My wife and I wanted to get out of town for the Independence holiday, and all we knew was that we wanted to drive a full day out of Washington, find some cool water, camping and mountains, and avoid traffic. We settled on Sandusky, Ohio, because it's on Lake Erie, includes the Appalachians to and fro, and allows for some nostalgia to my Frohman history. 

Sandusky's where my dad grew up, so I asked him where we should go.  He recommended visiting President Rutherford B. Hayes' center because it contains the voluminous collections of grampa Charles Frohman.  When Frohman wasn't lawyering for Hinde and Dauch paper company, he collected history for Lake Erie between Toledo and Cleveland, and it's now being professionalized in his own section at President Hayes library, as the Charles Frohman Collection. 

Some of Frohman's prized collections include the letters from abolitionist martyr John Brown; and War Between the States (Civil War) financier Jay Cooke (who is criticized as a railroad crook by economic historian Tom DiLorenzo), who had a castle on Put in Bay Island, where Hinde and Dauch Paper president Sidney Frohman had a lodge.  Also in Charles' collections are original writings from his uncle Charles and Daniel's  Broadway productions.  Historians are keenly interested also in Charles' book about the role of Lake Erie in the Civil War, "Rebels of Lake Erie".

What helped Charles get the means and ability for collecting historical documents, and what helped his uncle Sidney get that island lodge, was their role in building one of the world's most important paper companies, Hinde and Dauch.  The Hinde and Dauch Paper company revolutionized corrugated cardboard, for shipping.  The main mill and factory was located in Sandusky, here, but there were 26 H&D factories in 18 cities in two countries.  The demand was huge:

"...Boxes to ship four one gallons of paint; boxes to ship complete sets of dishes; boxes to ship bed room furniture; boxes to ship large radios; boxes to ship butter, and when opened to be used as counter displays; boxes to ship cookies and crackers, also used as display units. Hundreds of styles to ship thousands of products have been designed, and every day new ones are being added."

It was Sidney who joined H&D in 1910 as Treasurer, and who, upon Mr. Dauch's passing in 1918, became president of the company.  Industrialization was demanding more, and a bigger variety of, corrugated shipping boxes, so the company ballooned over several decades, before being sold to Westvaco in 1952. 

Here's the Home of Sidney, who also maintained a cottage along the northeast coast of Put In Bay island - sorry this map doesn't show the exact location, but look for a long dock that was needed to accomodate his yacht.  My wife and I wanted to camp out on one of Sandusky's islands, but all that was left was this lousy resort on Middle Bass Island, at St Hazards - notice the old grass landing strip ABOVE the main airport - that's where dad landed in the 1950s, delivering newspapers from Sandusky.  One of the nicest parts of the trip was the visit to Charles Frohman's house, where dad grew up, on the Cedar Point peninsula (home of the world famous roller coaster mecca of the same name).

Frohman lodge is mentioned in this article about theater on the island, and what's interesting is the piece mentions Sidney's cousins, the Broadway producers Daniel and Charles Frohman, the latter of whom was played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie "Finding Neverland" with Johnny Depp, about Frohman's acquisition of the play Peter Pan in London, to bring it back to the U.S.  The producer Frohman was listed along with Vanderbilt when both died in the sinking of the ship Lusitania - a controversial tragedy (because it illegally contained armaments for the British) that allowed President Wilson to begin demonizing the germans to get the US to back the British in the war.

The original Frohman's - David and Henry - arrived from Darmstadt, Germany because of the European revolutions of 1848:  they arrived in New York and traveled the country in a covered wagon selling tin pots, until settling on Lake Erie.  This migration is the focus of a brand new exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

After a Frohman soujourn in Sandusky, we drove back towards DC, driving through Ohio's southeast mountains, staying at the peaceful Blue Rock State Park, where we also swam.

So we had a nice Independence soujourn back to my Frohman past on the shore of Lake Erie, and got away from it all in Ohio's mountains before returning to Washington.  Back to summer school teaching, and back to my own graduate summer school.

P.S. For those into art, my other grandfather, on my mother's side, is considered by some the greatest abstract painter of the 20th century.  There's now a sharp wiki page to view the works of Paul Fontaine, here.  He even has a Facebook fanpage.

At another social networking site, Facebook, I recently composed 25 Random Things About Me, and I liked it so much that I'm copying them here, in my personal Gaia blog.  Hope you enjoy.

1. My life has completely changed since becoming a libertarian, a yogi, and an amateur investigator of ancient controversies. With an incredible wife, home, and steady job teaching history in an inner city charter school, my life is good now.

