[e-gold-list] RE: Gold Age, DGC's & Government Goof-Balls

[HeronAerospace Groups]

Hello all!

I seldom have time anymore to contribute writings to any topical e-mail
group, but given the course of events discussed on this list, short
memories by some, misinterpretations,  and a great many new participants
in this particular game, I feel I must add a few words. Also, this
touches on not too distant comments made on this list about gov & money
& law prior the the current Gold Age shenanigans that Ragnar & Co. are
going through (I've been there, done that -- hang in there guys!).

Prelude:  I feel I'm qualified to make the following statements, as I am
a first-hand interlocutor -- the founder of Gold Age (Parker E.C.
Bradley) . . . originally Gold-Age.net  . . . later sold (for a
pittance)  to Ragnar & Friends to help ourselves recover from our own
run-in with SS-goons, corrupt credit card processing companies,
ding-dong DA's and the like. (search the e-gold mail-list archives,
etc... for original coverage/commentary -- though, by necessity, it only
skims the surface)

Pre-SS Raid Summary (Prio to Ragnar's Ownership):
Fall 1999 -- Started offering PayPal, Xbank (which merges with PayPal),
Credit Cards, etc.. sales of e-gold. cc-fraud & PayPal fraud piles up
quickly -- both from fraudulent customers and fraudulent processing
companies -- no problem, we learn to deal with it and modify our
business practices, etc...  On several occasions we contact our
CC-processor(s), PayPal Officials, local police, FBI (as many police
officers like to say "Fat Boys Incorporated"), and the Secret Service
(SS -- not quite as bad as the historical use . . . they're just too
daft) about fraud issues and offer info/help concerning obvious
connections to organized & not-so-organized crime -- we are completely
blown off.

[Before I go any further, and for the benefit of law-enforcement
practitioners and their families: there are many fine, honest, and
upstanding policemen (& women), FBI agents, and Secret Service Agents (I
know a few that that I would trust my life & family to, and can count on
in good times and bad), and dare I say politicians; but when those "good
many" are less than 1% of a very large total, you can understand the
lamentable generalizations that typify the group (which in this case is
also a sad reflection on the evolution of our culture -- as the next
sentence illustrates.). Policemen used to be called "Peace Officers" --
of which my father was a shining example. Now they are called "Law
Enforcement Officers" -- there is a BIG difference between the two
titles; in philosophy, intent, and outcome.]

. . . on with the summary . . . We really get into the digital gold
currency thing, promoting it wherever we could and trying to swing some
pretty Big Deals like instant, secure transfers between PayPal & e-gold
(what a farce); Phone Cards, a "Gold" Cellular service,  bank accounts
with secure value cards (denominated in grams of gold) in which your
dollar & e-gold balances are instantly swappable depending upon spot
price, etc... (Everbank now has an interesting, but crippled form of
this , minus the card, that has nothing to do with e-gold, but uses
traditional bullion holders & such); as well as laying the ground work &
contacts to get the governments of some small countries to officially
back their currency with e-gold, or at least incorporate it in some form
into their financial systems (before the raid the prospects of bank
thing and the small country thing were actually looking pretty good).
But all good things come to an end, some more badly than others.

In early 2001 we were raided by the SS (on the pretense of suspected
credit card fraud -- how nice, I try to get their help, or should I say
help them, on this issue and give them leads for over a year and they
come after me instead), interrogated for over 8, 10, 12?+ hours (I can't
recall the precise # at the moment, but it was definitely between 8 & 10
hr) that day&night, most of our equipment and records are confiscated
and our home is completely trashed. NOTE: as required by juristictional
custom & professional courtesy the local Sheriff (a very nice lady in
this case) was involved in the proceedings (though more and more often
the Feds bypass this, and more and more local Sheriffs simply acquiesce
and pretend nothing happened -- like a battered wife). In case you don't
know, in the US a local Sheriff has the right & authority to
forbid/resist Federal Actions by the FBI & SS, or any other Federale if
they feel there is insufficient cause, merit, evidence, etc. for the
action (until a higher authority says otherwise, and even then there
still may be a fight -- in common law tradition, the Sheriff is expected
to protect his people even from the King, when the King is wrong). Over
the course of that evening's events, while I was in the Sheriff's office
awaiting one of the several rounds of interrogation, she sincerely
apologized for everything and told me she did not approve of what was
transpiring and that she felt she had been misled by the Federal Agents
involved.

