U.S. Rep. Ron Paul | Postal Service |
Postal Service
Round Top, TX Dedicates A New Post Office
22 April 1999 1999 Ron Paul 30:2
The route this new post office took from blue print to completion expresses the basis of being a Texan and an American. The U.S. Postal Service approached Round Top with a pre-designed post office building that had apparently been designed in Washington without the input of the people of Round Top. In true Texas fashion the people of this city stood up to say this new building would be in their town for their use and therefore insisted that it reflect the city in which it would be built. As a result, they now have a beautiful new building that reflects their history as a community and as Texans. Since Round Top has had a post office since the days of the Republic of Texas, is only fitting that this new building points to the proud heritage of our great state.
Postal Service
Introduction of H.R. 1789
18 May 1999 1999 Ron Paul 49:5
One function of the Sherman Act was to divert public attention from the certain source of monopoly — Government’s grant of exclusive privilege. But, as George Reisman, Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management in Los Angeles, explains “everyone, it seems, took for granted the prevailing belief that the essential feature of monopoly is that a given product or service is provided by just one supplier. On this view of things, Microsoft, like Alcoa and Standard Oil before it, belongs in the same category as the old British East India Company or such more recent instances of companies with exclusive government franchises as the local gas or electric company or the U.S. Postal Service with respect to the delivery of first class mail. What all of these cases have in common, and which is considered essential to the existence of monopoly, according to the prevailing view, is that they all represent instances in which there is only one seller. By the same token, what is not considered essential, according to the prevailing view of monopoly, is whether the sellers position depends on the initiation of physical force or, to the contrary, is achieved as the result of freedom of competition and the choice of the market.”
Postal Service
The Mailbox Privacy Protection Act
25 May 1999 1999 Ron Paul 52:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce H.J. Res. 55, the Mailbox Privacy Protection Act, a joint resolution disapproving a Postal Service Regulation which tramples on the privacy of the two million Americans who rent mailboxes from Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies. Under this regulation, any American currently renting, or planning to rent, a commercial mailbox will have to provide the receiving agency with personal information, including two items of valid identification, one of which must contain a photograph of the applicant and one of which must contain a “serial number — traceable to the bearer.” Of course, in most cases that number will be today’s de facto national ID number — the Social Security number.
Postal Service
The Mailbox Privacy Protection Act
25 May 1999 1999 Ron Paul 52:3
Thanks to the Post Office’s Federal Government-granted monopoly on first-class delivery service, Americans cannot receive mail without dealing with the Postal Service. Therefore, this regulation presents Americans who wish to receive mail at a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency with a choice: either provide the federal government with your name, address, photograph and social security number, or surrender the right to receive communications from one’s fellow citizens in one’s preferred manner.
Postal Service
The Mailbox Privacy Protection Act
25 May 1999 1999 Ron Paul 52:4
This regulation, ironically, was issued at the same time the Post Office was issuing a stamp honoring Ayn Rand, one of the twentieth century’s greatest champions of liberty. Another irony connected to this regulation is that it comes at a time when the Post Office is getting into an ever increasing number of enterprises not directly related to mail delivery. So, while the Postal Service uses its monopoly on first-class mail to compete with the private sector, it works to make life more difficult for its competitors in the field of mail delivery.
Postal Service
H.J. Res. 55, The Mailbox Privacy Protection Act
7 June 1999 1999 Ron Paul 55:3
It is ironic that this regulation comes at a time when the Post Office is getting into an ever increasing number of enterprises not directly related to mail delivery. So, while the Postal Service uses its monopoly on first-class mail to compete with the private sector, it works to make life more difficult for its competitors in the field of mail delivery.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take this opportunity to draw my colleagues’ attention to the attached article “Postal Service Has Its Eye On You” by John Berlau of Insight magazine, which outlines the latest example of government spying on innocent citizens. Mr. Berlau deals with the Post Office’s “Under the Eagle’s Eye” program which the Post Office implemented to fulfill the requirements of the Nixon-era Bank Secrecy Act. Under this program, postal employees must report purchases of money orders of over $3,000 to federal law enforcement officials. The program also requires postal clerks to report any “suspicious behavior” by someone purchasing a money order. Mr. Speaker, the guidelines for reporting “suspicious behavior” are so broad that anyone whose actions appear to a postal employee to be the slightest bit out of the ordinary could become the subject of a “suspicious activity report,” and a federal investigation!
