and harsh in tossing von NotHaus aside and focusing your energies exclusively on decrying the tyrannies of government to persecute the use of gold and silver tender as domestic terrorism. In the One Hundred Year Struggle that has been waged against the Federal Reserve attempting to demand redress from our governance to restore Constitutional Legal Tender and the free flow of gold and silver Coin as Currency, his prosecution and conviction has opened one of the rare and precious doors of opportunity only seen once every several decades to press forward and seek redress on all fronts demanding that the President, the Congress, and the Supreme Court uphold the enumerations of the Constitution to which they are sworn and to abolish the Federal Reserve and restore the Gold and Silver standard of currency.
Bernard may be an unwitting fool tilting at windmills… but on its face he has a constitutional case arising from the conflicts of criminalizing the Constitutional mandate to use gold and silver tend and Congresses power to set the weights and standards and regulated the value of gold and silver Coin and to punish counterfeiting. In the balance lays the criminalization of gold and silver tender as terrorism, or the abolishment of the Federal Reserve. Ultimately it may be lost or refused in considerations before the Supreme Court.
Presently the battle with the Federal Reserve is being waged on several fronts. The Audit the Fed and Abolish the Fed battles have been waged in Congress for a number of years. The Sue the Fed initiative is attempting to find financing backing for a Class Action Lawsuit against the Federal Reserve. The Tea Party has made headway into electing officers of governance that limit or sever ties to political affiliations financed and controlled by the Federal Reserve. The chairmanship of a financial committee in the House is now under the control of a patriot legislator and in both the House and the Senate patriot legislators are engaging and demanding fiscal accountability and seeking to enforce fidelity to the Oath of Office for all officers of governance rather than fidelity to the financial interest of the Federal Reserve. Repeated efforts have been made to convene Grand Juries and file Civil Suits and initiate Congressional Investigations to redress criminal acts and liabilities related to the Tarp Bailouts and Quantitative Easing. 10th Amendment Resolutions have passed or are being considered in a number of states for State Owned Banks, Intrastate Commerce, and Gold and Silver Tender. And now there is a case that can be forced all the way to the Supreme Court demanding restoration of gold and silver tender.
We have an opportunity to press on all fronts, in tandem, to force and demand redress of all three branches of federal government and seek nullification by every state legislature. The patriot political and civic leaders need to make every attempt to include this court case in the whole of our ambitions to rally our political will and hold the entirety of governance accountable to this issue.
If we fail to seek this redress, and instead focus solely on political speech in preparation of the 2012 elections… it may never come again.
April 3rd, 2011 at 1:49 am
The leadership of several of our nations most prominent civic and constitutional educational foundations and associations are themselves scholars and attorneys specializing in Constitutional Law, and have to various extents participated with and argued cases before the Supreme Court.
Although they are presently focused upon the well being and success of the missions of the organizations they lead, and are focused upon the various other efforts seeking redress of this and similar issues from both federal and state governments, and whom also seek to rally political consensus building towards the 2012 elections… As Officers duly vetted and sworn before the Courts and qualified to provide aide and legal counsel to an individual whom doubtlessly will be appealing his conviction under the Presume Authorities and Color of Law, I would respectfully and politely suggest that they find a way to dedicate a portion of their time in preparing the best and last defense of this case before the Supreme Court.
If this case is lost or refused in consideration before the Supreme Court, the opportunity will be stricken and it will NEVER be heard or considered again in our lifetimes.
This should weigh heavily in everyone’s considerations.