Circus day at the Browns

[Nikki]

What if Ed "I'll never be taken alive" Brown, an obvious member of the extreme anti-government fringe has spent some time preparing for an incursion by law enforcement authorities?

Clearly, he built his house/fortress with that thought in mind -- who else builds houses with gun turrets made of 10" thick reinforced concrete?

What if his preparations included loading the house and the surrounding grounds with dynamite? That's not an unreasonable speculation and I'm sure the Marshalls have thought of it.

The marshalls want to resolve this without ANY bloodshed. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit into Ed's game plan.

So, they wait.

[webhick]

I just watched WMUR's "Special Investigation". They dragged some guy (he was that memorable) from Franklin Pierce College on camera to say that the following arguments are considered frivolous by the court:
Income tax is voluntary
Ratification of the 16th
Revoking citizenship

Occasionally, the let him get out more than the word "frivolous", but he didn't say anything substantial. Media puppet.

On the other hand, Ed came off a little like a raving whacko. I especially loved the part where he got all self-righteous, pointed accusingly at the camera and shouted "We're doing it for you!" Like I asked him to. Next time he wants to do something for me, he can take out my garbage. At least he'll be useful.

Elaine wasn't much better: "We walk out free, or we're carried out" (possibly not an exact quote, I'm recalling from memory). She doesn't seem to realize that being carried out doesn't necessarily mean dead.

I'm not sure if you guys could see it on the online videos, but part of the exterior of Ed's house looks like it's still under construction.

[ErsatzAnatchist]

I just watched WMUR's "Special Investigation". They dragged some guy (he was that memorable) from Franklin Pierce College on camera to say that the following arguments are considered frivolous by the court:
Income tax is voluntary
Ratification of the 16th
Revoking citizenship

Occasionally, the let him get out more than the word "frivolous", but he didn't say anything substantial. Media puppet.

On the other hand, Ed came off a little like a raving whacko. I especially loved the part where he got all self-righteous, pointed accusingly at the camera and shouted "We're doing it for you!" Like I asked him to. Next time he wants to do something for me, he can take out my garbage. At least he'll be useful.

Elaine wasn't much better: "We walk out free, or we're carried out" (possibly not an exact quote, I'm recalling from memory). She doesn't seem to realize that being carried out doesn't necessarily mean dead.

I'm not sure if you guys could see it on the online videos, but part of the exterior of Ed's house looks like it's still under construction.

I'm glad I didn't stay up to watch it. I can't seem to get the videos on the WMUR website to work using IE or FireFox, but I doubt that is much of a loss.

As for Ed's fortress, he has been paranoid for years (gold fringe on the flag, etc....). I suspect that it was just fortuitous for him that his paranoia has become justified, and now the .gov is really out to get him. Most of his ilk never rise to a level high enough to get on the .gov's radar, so their paranoid preparations are never needed. Your average nut case anti-government "Brownite" never makes enough money to turn into a giant tax evasion case or to stockpile the preps that Ed has.

As much schadenfreude as I am getting from this fine train wreck, I am beginning to think that things need to cool off for the next six months. Hopefully the publicity will die down and Ed will resume living as normal a life as did before. The U.S. Marshall can then pick him up without all the muss and fuss that doing it now would lead to.

[webhick]

As much schadenfreude as I am getting from this fine train wreck, I am beginning to think that things need to cool off for the next six months. Hopefully the publicity will die down and Ed will resume living as normal a life as did before. The U.S. Marshall can then pick him up without all the muss and fuss that doing it now would lead to.

Ed won't let it die down. He needs to be the center of attention roughly once a week. The good news is that he's allowing everyone to document his descent into madness. The bad news is that his descent into madness will eventually come to a head and he's probably going to do everyone in that house irreparable harm. Then his surviving cronies will tell everyone that the government did it.

[Demosthenes]

Randy Weaver: 'I ain't afraid of dying no more'

DENISE FARWELL / Valley News

Ruby Ridge icon at Brown home in Plainfield

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff

June 19, 2007 8:00AM

Randy Weaver speaks during a press conference at the Browns’ home yesterday. In 1992, Weaver was wanted for failing to appear at a court hearing in Idaho. A shootout ended with the death of his wife, Vicki, and a deputy U.S. marshal.

