Allison Bricker

OFFICIAL STATEMENT – Amid much fanfare last week, the last supposed “combat” troops left Iraq as the administration touted the beginning of the end of the Iraq War and a change in the role of the United States in that country. Considering the continued public frustration with the war effort, and with the growing laundry list of broken promises, this was merely another one of the administration’s operations in political maneuvering and semantics in order to convince an increasingly war-weary public that the Iraq War is at last ending. However, military officials confirm that we are committed to intervention in that country for years to come, and our operations have in fact, changed minimally, if really at all. [TRANSCRIPT]

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	Dr. Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk for August 30th, 2010 “Iraq – An End or an Escalation?” TRANSCRIPT (PDF 246kb)

Source(s): Representative Ron Paul, House Website • MinnesotaChris YouTube Channel

Allison Bricker

Dr. Paul Cites Growing Momentum to Abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but will government make Smaller Banks Act as New Proxy?

In his weekly Texas Straight Talk address, Representative Ron Paul discusses the growing momentum to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nevertheless, Dr. Paul points out that this would be only the first step to allowing the housing market to normalize and that unless the people speak up, the Central Authority will merely seek to put indenture smaller banks to act as proxy agents to continued government backing of mortgage loans regardless of the borrowers ability to repay. [TRANSCRIPT]

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	Representative Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk for August 23rd, 2010 _TRANSCRIPT (PDF 252kb)

The Smoking Argus

Government and Gasoline

As we head into the summer driving season and gasoline prices are again creeping up, the administration has announced plans to explore opening up more off-shore areas for exploration and drilling. On the one hand this can be lauded as a positive step. On the other hand, it is too little, much too late to have any meaningful or long-term effect on what Americans pay at the pump any time soon, if at all.

Indeed, if increasing domestic energy production was really a priority, the administration would direct the EPA to remove its many roadblocks and barriers to energy production. In fact, abolishing the EPA altogether would do much to improve our country’s economy. Instead of protecting the environment as they are supposed to do, most of what they do simply chills the economy. Polluters should be directly liable in court to any and all parties they harm, rather than bureaucrats at the EPA. [Full Transcript]

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	Representative Ron Paul Texas Straight Talk: Government and Gasoline April 4, 2010 TRANSCRIPT

Source(s): Representative Ron Paul’s House Webpage • MinnesotaChris YouTube Channel

The Smoking Argus

In this week’s Texas Straight Talk, Dr. Ron Paul discusses the reality of how through the government management of health care, medical costs will only continue to escalate. He also discusses the misnomer of health care being right seeing that the government must first employ force to offer the service to another. Pointing to that health insurance was originally intended to be used in case of serious injury or disease and not routine doctor visits and other non-emergency situations. He continues by posing the hypothetical question, “What if vehicle insurance covered not only major accidents but all routine maintenance and expenses such as gasoline. Stating that with no market force to measure to balance supply and demand the cost of gasoline would skyrocket in as more and more individuals began to rely on their automobile policy to cover the expense rather than budgeting for the necessary consumption thereof.

Further, Dr. Paul takes umbrage with the notion that by wholly removing health insurance from any sort of market restraint that the promise of government to reduce costs is pure fantasy. Continuing, he describes that the already overburdened welfare state may very well collapse as cost begin to escalate and the much touted savings begin pushing the original estimates into the red, just as every previous government program has done especially in the case of Social Security, which this year is projected to pay out more than it takes in through payroll taxes. To Dr. Paul and other student from the Austrian school of economics, this new entitlement will only further erode our economy further delaying any serious recovery in the near future.

Source(s): MinnesotaChris YouTube Channel • Official House Website of Representative Ron Paul (TX)

Allison Bricker

In this week’s Texas Straight Talk, Dr. Paul discusses the historic House vote resulting in passage of the government run health care scheme. Further, he speaks to his dismay at the continued trampling of the Constitution whereby the Government seeks to impose a mandate upon Americans to purchase a service. He explains how this in turn will have the exact opposite effect of the stated goals of lowering costs. By securing a protected market, the passage of the health care bill ensures costs will continue to rise even more so due to the fact that no meaningful tort reform was included in the final bill.

Moreover, Dr. Paul speaks to the dangers of utilizing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as an enforcement arm, whereby the government will now have expanded access to even more personal information, including insurance coverage, medical history, et cetera. He also opines upon the flawed logic offered by supporters such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Slaughter (NY) of pointing to the “success” of Social Security and Medicare, when the fact of the matter is that both programs are operating in the red and ultimately headed towards total insolvency.

The notion that expanding the welfare roles while simultaneously cutting payments to doctors is an anathema to Representative Ron Paul and will only lead to fewer health care providers and increased debt. So has been the case as in every other country with a similar system, thus revealing the promised deficit reduction as just another fanciful pipe dream sold to the American people in order to secure populist sentiment.

