Monthly Archives: October 2016

Movie Review: America: From Freedom to Fascism (2006)

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Passionate call to action from leading-edge libertarian director Aaron Russo
Reviewed by Brian R. Wright

freedom_to_fascismReview originally posted, April 2007. — bw

Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes its laws. —  Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

The Constitution is just a goddam piece of paper.
— George Bush II

Today I come down to earth with commentary on Aaron Russo’s important documentary for resolving two peculiarly American precipitants of tyranny: the income tax and the Federal Reserve Act. Both of these confiscation-and-control mechanisms were set in place in the ominous year of 1913.

Note: This review was written originally in spring of 2007. Since 2003, with the publication of Peter Hendrickson’s Cracking the Code: The fascinating truth about taxation in America, steadily increasing numbers of people have come to understand that the federal income tax is NOT unconstitutional—namely, because income is very specifically defined in the statutes and code as an excise due to exercise of a federal privilege.

When I first wrote this review, neither the producer of the film nor I were aware of the ‘Hendrickson Discovery.’ Thus several of Russo’s observations about the tax while correct in spirit (if one uses the incorrect yet commonplace definition of income) are not correct in fact. Still, I have retained the wording from the original review.

[The fact is that a goodly part of the intent of those behind the 16th Amendment was to obfuscate the reality of the income tax as solely applying to payments or property rendered to an individual from the federal government. IOW, these tax advocates did want—via subterfuge and deception—the people to come to believe that their non-federal direct earnings were subject to the tax.] Continue reading →

Guest Column: Roots of the Grand Jury

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If it’s not a runaway, it’s not a real grand jury
Roger Roots[1][excerpt from his Constitution Society column here]

constitution_societyI. INTRODUCTION

The doings of American grand juries are notoriously misunderstood and unknown by most sectors of the public.[1] Generally, the grand jury process escapes obscurity only when indictments are made public and when, for whatever reason, grand jury “leaks” are disclosed in the news media.[2] In theory, the grand jury is supposed to act as a check on the government — a people’s watchdog against arbitrary and malevolent prosecutions.[3] By and large, however, federal grand juries rarely challenge federal prosecutors.

Today, critics are nearly unanimous in describing the alleged oversight function of modern grand juries as essentially a tragic sham.[4] The Framers of the Bill of Rights would scarcely recognize a grand jury upon seeing the modern version conduct business in a federal courthouse.[5] In modern federal grand jury proceedings, the government attorney is clearly in charge and government agents may outnumber the witnesses by six-to-one.[6]

A “runaway” grand jury, loosely defined as a grand jury which resists the accusatory choices of a government prosecutor, has been virtually eliminated by modern criminal procedure. Today’s “runaway” grand jury is in fact the common law grand jury of the past. Prior to the emergence of governmental prosecution as the standard model of American criminal justice, all grand juries were in fact “runaways,” according to the definition of modern times; they operated as completely independent, self-directing bodies of inquisitors, with power to pursue unlawful conduct to its very source, including the government itself.[7] Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: The Justice Action Movement

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… Let’s ring the bell for true people’s independent grand juries

101109_liberty_bellNote: The following post started out as a letter to friends of liberty, where I express my deep  frustration at always being on the defensive in our struggle against those who aim to commit tyranny upon us. I believe there is a better way, and that we have the seeds for an effective political method to put all would-be tyrants—federal, state, and local—in a corner and relentlessly pound them into fine dust.  — bw

Every day if you’re an average freedom activist, you get inundated with requests from various organizations to stop the government from committing one crime against First Principles or another. Federal, state, local.  Or to elect this one or that one, sign this petition or that one, you get the picture. And the crimes keep getting more and more severe: consider the recent CDC rule proposal that would forcibly detain, isolate, vaccinate, and quarantine any individual for ‘public health’ reasons.

The point is that the government(s) just keeps on committing (legislative-executive-judiciary, treasonous) crimes and lies and we the people are stuck in a mode of simply reacting. They act, with the immense resources at their disposal. And we REact, with about three people who really care and have time to spare after dealing with all the other government crimes and just trying to put food on the table. Think about that for a minute: you’re in a boxing match and instead of throwing punches you simply react to the punches being thrown by your adversary—duck, parry, rope a dope, run into the corner, etc.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS SORRY-ASS PICTURE, PEOPLE? WE ARE PLAYING THEIR GAME, WE ARE FALLING INTO THEIR TRAP (OF CONSTANTLY PUTTING OUT THOUSANDS OF FIRES THAT THEY SIMPLY INITIATE ON THEIR CRONY-CAPITALIST OR TAXPAYER-FUNDED WHIMS), AND WE ARE LOSING ON ALL FRONTS! Continue reading →

Book Review: Rebooting and Revival of Our Republic (2016)

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Ideas for remediating an NFG system
by Brendan Kelly (2106 1st CD candidate for Congress–IND, New Hampshire)

brendan_kellyThis is a nicely composed and formatted missive by a longtime resident and gadfly of the Free State, Mr. Brendan Kelly, whom I know from my former ‘early mover’ days (2005-2007) in that beautiful ever-liberty-hopeful state of New Hampshire. He and I did not hook up so much in the days I was there, but have stayed in touch as fellow authors who feel compelled to lend our weights to the the country’s conversation of ‘Live Free or… well, just wander off and not make a fuss, letting the pods and podmasters have their way with us.’

