Standardized Sheeple Syndrome (SSS)

I have posted this video before, on Facebook, but I've not, as yet, found good reason to share it here, on my blog, except that it's just freakin' cool.  Well America, t'would seem that there is finally just cause to present what could be my very favorite video on taxes, and why you don't have to, nor should you pay them.

The other day, I was tagged by a guy who was simply shouting out "Stop Paying Your Taxes!"...and that was pretty much it.  I sat and thought about that for a while.

Oh, make no mistake, I agree with the guy.  But just like women across America shouting "Death to Trump", and nothing else, I just can't leap onto such a bold statement without some pretty damn good reasons to back it up.  So please bear with me, while I give you some damn good reasons.

For one, you can't NOT pay any taxes for a number of reasons.  For one, where gas, fast food, etc. are concerned, oftentimes, the taxes are bundled in.  What are you gonna do, walk into a McD's and say "Gimme just the burger, and tell me what it is without the tax on it; that's all I'm going to pay", or gas up at the pump and just get the un-taxed gas?  Impossible.

You wanna mess up the Government, both State and Federal?  I give you two viable ways, that make a lot more sense, go a lot quicker, and that are a whole lot easier.

1.  Don't file tax returns, and

2.  Don't drive.

Let's start with number 1.  Now, Standardized Sheeple Syndrome; a debilitating disease that affects the way the majority of Americans everywhere think; dictates that if we don't file our taxes, the Government is going to swoop down on us and wipe us out and take everything we have to get the bill paid.  Trust me when I say that you have all been suffering from SSS for far too long if you believe this (see video).  This is primarily untrue for a couple of reasons.

1.  The majority of Americans do not have to pay taxes.  We file to get returns.

2.  The Government simply does not have the manpower to enforce this.  If it ever had to enforce it, let alone on EVERYONE, by the time they got to all of us, a couple of decades would have gone by.

There's a problem that a lot of you probably haven't realized about State and Federal tax returns of late.  I strongly suggest that you first peruse this article that I wrote a year or better back, about how the Government, both state and Federal, has now taken on the role of "Bill Collector" for Government RELATED debts.  On a federal level, if you owe any bill (school loans, etc) to a federally AFFILIATED function, they will remove the debt from your returns, something I don't believe they have a right to do.  On the State level, the State now takes moneys that you owe the City and County you reside in.  As if we don't pay them enough to torture us by charging us taxes on the income we bring in, sometimes as much as half of it, now they're collecting on our debts too?  Come on, what's next...our utility bills?  Credit card debt?  Don't you dare doubt it for a moment.  You can find that article here, it's a hell of a thought provoker:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2014/07/corruption-part-iv-collection-agency.html

When I thought about the fact that the Federal Government, who merely SPONSORS banks to loan students money for school and school supplies (the Government USED to do this, but, like everything else, decided instead to dole the privelege out to greedy private banks; like we haven't done enough for them already, right?),  but instead rips students off with unreasonably high interest loans...(you ready for this baby boomers?  5%...per month...per one hundred dollars loaned.)

Let's take a look at $10,000 in loans for just a 4 year period.  I borrowed this in the first semester alone.  Let's say you take this amount in the first semester of school, and pay for the rest.  After 4 years of non-payment, that comes out to  $500 a month...for 12 months...times 4 years...a whopping $24,000...IN INTEREST ALONE!  You think for one minute I'm going to pay that at the end of the day?  Sure they presented that on the day of signing...but what college-aged student is going to do the math?  I mean, this is FICA...they wouldn't do us like that right?  SSS at work.  Grants are the only way the Government contributes to our education these days.  The rest is a rip off.  Oh, but they'll stand behind these banks in a second, and take it out of your tax return to cover the bank's butt.  Nice.  Oh, I agree.  Stop FILING your federal taxes.  Quit supporting private banks.

On the state level, I came up with a damn good reason not to pay your state taxes, and screw them all up at the same time, the aforementioned #2 - stop driving.

Last night, I was talking to my friend Alyse Thrush, who has been through some real Hell herself, and beings it was like 5 in the morning, and I was barely awake, and answering something she had asked.  I'll bet she's sorry she asked.  I responded with quite the ordeal.  I was led from there to write this article, matter o' factly.

She asked me a rather simple question really..."Why do you walk around?"  A loaded question, of course...especially where I'm concerned.

I said it like this.  I haven't driven in Iowa since 2010.  They started suspending my license for various reasons; non-payment of Child Support (thanks again, DHS...oh, and by the way, that is ALL PAID OFF NOW), and non-payment of parking or speeding tickets...and every time, I'd have to pay them $200 to re-instate it, and test AGAIN to get it back,  Let's not even discuss the fact that half the time, I wouldn't know it was even suspended, at least not until I got pulled over.  I wonder who thought of that wonderful way of handling the non-payment of your county and city debts?  I just wanna stick hot pokers up his/her nasal cavities.

Finally, on the last suspension, I decided to take a 2 year haitus from driving in my favorite state.  They want my money?  They'd have to come to my door and try and take it from me.  In the meantime, I'll take mass transit, thank you.

Then, in 2014, after my daughter was stolen from us, I woke up to just how much money I was paying Iowa concerning my right (they call it a privilege) to drive (travel) and I swore I'd never drive again, as long as I lived there.  Then this occurred to me:

Surely, as much money as we pay the local, county and state Government to drive (buying the car initially and paying the taxes on it, even AFTER it's ours, free and clear; registrations, titles, plates, insurances, unavoidable gas taxes, license fees, driving classes, renewal fees, reinstatement fees, SR-22 insurance, driving tests, CDL testing and licensing fees, etc.), you just gotta know all that money we pay for all of this simply doesn't only go to pay the employees of the DMV.  I'm sure that part of that goes to none other than paying the state to do other things...like stealing our children, or prosecuting us incessantly.

You have to consider this:  The state is, under no circumstances, going to tell Iowa's (or any other state's) citizens that they need a million dollars so that we can pay social workers to remove children from bad...or good homes; nor are they going to tell them that they need to pay the County Attorney's office to wrongfully prosecute thousands of state citizens until they win, using your taxes.  No, they need to be a bit more subversive than that.  They'll do it anyway...but they'll just take the money from other revenues...like all the money that the State makes from us owning and driving cars.

Now THERE'S something to think about, eh? Personally?  I'm tired of paying the State and Federal Government to do crooked and corrupt things to me.  Now that's a good reason to stop paying your taxes, and to stop driving and start taking the bus if naught else, right?  :D

Legislative Proposals...the New Breed

Who knew?  The Mighty Sword now writes Legislative Proposals...but not like you politicians have been known to...not all filled with legal gobbledy-gook, boring passages and hard to read/understand language.  No, here, you'll see something that you rarely see in a congressional document...common-sense.  Will it work?  Hard to say...but I think we may see a new trend on how we, the standard sheep, deals with our government (and they with us), using good ol' fashioned street smarts and EASY TO UNDERSTAND terminology...not the other-worldly secret language Governmental Legislators use.

So...here it is, Mr. Living Man's first proposal to get rid of the law that stops us from having and taking care of our children, as God intended (TAKE THAT CRIMINALS...hehe).  Now it's time to get rid of that pesky Confidentiality dealy, and the biggy....immunity to prosecution.

Proposal for Legislation to have all Juvenile Hearings Recorded Using Modern Technology, for Accurate Records

In the current Iowa Code, Vol. III, Chapter 232, Concerning Juvenile Justice, §232.41, you’ll note that it currently states:

“232.41 Reporter required.

Stenographic notes or mechanical or electronic recordings shall be taken of all court

hearings held pursuant to this division unless waived by the parties. The child shall not be

competent to waive the reporting requirement, but waiver may be made for the child by the

child’s counsel or guardian ad litem. Matters which must be reported under the provisions

of this section shall be reported in the same manner as required in section 624.9.”

First of all, it clearly states that ALL processes are available...but in the district court (at least in MY hearings), no recordings were discussed, offered, nor mentioned. Later, when you ask for “recordings” from the clerk of court office, you’re told that recordings are NOT made in juvenile matters...only transcripts are made, and produced and entered only after the party pays the transcriber (not the court) $3.50/page.

Also provided by the Iowa Judicial Branch, there is a paper that you can fill out to get actual recordings of your hearings; including, quite obviously, juvenile, as shown below. Note that there is no misunderstanding that we are talking about actual DIGITAL RECORDINGS here:

Let it be known that, when I took this into the Polk County Clerk’s Office, Randy Osborn (The Clerk of Polk County Clerk) himself came to tell me that they don’t make recordings of juvenile hearings, only transcriptions. I then asked him to sign this paper, stating just that, and he refused to sign it, or give me the recordings...only offering the transcripts; and only if I paid $3.50 a page to the transcribers:

Mr. Osborn refused to sign this affidavit, for obvious reasons. There are most certainly recordings made of these hearings (the transcriber herself should, if nothing else, make a recording in case something happens to her machine, or there is an emergency), and shouldn’t a recording be made anyway, in case of foul play in our judiciary?

Obviously, paper transcripts of juvenile hearings (or any hearings, for that matter) are NOT an “accurate record”...of anything; for the following reasons:

1. No matter how good a court reporter may be, their training could in no way prepare them to differentiate as many as 10 different speaking voices, especially if 3 or 4 of them were talking at once. The transcriber may be familiar with the regular players of these hearings, but couldn’t possibly continually pinpoint the voices of those she does not know, such as the parents, or

others that are not regularly in attendance.

2. That there are way too many different meanings of words. How does a transcriber differentiate

between the words “There, Their and They’re” for instance, let alone its context? This is just

one of 1000’s of examples of words that could be heard incorrectly, or taken out of context.

3. I don’t care how you slice it, when given the means to do the wrong thing, some people take that road, just as sometimes when you elect an official, there is no absolute guarantee that, if given the opportunity, they won’t do wrong. If such an official (judge, county attorney, GAL, etc.) were to be involved in something untoward, and had the shroud of confidentiality (no one can look into a juvenile case until it’s over, the parental rights are ALREADY terminated, the child/children are already gone, you get the picture...isn’t more than a little convenient for those removing/adopting out the children and terminating parental rights?) to help keep the lid on things; and immunity from prosecution, isn’t it more important now than ever that ACCURATE and double assurance that the right thing is being done be in place? Let’s say this/these officials wanted to cover up what had been done in a court hearing. With no recorded version available to the public OR the parties involved, it’s not unthinkable that these officials could just toss what was transcribed into the trash and “transcribe” something more to their liking. As much as we don’t like to admit it, the law is sometimes subverted, and sometimes we put the wrong people into office.

The proposed legislation should read thusly:

“232.41 Recordings required.