Nearly 15 years after he lost his wife and son in a confrontation with federal marshals, Randy Weaver stood at the home of a Plainfield couple anticipating their own standoff and offered his assistance yesterday.

Weaver, who became an icon after his involvement in the 1992 Ruby Ridge shootout in Idaho, arrived in Plainfield this weekend to support Ed and Elaine Brown and lend his skills as a mediator with federal officials.

"I'm praying for a miracle that common sense will prevail," he said.

The Browns were each convicted of several tax-related felonies in January and have been holed up in their castle-like home for nearly five months. Each was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, but the couple have resisted capture so far, threatening that any attempt to arrest them will end violently.

Weaver, whose own experience illustrates the potential dangers of the Browns' stand, held up a photograph of his late wife, Vicki, as he told of the confrontation that led to the death of his family members and a highly decorated deputy U.S. marshal. At the time, Weaver was wanted for failing to appear at a court hearing over a gun charge.

Yesterday, at a lengthy and sometimes contentious press conference, Weaver said he was hopeful for a peaceful resolution for the Browns but prepared for a different ending. He said he was prepared to stand by the couple's side, whatever the outcome.

"I ain't afraid of dying no more," he said. "I'm curious about what the next life is like. And I'm an atheist."

The Browns, who have long maintained that no law compels them to pay federal income taxes, used their soapbox yesterday to repeat their legal theories and chastise the news media for their acquiescence to government authority.

Elaine Brown introduced Weaver as a "hero," someone who stood up to the federal government and revealed its brutish nature. But even as she expressed her outrage about the violence that destroyed Weaver's family, Brown reiterated the couple's determination to resist the federal marshals to the end.

"If they come in here, we're dead," Elaine Brown said. "We will not be arrested. We will not agree to go into their prison for a noncrime."

Weaver, clad in tattered jeans and a T-shirt from a Waco, Texas, Harley-Davidson dealership, was the main draw for yesterday's press conference, which attracted both local and national news media. But he was not the only participant. He was introduced by the Browns and two sympathetic radio hosts from Texas, who picked Weaver up near his Arkansas home Friday to drive him the 2,000-odd miles to Plainfield.

"This might as well have been 15 years ago with Randy Weaver," said John Stadtmiller, a radio host and former activist in a Michigan-based militia group. "Different issues but the same mind-set."

Reporters entering the property yesterday were stopped by a bearded Brown supporter and asked to identify themselves before approaching the house. But the supporter wasn't looking for possible undercover agents. He said he was ensuring that Fox News would not be allowed to attend the conference.

Weaver, the Browns and their entourage sat on the house's front porch. As each participant spoke, he or she stood at a podium decorated with the insignia of the Constitution Rangers of the Continental Congress of 1776, a national anti-government group that Ed Brown once led.

In an interview after the conference, Weaver described himself as a reluctant hero.

"I don't like that word," he said, explaining that he preferred thinking of himself as a victim or a survivor. "I don't like doing stuff like this, but this is what I have to do."

Weaver said he sympathized with the anger the Browns feel toward the marshals. Before his family's deadly encounter with agents, he already felt distrustful of and betrayed by federal agents, he said. But unlike the Browns, Weaver said he had never hoped for a bloody ending to his own case.

"I didn't want it. I didn't ask for it," he said. "And I'd rather have my family back. But the marshals started this."

Ten days after the Ruby Ridge shootings, Weaver surrendered to marshals. He said he did not have regrets about that decision, which he credits with saving the lives of his remaining family members. Weaver was acquitted of illegal gun charges and of any involvement in the marshal's death, but he served a 16-month prison sentence for failing to appear in court.

Since his trial, Weaver has stayed mostly out of the public eye. For the past 10 years, he has lived quietly in Iowa and Arkansas, raising his three daughters and refraining from political commentary.

But his case remains a favorite symbol of those in the "patriot" movement, who believe the federal government is eager to tread on individual rights. In the 1990s, militia leaders frequently invoked Ruby Ridge in support of their views that citizens must arm themselves. Ed Brown has described Ruby Ridge as critical to his own realization that the government was up to no good.

Weaver was contacted several weeks ago by a radio host, who recommended that Weaver consider helping the Browns. Weaver initially demurred, saying he couldn't afford the trip.

