Category Archives: self

On August 13th Ademo Freeman was convicted by a jury on 3 counts of felony wiretapping because he recorded phone conversations with pubic officials without the consent of said officials. While Ademo did violate the NH wiretapping law, the NH law violates federal court precedent. Last year the 1st Circuit Court ruled that filming public officials while on duty is a “basic and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”

The 1st Circuit Court ruling was cited by a judge in Illinois as a “persuasive authority” for ruling on similar cases. Specifically, the case of Michael Allison, who had been convicted of five counts of felony eavesdropping and sentenced to 75 years in prison. The Illinois law makes it a felony to record a conversation without consent of ALL parties involved, regardless of the circumstances. Allison’s troubles began when he recorded his encounters with police who were seizing cars from his front yard. Allison then attempted to record his court appearance and was arrested for supposedly violating the Judge’s privacy. However, there is good news for Mr. Allison, another Judge (David Frankland) dismissed the charges against Michael Allison and ruled, “A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusion into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right to privacy in their public duties… Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather information.”

Last fall, a Chicago jury acquitted a woman for secretly recording a conversation with police regarding a sexual harassment complaint she was attempting to file against the department. This past spring, Illinois Judge Stanley Sacks dropped a case against Chris Drew and ruled that the law was too broad and potentially criminalized “wholly innocent conduct.” Among the abuses hypothesized by the judge: the prosecution of a parent who recorded her child’s soccer game and inadvertently captured a conversation between two bystanders.

Illinois along with New Hampshire are two of the dozen states that require all party consent for recordings. This restriction makes it a crime, in many circumstances, to attempt to hold pubic officials accountable.

I’m reminded of the quote from Plato “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

On August 15th I spoke to a New Hampshire House subcommittee and recommended the committee introduce a bill to modify RSA 570-A:2 so that the term “all parties” is replaced with “at least one party.” and include the phrase “It is neither invasion of privacy nor wiretapping nor eavesdropping to record a telephone conversation if a party to the conversation.”

I concluded by stating the Legislature should bring New Hampshire law in compliance with federal court precedent which states, “filming public officials while on duty is a ‘basic and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment’.” And said, the Legislature “can bring New Hampshire’s law into compliance the easy way, through legislation; or the hard way, through the courts. If the law is not changed through the State Legislature, I am tempted to challenge the law in federal court myself and I’m willing to record phone conversations with every Legislator in the State of New Hampshire if that is what it takes to bring about this much needed change in state law.”

In early August the Presidential election slipped to a new low. It began when Barack Obama said, “He’d ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year. It’s like Robin Hood in reverse — it’s Romney-hood.”

Romney countered by saying, “We’ve been watching the president say a lot of things about me and about my policies. They’re just not right. If I were to coin a term it would be ‘Obamaloney.’ He’s serving up a dish which is just simply in contradiction of the truth.”

It’s not bad enough that either man made such silly statements, I find it worse that the statements have become major news stories. A search on Google News showed over 36,000 results for “Romneyhood” and roughly 4,000 results for “Obamaloney.”

This is the most childish Presidential election I can remember, but the mudslinging is not as bad as it’s been in the past. I recall learning of some fairly low-brow elections from the 1800′s, mainly the 1884 election between Grover Cleveland and James G. Blaine. While the attacks were fairly childish, in my opinion, they were put together much more eloquently and in a way that sounded intelligent. The Cleveland campaign put together a poem referencing Blaine’s involvement in unethical business deals with the railroad industry and his behavior after they were exposed. “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, The Continental Liar from the State of Maine.” The Blaine campaign responded with an equally childish poem “Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa, Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha.” This poem reminded voters that Cleveland was alleged to have fathered a child out of wedlock.

In 2004 Walter Shapiro of USA Today wrote of the mudslinging in the 1988 campaign, “George H.W. Bush benefited politically from an explosive independent ad that featured Willie Horton, a black rapist released from prison under a furlough program championed by his Democratic rival, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. The coded message in that vicious commercial, which used a photograph to highlight Horton’s race, directly played on white fears of crime.
Such racist scare tactics are as unlikely today…”

While I’m not aware of any racist scare tactics, scare tactics are alive this election season, as well. Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama super PAC, released an attack ad – which has not actually aired and owes its notoriety to media coverage – effectively blaming Mitt Romney for the cancer death of a laid-off steelworker’s wife. The ad features Joe Soptic, who lost his job and his health benefits after Romney’s Bain Capital closed the GST Steel plant in Kansas City, Kansas in 2001. What the ad fails to mention is that Soptic’s wife had health insurance through her job until she quit in 2002 or 2003 due to an injury. The ad also fails to mention that she died in 2006, a full 5 years after he was laid-off. The ad is designed to paint Romney as a vulture-capitalist, but there is a subtle hint that universal health care, something promoted by both major party candidates, would have kept his wife alive.