Stenographic notes as well as mechanical or electronic recordings shall be taken of all court

hearings held pursuant to this division unless waived by all of the parties. The child shall not be

competent to waive the reporting requirement, but waiver may be made for the child by the

child’s counsel or guardian ad litem. Recordings of all hearings shall be made available to the involved parties for as long as 2 years, and shall cost no more than is normal for such a recording to be made.

Author’s Addendum:

I in no way intended to make this personal, (and believe me, it is NOT JUST personal...there are 1000’s of Iowa parents, over 1800 a month in Iowa, from what I gather, who go through the same thing we had to), but I will state this: If there had been recordings of what happened in our court hearings available to us, the parties, we would not only still have our child, we would have seen a judge, 1 Polk County Attorney, 2 Asst. Polk County Attorneys, some DHS employees, a CFI worker and a GAL go to jail. The things they got away with in our hearings were incorrigible, and completely covered up...by confidentiality and immunity...and by the fact that no recordings were, supposedly, made of these hearings, nor are any “available” to the parties. We, the wrongfully terminated parents, beg the house and the senate to pass this legislation as quickly as possible to protect all involved...the parents, and especially, the children.

America's DEADLIEST Sin (Greed, Revisited)

Well, America, I think my love affair with our great nation has reached a new low.  I can only keep saying "Wow", when I think about this...

What is America's favorite and most deadly sin again?  You'd think it was corruption in government, wouldn't you?  Nope.  Corruption stems from THIS original deadly sin...yes, I'm talking again about none other than good ol' fashioned American Greed, in all its lovely glory.  Please see my OTHER 2 articles about this here:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2014/04/day-7-greed.html

and here:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-original-7-deadly-sins-3-part-i.html

So, I'm sitting in a McDonalds in......no wait, I can't say that!  Almost messed up...anyway, a Mr. Paul Noyes is there, filling out an application for work, and as its just me and he in the room, he shouts this out as I'm packing up to leave McD's..."Well, at least here they don't charge you for applications, like they do in Washington State"...and I have a mini-brain-conniption.  WHAAAAAAAAAA?  ARE YOU SERIOUS??  Now they charge people to apply for jobs, $.50 to $1 per app??  Unfreakin'believable.  Every time I think we've reached the highest possible level of greed, America shocks me again.

I remember having the very same conniption when I came to understand that apartment complexes (and, because of this, house owners renting apartments as well) started charging you $25-$100 to apply to live in their apartments.  This was quite bad enough.  I mean, come on...these folks are going to be over-paid by you to live in their crappy little hovels as it is...now you're going to pay them to process an application to accept you so that you can over-pay them?  I tell the better portion of these people to kiss mah grits, and hunt down those who haven't as yet fallen into this stupidity.  Worse yet, you people are paying these fees...which, of course, not unlike most things we sheep shut up and pay, is standard brainwashed behavior.  If we would just open up our mouths and speak our minds, this would have never become the standard it is.

But no, this couldn't be enough.  Now you want us to pay you to apply to work for you TOO???   If this becomes a national standard guys, I'm giving up on America for good.  DON'T YOU DARE PAY THESE GREEDY LITTLE BASTARDS!!!!  Call your legislators, that takes up around the time it takes to pay these morons and fill out the application.  Go down to the state capitol building, and ask them to pass legislation against this crap!  Granted, I just learned you were able to do this sorta thing...but better late than never!

This is just the sorta thing that makes this country notorious for idiocy, and should NOT BE TOLERATED, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

What Have We Here? - Part 1

Guess Who, America?  Yeah...it's me again.

Just wanted to fill you in on a few things.  For one, it's important to mention that I am well out of reach of the state of Iowa...so sad for them.  For two, my NCO's against the two biggie social workers in my life, Katie Gosch and Emily Nieman, are both lifted....so sad for them, as well.  For three, a big moment is coming up, as I'll be posting all the paperwork filed in ALL of my cases...both federal AND state, and will carry full commentary.  Included will be the remainder of all of the confidential paperwork in the Supreme Court Appeal to the juvenile cases, where they so OBVIOUSLY covered for all of the district level criminals, and upheld their decision to terminate our rights, even though DHS's own director cleared us of all charges, expunged our records, and removed us from the abuse registry in our Child Protective Assessment Appeal(s).  Also included will be ALL of the criminal cases that they've brought against me; since they decided that too many people were seeing (and reading about) what they were doing, and opted to jail me to shut me up, for pretty much any reason they could muster.  Here, you'll also see clearly how they CHEATED in order to win out.

Also forthcoming will be a HUGE and drawn out article concerning how the people of Iowa are continuously and wrongfully arrested for stupid little crimes, then made career criminals utilizing a money generating scheme that fully targets the homeless and the poor, and those without the where-with-all to afford attorneys.  Here we will be covering a MAJORITY of Iowa's criminal code (thank you Drake Law Library, for giving me the COMPLETE Iowa 2015 code books FREE so that I could accomplish this), and explaining how certain people are made into "Habitual Offenders", utilizing criminal code that 90% of Iowa's citizens don't know about, or had anything to do with passing.

Remember also that all things personal, concerning the ongoing and seemingly NEVER-ENDING war with the State of Iowa will be, around March 1st (the resurrection date for the podcast), going only here, on the following site:

(Blog Name):  Iowa, and More Importantly, Des Moines, Iowa

http://desmoinesandiowathevenusflytrap.blogspot.com

There is one final thing I wanted to address.  To the idiot who continues to read, then comment on my posts with completely unsubstantiated moronic drivel...(cough, cough, whoever that idiot happens to be THAT ONE LURKER), your comments are no longer read, most certainly no longer published, and simply deleted immediately on sight...so why bother?  Rest assured that you are most certainly wasting valuable kinetic energy that you could be expending elsewhere.   That you continue to comment is no skin off my neck...it only takes a mouse click or two to delete your stupid ramblings, and only CONTINUES to prove to me that you have little better to do with your life.  No matter...I'll say it again, what you comment is ineffectual to me, and certainly does nothing to or for my readers either, considering they never see what little to less than nothing of what you have to say.  To the fans out there that REALLY have something to say, keep saying it...when I see YOUR comments, they get published immediately...regardless of what you have to say.  I love you all...and at least, you have constructive and legitimate things to comment about my articles.  Someday when this mentally retarded person finally realizes the futility of trying to comment negatively, I may allow comments to be instant again.  Until then, I apologize for having to moderate.

What fun we're gonna have, eh?  Let's get this pahty ROLLIN'  :D

One More Below the Belt

Hey kids....been a while, it has, it has, and, well, with all the fuss about the site lately, I felt it was time to write another post to keep you abreast of the happenings.

Today was a rather productive kinda day, and I figured I'd best share it with the State of Iowa.  That particular state is due to be a rather unpleasant and duly distant memory in just 2 short days now...and don't think for even one minute I'll be upset about it either.  But before I left, well, FOREVER, I figured I wasn't done taking a last poke at those of the "BBL."  Thanks, by the way, go out to my good friends Melissa Martin (a fellow podcaster, and a damn good looking one to boot) and Jodi Mueller of "Parental Alienation" fame.  If it wouldn't have been for them, I mighta missed the whole kitten kaboodle.  Now, even though I promised myself that I wouldn't put them as the head photo to the article, this doesn't mean I'm gonna be Mr. Swell and leave them out in the cold either (where I'm certain both of them would much rather be) so here's my tribute...(sorry ladies, I just HADDA do it):

From left to right:  C. Bruce, Mrs. Zombie, Jodi M., Mr. Zombie, Melissa M.

Wait...hold it....now rewind...fuss about the site?  OK, Let's start there.  Now, here's a killer for ya....it took me two long years of publishing articles (most of my jail time doesn't count) to get to 100,000 hits on ADS...and I was damn proud of that too, make no mistake.  But here's the kicker, you ready?  From August (when it rolled over) until the end of December, I was rotting away in jail; and during this time, I published nary an article...but ADS picked up 26,000 hits in just 4 months.  This leads me to believe that, finally, the right people are taking a look.  Remember, there was only a single incentive to look at the blog, and that incentive was SOLELY the fact that I filed federal court complaints, and at the end of each and every section, it stated only this:  "For more information, see "America's Deadly Sins" (the blog).  Kinda makes me feel all gushy inside....finally, SOMEONE CARES!

2nd, today was a special day, when these two warrior women came to Des Moines to help fight the good fight at the Iowa State Capitol.  Of course, I couldn't resist.  I jumped on the first high-speed mass transit vehicle and wormed my way over to see what damage I could do.  And, I do believe my near-psychic ability about people worked in my favor.

I went to the "Find Your Legislator" section of the Iowa Legislator's website, and picked 4 names out of a hat, based solely on a hunch.  Out of those 4, 2 were dead on bulls-eyes.

I won't give out their names (we certainly wouldn't want DHS and the enemy laying it on 'em thick to lay low), but one agreed to introduce legislation to get proper code concerning making recordings of juvenile hearings (no more relying solely on transcripts, which they are currently charging $3.50 a page for, and don't even get put into the record officially unless you DO pay them to do so; and can be fabricated and forged easily for fraud purposes)...if I wrote up the proposal.  I naturally jumped on that, with a vengeance.  There was also mention made of the possibility to consider introducing confidentiality and immunity changes....but let's not jump too high.  I'm willing to forego those for now in favor of getting the recordings made; for those about to endure the taking of their children in the future.  Had I had that luxury, we'd still have our daughter.

The other legislator had evidently (as well as obviously) heard our kind of stories before, and showed true and massive concern for what we had endured in our cases...and promised to look into it with utter sincerity.  I think, just with  these two (especially after they get an oogle at the blog, which I kindly shoved down their throats), there's hope kindled anew.  Again, I'd like to thank Jodi and Melissa for giving me the opportunity to hopefully make a difference for my FORMER state of Iowa.

Finally, to the two legislators out there, who are probably reading this right about now?  Thank you for your time.  I hope this opens your eyes to what horrors are plaguing those of Iowa, and have been for some time.  Thank you for caring  :D

*********************************************************************************************************

Author's Note  (One more even further below the belt), a final goodbye to Iowa, and to the criminals of the "BBL":

Gee....I'm so sorry about Nancy Elscott and Kyle Thies' new found fame, but hey, all's fair in love in war....right?  So sorry I'll be out of your reach now, and equally sorry that I no longer own the number that your detective (who has ABSOLUTELY no reason to be calling) keeps calling.  No crime was committed...(not that there ever was a crime committed previously)...just flexing the ol' "Freedom of speech" rights.  Your little "warnings" are hardly needed (the damage is surely done...and, unlike the "Domestic Terrorist" article you fed the Register, not a word is libelous); I won't be talking to a single Iowa resident again...unless they're TIGHT friends that I've known for decades...and they know the secret handshake - or, unless they're going to be at the losing end of the myriad of lawsuits I intend to file...if they haven't been filed already.  I think it's only fair to say goodbye to all the criminals, just one last time...and to remind them that their day is coming...this time on the FED level, since it is my utmost promise that the fee for my case against Polk County will be my FIRST priority...even before eating or living.

