http://press.freelakotabank.com

Hill City, Lakota - November 24, 2008 - In a stunning development, the Free & Independent People of Lakota announced today the introduction of the world’s first non-reserve, non-fractional bank that accepts only silver and gold currencies for deposit. “Today is a great day for us, a day that we begin to exercise our rights as a sovereign people with strength and pride,” comments Canupa Gluha Mani, Tetuwan Council Judicial Member of the Cante Tenza “Strong Heart” Warrior Society.  Mani’s 2500 member warrior society has contracted to provide private security services for the Free Lakota Bank.

“We invite people of any creed, faith or heritage to unite in an effort to reclaim control of wealth.  It is our hope that other tribal nations and American citizens recognize the importance of silver and gold as currency and decide to mirror our system of honest trade.”  Mani, also known as Duane Martin Sr, is a member of the delegation that declared Lakota independence on December 17th, 2007.

The launch of the Free Lakota Bank is also an incredible victory for StrikeForce Technologies, the access control experts providing depositor Out-of-Band Authentication.  As the Free Lakota Bank does not require a name, photo identification or social security number to transact, StrikeForce’s technology met the challenge of limiting fraud without requiring controversial biometric technology.

The People of Lakota invite depositors to establish accounts and invest in the Free Lakota Bank’s General Investment Fund, the fund it uses to develop profitable free-market enterprise inside Lakota territory.  Mani comments that the nation despises donations and charity, and instead insists instead on “earning our wealth by creating value for those that place their faith and trust in our system.”

The Free Lakota Bank issues an American Open Currency Standard Approved currency, making it readily accepted for trade by over 10,000 merchants and businesses across the continent.

Will the US government try to shut them down like they tried with the Liberty Dollar? Perhaps. This looks like a real enterprise however instead of the Liberty Dollar’s pyramid scheme. Though they are having a promotional discount and it appears they expect people to pay $50 / silver oz. at a later point. That’s the same shit the Liberty Dollar does so it may be that they are just a fancier pyramid scheme. The website sure is nicer looking then the Liberty Dollar’s.

If you want to purchase silver rounds go and buy some Pan Americans. A stamp of FIFTY doesn’t make them worth $50. They are worth a small percentage over spot.

September 30. 2008
Alert #29: Aloha Liberty Dollar

Now I am not usually a doom-and-gloom guy. I developed the Liberty Dollar to bring a real solution to the currency situation that I realized in 1974… some 34 years ago! And for all these years I have strived to bring about a proven, positive, peaceful and profitable solution to our country’s controlled fiat monetary system.

And while I greatly appreciated your support (ala the Choir), at almost every turn there has been an invisible force that has thwarted the Liberty Dollar development and larger use. At first you may think, I mean the government. That is not the case. The government had been amazingly supportive up until the raid. The most disturbing “invisible force” is bunch of traitors who confess to have the very ideals that you think they endorse. Unfortunately, most of the time I found our supposed “leaders” to be vain little men, who were much more interested in maintaining their position than saving the country.

Who are these traitors who have steadfastfully blocked or secretly worked to undermine the Liberty Dollar and its ideals? Well over the years I have made several lists, but I am now on Tour and time has long dulled that list… but it is easy to list a few and you may know a few more from your own efforts with the Liberty Dollar.

List of Bellybuttons:
Lew Rockwell, Von Mises Institute
Mark Skousen, Newsletter
Bill Bonner, Agora Publishing
Addison Wiggin, Newsletter
John McManus, John Birch Society
Ed Crane, Cato Institute
Jack Pugsley, Sovereign Society
Vin Suprynowicz, Las Vegas reporter
Charley Reese, Orlando reporter
Sheldon Richman, writer
Doug Casey, Newsletter
Franklin Sanders, Moneychanger-my-ass
Jim Cook, Investment Rarities
Peymon Mottahedeh, Freedom Law School
Ron Paul, Politician

I contacted every one of these bellybuttons. Each had the opportunity to really advance the ideals of liberty but didn’t. They are liars and traitors to the ideals that you may think they support. I would never trust any of them. None will address the issues or even state their objections to the Liberty Dollar. Most will not even reply. A few have said I don’t like them because they would not endorse the Liberty Dollar. Hell, I have never asked for an endorsement from anyone and don’t care if someone endorses the Liberty Dollar or not. But I brand these traitors as bellybuttons because they stonewall, back stab and take adverse positions against the Liberty Dollar while publicly stating that they support the very same ideals but refuse to enter a discourse to move a viable solution forward.

