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Saturday, April 27, 2024

About Surety Bonds

 sur•e•ty bond


"A three-party agreement that legally binds together a principal who needs the bond, an obligee who requires the bond and a surety company that sells the bond. The bond guarantees the principal will act in accordance with certain laws. If the principal fails to perform in this manner, the bond will cover resulting damages or losses."


Companies providing surety bonds are easily and openly available.  This definition is quoted, in toto, from one such company available via the web. suretybonds.com  

"On the same site you also read, "Although they often go unnoticed, surety bonds play a major role in countless industries across America. If you're reading this article, you've probably heard about surety bonds but are still confused about their exact purpose. You're not alone. Even those required by law to be bonded frequently misunderstand surety bonds."

We have seen the success since 1990 in signed 'No New Taxes" Pledge of Richard

Viguerie post-George H. W., "Read My Lips, No New Taxes" Bush with hundreds of Congress critters signing on to that.  Today, Bernie Sanders is proposing a Progressive/Socialist Contract With America, as are confused populists within the Republican Party.  Both seem to think it has value but neither does without honesty bonds and accountability.


There are issues for many constituencies  to listen to promises.  Each deserves liberty for Libertarians, Socialism for Socialists, Green Capitalism/Socialism for Greens, Central Planning for Progressives, Constitutional adherents for Conservatives...

2'Way Interactive TV via Satellite, Cable, and streaming to and FROM devices -- will be able to hold a court of public inquiry for those betrayed.  It will be better television than throwing your shoe at a TV screen.  Now you can PhoneVote (using all devices)!  See the history of Phone Votering at Phone Voter, and today at Freedom Interactive TV Networks Association, Inc. (FiTNA) and our debut, Women Leading Interactive TV Network (WLIT) in 2022 with interactive shows such as Debate Tourney and Congressional Clearing House

See you there, Honesty Bonders!  All opinions welcome.  

There is no censorship by TV/Platform Executives; it is the viewer-participants who will filter label someone with a warning or endorsement to like-minded folks, select competitive ratings criteria, PhoneVote on a topic, and a second on a proposal for force of law.  This will move us toward clearly understanding the specifics required for a candidate to be Honesty Bonded.

About Honesty Bond - by Melinda pillsbury-Foster

         It was the early 90s. The scruffy old pot holder was barely legible but you could still read, “Alan Robbins for  State Senate.”  

         I had run as a Libertarian against State Senator Alan Robbins in 1982. As Libertarians, we thought of it as a way to educate voters, not win elections. By then I had been in what we call the Freedom Movement since the Goldwater campaign. Suddenly it occurred to me that things could be different if politicians had to actually keep their promises. 

“What if they had to resign if they failed to keep their promises?” 
Never one to let grass grow under my feet in February 1992, I wrote up the Liberty Pledge, printed some literature, had 3 banners made, and took them with me to the next Republican Convention.  The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that powers not enumerated are reserved to the people.  

While at the convention, I shared the idea with a person I thought was an old friend of mine named John Fund. He asked me for a piece of the literature. I was delighted to share because I was looking for support for the idea. 

In 1994, Newt Gingrich went into power with a "Contract With America" which converted my idea for the Liberty Pledge into toothless rhetoric, making it a "Contract ON America". He made big promises, none of which were kept. At the time I thought his wording curiously familiar but dismissed this as a coincidence. The Class of '94, while never performing, became wealthy and influential beyond their wildest dreams. Americans continued to descend into the state in which we, today, find ourselves.  


Back in 1991, I thought to myself about the corruption in government.   pot holder 



Soon afterward Robbins was indicted. No one was surprised, except that he was caught. You could not be involved in politics, and not know how dishonest most of the office holders really were.  They call it Business-Government Partnerships.  Mussolini called it Fascism in his book,  "On Fascism".

This would have been the whole story except for events taking place some years later. 

In 2000, many things had changed in my life. I had discovered John Fund was honesty-challenged, like so many politicians. He had lied to me about his relationship with my daughter, who he had known as a child. She and I had not been speaking for reasons having nothing to do with John when she called me up in September, 1999, wanting to talk. What she told me was incredible. I did not believe her and told her so.

