Aaron Russo along with his merry band of conspiracy theorists recently became involved with a group of people that believed that they don't have to pay income taxes and/or file tax returns (many of whom have actually refused to pay/file). Now the Aaron Russo conspiracy theorists looked and saw yet another opportunity for themselves to create commotion and thus joined forces with these tax protesters and added their familiar "anti-Rockefeller platform" and "anti-international-banker platform" to the tax protesters' chorus, claiming that income tax in America is just another way for Rockefeller and other international bankers to get rich.Now here are the pertaining video clips that show when/where this all happened:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-03Sf1wDo][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WkQ0qjgIFI][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1r1hNjxVfU]Now because we are dealing with an extremely touchy legal issue, I am obliged to say right off the bat that the law in this case is on the government's side. You can find the law in Title 26 of the US Code, and it says that you do have to pay income taxes. You may not agree with them, I know that neither I nor my father do, but in the end you do have to pay them. And just in case anyone here needs it spelled out, the conspiracy theorist argument that income tax all goes into the pockets of Rockefeller and the international bankers that they all love to demonize and is total garbage with no factual basis.Okay now with that being said, both sides were very much in the wrong with regard to how they acted in this situation, and thus I have some nasty things to say to both sides. I have some nasty things to say to the Aaron Russo conspiracy theorists who have found yet another way to act like nutballs running wild subverting this country, and I also have some nasty things to say to the government that felt the need to pull a King George III belligerence routine rather than simply to take ten minutes for an aide to point out Title 26 to these people and say "This is the law that says you have to pay."Now first I will address the Aaron Russo conspiracy theorists gone tax cheats:You pretend that you are interested in the well being of this country -- you are not.You pretend that you are interested in fixing the system -- you are not.What you are interested in is subverting this country because you hold insane beliefs that Rockefeller is the Boogeyman and Rothschild is Freddy Kruger, and they're engaged in this entire conspiratoria involving Illuminati, Freemasons, fairies, witches, lions, tigers and bears. And I knew that it was only a matter of time before you kooks got involved in some serious lawbreaking that would land many of you straight into prison.And not only did many of you go to prison, a lot of other people are undoubtably going to prison on account of you because there are so many people who think every word that comes out of Aaron Russo's mouth is gold, when in fact it is mostly lies. And said people are undoubtedly listening to Aaron Russo, and they are redoubtably not paying their taxes and/or not filing returns, and they are undoubtedly going to go to prison because of that. It's absolutely disgusting, because it's like the tale of the Pied Piper, except that this time the Pied Piper is leading everybody straight into prison.You conspiracy theorists need to stop doing what you're doing. You've gone from having a reputation for being crazy to having a reputation for both that and for allying with people who cheat on taxes. And now the government really has an eye on all of you and regards you as dangerous people who need to be monitored. And I absolutely can't blame them for that because of the activities that you have been involved in. And quite frankly if I were the government, I would have started monitoring your asses a long time ago.My hope is that when those of you conspiracy theorists who have gone to federal prison over this get out of federal prison, it will have a rehabilitative effect on you, and in a few years you will come out of prison ready to be productive members of society rather than crazy insane conspiracy theorists who are a detriment to society.And my other hope is that those of you conspiracy theorists who have not gone to federal prison are seeing from your friends who are going to federal prison that there are consequences to be paid for your actions, and no amount of whining about Rockefeller and Rothschild are going to save you from those consequences if you step over the line.And now I am going to address the arrogant government that chose belligerence over its duty to inform the public of what the law is when the public asked what the law is:The reason why you did not cite the law when asked even though you could easily have done so, and instead said essentially "because the government said so", is that you want to get to the point where any of your officials can simply issue an edict and when we all ask why we have to all follow it, you can simply say "because the government said so", whether or not the edict is actually backed by a law. And you were using this income tax protestor situation in order to try to cement that into the public mind.Government, if you had said to Russo and pals, "listen, you clowns are not important enough for busy Congressmen and IRS Comissioners to waste their time on, but we will send an aide to meet with you and tell you where the law is that you have to follow", and that aide subsequently pointed out the relevant portions of USC Title 26, then that would have been enough, and you Government would have totally been in the right, and the Russo conspiracy theory wackjobs would have been totally in the wrong (except for the fact that the income tax itself is socialist, goes to worthless social programs that we don't need, and benefits mainly bums and freeloaders when it isn't outright wasted). But because of the miserable way in which you handled the situation, the 80% in your favor, 20% in their favor stance that I would have ordinarily have taken has been reduced to a 50-50 split. So I'm 50% in your favor, but I'm also 50% in their favor. Or more accurately, I'm 50% opposed to them in this context, but also 50% opposed to you in this context.You need to wake up and realize that the age of King Xerxes is over, and we are in the age of rule by law. And rule by law entails that not only are you obliged to have government by laws rather than by arbitration, but that when the citizenry is unclear about what the law is, you are obliged to pull out the law book and instruct them as to what the law is. Because rule by law doesn't mean much of anything unless the citizenry is able to know what the law is.And one last thing: don't even think about giving me the excuse of "Well we put it on our IRS website", which is the excuse that some of your apologists have given for why the Aaron Russo people should have known.The fact is you did that after the situation had long ended. Not when the Aaron Russo people asked.