2. I became a libertarian while working for members of Congress in the early 90s, and seeing how dangerous, pathetic and expensive government was. Last year I was the guy broadcasting LIVE on an internet radio station from Ron Paul's blimp: http://dcflow.gaia.com/blog/2008/12/flying_in_the_blimp_above_baltimore_menckens_home.

3. I became a teacher of kundalini yoga to get control of my life. I hadn't given up my college frat ways (I was a Sig Ep) of behavior while on Capitol Hill (I used to skip work to go see the Grateful Dead as far south as Charlotte, and as far north as High Gate, Vermont), and I was needing some meaning in my life. I have meditated for 5 straight days in the foothills of the Himalaya, India (sounds like that Maugham novel, Razors Edge, huh?). You too can find a teacher near you at www.3ho.org.

4. Knowing how we've been lied to about the value of government, I've learned that we've been lied to in almost every sector of humanity. So only a fool would withhold from himself the knowledge at the so-called controversial sites, such as Alex Jones' www.infowars.com. Knowledge is power; ignorance makes one a sheep.

5. I've attended several conferences with one of the most provocative investigative writers in human history: www.Sitchin.com. If his translations of the 4,000 BC Sumerian tablets are correct, we are hybrid slaves of a older human-like race of "gods" on which the Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Mayan, Dogon, and Indian Vedic pantheon are based. In my FB photos, you can see my trips to unexplained, incredible sites in the Sacred Valley of Peru - giant, laser cut granite blocks with no mortar thousands of years old.

6. Before I became a libertarian I had no frame of reference, and no love of literature (I always liked fantasy and sci fi). Then I came across the libertarian social critic from the 1920s H.L. Mencken, and learned he liked the "harsh reality" writers Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, and Conrad. Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here", from 1936, is happening in front of our eyes today.

7. My mom's dad was Paul Fontaine, called by some the greatest abstract artist of the 20th century (www.fontaine.org). Yes grampa was employed by FDR's Works Progress Administration to paint the mural in Worcester's post office, and yes the Stars and Stripes in Darmstadt employed him as its illustrator, but I still prefer freedom over coercion. My dad's dad was part of the Westvaco paper industry, and grampa's uncles were the Broadway producers, including Charles Frohman, who died when the Lusitania's sinking started World War One. Dustin Hoffman played Charles in "Finding Neverland," about his bringing Peter Pan from London back to NY.

8. I once consulted for the natural healing industry; boy are they under attack by Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Medica: here's a youtube of us educating politicians on Capitol Hill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4IM2P0JgpM.

9. For a group of privacy-loving doctors, I covered a Maryland cattlecall of students coerced into receiving stab wounds infected by potentially very dangerous vaccines - and I made it onto NBC: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=7f929098-5d69-42a4-85f9-e9fb37075044.

10. I'm the main activist who worked with several members of Congress to pass only the 4th Congressional Joint Resolution in history in honor of a religious figure, the western Sikh leader (and master of kundalini yoga and founder of Akal Security and Yogi Tea) Yogi Bhajan. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-h20050405-21

11. I once taught high school in India: http://www.miripiriacademy.org/. In my FB photos is one with me climbing a Himalayan mountain during that amazing winter of 2004.

12. I've been on TV dozens of times, mainly on CSPAN, moderating fora for the world famous Cato Institute, for which I served as assoc dir of govt affairs: http://www.cfrohman.com/images/cato_events.doc

13. I saved an entire section of the finance market when my lobbying found the senator who initiated an effort to use an appropriations bill to stop a bureaucracy from leaving the way mortgage brokers get paid unclear under RESPA, and thus vulnerable to class actions, which can destroy an entire way of doing business: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=hr769&dbname=105

14. I organized one of the first congressional hearings ever (in 1993) on the salvation of the health industry: medical savings accounts.

15. I found an international title insurance company to give backing to a project in Belize, that unfortunately fell through. www.openworld.com

16. I spent time at the ranch of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, to help organize a new transpartisan movement to save the world by bringing together entrepreneurs and idealists for peace and prosperity (www.Flowidealism.org)

17. Last Spring former Governor Gary Johnson invited me to his house in Taos, to discuss his potential presidential run in 2012. Join the FB group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38552147212&ref=ts

18. I went to an incredible summer camp as a kid in Canada, with canoe trips in the wilderness of northern Ontario and Quebec: www.kilcoo.com

19. I almost lost my right eye during a high school summer southwest hiking bus trip, in the rockies of Colorado. Only my tear duct was severed, though, so I was lucky, and back to hiking the next day.