As a student of Austrian Economics, I was particularly drawn to the Mises Institute so I made an appointment to meet Lew Lockwell. When the day finally arrived, his secretary kept me waiting for an hour, then he stood me up and had me forcibly evicted into a driving Alabama rainstorm without a car. Nice business manners, eh?! For that and ten years of behind-the-scenes of negativity, I name Prickwell king bellybutton of the government controlled opposition. Skousen, Bonner, McManus, Crane and Casey are not far behind. Be very careful of whom you ask advice. If you have any doubts, just ask this list of American traitors, because I have and they all made me sick.

Contrary to these lying bellybutton traitors, there have been a great many “ordinary Joes” who have exemplified the greatness of our original Founding Fathers. These men and women have won my heart, not because they support the Liberty Dollar, but because they have devoted their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to furthering the ideals as represented by the Liberty Dollar.

I don’t know what happened at his appointment nor do we know why he’s pissed at the rest of those listed but I’m not getting the feeling that it was anything to garner this kind of response. In my opinion the Liberty Dollar little more than a scam. Selling a one troy ounce silver round for $50 is 3.66 times the spot price of $13.64 (bought in 50 to 100 troy oz batch) at the time of writing. They then attempt to use the $50 face valued coin as if it was worth as much as a $50 FRN. As the cost of silver rose so did the profit margin when it was re-minted with a higher face value. It is no wonder that these individuals didn’t want to associate themselves with von NotHaus and the Liberty Dollar. It’s obviously of questionable legality (not that any of those listed agree with that status but they likely don’t want to be directly affiliated with that) and it questionable morally too. If someone wishes to invest in metals the Liberty Dollar is a complete waste of money and if you wish to use metals as a currency or barter buying generic rounds is not only significantly cheaper but it doesn’t have the legal issues. Those “ordinary Joes”, of which I know a few personally, who are RCOs or are purchasers and users of the Liberty Dollars were suckered into a pyramid scheme.

The idea is right but the implementation is just too off to be an honest business.

http://www.libertydollar.org/…

Alert #20: July 1st, 2008

Unfortunately, out of the blue… the US government aka the DOJ lobbed a bomb (in the form of a Complaint) against the Liberty Dollar’s seized property last Thursday, June 29. The civil forfeiture complaint, filed in the US District Court in Asheville NC, definitely moves your gold and silver closer to auction and the outright theft of your legal property. Fortunately, in a bizarre move, it was stayed for six months pending the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI. Go figure.

Please click HERE to read the whole 52 page Complaint and TAKE ACTION BELOW!

Of course, nobody outside of government wants the DOJ to steal your $3.5 million Liberty Dollars in gold and silver. And a good number, almost 5,000 have signed up for the Class Action Lawsuit. But I would like to get “5,000 people involved”… so I am giving all late comers 48 hours… until 7:00 PM EDT on Wednesday… to add your name to the list.

Want to get your name in history? Well the attorney has agreed to include everybody’s name in our response. That’s right, we are going to list all the names in what might be the largest case in history. Please note this will NOT be a “Class Action Lawsuit” as that takes too much time and money. No, you will be personally represented by the attorney - if you sign up for the “Class Action Lawsuit” before 7:00 PM EDT on Wednesday.

Shortly after Wednesday, you will receive an “engagement letter” via email from the attorney. It will specify that you want him to represent you at no cost to you, except ten percent duty on all returned material. All you have to do is confirm your contact info, the approximate amount of paper and digital currency you wish to redeem, sign it and click send!