Then her call waiting chimed in and she put me on hold. Eventually, I hung up and tried to call her back to finish our discussion. I gave up and my phone rang. Morgan said, “Just listen.” I discovered she had been telling me the truth. You can listen to the tape here. 


Weasel Search Tape

Over the next months we talked a lot. One day she asked me, “What was that idea you had that turned into the Contract with America?” “What?” I asked.  

“John told me it was your idea, the one he gave to Newt that started it.” This was news to me. 

“You mean the Liberty Pledge?” The inquiring look went away. She nodded.  

Initially, I was just amused. However, when it became clear it was a Contract on America I changed my mind. There was no enforceability in the PR campaign; they used to take the House in 1994, just oozings of rhetoric never intended to enact change.  

Rhetoric intended to deceive is fraud, the antitheses of what I intended to build with the original, which I called the Liberty Pledge and later the Honesty Bond.  

Newt got rich, changed wives frequently, and now uses the rhetoric of our founders to continue his rapacious ways, babbling continually about honor and faith in his continued attempts to loosen your wallet. 

Newt ran for president, promising to uphold the 10th Amendment. Never believe a serial liar. Gingrich lied to his wives, to Americans, and to anyone else when he could get donations, by so doing.  

At the time, Morgan was still living in hiding after an attempt on her life by John Fund's ''Fixer' Gene Giacomo who had tried to break into her apartment to solve Fund's problem of exposing him the year before.  As a result, Morgan had fled New York.  


LINK to John Fund Timeline 

On January 14, 2003 at 10:28:38 AM Eastern Standard Time Newt wrote this email to my daughter. 

What relationship with Mr. Blumenthal? Morgan HAD no relationship with Blumenthal.  Sidney Blumenthal was Capo for the Clintons.  John Fund had made it his mission to harass and lie about Blumenthal, which not surprisingly, Blumenthal resented so much he sued Matt Drudge, who published the charge Blumenthal had battered his, Blumenthal's wife.  This was why Blumenthal had used Morgan as a club to hammer Fund with no regard for the danger Morgan faced from the scumbag  Neocons.  

Blumenthal was outraged but that did not change the fact neither Blumenthal or Fund showed the least concern for a woman who was a real victim.   So when the charges of abuse surfaced against Fund for having battered Morgan, Blumenthal did all that was possible to ensure this became known.  But we had proof. 

December 17, 2001 - 
New Jersey Police Report on Domestic Violence by Fund

February 21, 2002 - Police Report, 2002, New York

June 23, 2002 -  SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL -
Kiss off Email to Morgan


Two police reports were filed. I heard Morgan being battered over the phone, as did Eric Buchanan, each of us separately and without ever having talked to one another.    I was stunned. Newt did not respond to our questions. What kind of person convicts a battered woman without even asking for both sides of the story? Newt Gingrich was just one of many who ignored the evidence. Newt Email ----- 


One reason:  John Fund, a life-long political operative for the rogue intelligence agency, BushCo,  will break down into sobs and blubberly lips when he is confronted with his lies.  This is shocking and unnerving to the watcher for his listener.  As the tears begin to drip off his nose he will grab your hand and beg you to believe him.  I heard this the first time in 1982 when he 'confessed' his bad judgment about an incident with a fellow student a   t  UC Santa Cruz.  I was unnerved and anxious to end the conversation by dropping him off at his bus station. But I recognized this from descriptions provided to me years later by journalists, who also experienced his 'confessions'.  He grins like a Cheshire Cat when he thinks he has gotten away with his phony apology, victimhood or mea culpas routinely to escape consequences with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.  

How the NeoCons Stole Freedom 

Morgan had been a docent at the Reagan Library. I was a Regent for the National Federation of Republican Women.  

See the John Fund TimeLine.  Many other well known folks make an appearance there. 

Over the next years, we found a few honest people who were willing to exercise due diligence. Most believed what was convenient – and profitable. It was a sad time, filled with hardship and struggles.  