But when a group of supporters offered to drive him - Weaver refused to submit to airline security measures - he agreed to come to Plainfield.

His drivers departed from Plainfield yesterday, and Weaver said he intends to stay in town for the foreseeable future. In the press conference, he estimated that might be as long as 15 years, but he later said he would need to return home in time for his youngest daughter, Elisheba, to return to high school in the fall.

At the time of his trial, Weaver spoke openly about white separatist views, but when asked about them yesterday, he accused a reporter of "race-baiting."

Yesterday, Ed Brown distanced himself from Weaver's white separatist past, although he frequently inveighs against Freemasons and what he calls the Zionist Illuminati.

"I love all mankind," he said, after offering to house, and wash the feet of, a black reporter.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier has repeated for months that his office plans to use negotiation to persuade the Browns to surrender. In a written statement yesterday, he said he does not intend to raid the Browns' home.

But a large buildup of police forces near their home earlier this month was evidence, Ed Brown said, that Monier has been dishonest.

"They were going to kill us," Brown said.

Armored vehicles, SWAT teams and an explosives-disposal truck were seen near the Brown home June 7. Monier explained that the police presence was necessary to ensure security for the seizure of a commercial building owned by the Browns in West Lebanon. Daniel Riley, a Brown supporter from Albany, N.Y., was detained by marshals after he encountered them while walking the couple's dog that day near their home.

In recent weeks, marshals have disconnected the Browns' electrical and phone lines and have had several cellular phones disabled.

"We don't need to make them comfortable," Monier said last week.

Yesterday, the Browns said those measures were causing them little discomfort.

The house has its own well and can generate power from a windmill and solar panels.

If winter comes and they are still without power, "I have 103 acres of woods," Ed Brown said.

[Demosthenes]

Town presses marshals to arrest couple

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff

June 19, 2007 8:00AM

If it were up to local officials, Ed and Elaine Brown wouldn't be holding press conferences in their driveway.

On Friday, the Plainfield selectmen mailed a letter they had been discussing for a month. In it, they asked U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier to hasten his approach to arresting the fugitive couple. Monier's wait-and-see strategy, the letter said, may endanger residents and Plainfield's small police department.

"While we understand and support efforts to achieve a quiet resolution to this matter, the longer the Browns remain at large the better the chance, in our view, that our local police force will be involved in an incident with them or their group of supporters," the letter says.

Town administrator Stephen Halleran said the selectmen's letter was not designed to encourage a violent or rash confrontation. It was intended to remind the marshals that while they wait, local officials will be responsible for any skirmishes with the Browns' supporters.

The Browns have been holed up in their Plainfield home for nearly five months, evading arrest on bench warrants. They each have been convicted of several federal felonies and have been sentenced to prison terms of more than five years.

The local police have been called to the Browns' road at least three times since the Browns took to their home this winter.
They arrested a man in January, after he wandered onto a neighbor's property carrying a stolen gun. More recently, they were called out to assist an ambulance picking up a cancer patient the couple were treating and to escort a Fox News truck off the property.

Halleran also said that the town office and local police station have been flooded with calls from supporters.

"Every time Ed gets publicity, gets a little flare up, gets a little press, our town gets people who think Ed's cause is worth jumping on, and they may or may not be reputable people," Halleran said. "It puts our police officers in some jeopardy."

Selectmen wrote and signed the letter one day before marshals and state police surrounded the property with SWAT teams and police vehicles earlier this month. Because of that effort, Halleran said, the town did not immediately send the letter. After it became clear that marshals were returning to a hands-off strategy, they put the letter, dated June 6, in the mail.

In a written statement yesterday, Monier did not specifically address the content of the letter. But, he reiterated that the marshals would continue to be patient.

[Disilloosianed]

It's a sad, sad situation when Randy Weaver starts looking like the voice of reason.

The whole "hero" thing burns me up, though. A hero is the guy who walks out and says "I surrender......just don't shoot anybody."

[Demosthenes]

Browns say they will either walk free, or die
By KRISTEN SENZ
Union Leader Correspondent
10 hours, 47 minutes ago

PLAINFIELD – Randy Weaver, the focus of the botched 1992 federal raid in Ruby Ridge, stood with convicted tax resisters Ed and Elaine Brown yesterday in a show of solidarity.

