|
|||
 |
|||
| Thursday, March 11, 2010 Fred Phelps' "God Hates Fags" Message: Is It Free Speech? This thought would go better with a couple of glasses of wine. The Devil [me] should give out International Calumny Sin awards ranging from 1 to 10 points. Pastor Fred Phelps should be eligible for several separate awards and many points. Dear John, Phelps doesn't have it right about God hating people, but his protest against "gay marriage" is the wrong way to frame it since there is NO such thing. The government has NO authority to redefine what a marriage is. Sincerely, Cort R. I agree with almost all you say. But, consider this.....we aren't allowed to yell "fire" in a theater, though it might be considered "free speech" to do so. There is a time and place for everything and when a family is grieving the loss of a loved one at a funeral, church or funeral home or gravesite no one should have the right to harass that family verbally or any other way. It is disgusting speech, not free speech and should not legally be tolerated. Jim P. Dear Mr. Whitehead, I am at a loss at what you hoped to accomplish with your latest commentary on those obviously seriously carnal although probably saved Baptists under Pastor Phelps. Here in Massachusetts we have suffered dreadfully at the hands of the homosexual lobby. The Gay Marriage Bill was passed illegally in the legislature and when a call for a referendum came up, it was illegally stalled, and Romney, then Gov, bolted, saying he had something better to do, namely, run for POTUS. So we had no referendum vote, as in Maine, and if had, Gay Marriage would have been defeated, as in Maine. Romney was also bolting from the David Parker case in Lexington, MA, wherein the parent of a 5 year old legally requested that his son be opted out of pro-homosexual indoctrination - Romney at least publicly cited the state law that allowed Parker to do so before he, Romney, bolted - but Parker was arrested, and his case made it to the Supreme Court where, of course, it lost. I have included in this email the most recent newsletter from MassResistance.org, but they have extensive archives on what Parker and his family and a couple of other families in the Lexington, MA, public school system went through. Nobody used the word "fags." On this same site, you can watch a video of a group of homosexuals demonstrating against Park Street Congregational, Boston, stomping all over the historic burial grounds adjacent and putting a bullhorn siren up against a window of the church of a room in which homosexuals where being taught about Christ and how their sexual orientation was made, not born of God, and many have successfully come through that program, having been saved and turned from their homosexual/lesbian lifestyle. In this video, you can also see a policeman asking for the protestors' permit. They had none. They were not arrested or fined. So now you highlight a bunch of demented people who require heavy prayer on our part - and they deserve that from us as much as any Christians in serious error - but this actually does little to help the issues written about by MassResistance in the newsletter I have enclosed, but rather adds fuel to the fire. Have you checked out what some Christians are doing in Amarillo, TX? To paraphrase the Bible, we will not only have the poor with us always, but also the nuts. What will be the result in this country, 3 civil wars: Racial, religious, "between the states"? This is only the tip of the iceberg here in Massachusetts and probably many other states regarding "gender" rights, hate speech, and blah,blah,blah. The sad thing is, anyone who has rejected Christ is condemned already, and it doesn't matter one whit whether you are gay, male, Baptist, blond, Romulan, you name it. Is it free speech? It's bad taste. And your straining at gnats but swallowing camels. Yours in Christ, Marilyn M. Arlington MA Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Big Brother Wants to Know All About You: The American Community Survey I suppose I should find a way to send this with eight-layer encryption – but throwing caution to the wind – you might be interested to know that a few years back I did NOT complete the survey. I returned it with minimal information – Name and Date of Birth. They sent another copy, and another. Then the phone calls – I said “I sent it.” More calls. And more calls. Never complied. Never received a threat of penalty. Each of us has to choose where and when we will say “Enough”. Maybe if I had been threatened with fines, I would have complied. Maybe. Maybe I would have worked very hard at giving ambiguous answers. We’ll see next time. Jeff Skinner Northridge, California I don't know. We will have to check since this would be a line being drawn in the sands of our times. WTF? Did you see the fines and JAIL time shit? I would not want to answer those questions from anybody unless I was OFFICIALLY being investigated and literally HAD TO. Oh, wait ... I am and I do. This is pivotal if it is true, Gayle. Methinks that this type of anal intrusion sans lubricant is not happenstance. They know it will spark a response, ey? I mean, they do plan this crap out and already have mountains of social engineering data to utilize in the control and maintenance of billions. Care to take off for Belize while passports are still obtainable? ;) To whom it may concern, I just read John Whiteheads commentary regarding the American Community Survey. I truly appreciate Mr. Whitehead. He seems to be the only “constitutional” lawyer that actually gets it. If this survey shows up in my mail box, I’ll be sending it back with a nice note that they make sure they send someone they don’t like to check me out because that person just might not make it back! I know we are supposed to be non-violent, but doesn’t the Declaration of Independence stay we have the right and obligation to “tear it down”? That doesn’t sound too non-violent to me. And after all, that is what the 2nd amendment is about. Protecting ourselves from our own government be it local, state or federal. At some point in time sacrificial deeds are what will matter. A hundred years of the privately held Federal Reserve…how’s that workin’ out? The blatant redistribution of wealth from the many to the few has been going on, with government collusion, for over 2 hundred years! The corporate business model has been given human status and allowed to maximize profits by sending jobs over seas and charging what the market will bear regardless of what a reasonable profit margin might be. The Tea Party protestors, although their hearts are in the right place, are wholly ineffective. Only when someone’s property is destroyed will anyone pay attention. Isn’t that what the original Tea Party did? And they were rewarded with the quartering of British soldiers in their homes and marshal law. How would our sheep like citizenry react to that? Until we ALL march on Washington, until we ALL stop paying wage taxes, until we ALL stop putting up with this (hell, I don’t even know what to call it) fraudulent collusion between government and mega corporations, only then will something happen. A few of us peacefully protesting will do no more than give the media talking heads better ratings. I for one am ready to stand up. But that won’t do any good unless some fat cat looses a few million dollars when I do. Most of America is ready to stand up and say enough is enough. But that in and of itself is NOT enough! Jefferson got it…Adams got it, demonized tho’ he was because of his personality. And this has been going on ever since. Obama has got nothing to do with it, really. He’s just doing what everybody else who’s held that office has done. So when do we get to dump a boat load of cars into Boston Harbor? When Mr. Whitehead gives the word, I’ll be there. PAUL & WHITEHEAD in 2012! Sincerely C.L.P Fayetteville, AR John Enjoyed the article. You point out that the gov will no doubt use such data in collaboration with corporate America. It dawned on me that they could use it to identify large blocks of special interest groups as well. Groups they could leverage for political capital. If the survey illuminates that there is a large cross-section of households with special needs children then the gov could focus on passing even more legislation favorable to those families - to the detriment of those families that don't have such children - in an effort to garner their vote at the booth. all the best, Don Dear Mr. Whitehead, In regards to your article, “Big Brother Wants to Know All About You: The American Community Survey”: I can appreciate your statement about the severity of fines to those who do not answer but is not “Unconstitutional” as an answer an appropriate response for any question beyond enumeration? There are many authors who have graced the pages of LewRockwell who suggest civil responses to that effect. While I am sure you have read them, I have attached them for your consideration. I by no means wish to refute your capable judgment but where is civil response against encroaching government to begin, if not by saying “No” when appropriate. And particularly when the trump response is constitutional. Sincerely, Norman W. A. Greetings Mr. Whitehead. I keep hearing that we are "legally obligated to answer" this American Community Survey. Yet I've not heard any one of them cite the "Law" (Chapter & verse) that authorizes this egregious intrusion into people's lives. Note that I am interested in the "Law", duly passed by the United States Congress and signed-by a President. I am most certainly not interested in the codes, rules and regulations promulgated by the Executive Agency charged with carrying said bureaucratic, Administrative Law, regime into effect. What does the "Law" say is the salient point? As I would very much like to read it myself, a FindLaw link would be most helpful, if you happen to have one. Meanwhile, I will search for it myself ... up to a point (need to put in the time my employer expects of me). Thankfully, there are still some Americans out there who value freedom and recognize that it is time to stand up and fight back using whatever peaceful, nonviolent means are available to them. Yes - we are here; however, you