2nd, and finally, I'd like to speak a special adios to the biggest criminal in the Polk County area, John P. Sarcone...I will not rest, my friend, until you see jail for all that you have done.  Your Hell on Earth will be personally serviced you by none other than me.  I will shout your name until the Earth stands still and justice is done.  Rot in that Hell when you arrive there, and don't forget who it was that finally managed to put you there.

Before you...or Linda get froggy and decide to jump out to try and catch me before I leave, I have no discernible address that you'll be able to find me at, at this time.  There's an address on file, in both the DMV and my court papers...but I'm staying at neither one...so don't waste your time.  NO ONE knows where I'm staying...not even my wife; and I intend to keep it that way for 2 more days.

Call the Secret Service on me...I'm sure they'll remember the last time you cried "Wolf", and won't be so quick to hunt me down...and call the FBI offices (you've called how many now?  10?  12?)  Not a single agent has ever been to my door, nor do they appear to be going through my emails anymore, are not hooked up to my NEW computer, nor do they seem to be logging in behind me on Facebook.  Looks like the case is CLOSED.  Too bad...so sad...for YOU!

The Fed Funny Farm Part IV

Well folks, your good ol' American truth teller is well on the path to being seriously disillusioned with even our higher level of "justice."  'Twould seem that the Feds are even worse nitpickers than our state courts, and for a lot less cause, to boot.

Let's kick the game off with the case that occurred while I waited for my release - The Writ of Habeas Corpus.  A writ designates this legal action (whatever the action might be) as needing (and seeking) immediate attention; unlike a direct appeal, which could feasibly take a year or better to address (redress they call this.)

As such, the Writ of Habeas Corpus (which in the queen's English means "produce the body") is a demand from the seat of a higher court (on the state level, this would be the Supreme Court of the State, and on the higher level, would involve the Federal District Court.  Naturally, if you had a federal case, the appellate U.S. Court would be involved here) to look down upon the lower court, and would ask of them to show just cause as to why the person petitioning the court was being held.  If the lower court is unable to show that just cause, they must then release the wrongfully detained person, A.S.A.P.  Sounds great and just, does it not?  In theory, I suppose...in reality, you should know that certain "catches" abound.

You can petition the writ on both the state and the federal levels.  The problem with doing this on a state level (done if your case is a state-level case) is this:  If the State is the problem, what good is it to ask the state to look into what the state is doing wrong?  Sounds like the start of a conflict of interest case, doesn't it?

Petitioning the writ in Federal court is equally problematic; since the Feds want you to "exhaust" your state level remedies first.  Again, if the State presents the problem, then why bother?  If you've been sentenced to a year in jail, and it takes 2 years for you to exhaust your state level remedies, they why even offer the writ...at all?  This writ, then, really only works for those wrongfully sentenced for 2 or better years, since it takes about that long (or longer) to exhaust all the possible State remedies.  Silly me for even trying, right?  What was I thinking?

Another thing I note, is that, when asking someone higher up to check up on someone lower down in the judiciary - you're asked to ask the higher ups, then, at the same time, notify the lower downs of your intent to ask the higher ups to check up on them.  Just a minute here....does this make a lick of sense?  Think about this...if your sister Peggy burns your baseball card collection in the middle of her bedroom floor while your mom is at work, and you decide that you're going to tell on her, what if the house rule read that, in order for you to tell your mother about it, you had to tell your sister you were going to rat her out at the same time; and then, it takes a month for your mom to look into the matter?  What do you believe will happen now?  Well, what'll happen is, Peggy will have the mess all cleaned up, all the tile replaced, and will have her ass properly covered.  How convenient for those of our judiciary, eh?  This doesn't really hold any legal water in real time, now does it?  The wheels of Federal Justice turn even slower than those in our state courts, so by the time the higher ups look into what the lower downs are doing, the lower downs should have all the paperwork properly placed, and their asses properly covered.  Honestly, if this is the best I can expect for the remainder of my state cases, I may as well call it a day.

Some other fabualities (no, no, that's NOT a real word; just settle down, willya?) I note on both judiciary levels:

1.  Money is much more important than justice.  Filing civil suits in State court costs $185, and $380 on the federal level.  What's more, most of the things that need to be done won't be done for you until you pay them.  Nine times out of ten, because of this, most cases get dismissed, due to the filing fee not getting paid.  Oh sure, you can attempt to show that you're indigent in order to get the filing fee waived, but it could be months before they choose to address that (more time to get your butts covered)...and chances are, it won't get granted.  The state also tends to mention the possibility of ADDITIONAL costs, and choose NOT to list these for you beforehand.

2.  Everything they bring against you is usually a criminal matter, and costs them...NOTHING.  THEIR money is YOUR money, giving them unlimited resources to try you incessantly until they win out or until you give up or go broke paying costs (lawyer, court costs, postage, subpoena and serving costs, etc.)  Every action you bring against THEM, however, is almost always a CIVIL action (even if it involves actual crimes the State, County or Feds committed against YOU), and could, ultimately, cost you three times:  $185/$380 to file the case; court costs and fees if you lose (and, since attorney's fees are RARELY awarded, those too); plus that same amount of YOUR money (taxes, etc.) that pay them to defend themselves...indefinitely, for what could be YEARS!!!

3.  Selective hearing on their part.  If it helps them, they hear things perfectly.  If it helps you, on the other hand, it's as though it was never said.  Logic doesn't tend to lend credence in a court of law these days, only the "Law" applies; even if that law (or case law) is totally illogical.  In some cases I've been though, I've found law that actually makes sense, only to later get shot down from the other side with a passage of equal or greater nonsense law from the other side; which is generally why I try to present all of my motions verbally in court.  This manages to deprive the other side from hunting and finding some way to weasel out of it using some bullshit passage of case law somewhere.

Probably the biggest and most horrific thing the courts do to win cases against you is the one thing we expect them to do - Use the law against you.  "Of course," you say?  That's the whole point, isn't it?  Well....yes...except that codes and statutes are not real law, remember?

Here's a good example of good ol' legal brainwashing for you.  The prosecution, by the way, uses questions just like these to pick (and, of course, excuse) prospective jurors for your trials.  Let's see how you answer these (and remember, there aren't 20 other people, including a judge, in the court room that you're worried about knowing how you'd answer them...so be honest!):

1.  The "Law" says that the speed limit is 60 m.p.h., and Bill is nailed doing 65 m.p.h.  Bill takes the matter to court, and asks for a jury trial on the matter.  How do you find Bill, guilty, or not guilty?

You said guilty right?  Fair enough.  OK, how about THIS one?

2.  The "Law" says that the speed limit is 5 m.p.h., and Bill gets pulled over doing 6 m.p.h.  How do you find Bill now, guilty or not guilty?

For you stubborn and brainwashed folks, I'm sure you're still going with guilty.  A good amount of you, however, are probably sitting on the fence with your answer, and awaiting more possible details before you make up your minds.

Now, whaddya say we get REALLY stupid with this, and go with this one:

3.  The "Law" states that the speed limit is 5 m.p.h., and unless the current month starts with "D", it's the 2nd Sunday of the month, and it's after 3 p.m., if you're pulled over with your hand on your head going 5 m.p.h., you're guilty of speeding.  NOW how do you find Bill?

If you found Bill guilty of speeding all 3 times, we really gotta have a talk, you and I.  See, you said guilty, because you've been brainwashed to believe these three prominent facts of legal American life:

1.  The law is the law.  If you break the law, you're guilty.

2.  The law is the law because of the will of the "People".  The "People" includes you.

3.  If you're arrested, you were arrested because you broke the law, and you deserve what's coming to you.

What you'll come to discover as you get on in life (especially when YOU'RE the one getting arrested) are these ACTUAL facts, in opposition to those just mentioned:

1.  Just because it's a law, doesn't make it a GOOD, FAIR or JUST law (or an intelligently thought out or logical one.)

2.  Not every law (very few, I'll warrant) represents your personal stance, belief or opinion on the law in question.  Tops, perhaps, max, 500 people might have been involved in the authoring or the passing of the laws we encounter along the path.  Of those responsible for the championing of that law, I'm betting only half could even remember the law, let alone could they tell you a damn thing the law said.  Nine times out of ten - I'm sure they pass it, and forget it.

3.  You may go along with that whole "guilty as charged" thingy the first time you get arrested for something (if the offenses are minor ones), but spend a couple of years in jail for writing an angry letter (or text) to someone; or 50 years in jail for shooting someone who broke into your home to steal your things, and the tune you sing changes a lot.

Wow.  How easily we get off the subject, eh?  I suppose I could arrive at the point here, and polish this off:  The courts win out, and almost always these days, because they've been at this game for an awfully long time.  They have all of their strategies down pat, they know all of the tricks of their trade, they know all of the legal loopholes, and if they can't possibly win, and they know it?  Trust me, I know...they'll CHEAT to get the job done.  Who's gonna stop 'em?  You and your $20,000 in cash and equity?  Not likely...not against their UNLIMITED resources (your taxes, fines and fees), their "sovereign immunities," and their ever-slowly turning judicial wheels.

Then of course, there's those ever-prevalent brainwashing terms that have worked so well over the decades:  "You can't fight City Hall," "Shit Happens," "That's just the way it is!","It is what it is," "That's life!" and "The Law is the Law!"  Funny how none of these terms sound very intelligent or self-convincing when YOU'RE the one in jail, and no one will put up your bond.

Keep this in mind:  No matter how diligently you try to keep up with all of the "laws" that are passed these days, you'll never know them all.  Ignorance of these laws is most CERTAINLY an excuse.  Don't allow them to divert you from the path of logic, especially since the law is not only not YOUR law, by the majority, nor is the majority of the law - logical.  Most of all, try to keep in mind that it's likely that you didn't even have a clue, nor did you have a fingernail stuck into the pot when 99% of these laws were passed, discussed, debated, or even when they were twinkles in your legislator's eyes.

The way most of us find out what "laws" were passed, is when we're fined, ticketed or arrested for "breaking" them.  Law always appears as right and logical when sitting IN the jury box, but not nearly so much when you're in the defendant's chair outside of the jury box.