What Brendan is to me is living, breathing proof that people of quite different philosophic origins/directions can be so one-minded—or is it one-souled—when it comes to what kind of country we want to share. Indeed, Mr. Kelly has been extremely generous in his praise of my own recent novel, The Truman  Prophecy, which extols the virtues of independent consciousness consistent with my days as an Ayn Rand super fan. Although I’ve mellowed with some Eckhart Tolle spirituality (The Power of Now) since then, I don’t regard any mainstream world religion as good for what ails our species. Especially, Christianity.

Brendan on the other hand is a devout churchgoing, bible-reading Christian. His faith means everything to him, yet, unlike many who turn to God, Brendan is fine with letting each of us go his own way so long as we hold to the nonaggression principle. Here’s a view showing his practical, humanitarian side: Continue reading →

Movie Review: Wag the Dog (1997)

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Wag the Dog ____ 8/10
Only the role of the CIA rings doubtful

wag_the_dogBy that I mean, in real life, were the president to try to spin favorable poll numbers by creating a phony war in the media, the CIA would be in the loop.  Indeed, the CIA would be the loop.

[Note: this is a timely reposting of my review from August 2007. Nearly 10 years have passed since the original review and nearly 20 years since the movie’s premier. For anyone who doubts that the media today conveys a manufactured reality 24/7/365, please watch this film… and be prepared to cringe in reluctant acknowledgment.]

That’s the fascinating premise of this decade-old, Clinton-era satire of what the rich and powerful friends of the president can do these days if the president gets in trouble.  In the movie the Clinton-like POTUS (President of the United States) is accused of enticing an underage “Firefly Girl” (a Girl Scout analog) into a room in the White House and taking unspecified liberties there.

The president is up for reelection within two weeks and the media is already beginning to home in on the indiscretion.  His opponent has ads playing Maurice Chevalier’s “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”  His handlers know he’s in deep trouble and they need to generate a smokescreen to deflect all the attention from the voters.

Presidential aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) locates seasoned political spin-doctor Conrad Brean, who accompanies her to a White House basement skunk works and begins to work out a plan:  Let the President stay in China for a few more days, have the White House press spokesman start denying the existence of a bomber which does not exist, then create a threat from a small country no one knows much about: Albania. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Comment NOW! on New Michigan ‘Smart’ Meter Rules

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New State Rules Will Force You into Orwellian Hell!
by Shane Trejo [from column for Michigan Tenth Amendment Center]

smart_meters_take_backFriends,

I have some troubling new information to report about Smart Meters. Unaccountable bureaucrats have cooked up some new rules that will limit consumer choices to maximize profits for the utility companies. This is another example of public-private collusion that has made our state government a national laughingstock.

I was able talk to Lori Ebaugh, an expert on the topic of Smart Meters. She was able to give me the run-down on the topic, along with some action steps on what you can do to fight back.

What are the most troubling aspects of these new proposed rule changes?

There are several troubling aspects of these rules. First, there was no input elicited from actual consumers or the public until now, although work has been on-going to rewrite these rules for over two years. Secondly, these rules cement the supposed right of the utilities to shut power off from customers who refuse installation of a new AMI (“smart”) meter. Thirdly, there is no provision made for customers who refuse a smart meter for medical reasons. These people may have doctor’s letters verifying their health conditions, electromagnetic sensitivity or cancer susceptibility. They may require electrical power for their medical equipment (for instance, breathing machines). Yet, there is no provision for them to keep their analog meter. In fact, there is not even the provision to delay a power shut-off for any length of time. Compare that to the extensive provisions given to customers who risk a power shut-off in cases of non-payment. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: While the Would-Be Emperors are Diddlin’

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… Syria is about to blow up

syriaAnd there’s nothing either the Donald’s people or the Hillary’s people are going to do about it. If anything, especially Clinton, they want to throw fuel on the fire. Here’s Paul Craig Roberts (PCRs) column “If Trump Were Sexually Interested In Men, It Would Be Politically Incorrect To Say Anything About It.” And an important passage from his guest columnist, Stephen Lendman:

“Tireless Russian good faith efforts [for peace and cease fire in Syria] failed because Washington and its rogue allies want war, not peace, Syrian sovereign independence destroyed, not preserved, US-led Western puppet governance replacing democratic rule.

“Syrian UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari bluntly explained blocking Russia’s responsible resolution “confirms for the hundredth time that those who stood against it have no political will to fight against terrorism…to achieve inter-Syrian settlement.”

“Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, current Security Council president, called Saturday’s session “one of the most bizarre…in (SC) history” – two dueling resolutions proposed, knowing neither would be adopted. Continue reading →