even say that we MUST fill out this form OR ELSE. How can you fight that? That's the choice we have and when many of us have small children to raise on little income, what choice do we really have? I saw a video on YouTube yesterday that is about being a leader. It demonstrated that yes, at first, there must be one person who is willing to stand alone and look foolish. The 1st follower is really a leader as well and the 1st leader must look to him as an equal. As more people begin to follow, now we have a movement and the leader becomes less and less important. The more people who join in the movement, the more people are willing to join. Maybe we need to hear about a leader(s) because many of us would only risk our children if there were a movement - like the tea party thing. If that's cowardly or cheap - as some people would tell me - maybe someone would be willing to raise my children for me & find a new wife for my husband when I'm in jail being forgotten by the very people who say "stand up sheeple". My daughter works at Pizza Hut and she is working Saturday morning at 10:00AM. I said "who wants to eat pizza at 10 in the morning?" As usual, whenever something is screwy, our government is behind it - with their regulations - in this case demanding that Pizza Hut be opened each day for a minimum number of hours. WTF. Mrs. W. I want to know how Bill Clinton would handle the questions? Would he say, "I don't recall?" Thank you for the article. I've shared it with a few friends. Regards, Peggy R. Albany, Oregon Sir: I received the American Community Survey last year. When I failed to fill it out I got a few phone calls. I told the callers that the survey was overly burdensome and intrusive and that the answers to the questions were not their business. After about five telephone calls, they gave up. Charles H. B New Jersey Thanks for sounding the heads up! Dear Sir, I read your article this morning and my question is , What can really be done with a government as out of control as the present one seem's to be?. Recently I read another article dealing with the same topic and at it's conclusion it stated"Whenever the general government(Washington) assumes unregulated powers, its acts are unauthorized,void and of no force." I would ask that they show the Constitutional Requirement. At my age and with significant health problems I do not desire to anger my government, on the other hand I feel that my personal life is just that,MY personal life. If you would be kind enough to point me in the correct direction that should be followed I would be most grateful/ I thank you for your time and interest, Best regard's. Stephen R. C. Mr. Whitehead, thank you for the enlightening article. I got the Survey last year and promptly threw it in the trash. No follow-up ensued. However, a woman I listen to on the radio, Rose Tennent, of the Quinn and Rose show, whom I think has interviewed you in the past, reported that people from the Survey were questioning her neighbors about her after she didn't respond as they had demanded. Her neighbors didn't give her up. Should I receive the Survey again, I will act as I did previously. As for the Census form, I will answer the one question and respond with a letter upon returning it. We DO have to take a stand on this NOW. Sher T. Saxonburg, PA I'm not going to change your mind, and you don't need to reply, but I just wanted to make my point. This survey is exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted, especially James Madison, the author of the Constitution. Madison quickly realized that if they were going to go to every home to count the population, it would a great opportunity to learn more about this new nation and its people. What is the racial makeup? How old are they? What are their occupations? What are they producing? A congressional committee agreed but felt that too many questions was too ambitious for the first census. They opted to ask more questions and learn more about the nation in subsequent years and censuses. Of course there have been challenges to the constitutionality of the questions, and the Supreme Court has ruled that the questions do not go against the Constitution. Today, every census question is tied to a federal program. Billions of dollars in federal programs are tied to census data. Joseph C. Good God, I had no idea this existed. Thanks for writing about it. Jim This is the "land of the free" ??? I guess my problem with this picture is numbers. Who funds this project? Where do the funds come from? How do they determine who you are and why were you "chosen?" As a fairly average person, I lose things quite regularly. Recently I lost a medicare survey of my use of test sticks for my type II diabetes. Two requests later and no form, I used an old one, erased the data in photoshop and refilled it out from my meter. The point is: what happens if you lose the form? In a large population of say 50 million, this will happen naturally to at least 50,000 people. No criminal intent or malicious behavior, just human nature zt work. We are all deficient in this area to some extent or another. Then you get into the pranksters. If I get this survey, will it have an ID on it? Such as one of those lined deals that every product in the grocery store seems to have now days. My medicare form had one. Apparently that is how they locate you, with a scan bar code somewhere on the document. What is to keep hackers from producing their own version of the survey and sending it in with someone else's address and name? That bar code isn't that secure that I know of. Is there a watermark on the document to keep counterfeit documents away? It seems to me you could aim that document at any prominent citizen you wanted to and have that person accused of maliciously lying on the document. Say a relative of a US Senator would be a prime target for such "terrorist" activity. Will they prosecute every document that is wrong? I wonder if they have enough jails. . . Anyone with 300 dollars to buy a copy machine can deliberately copy the survey. Anyone with access to a local library can copy the survey for 10 cents a page. Even a quarter a page is not unreasonable. Photoshop can alter any document in a graphic artist's hands. In the hands of a pro, even the watermark is not safe from access. I worked my entire life at a local newspaper as a printer. I started as a hot type printer apprentice and graduated up as technology changed to a graphic artist. The difference between a printer and a graphic artist is one of orientation. The graphic artist is trained to create new documents creatively. A printer is trained to counterfeit documents such as advertisements for a newspaper or advertising agency. My job was to reproduce ads that had ran in the past including fonts, color background, so the advertiser could change merchandise and prices using the same basic ad. It was legitimate work and something a graphic artist is not trained to do. This work is so dangerous because with today's technology the bank has to check every paper bill that they receive in order to make sure it wasn't counterfeited. Like I said, a decent ink jet printer and the right paper . . . To me it is foolish because if you do something like that eventually you go to jail. It is dangerous because access to ink jet printers with good resolution is universal in today's world. It used to require an investment in equipment. Now the investment is minimal. It must be a real nightmare for the treasury department. I foresee us doing away with paper money altogether in the next ten years. Everything will be on a computer card of somekind or another. Even that is terribly vulnerable. One prankster I knew, 25 years ago, decided to get even with a foreman in our shop. He went through a Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazine and ordered everything in the magazine sent to the foreman's house. For years after, the postman was delivering tons of junk mail to the foreman's house. No one ever figured out who it was. He spent a few hundred dollars to annoy the man. Both the foreman and the prankster are long dead. They were both in their 50s when it happened. I suggest that anything that goes through the public mails is like-wise unreliable and subject to both counterfeiting of documents and pranksters. It is impossible to catch them. So my question becomes: How can you prosecute anything like a document going through the public mails? Thanks for your time. Glad to inform you of my expertise in printing. Any concerted effort at hacking that survey would destroy the entire thing. Dave W. A welcome weigh in on this issue. I would pay the $100 fine per person for my household to not comply, but not until after I met with my legislator in person to demand to know why I am being fined at all. Bill Northrup Really? I took this survey. Long yes, but names addresses and such of friends? No. Financial data? Only in the broadest terms. I live in a state where we have congresswoman telling people not to participate in their census surveys. Honestly, the paranoia in this country is overwhelming at times. Mr. John Whitehead, I think that you are wrong when you stated in your video that anyone would be fined for not answering the ACS questions. This survey is clearly illegal, and the last thing that the Census Bureau wants is a court challenge. I know this because I received one of these questionaires in the mail several years ago. When I didn't answer the second questionaire that I was sent, I started to receive phone calls, and I let it be known in no uncertain terms that under no circumstances would I answer them. I subsequently learned that no one has been fined for not co-operating with the Census Bureau since the 1950's. Here's a link to a good article on the subject http://www.notoacs.blogspot.com/. Here's another https://www.checkpointusa.org/Census/Census.htm. Dave L Penrose, Colorado Thursday, March 04, 2010 The New Face of America—Will Our Freedoms Survive? Dear Mr. Whitehead, I have been wanting to write you ever since I have been reading your exceptionally enlightening article in Mansfield Journal, but the real and huge destructive forces at work in America have been robbing me of the mood to that. Your writings have really energized me to get back in the ring once again. Thank you for educating and informing us and injecting hope in us in an environment that is increasingly becoming hopeless if not for the existence of good people like you. I, too, have been deeply concerned about the direction of America especially in recent years. At this time I am sending you my website url and I appreciate it you find the time to counsel me and suggest some ways of finding more more hope in the midst of hopelessness. Wishing you all the best in lighting a candle in the midst of darkness. Sincerely, Ali A. P. Renee Griffith Valedictory Speech Thank you for defending Renee Griffith and free speech. The young Valedictorian was instructed to speak on what she had learned during her years in high school, and I guess she's really learned A LOT more now! I would hope she would have been able to speak on THAT issue. Or would they have censored that as well. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. This young woman and all of her good friends will have learned a valuable lesson with or without the court case. And hopefully she will work to defeat this evil that exists in our society. The school system was probably afraid it would offend a Muslim, because all I can say is, I'm Jewish, and it wouldn't have offended me. Anyone who follows their faith and has good moral guidance, I'm supporting. I hope you will relay my message of support to Renee and tell her to join with those of us who believe in free speech for all and believe in our Founding Father's belief that this country's laws are based on Judeo-Christian values. Peggy S Monday, March 01, 2010 Is Joe Stack a Wake-Up Call to America? (Cont.) At this point, I haven't heard anything about why he was in financial difficulty. He may have, like many others, got greedy and thought that he could use his house as an ATM. August G. Mr Whitehead, I couldn't agree more, with your commentary concerning Joe Stark. I know personally, people who have gotten entrapped by the good ole IRS, to a point where they had no place to turn. Some are still trying to deal with the thugs even after years tied up with red tape, with no solution in sight. Thanks for your article on this subject, I hope that a lot of people read it and come a little closer to finding an answer to their problems other then the way that Joe Stark did. But I have a feeling that there's not many good answers to this IRS thing. And, yes, I for one am starting to wake up. Jim A. Taylor, Arizona Freedom and common sense prevailed in the ruling to allow prayer at Indian River School board meeting as reported in the News Journal. How does anyone hate Jesus Christ so much for praying for us that they would deny all men freedom of speech and freedom of press and peaceable assembly except that they are jealous of Christ being the Son of God? Inclusion and tolerance are included in the "OUR FATHER" prayer said by anyone including Jesus Christ, because true prayer is said for all men at every age. Some people reject their brotherhood with Jesus Christ and their sonship with God the Father, while letting others pray for them. They reap the abundance of God's blessings which rain down upon us all with impunity and ingratitude. When was the last time an atheist made the rain fall from the sky to water the fields and fill the oceans? When was the last time an atheist lawyer refused the taxpayers money to fight a civil rights case that would remove the right of the people to speak to God during peaceable assembly? Man has not succeeded in creating peace for himself, so why is the atheist deliberately trying to obliterate the only source of peace and unity that is ours? Mary DV Elkton, Md. John, The media called his "diatribe" "rambling", but you bring it into clearer view. I have and continue to say many of the same things as Joe Stack. Don't worry, I do not pilot a plane, but I am fully aware of the bureaucratic morass we call a government and the damage it does. This same "government" has an insatiable appetite for more. At the end you say that churches should open homeless shelters. Many would except for the myriad of codes violations, zoning restrictions, civil rights protections and, of course, the separation of church and state issues that render churches impotent to do the one thing they should do-share the gospel. Many times we have tried, but the call is to share Christ and man does not live on bread alone. Sincerely, Paul T. Mr. Whitehead, Thank you so very much for your article in today’s Sunday commentary. I only hope that you can find some way to get this article published in every paper. Talked about on every news station. And realized by every American. Our population is indeed in serious trouble due to a government that just doesn’t care about us anymore. Thanks again. T. Eric H. Given what I read from various on-line sources, like Tomdispatch.com, it surprises me that there is no attempt to compare the British government at the time of the American revolution and parallels with the current US government, or any other regime that has created a public unrest that has lead to civil disobedience, and further. I am no historian, and perhaps what I suggest is impossible. Still, if freedom from a form of government that does not meet the expectations and needs of the citizens is the stuff of history, some accessible essays for the general public should interest the common people. Something they can relate to. Just a thought. Dear John, Your article today at LRC.com was right on. Truth is, I am really surprised that IRS offices aren't attacked more often, and I bet that if the truth came out, they are probably threatened quite often but the powers that be won't let those reports come out because moment against the federal extortion racket would build so quickly! I heard a news guy refer to Joe's letter as "rambling manifesto." I doubt he'd read it. I read it. It was not what I'd call a manifesto at all. It was the heart-breaking story of a man subjected to a tax code that, 1. no average human can comprehend, and (more important) 2. no decent person would ever expect they'd be subjected to. Good people don't do this to one-another. Joe Stack lost hope and did himself in. We'd be so much better off to pay a small federal sales tax and otherwise take life as it comes rather than trying to build a perfect society through a corrupt and defunct government. -David D. Arizona, USA John, Don here. Just read your column on Joe Stack. I enjoyed it. I must mention though that when you say: "Frankly, there is nothing wrong with suggesting that a nation as affluent as the United States should not abide by this kind of suffering." The United States government has a net worth of some -$14 trillion. Maybe we should refer to the United States as a nation with so much opportunity and potential... :) Also, I have a weekly Internet radio show and was wondering if I could get you to participate. I've had other LRC columnists on: Bill Anderson, James Ostrowski and Lew is going to participate one of these weekends. It's Saturday's at noon. Lemme know if you'd be interested, all the best, Don Dear Mr. Whitehead: I found your article regarding the suicide death of Joe Stack both heartening and disappointing. Heartening because of what this man felt he had to do to and ended it all, and disappointing in that "the Joe Stacks of the world is that they keep relying on government to fix the problems" when in fact Joe Stack and the millions of others like him DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING FROM THE GOVERNMENT other than more misery and pitiless harassment with no hope at all and specifically sir, from the legal community which has also lost it's bearing. And that is why he chose to end his life. He made a final statement and simply checked out. In your final summarization you said "if the churches in America would open soup kitchens and open their doors to the homeless, no one would have to go hungry or sleep out in the cold." Sir, how long has it been since you actually spoke with a pastor from any church anywhere in America who has attempted to do this? Evidently you are not aware that no church can simply "open soup kitchens and, or their doors to the homeless without government approval and specifically because they are 501-c-3 corporations and first, must apply for the necessary permits, facility upgrades, countless re-permits, continuos checks, fees, fines, audits and harassment and if one, just one homeless person were to get sick and God forbid die, there would be lawsuits by the dozens which you know darn well will happen! No, Joe Stack and the thousands of other Joe Stacks out there aren't expecting anything at all from the government or the mirage of LPPs (Licensed Practicing Parasites) often referred to as attorneys, no, they've just had enough and as Pastor Dr. Chuck Baldwin said in his article regarding Joe stack's death; "So, to the rest of us Joe Stacks out there: lets not fly our planes into buildings. Let’s not end our lives prematurely. Instead, get mad; get organized; get educated; start equipping your heart, mind, and body for the battle ahead. Let’s fight; let’s study; let’s prepare; let’s make every would-be tyrant on Capitol Hill and Wall Street know that we are not going to sit back and let them steal our country. Let’s send a message, in no uncertain terms, that if they want our pound of flesh, they are going to have to come and get it–and if they do, it’s going to cost them a whole lot more than a pound of theirs! Oh, Joe! I wish you had not killed yourself." Sincerely, CW D.S. Lew & John I have just finished reading Mr. Whitehead's article, "Is Joe Stack a Wake-Up Call to America?" The immediate answer to that question, of course, is, "Yes!". But, he is hardly the first, nor, I suspect, the last. As John F. Kennedy once said: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." One need not condone violence in order to recognize the truth in that statement. Sincerely, Claude B. Louisville, KY, Mr. Rutherford, Hi. Agree with almost all of your article, in fact there is nothing much I essentially disagree upon, except this: It is my perspective that you cannot resolve any problem, or even begin to