It can’t get any easier, better or cheaper! Please send this Last Call to everybody on your email list. This is your opportunity to stand tall for your monetary values.

Click HERE to sign up… if you have not done so.

Thanks for your support. I will continue to keep you informed as the big case shapes up.

Bernard von NotHaus
Monetary Architect / Editor

They mean my and thousands of others seized property?

Don’t you just love asset forfeiture cases? United States of America V. 3039.375 Pounds of Copper Coins; 5930.32 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins; 63.24 Troy Ounces of Gold Coins; 3 Platinum Coins; 168,599 Silver Troy Ounce Coins; 147 Gold Troy Ounce Coins; 710 Silver .5 Troy Ounce Coins; 11 Silver Bars and Silver Scrap Totaling 10,720.60 Troy Ounces; 1000.5 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins; 1000.5 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins; Dies, Molds, Casts; 16,000.05 Troy Ounces of Raw Silver; 100 Ounces of Copper Coins; $254,424.09 in United States Currency; 17 Gold .05 Troy Ounce Coins.

• 10:00AM Sharon Harris from Advocates for Self-Government gave the opening speech this morning. She talked about how the liberty movement needs to start working toward honing our delivery of the freedom message. Libertarians, especially those who are active in the movement, tend to be more abstract thinkers. More logical progression of ideas whereas the majority of people are more emotional “think with the heart” types. We talk about abstract rights and wrongs and less practical examples but we need practical real world examples for those who aren’t generally like us.
• Chris Lawless informs us the hotel doesn’t want us to open carry.
• We ran into Glen Jacobs very briefly. He is better known as Kane from the WWE. He’s fairly well known as a libertarian and recently publicly supported Ron Paul for President. I believe he is also a member of the FSP. We unfortunately didn’t get an opportunity to get a photo with him but if he’s still around tomorrow or Sunday we surely will.
• 12PMish xyz and I checkin to the hotel and while walking out to the car we see the John McCain’s campaign bus. While walking in we discuss stopping Mr. McCain and telling him that after his argument with Romney over whether or not water boarding is torture we decided to try it out ourselves and agreed with him that it indeed torture. As we walk through the automatic doors into the lobby and are talking about this I nearly run into McCain as my head is turned talking to xyz behind me. I got out of the way in time however and diverted my knocking over of a 72y/o presidential candidate which would have been picked up on the camera which was following him.
• 1:00PM xyz and myself attend Gardner Goldsmith’s presentation on immigration. I listen to his radio show so little was new but it’s very enjoyable to interact with fellow Liberty Forum attendees in asking questions and whatnot. Robert Schulz of We the People Foundation also gave a very good lecture I heard. xyz and I did however get a chance to talk with him while waiting in line for dinner.
• 2:30PM I attended Don Gorman’s lecture on Becoming an Effective Activist but it effectively was a sales pitch for the FSP and how easy it is to participate in politics and protest in NH. xyz attended Peter Bagge’s presentation on his work for Reason Magazine and his art in general.
• 4:00PM Thomas Eddlem gave a lecture on how the current administration has been disobeying the Constitution. Particularly the 4th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. He however blew things out of proportion a bit in describing how it could be used against the average citizen. While it’s certainly an issue to say that it’s just as probable that I would be locked up and the key thrown away without trial is the same as some guy picked up who has the same name as a known terrorist and himself has a criminal record is ridiculous.
• Chatted with another Libertarian Party presidential candidate: Michael P. Jingozian. Reminded him that I believe he was invited to the Manhattan LP’s Annual Convention. He said he forgot to look into whether he could attend and took some contact info. We’ll see.
• Nearly had dinner with Gardner but it turned out the table we picked already was filled besides the two chairs we picked. However, those who had reserved those seats were people we had previously had discussions with during the cocktail hour. Including Ed Hudgins from The Atlas Society. Talked about hard money.
  