At a podium in front of the Browns' concrete castle, Weaver became visibly emotional as he retold the story of Ruby Ridge and relived the moment he saw his 14-year-old son Sam's lifeless body in the woods near his Idaho cabin.

"His little eyeballs were halfway open and rolled back. You don't forget this stuff," Weaver said, choking up. "This is why I'm here. If this gets out of control, this is going to happen here."

Calling himself a freelance reporter to avoid a potential aiding and abetting charge, Weaver said his presence at the Browns was meant to shine a national spotlight on their case and prevent bloodshed.

U.S. Marshal Steve Monier has repeatedly said his office does not intend to engage in a violent standoff with the Browns, who say they will pay all the taxes the government claims they owe, if the IRS shows them the law that makes them liable.

"The U.S. Marshals Service is committed to resolving this peacefully," Monier said in a statement issued yesterday. "Edward and Elaine Brown can end this today by doing the right thing, which is to call us and make arrangements for their surrender."

But at the news conference, Ed Brown said authorities "changed the rules of engagement" when they fired two rounds and a Tazer at Brown supporter Danny Reilly, who spent hours in federal custody after inadvertently discovering armed surveillance teams around the Browns' driveway on June 7.

"They would've killed him if he wasn't moving," said Ed Brown, who was wearing the badge of the Constitution Rangers, a militia group that defends the U.S. Constitution. "If they were going to kill him, they were going to kill us... They plan on doing the same thing to us that they did at Ruby Ridge."

The U.S. Marshal's Office has denied firing shots at Reilly.

Representatives of more than a dozen news outlets attended the news conference, during which Brown and Weaver at times scolded reporters for "stupid" and "baiting" questions. Meanwhile, several Brown supporters waved "Don't Tread on Me" flags and signs that read "Don't Kill the Browns for Money."

Weaver, who now lives in Arkansas, said he understands the "mental anguish" the Browns are going through, because he went through the same thing in the months leading up to the Ruby Ridge raid that killed his wife, son and dog.

"Until you've gone through it, you can't imagine the suffering," he said.

Weaver visited Waco, Texas, after the 1993 siege on the Branch Davidians compound "to offer them moral support," and went to Jordan, Mont., after the Montana Freemen had an 81-day standoff with federal agents in 1996.

"I don't really like doing this stuff," Weaver said, "but it's something I've got to do." He said the corrupt "de facto" federal government must be stopped.

"They have ruined the lives of lots of nice folks, stolen from them, killed them," he said. "When's it going to end?"

Weaver said he'd like to educate law enforcement officers "who are just taking orders" and make them realize that the Browns are right. He said he would stay in Plainfield "until the next glacial age, if it's necessary."

"I ain't afraid of dying no more," he said. "I'm kind of curious about the next life, and I'm an atheist."

The Browns have vowed to defend their lives and property, with deadly force if necessary, and say they will never surrender.

"If they come in, we're dead," Elaine Brown said yesterday. "That's it. Either we walk out of here free, or we die."

Two weeks ago, heavily armed police surrounded the Browns' home while officials seized Elaine Brown's former dentist office in neighboring West Lebanon. Last week, officials cut power and telephone service, but the Browns' home is equipped with solar panels and windmills and has backup generators.

The Browns believe the IRS and the federal income tax are part of a deliberate plot perpetrated by Freemasons to control the American people and eventually the world.

Ed Brown said he and his wife turned down an offer to appear on "Good Morning America" this week. He said a two-minute television segment doesn't allow enough time for them to discuss their case and views on tax law.

The Browns have both been sentenced to 63 months imprisonment as a result of their convictions on felony tax-evasion charges.