remotely resolve it, if you are not willing to make a totally impartial and indepth analysis of the causes of the problem, so as to accurately diagnose its origin. There are a multitude of symptoms around the world, which like a body that has AIDS, manifests many differing symptoms of disease, all from an original source; all are massively aggravated by a single source. Overpopulation colliding with scarce and finite resources. A world living in deliberate disregard for the Laws of Sustainability. A world still breeding in accordance with a belief system that the Earth is Flat, and the excess population, that is persecuted, can simply hop on a boat to the new world. And sadly a world with leaders who will point to fake problems, and wonder why people get more and more desperate, when they are given beetroot and garlic solutions, instead of addressing the root causes of their disease. If you disagree, may I provide the evidentiary statistics and answers of Dr. Albert Bartlett: Finally, I am a farmers daughter, and like any astute farmers daughter, it is quite obvious that 20 acres of land, can only support a fixed number of healthy fat free range cows, or perhaps double the number thin, anemic and tough meat Ethiopian cows. We have a world where lawyers promulgate laws in the belief that the earth is flat… In South Africa, we even have lawyers conducting a legal and political prosecution and persecution campaign against anyone even daring to mention that idea and request it be held up to public scrutiny and enquiry. Regards Lara J. Thank you for the fine article. Chuck Baldwin also published a fine article today. I believe many churches would be glad to open soup kitchens, places to spend the night, etc. The Bible says it is the church's responsibility to care for the "widows and orphans" meaning those who are down and out at any given time. But in many places the government stonewalls this so much that they have to give up. Not only that, but the offering plates are not overflowing like they should be because of the very thing Stack was apparently protesting: taxes. Alice L. This guy was a personality disorder with legs. He wasn't pushed to the brink, he walked up and jumped. His "patriotic exercise" with his "group of friends" in the 1980's was not a book club or bible study. These friends read and discussed the tax code and decided to create a bogus 501(c)(3). After all, the Big Bad Catholic Church man can do it, why can't he? That didn't work out and it cost him some money. If you're going to play at being Mohandas Ghandi and pretend your tax cheating is really civil disobedience then you can't play the poor, confused, "didn't understand the tax code" victim when the Big Bad IRS man shows up at your door. Next he complains the tax code was amended in 1986 to thwart him personally. The question of whether he was an employee or an idependent contractor did not change his tax obligation. As an independent contractor he was responsible for paying self employment tax as opposed to having his Big Bad Employer man take care of it for him. Obviously he didn't pay his self employment tax and finds the tax code unfair to him specifically because if he'd been an employee, someone else would have been responsible. (The true creed of this wacko.) Finally, the poor poor man raided his IRA at the age of 53, at a time when he was so so very desperate due to the maltreatment of so so many Big Bad men. Why did he invest in an IRA? Because he knew damn well that it was a tax deferred investment. He also knew damned well what the tax implications were when he took the money out. His entire rant can be summed up in "poor me." Wake up call for America? Get a grip. Too late! We have the best government that money can buy-- and they did. Open the borders -let everyone vote Jobs, jobs, jobs and pay with freshly printed paper money. At bankruptcy, our President and his Czars will have the only answer---Change! I would love to discuss. Right now I'm working to try and stop the Korean Free Trade Agreement. We can do it. Koreans torture and consume dogs and cats. Not only that, but this agreement will further reduce jobs in the U.S. We can no longer stand by. The agreement is currently in the ways and means committee, soon to be passed along to Nancy Pelosi. Nancy controls the whole process and has the unilateral power to stop it in its tracks. Her district 8 is in San Francisco - named after the patron saint of animals - St. Francis of Assisi. The idea is to enlightened students in our colleges and universities. They represent a potential voting block that cannot be stopped ... and they are the young people who are about to inherit the mess we have created. They can target calls, letters and requests for meetings stragetically by zip code of each committee member and Nancy Pelosi. Potential loss of votes gets attention when the sentiments come from your own, personal constituents! Do you agree?? I would love to elaborate. Thank you, Patricia K. Joe, Exactly right. On Joe Stack...I just published this at TOL; You have my permission if you want to link/copy. DM Lambert The Ballad of Joe Stack, or, America Shrugged http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=93372 Dear John: It hurts me deeply to see people talking about Mr. Stack as a murderer. I don't believe this for a moment. My entire spirit screamed out "government false flag" the moment this news broke. Please stop listening to the msm, who are owned by the elite! How can you trust what they are reporting? Look at what has been going on in Austin - please! You can wake people up John. I can't. I'm a nobody but you have a voice. I truly believe this man is a victim of conspiracy not a murderer. How many "suicides" have been reported over the years? Please pray about this John, and do some research. Somebody needs to be a watchman. Don't let this man's death be in vain. In His Love, Laura L. H. Romans 8:28 P.s. Why is it that every 'suicide' ends up with the person being involved in our government? As a Christian, I do not believe in coincidence. I am begging you not to allow this man's memory to go down in history as a murderer. Excellent analysis: Is it a populist lesson, as Stack states in his suicide note, "that there are two ‘interpretations’ for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us"? I have a saying that I coined, which says it all: "The rules do not apply to those who apply the rules." Thanks again. Neil A. I couldn't agree more strongly with your conclusion. I am afraid, though, that Stack will be viewed more like Harrison Bergeron than John Galt. Interesting story, something about taxes...what is on Fox? I think the new "Survivors" starts tonight.... /The problem with the Joe Stacks of the world is that they keep relying on government to fix the problems, but government officials are not going to fix them because most of them don't really seem to give a damn. /Ever heard "go postal"? This is "go IRS". How should one react to recurring theft when the thief is also your defense against theives? Todd M. Plantersville, TX Dear Mr. Whitehead, After writing an extremely perceptive and mostly sympathetic essay, you conclude, "The problem with the Joe Stacks of the world is that they keep relying on government to fix the problems, but government officials are not going to fix them because most of them don’t really seem to give a damn." How can you make such a statement after having read Stack's suicide note? Isn't it obvious that what he is saying is that he wanted to be let alone by government, not to fix problems? He wanted to live his life without harassment, without crushing taxes and without handing his hard-earned money to the super rich banksters who in turn suck the blood from his and his family's bodies. You quote him as saying, ""In my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say." To me his statement is declaring, or implying, the obvious: It's not asking for handouts, for "fixes." It's not demanding benefits from government; just don't stack the odds against him by passing legislation favoring the lobbyists and rich contributors to politicians' re-election campaigns, and giving taxpayer money to banks in order to enrich these friends running the banks. Stop the lying; stop the fraud; stop the cheating, the constant, endless deceptions (and endless wars based on lies). Everyone in power in our government, from the top down, should be in prison. It's the collusion of government with banks, with the military-industrial complex and other big businesses--the mercantilism--to the detriment of middle class America which is bringing down this country and crushing the rest of us. Joe Stack's suicide is certainly unfortunate, but sometimes the heavy hand of government can become overpowering and unbearable. There is very little "problem with the Joe Stacks of the world" that the rooting out of the corruption and evil in our government wouldn't cure. Sincerely, Sheldon S. Yes, John we are listening. You have eloquently captured the clarity that often eludes us. Thank you. I have sent this article to friends with heaps of praise for you and your mission. I also sent “The Day the Music Died”; which struck a chord on so many levels. Best regards, Russ Ti. Thanks for your article. I read Stacks parting letter and agree that his perception of our current system is exactly true, tragically. The government in all its manifestations, has no respect at all for American citizens. We are just the mob who has to be bled and fed. Fed as little as possible and bled as much as possible. I't is sad that it has come to this. It's been bad for a long time but it's gone over the edge now. I feel sorry for Stark and for the people he hurt and the family he left behind but I can't blame HIM. They say he was mentally disturbed. Of course he was, but not for some defect or genetic mutation. He was driven crazy by being fed too little and bled too much. I don't have much hope that this mess can be turned around. They are too powerful and too ruthless. Anyway, thanks and keep the faith. Greg F. Floydada,TX Mr. Whitehead: Your portrayal of Joe Stack as "financially strapped" is inaccurate. According to reports he owned his own plane, a nice suburban home and had money to produce his own music album. It seems to me that any financial difficulties Mr. Stack had were self inflicted. Regards, Mike Beacco http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/texas-kamikaze-killer-joseph-stack-hid-his-rage/story-e6frf7lx-1225832568136 he was not insane HE WAS TOTALLY SANE JUST LIKE THE PROPHET JEREHMIAH was TOTALL SANE people by the thousands will kill themselves in america in the next twelve months www.infowars.com www.henrymakow.com the conspiracy that HIJACKED THE WORLD www.goodnewsaboutgod.com AGAINST THE NEW WORLD ORDER there is a god and his name is JESUS www.jesus-is-savior.com exposing the skull and bones masonic images all over the american dollar bill the jewish star above the american seal YOU need to wake up EVEN MORE there is a one world global takeover and its being run by the ANTICHRIST SYSTEMS OF THIS WORLD jesus is god and thats the TRUTH 9 11 was a inside JOB and thats the truth THE GULF OF TONKIN the TITANIC WAS SUNK ON PURPOSE and thats the TRUTH CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH? fdr KNEW DAM WELL THAT PEARL HARBOUR was GOING TO BE ATTACKED Sadly, "Joe Stack," was just the first of many ! I think the question is ? "Did he really do it ? Or was it a "Government False Flag Attack ?" Either way, "THE SICK EVIL TWISTED AMERICAN EMPIRE," is out of control ! And people have had more than enough. A great man once said : Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962 ... I agree ! 