Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime

Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime

Paul Craig Roberts
Information Clearing House
January 4, 2008Extinguishing Liberty’s Light and Independent Views

What was the greatest failure of 2007? President Bush’s “surge” in Iraq? The decline in the value of the US dollar? Subprime mortgages? No. The greatest failure of 2007 was the newly sworn in Democratic Congress.

The American people’s attempt in November 2006 to rein in a rogue government, which has committed the US to costly military adventures while running roughshod over the US Constitution, failed. Replacing Republicans with Democrats in the House and Senate has made no difference.

The assault on the US Constitution by the Democratic Party is as determined as the assault by the Republicans. On October 23, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by California Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman, chairwoman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, that overturns the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free expression, association, and assembly.

The bill passed the House on a vote of 404-6. In the Senate the bill is sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins and apparently faces no meaningful opposition.

Harman’s bill is called the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act.” [ http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1955 ] When HR 1955 becomes law, it will create a commission tasked with identifying extremist people, groups, and ideas. The commission will hold hearings around the country, taking testimony and compiling a list of dangerous people and beliefs. The bill will, in short, create massive terrorism in the United States. But the perpetrators of terrorism will not be Muslim terrorists; they will be government agents and fellow citizens.

No More Taxes

Note: Comments have been disabled for this post due to a spammer posting under fake names from the same IP address.

 by John Paul Mitchell

Any spiritual teacher that insists taxation of personal income and wages is necessary must be a criminally-minded con-man, naive and gullible, or completely uneducated about the history of taxation. A government that imposes a requirement to pay taxes by their citizens is a government that enslaves their people. In the mind of any free man, taxes equates to slavery. 

In ancient times, when an empire or nation defeated tribes or other nations in war or battle, the winning nation would punish the losers. The punishment would often occur in degrading and abusing the captured women, mandatory requirement to work, and taxing the working people a percentage of their income. 

 

 

The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt between 3000-2800 BC, the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Ancient records document how the Pharaoh would travel Egypt every 2 years, collecting a percentage of revenues from the people. Before this time in ancient civilization, human beings faced tribal governments with no enduring problem of taxation.

 

As an example of a high tax, medieval serfs of the Middle Ages paid 25% of their earnings to their landlords. In ancient Israel, any income over 10% was considered usury or taxable at a high interest.  When the Romans took over and occupied the region of Judah and Israel, they began to punish the Jews through forced taxation. In the days of Jesus, there was hatred and disgust towards tax collectors, especially those of Jewish descent.

 

According to the Bible, Jesus, a mystical and prolific spiritual teacher, was charged for tax protesting crimes and inciting disobedience against the Roman oppressors and authorities. Luke 23:1-2 (NIV) explicitly states: Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.”

 

Even the most famous spiritual teacher known to humanity blatantly opposed taxation. 

 

Thousands of years later the American Revolution began. Contrary to popular belief, the Colonists’ did not revolt due to a tea tax. The British Monarchy was imposing a 3-5% income tax on the Colonists’ earnings. The revolution consisted of killing, maiming, property destruction and expensive battles for eight years, but the bitter relations lasted decades. All of this destruction because the British Monarchy would not cease their practices of taxation and slavery.

 

After the new union was set apart from Britain, there was no individual income tax for 124 years. Except for two brief periods, during 1862-1872 (an “income duty” to pay for the Civil War) and 1874-1875 (until the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional), the United States thrived without a national income tax imposed on its population. Americans were free to earn, save, spend, build, invest, and donate their money as they wished, without limitation, nor fear of taxation. The United States was able to support itself through tariffs on imports and exports, excise taxes on liquor, and by issuing government bonds.

 

To this day, the federal government of the United States of America, continues to tax the income of hard-working citizens. All states within the union, except seven (including Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming), require a mandatory state income tax. In addition to the seven, there is two states (New Hampshire and Tennessee) that only tax dividends and earned interest on income. How is it possible for a state to not require taxes, but the federal government does? How would a state support itself and its population without the steady flow of taxes?

 

The United States of America has been committing unconstitutional crimes of taxation and enslavement against its growing population (currently, 303 million citizens) since 1913.

 

If national income taxes were abolished, not only in the United States, but elsewhere, a nation’s economy would thrive due to a free market of earning, spending, saving, and investing. Economic crisis would be a thing of the past while nations became more stable and free. A person would have more money in their pocket to do as they wanted. It would no longer be difficult to finanicially survive in this lifetime while feeding and sheltering one’s family, loved ones, and self. 

 

How can a government take from you what they do not own or have properly earned themselves? When you earn money through your skills, abilities, and strengths, you are the rightful owner of that income until you decide to spend or give that money to another person, business, or organization.  Through a monetary system, the energy exerted and time spent working is converted into an adequate finanicial substitution. The money we earn is money that belongs to us; no man or government has the right to take it.

 

Do not give in helplessly subjecting yourself and your innately human rights to a government’s whims and unnecessary spending. You are the people of your nation; in the highest reality, you are essentially a free human being.

 

Retain your freedom, defeat the system!

Ron Paul Campaign Raises $6 Million

Ron Paul’s presidential campaign raised over $6 million on December 16th, 2007 on the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. 

Tea Party ’07

 

The donations are flooding in for Tea Party ’07. Ron Paul will break online presidential donation records this Sunday. Have you donated yet?