Instead of getting pulled into the distraction that is Presidential election 2012, I encourage you to get involved at the State or local level. This could be as simple as writing a letter to the editor of your local paper in support of your favorite candidate or something more involved like lobbying your State Legislators to pass legislation reducing the size, scope and/or power of the government on at least one issue.

If I said an economist said that the American economy was heading into a “death spiral,” most people would likely think I was referring to Peter Schiff, Bob Murphy or someone from the Mises Institute. They would be wrong. Reuters reports Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank said, “After a four-decade-long, $50 trillion expansion of credit, if credit now begins to contract, the debt-deflation death spiral of the kind described by Irving Fisher would destroy our civilization. Austerity is death.”

MoneyMorning.com is reporting that other mainstream economists are coming to similar conclusions. Laurence Kotlikoff, a former member of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates the true fiscal gap is $211 trillion when unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are included.

Duncan added, “Private sector debt has already started to contract a little bit, and if it were not for these trillion-dollar budget deficits by the U.S. and most other governments, topped up by a whole lot of paper money creation, we would have already spiraled into a new Great Depression.”

It seems Duncan is advocating for and against government spending and inflation. He argues, “many people who agree with the Austrians believe we should just now take our medicine and allow the system to adjust. But I don’t think they realize how harsh the medicine would be.” He adds that slashing government spending would immediately lead to a new depression. Duncan concludes, “We can take advantage of this opportunity and borrow and invest at 1.5 percent interest or we can collapse into a depression. Those are our options. Be imaginative and brave or fail because of our past mistakes.”

I like his proposal to “be imaginative and brave” and believe that we should learn from past mistakes. However, I do not believe that more government spending will solve the problems caused by government spending. Duncan’s approach seems akin to a doctor telling a bleeding patient “in order to stop the bleeding, we must make another cut.”
Whether Duncan is right or wrong about how to proceed, the economy will eventually collapse. The question is not “How do we stop it?” The question is “Are you prepared?”

When the economy collapses, everyone will need to know how to barter, hunt, gather, grow and store food and water. I know I’m not ready for the collapse, but I’m preparing. Are you?

Representative Ron Paul is now closer than ever to getting something he’s wanted since he was first elected to Congress, a full audit of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act sailed through the House of Representatives by a vote of 327-98. This is the second time this bill has passed the House, although it is the first time it passed as a stand-alone bill.

Fox News reports, “But lost in the bipartisan revelry was the fact that eight co-sponsors of the legislation actually voted against it… The eight House Democrats who switched their stance on the issue without an explanation find themselves in good company, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also pulling off a mystifying pivot.

In 2010 and 1995, Reid boasted that he had tried in vain to pass legislation to audit the Fed. The Nevada senator, however, is now refusing to bring the bill, which would fulfill his self-professed yearning, to a Senate vote.”

Angel Clark writes, “Perhaps seeing the overwhelming support the H.R. 459 received in the House of Representatives made Reid wary of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act passing.”

Exactly what would happen if the Senate voted on and passed the bill to audit the Fed?

In 2009 Jim Babka of DownsizeDC presented five possibilities:

Outcome #1: The audit is ignored.
The FED is a complex operation, and the audit will reflect that. There may be no soundbites that the media and the public can understand. The audit report may simply be ignored, and then forgotten.
Outcome #2: The FED gets a passing grade.
We can’t guarantee that the audit will tell us what we want, or that the auditors will even focus on the things we think are important. The audit will most likely be conducted by establishment insiders, not by people like us. The result could be the exact opposite of what we expect.
Outcome #3: The audit reports bad things, but nothing is done about it.
We think this is the most likely result. In the 1980s the Grace Commission found massive examples of government waste and fraud, but nothing was ever done about it. Instead, the problem just got worse. People may pay attention to the audit, just as they did the Grace Commission, but that doesn’t mean real change will happen.
Outcome #4: The auditors report big problems, and Congress decides to fix the FED.
This may sound like the result we want, but it could be the worst outcome. We want to end the FED, not have Congress micro-manage it.
Imagine what would happen if money creation was a partisan political power. Imagine the consequences if a single branch of government, Congress, could both spend money, and create it.
Have you ever watched a Financial Services Committee hearings on C-Span? It’s frightening. I hate the FED, but Lord, please, don’t let these people control our money supply!
Outcome #5: The auditors report horrifying things, and Congress decides to close the FED.
This is what we want , but it’s the least likely result. This outcome would only happen if there was a huge army pressuring Congress to make it happen.

While I would be thrilled to see the Federal Reserve audited and/or abolished, I won’t hold my breath. Instead, I’ll do everything possible to make the Fed irrelevant to my life.

Ben Bernanke is at it again. It appears the Fed Chairman is preparing for a third round of bond purchases (quantitative easing or QE3) that will further inflate the U.S. Dollar. Reuters reports Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee during the semi-annual monetary policy report the economic recovery was being held back by anxiety over Europe’s debt crisis and the path of U.S. fiscal policy. He also expressed concern over the stagnant job market.

Since December 2008 the Fed has held overnight borrowing costs near zero and has bought $2.3 trillion in government and mortgage-related debt to keep long-term interest rates artificially low. The Fed promised to hold rates at rock bottom levels until at least 2014.

Bernanke told lawmakers it was essential to find a way to avoid the “fiscal cliff” of sharp spending cuts and tax hikes that are scheduled to take place in the United States at the start of next year, warning it could tip the already weak economy into a recession. The Washington Post reports if Congress can’t resolve its budget impasse before the year ends. The “[c]uts in taxes on income, dividends and capital gains would expire. So would this year’s Social Security tax cut and businesses tax reductions. Defense and domestic programs would be slashed. And emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed would run out.”

Bernanke also told lawmakers the central bank was considering a range of tools it could employ to help the economy but he hewed closely to the message of watchful waiting that the central bank’s policy panel delivered in June. “Reflecting its concerns about the slow pace of progress in reducing unemployment and the downside risks to economic growth, the committee made clear at its June meeting that it is prepared to take further action.”

When asked about the possibility of QE3 Kate Ager, with Ladies in Keene, said, “I would prefer to use alternative currencies or barter instead of using Federal Reserve Notes (FRN’s).”

There are several alternatives to the FRN. In Keene, NH people have begun using 1/10th ounce and half ounce silver bars. These pieces of silver are even accepted by several businesses in the city. Other alternatives include Shire Silver, dime cards and silver, copper and gold rounds minted by the AOCS.

I realize it is not possible for everyone to completely avoid using the FRN, however it’s worth the effort to convert as much as possible to the use of honest money!

In mid-July the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives voted for the 33rd time to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Before the vote, Speaker of the House John Boehner said, “The intent of the president’s health care law was to lower costs and to help create jobs. … Instead, it is making our economy worse, driving up costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire.”

The Washington Examiner reports, “There was never any doubt that Republicans had the votes to pass the repeal in the House on Wednesday – or that it would die in the Senate, where Democrats possessed more than enough strength to block it.”

Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), who was elected to fill the seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords, said the GOP-inspired repeal legislation was a charade and showed the House “cares more about political grandstanding than in getting things done.” This vote was criticized by some as “campaigning for Romney” on the floor of Congress. I agree this is campaigning on the floor of Congress, however I do not believe it is unprecedented.

Since this action by Republicans was criticized as campaigning; I’m curious whether the same people would accuse Harry Reid of “campaigning for Obama” every time he prevents certain bills from coming up for a vote? Was it campaigning when Nancy Pelosi brought forth a bill to enact “Cap and Trade?” Is it campaigning when any member of Congress requests earmarks that benefit their district?

I would say, “yes” and contend that every action by every member of Congress can be viewed as an act of campaigning on the floor of the Congress. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) said before joining other Republicans in Wednesday’s House vote: “Here’s the good news. The voters get the last word in November.” The truth is most members of Congress are in “safe districts” and do need not worry about getting re-elected, as over 90% of Representatives consistently retain their seats.