20. In high school I was number one on the tennis team for 3 years, but I squandered my talent and wasn't prepared to try out for William & Mary's college team. I played sax in the high school band, and piano as a kid - too bad I gave them up. I loved my teachers, especially Latin (ms. Brinkley), English (mr. Hobbs and ms. Hunter), math (ms. barrett) and science (mr. Sampson).

21. My wife and I are thinking about kids, but we're also thinking of moving to Vienna (she's from Austria) or traveling to China. Our Capitol Hill house is starting to look nice though, and in this recession sudden job changes are ill advised. So maybe God wants us to bring new humans onto Earth.

22. I do a half hour of Sat Kriya, the most powerful movement in kundalini yoga, every morning, to raise my courage to face my troubled inner city kids at the D.C. charter school at which I teach history. As a libertarian, I'm exposing the students to nothing they've heard before - sure beats the crap they put in textbooks.

23. In college I was one belt below black, in the martial arts club. In front of the entire William & Mary student body during a bball game, I and a couple others broke 2 boards.

24. Facebook has brought me so much joy over the past month, as I've been reconnecting with friends from as far back as 1972, second grade at Erie Day School.

25. I miss my mom, taken by breast cancer at age 59 in 2001. She was a Capricorn, like my wife, a perfect match to my Virgo. Carol was a great singer in church, the victor in all the garden club decoration contests, a great artist trained by Sheakes at Virginia Wesleyan, a gourmet cook, and wonderful mom. I'm so happy my beloved Dad is still around, and enjoying his best time of life flying jets for clients. I love my sister, brother, relatives and friends, and I hope I can bring love to everyone I touch during the remainder of my time on Earth.

Sat nam.

On Thursday December 20 I was invited by the Ron Paul Blimp team to LIVE broadcast their flight above Baltimore, Maryland, for Ron Paul Radio. When I'm not lobbying, teaching kundalini yoga, or researching mysteries and ancient history, I volunteer for freedom causes, including the internet radio station (my show's every Thursday at 5pm).

It was very fast work getting on the blimp. It was only the day before that Daily Paul included a notice that the blimp then was over Norfolk, Virginia, near my childhood home of Suffolk. I called my sister in Norfolk, and she told me she saw what "appeared to be a blimp," but she had no clue it was Candidate Paul's. Tracking the blimp's flight north over the Chesapeake Bay, I saw from its flight plan that it would stay the night at Harford County airport. Being near my home in Washington, D.C., I decided to contact Katharine, the assistant named as the contact for the Blimp. She said $5K was needed to be a passenger, or you had to be media. Well, having tapped out my contributions on Tea Party Day, I wasn't about to fork over what amounted to the cost of a bad, used car, but my Ron Paul Radio connection was just enough to get me invited!

The next challenge was how in the world we were going to LIVE broadcast from a blimp. I learned the blimp had its own (weak) Wi-Fi connection, and that by flying just a few hundred yards above Earth, it would pick up other signals, particularly over Baltimore. A young man named Elijah was the "techie" on board the blimp, and he had a mounted camera inside, a laptop, and a videographer assistant named Daniel.

But the true Blimp organizer was none other than Trevor Lyman, the music entrepreneur who decided that the country was going to hell and he needed to get involved in the Ron Paul campaign to restore our constitutional republic. Trevor is the main instigator for the last 2 money bombs, on Guy Fawkes Day ("Remember, remember, the 5th of November") and the more recent anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (see my blog below on D.C.'s Tea Party). Trevor needs our help, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each month, to keep the Blimp flying up to New York, and back down to Florida. Follow the Blimp's daily progress, at its BlimpBlog!

When I arrived Thursday morning at the airport, it was staggering to see this huge blimp in the middle of the rural setting. There wasn't room for me on the initial ride, so I hung out with Quinn and Dave from Jim Lehrer's PBS Newshour, and Chris Beam and Andy from Slate. I also interviewed Dan Campbell and Shelly Roche, local Meetup activists. (See Shelly's blimp pictures here). Quinn was good, asking one question, on camera, "how the blimp could avoid mid-air collisions with Baltimore's news helicopters, if Ron Paul had his way and abolished the FAA"? I'll let the candidate answer that one! ;-)

Here's Slate's blog on the Blimp ride. And here's the fabulous story and video from NewsHour's interview from the blimp, mainly of Trevor Lyman. On the initial Blimp ride was the Houston Chronicle, which posted a non-blimp Ron Paul story that day. (and here's a real nice Houston Chronicle Youtube of Ron Paul filmed last week).