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:4
This is why I will soon be introducing legislation to curb the Post Office’s regulatory authority over individual Americans and small business (including those who compete with the Post Office) as well as legislation to repeal the statutory authority to implement these “Know Your Customer” type policies. I urge my colleagues to read Mr. Berlau’s article and join me in protecting the privacy and liberty of Americans by ensuring law-abiding Americans may live their lives free from the prying “Eagle Eye” of the Federal Government. POSTAL SERVICE HAS ITS EYE ON YOU (By John Berlau)
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:5
Since 1997, the U.S. Postal Service has been conducting a customer-surveillance program, ‘Under the Eagle’s Eye,’ and reporting innocent activity to federal law enforcement.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:7
But while your bank teller may not have been snooping and snitching on your every financial move, your local post office has been (and is) watching you closely, Insight has learned. That is, if you have bought money orders, made wire transfers or sought cash cards from a postal clerk. Since 1997, in fact, the window clerk may very well have reported you to the government as a “suspicious” customer. It doesn’t matter that you are not a drug dealer, terrorist or other type of criminal or that the transaction itself was perfectly legal. The guiding principle of the new postal program to combat money laundering, according to a U.S. Postal Service training video obtained by Insight, is: “It’s better to report 10 legal transactions than to let one illegal ID transaction get by.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:11
The same sort of response came from another prominent critic of “Know Your Customer,” this time on the left, who was appalled by details of the training video. “The postal service is training its employees to invade their customers’ privacy,” Greg Nojeim, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington National Office, tells Insight. “This training will result in the reporting to the government of tens of thousands of innocent transactions that are none of the government’s business. I had thought the postal-service’s eagle stood for freedom. Now I know it stands for, ‘We’re watching you!’ ”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:12
But postal officials who run “Under the Eagle’s Eye” say that flagging customers who do not follow “normal” patterns is essential if law enforcement is to catch criminals laundering money from illegal transactions. “The postal service has a responsibility to know what their legitimate customers are doing with their instruments,” Al Gillum, a former postal inspector who now is acting program manager, tells Insight. “If people are buying instruments outside of a norm that the entity itself has to establish, then that’s where you-start with suspicious analysis, suspicious reporting. It literally is based on knowing what our legitimate customers do, what activities they’re involved in.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:14
Gillum and Gibson are proud that the postal service received a letter of commendation from then-attorney general Janet Reno in 2000 for this program. The database system the postal service developed with Information Builders, an information-technology consulting firm, received an award from Government Computer News in 2000 and was a finalist in the government/nonprofit category for the 2001 Computerworld Honors Program. An Information Builders press release touts the system as “a standard for Bank Secrecy Act compliance and antimoney- laundering controls.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:15
Gibson and Gillum say the program resulted from new regulations created by the Clinton-era Treasury Department in 1997 to apply provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act to “money service businesses” that sell financial instruments such as stored-value cash cards, money orders and wire transfers, as well as banks. Surprisingly, the postal service sells about one-third of all U.S. money orders, more than $27 billion last year. It also sells stored-value cards and some types of wire transfers. Although the regulations were not to take effect until 2002, Gillum says the postal service wanted to be “proactive” and “visionary.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:18
Critics of this snooping both inside and outside the postal service are howling mad that the agency’s reputation for protecting the privacy of its customers is being compromised. “It sounds to me that they’re going past the Treasury guidelines,” says Rick Merritt, executive director of Postal Watch, a private watchdog group. The regulations, for example, do not give specific examples of suspicious activity, leaving that largely for the regulated companies to determine. But the postal-service training video points to lots of “red flags,” such as a customer counting money in the line. It warns that even customers whom clerks know often should be considered suspect if they frequently purchase money orders.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:20
Some of the examples given are red flags such as a sleazy-looking customer offering the postal clerk a bribe. But the video also encourages reports to be filed on what appear to be perfectly legal money-order purchases. A black male teacher and Little League coach whom the female clerk, also black, has known for years walks into the post office wearing a crisp, pinstriped suit and purchases $2,800 in money orders, just under the $3,000 daily minimum for which the postal service requires customers to fill out a form. He frequently has been buying money orders during the last few days.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:23