100 % ! And that's why I wrote this letter & poem back in 2008. I see it all coming, now closer than ever. We were all men of peace, but they have forced us to war ! "A" Archangel http://www.youtube.com/user/ArchangelTheFallen The man should have flown the plane in to a group of politicians or waited a few hours to get more IRS thugs. He wasted his effort, not high enough body count. HI JOHN HARRY IN MICHIGAN HERE GOOD ARTICLE I FELT THE SAMEWAY THAT YOU DID ABOUT THE MEDIA DISMISSAL OF THIS GUY AS A NUT JOB ID LIKE TO ADD THOUGH THIS WAS A GUY WITH A GOOD SKILL SET SOFTWARE ENGINEER/ ENTRAPANURE/PILOT ALL SKILLS YOU WOULD THINK WOULD GUARANTEE SUCCESS IN AMERICA TODAY AND YET HE FINDS HE CANT MAKE IT I SEE THIS AS A VERY DISTURBING PATTERN A COUNTRY THAT DOES NOT VALUE THIS KIND OF SKILL SET IS IN REAL TROUBLE IF A KID ASK YOU TODAY WHAT SHOULD HE STUDY IN COLLAGE WHAT DO YOU TELL HIM BASED ON THE CURRENT AMERICAN JOB LANDSCAPE? REGARDS HARRY "clearly, joe stack is neither a hero nor a martyr" I disagree, i think he's both. His method of protest was tragic and misguided to me. A man driven insane by Woodrow Wilson's War - quite likely, and Joe's one of millions. Thank You, JB " So what’s the cure to the disaffected and alienated ones among us? It’s you and me. It’s our churches and synagogues and private institutions. In fact, if the churches in America would open soup kitchens and open their doors to the homeless, no one would have to go hungry or sleep out in the cold. Thus, it’s each and every one of us – young and old, single and married, white collar and blue collar, liberal and conservative, religious believer and atheist alike – reaching out and chipping in and working in our communities to fix these problems from the ground up. " I would agree that this would be the best solution. The problem here is that most of us are taxed so much that there is nothing left to spare. If the government didn't confiscate(steal) so much of our wealth, we would have plenty left to do as you suggest. I have read a blizzard of stiff on the Joe Stack case. Your is by far the most thoughtful. Regards, George Miller http://constitutionalreset.com/ No disrespect intended, but I think you missed the point. The question is: what are we going to do about these disaffected, disconnected and discontent Americans? How do we reach out to them and persuade them that there is a better solution than the one-way exit proffered by Stack? Note, by “we,” I’m not referring to the politicians or law enforcement officials or any other government official who might view this as a problem behavior to identify, stamp out and sweep under the rug. The question is, what are we going to do about the conditions that are leading so many people to feel disaffected, disconnected, and discontent. We do not need to "persuade them that there is a better solution," or at the very least, that is not where we should stop. We need to enact the solution. The problems are right in front of you. They’re in your local communities, in the neighbor who is out of work or the co-worker who may be in danger of losing her home. It’s in the growing number of children who live in poverty and go to bed every night hungry--now estimated at nearly 14 million children in America. It’s in the more than 39 million people who are subsisting on food stamps--6 million of whom have no other source of income. That translates to roughly 1 in 4 children in America on food stamps, and 1 in 50 Americans now living in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food stamp card. These are not the problem; these are the symptoms of the problem. Thus, it’s each and every one of us--young and old, single and married, white collar and blue collar, liberal and conservative, religious believer and atheist alike--reaching out and chipping in and working in our communities to fix these problems from the ground up. This problem was not created from the ground up. What makes you think it can be fixed from the ground up? I'm not saying that ground-level effort is not important, but I'm disappointed that your entire essay seems to take for granted the existing political and economic structure, even while acknowledging that it has problems. Thanks for your attention, Joshua Dear John, I read your recent opinion essay on stack. You ended by saying that churches should open up to help the unemployed. Perhaps you are not acquainted with the Christian Organization named Family Promise.. In Fl it was started in Gainesville. We have a group in Bradenton, Fl with an Ex Director who screens applicants. There are 12 churches [all Dens] involved. They take the adults, their children for a week, in which they feed and house them in their buildings. It takes a bunch of volunteers to do the feeding and monitoring so theses folk are not left alone in a strange environment. Check it out. Its not a complete solution to the millions unemployed but a big help to those who lost their housing until they get a new job. i am sure the local office would be willing to provide info. Call Manatee Religious Services at 941 752 4271 or 941 752 4344. Best Carl H. My thanks to John Whitehead for having the guts to tell it like it is. http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=638 To answer his question at the end of the article.................no. Because when the rubber really meets the road, most people are just like the government officials he spoke of. Matt. 24:12 "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." He was not kidding...........on either part. Michael Mr. Rutherford: I was eating lunch near downtown Houston, yesterday. My friend said there was a plane crash in Austin and it may have been deliberate or "terrorist" in nature. We joked, " A Cessna taking out a couple of filing cabinets ... water cooler ...". At 10:30 news the story line was clear. Someone, simply squeezed out of our society, and reacting in the only way he knew to react/act out. Simply, "raised a little hell before exiting". I flipped on iTunes this morning to listen to music while at the computer, and my "Joe Walsh" collection just jumped out ! I have never viewed your website until today, but, I printed off much to read and share. I noticed you sometimes use music tie-ins in your articles. Perhaps, Joe Stack made a playlist on his iPod to include these selections by Joe Walsh: "Walk Away", "Turn To Stone", "The Bomber", "Help Me Thru the Night", Tend My Garden", "Ordinary Average Guy", AND "A Life of Illusion". All this music seems to perhaps have a "deeper" meaning. He might have not identified with Walsh's "Life's Been Good". I might just have to print and study all these lyrics from the 1970's in depth. Mark H. Hey Dude, This editor has been warning for years that the IRS is the greatest cause of stress for Americans. Stress is closely associated with cancer development in the body as well as a major cause of obesity. Do your research. Thank you, John. You're a wonderful writer and a true American patriot. RON Tuesday, February 23, 2010 America When General Gage scoffed at Washington being called a general, Washington replied. "You sir despise all authority derived from a source other than your own. I however cannot think of one more honorable than that derived from a brave, free, and noble people. The only fountain of true authority". Government rules from the consent of the people. It's intention is to serve the people. We need to become a brave, free and noble people again. Please keep sounding the alarm. I am, and will never stop as long as there is breath in my being. Is Joe Stack a Wake-Up Call to America? Thank you John, this is some of the most insightful commentary I have seen yet about Joe Stack. I was recently in Texas, I live in Northern California. In Austin, I saw the economic disparities that we have come to accept herein the usa, in a state, Texas, that is economically robust, relatively speaking. I agree that we are the solution, I think we need process, a way to enact change. The energy and even capital is there, we need measures and mechanisms to leverage our power. Keep up the good work, thanks, Jim S. Mr. Rutherford - Thanks for your excellent commentary which goes to the core of the problem while the media has only spouted the government’s usual talking points. Kamikaze attacks are way beyond the pale, but at the same time, for those of us who have half a clue regarding the “state of the State”, his was a noble act in its own way. Joe Stack blew-his-stack and will serve as a “zeitgeist hero” of the times. I wonder if there will be copy-cat attacks? There are thousands of others who are in similar situations, their desperation teetering on the suicidal. Oh, they may even do a TV movie about it – Ha – Lew Rockwell should do