I was about to pop my manifesto of tax protest to the IRS the very day that the High Court stung the White House big time.
Today, of course, the recalcitrant Repubs are still fuming. Good!
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE BACK, SUCKER!
It seems that we do have at least a two-legged government (Congress is still useless) after all. I was about to declare to one and all that we've gone to outright fascism. (Now I think it's fascism light, I'm at code Orange.)
Here's my letter, unmailed, but armed and pointed at the dull, dangerous consciousness of the Empire:
June 28, 2006
To: Internal Revenue Service
From: Omfree, SS xxx-xxx-1946
Re: Refusal to pay Federal income tax
Dear IRS:
In good conscience I object to the inhumane, unfair, and immoral practices conducted by the US government in my name. Many policies and actions or inactions, performed or allowed with the complicity of its elected and appointed leaders of both major parties constitute issues too great to ignore.
I therefore refuse to pay Federal income tax despite the work done by some men and women of good will on this nation's behalf. It must be this way because any tax payment would be apportioned by percentage into activities that I protest, many of which are the following:
1. The unprovoked invasion of Iraq on false premises.
2. Putting US military personnel in harms way in a needless war.
3. Widespread atrocities and indiscriminate attacks on Iraqi and Afghani civilians.
4. Abolishment of human rights of detainees.
5. Torture of detainees contrary to the Geneva Conventions.
6. Construction of a huge "embassy" compound in Baghdad and
military bases throughout Iraq, whose purposes can only be to control its oil and its people by threats of force.
7. Aiding and abetting Israel's arrogant militarism.
8. The ongoing embargo of Cuban trade, which punishes a nation for its leader, Fidel Castro.
9. US pursuit of more nuclear weaponry. An obscenity.
10. The fraudulent selection of George Bush in 2000.
11. The formation of a secret energy cabal by Dick Cheney, ex-CEO of Halliburton, which happens to be the biggest recipient of no-bid contracts in Iraq.
12. The immoral behavior of Dick Cheney, particularly his fear mongering and lies to gain support for the Iraq war.
13. The worst, most expensive health care system in the developed world, which favors the drug and health industries over those in need.
14. Gross incompetence and neglect by the Administration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
15. Loss of 1.4 billion dollars by FEMA due to post Katrina fraud.
16. Stubborn refusal of the Administration to confront the inconvenient facts of global warming.
17. Outright deception by the Administration in censoring the findings of the scientific community on global warming.
18. The Administration's fracturing of long standing international alliances and the destruction of good will toward the US worldwide.
19. Bush's belligerent posturing that has made the climate for terrorism worse, not better.
20. The Administration's obsession with secrecy for itself but transgression of citizen privacy beyond reason.
21. The cowardly reaction of Congress as Bush marched the country to war, and its tepid responses to the Administration's outrageous behavior ever since.
22. The intellectually lazy, the spiritually infantile, and the morally decrepit Americans who voted for Bush or did not vote at all in his two elections, and who have permitted the most dangerous president in US history to further entrench the military-industrial complex Dwight Eisenhower warned us about.
23. Finally, the mainstream television media who have trumpeted and amplified without thoughtful analysis the Administration's propaganda. The MSTVM are the Vichy quislings of our time, whose profit-seeking and editorial coziness with Bush's inner circle are more coveted than truth itself. Obviously they are not part of the "government," but they prepared the public for war with "rumors" fed by the White House and then played stirring martial music as Baghdad was bombed. Following the invasion, talk shows discussing war, torture, lies, etc, were stacked with pro-war, pro-Bush pundits in disproportion.
Thoreau wrote, "Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
I want the government to stop the war, abolish nuclear weaponry, pass a fair health care plan, develop a wise energy policy coupled with a zero carbon emissions goal, extend the hand of fellowship to allies, use the power of diplomacy with enemies, demonstrate compassion in the treatment of all human beings, drop the Cuban embargo, and impeach George W. Bush for his high crimes and misdemeanors. Then I will respect that government.
The United States is the most powerful country in the world. Why then, does it demonstrate no grace, no understanding or concern for the downtrodden and the humiliated, no faith in the Good? Instead, it bullies, it argues, it uses violence instead of reason. The cause, I suspect, is that its lofty (material)
status at the top of the heap has been held by wrongful means, that is, for selfish purposes. And it will reap the consequences: paranoia, strife, and degradation.
Sincerely,
(the named felon)