Despite the fact that the Little League coach in the video was black, Gillum insists that the postal service tells its employees not to target by race or appearance.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:24
One thing that should set off alarms, the postal service says, is a customer objecting to filling out an 8105–A form that requests their date of birth, occupation and driver’s license or other government-issued ID for a purchase of money orders of $3,000 or more. If they cancel the purchase or request a smaller amount, the clerk automatically should fill out Form 8105–B, the “suspicious-activity” report. “Whatever the reason, any customer who switches from a transaction that requires an 8105–A form to one that doesn’t should earn himself or herself the honor of being described on a B form,” the training manual says.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:27
There’s also the question of what happens with the information once it’s collected. Gillum says that innocent customers should feel secure because the information reported about “suspicious” customers is not automatically sent to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to be shared with law enforcement agencies worldwide. Although he says FinCEN wants the postal service to send all reports along to it, the postal authorities only will send the clerks’ reports if they fit “known parameters” for suspicious activity. “We are very sensitive to the private citizenry and their rights,” Gillum insists. “For what it’s worth, we have every comfort level that, if we make a report, there are all kinds of reasons to believe that there is something going on there beyond just a legitimate purchase of money orders.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:28
But Gillum would not discuss any of the “parameters” the postal service uses to test for suspicious activity, saying that’s a secret held among U.S. law-enforcement agencies. And if a clerk’s report isn’t sent to the Treasury Department, it still lingers for some time in the postal-service database. Gillum says that by law the postal service will not be able to destroy suspicious-activity reports for five years.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:29
Gillum says the postal service is very strict that the reports only can be seen by law-enforcement officials and not used for other purposes such as marketing. A spokeswoman for the consulting company Information Builders stated in an e-mail to Insight, “Information Builders personnel do not have access to this system.”
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:30
Observers say problems with “Under the Eagle’s Eye” underscore the contradiction that despite the fact that the postal service advertises like a private business and largely is self-supporting, it still is a government agency with law-enforcement functions.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:32
In fact, Gillum thinks Treasury may mandate that the private sector follow some aspects of the postal-service’s program. He adds, however, that the postal service is not arguing for this to be imposed on its competitors.
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:33
In the meantime, the private sector is getting ready to comply with the Treasury regulations before they go into effect next January. But if 7-Eleven Inc., which through its franchises and company-owned stores is one of the largest sellers of money orders, is any guide, private vendors of money orders probably will not issue nearly as many suspicious- activity reports as the postal service. “’Our philosophy is to follow what the regulations require, and if they don’t require us to fill out an SAR [suspicious-activity report] . . . then we wouldn’t necessarily do it,” 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris tells Insight. Asked specifically about customers who cancel or change a transaction when asked to fill out a form, Chabris said, “We are not required to fill out an SAR if that happens.” So why does the U.S. Postal Service?
Postal Service
“Postal Service Has Its Eye On You”
27 June 2001 2001 Ron Paul 47:34
That’s one of the major issues raised by critics such as Postal Watch’s Merritt. He says that lawmakers and the new postmaster general, Jack Potter, need to examine any undermining of customer trust by programs such as “Under the Eagle’s Eye” before the postal service is allowed to go into new businesses such as providing e-mail addresses. “Let’s hope that this is not a trend for the postal service, because I don’t think the American people are quite ready to be fully under the eagle’s eye,” he says.
Postal Service
Treasury And General Government Appropriations Act, 2003
23 July 2002 2002 Ron Paul 74:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Flake and Rangel amendments to the Treasury-Postal Service Appropriations Act. The argument that allowing Americans to travel to Cuba props up Fidel Castro’s regime is just not supported by fact. History has shown that allowing — even encouraging — American citizens to travel to and engage commercially in less-than-free societies ignites the spark of freedom and hastens democratic transformations. Unfortunately, special interests have driven some to argue even against demonstrated fact in pursuit of their political agenda.
Postal Service
CONGRATULATIONS TO POSTMASTER OLA HELM
September 29, 2009 2009 Ron Paul 91:1
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, Ola Helm, a 23 year veteran of the United States Postal Service, will be officially sworn in as the 24th postmaster for the Brazoria, Texas post office on Thursday, October first. I am pleased to extend my congratulations to Postmaster Helm.