Source(s): Official House Website of Representative Ron Paul (TX)

The Smoking Argus

In this week’s Texas Straight Talk, Representative Ron Paul discusses the need to end the war in Afghanistan, which has become an occupation, long outlasting the original authorization of force. Issued just after the attacks on September 11th, the war is now approaching a decade with no end in sight. Al-Qaeda has long since left Afghanistan and now sits and waits for America, much like the Russians, to bankrupt itself, whilst simultaneously recruiting Afghans turned off by the American occupation, who themselves have a long and bloodied history of resisting foreign occupations.

Dr. Paul opines that while many in Congress continue to couch their support for an UnConstitutional war in terms of supporting the troops via continued funding of the operation, the simple fact remains, needless deaths of American soldiers in a war long past its original mission is an immoral path to secure their bids for reelection. Further he continues that not only are members of Congress completely blind to their Constitutional duty, members even abdicate Congressional responsibility to enforce the War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed after Vietnam, which attempted to restrict the President to using troops for no more than 90 days without appearing before Congress to obtain a formal Declaration of War.

Source(s): Minnesota Chris YouTube Channel • Official Congressional Website of Representative Ron Paul

The Smoking Argus

In his weekly Texas Straight Talk update, Representative Ron Paul discusses the invasive nature of the 2010 U.S. Census and past abuses of such information regardless of promises otherwise by the Federal Government. Dr. Paul points out that the original intent of the census was to conduct a headcount every ten years for the sole purpose of Congressional representation, not the expansive data-mining operation it has become over the years.

Through concerted efforts to categorize ever individual down to a finite ethnicity, race, creed, et cetera, the census in its current form seeks to further push Americans to think of themselves in terms of “people-groups” as opposed to unique individuals thereby reaffirming the racist notion of collectivism. Further and contrary to current and past promises made by the Central Authority, census data supposedly kept under lock & key has been used by numerous agencies within the federal government for nefarious purposes. From the I.R.S seeking to find Income Tax evaders to the Department of Defense searching for males who dodged the draft and even ethnicity in order to facilitate the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, census data has a history of federal abuse.

According to Dr. Paul, he feels the most succinct answer to the all census questions outside of “how many people live here” should be “none of your business”, but continues to point out, refusing to answer the Census Bureau may result in a hefty fine of $5,000 for failure to render your demographics to the bloated federal government.

Source(s): Representative Ron Paul House Website • MinnesotaChris YouTube Channel

The Smoking Argus

In his weekly Texas Straight Talk address, Representative Ron Paul discusses the bizarre spending habits of the United States government. Specifically via the State Department regarding the construction of yet another multimillion dollar embassy, this time in London as well as news the nation’s private Central Bank, the FEDERAL RESERVE may have been involved with both financing the likes of the Watergate burglars and Saddam Hussein. Dr. Paul points to these nefarious actions by the FEDERAL RESERVE during Watergate as published in the Senate Watergate Report from 1974¹ as well as its involvement in financing Saddam Hussein² as precisely why the FEDERAL RESERVE’s immunity from audit should be repealed in its entirety. [READ FULL TRANSCRIPT]

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	Rep. Ron Paul -Texas Straight Talk – Bizarre Spending Habits TRANSCRIPT (PDF 00kb)

Source(s): The Senate Watergate Report published 1974,2005 • The New York Times “Follow the Money” by: Martin Mayer published January 14, 2004

The Smoking Argus

Rep. Paul Texas Straight Talk TRANSCRIPT (PDF 212KB)

In this week’s “Texas Straight Talk”, Dr. Paul discusses the looming financial problems facing Greece and her people due to their overwhelming public debt and asks if due to current laws prohibiting access to such information whether the American taxpayer via the FEDERAL RESERVE could unknowingly be financing the bailout of Greece.

He uses this most recent example to call for a full and transparent audit of the FEDERAL RESERVE via passage of H.R. 1207 and S. 604. Both bills now pending will insure that the FEDERAL RESERVE’s dealings with foreign central banks and governments are available for scrutiny to both Congress and the American People. Further, Dr. Paul makes plain the absolute immoral nature and unConstitutionality of a private central bank issuing a wholly Fiat currency whereby the American taxpayer is put up as collateral. (FULL TRANSCRIPT)

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	Rep Ron Paul, Texas Straight Talk – Is the FEDERAL RESERVE Financing the Bailout of Greece? TRANSCRIPT (PDF 212KB)

Source(s): Official Webpage of Representative Ron Paul • MinnesotaChris YouTube Channel

Allison Bricker

In his weekly update, Dr. Ron Paul of Texas illustrates the disastrous consequences of following the Keynesian economic model, which advocates in perpetuity. Just last week, the House voted to raise the debt ceiling by another $1.9 Trillion, a move undertaken to avoid defaulting on current obligations, but nonetheless just delaying the inevitable. In reality, no one can merely continue borrowing funds in order to service the interest on the existing debt and make payment on bill that are currently due. This simple idea universally understood by the People, seems to escape those in government, who care more about reelection than charting a fiscally responsible course for the nation.