When I finally got on the Blimp around 2pm, the take-off was intense, like a loud roller coaster rising at a very steep angle (here's an awesome, short YouTube of the takeoff). With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, immediately we could see the Susquehanna emptying into the huge Chesapeake Bay. As we coasted south towards Baltimore, we could see cars slowing down on the mighty Interstate 95. It was during this time that I LIVE broadcast interviews with Elijah and Trevor from the Blimp team, and we even had a few words from the other journalists. Unfortunately, the weak Wi-Fi signal meant repeated Skype and cell phone calls to RPR broadcaster TVMH (that's his name), so listeners were denied a smooth play-by-play with no interruptions. Sorry about that. Technology is great, and we certainly have room for improvement. (Check out Ron Paul Radio's sharp new website!)

It was not a warm, smooth or quiet ride aboard the Blimp. We had our jackets on, and the blimp swayed up and down with the wind. Things got really exciting, though, as we approached the skyscraper-filled downtown of Baltimore. It was spectacular, really, as the sun reflected off the large buildings, and as local news helicopters checked out this large "flying whale," as Trevor put it. Lots of folks saw us, as attested at Ron Paul Forums.

As we twirled around the Inner Harbor, over the Baltimore Orioles' Camden Yards and the Baltimore Raven's stadium, the wind shot up off the buildings to really sway the Blimp at steep angles, up and down. "Whooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaahhhhh." I'll load my pictures as soon as possible here.

A personal thought I had, in our steep banked turns around Baltimore, was that down below was the Enoch Pratt Library, home of the works of H.L. Mencken, the greatest social critic - and a libertarian one at that - in the early 20th Century. As his biographer Carl Bode called him, Mencken was a great "anti-statist" and "anti-puritan." No doubt he would be smiling on the Blimp!

Flying back north, we hovered over north Baltimore's beltway, letting the congested traffic get a good look at us. Here's a YouTube of that.

It was getting dark as we touched back down at the airport. I dined with Trevor and his gang afterwards, and it was clear those 4 were dedicated to making this Blimp thing work. But your help is needed, financially. Folks, it was truly unbelievable to be up in a Blimp, stared at by thousands of people in buildings, cars, houses, boats, fields, and local news choppers. The Ron Paul Blimp is priceless PR, and its success will redound to the benefit of all come November.

Good news: This Blimp Blog was linked by the great David Weigel at Reason Magazine. Finally, watch the fundraising machine in action, for the Blimp.

Yours truly got a mention in Reason Magazine's blog on Sunday's Tea Party for Ron Paul's record-setting fundraising. While associate editor David Weigel had to cover some of the more entertaining conspiratorialists from the Washington, D.C. celebration, he overall writes an exciting summary of what was an inspirational night. I was there broadcasting on behalf of Ron Paul Radio, and fans can catch me 5 pm every Thursday. Here I am on YouTube, interviewing D.C. region Meetup coordinator Bob Moody, discussing the Tea Party reenactment.

Ron Paul's 6 1/2 million haul broke Senator Kerry's 5 1/2 million record. The Mainstream Media continues to ignore Candidate Paul as much as possible, since his free market/constitutional platform would repeal all the barriers the oligopolists have spent decades erecting.

For someone like me who's worked for 18 years in D.C., it was heartening to see a new generation of activists, trying to save the world from the horrible Statism infecting the world. I don't expect much, but this Paul Campaign has got me fired up.

Only regret at the Tea Party was my failure to up my bid for the Ron Paul silver dollar. Owning that would have been very cool. Great job Meetup organizers Bret, Bob, Kevin, Steve, Laura, et. al.! What creativity, to reenact the 1773 Boston Tea Party, by dumping card board boxes onto the barroom floor, disguised as hated bureaucracies. Brilliant.

As Sheldon Richman writes, the Constitution is somewhat limiting of government, but not as much as was the previous government, the one preceding the Constitution - the one under the Articles of Confederation.

"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

"We might think those words -- or words to the same effect -- are in the U.S. Constitution. But they are not. They are from Article II of the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution. They could have been placed in the U.S. Constitution but were deliberately left out in 1787."

So, if Ron Paul were elected, and the American people forced Congress to pass his plan based on the Constitution, the job of Liberty and Justice could remain unfinished. Ultimately, we may have to return to a State-based Articles of Confederation government. It wasn't lightly that abolitionist libertarian lawyer Lysander Spooner ridiculed the sanctity of the Constitution. Nor did H.L. Mencken's favorite writer, Albert Jay Nock, cavalierly call the Constitution a "coup d'etat."

