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  • Ron Paul delegates fight GOP on ouster

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Sixteen Republicans elected to represent Massachusetts at the national convention in Tampa next month have filed a formal challenge with the Republican National Committee, saying they were unfairly disqualified based on state GOP leaders’ concerns about their fealty to presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

    The group of delegates — originally supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul — were elected in April caucuses at which they unexpectedly defeated many of Romney’s chosen delegates, but they have been since disqualified by state party officials.

    “In short, the Massachusetts Republican Party changed the rules,” the delegates wrote in a letter to the national committee.

    The filing sets off a formal but uphill process for the would-be delegates, who hope to convince national party officials that they are being unfairly excluded from the Republican National Convention, to be held Aug. 27-30 in Tampa. An RNC committee is expected to consider the challenge by mid-August, but the party is not expected to make a decision until the week before the convention.

    Any appeal to that decision could be considered by the convention’s credentials committee when the event begins.

    Friday and a committee spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party referred calls to the RNC.

    “This matter is currently before the RNC and we await their decision,” spokesman Tim Buckley said.

    …

    In their letter, the so-called liberty delegates say they were duly elected in April, but disqualified after failing to provide timely affidavits pledging their support to Romney. They argue that the affidavits were not called for in state or federal rules and they received them “less than one week before an arbitrary deadline” to return them notarized — during the Memorial Day weekend.

    Full article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/07/29/paul-backers-fight-ouster/DJpDj2FDddspQESLeDlEtN/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw


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  • Harry Reid vows Federal Transparency Act will never be voted on in the Senate

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Supporters of Rep. Ron Paul and sound monetary policy rejoiced online as they heard of the passage of H.R. 456, the Federal Transparency Act, on Wednesday. Their joy, however, was short-lived as within an hour of the bill passing word spread from the office of the Harry Reid. The Senate Majority Leader and Nevada Democrat has vowed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act will not be put to a vote in the Senate.

    via megalextoria.com


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  • Federal Reserve Audit Bill Overwhelmingly Passes The House

    Posted on by Azrael 1 Comment

    In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to audit the Federal Reserve.

    The bill, which has 270 co-sponsors, passed 327 to 98. All but one Republican — Rep. Bob Turner of New York — voted for it, along with 89 Democrats.

    Paul teamed up with former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) in 2010 to pass similar legislation that became part of the final Wall Street reform bill. But Paul has said new audit legislation is needed because the 2010 bill didn’t go far enough. Specifically, he states on his website that the audit called for in the 2010 bill only focused on emergency credit programs and procedural issues, rather than on the substantive details of the lending transactions. The 2012 bill doesn’t limit the focus of the audit.

    Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently told the House Financial Services Committee that he agrees with the “basic premise” that the Fed should be transparent, but raised concerns that Paul’s bill doesn’t exempt monetary policy and deliberations from its reach.

    Not including an exemption on this point could create “a political dampening effect on the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions,” Bernanke warned.

    But Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) pointed out that the House vote on the bill comes on the same day that the Washington Post reported that the New York Fed “did not communicate in key meetings with top regulators that British bank Barclays had admitted to Fed staffers that it was rigging LIBOR,” the index which sets interest rates worldwide.

    “The Fed creates trillions of dollars out of nothing and gives it to banks. Congress is in the dark. The Fed sets the stage for the subprime meltdown. Congress is in the dark. The Fed takes a dive on LIBOR. Congress is in the dark. The Fed doesn’t tell regulators what is going on. Congress is in the dark,” Kucinich shouted on the House floor, just before the vote.

    Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/federal-reserve-audit-bill_n_1702879.html


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