NH: Feds arrest Free Stater at IRS office

[DadaOrwell2]

As always, curious to get the HR take on events in the Free State

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From NHfree.com
Keene, New Hampshire
7/27/06

Keene resident Russell Kanning is on a mission. Wearing overalls, a straw hat and carrying a pitchfork, the thirty-five year old libertarian activist is out to expel the Federal Government from his city. And, despite his lack of sophisticated weaponry, he has triggered quite a response from Washington.

Plain clothed officers and uniformed Department of Homeland security agents were present in force to meet him at noon today as he appeared at Keene's IRS office with several supporters. But it wasn't so much his pitchfork or his friends that had agents concerned; it was his handful of...flyers.

"I want them to quit their jobs," he said, referring to the one or two IRS agents who staff this part-time office on Keene's Main Street. His flyers contain a form which he is asking IRS agents to sign, pledging they will stop working for the agency because of what he considers the evil things it funds.

Kanning, who has openly refused to pay IRS taxes since the 90s, says he is most upset by the use of tax dollars to underwrite Iraqi occupation. He also says he was inspired to action by the arrest this May of Plainfield resident Ed Brown, a prominent Constitutionalist and tax resister.

When Kanning entered the building, authorites quickly interposed themselves.

"I think we could call it tilting at windmills," he joked.

While bantering with the perplexed agents, Kanning offered each of them a flyer, which each refused, then slowly walked toward the single flight of stairs leading to the IRS section of the building.

Officers then quickly, but carefully, placed his hands behind his back and cuffed him.

Activists from NHfree.com, including a professional videographer, crowded in to document the event but were elbowed back by agents. They then placed him, his straw hat and his overalls into a DHS squad car minus the pitchfork but grinning at photographers.

He ended up being booked at Keene Police Department, then released around 3 p.m. Kanning then returned to the IRS office and walked straight toward the door, whereupon he was cuffed again, booked again, and released again, this time, as before, on charges of disorderly conduct.

He says either he or mysterious person known as Shorty Dawkins will be returning to the "scene of the crime" tonight.

At a "post-arrest party" in Keene, the atmosphere was jubilant.

"I never got to talk with the IRS workers," Kanning says, still grinning "but I did get to ask some Homeland Security guys to quit."

For the latest details on the unfolding situation visit the NHfree.com forums at:

http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=4584.0

 

[ilbob]

I'm trying to figure out what he did that was illegal enough to get arrested.

 

[JohnBT]

My guess is they asked him to leave and he didn't. After all, he wasn't there on IRS business. Loitering or tresspassing or somesuch would be good enough for a disorderly conduct charge.

Taking a pitchfolk into a Federal office building? We really need a law against being stupid in public.

John

 

[Camp David]

I'm trying to figure out what he did that was illegal enough to get arrested.

ilbob:

"...Kanning, who has openly refused to pay IRS taxes since the 90s, says he is most upset by the use of tax dollars to underwrite Iraqi occupation..."

He's a liberal coward that refuses to pay his taxes!

 

[dfaugh]

He's a liberal coward that refuses to pay his taxes!

or a conservative Constitutionalist, who feels oppressed by the amount of taxes we have to pay, most of which never go to benefit the people that pay them.

 

[ilbob]

My guess is they asked him to leave and he didn't. After all, he wasn't there on IRS business. Loitering or tresspassing or somesuch would be good enough for a disorderly conduct charge.

It being a public building and all, I am not sure they can make such a charge stick.

The courts have ruled that people who smell bad can't be excluded from loitering in public buildings.

A peaceful protest would seem to be even more protected.

 

[HankB]

It being a public building and all, I am not sure they can make such a charge stick.

Forcing him to appear in court and (possibly) spend his own money to hire an attorney serves the government's purpose, even if charges are summarily dismissed.

And they can do it again . . . and again . . . and again . . . all on the taxpayer's dime.

His actions put me in mind of an observation, IIRC, by Ayn Rand: (paraphrasing) You don't stop a juggernaut by laying down in front of it.