For context on the fact that not all our Founders were good people, a reminder from Reason on what a monster Hamilton was.

Moody's now predicts a housing price collapse of 30%, but Bush's subprime bailout is dangerous idea. The best Wall Street minds predict the bailout will cut house prices even more! And, sadly, there may even be some abuse or crime being covered up in the bailout.

With every housing collapse - caused as usual by the Federal Reserve's overreactive rate cuts in response to economic conditions - there is legislative payback imposed by Congress, and the scapegoats are the small businesses with no resources to defend themselves politically. This happened in the 1990s, when the mortgage brokers - usually mom-and-pop operations - suffered class action lawsuits and "high cost" mortgage regulations as a result of an inflationary "Bust" that was caused by the Fed. The political scapegoating never ends, and the Fed always remains "above the fray"? Why do financial professionals ignore the cause?

And now it's happening again, with House passage of this bill to help the poor homebuyers up to their necks in subprime mortgages. And another story here. And here's NAMB's grassroots alert on the threat.

Heritage's Ronald D. Utt says, "H.R. 3915 Would Impose New Burdens and Limits on Moderate Income Borrowers." I was the lobbyist for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) during the class action crisis of the late 1990s. So I know how endless this attack on small business is. Here's a Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) blog on the bill. Another CEI expert puts partial blame on bond rating problems.

So the question becomes, instead of just fighting the annual attack from Congress or an Agency, why not look to a more powerful solution, like taking on the whole idea of unconstitutional government, central banking and fiat currency?

The Ron Paul Presidential Campaign certainly is discussing these larger issues. Under the Founder's Constitution, says Candidate Paul, individuals could buy and sell freely among each other, with no government interference unless there is force or fraud. Local courts - or, increasingly, private dispute resolution - could adjudicate disputes. "Reputation," not regulation, would protect consumers, who would become better shoppers when they know that "caveat emptor" rules, and private third party information sources would become the lynchpins of quality.

And credit would become more stable in price, as the "see-saw" Fed is replaced with a banking system free of "Boom-Bust" Cycle-causing support or interference. Currency would be backed by hard resources such as gold, and credit would be priced like any other good or service - according to the classic law of supply and demand. Consumers would regain value in their dollar. Here's a YouTube video on CentralBanking. And here's Auburn University's Mises Institute, summarizing Ron Paul's economic plan.

With no housing/mortgage regulation at the federal level, since no such Power is authorized by the Constitution's Article One Section Eight to the Federal Government, even excessive State regulations would be overturned under a proper reading of the Commerce Clause - which protects interstate trade from government-imposed costs.

Here's the Cato Institute on why Ron Paul is the "darkhorse" potential next President.
CNBC's Maria Barteromo just interviewed Paul on the Fed's role in causing our Recession.

But do any mortgage brokers have a clue as to the role of central banking and fiat currency - or any of the other unconstitutional laws - in their suffering during Recessions? I tried to educate the industry in 1996, when I got NAMB to invite financial consultant Bert Ely to speak at the Convention, how brokers are the victims of the inflation, caused by the Fed. He said "brokers find themselves at the end of the Fed's whip."

And Congressman Paul has studied this matter since Nixon depegged the dollar from gold, and now serves as the Ranking Member of the Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Monetary Policy. Here's Mr. Paul on the Fed's new chairman, Ben Bernake.

So, while NAMB certainly will fight the latest attack from the House bill (now pending action in the Senate by Banking Chairman Dodd (D-CT)), will any financial professionals get involved in the Ron Paul Campaign, to help him raise the much more important issues of unconstitutional laws, and Federal Reserve/Fiat Currency-aggravated inflationary Boom-Bust cycles, and how they victimize small business and the non-wealthy? Let's hope so.

But if "having a chance to win" is a requirement to support a candidate, luckily, you're in luck. The Zogby Polling Company now gives Paul a chance to win! And the Washington Post says the Paul Campaign is making "libertarianism" the new "it philosophy".

Back to housing bailouts, AEI's Wallison is against it, at least for the GSEs. And the New York Times says the credit spigot to businesses now is being shut off. Here comes the Recession. And here's Cato on government's money monopoly.

This year's DoD Authorization bill contains a Section (1605), setting plans for collusion with the Police for Martial Law in the event of an Emergency. Why would the Pentagon be planning Martial Law if it didn't plan on implementing it?

