Ed Brown, Down for Good

And speaking of tax protestors, I know no one else cares about this, but I have to note that Ed Brown, possibly the champion chump of all the tax protestors, has finally been sentenced for the weapons and other offenses he committed while holing up in his fortress-like home for months to avoid being taken to jail after his conviction for his actual tax offenses.

Ed Brown and his wife Elaine, faithful readers will recall, were charged with tax offenses after failing to file returns for several years on the usual absurd grounds (no law requires payment of taxes), stopped attendning their trial halfway through, were convicted, and were sentenced to 63 months in prison. To avoid arrest, they barricaded themselves in their New Hampshire home, replete with weapons, explosives, and nonperishable food. The standoff lasted for months, during which they repeatedly threatened a violent end if the Marhsals moved against them. But at last, in October 2007, the Marshals took them peacefully by sneaking in under the guise of being supporters.

If only Ed and Elaine had surrendered peacefully when sentenced, they would already be more than halfway done serving their time. But their armed resistance got them charged with numerous weapons and other offenses, and they were found guilty again. Earlier this week, Ed was sentenced. After blaming his problems on "Freemasons, Zionists, Jesuits, Knights Templar, the Fraternal Order of Police, [and] the Moose Lodge" and treating the court to statements such as "I am the government," Ed decided he'd rather be back in his cell when the judge pronounced sentence. So he didn't hear Judge Singal setence him to 37 years in prison -- which doesn't even start until he's done with his current 63 months.

Sad case, really. The court psychiatrist concluded that Ed did not suffer from a mental illness, and I presume there's some legalistic sense in which that is true, but to me, someone who believes the court is a fiction, that the Jesuits run everything, and that there's no law requiring payment of income tax, certainly has a geranium in the cranium. The man is not normal, and it's sad that his mental issues (even if they don't amount to a recognized mental illness) have led him to engage in so much self-destructive behavior that he will almost certainly now die in prison.