abc news is a bunch of jerks.
Ok, so I was reading this and I thought it was pretty interesting. It's about a couple in New Hampshire who have refused to pay income taxes and are facing the consequences.
"Do not under any circumstances make any attempt on this land. We will not accept any tomfoolery by any criminal element, be it federal, state or local," said Ed Brown in a press conference from the stoop of his concrete-clad home in Plainfield, N.H. "We either walk out of here free or we die."
Brown and his wife, Elaine, were sentenced in absentia in April to serve 63 months in prison for failing to pay more than $1 million in income tax.
The couple, however, insists that there is no law that requires citizens to pay income tax.
Which might actually be true. I have no idea. I know there was a Consitutional amendment but I'm not sure if there's an actual law. Congress is held by the Constitution, is everyone else? (EDIT: Wikipedia says it's a law, which is good enough for me. But still! I had no idea! And I've studied this! In a class a year ago! Whatever!)
Which brings me to my first point--could the person who wrote the article not actually do a little research? Why is it my job to look up whether or not the ENTIRE BASIS of what this family is saying (and thus essentially the entire content of the article) is accurate? For all I know they could be entirely in the wrong. Anyway, the article's second line (below the title, whatever that's called) says
Holed Up and Well-Armed, a New Hampshire Couple Refuses to Surrender to Federal Agents
which seems to be accurate based on the first page. Except it's later contradicted by
"There is no standoff and the house is not surrounded." Monier [a Federal Marshall] told ABC News.com. "We have no intention of assaulting the house or engaging in a violent confrontation."
Well if no one plans to engage them, why is it important that the couple is well armed? In fact, nothing here even talks about what kind of arms the couple actually has which completely contradicts that other line too. When the man made his statement he has a pistol and keeps insisting he'll fight to the death but we have no actual tangible mention of what kind of arms they may have; for all we know he could shoot himself in the face with his one pistol. Guns? Bombs? Shoulder- fire rockets? What? We have to take it on the word of Monier who claims "we know they have weapons" but is incredibly vague and god knows what's actually going on at this point. Either way, it is LATER contradicted by
Last week, Danny Riley a friend of the Browns was arrested near their home by federal agents while walking the couple's dog.
The Marshals claim they were engaged in routine surveillance of the property, but the Browns believe Riley thwarted a potential raid.
So wait.
WTF is going on? Is this article or writer really as lazy as I think he is? Is the house surrounded or not? Why would US Marshalls be doing a routine surveillance if they weren't planing on later having some sort of confrontation? Why is the headline misleading based on the actual content if no one is actually sure what's happening? Am I the only one getting this? I can essentially draw no actual conclusion about what I'm reading.
Look, maybe I'm being knit-picky here but this is something that could really be an interesting article and news event if it were documented and covered properly. Not to mention the fact its ten days old and there's been no attempt at an update; a quick Google search brough up absolutely nothing about what's happened since then from any reliable source. God knows what actually happened or where they stand.
Comments
The first Federal income tax was imposed (under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution) during the Civil War, then again in the 1890s, and again after the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in 1913. Current income taxes are imposed under these constitutional provisions and various sections of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including 26 U.S.C. § 1 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of individuals, estates and trusts) and 26 U.S.C. § 11 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of corporations).
FYI, people from around the country have been going there to "help." CNN ran an interview with a man last week who was "really proud" that his son had purchased a .50 calibre rifle and gone to go protect them, saying he'd kill any officer that attempted to enter the property. They gave the impression that there are a lot of heavy weapons there.
fuckie. I commented on this like an hour ago or more and got an error message.
basically what I said was anyone who fucks with the IRS is a maroon. Of course income tax is a law. How do they think they got Al Capone in jail? Income tax evasion!
It's an interesting statement to make and while they are in the wrong and clearly a little...nutty, I like their gumption and their sass. CP, haha, that is a good point! I forgot about Al Capone!
I think this is an interesting point that gets people really thinking about the government's role in our lives which is why it keeps coming up. There are alternative and potentially much better ways to do things that we take for granted as absolutely inevitable and while they're not the most eloquent spokespeople for it, it does make you think. New Hampshireites are really a harbinger of the way I think people used to look at what America stood for and haven't taken our current state of frivilous over- legislation laying down. I like that.
PottyMouth, um, yeah. I second you there. But really my point of posting this was to talk about the state of lazy journalism. THIS ARTICLE SUCKS irregardless of content.
Oh well, nut jobs the whole lot, I say!!!!
My lost comment did include something about how rampant crappy journalism is these days. "we'll just report it and go back and fix any errors once someone challenges us on them".
And the reason that I, personally, think that people are loony for challenging the IRS is that they can fuck you six ways to sunday and, I don't know. I'll just pay my taxes quietly like all the rest of the sheep.
Now...what would be cool is if, say, an entire town revolted, and didn't pay their income taxes. That could really be a big pain in the ass and maybe catch some fire.
I think that there is a lot of shit in this country that needs to be overhauled and our income tax system is one of them. I just don't think that not paying them is going to make a positive change unless you enjoy jail.