[Demosthenes]

Perhaps even more interesting that the above story I just posted is the comments section below the story:

The voices of UnionLeader.com readers:

These people are the very reason we must have taxes. Who pays for the the US Marshals? Who pays for the federal courts? If they, and others like them, would abide by the laws, we may be able to reduce taxes, or at the very least, put the tax dollars to the use for which they are intended. I say build a fence around the house and electrify it with their solar panels and wind mill and send everybody home.
- Kevin Thomas, Manchester

They should take the Browns peacefully then auction their house right in front of them. If they hate taxes send much send them to a place where there are none, Cuba. Deport the Browns, because they offer nothing of real value to the State of New Hampshire or any other state in this country.
- Jay Melanson, Manchester, nh

there is NO law that says you MUST pay an income tax. if you think there is, SHOW it to us all........ to the Browns, LIVE FREE OR DIE.......
- David G. Smith, Tampa Florida, Former Nashua resident

Well, I was going to make a few comments too, but I see that all the previous commenters have pretty much said what I was going to say. This isn't news... it's sensationalism. Whose press conference shall we cover next? O.J.'s?
- Brian Jennison, Newmarket

The Browns are nothing more than tax-evaders, wrapping themselves in a bogus pseudo-legalistic argument, as the first poster pointed out. That said, if the feds really do intend to wait them out, it is totally unnecessary to have a small army out there, and patrolling the woods in camoflauge. Unfortunately, potential for violence seems to be very high here. Ed Brown seems a bit paranoid, and might be easily provoked into taking a shot at one of the marshalls.
- Ditmar, Hollis

The power of congress to impose taxes is laid out in the Constitution of the United States, expanded upon in relation to income taxes in the 16th Amendment, and the specifc laws regarding income tax are spelled out in title 26 of the United States Code. It's not terribly hard information to find, unless the Browns don't actually want to find it. I can only imagine that their paranoid delusions of shootouts with the Feds are going to climax with a stunning example of natural selection at work. I just hope that nobody else will lose their life in the Brown's loonie militia-like standoff fantasy.
- Adam Wells, Manchester

Does anyone have an ounce of sympathy for these two? Not only do they get fat cash out of a dental practice, they refuse to pay taxes on it and then expect me to cheer them on while they go Jeremiah Johnson with the other deadbeat from Ruby Ridge? Now, on top of the people of this country not getting that revenue we have to shell out mad cash to surround these criminals until they decide to vacate their bunker? Two words: Tear gas.
- Craig Davis, Manchester

To the Browns: If you don't want to pay taxes to this great nation of ours, just leave. We have the best country and government in the world. It is not perfect by any means, but it is the best. If you can't support your government and address your problems in a court of law, then just leave and save everyone a lot of aggrivation. God forbid an innocent bystander is injured or killed due to your insane refusal to pay taxes. You should be thankful you're American citizens, because in most nations, your actions would be met with your death, torture, and/or imprisonment without due process.
- Bill Maynard, Manchester, NH

YOU NOTICE MR WEAVER NEVER MENTION LT COL DEGAN WHO WAS KILLED AT RUBY RIDGE, HE HAD A FAMILY TOO, A SON JUST A FRESHMAN AT UNH, HE WAS DOING HIS JOB TOO THE BROWNS SHOULD PAY THIER TAXES JUST LIKE THE REST OF US
- JOHN CURRAN, WOLFEBORO NH

Brown is an idiot. He lives in this country, yet he claimed that he's not a citizen. So, Brownie, leave. Go, get out. We don't want you here anyway. You are a selfish person, and you are no different than David Koresh, Weaver, or McVeigh. WE all pay, we may not like it, but it's better than living in a country where you would be shot in the damn head for saying what you think is wrong.
- russ scott, chichester

I am sick and tired of hearing the empty rhetoric that these anti-tax anti-government protesters spew daily. They claim to be patriotic and defending the Constitution. This is absurd. They are snubbing their nose at every single American who performs their civic responsibility and pays their taxes. Taxes are not optional and their argument is a joke. I fully support the IRS (which by the way is a very professional agency) and the US Marshals Office. I believe that Marshal Monier is doing a wonderful job. I don't care about past incidents that have turn deadly or violent. Loss of life is tragic but in every single one of those past situations if the person wanted by the government had peacefully turned themselves in (Ruby Ridge included....) there would have been no bloodshed. I believe the government in this situation *should* forcefully take the Browns into custody as they are not above the law. If anything violent happens and the Browns get injured its no ones fault but their own.
- Bradley Jardis, Hooksett, NH