This pending Law comes on top of the White House Directive claiming dictatorial powers to "coordinate" the continuity of "constitutional" government during such Emergencies, which will happen since examples of emergencies include minor terrorist acts like the building attack of 9/11 and the Katrina storm that hit New Orleans. Since "Constitutional" means separation of powers among the three branches of government, for the Executive Branch to assume control of "coordination" means dictatorship.

As more and more immigrants are detained (google LA times and "detaining immigrants"), I'm reminded of the article from Becky Ackers from the Foundation for Economic Education (google "Becky Ackers immigration"), when she showed that immigration interference was the last thing the Founders wanted. And our continued demogoguing this issue will only steal our freedoms and smother prosperity.

Ms. Akers said it was the post-Civil War Congress, full of hubris after conquering the South, that arbitrarily decided to ban the immigration of convicts and prostitutes. When litigation over these new laws reached the Supreme Court, in the case of Chae Chi Ping v. U.S. (1888), the "Court appealed to national sovereignty, international norms, congressional edicts, democracy - anything but the Constitution."

All that's authorized in the Constitution is "naturalization," a process to help newcomers become citizens. Libertarians and classical liberals should want the free movement of goods, people and ideas. And as the War on Terrorism leads to an ever intolerable Police State, a tight Border will only make it harder for free-thinking entrepreneurs like you and me to ESCAPE!

If you worry that Terrorists will sneak through the border, then stop interfering Overseas, which is what causes terrorism. When you stick a finger in a beehive, you get stung. Both Washington and Jefferson supported commerce, not entangling alliances, when it came to foreign affairs. President John Quincy Adams in his 1821 Address warned specifically about entanglement in foreign conflicts:

"America... well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extraction, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force... She might become dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit." - John Quincy Adams; Address, 4 July 1821

So, friends, let's let the immigrants come in. They add value. For those immigrants who take welfare, end the welfare. We know from DeToqueville's "Democracy in America," that he marveled, in that 1830s period before the takeover of Big Government, that Americans formed mutual aid societies for the poor, and associations to ... found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; ... found hospitals, prisons, and schools." If we let private, charitable associations take care of the poor, including any poor immigrants, then the so-called "immigrant problem" would disappear.

So obey the Founders on international relations, immigration and welfare, and we would instantly build peace and prosperity in America and around the world.

If, on the other hand, we ignore the increasing detention of immigrants, the tightening of the border will prove dangerous if the growing Police State causes us to flee for our lives - because there will be no ESCAPE!

UPDATE: As 2007 ends and Congress goes home, they are passing a bill to protect the Middle Class from the Alternative Minimum Tax. But they're "paying" for this with a tax on expatriates, as they leave the country. So I'm right! Border control has the opposite effect of trapping us inside!

Times are tough, with our inevitable Golden Age being delayed by the Warfare Welfare State, and all the pathologies that result therefrom.  And I'm personally not unaffected by this dynamic.  Nevertheless, with my almost daily yoga practice, and a new internet TV program, I'm busy, content, motivated, even happy.  I've got a wonderful wife and a peaceful home.  That said, I want to discuss a few things, in respect to my new internet TV show.

Break the Matrix was started by Trevor Lyman, a music entrepreneur who organized the Money Bomb, in which former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul raised more online money in one day than any politician in history.  Trevor also arranged for the Ron Paul Blimp, for which I broadcast LIVE on Ron Paul Radio last Fall.  Not to rest on laurels, Trevor now is taking on the Mainstream Media with BTM, and his partner Rick Williams has hired me to expose in detail how the politicians are making life worse for humanity. 

And exposing them I am.  It's not hard to do.  Just surf the net daily and we'll find assaults on the Property Rights we enjoy in ourselves, our things, and the fruits of our labor. 

On Friday's show, for example, I reported on the new atrocity at the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection bureaucracy, in which all visitors - including US citizens - will have their laptops subject to detention, spying, and sharing of found info with other agencies and private partners, including companies like Blackwater, which now is getting into Intelligence contracting.

The Intelligence Community (comprising the CIA's 16 agencies and the Director of Natl Intelligence), Mike German from the American Civil Liberties Union says, was built to deal with foreign threats, but now is being turned inward on all of us.  Pres Bush is updating former Pres Reagan's Executive Order 12333, which builds off the horrifying FISA Reform allowing unlimited spying and databasing of innocent humans.  Spies still can't assassinate or experiment on humans (like they did in the 1950s with LSD), and they have to follow appropriate statutes.  But this statute compliance requirement is little solace when we consider that Bush's warrantless spying completely violated the FISA limitations passed in the 1970s to require spies to justify their targeting with a secret court.  And a DoJ legal opinion exposed by a Senator Whitehouse says the President isn't even bound by this Executive Order.  Instead, the President uses a broad interpretation of "Executive Power" and what's authorized in the Iraq War Resolution, as trumping this EO.  This centralizing of intelligence, under secrecy, will immolate the Constitution.