Unchecked (and unbalanced, as it very much is for the defendant these days), our judiciary and those who purport to uphold the law are all on a runaway train.  Put in on your bucket list to attend a "Public proceeding", on both a state and federal level.  Get involved, if you're looking to fill up some free time.  Be a court watcher (yes, this is a recognized thing now...generally you have to identify yourself as such somehow, either with ID or a name tag, but it can be done).  What you'll find might surprise you; like the fact that the court rooms where arraignments and the like (minor court hearings) are held are HUGE...and the ones that trials are held in have next to no seating, are hard to breath in, and are no bigger than most closets.  You'll also be asked what you're doing there (usually by the judge or the prosecution), or who you are.  Public proceedings, you'll find, are not so "Public" as they say they are, anymore.  Think there might be a reason for this?  Just because you've heard that "The System Works"...doesn't tell you who the system works...FOR  :D

Home Again, Home Again??

NOTE!!!  This article and the ones to follow were written during my last stint at the PCJ, and concern the time from August to the present date...so bear with me if the news seems a bit slow.

Hey America!  Here we are, back at my recent home away from home, yes, I'm talking about the Polk County "Polkie" again.

Now, you would think, that after the "Sheriff", Bill McCarthy read both of my jail articles 34 or better times, that things may have improved at the Polk County Jail, wouldn't you?  Well, for the most part, sadly...no.  One thing managed to improve, I'll just say it, so that some portion of this can be positive (granted, only for a moment or two)...hygiene lovers, rejoice!  Now, instead of the one-size-fits-all foam soap that used to be there for everything...body soap, shampoo, cleaning out your cups, etc. (I still have to wonder if this soap ever really got anything clean at all), now there's a new foam soap for hands, and a new wonderfully smelling soap gel for your shower needs.  Ummmm....thank you?  Of all of the things I talked about that were wrong in my recent "Polkie" articles, a couple of articles down from this one, you would probably imagine that 1000 or so better things could have improved.  Also, as they say, what good is it to go one step forward, if you're going to go two steps back, eh?

Step numero uno, Even though there's only one clock (that only around 1/5 of the whole jail pod can see from their cells), and no alarm clocks, the jail has ceased waking people up in the early morning to receive their medications, given out from 9-10 a.m.  Granted, most normal people in the world are up around this time...but this is a jail.  Worse yet, this is the Polk County Jail, where if you don't sleep half of your time away, you'll more than likely kill someone, due to lack of anything better to do with yourself while you wait to get your sub-standard and low-key kangaroo justice; which of course could be and usually is counter-expectant to YOUR version of justice, something I haven't noticed happens in Iowa much, unless you pay some rip-off attorney tens of thousands of dollars to do things for you that you could have probably done for yourself, had you read up on the circus they call "Law."  Like my buddy Theo Booker in L.A. always says, "I've seen Bigfoot more than I've seen justice in my state."  Anyway, should you not be able to rouse yourself in time, the med pass people will then consider your absence a refusal to take your meds;, then the next time you DO manage to get up, your meds may not be there for you to take.  Now, this would normally be no big deal for someone like me, who takes Prilosec for acid reflux once a day or something...but to those who sleep their day away because they take Seraquil, or take some kind of psychotropic drug, the results of even missing one med could be the difference between that guy getting into a simple argument, or him knocking out someone's teeth.  Worse yet, now, since they've stopped your meds because of your "refusal" to take them, you now have to spend more money off of your books to see the jail doctor AGAIN, and get your med script started AGAIN, etc.  Ces't la vie, s'pose, and such is life.  It more than likely won't be ME getting MY teeth kicked in anyway, since I'm more on the side of the inmates, and don't hassle people or talk to them like children.  No, the teeth kicking thing is more likely to happen to the more than abusive detention officers or the emergency response team.  Believe me, knowing a lot of these guys, I can't really say I'd be too upset about that anyway.

Speaking of Prilosec (step back numero dos), older male sufferers of acid reflux, a truly debilitating condition for some, like myself, are no longer offered a decent medicine for this as a once a day option.  When it was available, you only had to take it once, in the morning.  It was prescribed you when you told the nurse during your initial FREE visit, before you were assigned a permanent holding pod.  Now, it doesn't matter what you tell her to start off with, you have to now claim to be sick of this later, so that you have to see the nurse again, which, of course, incurs additional costs.  Not only that, but instead of a once a day med, you are now prescribed something different...TUMS.  6 of them, during the course of the day, and over a span of 3 med calls.  Let alone the fact that TUMS relieves your acid discomfort for what, like 5 whole minutes; and you now have to wait 3-4 hours for 2 more, or overnight.  Nice.  Reminds me of taking 1 generic aspirin to relieve a migraine, or 2 Advils to take care of broken back pain.

But I digress.  How did I end up back in jail you ask?  A funny story, that one (ha freekin' ha), one I'm just dyin' to tellya too.

Also let it be said that this most current arrest was most cruel, most foul, and most ridiculous, and only involved 3 little misdemeanors, all simple.  Rest assured that I did, for maximum spite, and since I had to sit out the rest of my sentence anyway...probation, of course, did not pan out, as I predicted...ask for a jury trial.  You'll see why soon enough, right after my story.

*Mr. Bruce gets a starry look in his eye, as he goes WAYYYY back for the story on this one...*

Once upon a time, right before I met my current wife of 7 or so years, I met a guy we'll call Gary...or as I affectionately call him now, Gary the Doctor.  I call him that, mainly because he is, of course, now a doctor.  Anyway, he and I were both living at the YMCA at the time, and he was studying to be a doctor, probably one of the hardest professions a next to homeless type guy could study and succeed at - and he did succeed, much to my surprise.  I was, of course, duly impressed, and attempted to keep up with him as much as I was able as the years rolled on.

Anyway, after getting all of his necessary degrees, Doctor Gary moved into a rather swanky downtown location, unbeknownst to me.

Later, the wife and I moved into our own little corner of downtown hell, the Elliot Apartments, still owned by and notoriously run by one of the more slummy landlords of fame here in Des Moines, a guy named Jim Nahaus Jr., a slimeball, and the son of the more famous and much more kindly Jim Nahaus Sr.  This rat bastahd conned my wife into signing us out of our apartment, then threw out all of our hard-attained belongings as well.  He has a team of lawyers (you'd need those, with the kind of stuff he pulled on his tenants), deserves a special apartment of his very own in Hell, and it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't sitting at the feet of his father on his deathbed at the time he died, wringing his hands while awaiting his fortune to pass onto him.  Again...I digress.

In this home, whole we still lived there, there resided a nosy little gossipy woman named Nancy Elscott.  This woman attempted to make our acquaintance a few times, chatting us up in the elevator, etc., but someone had warned us early on that this woman was notorious for ratting out residents for things that went against the building rules when she didn't like you (which was impossible to ascertain, whether she did or did not); and sometimes, even when she DID like you.  We then proceeded to avoid her like the plague.  We never did know until later just how smart that decision would prove to be.

Nancy Elscott

Several weeks into the lease, the elevator doors opened to me the sight of my old friend, none other than Gary the Doctor, after a significant time of his being absent in our lives.  After slapping each other on the back and catching up a bit, we exchanged cell numbers and Gary then chose to inform me that he was dating someone right in my building, and that it was likely that I would be seeing him more often.  I was, of course, quite OK with that.

Another day or so later, more towards thanksgiving, the elevator opened for me again to Gary the Doctor.  I was thrilled...until I noticed the cancer growth that was stitched to his arm.  It was none other than Nancy Elscott.  My mind raced to tell him to run far far away, but out of respect for his apparent happiness, I bit my tongue....HARD, and figured I'd catch him on his way up to see her someday, alone.

That never happened.  The leech Nancy was attached full-time to Gary's arm.  They were inseparable, which did absolutely nothing for my opinion of Gary...Could he be so blind??  It didn't take me more than 2.2 seconds to verify what I'd heard...but I chalked it up to a hard-working and very tired man who couldn't make things out so well - being an intern at 60 could do that to a guy, I reasoned.  So once again, I kept my impossibly open mouth zipped tightly shut, hoping he would finger things out on his own.

I saw Gary and Nancy together a few more times, on towards Christmas.  The biggest thing that I noticed was, that Gary was spending an awful lot of money on Nancy...and every time I saw this, it seemed that Nancy was less appreciative about it, was nastier to my friend on subsequent occasions, and acted a whole lot more every day like a spoiled rotten brat.

Finally, one day, Doctor Gary called me to inform me that he was breaking off the Elscott-induced engagement he'd been duped into (I hadn't been notified of this, as yet) for pretty much the exact same reasons I just put out there.  I was quite relieved that I hadn't had to be the one to open his eyes to what was going on, he pretty much figured it out all on his own...thank the Good Lord, and all the heavenly hosts.

Nancy, on the other hand, was very hurt over losing Doctor Gary, and, looking for anyone that she could blame for it that wasn't her, of course, landed the blame squarely on MY head.  This would begin a years long war between us that existed for no better reason that, because I was there...and Gary was disturbingly absent.

Fast forward to the present day, I got out of jail on July fourth, as you all know.  As you also all well know, I didn't care much for Iowa probation.  I had gone to sign up the following day (no one told me where to go, or who to see, by the way...I had to ask another inmate for the information to avoid an immediate violation), and spent around 5 minutes listening to the guy tell me what was required of me (besides the $300 start up costs they IMMEDIATELY hit me with the moment I hit the door...I believe the secretary's exact words were "Ah, Mr. Bruce, you're expected...would you happen to have that $300 with you to sign up for probation?  We're gonna need that pretty quickly, so if you could get that to us right away please...")  Aside from that, he informed me that they didn't have probation in Carroll, and wanted me to go 60 miles away...with no car...to the Ames probation office.  My response in kind went to the tune of "Are you nuts; sounds like a personnel problem; and I'm not doing this"...and my walking out of the office.

Oh, and, imperative to our story, as soon as I decided NOT to do probation, I immediately submitted a letter to the judge telling him that I was staying in Des Moines, and to revoke me and put me back in jail.  He then set a court date for August 18th for my revocation hearing.  Then, after we had left Carroll, IA, the Ames office sent a letter to my home where I no longer lived, saying I had a probation appointment in Ames, for probation I did not sign up for and asked to be revoked from.  When I didn't show for the appointment, the Ames probation office filed with the court requesting a warrant for me, for probation violation.  I noticed this, and wrote the judge AGAIN, reminding him that I was in Des Moines, and due to attend a hearing for revocation, and to NOT put out a warrant.  Then, without notification, the judge put out a warrant for me ANYWAY...wow.

The next step I took from there was to call my wife to tell her to get packed, because we were going to move back to Des Moines, since it was more convenient to come see me when I went back to jail for the remainder of my sentence.  I didn't want to participate in wearing an Iowa collar, just so that they could yank me back into jail anytime they damn well felt like it, or if they didn't like what I was doing at the time.  The judge had already informed me that my first violation would be a whopping 90 days (for normal people, that would have been 30 days), and would increase exponentially for each subsequent violation...yeah, no thank you.

