Rep. John Fleming’s Marijuana and Libertarians Disinformation Campaign

Posted on by June 3, 2014

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) presented his absurd and deceptive campaign against all marijuana use in his opening statement for a hearing regarding marijuana laws held by a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the morning of May 9. In the process, Fleming also made a preposterous mischaracterization of libertarianism.

Fleming’s subcommittee statement followed his similarly misleading speech on the House floor in April in opposition to veterans using medical marijuana. And the statement occurred the same day Fleming said he may introduce legislation to block the implementation of a local Washington, DC law that decriminalizes the possession and transfer without payment of an ounce or less of marijuana on private property.

Fleming’s subcommittee statement, which may be watched here starting at time marker 14:58, presents a litany of misleading and half-truth assertions regarding marijuana use that needs to be heard to be believed.

We can consider a few of Fleming’s assertions at the beginning of his subcommittee presentation to gain an understanding of the abysmal nature of his marijuana disinformation campaign. But, first it is important to consider Fleming’s incredible misrepresentation of libertarian ideas also included in the presentation.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Ron Paul Praises States’ Nullification of US Marijuana Prohibition

Posted on by June 4, 2014

Ron Paul, Wednesday on Fox Business’ The Independents, praises state governments’ nullification of marijuana prohibition. Paul, though, proceeds to warn against the taxation motivation behind liberalizing marijuana laws, noting that “if you had a libertarian society, you wouldn’t be legalizing something just so you could tax it.”

Paul, who is chairman and founder of RPI, also addresses in the interview politicians who perceive ending the drug war as “a risky political position to take.” This concern is overblown, suggests Paul, explaining “One of the types of achievements I had was running in a southern district, a Bible Belt district, and promoting getting rid of the drug war, and [that] never hurting me having run against Democrats and Republicans that used that as the big issue when I was trying to get back into the Congress in 1996.” Paul, who had served in the US House in the late 1970s and early 1980s, returned to the House after defeating an incumbent Republican representative and a Democrat challenger in 1996.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Is Today ‘Lie about Ron Paul in Headlines Day’?

Posted on by June 4, 2014

Looking at the Washington Post and Rare, one has to wonder if today is Lie about Ron Paul in Headlines Day.

First, the Washington Post published an article with the headline “Ron Paul thinks drug use is rampant inside prisons. He’s wrong.” That is a rather provocative claim. But, the claim is not at all backed up by the article. Paul, who is the chairman and founder of RPI, is quoted in the article’s first sentence:

In his final speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Ron Paul opined that reducing access to drugs in society was hopeless because “the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of prison.”

Of course, saying that drugs cannot be kept out of prison is not the same as saying drug use is rampant in prison.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Oligarchs Run US Foreign Policy

Posted on by June 4, 2014

William & Mary Professor and RPI Academic Board Member Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, in an in-depth interview with this week with Paul Jay on the Real News Network, argues that oligarchs run United States foreign policy. Having served in US government positions including as chief of staff for Colin Powell when Powell was Secretary of State, Wilkerson has seen close up how US foreign policy operates. Here is Wilkerson’s summation:

Part of what I teach is how since World War II and the acquisition of this enormous power by what in essence is the new Rome in the world, the United States, part of the shift that takes place in manipulating and managing that new power is a centralization of foreign policy away from the old cabinet places where it used to take place, most prominently through the Foreign Service and through the Secretary of State, to the White House and to the creation of the 1947 National Security Act, the National Security Council. So if you ask me pro forma where does [the center of power for making US foreign policy] exist today, it exists more in the National Security Council and its staff than it does anywhere else, certainly anywhere else in the cabinet.

So what I’m saying is it’s centralized in the White House. But what does that mean in terms of, I think, your real question, who’s behind the White House, and who’s therefore behind U.S. foreign policy, more or less? I think the answer today is the oligarchs, which would be the same answer, incidentally, ironically, if you will, for Putin in Russia, the people who own the wealth, the people who therefore have the power and who more or less (and I’m not being too facetious here, I don’t think) buy the president and thus buy American foreign policy. So that’s as succinct an answer as I can give you and touch on a few historical points

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Ron Paul on the Benghazi Partisan Sideshow

Posted on by June 5, 2014

While noting that the killing of two US diplomats, including the US ambassador to Libya, and CIA contractors in Benghazi, Libya is a “big issue” that merits attention, Ron Paul explains at the Ron Paul Channel that much of the commotion in Congress concerning the incident is sidestepping important questions related to US intervention in Libya and apparent weapons transfers through Libya to Syria. Paul, the chairman and founder of RPI, explains that many Republicans do not want to address these questions at the heart of the incident because, concerning these questions, they agree with President Barack Obama.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Ukraine Rhetoric and Sanctions Threatening World War

Posted on by June 5, 2014

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, speaking with Lindsay France on RT this week, explains that, in order to prevent “a shooting war that grows evermore larger,” the United States, Russia, and the nations of the EU and NATO should focus on ensuring Ukraine neutrality. Wilkerson, an RPI Academic Board member, proceeds to caution that war rhetoric and sanctions could lead to “another 1914”—referring to the breakout of World War I.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Rep. Walter Jones’ Refreshing Voting Philosophy

Posted on by June 5, 2014

In an Associated Press article focused on outside groups spending over $1 million to defeat US House Member Walter Jones (R-NC) in his May 6 primary, Jones, an RPI Advisory Board member, explains his voting philosophy:

“I heard years ago — it might have been from my father — you vote your conscience first, your constituents second and your party third,” Jones, 71, said in a phone interview. “I’m not a puppet — never have been a puppet. I’m doing what I think is right based on the information I have before me.”

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Following Bundy Ranch Raid, Congress Moves to Transfer Tortoise Habitat to US Military

Posted on by June 5, 2014

With the US House of Representatives back in session this week after the standoff between the US Bureau of Land Management on one side and the Bundy family and protestors on the other, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing regarding the BLM.

What did the hearing concern? Investigating the use of force by US government agents who raided the Bundy ranch, destroyed ranch property, and seized and killed ranch cattle? Reviewing the decades-long policy of arming more and more US government employees? Devising a plan to divest the US government of ownership of vast amounts of land, especially in western states?

No, no, and no!

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Ron Paul Rewind: A Warning Against Arming the BLM…in 1997!

Posted on by June 5, 2014

Speaking on the House of Representatives floor on September 17, 1997, then-Rep. Ron Paul warned of the “massive buildup of a virtual army of armed regulators.” Paul, the chairman and founder of RPI, proceeded to comment in his speech that, with the number of armed federal employees approaching 60,000, the Secretary of the Interior was pushing for even the Bureau of Land Management to be armed.

With the continuing rise of SWAT over the following 16 years, the number of armed US government employees continued to grow. According to the bulletin Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2008 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, by September of 2008 “federal agencies employed approximately 120,000 full-time law enforcement officers who were authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the United States,” with 255 of them working for BLM.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Judge Napolitano: Hooray for Obama’s Clemency for Nonviolent Drug War Prisoners

Posted on by June 5, 2014

Judge Andrew Napolitano, speaking on Fox News with Jenna Lee, explains why, “as someone who has harshly and repeatedly criticized the President,” he believes President Barack Obama “is doing the right thing” in granting clemency to potentially hundreds or thousands of people who have been incarcerated for nonviolent drug crimes.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.