Thursday, June 14, 2007

Waco 2.0

I love religious kooks/conspiracy theorists of this ilk. The guy has a legitimate concern about the IRS but is whacked out on his god and the Freemasons to the point of making the whole thing sound patently ridiculous.
...Ed and Elaine Brown have barricaded themselves in what has been described as a 'fortress-like compound' after they were convicted of refusing to pay income tax to the federal government earlier this year. In recent days their phone, power andinternet have been cut off and camouflaged SWAT teams, helicopters, armored vehicles and possibly combat robots have descended on this formerly quiet area. Supporters of the Browns have also flocked to the compound and Ed "is armed and has promised a Waco like ending … he will not be taken alive."...

A little history. Ed and Elaine... were a well off couple (Elaine had a dental practice, which provided most of the income) and had stopped paying federal income taxes in 96 and filing taxes altogether in 98. While they do pay other types of taxes (consumption taxes generally) they believe that there is no law that compels them to pay federal income tax and they will not pay until the law is shown to them.
While the guy is right that none of us should be paying a federal income tax, he is operating under a severely misguided theory. The U.S. Constitution is the only protecting document citizens have. Laws are then passed by elected officials and enforced by hired goons. Constitutional rights and laws are only applicable to those with the force to make it so. That could be a cop, a judge, or a massive gathering of civil rights activists, etc. The judicial branch has the power to determine if a law is allowable or not, but they mainly deal with determining if people actually did or didn't break the laws. The Internal Revenue Service, while not a legal entity, is also not an illegal entity . No law exists for or against the IRS, just stacks and stacks of legal precedents ruling in their favor. The IRS in turn has the connections and resources to rain holy hellfire and damnation down on your ass if you dare to question their authority, but only as long as a clear majority allow them to continue the practice.

On the bright side, the first amendment hasn't been completely done away with. We can still say all kinds of mean, nasty, vile things about the IRS. They're used to it. Just don't stop paying them. Three cheers for free speech!

That doesn't make you a slave, just a whore. And Jesus liked the whore Mary Magdalene. God bless the USA!

Damn these things do tend to get away from me sometimes and turn all convuluted. Crooks, liars, and Freemasons. It's always those damn guys in the funny hats and aprons. It has nothing to do with thinking the laws handed down from some invisible spook in the sky exempt you from earthly forces, it's those damn Freemasons.

Just watch the damn video.



UPDATE
And now The Onion weighs in!

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