After moving my wife to Des Moines, she would have to, unfortunately, until this feat was accomplished, be transferred and uprooted from her cushy job, and would have to take up residence at the local and ONLY homeless shelter - at least, the only one that doesn't force you to engage in a monkly religious program for months before you can even start working again.  I, on the other hand, had been banned from the same homeless shelter for life - they had lost $300 of my belongings, and beings that had been all I had at the time, and had just recently been caused to be homeless by DHS when they STOLE my wife's only daughter - I may have jumped off of my rocker just a wee.  Icing on the cake, they didn't find it...until AFTER the police trespassed me off of the property.

I, thank God, had an ace up my sleeve for the doggie and I...there was a good friend of mine that loved my little TT, and after ringing his bell, he opened his door wide to us.  You remember TT, don'tcha?  If not, take note...since he becomes a major star in our story, henceforth.

We had only one little problem.  Much to our dismay, Nancy Elscott also resided in this same complex, and, it would be discovered later, lived one floor up from my friend Richard's apartment.  True to her nature, and without my knowledge, she began calling the apartment manager's offices, which were located right next door, and ratted me and my doggy out, telling them we were staying with my friend.

Within a week, my friend received his first friendly letter from the management of NEWBERRY LIVING, telling him that he couldn't have anyone else staying with him; even though in his lease it stated that he could house someone for a 14 day limit, that wasn't on it; and I had not, by this time, even been there that long.  More than this, he was also accused of housing an unapproved dog without paying an excessive $600 pet deposit.

NEWBERRY LIVING's LOGO...make sure you look for this one BEFORE you rent!!

Being that I only required a short time to get housing before I was re-jailed, I decided on fight rather than flight.  I first went to the managers and nicely plead out my friend's case, informing them that we would only be there a little while, until I got an apartment.  In short, I attempted to appeal to their better natures.  Little did I know that they did not have better natures, and told me that I would have to vacate the premises without fail, in short order.  I then told my friend that I would be OK, and would be sneakier.  He acquiesced.  I took his keys, and took the doggy out the back where Nancy would not be watching; yet I suppose the managers were looking out, because when I passed their windows, they were wide open...unlike before, when they were always shut, to keep prying eyes out.  They also took to spying on poor Richard...good one eh?...and myself right at the apartment door, and drove around the block a lot when their hands got full of Nancy's irritating voice telling them my every move.

I had planned to leave that very week anyway, but before I could, another knock came at my friend's door.  We were pretty sure we knew who it was...and we were, of course, correct.  The managers had come to deliver yet another love letter.  God, I wish I had a copy of that letter, it was illegal as HELL.  Instead, we'll just show you the trespass order that was given to my wife....who wasn't living there:

Richard, the apartment resident, as well as myself, were both veterans of the armed forces.  To say the very least, this behavior by this complex was duly abhorrent.  I did absolutely nothing wrong, wasn't being noisy or unruly, and avoided the other tenants of the complex at all times.

My friend Richard was threatened with unlawful eviction...and they handed US (my wife wasn't even staying there, by the way) trespass papers, forbidding our return to the property, just 3 days shy of our getting a place.  So...Mr. Bruce (me) decided to vacate the premises, in order to save my friend from eviction...and got inventive for revenge.

I proceeded to toss a blanket out on the boardwalk wide sidewalk, next to the street out of the way of foot traffic, next to the bus bench and the parking meters.  I laid out my doggy's bowls, and filled them with food and water...and made sure I was staring directly into Nancy Elscott's Apartment; and could, for effect, once the office opened, be able to turn my head sideways to stare down the managers of the apartments, when they arrived as well.  The plan was to stay put until the upcoming paycheck, and of course, torture the management for putting me and my cute doggy out.

So, the next morning, I am sitting on my little protest blanky, and I wake to see the police.  They're there to investigate a robbery...and don't say a word to me.

Two hours later, a K-9 unit pulls up on me, and asks if I'm OK, because someone called in, worried about li'l ol' me.  Nice.  I prove that I'm just fine, and ask if I'm breaking any laws.  He says "nope", and moves on.

In the next hour, I notice that there's a lot of movement going on with the apartment building and the management office.  The maintenance guy is outside, then someone pulls up to the offices, then the management comes over, then the manager and Nancy go to the management office and back....and I know that my time is about done.  They're trying to get me pissed off so I'll act out, so I'll get arrested...but of course, since I've figured it out, I just sit there, and smile...

Then a snotty little bike cop...Kyle Thies, of the Des Moines Police Department, pulls up on his bicycle, and says to me "What are you doing here?"  I say..."Uhhhh,,,,pettin' my dog, minding my own business?"  Then I give him the rundown on the situation honestly, and was completely amiable about it.  He says I can't be there, cause I'm trespassing.  I say I'm not trespassing, I'm on the public sidewalk, and not obstructing traffic in any fashion.  He then changes the story, and says I'm loitering.  I ask him to show me the no loitering signs, and he says there doesn't have to be any for me to be loitering...and this, of course, is new to me. Then he makes his mistake.  He gets on the horn, and calls in to have the ARL get my cute little harmless dog.  Keep in mind, no arrests have been made, nor have any legitimate crimes been mentioned.

I then called 911 and let them know that I was being harassed.  In the middle of my complaint, they hang up.  It's not an emergency, because it involves an officer, evidently.

I then gathered up my stuff, and went on down the road.  I turned, and went about another half a block...and I saw the entire management team of Newberry Living, and Nancy Elscott, following along...I turned and flipped them off.

4 seconds later, bike boy comes streaking around the corner and says I'm under arrest for disorderly conduct.  I tell him he's nuts, and called 911 again.  Again, they hung up on me.  He enlists the help of the police officer guarding the construction zone next door, Cole Johnson, and puts me under arrest, pushes me on the ground, then ties my dog up to the fence, to await the ARL.

Meanwhile, the wife is coming down the hill.  I tell her to grab our dog before the ARL comes to get him.  Officer Thies then threatens her with arrest if she even reaches for our dog.  She's there to take him, and they won't give him up.

By the way, the dog was taken by the ARL.  They gave him shots that he didn't need, and registered him to be in Des Moines.  He was already registered in Carroll.  They charged us $100, and, after only 2 days, had him ready to go into foster care.  What is it about the people I love (my dog and my daughter) that everyone wants to take them and put them in foster care???  Here's the ARL paper for that:

My wife then asks if its OK to gather up my things, and he gives her permission to do so.  Then, he asks me for my name...I tell him to get bent.  He's taking me dog, arresting me on bull spit, and threatening my wife.  FUCK HIM!!  KNOW WHAT HAPPENS?  He rips my computer bag out of my wife's hands and starts going through it to find papers that have my name on them.  He finds one...and calls it in.  Naturally, THIS is when I find out there's a warrant for my arrest for probation violation.  'Magine that.

The charges on this one?  Disorderly Conduct...making a loud or raucous noise (I swore at someone, in the vicinity of a residence).  Calling 911 with no emergency.  And Harassment of a public official.  Let's have some fun with these, OK?

First of all, disorderly conduct, making a loud and raucous noise.  Now, Webster's Collegiate defines raucous as loud and hoarse, or boisterous.  Are you forreal?  This is a crime now???    If that's the case friends, we can be arrested just about anywhere.  At the bar, at concerts...as the Band at the concerts, at the state fair...just about anywhere we might get loud or raucous.  How about construction areas, don't they tend to make loud raucous noises, as they put things up and tear them down again?  Basketball and baseball games.  Let's not even go to driving trucks and semis, or car racing, or demolition derbies, lots of raucousness going on there...Airplanes...police and ambulance sirens, anyone there get arrested?  Comedians...now THERE's a loud and raucous bunch.  Gimme a break.

 As for swearing at someone in the vicinity of a residence...where exactly is there NOT a residence (the only possible exception being a business or an office park); and for that matter, he had best get busy, because there are approximately 322,000,000 other Americans he had best arrest as well.  Why bother with speeding tickets, arresting people for swearing at others has got to be a whole lot easier, and more lucrative, doesn't it?

Let's move on to calling 911 without an emergency.  Now first off, I called 911 twice, more than likely because I didn't have to have the non-emergency number emblazoned on my palm, or handy in my wallet.  Everyone knows that the number for the police is 911.  But, I'm guessing, it's not an emergency if a police officer is the one committing the crimes, right?  If anyone else were stalking and harassing me, stealing my dog (when another owner was there to take him home), and threatening my wife, they'd be arrested on the spot.  Oh, and after the first call, did either the operator or the officer straighten me out on what number to call?  Nope.  And how about the management office people, did they get arrested for calling 911 on ME, for the crime of laying on a blanket in front of their building, for not having an emergency?  Hell no.

Last but certainly not least, there's my favorite, harassment of a public official, a crime I would have normally been really proud of, mostly because cops who bully lower classed citizens deserve harassment; but this bike king was nothing better than a piece of smelly doggy-doo that I wouldn't ask my puppy to poop out, nor would I consider this moron cop worthy of of hanging off of my summer foot thong, should'st I be fortunate enough to step in him.  Let alone, I got charged with this for not giving him my name, because he knew...that I KNEW that I had a warrant for my arrest....whatever dood.  So this cop is a mind-reader then...Robocop.

Folks, there will be payback for this...no, no, I don't wish to spoil it.  Let's just say, before I move far far away from Des Moines (IN 10 Days), I will have that revenge...and it will be served COLD...well, mostly because it IS cold..will it be against the law?  Hardly.  Will it be a happy time for all involved?  Of Course Not.  :D

The NEW Whole Ball O' Wax (A Continual Post)

https://sttwcollegeyears.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/the-whole-ball-of-wax/

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This is yet another continued post.  New sections will be added to this post every day.  Please come back every day you can to read more.  If you don't come back (or don't come at all in the first place), you had best believe I will put in the extra effort to force it down your throats   :D

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All right people, it's time to poke the beast, and poke it well.

INTRODUCTION TO THE (NEW) BALL

Welcome to the NEW Whole Ball O' Wax, where we rip into all the issues we had in the OLD "Ball O' Wax", found here:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-whole-ball-o-wax-continued-post.html

By the by, my name is no longer Christopher William Bruce, I don't give two hoots what the state of Iowa, California, or any other state or the Government says.  My name is Christopher the Living Man, or any other name I damn well feel like calling myself...today, tomale, or any other day.

