Admission of Guilt

"The Defense Department, responding to a 2004 Freedom of Information Act request, released the text of a 2003 memo that provided the legal rationale for military interrogators to use harsh tactics in questioning terrorist suspects detained outside the U.S. (Reuters) The 81-page memo, written by Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, argues that the president, as commander in chief, is not bound by statutes banning torture and other interrogation techniques. The memo was rescinded less than a year after its recommendations were enacted." Source The ‘blueprint’ for Abu Ghraib?

We will hunt these criminals for the rest of their lives! Their names will be as reviled as Hitler's. Neocons will become synonymous with Nazis.

Our country, founded on the principles of liberty and independence, is no longer our country, but instead has been hijacked by a group of businessmen and businessmen who play politicians who trample over our civil liberties and sell our independence to the highest bidder, both foreign or domestic. Today, corporations, not the people, write our laws and leave the needs of the nation to waste while money is spent for bombs and bullets and concentration camps. Under the last two administrations, which were stolen wantonly and openly by the hijackers, Americans have seen their retirements funds stolen, the nation's treasure pillaged, their jobs outsourced, their infrustructure dismantled, and their country plunged into a never-ending war crafted by Machiavellian-Neocon minds controlling the White House. Congress, beholden to these interests, have shirked their duties to represent the people and have colluded with the hijackers by passing unconstitutional laws like the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the John Warren Defense Appropriation Act, and countless others laws that will further erode our liberties and freedoms.

Isn't tax resistance the least we could do in light of all these injustices? When do we start expressing outrage (as well as freedom and bravery) by stopping the blood money spigot which is financing this rogue state? Just when do we decide to pull the plug on this illegal war that we were lied into and that has already killed over a million people? Just when do we stop paying our legislators who are actively working to destroy the U.S. Constitution? Just when do we stop funneling our tax dollars to be used to build concentration camps here in the United States for our own enslavement? Just when do we stop aiding and abetting torture?

At what point do we say enough is enough!?

These are the moral arguments to not pay federal taxes, but, for those of you who are worried that you are breaking the law by not paying the feds, rest assured that the very law itself says that you have no legal obligation to pay if you know that these money will be spent in the commission of a crime.

For instance, if you know that the government is breaking domestic and international law, and we have ample proof that they are, see: "Summary of International and U.S. Law Prohibiting Torture and Other Ill-treatment of Persons in Custody"; "US War Crimes During the Gulf War," by Francis Boyle ; "A Chronology of US War Crimes & Torture, 1975-2005" it is incumbent upon you to resist these crimes by refusing to finance them because, according to U.S. law, if you don't, you will be considered criminal liability and subject to prosecution.

According to our legal system when a person kills someone in the process of committing a crime, his accomplice (who wasn't directly involved in the killing) would be just as guilty as his partner who pulled the trigger. It doesn't matter that the accomplice didn't actually do the killing or that he might have objected to the use of such violence, to the U.S. legal system he is just as liable for murder as his partner and would be charged with 1st or 2nd degree murder.

Here is the definition of an "accomplice" in the legal dictionary:

"One who knowingly, voluntarily, and with common intent unites with the principal offender in the commission of a crime. One who is in some way concerned or associated in commission of crime; partaker of guilt; one who aids or assists, or is an Accessory. One who is guilty of complicity in crime charged, either by being present and aiding or abetting in it, or having advised and encouraged it, though absent from place when it was committed, though mere presence, Acquiescence, or silence, in the absence of a duty to act, is not enough, no matter how reprehensible it may be, to constitute one an accomplice. One is liable as an accomplice to the crime of another if he or she gave assistance or encouragement or failed to perform a legal duty to prevent it with the intent thereby to promote or facilitate commission of the crime."

-- The Legal Dictionary

I don't think it gets anymore explicit than that. The law is unambiguous: If you knowingly give assistance or encouragement or failed to perform a legal duty to prevent the commission of a crime you are liable as an accomplice to that crime. So, when we send Federal taxes off to the state and and we know the money will be used on an illegal war and to pay torturers, and to destroy our Constitution, we are breaking the law and can be held accountable.

Once again, the law is unambiguous, you would be breaking the law by being an accomplice to a crime by paying your federal taxes.

Now, many tax resisters are using various constituional arguments to not pay taxes. Some use the excuse that the 16th Amendment was never ratified, therefore, it is null and void; others say that tax laws only stipulate paying taxes made on certain profits, but not on income derived from labor. There may be some validity to these argument but I believe that we need to take a moral stance similar to what Henry David Thoreau would have advocated in "Civil Disobedience." It's one thing to say that taxes are wrong because it wasn't codified or was misused in a legal document, and another to say that taxes are wrong because they are being used to commit morally reprehensible and illegal acts.

The added bonus to this moral/legal argument is that it is unimpeachable in its logic: One doesn't have to be a tax law/Constitution scholar to argue the "accomplice to a crime" defense.

Please obey the law and refuse to be an accomplice to a crime. Stop paying your federal taxes.

What is this "IRAQ WAR" charge on my bill?

Let's hear from the troops.



What do the people have to day?

How Democracy is Destroyed

Naomi Wolf speaks



She presents a list of things that have been done in other societies to usher in dictatorial or tyrannical governments. It's remarkable how many of these things are happening in our society today.

She had a concluding message that was rather powerful. Rather than dilute the message I would refer you to time index 42:14. The whole presentation was interesting; the last five minutes are profound.

For those of you that enjoyed her speech here is an interview that Naomi held



Naomi made another point that is worth while considering. At one point those of us that are being outspoken, stop. We self sensor. We already see the use of force to coerce people, we already see people being 'disappeared'. At what point do we look at the swing towards fascism and say it is better to focus on individual safety and stop speaking out? If you were a Buddhist in Burma would you still be protesting, now?

Naomi mentioned this web site when asked what people could do to try and stop this slide. http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/

Here is an excerpt from Michael Badnarik's constitution class:

Ralph Nader: "Things are a lot worse than we thought!"

Powerful word from Ramsey Clark former Attorney General

It Happened in New Orleans

What laws restrict your freedom?

LET THE TRUTH RING OUT!

What did Dick Cheney think of invading Iraq in 1994?

Surprising evaluation of the options from one of the men that lead us into this war.

54% of Americans want Cheney impeached.

Here's the link for you to see for yourself. 54% of Americans want Cheney impeached.

I received an email that asked me to do two things.

1) Phone Chairman Conyers at 202-225-5126 and ask him to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney;

2) Phone your own Congress Member at 202-224-3121 and ask them to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney;


Being a bit of a keener I thought I'd add a third action of posting those numbers so everyone else can do the same thing.