Accountability, and how to enact it, grew as an issue for me through the next years. But again I was busy. I was the full time caretaker for my eldest son who had suffered two major brain injuries, the result of first a motorcycle accident and then a suicide attempt in which he shot himself through the brain, due to actions by his birth-father and adopted-father. I considered many approaches for redressing the frightening trend in politics. worse enmasse than what I was experiencing from psychopaths personally.

This brings us to the next reason I decided transparency and accountability are essential.  

Decoupling the accountability from the potential for profit was a trademark for the NeoCons as they converted the ideas of Libertarianism, which all of my children grew up respecting, into the newest justification for corporate profit. It was a sad end to what we had thought would be a real revolution. 

By 1995 I knew Fund had a reputation for stealing ideas. I had learned from my daughter Ayn's boyfriend, then working as an analyst at Reason, they were told never to send Fund unpublished articles because he would steal them. Stealing ideas is Fund's stock in trade. Newt probably depends on Fund, lacking the discernment to know what is worth stealing. Through their mutual mainstay and support, Karl Rove, the two are still working together.  

My book, GREED: The NeoConning of America, published in 2004, is a faintly disguised autobiography on the NeoCons up to that time. I am now in the process of adding to the original, with changes to include the real names.  If you want a pdf of the book, just contact me at themelinda@gmail.com

The Honesty Bond has never been more necessary.  

No politician should stand for election without being bonded to support and adhere to the Constitution.

The Honesty Bond Pledge

I will uphold the Constitution, as written and understood by our Founders after the inclusion of the Bill of Rights and minus later changes.  

(If they don't believe in parts of it, or omissions in it, such as the Clerk of the Senate not logging in the passed Equal  Rights Amendment.  Then, lets see politicians say so in writing.)  

I will uphold the 10th Amendment, as written and understood by our Founders.  

If I fail at any time, I understand I must resign, or will be removed from office with the proceeds from the Honesty Bond, waive all legal motions to stop its use, and pay the penalties exacted by the Honesty Bond I signed, which is a debt of honor owed to the people.  




Today, holding politicians accountable has even more appeal to me than it had in 1993. Thus was born the Honesty Bond.

The Honesty Bond is intended to provide voters with a way to enforce fulfillment of the promises flowing so lavishly from the lips of candidates before they have transformed themselves into elected officials. The Bond provides a means for removing from office those who deceive their trusting constituents. If applied vigorously, Honesty Bonds could turn the tide of dishonesty in American politics.  

Why would any candidate agree? First, some candidates are honest. These individuals will be relieved there is a means to exact a simple standard for doing the right thing. Others will appreciate the opportunity to win support over incumbents who refuse to be accountable for their promises. These will be nudged into honesty.

Motives will not alter the fact we have a tool directly controlled by voters who desperately need leverage
 to call government into account.

The Honesty Bond remains in force the entire time the elected official is in office. Any campaign related proceedural promies will apply from prior elections as stated, such as willingness to debate. 


This is just like bonds maintained routinely by such professionals as accountants, brokers, insurance agents, and house cleaners. The candidate pays for the bond. The bond money is used to remove the elected official from office, if he does not leave voluntarily. The specifics hinge on state law for each state. We can get all of with your assistance. 

Recycling is a good idea. And honesty in politics is an idea whose time is ripe. The jawbone of an ass was used in ancient times to defeat enemies.  Today, politicians jawbone us to numbness as a winning strategy.  This time we put teeth in accountability, to provide a tool to take America to integrity.

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster 


Americans Have the Tools

 


Every time you hire a professional that individual is bonded. That bond is put up by the professional to ensure their honesty and that they will serve your interests. It is a kind of insurance of good faith. The Honesty Bond allows or a party, leverage both monetary and oversight over position of the elected official in which the so much trust is necessarily invested. This is another kind of insurance.

Your Congressman or President can, obviously, wreak havoc unimagined by your housecleaner or accountant.

You might ask yourself why we did not long ago insist on electing only those who put up a bond. Ask them, when you have a chance, why they go to such lengths to avoid accountability.