 

[Byron Quick]

He's a liberal coward that refuses to pay his taxes!

I think a perusal of a dictionary for the definitions of 'liberal' and 'coward' is in order.

Disorderly conduct ordinances are written in such a way that the authorities can arrest you if you are embarrassing them and not committing a crime.


I've seen people arrested for disorderly conduct that were behaving in a manner that would not be out of place in church. They were simply doing things that discomfited some official. Such as telling the truth about the official or some such uncouth behavior.

Read your local ordinances on this and others nebulous offenses.

Think about it. Someone said that being asked to leave constituted sufficient grounds to warrant such a charge. He was in a public building. He was not disrupting its ordinary routine. Nor was he harassing anyone. He was simply-and reasonably-attempting to dissuade public employees from continuing activities he believes to be immoral.

The Homeland Security guys? I feel so much safer knowing they were there on the job. Don't you? Our taxes at work.

 

[Andras]

Kanning, who has openly refused to pay IRS taxes since the 90s, says he is most upset by the use of tax dollars to underwrite Iraqi occupation.

I didn't know we occupied Iraq in the '90s...

 

[ebd10]

I didn't know we occupied Iraq in the '90s...

Remember the first Gulf War? It was in all the papers...

Then there was all that unpleasantness about "no-fly zones" etc...

 

[GT]

So the billions of FedBux that are poured down the hole of education, welfare, Social Security (sic), and all those pork-bridges to nowhere; not to mention the billions wasted in "foreign aid" to countries neither deserving nor grateful- and what really "upsets" him the most is the $5 spent on playing whack-a-mole with the Sex/Death cultists in I-raq.

What a loser.


G

 

[Camp David]

I think a perusal of a dictionary for the definitions of 'liberal' and 'coward' is in order.

I stand by both words and the meaning was precise... if this liberal nut hasn't paid his taxes I want him locked up...wouldn't surprise me the least that this "Keene resident" was a liberal academic as well... they are well rooted in their agenda.

 

[Igloodude]

Camp David, I can understand your knee-jerk usage of the term 'liberal', but I'm completely mystified as to how his non-payment of taxes and/or protest at the IRS office warrants a label of 'coward'.

 

[BSlacker]

Depending on his age and income it would quite easy to not pay federal income tax. Just make 30k that year and have some deductions, be over 62 and you can be free of federal taxes. No problem. It is not FILING a tax form that can get you in trouble. They didn't say he didn't file. I doubt any of his personal money is going to the war effort. It seems to me this worked out ok he got to protest drew some attention and he was charged and he went home. Pretty American I would say.

 

[Camp David]

Igloodude:

"...upset by the use of tax dollars to underwrite Iraqi occupation..."

 

[Beren]

He's a liberal coward that refuses to pay his taxes!

Good for him. I wish I had the courage to refuse to pay federal income tax. STATE taxes, sure, I have no issue with those. The federal income tax is one of the five major blunders that have undermined our republic.

 

[Andras]

Remember the first Gulf War? It was in all the papers...

Then there was all that unpleasantness about "no-fly zones" etc...

you know, I completely forgot.

 

[wQuay]

guys, plz do not feed the trolls.

 

[Byron Quick]

"...upset by the use of tax dollars to underwrite Iraqi occupation..."

Camp David,

You maintain that opposing the war in Iraq automatically makes a person a liberal? Tell me this, Democratic Senator Lieberman supports the Iraq war. Do you claim this makes him a conservative?

I supported-and still do-the basic need to stomp Sadaam Hussein's regime in Iraq. I had-and still do-major reservations about plans for what to do after that was accomplished.

I don't vote for Democrats and the only time I vote for Republicans is to vote against some Democrat such as Gore or Kerry. I think Republican policies are only slightly less dangerous than Democratic policies. Am I a liberal, too? The shame! The shame!

It might have escaped your notice but liberals don't protest taxes. They protest tax cuts and support tax increases so they can spend more money on various pie-in-the-sky social engineering boondoggles. Whatever he might be in the political spectrum, it ain't a liberal. Precise? Precisely wrong.