one first, giving it the proper treatment. That could be an eye-opener for the sheeple. You opine that we the people and the church should do what the government fails to do – now isn’t that a double-hit on our pockets? I mean, why pay twice for the same services, if you see what I mean…So – what is the answer? A massive tax revolt? With-holding practices at the workplace make this untenable in a very practical way. I believe that it is past time for a national strike in protest of the wars, the IRS, the biggest theft in history represented by the bailouts, et al. Ron Paul 2012? Other than hitting the streets from coast to coast, I just don’t see any effective measures the people can take at this point, especially since the populace is ever so accepting, brainwashed from birth. You know, folks confuse the affluence in the U.S. with freedom – that is a major component of the problem. I was wondering the other night why there isn’t an alternative news show, a libertarian TV channel which would expose all that’s wrong by merely broadcasting truly objective news? How about a libertarian sit-com or a libertarian family show, Father Knows Best where the kids learn the Constitution or a Bonanza where the sons fight off government intrusion and tax agents? If the people could be properly educated or de-programmed, it would become more likely that today’s corruption might be addressed and corrected. And forgive my ramblings here - too much on my mind and no one to vent to. Thanks again for your great piece. Phil S Atlanta, GA I’m listening. Sean B. YOUR RIGHT CONGRES DOEST GIVE A DAMN John C. R. Mr. Whitehead, I just wanted to thank you for this article. I also voiced similar opinions to the 'Joe Stack' incident. I am an earlier version of 'Joe Stack', only, not with his terminal application in addressing the situation. I have tried to accept within myself that all I have done is run away. The choice I made was to remove myself from the social structure, without retreating from the world. Instances such as the one being discussed, lead me to believe I only delude myself. There is a video of my efforts at escapism, titled, ' Totally off the grid', on youtube. I hoped, in the recesses of my being, that maybe I had found an alternative to a fatalistic end. However, with seemingly evermore examples of complete despair exibited by my fellow country men, I find myself again shaken to uncertainty, where thoughts of hope once dwelled. Your article offers me hope, in some nebulous way, that maybe, the great experiment of this concept of unified country, still is alive, in some form or fashion. Thanks to another glimmer of hope, in your article, I will continue to.....keep goin on. Thank you. keith t. Hello John, Thanks for writing ‘Is Joe Stack a Wake-Up Call to America?’ that I read at Lew Rockwell. I found your piece well written and thought out, logical, and methodical. I’ve followed the incident since it occurred, perhaps too much. Most of the articles that I read along with some of online posts by people were just madness. Your piece really helped me to clarify my thoughts and feelings about what happened, how to better understand it, and how to move forward. Wishing you Abundance, Drew C. From what I read, Joe was about as stupid as one man could be. He had really painted himself into a corner with no way out. His marriage was on the rocks. This means financial ruin for just about anyone, regardless of his financial circumstances. That is the way our court system works. And it generally means financial slavery for at least 20 years. His income was based on being a software engineer? I would rather he had put his future in something like being a heating and air conditioning specialist. At least he would have a dependable job. Or get any service related trade. But like an entire generation, college is the answer. Except it does not necessarily produce income. In good times, college educated people are put into lower management positions. In bad times, businesses dump these people by the millions. I am sure there are a lot of Walmart greeters with college degrees that cannot find work right now. I wonder how many people at McDonalds have college degrees? Then there is the IRS. This is America's answer to the KGB. If you want to ruin a man attack his finances. It doesn't even have to be legal. With the enormous resources of a government behind them the IRS has almost unlimited power over all of us. Where is the checks and balances? I am not sure they even exist. Infernal Revenue isn't even an efficient method of taxation. All through the last 50 to 60 years it was the social instrument of choice of the US Congress to encourage money going in whatever direction the US Congress wished. As a result no one really understands what the IRS code actually says. That gives a big leeway to the agency to just about do whatever it pleases. KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) has never applied to this agency. The only botched job more outrageous is probably the EPA. A writer wanted all of the regulations concerning EPA. He was told he would have to pay for the shipment. Three days later the semitrucks started arriving... There were that many rules. All of them contradicting each other. If you wanted a system that was both fair and efficient(fire most of the accountants involved) I would go from an Income Tax to an Outgoing tax on all goods. Most of the taxes would be on anything imported into this country from the outside. This would make it profitable to produce all the goods locally. You will never see that kind of system in place. Too much power is in the IRS agency and it is probably both illegal and unconstitutional. But when the government has all the justice department pretty much bought off, constitutional law doesn't mean anything. At best you have a kangaroo court system in place that supports the government view. I understand his frustration. It was not worth his life. Rather I think he should have learned how to think like a weasel. A weasel hates work with a passion. Your banks are full of them. Your government is run by them. Suggest they work and they will run not walk for the nearest exit. Anyone who has run into a weasel system knows what I am talking about. Lawyers are weasels. They have set up a system to rip off the public. A title search takes 15 minutes if that in your local county records. They charge upwards of 700 dollars for one. Then require title insurance just in case they didn't do that 15 minutes work right. Any probate is set up to cost many times what the labor involved justifies. They are ripping people off right and left. I cannot count how many other examples these weasels have devised. Banks set up the numbers so if you overdraft, you have hundreds of dollars worth of fees instead of one fee. The fee is usually $30 per overdraft. How? They revise the checks so the biggest one always is cashed first on any one day. Then any small check that goes over produces a $30 dollar fee. So instead of one check overdrafting you might have 10 go bad in one day. This is a weasel system. It is crooked. The bank stacks the cards against the customer. Never mind that the average person spent long hours earning a living and trying to save money! The weasels have got it pegged to get your money and mine without working for it. I am only sorry that Joe wasted his life crashing a plane and burning a house. As a software engineer, I am sure he could have sat down and thought it out. If he could have taken out all the weasels with his software engineering, that might have been worth it. Bonjour Monsieur I am not Américan, i am French, merci mon Dieu. Votre plaidoyer, pour un peu de considération pour l'acte de Joe Stack est magnifique, vous parlez avec le coeur, nous, dans mon pays, ne parlons, plus guère, qu'avec l'intellect, ce qui est la porte ouverte a tous les aveuglements. Bertrand Arnould I presume you meant to say, "should not abide this kind of" (?) http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/100220-whitehead-columnsjoestack.html like Joe Stack, you seem not to proof read what you have written - or maybe you don't know your grammar as well as you should? just a guess your essay is among the more balanced & reasonble ones I have seen on the subject, but you do not address Joe's double standard - what he wanted (as far as I can see) was the same licence to cheat on his taxes that the rich have, his problem was not that the rich are greedy, it was that he was greedy too, just a thought be well, David W. Dear Mr. Whitehead, Thank you for your piece on Joe Stack. I have read the "facebook" hero and coment pages and see those who share his frustration. I was fired from AT&T in July of 2009 for the lack of "quality" of my work after receiving 30 awards over a five year period. In April, my family and I went to Washington DC to speak with my US Rep Mary Fallin and my two Oklahoma Senators about the fraud perpetrated in the first bank bailout of Oct 3, 2008. I also put a call in to the Department of the Treasury, Tim Geitner's office. My wife spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services and I made a personal visit to the Department of Energy. On a local level, I volunteer as a teacher in my children's school, run media at my church and organize a meet up group for a German Language and culture group. My wife runs a charity for single mothers and she gave birth to our fith child, Max on Feb 10th. I agree with your words and seek to encourage others to not give up the hope that is found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please accept the attached resume in my efforts to find gainful employment in the service of your fine organization and I remain, Cordially yours, Stephen B. W. Hey, where you been....if the churches open without a soup house license, permission to speak only allowed by the 501c plan- Preachers for FEMA leading the flock to the camps reading Romans-get out of line and the knock comes from the some 60 armed ten planks of the communist manifesto government crowd offices. Zoning will get you if you open your home...or serve the flock a chicken sandwich. The problem is Bankers, Politicians, Attorneys and Judges,and Preacher man Praise the