We need honesty. Therefore, we need to demand that each individual standing for election be bonded. We cannot wait to pass laws. Since they control our access, that will never happen. Instead, we need to stop electing candidates who we cannot hold liable and remove. The Honesty Bond also allows us to decide the potential cost of electing any individual in advance.

Example: Various promises in one campaign carried to the next are included, once they are elected. For instance, if they don't debate, if they don't (fill in the blank) - whatever they promised.  Will politicians avoid making promises as a result of the popularity of  Honesty Bonds?  Of those who refuse or offer only vagueness; don't elect them.  When they give the excuse they are your representative, and should be able to change their mind; precisely because they are a representative who made promises, we should have a way to hold them accountable for changing their minds.  Specifics are required, and recordings of the promise and the group to whom the group was made nails them. The Promises, Promises List will be up on the Honesty Bond website; you can help  start it during the campaign and maintain it after election.  

It encourages many people to watch what the newly elected say and do and keep their phone cameras at the ready. 

What if people express a wish for, say Hillary Clinton, to be bonded for honesty, and no company of good repute is willing to risk their money on her ability to tell the truth? Now, that would certainly provide a new way to assess the value of her as a candidate. See how it works?

Additionally, the size of the bond stipulated  by the insuring company would tell you a LOT about how an objective third party who would be liable, and what their research tells you about the ethics of the individual being scrutinized. Its time we all organized that in each of the 53 political parties in America and various groups liking independent candidates.

Actually, if we can get honest elections too the chances are that neither Hillary of McCain would be elected. The smart money would, in that case, be on the likelihood either would break their bond before they finished reciting the oath of office that neither a over ambitious liar  or a quote, unquote,  maverick, a self-contradictory, confused populist that wanders with the wind until they find a base of support that responds to their survey or vague slogan.   Example: "Make America Great Again" -- specifics please. 

The bond would have to be enough to remove them.

The company setting the size of the bond will be one of those institutions who provide bonding for professionals such as brokers, insurance salesmen, and others in whom fiduciary accountability must be assured.

However, if the candidate is found to be UNBONDABLE by more than one such business or if those offering the bond are, ahem, less than satisfactory, we will not recognize the bond as being made in good faith. Good faith is something we need to insist on.

Procedure:

Honesty Bond will send a letter to every candidate for whom a listing is requested informing them that the request has been made. To list the candidate you want to see bonded get in touch with us. We will inform the media and the candidate. You can then begin innovative ways of driving home the point. Check with the Ron Paul Revolution for tips.

Each candidate will be listed along with the amounts required for bonding to take place and the institutions offering the bonding. These will be researched.

These amounts will come as bids from all bonding companies desiring to participate along with the notation of UNBONDABLE in the case that is the assessment of the any company.

We may do a lottery on which candidate will win the distinction of being deemed UNBONDABLE first.

Notifications will be sent to all media and to those candidates also confirmed as running in that election. As candidates qualify each will receive notification of the status of all other candidates for that specific office by e-mail. The Bond Document will note the specific promises offered by the candidate and the specific form the promises take. For instance, the candidate may promise to merely vote for specific legislation, legislation on a specific topic, or vote not to oppose specific legislation. Or promises could be more varied. He/she may say that he/she is faithful to his/her spouse or, for instance, that he/she does not give tongue love to foreign heads of state. All assertions, representations, and promises the candidate offers can and will be noted; conflicts between promises to different groups will also be noted for your edification.

The candidate may also offer already written legislation and promise to see that it is passed into law, laying out his or her plans for ensuring this takes place. We encourage you to be proactive in documenting lies by candidates. Please send along your sources and documentation.

Honesty Bond will encourage specificity from candidates.

The cost for bonding each candidate will be borne by the campaign organization of that candidate. As H. L. Mencken said, “Elections are futures markets in stolen property.” At least the candidates should pay the price of being bonded.

The amount specified by the bonding agent will be published on the website. Money will be payable into a fund for removal and to pursue litigation for further non-performance.

