Armed Standoff Over Federal Income Tax: Ed Brown Interview
January 21st, 2007Whenever it comes to someone challenging the actions of the federal government, you can trust the mainstream media to run their standard psyop scripts: Government—good. Lunatic law-breaker with gun—bad. This is how most accounts of the Ed Brown case have been playing out in the corporate media.
What Really Happened linked to an interview of Ed Brown that was conducted by a community access TV program as the standoff began. I don’t know if this paints a better picture of Ed Brown and his supporters, or not, but it appears to sum up the situation.
The tax protest movement thinks that the law is on their side, and it is. There’s one problem: Darth Vader doesn’t pay any attention to laws. Darth Vader is going to get what he wants, law, or no law.
Ed Brown has figured this out, the hard way.
A quick note on military strategy: The federal government holds all the cards in this situation. They can surround the place and wait Ed and his friends out. Or, the feds might decide to storm the place. Notice how the feds get to pick and choose how and when to proceed? That’s not a good situation, if you’re Ed Brown.
Additionally, Ed has been inviting people to his property to show support for him and the issues.
Insurgency 101: Don’t start a war with a powerful enemy and then issue a press release asking people you don’t know to show up and support you after the shit hits the fan. The biggest question I have at this point: How many armed feds are now in Ed’s house with him?
For those who believe that Ed Brown is going to serve as some kind of martyr for the tax movement, I’ve got some bad news for you: It’s not going to happen in any tangible way. The full time psyop media will spin this thing to the point where Joe and Jane Six Pack will believe that Ed Brown was Hitler himself.
How do I know?
Because it’s already happening.
Mind Games: Everything Is Under Control
January 21st, 2007This Washington Post article has it all. From tinfoil hats to LSD, from microwave radiation to aliens, from schizophrenia to actual, military voice to skull projects.
Via: Washington Post:
“Maybe I can fix you, or electronically neuter you, so it’s safe to release you into society, so you won’t come back and kill me,” Alexander says. It’s only a matter of time before technology allows that scenario to come true, he continues. “We’re now getting to where we can do that.” He pauses for a moment to take a bite of his sandwich. “Where does that fall in the ethics spectrum? That’s a really tough question.”
Energy Scarcity? Give Me a Break
January 21st, 2007This guy built a wave generator buoy out of PVC pipe and bicycle parts:
The next time your lights go out, or you think your electricity bill is too expensive, or you hear news about greehouse gasses, just remember this video.
Related: Is Peak Oil a Faith Based Collapse Theory?
Related: A Solar Solution for World Power
Related: Solar Tower
Related: Linear Induction Wave Buoys
Help Path to Freedom Grow the Future
January 20th, 2007Path to Freedom is looking ahead from the frost disaster. If their work inspires you like it inspires Becky and me, consider helping out in any way that you can.
Thank you.
The Radical Christian Right Is Built on Suburban Despair
January 20th, 2007WOW! It’s amazing how much I share in common with these people, in terms of the root causes of despair. I can empathize with their despair. I’ve personally felt it. The difference, however, between people like them and people like me, are the approaches we choose to the solutions.
It’s easy to criticize from afar, but be sure to put yourself in their shoes. I remember how I felt when I was trying to figure out how I was going to survive in the collapsing U.S. No money. No job. No hope at all. VERY WEIRD THOUGHTS WENT THROUGH MY HEAD. VERY WEIRD. Let’s just say that I felt as if I was facing a life or death situation. All options were on the table. What did I have to lose?
This will sound very out of character to most of you, because of how much I rail against the obvious fraud of organized religion, but I actually believe that it was Divine intervention that brought me together with Becky and helped us to get out of the U.S. and into a better environment. The harder I tried to figure out how to stay alive in the U.S., the worse my situation became. After I met Becky and we decided to leave, well, you wouldn’t believe how good my “luck” has been. (Of course, the occasional hiccup was to be expected.) While most of the doors remained closed, the ones that lead out of the U.S. opened up. With hard work, Becky and I walked through them together. Based on what I’d gone through versus where I am now, Divine intervention is by far the best explanation.
Have you ever heard this joke? There are many iterations of it:
A man was caught in a flood. Two men came by in a boat to rescue him, but he waved them away shouting, “No thanks, the Lord will save me.”
One hour later another boat came along, but the man said, “No thanks, the Lord will save me.”
Eventually, a helicopter arrived but the man insisted, “No thanks! The Lord will save me!”
Unfortunately, the man drowned and at the gates of heaven he asked St. Peter, “Why didn’t the Lord save me?”
And St. Peter replied, “For crying out loud, he sent two boats and a helicopter, what more do you want?!”
The fetishization of religion is resulting in the same old fascism because people are making up their own versions of God and God’s plan and all the rest of that bullsh*t in their heads. It’s psychopathy. The more you think you know, the darker the path becomes.
Admit defeat. Hit bottom. Open yourself up to different options and don’t try to anticipate what they will look like when they appear. After all, lilies in a field are a much purer expression of God than any construct of man, according to Luke 12:27. What does that tell you about the way organized religions are behaving? How can the answer come from something so filthy and corrupt?
It can’t.