A little back step, just prior to the raid we were in the process of
becoming an "Agio" (an intermediary that would bail in gold from an
approved bullion source) for the up-and-coming GoldMoney. Shortly after
the SS raid, the approved bullion source at the time for GoldMoney
contacts us and wants to know what's up -- more importantly, is the
whole thing a political move against gold currencies (digital or
otherwise), or just a silly legal shenanigans that will work itself out,
either by paperwork filing &/or fees, fines, etc... paid to Caesar. In
all honesty I had to tell them that I felt it was a political strike
because the SS interrogation had almost nothing to do with what
I/Gold-Age did or didn't do in regard to CC-processing and everything to
do with who I talked to, what were my political viewpoints, did e-gold
do this, did e-gold do that (many of the question regarding the internal
events of e-gold and its board I had to claim complete ignorance of
since I was not, and am not, a part pf e-gold's internal affairs in any
way; which the SS also didn't seem to grasp), why was I at a
Libertarian/Freedom conference (by the way,  to answer that question, to
do business with what I felt was a receptive market niche -- which just
blew the mind of the SS-agent that asked the question -- he couldn't
understand that the whole thing was just cold, calculated business to me
and that you didn't have to be anarchist, mafioso, or terrorist  to like
gold and to buy and sell it . . . gee!?! you mean there are  honest, law
abiding citizens that like to honestly acquire gold and in some cases
use it as a means of exchange. . . WOW!-- sorry for the long
parenthetical).. . . why do I know person X; how did I first meet person
X, or Y,  or Z; do I know person Q, R, S, etc...etc. . . etc...

After I gave that bullion source a run down of events and a summary of
the interrogation, they distanced themselves from the whole digital gold
thing faster than you can say: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!

A few months after the raid, the feds dropped the whole thing and no
charges were ever filed.  I got most of the computer equipment back in
useless condition, and of my records/papers that were taken(stolen) very
important things were missing, like my aerospace research , and contact
lists related to gun-launched rockets & Gerald Bull (3 years of very
hard work). Of the papers/records taken, anything to do with propulsion,
rocketry, guidance, and space access (be they technical documents,
computer sims, or contact lists) was not returned.

Of course much more occurred during those harrowing months, and much has
occurred since. But instead of dwelling, you lick your wounds and move
on. One cannot even attempt to get compensation in cases like this
because there is a vested interest by the very system that mediates such
things to make sure it doesn't happen (too much is at stake for the
power structures that be). Despite being in the right and having
evidence, etc, etc... all of our attorneys involved in our counsel
strongly advised against seeking compensation for the wrongs committed
against us in this case because it would go nowhere and destroy our
lives. One of our legal counsuls  paraphrased by saying: "you can't sue
the king unless he wants you to do so."

As far as conspiracies go, you don't need one. Independent, congruent
events and ideas can conspire all by themselves without a prime mover.
Also, keep in mind that sometimes the jackboots at your door are pawns
themselves. For example, the poor SS schmuck in charge of the
Raid/Investigation was at a complete loss when we were allowed to pickup
our stuff (the audacity! they stole it, they should bring it back --
fortunately I had my own truck).  First of all we insisted on doing a
complete inventory on the spot (which took hours) before signing
anything -- after the inventory effort it became apparent that my
aerospace research stuff was missing, which for a brief moment was funny
because this prompted 3 agents to desperately look through all our stuff
while we watched to prove that it wasn't missing. In the end they signed
some papers saying the stuff was missing, but the lead agent seemed very
confused, agitated, and a bit concerned about it -- especially when I
quietly suggested to him that another game was being played, on his
turf, by an even blacker group than his.

Anyway I wish Ragnar and friends the best of luck and hope all turns out
well for them. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not a person or
group should need to ask permission of anyone to move money around --
anything can be money, some things are simply better money than others,
which is why the feds have already vehemently opposed the idea that
e-gold is a currency. I too, while running Gold-Age, had several
discussions with various officials and banking people in Syracuse, NY
about money transfer issues, licensing, bonding, etc. and they all said
I didn't need to bother because I wasn't a money transmitter by their
definitions -- if I were to be classified as a money transmitter then
they would have to do the same for almost every kind of little private
shop out their like stamp collector stores, nick-nack shops and so forth
-- any business that not only sells, but also buys back. So, no one can
comment in a meaningful way about the prosecution's position,. After all
"they" told me I'm not a money transmitter, and "they" did the same for
e-gold. But sound morals and objective logic does not apply in cases
like this (when the system is at fault or simply feels threatened); the
prosecution  will say and do whatever is necessary to get an outcome
that props up "Town Hall" right or wrong.

Well as they used to say on MTV: "This is that, that is this, that's all
there is"


PECB

P.S.: Depending on the "tipping points" over the next 18 to 24 months,
going "offshore" as some have suggested, even insisted, won't make a
difference. Interesting, in one of the financial advisories I frequent,
the author suggest that the world may be heading towards a break-up of
large governing bodies, into a bunch of competing smaller ones that
behave almost as private enterprises trying to attract customers, or in
this case -- citizens (unfortunately, it is unlikely that the transition
will be a peaceful one). The "competing" model is probably the only
model under which Digital Gold Currencies can survive and function as
they were intended -- and oddly enough, that model is similar to what
the United States was originally intended to be. Things just got lost in
the translation of human actions






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