First, a few things that should be made very clear:  I am not a "sovereign citizen", a group of people that the Des Moines register tried to label me in with.  A sovereign citizen is an oxy-moron...sovereigns and citizens are two entirely different groups of people.  You are a citizen.  I am sovereign.  End of story...nice try, no cigar, ain't happenin'.  I am a sovereign or state citizen.  I reside in Iowa.  I am not a U.S. citizen any longer.  Each and every Native American is a sovereign.  Everyone born between 1789 and 1864 was a "sovereign" national.  This isn't some new faction of "domestic terrorist" my friends, sovereigns are worldwide, and have been around an awfully long time, as has the idea.  This is what our founding fathers had in mind for us....self-government, or government by the people; not government by tyranny or fear.

Second, I am not "anti-government", I am anti-tyranny.

Third, I am not a "law-breaker", nor do I consider myself above the law, or not in need of obeying what the state, county, city and federal government has laid down as "The Law".  I am, however, most certainly against our current and massively outdated and corrupt system of "law", as well as the judiciary that has put itself over us to enforce this "law".  I am also against the obvious monetizing of this legal system.  If you don't have the cash, there's no way to win.

That being said, it's time for the thoughtful and self-examination portion of our show.  I'd like for my readers to take a moment to ask yourselves some fairly simple questions.  These are not difficult to ask, but for some of you, they will be difficult to answer.  Most certain, however, is that your answers may be very difficult for you to accept; especially if it's a question that you've been conditioned to answer a certain way your entire life; and if you're being totally honest with yourself when answering them.

UNALIENABLE RIGHTS

Before we get started, however, I would like to discuss something with you that I believe we are very uneducated about;  your unalienable rights.  What this phrase means to our formerly free county is lost on the majority of U.S. Citizens, and you can firmly trust that this is very much by design.

So what is an an unalienable right?

It's been said that these rights have been known to be some of these;  Freedom of speech and religion, life, liberty, the pursuit, etc.  The commonly known list has been shortened for most; and is all but forgotten or unknown for the rest (and sure as Hell isn't being taught you, either, you'll notice).  Let's take a moment to list the majority of these rights.  Our forefathers' list may just need a bit of tweaking;

1.  The right to live and breath (exist)
2.  The right to reproduce
3.  The right to parent
4.  The right to move or travel
5.  The right to speak...period.
6.  The right to feel.
7.  The right to choose
8.  The right to have
9.  The right to create and destroy.
10.  The right to believe.

What is an unalienable right, then?  It's something you can do without interference...whether by another person, or by a ruling faction.

THE QUESTIONS

Now that you're a little better informed, let's move along to those questions, hmmm?

1.  Do you believe that you need a birth certificate or a "court of law" to tell you who you are?  Why?

2.  Do you feel the Government needs to be told that you married someone (or intend to marry someone) or that you had a child?  Why?

3.  Do you need permission to cross the street?  To mow your own lawn?  To go around the block?  To take a bus to the other side of town?  To ride a bike over to your friend's house?  So why is it that you need a license to drive a big hunk o' metal?

4.  Why do you think you need to have an I.D. to purchase wine or beer, or to get a bottle of either with dinner?  Isn't drinking or smoking a personal choice?  Shouldn't it be?  Didn't it used to be (The answers to those last two questions, by the way, are a resounding YES)?

5.  Do you believe the Government really needs to be involved with your life in order to make a purchase of a weapon, just because a few people got guns (that they could have gotten illegally anyway, and probably did) from someone and shot someone else?  Do you really believe that just because the Government requires you to not be a felon or to register to get a gun really stops criminals from using them or from shooting you?

6.  Do you think it's right that police officers are allowed to search you, your car, your house or your property at any time, with or without a warrant?

7.  Don't you believe that you should be able to communicate whatever you want to, to whoever you want to?  If not...WHY not?  Isn't it feasible, that as you have the freedom to speak, you also have an equal freedom to listen to what I'm speaking about freely...or not?

8.  Do you feel that it's right that you not only have to pay local, county, state and federal taxes that are supposed to cover most of the expenses of that Government, but also a tax on the money you work hard to make, as much as 50 percent?  How about having to pay for things that should be optional to be taken out of your checks; such has Unemployment "Insurance" (that can be denied you, depending on the circumstances) or Medicaid or Social Security that you may never need or live long enough to collect?

9.  Do you think it's right for you to have to continue to pay taxes on a car or a home that you've completely paid off, or lose them for the amount of taxes that you owe or weren't able to pay?

10.  Do you believe that you really have the say-so concerning who is to become our next President or Vice-President?  Would you be shocked to know that you haven't had a say so since 1787?

Now that you've answered these questions for yourself, let's dig into the questions some more, and, maybe with better explanations, you'll change your mind on some of those answers...

BIRTH CERTIFICATES AND IDENTITY

Birth Certificates weren't required until 1902.  In the United States, it's been made apparent that birth certificates are needed for these reasons, according to Wikipedia:

"Birth registration opens the door to rights to children and adults which many other human beings take for granted: to prove their age; to prove their nationality; to receive healthcare; to go to school; to take exams; to be adopted; to protection from under-age military service or conscription; to marry; to open a bank account; to hold a driving licence; to obtain a passport; to inherit money or property; and to vote or stand for elected office."

Now, we can, of course, tear a lot of this apart.  For one, who cares about proving your age?  I myself don't give a rat's behind who knows my age, nor do I myself care how old I am.  Most of the time, I don't want to know how eld I am.  As for proving my nationality, I can just tell you that.  I don't need a Government paper to tell me that.  To receive healthcare...oh, you mean Obama Care, or the previous choice, the choice to pay thousands of dollars for healthcare that's shit?  No thank you.  To go to school...oh, you must mean public Government school, where, if you don't learn, they just push you through.  I'll take home schooling Alex.  To take exams....REALLY?  Maybe I don't wanna take any of your stupid exams....thanks.  To marry....I can do that without you, I promise.  To open a bank account, so that I can be charged for having one, and incur no real interest, and put in money that you're someday going to cheat me out of, because the bank goes south?  I don't think so.  To hold a driver's license...that I don't need, according to the UCC.  Only commercial drivers are required to have them.  To obtain a passport - so you can track me everywhere I go.  To inherit money or property...and that happens to the majority of Americans how often??  To vote...well, you know my thoughts on that.  Our vote doesn't count for shit...you and I both know it.  If you don't, you damn well should.

Folks, you don't need, nor do you want a Birth Certificate.  A Birth Certificate is immediately monetized, and you are traded on the open market, and used as collateral to float loans from international bankers.  This is the Government's way of making sure you produce maximum profits, via your taxes, for your country and your home state, and is primarily used to make the United States money.  Try and get your ORIGINAL birth certificate.  Bet you can't get it anymore.  From what I understand, your original is locked in a vault in the United States treasury.  'Magine that.  Just like registering your car and titling your land, this is simply a source of revenue for the United States Government.

Your birth certificate is simply a way for the Government to keep track of you, and is not needed.  This is the paper you, and gives the Government a way to start a foreign situs trust in your name, and allows them to file charges against you in court...and yes, you guessed it, make them money in doing so.  Use a name of your choosing, and let's get rid of the Birth Certificate.  We don't need them to tell us who we are.  You are you.  Please make a note of it.

GETTING MARRIED AND HAVING KIDS

We've already discussed the birth certificate, so let's get right into marriage "licenses"  Now America, marriage is a right.  Asking for permission from the state or the Government to marry designates it as a privilege.  The state needs to butt out of whether marriage is allowed between two consenting adults, it's just an additional form of revenue, and we all know it.  In some states in the south, marriage licenses weren't required unless the couple was inter-racial, which puts the start of marriage licenses in the U.S. firmly after the civil war.  According to some, this was the start of the REQUIREMENT of marriage licenses.

Marriage is a religious institution folks.  We don't need the Government to tell us that we can get married, nor do we need their permission to do so.  It's a right.  Period.

As for kids, we don't need the state's permission to copulate, to get pregnant, so it only makes a sordid amount of sense to not tell them when we decide to give birth to them, doesn't it?  This gives the state permission to stick their big overgrown noses into our affairs.  We don't need to tell them...and we shouldn't.

PERMISSION TO DRIVE (TRAVEL)

This issue is a hot spot of debate...not because I'm a sovereign or a "lawbreaker", as the Government would have you believe...but because you just...don't....need a license to drive!  The Uniform Commercial Code tells us that we need driver's licenses for only one reason...to drive a commercial or Government related vehicle.  Of course, they don't want you to know this.  Why?  C'mon people, use what sense you have.  If you didn't have an I.D. or a driver's license, how would they ever be able to a.  arrest you and charge you for crimes you supposedly commit, b.  how would they issue you tickets for doing something you can do just fine without them, c.  how would they make money off of you for having them, d.  how could they possibly require that you license your vehicle, insure your vehicle, etc., e.  They wouldn't be able to use the deprivation of this privilege and deprive you of driving to bring in money that you supposedly owe the state or a state run agency, etc...etc...etc.  This is not hard to figure out.  You do not require the state to tell you what you can drive, where you can drive, how you can drive, nor how long you can drive.  Put one foot in front of the other....there you go.  That's the ticket.  Now move.  There.  Did you need the state's permission to do that?  Nope.  It stands to reason then, that you don't need the state to tell you whether you can move around in a big honker piece of metal either.  Do you really believe that the license was invented at the same time as the automobile?  Not even close.  Am I saying you shouldn't be tested to drive a car?  No, not really.  But let's take a moment to look at the way the licensing system is taking severe advantage of us citizens, and maybe then licensing wouldn't seem like such a good idea.

First, lets look at all of the obvious businesses that make tons of money off of you having a driver's license, starting with those of the Government, from the Feds all the way down to your towns of residence.  There's licensing costs, testing costs, parking fines, registering, titling, insurance, SR-22 costs, court costs, probation fees, the cost of restoring your license, traffic ticket costs, etc.  I suppose you have to also count taxes, such as gas tax and car purchasing taxes, let alone jobs created and held by those in Governmental capacities too, such as police officers, sheriffs, parking meter maids, road construction crews, car salesmen/women, parking garage owners/employees, insurance writers, mechanics, truck stop employees, scale operators, DOT workers, etc.  

More importantly though, we should pay close attention to what they're doing to our driver's licenses these days.  Now, they say, because ID's and driver's licenses are so easy to duplicate these days, that they have to keep adding more technological enhancements to it.  This is so obviously a double-edged sword, my friends.  Just by scanning your wallet these days, you can tell who a person is, and what they've done practically their whole lives  They've got it to where you just have to pass a computer-laden cop on the street in your car, and they can bring up your whole DOT history.  Is this what you want?  Most people would say something to the effect of "Why worry?  I have nothing to hide, so why do I care?"  Yeah, maybe...but if you ever did...forget about hiding it, because you won't be able to.

Probably the most scary thing of all, however, is that they are now holding you criminally liable...if you don't have identification.  Yes folks, people are getting arrested for not having ID; and if you move, and don't have your address changed on your driver's license within 30 days, you can be criminally charged for not doing so.  This is when thinking that licenses and ID's are required...stops being funny.  This is obviously when we have to look at whether the ID or license are more for our benefit...or more for theirs.