Siberia Rocks

And just in case anyone here needs it spelled out, the conspiracy theorist argument that income tax all goes into the pockets of Rockefeller and the international bankers that they all love to demonize and is total garbage with no factual basis.Okay now with that being said... Luke

You didn't spell anything out? Let me ask you some questions, Luke. In 1898, the United States began its era of foreign interventionism (some would call it imperialism) with the Spanish-American War, resulting in our acquiring territory and setting up our oldest foreign base, Gitmo. We have been at war (or in conflicts or on peacekeeping missions since Korea now that the President dictates what happens) abroad almost nonstop since then. Do you find it coincidental that just a short time later, in 1913, the income tax amendment was passed? Do you see the connection? Before getting involved in foreign wars we didn't need a federal income tax. Afterwards, we did. Why? To pay off our debt, or at least the interest on it. What benefits have we, the U.S., gotten from all these wars?

Regarding the current wars, there is are huge oil reserves in Iraq. Former UN Arms Inspector Richard Butler told Paula Zahn on CNN on Jan. 9, 2002 that "...oil is a big issue (for America), and...there is very substantial oil in Central Asia. And to get that out to sea, the best possible way to do it would be to build a pipeline across Afghanistan. So that's the web...and I don't think we're being told all of the facts" (from Forbidden Truth: US-Taliban Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for Bin Laden by Brisard & Dasquie). There are "rumors of war" in Iran now. Hmmm...Is it a coincidence that Iran just happens to lie between Iraq (oil reserves) and Afghanistan (oil pipeline)? The heart of the matter is not complicated.

Is it a coincidence that our President and many cabinet members are oil men and women?
"Treason doth never prosper.
What's the reason?
If it prosper,
none dare call it treason." ...And none dare call it conspiracy either.

The bottom line, Luke, is that war is big business and business is booming. The American people are not easily sold on war, hence the need for "Remember the Maine," Pearl Harbor, the Tonkin Gulf, 9/11, etc. If our fighting foreign wars is really about defending our "homeland", why don't we start with defending our borders and getting rid of the 20-30 million invaders we currently have here? Why? Because the government, or at least a rogue element therein (along with rogue elements in other nations' governments), is not interested in nat'l defense but rather personal profit. If a government will get its people involved in wars for specious reasons for the sake of profit and send good men (and now women) to die for lies, is it too big of a stretch of the imagination to think that it would set up the Federal Reserve (which is not federal and doesn't reserve our money) to make private bankers rich? I think not.

Akuus, your timeline is well chosen.

Wasn't this also the era of monopoly capitalism, cartels and trusts?

Also, by the 1890s the west had been settled to the Pacific, and large waves of immigrants were coming mainly to the east coast, providing cheap labour for industry.

The technologies of mass production and mass communication were also on the horizon. Hearst understood the power of mass persuasion, as you point out.

[have you read any Gore Vidal? his novel "Empire" describes the presidencies of McKinley and Roosevelt, very interesting period]

No, the bottom line is that your buddy Aaron Russo the conspiracy theorist kingpin is convincing people that they don't need to pay their income taxes and file their income tax returns. The bottom line is that your buddy Aaron Russo is going to get a lot of people sent to federal prison. Now I realize he's dead now, but he only died very recently so a lot of people are now hearing the lies that he put out, and many of those people are conspiracy kooks who believe everything he says, and when they listen to him in this context and don't pay their taxes, they're going to end up going to federal prison on charges of income tax evasion.

When I ran across this on Youtube I found something that was an open-and-shut case of the anti-Rockefeller crowd's kooky conspiracy beliefs causing them to commit the crime of willful income tax evasion, which is a felony which will land you in federal prison.

So no, I didn't come here to argue about the Federal Reserve or international war profiteers with you today. That's why I only gave a 3 line reminder (which is what you quoted) as to what my beliefs wrt their anti-Rockefeller beliefs are. What you quoted AKUUS wasn't meant to be the main point of my article. It was a 3 line tangential reminder of what my beliefs on their beliefs about Rockefeller are.

No, I came here today to highlight a serious involvement of Russo and his conspiracy crowd in the crime of tax evasion and incitement to tax evasion. That's not something that's debatable folks. That's something that's open and shut. Russo clearly claimed (falsely) that "there is no law", when there IS one. USC Title 26. So he's spreading mistruths, and it's getting people thrown in federal prison.

No, I haven't. I've heard the author's name, though. I'll have to add his book to my list!
Have you read anything Chalmers Johnson? I plan on reading his trilogy: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American People.