-
- Saturday last, a whole bunch of people were anxiously
awaiting C-Span to broadcast the "Citizens Summit to End the Illegal
Operations of the IRS." Hard to fit on a business card, but although
you did not see it as promised, it DID take place at the National Press
Club in Washington D.C.
-
- Why was it dropped? A lot of people would like to know.
Some are claiming C-Span was paid NOT to air the controversial anti-tax
summit.
-
- Conventional wisdom from the establishment has been to
undermine the credibility of tax protesters. Call them names, guffaw at
their claims, and relegate them to the radical right-wing wacko fringe.
However, this group of experts has routinely and consistently proven their
allegedly outlandish claims, and mainstream tactics have been failing to
quiet the roar.
-
- I know several of the participants and have interviewed
most of them on my radio talk show. Bill Benson, author of "The Law
that Never Was" not only has documented the illegal implementation
of the income tax, but he has also been offered money to turn over his
documents and be quiet. Joe Bannister, is a former IRS special agent ("badge
carrying, gun carrying agent") tells how he personally had asked the
IRS (for whom he worked) to show him the statutes which make an American
liable for the income tax. Since it was his job to enforce the law, he
kinda wanted to see it. He never got a response. He was subsequently let
go from the agency. I have always felt tangentially responsible since he
had his own personal epiphany after researching material he had heard discussed
on my program. (WorldNetDaily has written about his story.)
-
- Constitutional lawyer Larry Becraft has a wealth of documentation
supporting the group's claims, which the mainstream has assiduously avoided.
-
- The C-Span scheduling change has prompted considerable
confusion, disappointment, and anger -- specifically because C-Span management
had already established not only the precedent of airing seminars from
the organizing group (We the People) which had put on a similar tax summit
previously this year, also at the National Press Club. The first summit
was covered from introduction to the end by C-Span. Additionally, it was
shown several times. First it was aired live, and then it was re-run several
times after that the subsequent week. This summit is larger and better
organized. C-Span normally covers events of national interest held at the
National Press Club headquarters.
-
- Why would C-Span, in the wake of cultivating a reputation
for non-partisan candor fold on this one? It certainly wasn't any programming
imperative. Instead of the promised tax protester live speeches, C-Span
ran a re-run of a Books Notes show. When they ran the first event it proved
to be a huge success. Reportedly, it had been the most often requested
tape ordered from C-Span. It was apparently both an audience success AND
a financial success in that it generated considerable tape sales. So why
would they cancel the sequel with the original cast?
-
- At the first summit (the one C-Span DID air), Bill Benson,
discussed his book "The Law That Never Was," in which he proves
beyond a shadow of doubt that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified
by the states. That really wasn't too earthshaking since Benson has been
sharing his work for years. I first interviewed him on the air with his
documentation in 1992. However, during his presentation, Benson noted that
several years ago, shortly after he completed his research into the non-ratification
of the 16th Amendment, he was offered a very large sum of money by a presidential
candidate to not make the information public for fear it would destroy
the entire tax system.
-
- Bill did not, however (during the first broadcast summit),
name the former presidential candidate. It was expected that Saturday the
name would be released ... and it was. According to Benson, Orrin Hatch
had offered him a large sum of money for all the original documentation
of his work proving the 16th Amendment had never been ratified by the states.
-
- Since Bill Benson has proven himself to be too principled
to be bought off to suppress information the establishment claims is specious,
maybe the would-be controllers could have better luck with the event promoter.
-
- Allegedly, the We the People promoter, Bob Scultz was
offered a five-figure bribe by a "leading presidential candidate"
to NOT hold the event or get it on C-Span. Scultz said "An official
attempt by a leading, currently-sitting U.S. Senator to pay to have the
evidence suppressed, to avoid publication and to maintain secrecy has been
exposed at this meeting this day."
-
- Excuse me? Why pussy-foot around Bob? Why not just come
out and say who the "currently-sitting U.S. Senator" is? Come
on pal, is it or isn't it John McCain? You did say "currently sitting
U.S. Senator," AND one that is a "leading presidential candidate."
Is there another one other than McCain I missed?
-
- This is outrageous! The emperor has no clothes! It is
long beyond time to resolve this controversy. I've told Benson, Bannister,
Becraft and others that, notwithstanding the academic argument (which,
by the way, they win). Congress could and arguably should or shouldn't
admit what Benson has proven, and (like when the ground ball rolled under
Mrs. Leonardo's front porch) have a "do-over."
-
- "Mr. Speaker, in the wake of congressional analysis
of the scholarly work of Mr. Benson, it has been determined that the 16th
Amendment was not properly ratified. In order to correct this procedural
oversight, we recommend the states re-ratify the amendment in order to
ensure the expeditious maintenance of federal revenues ... yada, yada,
yada."
-
- But THAT speech will never happen. For two reasons: 1)
government appears incapable of admitting error (Tuskeegee, Agent Orange,
Gulf War Syndrome, Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City, TWA 800 et al.); and
2) the inimitable fear that, if presented to the states, the states might
not ratify the unholy tax. Remember, when first proposed the income tax
was a "mere" 1 percent. Hell, even the most radical tax protester
could probably be bought off with a "mere" 1 percent.
-
- However, as with ANY form of control: gun control, tax
control, anti-trust control, union control, birth control, or information
control, the qualifier is insignificant. It is, and always has been about
CONTROL.
-
- The framers established the Constitution and the Bill
of Rights to control government. Sadly, we have permitted those who should
and could be controlled to turn the tables and reverse roles. We need to
fix that. And C-Span needs to either admit they have allowed themselves
to become a tool of the government information cabal which allows them
to maintain their fiction of non-partisan objectivity, or they need to
provide their audience with what is wanted and needed, and not what is
permitted or allowed.
-
-
- Geoff Metcalf is a talk-show host for KSFO in San Francisco.
|