Lord and pass the money pie pan . You need to wake up, and read your Bar License Union (closed shop) card over again. The king is calling, take a bow esquire. Sincerely Jeff Mr. Whitehead, great article! I am not an extremist, and I am not one of the "disaffected, disconnected and discontent Americans". I have fairly good financial assets, have a nice home that is not under threat of repossession, and have a reasonably comfortable life. I served in the military, put myself through college, had a successful business career, raised a great family, and have never had trouble with the law. All of that being said, I cannot help myself in believing that Joe Stack is not a terrorist or a criminal. In spite of my upbringing and knowing right from wrong, I view him as a patriot - a hero. Over the last year I now view the government of the United States of America as the ENEMY. It is not so much that we need the government to fix the problems. They cannot or will not do that - they just create more. And, we are rapidly moving towards socialism and loss of individual freedoms. Our "government" is totally corrupt! John Hildahl Great Falls, Montana Mr. Whitehead: Very good message you sent to us all through the Lew Rockwell site that unfortunately only a few will pay attention to. Even folks who claim to be "believers" can't see the forest for the trees. Why is that? Quite simple really: They're as addicted to the idiot box, i.e. television, as the rest of the country, and happy about it. Will this change? Only when the lights go out or chaos reigns will they "get it" and then they're more than likely to want the same sorts of rats who brought us to this dance to somehow pull us all out of the fire of their own creation and steer us to, what I can only sense, is something far far worse. It's a set up from the get go and the truly wise will stay clear until the dust settles or find people of like mind and band together for mutual protection and tell government to "take a hike". Politicians won't change unless they feel threatened, not existentially mind you, or until they collectively acquire room temperature. Would I want this to happen? No. Do I expect it to happen? Absolutely. They're like sharks and have no intention of changing their nature, because, quite naturally, the game has gone on so well up until now. The constant whipsawing lies and misinformation to keep the populace both stupid and poor continues with nary a blink from their lidless reptilian eyes, with yet more surprises to come. Regards, David Mr. Rutherford, I’d like to respond to a few of your comments: 1. I have never seen any evidence that children go hungry in America. When in line at the grocery store I inevitably get behind welfare mothers buying groceries. Their grocery carts are full of expensive prepackaged frozen dinners. Usually they load up on anything that takes no effort to prepare. I have never seen them use any type of grocery coupons to stretch their food stamps purchases. For the most part the mothers are obese and the children look well fed to me. 2. The system as you refer to it, works fine for me. I retired from Government service after 31 years as a DoD contracting officer. Although I get a very handsome pension, I was searching for a replacement career within a week of retiring. I selected the transportation industry and attended a local junior college truck driving program. In this depressed job environment I was swamped with job offers before I even graduated. Since then I now work for three companies on a contract basis. I earn about the same as I did as a GS-13 step 10 when in Government service. I work 7 days a week for 6 weeks straight and then take a month off. On my month off I work part time for a local propane company when one of their drivers is ill or on vacation. My point being, there are plenty of opportunities for people to work if they choose too. If you are sitting on your ass doing nothing it is because you choose too. I am sick to death hearing about how there are no jobs. I could have as many jobs as I want and literally work 24 hours per day. Every time I turn around someone is wanting me to work for them. 3. I agree that a growing number of people live in “poverty.” However, that is mainly because of the following: a. The Government subsidizes bad behavior and laziness through the welfare system. The Government welfare system encourages out of wedlock births in order to qualify for welfare benefits. I guess the progressive liberals never realized that there is a portion of our population that would be satisfied to sit on their collective asses and do nothing with their lives. It just takes a baby to qualify. I have one such person in my family. Never works, just popped out two babies (she isn’t sure who the fathers are) and gets a nice new HUD apartment, food stamps, cable TV, unlimited medical care, and several hundred dollars a month spending money. She dropped out of grade school and never has a job for more than a few weeks before getting fired. She drives a 2002 Mustang, has the latest touch screen cell phone and not a care in the world. I see these people every day on TV telling some nitwit reporter about how miserable they are and how there are no jobs. If you really want to change their circumstances, cut off all welfare benefits and let their families support them. I bet they would find work when then. b. I might point out that I live below the Government poverty line. Although my income is 6 figures, my monthly expenditures to maintain myself are under $13,000 per year. I paid off my house ten years early. I never buy a new car. I always use grocery coupons when food shopping. My point being, I pay attention to stretching my money as far as I can. I live quite well on about 1,000 to 1,200 per month. The rest goes into savings and investments. My family welfare leech actually makes about the same and can’t make ends meet. It’s not that she doesn’t have money, it’s the spending choices she makes. 4. I would not have chosen Mr. Stack’s method of expressing his displeasure with the Government, but I understand his frustration. I despise our rulers. The Government does absolutely nothing to benefit me yet attempts to take more of my earnings at every turn. I disagree with Mr. Stack’s selection of his victims. The Government doesn’t care how many people you kill as long as it isn’t one of our ruling class. Mr. Stack would have gotten a lot more mileage out of his act had he crashed his plane into his local congressman or senator’s office or home (preferably while they were in residence). Sincerely, Stephen S Dear John, I'm in the process of reading Joe Stack's letter so cannot comment on that. However, I'd have to say since the beginning of this century I've become increasingly aware that each person individually must wake up and begin in small ways to become self-sufficient and teach others to do the same, more by example than anything else. Watching 9/11 unfold LIVE on television my first thought was, "You bastards........you're destroying our country; nothing will ever be the same." (Much the same thought I had when JFK was assassinated). I did NOT think about terrorists, nor a possible war, or the eroding away of our civil liberties but I did sense that government had failed us big time. Little did anyone know just how bad it was going to get. A year later my husband decided to leave the rat race and retired. We purchased a small rancher in South central Pennsylvania on 5 rural acres, paying cash so we'd have no mortgage. My husband and I have other savings and can only hope this will be enough as Social Security erodes away. We're in our early 70's and feel staying healthy and fit and relatively self-sufficient is our best protection against "old age." We also own outright a small home nearby that our high functioning autistic son rents from us. He is on disability and food stamps and manages pretty well. However, I see the possibility of this coming to an end down the road as government falls apart. He is growing some of his own food which helps him and he's free of any prescription meds preferring natural remedies. We encourage him to be as self-sufficient as possible. He is an artist and craftsman and has sold some things online to "supplement" his income. We also have a special needs trust set up as well as having all of our property in trust. We live comfortably, if frugally, though we have a good retirement income. We both collect social security. However, as government continues to erode we believe the likelihood of that ending is approaching. I put mine in the trust for our son for now. My husband and I have a summer garden that feeds us pretty well for about 5 months. We plan to expand it , canning more veggies as well as have a root cellar for wintering over squashes, apples, potatoes. Any surplus we give to local soup kitchen which we support monthly with a monetary donation. We buy all local things, including grass-fed beef, local chickens and eggs. And we are committed to eating healthy, being prescription drug free by finding natural ways to be healthy.........we walk, do weight-lifting in our basement, have no need for fancy memberships in anything. We live a pretty simple life and love it. Most of our entertainment is free or cheap. Been hooking up with other people in my area who are also committed to taking care of business at the local level. I've bookmarked The Rutherford Institute website and will continue following that as well as Lew Rockwell. Learning a lot these days and looking at ways I can become more involved with change or is it moving toward revolution? At a gut level I fear a civil war coming on, perhaps within the next 5 years. Also worry that there's going to be yet another "Pearl Harbor" or "9/11" in the near future. Just wanted you to know that I'm one of the more "well-off" retirees who isn't ready to settle for the status quo. I consider myself becoming a true patriot and probably going to be raising a bit of hell in my little corner of the world. Little by little people are waking up, John. When enough do, it will be like the 100th monkey syndrome. Regards, Carol D. Spring Grove, PA Hi John, I'm listening, and there are millions just like me that believe the