On yesterday's show I also warned that the addiction to immigrant hatred would lead to passage of E-Verify, which will result in databasing not only of citizenship and employment.  Later, E-Verify's system could violate privacy of and aggravate regulatory control over housing, finance, health, guns, and God knows what else.  It's no wonder Cato's Jim Harper titled his last paper on this as a "Kafka" solution to illegal immigration.

Exploiting concern about online porn, gambling and video games, the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery is saying a tenth of Americans need therapy, but that drugs aren't yet available for this sickness.  Think about this:  Big Brother fears the Internet's empowering of humanity with info to stave off their Control, so what better way to undermind the Internet's value than by calling us sick, forcing us into therapy, and inviting Big Pharma to hurt us some more with their poisonous unnatural drugs.

I then agreed with Matt Welch at Reason who doubts seriously that the late Bruce Ivens was the terrorist who threatened politicians with death by Anthrax.  That's because Bruce "suicided" himself, a convenient situation allowing the Warmongers to blame him and call an end to this event, made disgusting when we recall that a previous suspect had his life ruined before being declared innocent, and pocketing $5 million as compensation.  David Weigel at Reason also reminds us that the Anthrax was used by Bush to condemn Iraq has having Weapons of Mass Destruction.  The Media, with no proof it turns out, linked a certain anthrax ingrediant to Iraq, which tended to use that ingrediant.  So just what was that Anthrax Terrorism really about?

And now we get to some Orwellian speak from the Pentagon, courtesy of my fellow William and Mary alum Sec Robert Gates, who claims in DoD's latest Strategy document that the Warmongers' priority won't be Russia or China.  Rather, the War will continue to focus on terrorists who threaten the "international state system", denying them "sanctuary" in any "ungoverned" area.  In other words, anyone who prefers a free market over the State is a terrorist, and has a bullseye on their back.  And don't think you can hide in a sancturary, not even the SeaSteading ocean island of Milton Friedman's grandson.  Thanks Bob.  Go Tribe.

And don't be prying into the Pentagon's computers.  Or we'll bury you in a crime-infested jail for the rest of your life.  That's what's coming to Gary McKinnon, a British geek trolling DoD's online resources for evidence of a coverup of both UFOs and Free Energy (see Tesla).  This UFO thing is weird - why did the NYTimes publish a column from former high ranking UK Defense official Nick Pope, calling for the US to reopen Project Bluebook, last closed in the 1960s?  Maybe to help the XFiles movie get better reviews?

McKinnon loses Hacking appeal:




Oh this Warfare State is really scary.  Now we have Sy Hersh of the New Yorker magazine exposing that Cheney is considering a False Flag event to get Iran to fire first, to build the necessary American anger to go to War.  Our elites want to build speedboats that look like the ones Iran used to fire previously on a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz, but this time filled with our own Navy Seals, which Jess Ventura was at one time.  Their deaths would be a necessary sacrifice in this cause of Freedom. 

Hersh exposes Cheney Iran false flag idea:




You gotta love those False Flags - Lincoln's sacrifice of Fort Sumpter soldiers to build Northern support for an invasion of the Seceeded south to protect his tariffs; Wilson's sacrifice of innocent passengers (including my Great Uncle, Broadway Producer Charles Frohman) on the Lusitania to build hatred of Germans to get a seat at the table for the Treaty of Versailles; FDR's sacrifice of our Pearl Harbor sailors to get the Japanese to attack and bring us into World War; LBJ's sacrifice of truth in lying that a North Vietnamese speedboat had machine gunned one of our destroyers, to takeover Southeast Asia oil; and Bush the Younger (the Ignorant) associating Iraq with the 9/11 Terrorism to justify regime change in oil rich Mesopotamia.  And here comes Iran, and next is Pakistan, maybe even Venezuela?

Speaking of Mesopotamia, the oldest joke in the world was just found there:

"Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

And on Venezuela, I mentioned on Friday's TV show that Bolivia, a country just to the south, had joined Ecuador in kicking out the US Drug Warriors and soldiers.  This is great news, since for peace to return to our own inner cities, we need an end to modern Prohibition.  Black market warfare is caused by the Drug War, and the only foreign policy our Founders authorized in the Constitution was commerce - free trade in goods, people and ideas.  Let's stick with that sage advice, shall we?

