Discussion by Ron Paul in the House of Representatives about the relationship between the cost of oil and threat of war with Iran, highlighting the irresponsible foreign policy that threatens to escalate the problem.
Statement on HR 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments
20 June 2008 Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.
Madam Speaker, I regret that due to the unexpected last-minute appearance of this measure on the legislative calendar this week, a prior commitment has prevented me from voting on the FISA amendments. I have strongly opposed every previous FISA overhaul attempt and I certainly would have voted against this one as well.
The main reason I oppose this latest version is that it still clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by allowing the federal government to engage in the bulk collection of American citizens’ communications without a search warrant. That US citizens can have their private communication intercepted by the government without a search warrant is anti-American, deeply disturbing, and completely unacceptable. Read the rest of this entry »
Sen. John McCain may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but supporters of Ron Paul in Montana refused to abandon their candidate.
The group led an impassioned fight Friday at the Montana GOP convention, shaking things up in a failed effort to secure the state’s 22 national convention delegates for Paul _ who suspended his presidential bid earlier this month.
While the battle jazzed up a normally dull delegate selection process, Paul supporters could not muster enough votes to trump McCain’s backers. In the end, McCain received all 22 delegates despite a close vote, party officials said.
Earlier in the evening, Paul told the crowd that his support in Montana was the best he had received anywhere.
Representative Ron Paul says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi removed a section from a bill passed by Congress which would have barred the U.S. from going to war with Iran without a congressional vote, claiming she did so at the behest of the leadership of Israel and AIPAC.
Paul, a former Republican presidential contender who formally removed himself from the party’s nomination race last week, makes the allegation on C-SPAN during a recently held foreign policy conference in Virginia.
Paul says Pelosi’s first act as House Speaker in 2006 was to “deliberately” remove a portion of a legislative spending bill which said the United States “can’t go to war with Iran without getting approval from Congress.”
According to Paul, Pelosi and her allies in the chamber’s Democratic leadership initially accepted the bill designed to outline an Iraq exit strategy, but during a revision of the legislation excluded the statement regarding the need for congressional approval of any military assault on the neighboring country of Iran. Read the rest of this entry »
Ron Paul supporters at the Idaho Republican Convention in Sandpoint succeeded in adding a plank to the state party platform to dissolve the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The state’s dominant political party is now calling for returning to a system where the U.S. currency is backed by gold and silver.
After the measure passed, Rick Martin, a Paul stalwart from Twin Falls county, screamed “Freedom.”
Susan Kenney, a Paul supporter from Ada County said “the Federal Reserve has been inflating our currency and weakening our dollar for several decades” and predicted dire consequences for the U.S. economy if the move isn’t made.
Foes of the dumping the Federal Reserve said while the current system isn’t perfect, it’s helped preserve U.S. economic stability.
Ron Paul: “Non-interventionism is not isolationism. Non-intervention simply means America does not interfere militarily, financially, or covertly in the internal affairs of other nations. It does not we that we isolate ourselves; on the contrary, our founders advocated open trade, travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations.”
Bob Barr: “Our National Defense policy must renew a commitment to non-intervention. We are not the world’s police force and our long, yet recently tarnished, tradition of respecting the sovereignty of other nations is necessary, not from only a moral standpoint, but to regain the respect of the world as a principled and peaceful nation.” Read the rest of this entry »
For the third time in four summers, the U.S. Supreme Court has slammed the Bush administration’s detention policies at Guantánamo Bay — locking up terrorist suspects indefinitely and beyond the law. And this time, some real progress might even come out of it. In a 5-4 decision drafted by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that Guantánamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus — that is, to challenge the legal basis for their detention in a federal court.
Let’s be clear, the decision doesn’t do a number of things. It doesn’t shut down Guantánamo. It doesn’t order all detainees who have not been charged with an offense to be released. And besides saying that the detainees are entitled to a “prompt habeas hearing,” it doesn’t even say what factors the courts should consider when deciding whether the U.S. government can hold them.
But the decision does achieve things that the Bush administration has been fighting against tooth and nail for years. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the past 17 months you and I delivered a message of freedom, the likes of which American politics has not seen in decades. With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign has come to an end. But the Revolution has only begun.
Today I am happy to announce the official launch of the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty. Please visit our new website and join us: Campaignforliberty.com
Over the next few months I will be developing a program, assembling a team, and announcing new and exciting projects. We will have a permanent presence on the American political landscape. That I promise you.
Right now, I need your patience and support. I want the Campaign for Liberty to be a grassroots campaign; so your energy, your creativity, your feedback, and your participation are essential. Read the rest of this entry »
Now that Hillary Clinton has at last formally withdrawn from the race for the White House, the eyes of America and the world will focus on Barack Obama and his Republican rival Senator John McCain.
While Obama will surely press his credentials as the embodiment of the American dream – a handsome, charismatic young black man who was raised on food stamps by a single mother and who represents his country’s future – McCain will present himself as a selfless, principled war hero whose campaign represents not so much a battle for the presidency of the United States, but a crusade to rescue the nation’s tarnished reputation. Read the rest of this entry »
Bob Barr did a great interview on Glenn Beck last night. Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party is the best chance we have of truly furthering the Revolution!
With the Republican primaries over as well this week, Ron Paul easily passed the 1 million vote mark.
The Texas congressman racked up more than 45,800 votes in the final three contests on Tuesday. He finished second in all three to John McCain, the presumptive nominee, with 22 percent of the vote in Montana, 17 percent in South Dakota, and 14 percent in New Mexico.
Paul is trying to win a speaking slot and platform influence at the GOP convention in September, when he could prove a fly in the proverbial ointment for McCain’s coronation.
“Dr. Paul’s grassroots supporters across the country are doing a tremendous job spreading our message, winning votes, and laying a strong foundation for the future,” campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said in a statement today.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail.
Staffers who have worked for her on he ground in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana have been invited to attend the event or go home for further instructions, campaign aides said. The New York senator had no other events Tuesday. She planned to address AIPAC Wednesday in Washington.
But she is under increasing pressure to cede the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama after the final primaries. There was a sense of denouement in the campaign. She planned to rally with husband and former President Clinton and their daughter Chelsea in South Dakota Monday night—a reunion usually reserved for election nights.
Statement on HR 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments
Sen. John McCain may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but supporters of Ron Paul in Montana refused to abandon their candidate.
Ron Paul supporters at the Idaho Republican Convention in Sandpoint succeeded in adding a plank to the state party platform to dissolve the U.S. Federal Reserve.
For the third time in four summers, the U.S. Supreme Court has slammed the Bush administration’s detention policies at Guantánamo Bay — locking up terrorist suspects indefinitely and beyond the law. And this time, some real progress might even come out of it. In a 5-4 decision drafted by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that Guantánamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus — that is, to challenge the legal basis for their detention in a federal court.
Over the past 17 months you and I delivered a message of freedom, the likes of which American politics has not seen in decades. With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign has come to an end. But the Revolution has only begun.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail.