Ron Paul appeared for a short segment on FOX News today. He was on to discuss a recent bill sponsored by Barney Frank and co-sponsored by Paul himself that legalizes medical marijuana. He made his points well, but following the interview they had on a lady who refuted everything Paul said and didn’t give Paul a chance to respond. In any case, at least he was able to get some more air time for the freedom message. Watch it below.
One of Bob Barr’s stops on the campaign trail was at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester, New Hampshire. One guy who identifies himself as an anarchist stopped Barr for a quick interview:
A recent MSNBC News article discusses briefly how, in the midwest especially, conservatives and “Ron Paul activists” are running away from McCain and into the arms of Bob Barr (and even Chuck Baldwin). Naturally, as the media tends to enjoy doing, they play up the “spoiler” angle, but the message that McCain is in no way, shape, or form a conservative comes through loud and clear. And he certainly has cause for worry.
“In the libertarian-leaning West, where Paul’s message of distrust of the federal government and ardent individualism played particularly well, there is talk of Republicans straying from McCain,” the AP writes. “Libertarian candidate Bob Barr has emerged as a favorite alternative for Paul activists, followed by Constitutional Party candidate Chuck Baldwin. Even if the numbers of such dissenters are small, in tight contests in key Western states they could spoil McCain’s chances, experts say.”
Ron Paul has some new announcements about his Campaign for Liberty in Minneapolis August 31st through September 2nd:
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Dr. Paul is making two major announcements for the Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis from Aug 31 – Sept 2. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you better hurry up! Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com, Ticket Master locations, and the Target Center box office.
“I consider this event equal to, if not more important, than anything I have done over all these years,” said Dr. Paul in his video message.
Bob Barr and his campaign are asking us liberty loving individuals to petition Congress to stop ignoring or “blacking out” the Bill of Rights. There’s a nice YouTube video of Barr introducing the “blacked out” Bill of Rights during his recent testimony on Capitol Hill.
Ron Paul was interviewed for 10 minutes on the Bill Press Show today. They discussed monetary policy, fiscal conservatism, and spent a good amount of time discussing the upcoming Rally For The Republic in Minneapolis. Press admitted he has been in contact with the rally organizers to try to speak out on behalf of Ron Paul at the rally. Bill Press is a self described “progressive” radio show host, which is the liberal left’s “nice” word for “liberal”. Once again, Ron Paul demonstrates his ability to truly unite those on both sides of the aisle and everyone in between.
What a ride it has been the past few weeks on the market! Freddie and Fannie have now cajoled the government into providing a bailout; meanwhile, Bennigan’s, Steve and Barry’s, and other companies began closing their doors. In such a volatile time, how do we remain confident that we’ve made the proper investment choices? Remember, diversification.
Hedging against inflation
I am a strong advocate of, in a high inflation environment, holding 5-15% of one’s portfolio’s NAV (net asset value) in gold, silver, platinum, or palladium. Such metals are a strong ‘hedge’ against inflation, meaning they almost always go up in value as a currency decreases. There are a few methods of purchasing these metals, but I’d warn against purchasing an ETF linked to precious metal; true ownership is the best scenario in case of a market crash. Both home ownership and overseas holding are the best two options, although the government has seized gold before. If one is looking into purchasing gold/silver, bars are almost always better than numismatic purchases, as one does not pay the collector’s overhead on the coins. That being said, there is also a good market in junk silver, where a large discount is to be had. Be creative, and one can often purchase many ounces of silver at a significant discount to melt price.
Beyond gold and silver, one can also store some of their money in more well-managed currencies, such as the Swiss Franc. This is a more complex investment strategy, but is easily accomplished through such online brokers as Interactive Brokers, who can put one’s cash deposit in any currency within their Forex database. Alternatively, one could hold the currency itself, but may find convertibility to be an issue.
Positions written about in the Free Investor are purely the opinions of Alexander Drummond and the Free Investor staff. Tomorrow and Sunday, this series will be continued with a segment on Overseas Investment, as well as possible U.S. stocks that can survive economic recession. Following that, the Free Investor will be on a 3 week vacation, after which we will transfer to a twice-weekly program with posts on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Sarah Steelman is a limited-government conservative who values the protections provided by the rule of law (i.e. the Constitution) and is under fire by the party big-wigs because she knows they don’t follow their own platform and isn’t afraid to say it. Steelman currently serves as Missouri State Treasurer and is best-known for her implementation of the country’s first Terror-Free Investment policy, which divests state funds from state sponsors of terror, and for stopping payment on a check when bureaucrats illegally tried to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against Department of Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell with state funds. Steelman attended the Ron Paul rally in Branson, Missouri during the State Republican Convention.
Steelman’s opponent in the August 5 primary is “Republican” Congress-critter and part of the Washington problem Kenny Hulshof. Hulshof doesn’t mind shredding the Constitution with Military Commissions Act and Patriot Act; wants every American to carry their “papers” with built-in biometrics with Real ID; and doesn’t have a problem with granting international organizations the ability to interfere with American sovereignty by supporting Codex Alimentarius (equivilent to a supranational FDA), WTO (anti-capitalistic political interventionism), International Labour Organization (ILO), CAFTA (the same failed neo-liberal model as NAFTA that kills small farms in favor of big agribusiness), and others.
Missourians can support a real small-government conservative by casting their vote for Sarah Steelman in the August 5 state primary. Everyone in the United States can make a donation to the Steelman campaign.
The Mayor of Berwyn Heights in Maryland’s Prince George’s County had a rude awakening. Apparently, a 32 lb. bag of marijuana was sent to his house addressed to his wife. A SWAT team busted down his door, shot and killed his two black labs, and held him for questioning for hours. The Mayor claims he has no idea where the pot came from. He also said that if the police would have just knocked, he’d have let them in.
Instead his two dogs are now dead and all members of his household are “persons of suspicion”.
Must I point out how incredibly ridiculous this event is? It demonstrates the lunacy of the war on drugs. In a somewhate related note, CNN today had a poll asking if marijuana should be made legal. Over 65% said yes. When will we learn our current policy is having the opposite of its intended effect? Maybe someday. Watch the news report of the story below.
According to a report by Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable, C-SPAN 2 will cover Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic and other ancillary events as they coincide with the Republican National Convention:
C-SPAN 2 will focus on highlights and will also feature viewer reactions. The network will also cover Paul’s event, set for Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in Minneapolis to coincide with the Republican National Convention.
About half of the 15,000 tickets for the Rally for the Republic still remain available for purchase through Ticketmaster. With more and more attention gathering around Ron Paul and the Campaign for Liberty, we need to fill the Target Center and help make the case for liberty in Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
Ample opportunities exist for anyone interested in helping bring Ron Paul’s message of freedom, the Constitution, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy to Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the Republican National Convention, and a nationwide TV audience:
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