I really didn't want to write any more about Ron Paul this week. Really I didn.t
But events have overtaken us:
- As part of a nationwide investigation, FBI agents raided three Coeur d'Alene business locations on Thursday, seizing records and dies used to make the so-called silver "Liberty Dollar" sold throughout the United States by anti-government patriot groups.
The Coeur d'Alene raids coincided with similar raids by FBI and U.S. Secret Service agents, on Thursday at the Evansville, Ind., headquarters of organization called NORFED -- the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act & Internal Revenue Code.
For a decade, the organization led by a self-described "monetary architect" and harsh critic of the Federal Reserve System has pumped out an estimated $20 million its own currency, reportedly backed by silver coins minted and stored in Coeur d'Alene. The raids Thursday are the first head-on federal challenge to that operation.
Since 1998, the NORFED silver coins were manufactured at Sunshine Minting, a private Coeur d'Alene business which makes a variety of precious metal products. The silver coins backed up paper currently in $1, $5 and $10 denominations marketed by NORFED.
The organization was about to begin selling and distributing "Ron Paul" dollars, supporting the candidacy of the Republican congressman from Texas who's seeking the GOP nomination for president. He previously ran for president as a Libertarian.
It was just Saturday in Philadelphia that Ron Paul held a campaign event near the U.S. Mint and pointed at it, saying: "And even over here, we look at a Mint, for the day that we will go back when the Mint is minting real money, gold and silver, not of paper!" (Video here)
I'm sure Ron Paul's followers and apologists will assure us that it is merely a coincidence that the purveyors of this funny-money scheme were about to issue a coin with his image on it. Just pay no attention to those far-right extremists lining up behind the curtain, folks!
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