> From: "Verne Warwick" <warpeau@...>
> Subject: Take Down of the Liberty Dollar
> Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:46:02 -0600

VW: This is exactly the major concern that I have raised
at every meeting of Complementary Currencies (CC) that
I have attended since "joining" the CC movement. The
criminals presently running the Fed (US) and Canadian
Dollar and all other "national" currencies, will not
want the usury-free CC to gain credibility, nor
ground, on the interest-based "acceptable" currencies.

JCT: It's a little late. Internet trading is established,
Ithaca Hours paper social currency trading is established,
as long as you're not passing your community currency off as
US money, it's no problem.

VW: Consequently, they will wait until a significant
portion (the percentage to be determined by them!) of
the population moves to CC's and then, when sufficient
time, energy and resources have been spent by the
proponents of CC's to set them up and get them going,
will pull the plug on the CC movement by having the
traitors in Congress and Parliament pass legislation
to outlaw CC's.

JCT: It's too prevalent to be stopped any more. Could they
outlaw Canadian Tire Money? Could the outlaw Airmiles, could
they outlaw PayPal and Visa? There's no confusion with
government currency.

VW: They have done it before (1933 in the USA; in the
'30's in Austria and Germany) and they will do it
again! This hit on NorFed is the warning shot across the bow
and the requisite precedent to take down other CC's.
If we do not stand up to them (NOT in the courts....they
were long ago bought and paid for by those wanting to crush
the CC's!), we will deserve our demise! Sincerely;
Verne A. Warwick

>From: "Dave Strang" <davestrang@...>
>To: "Verne Warwick" <warpeau@...>
>Subject: Emailing: 2006-09-14-liberty-usat_x
>Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:21:37 -0600

>Feds lower boom on alternative money
>Updated 9/15/2006 3:01 AM
>By Barbara Hagenbaugh, USA TODAY

JCT: Making the Big Brother Network.

BH: WASHINGTON - The government Thursday warned consumers
and businesses that it is illegal to use alternative money
known as "Liberty Dollar" coins, which organizers promote as
a competitor to the almighty dollar. "We don't want
consumers to be fooled," U.S. Mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey
says, noting U.S. Attorneys offices across the USA have
noticed a marked increase in inquiries about the coins. The
coins' producers vowed to fight the government's decision.

JCT: So this currency is a direct challenge to the mint.

BH: Evansville, Ind.-based National Organization for the
Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue
Code, otherwise known as NORFED, has been making the Liberty
Dollar coins for eight years and claims $20 million is in
circulation. The group says the money, unlike official U.S.
cash, has a hedge against inflation because it is made
almost entirely of silver and is backed by stocks of silver
and gold in a vault in Idaho.

JCT: And calling it a dollar is about as provocative as you
can get.

BH: The coins are then spent by the group's 2,500 Liberty
Associates in stores run by fellow supporters or are
accepted unknowingly by clerks who are unaware they are not
receiving real money.

JCT: So these guys made it as close to real money as they
could, as offensive to the Mint as they could. I remember
joking when I first heard about them wanting to use silver
medium when the best medium had no intrinsic value. Why
start a Community Currency on an inferior medium? To incur
goverment displeasure against the CC movement, naturally.

BH: The Justice Department has determined that use of
Liberty Dollars, which come in varying denominations, "is a
crime," according to the Mint, which issued a rare public
warning Thursday. "The United States Mint is the only entity
that can produce coins," Bailey says. The Mint notes the
coins share some resemblances to real money, such as the
term "Trust in God" instead of "In God We Trust" and use of
a torch in the design. Such similarities may confuse people
into thinking the money is real, the Mint says.

JCT: Incurring government displeasure against social
currencies?!

BH: But NORFED says it will challenge the government,
arguing it has never claimed Liberty Dollars were official
money and that it has a right to offer an alternative. "The
designs and verbiage... are original and are not copies of
any U.S. Mint currency," NORFED Executive Director Michael
Johnson said in a statement. It's unclear how many people or
businesses are unknowingly holding Liberty Dollars, which
cannot be exchanged for real money at banks.

In a case in Buffalo, a man and his son are set to go on
trial next month after they knowingly tried to buy beer at a
Buffalo Sabres hockey game with Liberty Dollars. The Mint
did not say if government officials will seek to prosecute
individuals or NORFED after its warning. Reed Runk, part-
owner of Kendall Funk & Bismark Jewelers in Chambersburg,
Pa., says the store has been accepting Liberty Dollars for
about a year and has sold a few as well. Runk says the store
will continue to accept and sell the coins. "We just feel
that they are something that educates people as to what the
monetary systems are like in the world, that they are a fiat
system, that if people lose faith in them, they will
collapse," he says. Besides, "They are a good-looking coin."
The Liberty Dollar's manufacturer plans to challenge U.S.
government. "The designs and verbiage ... are original and
are not copies of any U.S. Mint currency," a company
executive says.

Thursday, September 14, 2006
US Mint Claims NORFED Are Federal Criminals
http://intlib.blogspot.com/2006/09/us-mint-claims-norfed-are-federal.html

>In a stunning development in the private currency movement,
the US Mint today announced that, along with clarifications
about the private collectible medallions of other private
mints not being US Mint issued, was the headline story that
the Mint claims the Justice Department has declared that the
National Organization for Repeal of the FEDeral Reserve Act
(NORFED), its widely known Liberty Dollars, and anyone who
uses Liberty Dollars in commercial transactions, is in
violation of federal law.

JCT: A threat to the "private currency" movement?