• The keynote speaker for the evening was Bernard von NotHaus of the Liberty Dollar. He came out dressed as the ghost of a Revolutionary solder, Capt. Roughseas, who was sent by the Founding fathers informing us to take care of this fiat money system that’s corrupted the US. Complete with sabre. It was a bit odd but generally entertaining. Nothing that probably more than half of them in attendance hadn’t heard before.

Dave Ridley’s Ridley Reports from the first night:

http://www.freestateproject.org/libertyforum/

• It’s cold. A very very dry 7°F. Snow plowed 4-5 feet high on some roads.
• Ran into Chris from NH again. Same guy xyz and I ran into in Manchester during the Ron Paul Family Walk and at the Ron Paul Philadelphia rally. I hadn’t realized that he was part of those running the Liberty Forum. It’s great to see people so dedicated.
• Got to meet Ian Bernard and Mark Edgington of Free Talk Live, FreeKeene.com and Keene Weekly News. Nice to meet those who you donate money to even if only briefly while they grabbed some finger food before they went on to do their show. I really enjoy their show… but they really need a tech guy on the show. If I move up to NH maybe I could participate in the show.
• Chatted with George Phillies, Libertarian candidate for POTUS for 10+ minutes. A bit awkward given I was wearing my Ron Paul Revolution T-Shirt and xyz had a Ron Paul 2008 pin on her coat. We talked about the 2008 race in general, the Libertarian candidates in general, how Kubby and Smith are supporting Ron Paul, Unity08 and Bloomberg’s possible run, how to get some of the Ron Paul Revolution’s people and money into the Libertarian Party and all the hubbub on the LP’s planks. We got a photo of xyz and Mr. Phillies.
• Purchased Gardner Goldsmith’s new book Live Free or Die and had it signed. Sakal/CAI has a raffle going for those who bought Gardner’s book for an iPod. We’ll see if I won by Monday.
• Dave Ridley is here putting together another episode of his Ridley Report.
• Also very briefly met Bernard von NotHaus. Didn’t get to talk about anything however.
• It was really a meet and greet type environment tonight. There are about 300 or so currently signed up for the Forum. I’ll be taking notes the next couple days and will report if I continue to have Net access.

http://www.house.gov/…

Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce the Free Competition in Currency Act. This act would eliminate two sections of US Code that, although ostensibly intended to punish counterfeiters, have instead been used by the government to shut down private mints. As anti-counterfeiting measures, these sections are superfluous, as 18 USC 485, 490, and 491 already grant sufficient authority to punish counterfeiters.

The two sections this bill repeals, 18 USC 486 and 489, are so broadly written as to effectively restrict any form of private coinage from competing with the products of the United States Mint. Allowing such statutes to remain in force as a catch-all provision merely encourages prosecutorial abuse. One particular egregious recent example is that of the Liberty Dollar, in which federal agents seized millions of dollars worth of private currency held by a private mint on behalf of thousands of people across the country.

Due to nearly a century of inflationary monetary policy on the part of the Federal Reserve, the US dollar stands at historically low levels. Investors around the world are shunning the dollar, and millions of Americans see their salaries, savings accounts, and pensions eroded away by rising inflation. We stand on the precipice of an unprecedented monetary collapse, and as a result many people have begun to look for alternatives to the dollar.

As a proponent of competition in currencies, I believe that the American people should be free to choose the type of currency they prefer to use. The ability of consumers to adopt alternative currencies can help to keep the government and the Federal Reserve honest, as the threat that further inflation will cause more and more people to opt out of using the dollar may restrain the government from debasing the currency. As monopolists, however, the Federal Reserve and the Mint fear competition, and would rather force competitors out using the federal court system and the threat of asset forfeiture than compete in the market.

A free society should shun this type of strong-arm action, and the Free Competition in Currency Act would take the necessary first steps to freeing the market for competing currencies. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Full text of the bill is here. It’s shorter than the speech. I urge those who support this to get a hold of a Liberty Dollar warehouse note or a eLibertyDollar and sign up for the Wrongful Seizure Lawsuit. If you are interested in the history of the Federal Reserve check out The Case Against the Fed for an intro and A History of Money and Banking in the United States for a more advanced look.