THE NEED TO HAVE AN I.D. TO BUY THINGS

Another hot spot, in keeping with the previous section - in Europe, when you're old enough to look over a liquor counter, you're old enough to decide whether you can buy a beer or not.  The Europeans, as far as I'm concerned, have been around a few more centuries than we Americans have...I feel that they provide a damned good example for the rest of the planet.  As for smoking and drinking - whether you wish to die from lung cancer or be an alcoholic...is a personal choice, just like any other drug you partake in, sold or prescribed.  I feel this should be a choice you make for your life, and before I hear people say that sometimes you just shouldn't even be presented the choice, for all the damage it does to your life...just remember, that most of these things are of the earth...and they're the things that are illegal.  The ones that are manufactured, if prescribed...are legal.

For that matter, I never did get along with the idea that, if you weren't prescribed it, it's illegal to take it.  If I get a migraine, and I don't have anything for it, but my best friend Chuck does...why should I be arrested for having a pill that Chuck slipped me to resolve the issue?  Why doesn't Chuck get equal blame for giving it to me?  Either way, this is another way that the Government feels they have a right to interfere with your life.  Even more annoying is the fact that everybody asks for ID now...most of them, no matter WHAT your age!!!  I'm sorry...but if I have wrinkles and grey hair, I believe I'm old enough to buy cigarettes or beer.  Neither here nor there, this shouldn't be anybody's business....but mine, thank you very much.  BUTT OUT!

NEEDING THE GOVERNMENT'S APPROVAL TO OWN OR PURCHASE WEAPONS

Now this is a big hottie, these days.  Of course, the answer is a big, fat, resounding hell no, we don't need their approval!  This is apparently under fire now; not because of terrorism...not because of mass shootings.  Folks, you know damn good and well that guns are not the problem.  We Americans didn't just up and develop a problem with owning guns lately...the Government is having a real problem getting them back out of our hands.  They don't want us owning the kind of firepower it takes to be a problem for them...so, it's easier to just make it look...like we have a problem.  We don't.  We haven't.  We never will.

Gun registration...like marriage licenses, were never required, until after the civil war.  Not unlike marriage licenses, they began to be required, because the southern states didn't want recently freed black slaves buying up rifles and shooting their former white owners, after being beaten half to death on their cotton farms.

It wasn't all that long ago...what, a year now; that Washington held a big gun show.  Because they had just passed a law stating that people would have to register their ownership of guns, the people of Washington gathered, and simply refused to do so.  Not because they didn't wanna....but because they didn't HAVE to.  They knew it...and so do we.  Folks, our current government knows we don't like them, nor do we like what they've become, and we certainly don't like what they're doing.  They've tried the easy way, asking us to give up our guns...and we not necessarily nicely refused.  Now they're demanding it, or making laws to get them out of our hands.  It's not working very well, so they're now employing other ways to do so.  One of the easiest ways is to just straight up pass the laws.  Sure, we may object to them or not follow them for a while...but as it's been in the past, we old timers won't be around forever...we'll die off, and a new generation that's used to the laws being there will someday take over, and the law will be there for them.  Another way they've done it is to put us in jail for some stupid reason...then just take them, because they're there.  The most ridiculous way they've done it of late is to start or fake mass shootings...and blame us for it, and maybe some day we'll  fall for that trick and just give it up.  Whatever it takes, I say.  I say, good luck with it all.  Don't give up those guns folks, not for any reason.  Guns are the only reason that America is still America.  Give that up, and you may as well just hand over the whole Constitution...not that we haven't already mind you, but you get the picture.

THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF COP STOPS

I dunno 'bout the rest of you folks, but I've been raised to believe, nearly all of my life, that anytime a cop asks you for your ID, by God, you had best produce it, and fast.  Cop stops you whilst you drive, you had best pull over and comply.  If he should ask you to search your car, things will go much better for you (if he finds something he/she shouldn't) if you say yes.  If a cop comes to your door and says he needs you to let him in - if you don't want to get shot, you had better do as you're told.

I cannot stress enough here, folks, that you are not under any pressure to do any of this.  This behavior (as well as your conditioned response) is a trick, and you have your rights.  Of course, these days, you don't....really have any rights, but only because you've a.  forgotten what they were, b.  weren't ever taught what they were, or c.  have been brainwashed into the belief that any time any part of Government comes to you, you had better do exactly what they say.  This, more than anything else in our time, pisses me off more than just about anything.  Folks, there is, in the 4th amendment to the Constitution for, and of, the United States of America, a protection against illegal searches and seizures.  Just because law enforcement of this day and age chooses to ignore those rights, or ways to legally circumvent that right, doesn't mean it IS right, nor does it mean you have to agree...to any of it.  Simply put, unless there is probable cause or you are suspected of committing a crime, these people, no matter what capacity they serve in, do NOT have a right to "detain" you, in any fashion, shape, or form, no matter if you're in your car, your home...whatever.  If they ask for your ID, you ask if they're detaining you, or to define the crime they are suspecting you've committed.  If there is nothing, you tell them to move along.  City, State, Federal, it doesn't matter.  They need probable cause, then they need a warrant to search....you, your car, or your home.

Now, again, I will say that it's likely that they'll find a way to get around what they're required to have...but if you're on your toes, you'll know that you have to agree to be searched.  Make them ask...then make them produce a warrant.  If they have no viable reason to "detain" you, they have to let you keep walkin'.  If you're living in one of those lovely states where they say you have to have an ID, you tell them that you have one...and unless you've committed an actual crime, then you don't have to produce one.  If you're in your car, and they ask you for your driver's license, registration and car insurance card, you ask them what crime you've committed, and if you're being detained for committing a crime.  If they try and give you the ol' "You ran a red light" routine, tell them to bring the red light to you, so you can face your accuser.  If it's on police video, ask for the tape.  Then ask them for the statute that states that you can't pass through a red light while it's red and there's a police officer behind you.  Keep the fire to their feet.  Don't sign any tickets, and don't agree to searches.  I don't care if there's a lump in the seat beside you that looks like a dead body...unless there's a cold dead hand spilling out below it, they have no right to pull you out of your car.  Tell them no, they can't search your car.  If they come to your home, open the door only for a visible warrant (that you can see through the window or the peephole), and should you open the door, lock the door, step outside, and pull the door closed behind you.

Should you happen to be driving through an illegal cop stop for drunk drivers, tell them they have no right to do it, and don't agree to a breathalyzer.  Folks, you don't live in Red China....you're an American.  The only reason they get away with these, and radar checkpoints, is because we allow it.  Stop allowing it.  You have rights.  This includes the right to drive freely without entrapment stops.  These people have no right to do anything to you, until you say "Sure officer."  These are YOUR employees.  Claim your rights of "the people", and fire them, if they're abusing those rights.  They work for you.  Sometimes, it's good to remind them that the only reason they have jobs is because you pay their salaries.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Here's one I happen to have a lot of personal experience with.  Should you be able to speak freely?  Oh, but of course.  The trick here is, does the person listening have to like what you're talking about?  No again.  Should crimes be associated with it?  Sorry.  Can't agree.  Speaking freely is....speaking freely.  Therefore, no matter what you say, you should not be able to be arrested for it.  See people, it's like this.  If I don't like what the President says, he can't be arrested for it...so why should I?  Well, what about threatening people?  Sorry, gotta go with logic here...if you can't carry out your threat, or if you're just talking smack, again...no crime committed.  In addition, in this digital age, there are too many ways to ignore or block what's being said.

Now, there are most certainly exceptions to the rule here...If someone threatens the President's life, sure....take it seriously.  If there's a bomb threat, of course.  But if they're obviously not able to carry that threat out, to Hell with that person.  And here's another one, maybe the person making threats was incited into doing so, like I was...so what about the inciting party?  They don't have to be arrested??  C'mon people, use yer heads.  If the guy threatening you lives 100 miles away and doesn't have a car, chances are he's just mad, or talking smack.

Oh, but what about harassers and stalkers, you wonder?  Guys, c'mon.  If they're calling you...block the damn number, or change it.  If they're harassing you in emails, dump it in the spam folder, or make a new email account...better yet...DON'T READ IT!  If they come to your house?  Then have them arrested.  'Til then, screw 'em!  


Here's a good example of how ridiculous things have gotten.  People are offended these days way too easily.

Once, I made a new flyer for a business I was planning to start.  I spread them around town, and came back later to try and figure out why I wasn't getting any business.  Everywhere I had put one up, they were taken down.  Everywhere I had asked to have someone put it up for me, there was nothing there.  Finally, I asked one place, a diner, what was going on.  They said that someone, a regular customer, had read it, and had been offended by something in it.

I got to thinking about it, and the more I thought about it, the madder I got.  For starters, what are the chances that the customer this person was referring to was going to read it twice?  Let 'em be offended once, what are they going to do, stop coming to their favorite restaurant forever because of some idiot flyer they got offended by?  And here's what happened, now that you did that...the offended person may be happy, but the offending party got offended by your taking it down, and you not only cost yourself that guy ever being a customer, plus whoever else he takes to telling about it, you cost him business.  All because of one person getting offended, who wasn't going to stop coming in because you didn't take it down anyway, more than likely.

On another occasion, I asked some friends of mine to put some flyers by the register for me.  I came in another day with more, and asked if he had gone through the ones he'd had.  He said yes, so I left him some more flyers.  I turned to leave, but then remembered something I had forgotten, and went back in, to catch the guy throwing away the flyers that I'd paid good money to print up.  I was furious.  Why would you do something like that, to a friend no less, I asked him.  He said some business man friend of his didn't like the information on the flyer, and told him he shouldn't put them there.  Now, of course, this was the sort of thing that not everyone would like, more so, it involved corruption.  But if you don't like it, don't read it...more so, don't pick them up!  Leave them for someone else!  Instead of this, the business owner/friend cost himself a very good friend...all because some guy, who had the choice not to read the flyer or say anything about it, told him to throw them away.

If you don't like it...don't read it, don't listen to it, don't watch it, don't open it.  Just like you have the freedom to speak, you also have the freedom not to listen.  Don't arrest people for talking...how stupid is that!

PAYING INCOME TAXES

We all know, as Americans, that the taxes we pay, all 6,000,000 of 'em, are just getting ridiculous now.  Taxes are everywhere, on everything, as many as 4-6 different taxes on certain things we buy every day.  We know they're getting higher and more ridiculous all the time...yet we just lump it up and sit on it, chalking it up to a fact of life.