Observe what happens carefully. When the liferaft appears, jump aboard. Waiting for Clarity on the Brink of Oblivion is actually a retelling of the “Lord Save Me” joke above, although I didn’t realize that when I wrote it. I realize it now.
How many lifeboats are showing up to save you as you drown?
Via: Alternet:
The engine that drives the radical Christian Right in the United States, the most dangerous mass movement in American history, is not religiosity, but despair. It is a movement built on the growing personal and economic despair of tens of millions of Americans, who watched helplessly as their communities were plunged into poverty by the flight of manufacturing jobs, their families and neighborhoods torn apart by neglect and indifference, and who eventually lost hope that America was a place where they had a future.
This despair crosses economic boundaries, of course, enveloping many in the middle class who live trapped in huge, soulless exurbs where, lacking any form of community rituals or centers, they also feel deeply isolated, vulnerable and lonely. Those in despair are the most easily manipulated by demagogues, who promise a fantastic utopia, whether it is a worker’s paradise, fraternite-egalite-liberte, or the second coming of Jesus Christ. Those in despair search desperately for a solution, the warm embrace of a community to replace the one they lost, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, the assurance they are protected, loved and worthwhile.
During the past two years of work on the book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, I kept encountering this deadly despair. Driving down a highway lined with gas stations, fast food restaurants and dollar stores I often got vertigo, forgetting for a moment if I was in Detroit or Kansas City or Cleveland. There are parts of the United States, including whole sections of former manufacturing centers such as Ohio, that resemble the developing world, with boarded up storefronts, dilapidated houses, pot-hole streets and crumbling schools. The end of the world is no longer an abstraction to many Americans.
Any Lawyers Out There Want to Help Me Sue Microsoft?
January 19th, 2007Reader SB submitted the following screenshot of Cryptogon on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7:
Screenshot of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 warning users that Cryptogon is a, “Suspicious website.” Here’s a large version of the image.
The browser includes a fault prone routine that attempts to guess whether or not a site is a phishing site. Since Microsoft knows their Magic 8 Ball can’t be trusted, they leave it up to users to determine whether or not sites are legitimate, and have built in a voting mechanism right into the browser!
Read that link above if you think I’m kidding. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
In the meantime, how many legitimate sites are being blacklisted by this clunky software?
What if paid trolls, who are tasked with destroying the reputation of sites that represent a threat to the status quo, start using Microsoft’s browser to blacklist legitimate sites?
Maybe these are questions that Microsoft should have to answer in court.
Do Internet Explorer Users Know What They’re Missing: Firefox
Related: Microsoft Vista Developed with Help from U.S. National Security Agency
NEW HAMPSHIRE: FEDERAL INCOME TAX TRIAL RESULTS IN ARMED STANDOFF
January 19th, 2007Via: Boston Globe:
A man who has holed up with armed supporters in his fortress-like house for most of his tax evasion trial was found guilty Thursday, along with his wife, of engaging in an elaborate scheme to avoid paying federal income taxes for a decade.
…
Brown and about 25 supporters said they will defend themselves against capture if necessary. Bernie Bastian, a supporter who said he was carrying two guns, said they would stand with their friend.
“He’s here at the house, and he’s not leaving of his own free will,” Bastian said.
It’s unclear how many others were carrying weapons.
Related: Federal Workers Owe Billions in Unpaid Taxes
Oil at Twenty Month Low
January 18th, 2007Via: CNN:
Oil prices slipped Thursday, having dipped below the $50 mark, following a government report that revealed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories.
U.S. light crude for February delivery fell as low at $49.90 a barrel, its lowest trading level since May 25, 2005, but pared some of its late-session losses to finish $1.76 lower at $50.468 a barrel.
In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said crude stocks jumped by 6.8 million barrels last week. Analysts were looking for a build of 100,000 barrels, according to Reuters.
“Clearly this was a much bigger number than the market was expecting,” Scott Hanold, energy analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told CNNMoney.com “We’ve obviously had a lot of pressure put on oil prices here and I think you’ll continue to see some added pressure here.”
Related: Oil: For the Gamblers Out There
Federal Workers Owe Billions in Unpaid Taxes
January 18th, 2007HA!
Via: WTOP:
As the 2006 tax season approaches, the federal government is still trying to recover nearly $3 billion from its own employees who failed to file income tax returns for 2005.
More than 450,000 active and retired federal employees did not voluntarily comply with federal income tax requirements for the 2005 tax year, according to documents obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act.
The total balance owed is $2,799,950,165.
The documents show that every federal agency has employees who failed to comply with federal tax laws.
Seventy-one employees in the Executive Office of the President, which includes the White House, owe $664,527 in taxes for 2005. About 20 of those employees have entered into an IRS payment plan, bringing the EOP balance down to $455,881owed by 50 employees.
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
EEstor Press Release
January 18th, 2007But still too busy to build a website.
Via: PESN:
The first commercial application of the EESU is intended to be used in electric vehicles under a technology agreement with ZENN Motors Company. EEStor, Inc. remains on track to begin shipping production 15 kilowatt-hour Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESU) to ZENN Motor Company in 2007 for use in their electric vehicles. The production EESU for ZENN Motor Company will function to specification in operating environments as sever as negative 20 to plus 65 degrees Celsius, will weigh less than 100 pounds, and will have ability to be recharged in a matter of minutes.
