Of course the origin of the money bomb is from the Ron Paul campaign.  Trevor Lyman, the little-known musician and promoter shocked the political world with the November 5, 2007 money bomb that raised over 4.3 million dollars for Cong. Paul (the date came from a minor holiday in Great Britain used in a political thriller, “V for Vendetta”) and followed up that with a bigger haul of just over 6 million dollars on December 16, 2007.   Here’s another great article about Lyman from the Los Angeles Times.  He had never even voted before!  A common slogan was “Dr. Paul cured my apathy!”  Talk about curing apathy with results!  Trevor Lyman is still involved in politics raising money for liberty-minded candidates.  One of his latest ideas is teabombs.com.  Here’s the site.  Keep in mind that people did not rally for Ron Paul because he’s a great speaker, photogenic, charismatic but the strength of his ideas. 

(I have to tell you, Trevor Lyman is a hero of mine.  he’s that rare thing in national politics:  the ordinary guy or gal who changes the way things are done.  I once corresponded with him and got an email back!  I didn’t wash my laptop for a week!)

Be encouraged, fellow libertarians! (BTW, did you see that Debra Medina is now up to 24%?  If she makes the runoff, she’ll have beaten an incumbent United States Senator!  No mean feat.)

The NY Daily News confirms this:

One big problem: Security cameras owned by the Port Authority, but operated and maintained by the TSA, were not recording. That forced TSA investigators to chase down other videotape recorded by Continental Airlines, which occupies most of Terminal C.

So, let’s see…  The private company was diligent but not the government agency.  I think I heard this somewhere before…

Let’s turn back to the Second GOP primary debate, in Columbia, South Carolina, hosted by Fox News on May 15, 2007.  The GOP aspirants, including Congressman Ron Paul, were asked a question by Wendell Goler about what three Federal programs you would cut.  After a non-answer from former Governor Tommy Thompson, Goler turned to Cong. Paul.  Here’s what Paul said courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations website (look, I wasn’t crazy about it either but it was either them or the NY Times!) 

MR. GOLER: Congressman Paul, can you do better than that, sir?

Even Fox News knew this would be a great answer and Cong. Paul did not disappoint:

REP. PAUL: I’d start with the departments — the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security. We’ve started with — we’ve just — the Republicans put in the Department of Homeland — it’s a monstrous type of bureaucracy. It was supposed to be streamlining our security and it’s unmanageable. I mean, just think of the efficiency of FEMA in its efforts to take care of the floods and the hurricanes.

Goler then asked about the wisdom of shutting down DHS during a “war”.  Paul then said these words; it rang like a manifesto throughout the hall:

REP. PAUL: Well, I think we should not go to more bureaucracy. It didn’t work. We were spending $40 billion on security prior to 9/11, and they had all the information they needed there to deal with the threat, and it was inefficiency. So what do we do? We add a gigantic bureaucracy, which they’re still working on trying to put it together, and a tremendous amount of increase in funds.

I was admittedly skeptical about Paul’s assertion in re the DHS.  I totally agree the Department of Education ought to be abolished and probably Energy, too.  No constitutional authority for either one.  Certainly essential parts can be transferred to other departments – the Civil Rights Division can go to Justice.  Most of Energy might be applicable for Commerce.  But DHS?  I was amazed at Cong. Paul’s radicalism (You can find the video at ronpaul2008.com) 

Of course this led to the famous (or infamous depending on your position) exchange between former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Paul about the causes of 9/11.  But that is not where I was going.  I wanted to make the point that now we have had this agency called DHS for eight years or so and now we still cannot connect the dots.  It’s time to recognize that government is not the answer.  There are things government can and must do but usually private concerns (with some appropriate regulation) do best, especially with security.  I won’t hold my breath waiting for the apologies and recognitions to come to for Dr. Paul but he has been instrumental in the cure of a serious national malady:  Apathy.  Millions of people and every time he’s on the MSM, that trend continues.  For examples:  Try this article in the Los Angeles Times and try Paul’s visit to Rachel Maddow’s show.  (Thanks to Campaign for Liberty)  I thought Maddow was respectful and listened to Paul. 

Please Cong. Paul, make me a conflicted libertarian:  Run for President in 2012, and name Governor Gary Johnson as your running mate!