Can a government employee or a lawyer please inform the Brown's and the rest of us and cite the law about paying federal taxes income taxes? Are these people whacked or do they have an real and honest point they are trying to make? Regardless, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, how do you expect this country to remain free and safe without paying federal taxes? How do you rebuild a state after devastating natural disaster without the governments help? How do you keep our military in their top form without paying federal income taxes? Would you not like to pay federal taxes and live in a country like Palestine and the west bank? How do you think it would feel to constantly live in fear? The kind of fear you cannot control because at anytime the militia could come into your home and do whatever they wanted including killing you? Maybe for one second you could think about this country as a whole, and think about the good that giving your taxes does? And if you really wanted change, and the laws to be fixed, you would spend your time fighting politically for what is right, instead of babbling like a bunch of buffoons? Obviously its too late and you are going to hold your ground. And for what? To be remembered as the couple that stood up for their rights while the rest of the idiots pay to the system? Ya, you or smarter then us Mr. and Mrs. Brown, but your rhetoric and your ignorance is getting old.
- Chris Levesque, Manchester

You should stop giving these loonies publicity - its all their after. The only news in their "Press Conference" is that govt. offials are shirking their duties by letting fellow-loonies onto that property. I didn't say go in "guns blazing", but at a minimum cut these guys off from the world. Maybe even use snipers to take out their windmill and solar panels.
- Peter bealo, Plaistow

[Kimokeo]

"Can a government employee or a lawyer please inform the Brown's and the rest of us and cite the law about paying federal taxes income taxes? "- Chris Levesque, Manchester

Chris, who do you think sent the US Marshall? Why do you think they are there? Could there possibly be a court case, involving the Browns, where your answer lies?

[Duke2Earl]

I am getting very close to having had enough of this complete bullcrap. Whether they like it or not these "people" were convicted and sentenced. It seems to me that either we enforce the law or we just don't bother. We have now taught everyone the lesson that if you are convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail, if you make enough fuss and make enough threats, well then you really don't have to go to jail.

I have had enough. They ought to send it whatever force is necessary and if some of these people want to resist then so be it. And yesterday would not have been soon enough.

[webhick]

Here's a thought. Everyone in town knows which locals are helping to support the Browns. And in a town that small, everyone knows who's an out-of-towner.

Suppose they shoot out the greenhouse, the solar panels, and the windmills. Suppose, the locals boycott the Browns and refuse to sell stuff to the Supporters. Suppose, the Marshals expend a small amount of personnel to protect the local shops. Suppose the Marshals set up road-blocks in and out of town and only let the locals through. No media either.

See, the way I see it is, we kill two birds with one stone. We make it harder for the Browns to restock (since they can try to go on foot). And the town is quieter and safer. Sure, there's the hassle of the road-blocks, but it's better than what's there now - with the loonies running around unchecked. Any supporter attempting to leave or enter town gets busted. Set up some more Marshals in the area to patrol for problems.

Or better yet. Evacuate the town. Shut down cell coverage for the area. Arrest anything moving around outside Ed's property. Then bomb the bastards with nerve gas. It'd be like Christmas. You know, when you wake up and find all your presents under the tree. Nice and calm and not running to get artillery. Good presents. Good.

Even better. No warning, no notice. Send a couple of Marshals in to silently evacuate the neighbors (I doubt they'd warn Ed, since it'd mean that the fiasco would turn bloody) and bomb the bastards with a sleeping agent. Or, don't bother evacuating the area, and wind up apologizing to the neighbors. Write them little notes to their bosses so they don't get fired.

[Demosthenes]

Reno's daddy (the guy who threatened to use chemical or biological weapons) is on the road to New Hampshire.

[Duke2Earl]

I always like it when thongs proceed as planned.

[Imalawman]

I just like thongs in general.

[Demosthenes]

They just don't do it for me.

[Famspear]

Thongs?

I thomtimes thing thongs in the thower, but I do tend to thing off key and get thoap in my eyes while I'm thowering. Thomtimes my wife gets irritated with my thilly thinging, and then thee thays: "Don't thing like that, don't make me thuffer tho much with your thilly thinging."

Tho, then I thtop thinging thongs.

[Famspear]

I know, I know, I thould take things more theriously. This plathe is not for thilly thtuff like this. I can't help it.

[webhick]

I know, I know, I thould take thingth more theriouthly. This plathe ith not for thilly thtuff like thith. I can't help it.

I fithed your thpelling. You mithed a few etheth.

[Famspear]

Thankth!

Thircuth day at the Brownth can't be this much fun!