Main thread for Ed and Elaine Brown vs the evil IRS, Part 19

[Sheep Fuzzy Wool]

If one acts in these manners http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGkx9cFALo&mode=related&search....you just might be a fed.

[Russell Kanning]

who do we give credit to?

[Russell Kanning]

By Ron Dupuis
July 13, 2007 6:00 AM

Their eyes glanced toward each other from time to time in playful exuberance as if to say "no matter what I'm speaking about, or to whom, I'm thinking of you."

There was what I can only assume to be affectionate "pet faces" that made the other burst out laughing in mid-sentence or thought.

Then an elvish "I'm going to sit on your lap and hug you until you tell me you love me" prank that almost resulted in a chair collapsing.

Are you guessing Nancy and Ron Reagan?

Perhaps Ozzie and Harriett?

Even Romeo and Juliet?

Wrong! On all three counts, and any others you can think of.

The subjects in discussion are Ed and Elaine Brown of Plainfield, N.H. For those of you unfamiliar with the Browns, they are the couple sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge last April and are currently armed and holed up in their 110-acre property in Northern New Hampshire.

There were many reasons for my visit. One of those reasons was to put a human face on these people, born of my generation and working class, but now, in a best-case scenario, faced with extended jail time, and in the worst, a violent death. Ed Brown has stated many times that he will die rather than spend one day in jail for standing up to an unjust government. The silver, clip-fed automatic gun he has tucked in his waistband, or the rifle leaning against the wall beside him gives me reason to take him very seriously.

My visit was not planned. I made the two-hour drive with no expectations. It was just a columnist's curiosity. While standing at the driveway entrance thinking I was alone, a car appeared from what seemed out of nowhere.

"May I help you?" was the question from the driver. To me the meaning was more like "Who are you and what are you doing here?" After what seemed and eternity of convincing him that I was not a federal agent, and not armed but merely a stuttering, nervous, fledgling writer looking for a story, I was asked "Would you like to meet them?"

The meeting took place on the front porch of their home. We sat in chairs and discussed everything from politics to religion. Except when Ed was discussing their current situation, he was both friendly and a little humorous. With a twinkle in his eye, and after I informed him how nervous I was, he lighted a pack of firecrackers while I wasn't looking and threw them into the front yard. After I came out from under my chair we all had a good laugh.

"Are you hungry" was asked as a plate of hamburger patties was brought from the house.

The next 45 minutes were spent like any other gathering of friends on a Sunday afternoon with burgers and chips and memories of growing up. I learned that the Browns met when Elaine hired Ed to work on a building when he was an exterminator 22 years ago and that they have been together ever since. I learned that Elaine was born in Rhode Island and was educated at Tufts as a dentist and that Ed was born in Boston's South End and considers life experience his primary education.

I finally learned that these two people seem more in love today then they ever could have been 22 years ago.

In my humble opinion, I have no idea what the final outcome of this situation is going to be. Elaine Brown feels that the government agents will not come in to arrest or forcibly take them away. That somehow an alternative solution will be found. Conversely Ed Brown feels that they will come using force and states that if the shooting starts he will "take a couple with him" before he dies.

On that Sunday afternoon the Browns were just a hospitable couple sharing their food with friends, supporters and one extremely nervous, sometimes stuttering columnist.

Watch for my next column titled "Me, Randy Weaver, and a pack of cigarettes!

Ron Dupuis is a longtime New Hampshire resident, a former state representative, and a freelance writer. His e-mail is drcdupuis@comcast.net. His Web site may be viewed at www.imho-nh.blogspot.com.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070713/OPINION/707130331/-1/OPINION05

[LordBaltimore]

I'm fairly confident a dentist making upwards of $250 to $300 thou a year isn't "working class".

[Sheep Fuzzy Wool]

I'm fairly confident a dentist making upwards of $250 to $300 thou a year isn't "working class".

Any person who chooses to put their hands in the mouth of another and does this for a living is certainly working class.  A Public service, well appreciated by many. 
The exposure to amalgam is tremendous to a dentist. Hepatitis, aids, other blood relative complications, a dentist is exposed to. 
A dentist making 250 to 300k a year will need that amount to make up for all of these types of known hazards.
  A doctor is working class. A lawyer is working class. If you have to go out of the house to work, you are working class.
Ah, the false caste system in America. 

[error]

Not to mention the government driving up the cost of health and dental care.

[LordBaltimore]

working class
n.
The socioeconomic class consisting of people who work for wages, especially low wages, including unskilled and semiskilled laborers and their families.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

working-class (wûrkng-kls) adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

[EthanAllen]

A doctor is working class. A lawyer is working class. If you have to go out of the house to work, you are working class.

The term "working class" incorporates references to education, to occupation, to culture, and to income. When used non-academically, it typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor, especially when remunerated with an hourly wage.

[dalebert]

who do we give credit to?

by Dale Everett

[Kat Kanning]

Nice article

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Brown+standoff+tense+before+concert&articleId=2dba2648-ba36-4b43-ac41-7a384ef8a231

Brown standoff tense before concert

By KRISTEN SENZ
Union Leader Correspondent

PLAINFIELD – Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are on heightened alert today because of a benefit concert at the Plainfield home of federal income tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown.

"There will be a heightened presence this weekend and adequate resources available to (Plainfield Police Chief Gordon Gillens) and his department," U.S. Marshal Steve Monier said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We're working closely with our local and state partners to ensure that public safety is preserved."

Ruby Ridge survivor Randy Weaver plans to make a speech, and the music lineup includes rock bands Poker Face and The Law. Organizers bill the show as a benefit for the Browns, who were convicted in January on felony tax evasion charges, but have so far avoided apprehension by federal authorities.

Chief Gillens said the town of Plainfield would not provide emergency services to the Brown house today, in the event of an emergency.

"It's basically a lawless gathering," he said, "and people who go there should give thought to that. There's going to be people there with guns, and if things get out of hand, they're on their own."

Meanwhile, Monier said his office is actively investigating "several" supporters of the Browns and could potentially file felony charges against them for "aiding and abetting the Browns in their continuing obstruction of justice."

Concertgoers, however, won't automatically face arrest.

"Just being a visitor at the Browns' doesn't necessarily rise to the level of being a criminal offense, but if there is a course of conduct, it could be," Monier said.

Last month, the U.S. Marshal's Office cut off electricity, telephone and Internet service to the Browns' house, and Ed Brown said yesterday he no longer receives his mail. Monier said additional measures designed to make the Browns less comfortable might be forthcoming, though he would not elaborate.

"Other steps may be taken in the near future to convince the Browns they should turn themselves in and to stop threatening the use of violence toward law enforcement," he said.

Ed Brown said he hasn't threatened violence; he instead has warned that if federal agents storm his house, he will defend himself by any means necessary.

"If he wants to play, we'll play," Brown said.

Elaine Brown said no one would need to talk about violence at all if the government would simply produce the law makes the Browns liable to pay federal income tax.

"If there was such a law," she said, "what would be easier than to show it to us, rather than go through all this and millions of dollars of expense?"

[KBCraig]

http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=9539.msg167840#msg167840

[error]

Hm, what about Monier's obstruction of justice? You think that's going to get investigated?

[Dreepa]

"It's basically a lawless gathering," he said,

Interesting.

[error]

It seems the town bureaucrat has declared Ed's property outside the protection of the law. One could make the case that it therefore is no longer part of the town.