I also praised a California court ruling protecting state medical decision making from the Drug War's statute, the Controlled Substances Act.  California gives licenses to medicinal pot users, but a couple counties said doing so violates the CSA.  The court said otherwise, thus building off the Oregon Case allowing medicinal death.  While the states fight the Feds on jurisdiction, a mayor outside DC was the latest to suffer an aggregious home invasion by a SWAT team.  SWAT teams are supposed to be limited to high stakes situations, like a bank robbery with hostages. 

These thugs killed the mayor's dogs, the universally beloved labrodor retriever:







When a Minnesota family suffered a wrongful raid, their SWAT team was awarded for bravery under fire.  Aren't cops supposed to serve us?

My show yesterday then turned to the States across our country, and why they weren't fixing the bridges.  Only 2 of 3 problems bridges have had more than routine maintenance.  Granted most highway money comes from the gas tax and its national trust fund.  But States are complaining gas tax revenue is falling short, and so they want more Fed help.  Cato's Chris Edwards found, though, that states HAVE been spending a lot, 7% more this year than last, and that their revenues HAVE increased as well, up 2%.  (The balance came from heavy borrowing).  States should cut spending to pay for infrastructure repairs.  Since education is the biggest chunk of State spending, voucherize it and give parents better choices in the process.  For health care waste, do what Massachusetts now wants and repeal mandates that insurance policies contain certain benefits, and enlist the shopping talents of citizens by replacing first dollar coverage with medical savings accounts to encourge them to save.  And do what Ahnold is doing in California - slash bureaucrat paychecks to minimum wage.  But Minnesota, for example, cut no spending; instead, it raised its gas tax and sales tax.  Typical.

If the mention of minimum wage above bothers you, replace the Federal Reserve and fiat currency with free banking and market-based money.  Doing so would reverse the dollar's plunge, making life easier for low wage earners.  Your paycheck would purchase much more, bringing life's luxuries that much closer.

And if we want a wider variety of job opportunities, repeal regulations which are nothing more than barriers to entry, protecting Big Business from competition.  Regulation is a word that used to mean "make regular," implying a need to repeal barriers to regularizing whatever needed support - that's what the Commerce Clause is supposed to mean.

Meanwhile, the Recession gets worse, with banks borrowing more from the Federal Reserve last week than ever, and the commercial paper market falling to its lowest level in two years.  The Fed has announced an extension on to January of its Treasury Bills program and extensions of credit to securities dealers.

Former Bush economic advisor Larry Lindsay still is fuming about the bailout of government sponsored housing agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  While Bear Stearns' stockholders lost everything in that company's bailout, Fannie's shareholders were held harmless.  Dividend receivers will still get theirs in the bailout, and future mortgages will be taxed to fund more of the risky affordable housing boondoggles that partly caused the housing collapse in the first place.  But the bill prohibits risk based pricing and allows downpayments of as little as 3%.  And regarding Congress ceding its Power of the Purse to Treasury, which can extend unlimited credit to Fannie and buy its bonds, Lindsay remarked:

“If any other country announced that its finance minister could print unlimited debt to do something similar, financial markets around the world would dump both the country's debt and the country's currency.”  Linsday wrote in the WSJ.

Joshua Holland at Alternet says inflation has been undercounted, and that including food and gas, and other removed items, figure rises from 2% to 9%.  Charles Featherstone at Rockwell interprets that to mean growth has been exagerrated - for over 30 years.

Does McCain blaim govt for the collapse?  Dunno, but he sure doesn't favor the free market as an antidote.  Instead, he recently quoted Teddy Roosevelt for his opinion: "Unfettered capitalism leads to corruption." McBrainiac concludes, "We are seeing that with the subprimse lending crisis".

I prefer Adam Smith:  “the benefits of the free market should accrue not just to individuals but to society as a whole.”

And so daily going forth, I'll do what I can on my 4pm Break the Matrix internet TV show, exposing collusion between Big Brother and Big Business, and countering that with how freedom brings benefits to "society as a whole".

With the federal government ignoring the property rights we enjoy in our personal information, in this Election we must advocate for a restoration of privacy, for an e Bill of Rights.  In this blog entry, I call on anyone reading this to blog about this too:

http://libertycoalition.net/ebill-rights.

Thanks already to the Vitamin Lawyer for blogging how important the e Bill of Rights is to privacy of health information.

Where are the education advocates, those expert in finance, the think tanks, and computer professionals themselves?  You need to spread the word by blogging about info privacy.