Join Honesty Bond. Get our newsletter on how candidates react, their contortions and objections. You will also receive a honest-to-goodness copy of the Liberty Pledge Certificate, the first honesty in politics program which was stolen to produce the Contract on America, suitable for framing.

We keep you up to date on which candidates are doing what to whom. We also have a forum where you can get together and discuss how to handle your own candidates, so to speak.

It needs doing.

What happens when they agree to be bonded?

After the bond is raised and paid and the candidate signs a binding contract with Honesty Bond. Certification is made and is then issued to all media outlets, all other candidates in the race, and the notarized and embossed certificate is delivered to the candidate.

What happens when they are caught lying?

The determination of forfeit will be made by five Justice Coalition Board of Governors drawn from the whole Board at random. Members will be drawn from all political parties. They will ballot by holding up nooses or leaving the noose on the table.

The means for removal will depend on the possibility for recall in the specific district. The removal will be carried out by recall of by law suit.

Accountability will then be exacted, payable at this point in any currency backed by gold. And we are not kidding about any of this.




Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The Origin for Honesty Bond

 In 1982 I ran for State Senate as a candidate of the Libertarian Party of California.  At the time, I was also Southern California Vice Chair.  

The 20th State Senate Seat was then occupied by Alan Robbins, who instead of putting out campaign literature, sent pot holders with his name printed on them.  I have accumulated several of these, as they were free and useful.  But it both aggravated and amused me that Robbins did not say anything substantial about what he was actually doing while occupying the position to which someone, certainly not me, had elected him.  

Then, in 1991 Robbins was indicted, and pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and income tax evasion charges in connection with the Shrimpscam scandal, and was sentenced to five years in federal prison on May 2, 1991. On November 20, 1991, Robbins resigned from the California State Senate.  This was a Federal crime, and reports trickled in on the scandal.

Robbins pleaded guilty to the charge of federal racketeering and income tax evasion in connection with the Shrimpscam scandal, See Wiki.  and was sentenced to five years in federal prison on May 2, 1992.

Robbins was incarcerated in the federal prison in Lompoc, California, but was released after 18 months. After being released from the federal prison, he spent another two months in a half-way house.

By that time, I was living in North Hills, but the Robbins Pot Holder, had come along with me. 

This gave me to think about what could be done about ensuring elected officials were honest.  That is where the idea for Honesty Bond originated.  I put together the plan, and then a registered Republican and active in the National Federation of Republican Women, wrote up the idea and took literature and several large banners about the plan to the Republican Convention in 1992.  

By then, I had moved to Santa Barbara.  

That was where it started.  

But I made the mistake of handing a piece of the literature to John Fund, I had known Fund when he was newly active in the Libertarian Party years before, in fact, we had helped him on his expenses for the internship he had with Evans and Novak.  Novak recommended Fund for a job at the Wall Street Journal, leaving California behind him.  

The brochure I handed the formerly starving Fund was handed over to Newt Gingrich, one of his comrades in NeoConism and became what you know today as the Contract With America. But in Fund and Newt's NeoCon version, all accountability had been eliminated. 

I did not realize this until my daughter, Morgan Pillsbury Gell informed me of this, while we were still talking.  Fund and Morgan would start a sexual relationship on October 26, 1998 at a conference in New York while Morgan was on her way to England and Paris with my estranged husband, who also had designs on her.

You can get more on these stories at RuthlessPeople.info and TheNeoConningofAmerica.com

So, that is the story.  Here, I continue to promote the idea of accountability for those in politics, and, naturally, all other parts of our lives.   


 

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Honesty Bond Rules

Every time you hire a professional that individual is bonded. That bond is put up by the professional to ensure their honesty and that they will serve your interests. It is a kind of insurance of good faith. The Honesty Bond allows Americans control and oversight over the elected officials in which the so much trust is necessarily invested. This is another kind of insurance.

Your Congressman or President can, obviously, wreak havoc unimagined by your housecleaner or accountant.


You might ask yourself why we did not long ago insist on electing only those who put up a bond. Ask them, when you have a chance, why they do to such lengths to avoid accountability.