 

[mp510]

I believe that what this free stater did could only be summed up 'dumb'. I disdain income taxes, yet I pay them. If I have a problem with a position, I most certainly would not walk into a federal building with a pitch fork. Doing such is simply not well thought out.

Tell me this, Democratic Senator Lieberman supports the Iraq war. Do you claim this makes him a conservative?

Being a CT resident, I will tell you that Joe Lieberman is most certainly not a conservative, though a majority of his support comes from indepedents and reupublicans. INterestingly, nearly 9 out of 10 CT Republicans who intend on voting would vote Lieberman if it became a way race for Senate in November. I should also mention that most CT Republicans don't fit the traditional mold of 'conservative'.

 

[Camp David]

You maintain that opposing the war in Iraq automatically makes a person a liberal? Tell me this, Democratic Senator Lieberman supports the Iraq war. Do you claim this makes him a conservative?

There are several long-time Democrats that refuse to accept the Democrat Party's complete and asinine swing to the left-wing fringe...Senator Lieberman is one such Democrat and Zell Miller of Georgia is another. Some of these moderate or conservative Democrats are often called "Blue Dog Democrats" by the way! These folks rightly feel the Democrat Party has abandoned sense and swung far too left to the radical fringe... most conservative Democrats support the war.

"Does Sen. Lieberman's support for the war make him a conservative" you ask... no... not at all... Lieberman is smart enough to know that support for the war is a given, since their are troops in the field and to not support the war implies cowardice at various levels... the dance that leftist liberals try to sell, that one can oppose the war yet support the soldiers, doesn't play well in the land of common sense, therefore Senators like Lieberman and Miller know that the United States needs to be "united" on the war, especially during the war when troops are afield. That does not make them conservative, but does make them sane. Those opposed to such realism make up the liberal part of the Democrat Party, and the cowards in the nation.

Clear?

 

[MechAg94]

The federal dummies should have just let him hand out his fliers and quietly ushered him out the door.

 

[ilbob]

Some of these moderate or conservative Democrats

I know Lieberman is no conservative, but even to call him a moderate is a stretch.

Unless you consider the political center as being Hillary.

The problem with labels is that they become meaningless over time. Liberals have decided that the term has become too synonymous with so many failed policies that now they are trying out the term progressive. In fact, can anyone name a liberal policy that has not failed. I refer to modern liberals, not classical liberals.

 

[mohican]

ilbob Quote:
My guess is they asked him to leave and he didn't. After all, he wasn't there on IRS business. Loitering or tresspassing or somesuch would be good enough for a disorderly conduct charge.


It being a public building and all, I am not sure they can make such a charge stick.

The courts have ruled that people who smell bad can't be excluded from loitering in public buildings.

A peaceful protest would seem to be even more protected.

"public buildings" aren't always open to the public, just as not all meetings of "public bodies" are open via "sunshine laws"

Camp David +1

 

[ArmedBear]

So the billions of FedBux that are poured down the hole of education, welfare, Social Security (sic), and all those pork-bridges to nowhere; not to mention the billions wasted in "foreign aid" to countries neither deserving nor grateful- and what really "upsets" him the most is the $5 spent on playing whack-a-mole with the Sex/Death cultists in I-raq.

LOL

+1

Way to further bury the meaning of libertarian ideas by tying them to the rhetoric of the most statist people in the Senate. Good job, Free Staters. I hope you're having a good time up there, trying to deep-six what's left of the libertarian movement.

BTW I like the flyers, and I like the idea. Furthermore, I love the idea of social ostracism of any Federal agents and their families, as well as state and local LEO's who support the militarization of police work and clearly see all of us, not real criminals, as "the enemy". Making people thoroughly unwelcome in a community is one way to make them less effective.

I just think people need to consider how they present their messages. Is he REALLY trying to tie the anti-tax movement to Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore in the public consciousness? I think we'd do much better by avoiding moonbat entanglements.