If not, we highly suggest you go to RonPaul2008.com and donate. $100 or more donations are suggested, but anything you can give to support Ron Paul and freedom is welcomed. 

After you’ve donated, keep your eye on the Tea Party ’07 real-time donation graph. 

Florida Attorney General Responds to Andrew Meyer Taser Incident

We received a direct response from Florida’s Attorney General today. It is more of a blanket response, but here it is:

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has received your email regarding the arrest of a University of Florida student during a recent event. Attorney General McCollum asked that we respond.

Your comments are indicative of the broad spectrum of public opinion concerning  appropriate government response.  Attorney General McCollum shares your concerns about the duties of our law enforcement authorities,
public officials, and the media to responsibly and ethically balance the vigorous pursuit of truth with individual rights and freedom of speech.

The University of Florida adminstrators have requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) conduct a formal  and independent investigation of the actions surrounding the arrest of the student.  If you
would like information regarding the FDLE, their website is:

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/

If you wish to contact FDLE for further  information, you may do so at Post Office Box 1489, Tallahassee, Florida 32302.  The telephone number is (850) 410-7000.

You may also wish to voice your concerns to the Internal Affairs section and/or the head of the law enforcement agency in question.  Part IV of
Chapter 112, Florida Statutes, sets forth the process and requirements pertaining to complaints against law enforcement officers.  You may access that chapter and the Florida Statutes in their entirety in a searchable database online at:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0112/part06.htm&StatuteYear=2006&Title=%2D%3E2006%2D%3EChapter%20112%2D%3EPart%20VI

Thank you for contacting Attorney General McCollum’s Office.
 

What do you think of the e-mail letter?

Emotional Responses to the Andrew Meyer & John Kerry Incident

There is a fantastic article by Howard Ditkoff that looks into the emotions and psychology  of people responding to the Andrew Meyer taser incident.

Howard writes:

What I’ve found most fascinating about the situation are the responses.

Clearly there has been a significant proportion of people that has responded with anger and indignation to what they view as the police using far too much force on Meyer without just cause. Some of those people go as far as to claim that the action was an attempt to deny Andrew Meyer his First Amendment rights and to unfairly and/or illegally suppress his pointed questions about some highly sensitive issues.

On the other hand, many people I have spoken with have defended the police. Even while admitting that their actions may have been rather heavy-handed, they will bring up – and reasonably so – the fact that police officers work in an atmosphere of great danger. Thus, they argue, we need to be sympathetic to the fact that the officers were responding to a person who was in fact resisting arrest, regardless of whether or not the arrest was originally justified or not.

But what is most striking to me is the level of emotion with which I’ve seen people, including myself, respond on both sides of the issue. As the phrase goes “When it’s hysterical, it’s historical,” and I have come to believe that people are reacting to this event based mostly on their own past experiences with authority figures during their development and/or their own coping responses to those experiences.

Read the full article at  Emotional Responses to the Andrew Meyer & John Kerry Incident: A Psychological Study in Issues of Power, Anger and Authority

Open Letter about Andrew Meyer, David Snyder and Free Speech

This is our initial response to a reader. 

I don’t fully agree with the use if disruption to levy our right to free speech. However, it appears the organizers of the event cut the students short from asking their questions. It is also reported that the Dean had the bulk of time to ask questions to Kerry, but the students had less than half that time.

The only reason Meyer ran to the front of the line was to emphasize this, then he went ahead and asked his questions. Kerry was even willing to answer the questions and told the officers to leave Meyer alone. I’m sure if Meyer were permitted to speak as scheduled, where he had to wait his turn, he would have asked his questions without such emotion.

But it all falls back to the point, how far is too far when it comes to police force and brutality? There were 5 or 6 police officers (depending on the report you read). Surely, that many cops could contain and escort him out.

There is an incident in a different state with a David Snyder. He was escorted out of a council city budget meeting, beat, bloodied and arrested. They didn’t use a taser on him and were able to get him outside. However, he protested and tried to resist arrest. He was also denied his right to free speech.

Both these acts, in different locations, signal things to come. They signal our government has turned into a tyranny and that our innate God-given freedoms will be oppressed. Those who oppose or resist will be beaten and made to look like scapegoats in the public’s eye.

Andrew Meyer in the News

A lot of bloggers on WordPress are covering Andrew Meyer and what happened to him yesterday during the John Kerry forum.

There is even a t-shirt that you can purchase that says, “Don’t Taze Me, Bro!”

Martial Law Closer Than We Think

The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has just announced plans for an anti-terrorism exercise called Vigilant Shield 08 . The exercise which is slated to run from October 15th to October 20th is described as a way to prepare, prevent and respond to any number of national crises. The exercise is simply a test case scenario for the implementation of martial law. Although the description of the exercise is disturbing, USNORTHCOM also announced that they are more prepared for a natural disaster and a terrorist attack after they used their response to Hurricane Katrina as a test laboratory. During Hurricane Katrina, authorities violated the constitutional rights of citizens by stealing people’s firearms and even relocating people against their will. These announcements are incredibly disturbing on a number of levels as the nature of Vigilant Shield 08 and the admission that Hurricane Katrina was used as a test laboratory shows that the government is actively preparing the military and government institutions for martial law.

Alex Jones’ Endgame

The trailer for Alex Jones’ highly anticipated Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement has been released. The full-length feature documentary by Alex Jones comes out October 2007. Re-post this trailer everywhere you can; let’s get people ready to watch what could be the most exposing documentary of all-time.