politicians in both parties will destroy us and the American way of life. I too was surprised at how the media responded to Joe Stack. I sent his manifesto out to a lot of people and one lady sent back an email saying he was crazy. I asked her if that was she got out of the story and she said well the politicians are screwing us but what we can do. Some how we have got to convince people that there is a choice and that is to kick all the bastards out and start over. Your story is a good start don't stop writing. Thanks again, Darrel K. Paxico Kansas Greetings! I saw your essay at LRC.com. I don't argue your views about what the US has become, nor about the frustrations of many of us. But after reading Joe Stack's manifesto, I gotta say that the boy sure brought his troubles onto himself from his own lack of understanding of the realities which have been part and parcel of this country for quite a few decades, now. From his writing, there appears to have been little or no instance of objective thought or planning before his making some leap into a "whole new world". However, I don't see him as being unique. I fully expect to see parallel examples in the coming weeks and months. May not be as dramatic, but certainly likely to occur. Regards, Art E. Terlingua, Texas Dear Mr. Whitehead, I read your article "Is Joe Stack a wake-up call to America". I enjoyed reading it as it made me feel there are others out there who see things the way I do, however I do not believe there are enough of us listening to prevent the collapse of this once great nation. The sad thing is our system of education has been so poor for so long that we have produced a generation of citizens that live day to day without any sense that the world around them is a big lie. I realized back in the mid '90's that something was amiss. I was about thirty years of age at the time and worked on an equity trading desk. It became very obvious to me that nothing was really as it seemed in the world and especially in the financial world. I began a quest to try and understand what it was I felt but still could not but my finger on. At the time I was a very patriotic American who believed in authority whether it was a religious, government or private institution. I still had the belief that these institutions existed for the betterment of society as a whole and were for the most part honest in there undertakings. That belief would soon be crushed. What I discovered through much research is too long for this email and I am sure it would not be news or any surprise to you. I am writing because I wanted you to know I agree with all you wrote in your article but I have come to the conclusion it is too late for America. We as citizens have allowed our nation to be stolen from within just as many of our founding fathers had warned us it would be done. They have kept us busy and distracted trying to make ends meet while watching mindless events like OJ, Britney and now Tiger. They confused us with slick talking and promises they could never keep. They made it seem like you needed a PhD to understand finance when really all you need is a bit of common sense. They convinced us they were smarter and we should let them run things. We now find ourselves broke, in debt which is mathematically impossible to pay off, unskilled, uneducated and worst of all an immoral society that cares little about others. We are the Roman Empire on steroids. Capitalism has not existed in this nation for decades. We call it that to keep the illusion but it is not. Our system is a joint venture between government and large corporations, "fascism" is a better description. What could not be accomplished with arms they accomplished by infiltrating our institutions and changing laws while controlling the masses through the media. Hitler and Mussolini would be very proud of our ruling class. As a currency trader I have held many seminars over the years. I have told my clients that the wealth they think they have is nothing more than an illusion and that one day it will be taken away. For some, that day came back in 2008. For the rest of us it is merely a short time in the future. Our financial system has been DEAD since 2008. We are pumping counterfeit money ( which is really debt not money) into it to give the appearance it is still functioning. It is like pumping good blood into a corpse that has been lying in the street for weeks. That corpse is not coming back to life and neither is our financial system. The sooner it totally collapses the better it will be for the masses. That will be the wake up call which will result in a real and lasting change. Until that day we will continue down the road of being serfs to the ruling class and suffer while they party at our expense both financially and psychologically. But that day is coming quickly and they know it. Best Regards, Mike D Poughkeepsie, NY "I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can." - Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative. "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.""And now that the legislators and do gooders have futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems. And try liberty" Frederic Bastiat, 1850"Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants Thereof" --- Leviticus 25:10"Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito", Latin, which translated means "do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it." -- Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil) "It does not take a majority to prevail...but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." Samuel Adams"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was every invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin . Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them but leave them the power to create money, and with a flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again . Take this great power away from them and all great fortunes like mine will disappear, for then this would be a better and happier world to live in . But if you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit." Josiah Stamp, Pres: Bank of England, Britain's 2nd richest man, l927 (Search Billions for the Bankers)"The depression was the calculated 'shearing' of the public by the World Money powers, triggered by the planned sudden shortage of supply of call money in the New York money market....The One World Government leaders and their ever close bankers have now acquired full control of the money and credit machinery of the U.S. via the creation of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank." Curtis Dall, FDR's son-in-law as quoted in his book, My Exploited Father-in-Law. http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin491.htm "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life". --- John F. Kennedy James Madison, father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, instructed: "We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties," and elaborated, "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." Dear Mr. Whitehead, I recently read an article you penned about Joe Stack being a wake-up call to the establishment. One of the things Mr. Stack said before he ended his life and which you quote in your article is, "In my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say." I have a solution for this problem. A very simple solution. A solution that if more freedom loving Americans were to pursue, would devastate the government's ability to hold us underneath the heel of oppression. A PERFECT solution for much that ails us. And that solution is: Become a cop. Become an FBI Agent. Become a Secret Service Agent. Become a member of the BATF. Become a US Marshall. Become an IRS Agent. The cool thing about being a cop is that you get to determine which laws get enforced and which ones don't. A power called "officer discretion." If you are smart enough to pen a piece as erudite as the one I just read, I'm sure your mind is churning right now with the ramifications of what I have just said. If Joe stack really wanted to get back at the system, he could have become a cop. In doing so, the government would have spent thousands of dollars training him. Along the way, in addition to being the recipient of some fabulous training, he would have learned the identities and addresses of all of his co-workers and the management of the police department. Once turned loose as a fully fledged patrol officer, he could have then chosen not to enforce any of the laws that he disagreed with. Additionally, he would have displaced one other potential candidate from becoming an officer that would probably have enforced the laws the way too many cops do: strictly. As he worked within the law enforcement community, he could have found out the career path he would need to eventually lead him to a job with the IRS. Imagine how much more he could have accomplished as an employee of the IRS than he could as a victim of the IRS. One of the things that cops know is the names and, as importantly, the addresses of all of the important people in their jurisdiction. Imagine how useful that information would be if a freedom-loving cop were to later engage in civil disobedience. Another thing that cops know is how to commit civil disobedience i.e. crime in a very covert way for the skills of a cop and the skills of a criminal are very similar. Right now those that love freedom seem to hold law enforcement in contempt. What they should do is become law enforcement. Either those that love-freedom will enforcing the laws or those that are indifferent will. If you want to advance the cause of freedom, one way would be to pass this information along to those within your circle of influence. Sincerely, George C |
Archive June 2004July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010
|
||
 |
|||
| The Rutherford Institute P.O. Box
7482 Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482 Phone :: 434.978.3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern) | Fax :: 434.978.1789 General Inquiries:: staff@rutherford.org | Legal Assistance:: tristaff@rutherford.org Technical comments :: webmaster@rutherford.org ©2007 The Rutherford Institute | Privacy Info |
|||