>Despite comments over the years from Treasury, Secret
Service, and Federal Reserve officials that there was
nothing illegal or wrong about the Liberty Dollar, the Mint
claimed today that, "Under 18 U.S.C. =A7 486, it is a
Federal crime to pass, or attempt to pass, any coins of gold
or silver intended for use as current money except as
authorized by law. According to the NORFED website, "Liberty
merchants" are encouraged to accept NORFED "Liberty Dollar"
medallions and offer them as change in sales transactions of
merchandise or services." The Mint press release links to a
warning of this and other federal laws being violated, which
goes on to say that, "Second, the advertisements confusingly
refer to NORFED "Liberty Dollar" medallions as "legal" and
"constitutional."

JCT: No kidding. Talk about bringing on government sanction.
With allies like this, who needs enemies. Reminds me of
Canadian Medpot Judas Goat Alan Young. We had just won a
declaration by a judge that the medical exemption had failed
to save the prohibition law and Alan Young, instead of
helping kill the prohibition, moved to fix the exemption. I
remember wondering why he'd be trying to repair the
exemption that was no longer necessary now that the
prohibition had been invalidated, why fix the exemption that
had failed to save the law. We found out later that Young
then told Canada that his fixing the exemption for sick
people had brought the law back to life for everyone else.
Our medpot champion, our medpot saboteur. So when they
ignore the winning move, in social currencies' case, use of
completely dissimilar notes and coins from government issue,
and make a loser move that hurts everyone else, you have to
suspect saboteur intentions.

>However, under the Constitution (Article I, section 8,
clause 5), Congress has the exclusive power to coin money of
the United States and to regulate its value. By statute (31
U.S.C. 5112(a)), Congress specifies the coins that the
Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to mint and issue
and requires the Secretary to carry out these duties at the
United States Mint (31 U.S.C. =A7 5131). Accordingly, the
United States Mint is the only entity in the United States
with the lawful authority to mint and issue legal tender
United States coins." Note the reference to the
Constitution. What is obvious to scholars is that the Mint
incorrectly quotes the Constitution (which does not say
"exclusive), which does NOT give congress any exclusivity in
its power to coin money, it only says they are empowered to
do so, not that anyone else can't. Here are the actual
words, "The Congress shall have Power To coin Money,
regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures;."
- US Constitution, Article I, section 8, clause 5

This open interpretation has been upheld by Treasury and
Secret Service officials for many years. This challenge by
the Mint is obviously a threat to private minters. The Mint
has recently taken up a campaign to "warn" the public about
the fact that many privately minted medallions are not US
Mint issue. This is rather obviously a ploy to drive down
the collectible value of these private coins and drive up
the value of official US Mint specie coins.

A possible second consideration may be that the Liberty
Dollar is a talisman of the libertarian, anti-tax
"Patriots", anti-Federal Reserve, and other populist
movements. That there are other private currencies in wide
circulation in four states is not mentioned by the Mint.

NORFED shot back with its own press release, taking the
chance to correct several errors of the Mint in its own
press release, and challenging the Mint to a legal battle.
NORFED states that: "We privately mint currency that is
backed by gold and silver, not the United States Government.
The designs and verbiage on our specie and certificate are
original and are not copies of any US Mint currency.

The Liberty Dollar began in 1998 and has been in circulation
throughout the US for eight years. We have over 2500 Liberty
Associates, 75 Regional Currency Offices, and thousands of
Liberty Merchants accepting the Liberty Dollar. We have
never been notified nor had suit brought by the US
Department of Justice."NORFED Executive Director Michael
Johnson goes on to quote several Treasury and Federal
Reserve officials, as seen here:
Claudia Dickens, spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury
Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said American
Liberty Currency is legitimate. "There's nothing illegal
about this," Dickens said after the Treasury Department's
legal team reviewed the currency. "As long as it doesn't say
legal tender there's nothing wrong with it."

Andrew Williams, a spokesman for the Federal Reserve in
Washington, D.C.: "There is no law that says goods and
services must be paid for with Federal Reserve notes.
Parties entering into a transaction can establish any medium
of exchange that is agreed upon."

In addition, Art Rolnick, Director of Research for the
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, in a January 2000
interview, stated "If these (NORFED) people want to issue
their own money, so be it."

Also, throughout the years associates have been in contact
with the Secret Service if someone called in to question the
legitimacy of the Liberty Dollar. The Secret Service has
never had a problem with us.Johnson likened his
organizations legal struggle to the epic battle between
Federal Express and the United States Postal Service, and
predicts similar results: most priority and long distance
USPS mail today is shipped by FedEx aircraft.

This should be an interesting fight. With $20 million in
private currency in circulation, NORFED is a small private
currency today. Whether it can afford the legal costs of
this David and Goliath fight remains to be seen.

NOTE: Those who wish to help support NORFEDs coming legal
fight can make donations here at IntLib via any of the
widgets found in the right hand column (Paypal, NORFED eALD,
or ChipIn). Please include a note that this money is
intended for NORFEDs legal costs.
UPDATE: US Mint v NORFED: The legal case...
http://intlib.blogspot.com/2006/09/us-mint-v-norfed-legal-case.html

JCT: What it really proves is you can avoid all these
problems if you use the Time as your Standard of Money.


--
Abolitionist Slave Leader John C."The Banking Systems Engineer" Turmel
for UNILETS interest-free time-based currency in U.N. resolution C6
to Governments in the http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration.htm
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel 519-753-0645 USENET: can.politics