Some of these taxes I can certainly understand...but one stands out as the most unbelievable of them all, and one that I was certain I would someday see repealed in my lifetime.  But then, our Government does know its business...or they'd be out of business.  I'm sure this particular tax has been dogged many times, more than likely during the course of its inception back when it was introduced to America, but as the decades have dragged on, less bitching and more "fact of life" acceptance of it has taken its place.  But folks, I believe the time has come for us to once again bring an end to this tax, more than any other, and that's our Income Tax.

Thanks to Amendment 16 to the Constitution (which neither I nor my parents or grandparents remember passing, codifying or ratifying), we are, of course, required to pay taxes on our income.  This wouldn't be so bad, but did you notice that everyone counts your gross as the money you make, even when you're talking about child support payments or paying your taxes.  I'm sorry guys, but you don't make what you make, not until your taxes are removed from your paychecks.  Your "NET" income should be your gross, and your gross shouldn't even be considered as a part of what you make; mainly because you don't make that.  This holds true for salaries you make at your new jobs.  You don't make that, not take-home, anyway, so why even consider that to be what you make?  Salaries should be reconfigured for your situation, and for the number of dependents you have.  What good is it to tell someone they make 30,000 a year, if 12,000 of that is removed from your checks?

Just one of those beefs, you know what I'm sayin'.

Anyway, the point being, how is it that we Americans have come to accept what could be easily the most unfair tax ever imposed on our lives?  Well, of course, you notice that the Amendment was passed around the time that International Federal Banks came into our lives.  That's one reason.  And, just like everything else that happens in this great country of ours, I'm sure that it was quietly done, and sneakily done as well.  I'm sure the original amounts taken were quite small, and just like everything else done in business, the price increases just crept along and crept up, little by little, bit by bit, 'til it became the monster we all know and feed today.

It's my belief that we have lived with this for far too long already.  Other income based tax systems have been introduced, and should be given a fair shake.  Information on one of the best replacement systems, the "Fair Tax" can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairTax

and here:

http://www.factcheck.org/2007/05/unspinning-the-fairtax/

By the way, it's important to mention that this concerns ALL taxes imposed on the American people today, not just the income tax.  All additional taxes all tons and tons of them, would be simply replaced by this single tax system, and all of today's taxes would no longer exist.

Even if the Fair Tax system were to take hold, however, should we really be paying taxes on our income?  I know all of you want to say no...so do it already!!  Let's at least ask for a detailed explanation on what all of our taxes actually pay.  I'm sure we can get those answers anyway, just for the Googling...but as they say, you can't believe EVERYTHING...or is it Anything?  That you read on the internet.  If nothing else, I'm sure they leave out as much detail as they can.

As for all of the "added benefits" that they supposedly need to remove from our paychecks, it should be obvious that these should be optional.  Did you notice that they raised the ages to get social security benefits?  The reason given us was that our life expectancy is higher.  I wouldn't count on that being entirely accurate information.  I suppose it could be that we're living longer...but look at how much more dangerous it is to live on this planet now-a-days...is it really possible that, on the average, we're living longer?  Not with all the wars, diseases, mortality rates I've been seeing.  No America, I firmly believe that the age went up to be sure that we're pretty much dead before we receive it, and if for some reason we live long enough, that it won't be long before we're dead, and no longer get it...just like lottery wins in the millions that only seem to go to little old ladies, I think the age went up to make sure that we don't catch the Government with their hands elbow deep in the cookie jar, stealing our benefits.

PAYING TAXES ON THINGS THAT YOU OWN 100%

One of the things about paying taxes that probably bugs me more than the idea of income tax, is paying taxes on things that you own, free and clear.  You've made all the payments on your new car...but is it really your car now?  Is that so?  Then why do you still pay taxes on it every year, depending on its value?  And, of course, there's the matter of your home, or your real estate.  Now, I could understand paying taxes on real estate...if you were making money off of your real estate...but for one building home owners, who only wish to own a home?  This is another one that grinds my gears, something fierce.  Even after the mortgage is paid off, and the loan is through, you still have to pay taxes on your property.  If you don't, you lose your property...but not for what it's worth, but for the value of the property taxes.  Therefore, there's a group of individuals sitting on their thumbs just waiting for that year when your life went south...so that, when you don't pay the property taxes, they can just buy up your property...for the taxes that you haven't paid.  Wow.  So, all those years you made your payments, and your house is GONE, because they cheated you out of 1,000 in tax returns this year, and you weren't able to make your taxes.  All those years working for the American Dream, gone in a half an auction bid.  Worse yet, it probably went to someone that makes money hand over fist buying up property like yours for a living.  Not much differently than just about everything else that defines our great nation, the rich make out like bandits, and you poorer souls, you pay the consequences.

Oh they give you reasons for paying those taxes, of course.  Water, sewage lines, electricity provided your neighborhood, the roads, etc...but even if you live in rural America, these taxes haunt you until the day you croak.  I'm sorry, but if you own it you own it.  If you're still paying the taxes on it...and you could lose it because you don't, then in my opinion, you never do own the damn thing.  'Nuff said on that note.  Let's move on.

Last question, FINALLY, huh?

DOES YOUR VOTE REALLY COUNT?

I've discussed this in other articles, of course...and my feelings on it, of course, have not changed, not even a little.  It's important that we give the citizens the illusion that our votes on who goes into the 2 most important offices in the county matter.  I'm sorry, but the facts show that it does NOT, nor has it mattered since 1787.  This is the date that the electoral college came into being.

Now, I think it should be obvious to the American people, since we have had 3 election outcomes that did not reflect popular vote it should also be obvious that something is wrong with this system.  Actually, for me, once is more than enough.  Anytime the "electors" don't go with popular vote, that to me means that we most certainly do NOT decide, in any way shape or form, who it is that becomes either the President...or his/her Vice.  Ultimately, if your "electors" don't vote the way that you do, then you plain ol' have...no....say.

You notice, though, that the illusion is pretty convincing.  First, the conventions make it look like we're getting what we want, but how do we really know?  The nomination didn't go to who yelled for their candidate the loudest, of course.  So how is it that anyone really knows who it is that we actually put in?  The answer to that has always been, we don't.  Worse yet, we never will know.

That this method of electing the 2 highest offices came to be so early in our nation's history tells me one very important thing.  Early on, someone figured out that, if left up to the people, we could put just about ANYONE in the highest offices of the land....and we can't have that!  No Sir!  So instead, we put the electoral college in as a safeguard...to ensure that, if the wrong choice started to win, that we wouldn't be the ones who put him there.

Your vote, America, for President, matters not.  You do not have a say, nor does your vote count in this case.  A lot of the population pretty much realizes this already, but do you notice that not a lot has changed?  That's because it just can't.  If it were to, God only knows who'd make it in, hmm?

THE CURRENT JUDICIAL METHOD OF "JUSTICE"

For those of you that aren't aware of the extend of how justice is done in America (as well as how it's SUPPOSED to be done), this section is for you.

Every case that happens in a court of law these days is supposed to begin as a civil matter, or is supposed to be handled in what we American's USED to call a Common Law Court.  In case you weren't aware of it, Common Law or Civil cases don't do a damn thing for the State's income.  Therefore, America has been slowly but surely turned away from Common Law, and its courts are now courts of equity.  This way, the state, county and federal courts have more power, and can now make money off of its citizens.  Here is an example of how our judicial system is supposed to handle every matter that comes before its judges:

A complaint is supposed to be filed by a plaintiff, or a wronged party.  For example, if you burn down someone's home, the wronged party, the plaintiff, is supposed to file a sworn "civil" complaint against you, in a Civil Court.  It's the plaintiff's job to set the Jurisdiction that's used, the Judge does not do this.  There is, by the way, no such thing as a "criminal matter."  There are only civil matters.  The "Judge" presides over this matter, and is simply there to rule on the matter, once the complaint is officially made.  He is only there to decide if a crime has been committed, and rules in the defendant's favor, or in favor of the plaintiff.  A monetary damage is then supposed to be assessed in the case, and a bill of debt is tendered, and the defendant should be ordered to pay his debt, and be given a time period to make good on payment of the debt.  Should the defendant not pay his debt, the matter should then be brought into the public sector, and the defendant, should he/she be unwilling to pay, should then be jailed.  Should the plaintiff's complaint be false, and be ruled as false, the judge would find that no debt is owed by the defendant, and the defendant should then be allowed to counter-sue, either at the same time as the case is brought against him/her, or after favor is found for the defendant.  Every case where the defendant is found to be in the wrong, the defendant should be allowed to pay his debt, ruled to be owed to the plaintiff, before the defendant is jailed for the crime committed.

The way it works in an equity court, is that the plaintiff gives his case to the office of "The State", represented by whatever county you're in, or the County Attorney's office.  If you're being charged Federally, the plaintiff becomes "The United States".  The reason this is done is so that the State, or the Country as a whole, can make money from you, as can the represented party.  The other reason it's done this way, is that there is no one sworn statement made by a single person...you are up against a legal fiction, a false corporation, with no option to "counter-sue", since corporate laws differ from personal laws.  This also means that no individual, or a "person", can file charges.  If the state feels that there is no money to be made from the case, they can opt not to file charges in the case.  This is wrong, America.  Relief is not an option, unless the State, or the United States, asks for it.  Not only that, but the option to pay your "debt to society" no longer exists, unless relief is asked for by the "plaintiff", the charging party.  What's more, opportunity to pay is bypassed in these cases, and the defendants are now ordered directly to jail, as if they haven't paid.  As for what remains of civil or common law proceedings, the courts will make their money here as well, in the form of filing fees, with the lawyers fending for themselves...which is why there is no shortage of lawyers that won't take cases unless they see dollar signs.

Because of shows like The People's Court, and Judge Judy, which are, by the way, "civil" courts, it would appear to America that this is how it's done.  It's not until things happen to you, or until remedy is asked for, that you figure out what's really happening in our "Courts of Law".

What's really funny about the way it's done, is that the American public has no idea what's going on anymore, nor are they aware of the deceit that's been snuck into this...until post conviction remedies are asked for.  Then all of a sudden, it's no longer a criminal matter...it's now back to being a civil matter again.  That's because what is being done here is wrong, and the courts of equity are simply fleecing America for all it can before they're found out.

Not convinced?  Call the police, and attempt to file charges against someone.  This no longer happens, in case you haven't noticed.  All you can do is file a police report, and hope that the charges are picked up by the state or U.S. Attorneys.  If the charging entity, the corporate fiction, chooses not to consider what's happened to be a crime, there are no charges filed.  Another thing you'll notice, is that you can now be arrested for Federal crimes long before any charges have even been filed...which could be as long as 30 days.  This means you can be arrested, not charged, and not given a bail for up to 30 days.

Thank God for people like me, or you'd never know these things, eh?  As long as I'm me, and I'm free, you can best believe you'll be told the truth.

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