We need honesty. Therefore, we need to demand that each individual standing for election be bonded. We cannot wait to pass laws. Since they control our access that will never happen. Instead, we need to stop electing candidates who we cannot hold liable and remove. The Honesty Bond also allows us to decide the potential cost of electing any individual in advance.


What if people express a wish for, say Hillary Clinton, to be bonded for honesty and no company of good repute is willing to risk their money on her ability to tell the truth? Now, that would certainly provide a new way to assess the value of her as a candidate. Se how it works?


Additionally, the size of the bond stipulated would tell you a LOT about how an objective third party who would be liable, views the ethics of the individual being scrutinized. Time someone did that.


Actually, if we can get honest elections too the chances are that neither Hillary of McCain would be elected. The smart money would, in that case, be on the likelihood either would break their bond before they finished reciting the oath of office.


The bond would have to be enough to remove them.


The company setting the size of the bond will be one of those institutions who provide bonding for professionals such as brokers, insurance salesmen, and others in whom fiduciary accountability must be assured.


However, if the candidate is found to be UNBONDABLE by more than one such business or if those offering the bond are, ahem, less than satisfactory, we will not recognize the bond as being made in good faith. Good faith is something we need to insist on.


Procedure:


Honesty Bond will send a letter to every candidate for whom a listing is requested informing them that the request has been made. To list the candidate you want to see bonded get in touch with us. We will inform the media and the candidate. You can then begin innovative ways of driving home the point. Check with the Ron Paul Revolution for tips.


Each candidate will be listed along with the amounts required for bonding to take place and the institutions offering the bonding. These will be researched.


These amounts will come as bids from all bonding companies desiring to participate along with the notation of UNBONDABLE in the case that is the assessment of the any company.


We may do a lottery on which candidate will win the distinction of being deemed UNBONDABLE first.


Notifications will be sent to all media and to those candidates also confirmed as running in that election. As candidates qualify each will receive notification of the status of all other candidates for that specific office by e-mail. The Bond Document will note the specific promises offered by the candidate and the specific form the promises take. For instance, the candidate may promise to merely vote for specific legislation, legislation on a specific topic, or vote not to oppose specific legislation. Or promises could be more varied. He/she may say that he/she is faithful to his/her spouse or, for instance, that he/she does not give tongue love to foreign heads of state. All assertions, representations, and promises the candidate offers can and will be noted; conflicts between promises to different groups will also be noted for your edification.


The candidate may also offer already written legislation and promise to see that it is passed into law, laying out his or her plans for ensuring this takes place. We encourage you to be proactive in documenting lies by candidates. Please send along your sources and documentation.


Honesty Bond will encourage specificity from candidates.


The cost for bonding each candidate will be borne by the campaign organization of that candidate. As H. L. Mencken said, “Elections are futures markets in stolen property.” At least the candidates should pay the price of being bonded.


The amount specified by the bonding agent will be published on the website. Money will be payable into a fund for removal and to pursue litigation for further non-performance.


Join Honesty Bond. Get our newsletter on how candidates react, their contortions and objections. You will also receive a honest-to-goodness copy of the Liberty Pledge Certificate, the first honesty in politics program which was stolen to produce the Contract on America, suitable for framing.


We keep you up to date on which candidates are doing what to whom. We also have a forum where you can get together and discuss how to handle your own candidates, so to speak.


It needs doing.


What happens when they agree to be bonded?


After the bond is raised and paid and the candidate signs a binding contract with Honesty Bond. Certification is made and is then issued to all media outlets, all other candidates in the race, and the notarized and embossed certificate is delivered to the candidate.


What happens when they are caught lying?


The determination of forfeit will be made by five Justice Coalition Board of Governors drawn from the whole Board at random. Members will be drawn from all political parties. They will ballot by holding up nooses or leaving the noose on the table.


The means for removal will depend on the possibility for recall in the specific district. The removal will be carried out by recall of by law suit.


Accountability will then be exacted, payable at this point in Euros. And we are not kidding about any of this.