Postal Service
CONGRATULATIONS TO POSTMASTER OLA HELM
September 29, 2009 2009 Ron Paul 91:2
Postmaster Helm began her postal career on May 10, 1986 as a letter carrier in my hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas. Over the years, Postmaster Helm held a variety of positions in the postal service, including window clerk, supervisor, coach postmaster and officer charge at a variety of local post offices, including Danbury, Freeport, West Columbia, Sweeny and Needville.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 5 ... Cached
A Postal Service regulation has been finalized that tramples the privacy of the approximately two million Americans who rent mailboxes from commercial mail receiving agencies.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 7 ... Cached
The Postal Service now requires that the commercial agency send the information to the Post Office, which in turn will maintain the information in a database. Further, the regulations would require the commercial agencies to maintain photocopies of the forms of identification presented by the box renter.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 8 ... Cached
It should not escape notice that the Postal Service, under the Privacy Act of 1974, is prohibited from doing this itself. How ironic, and outrageous, that the Post office is mandating a private business do what Congress has explicitly forbidden the Post Office from doing.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 9 ... Cached
Because the federal government has granted a monopoly on first-class mail delivery to the Postal Service, Americans cannot receive mail without dealing with them. Therefore, this regulation presents Americans who wish to receive mail at a commercial mail receiving agency with a choice: either surrender your right to privacy, or surrender your right to receive legal mail in the manner you prefer.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 10 ... Cached
The post office likes this database because it will give them a 100-percent, no-error list of people who have opted against using a Postal Service PO Box and related services. Thus the Postal Service could mail advertisements to these people explaining, perhaps, how their privacy would not be invaded if they used a government box.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 11 ... Cached
This regulation, ironically, was issued at a time when the Post Office is getting into an increasing number of enterprises not directly related to the delivery of mail. So while the Postal Service is willing to use its monopoly on first-class mail to compete with the private sector, it is at the same time working to make life more difficult for its competitors in the field of mail delivery.
Postal Service
Post Office stamps out privacy
24 May 1999 Texas Straight Talk 24 May 1999 verse 15 ... Cached
This latest assault on privacy must be reversed. Congress must not allow the Post Office to force American citizens to divulge, as the price for receiving mail, personal information for inclusion in massive databases. Given this rule, and the recent series of postage stamps and paraphernalia, one can only conclude that the US Postal Service has gone loony.
Postal Service
This Year's Successes
22 November 1999 Texas Straight Talk 22 November 1999 verse 11 ... Cached
Another key victory we have had is dealing with the US Postal Service regulation that would allow further invasions of the privacy of Commercial Mail Receiving agencies and their many customers. Since I proposed HJR 55, the post office has backed off its original position and redrafted its regulations to make them less onerous. However, we will continue to fight on this front until this regulation is totally repealed.
Postal Service
Taking the Next Step
29 November 1999 Texas Straight Talk 29 November 1999 verse 5 ... Cached
Last week I mentioned the success we had with our efforts to derail the proposed "Know Your Customer" regulation and to end the national identification card scheme, as well as our efforts to curtail the activities of runaway agencies like the US Postal Service and the Selective Service Agency.
Postal Service
What About Government Accountability?
15 July 2002 Texas Straight Talk 15 July 2002 verse 5 ... Cached
None of the free-market restraints against financial mismanagement apply to government. The federal government doesn’t need to raise money by meeting a market demand or raising investment capital- it simply takes what it wants through taxes, which can be raised at will. It never has to operate profitably or efficiently; witness Amtrak and the Postal Service. It also has no incentive to cut costs. In fact, federal agencies scramble to spend every last penny of their budgets to justify more the next year. There is no stock price to worry about, and nobody tracks government "performance" against earlier years. Nobody ever gets fired. Simply put, the money is not hard-earned, so it’s not well-spent.
Postal Service
Honoring our Military Veterans
11 November 2002 Texas Straight Talk 11 November 2002 verse 4 ... Cached
If we really hope to honor veterans, we must change the culture of the Veteran’s Administration, which is as bureaucratic and inefficient as any federal agency. This dramatically affects the well-being of millions of former servicemembers, who rely squarely on the VA for health care, retirement living, and monthly payment of veteran’s benefits. Legislation and better funding can help, but as with all federal agencies, mismanagement is the real problem. Veterans deserve dignified care, and we can’t provide that with a VA that is run like the Postal Service or the IRS.
Texas Straight Talk from 20 December 1996 to 23 June 2008 (573 editions) are included in this Concordance. Texas Straight Talk after 23 June 2008 is in blog form on Rep. Paul’s Congressional website and is not included in this Concordance.
Remember, not everything in the concordance is Ron Paul’s words. Some things he quoted, and he added some newspaper and magazine articles to the Congressional Record. Check the original speech to see.