I can attest to the accuracy of Craig's complaints and predictions about the US government. The man who wrote the article "E-Money: Paradise or Prison" (http://www.goldbankone.com/article.php?sid=77) is a friend of mine, Franklin Sanders. Mr. Sanders has been a gold bullion dealer since the mid seventies. Back in the early eighties he innocently started a "gold bank" in which people could open accounts denominated in grams of gold. It was basically a paper and ink version of e-gold, 100% backed, with a 1% agio fee. Little did Mr. Sanders know, this was a big no-no. Even though there were no US Laws prohibiting this kind of business (since Nixon relegalized private ownership of gold in 73), within six months he was subjected to investigation and attack by the Tennessee Department of Revenue, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF). The BATF raided his family farm in the wee hours of the morning in full SWAT gear, a technique that has become a hallmark of federal agencies in the past decade. Mr. Sanders is convinced that they did so in the hopes that he would, not realizing it was a police raid, attempt to defend his family from the masked invaders in the night, resulting in his death. Thankfully, he did not resist, and he and his family escaped with their lives, if not their dignity. (His ten year old daughter was subjected to a strip search at gunpoint - another signature move by perverted BATF agents.) Not content to have destroyed his business, the IRS publically named Mr. Sanders as, "the most dangerous man in the mid-South." The IRS persecuted him with a federal jury trial, which he amazingly won. Not willing to lose so easily, the IRS then transferred several personnel to the Tennessee Department of Revenue which prosecuted him for failing to pay state sales tax on the sale of gold bullion. Mr. Sanders argued that the gold bullion he was selling was US Gold Eagle coinage from the US Mint which was official legal tender, and therefore not subject to sales tax. (Money changers are not required to pay sales tax in any state of the US.) The court convicted him anyway and sentenced him to a year in jail, reduced to sixty days, which he served in 1999. When I discussed with Mr. Sanders the idea of starting an electronic gold digital currency back in 1997, his response to me was, "Ken, if you do that, the US government will stop you at any cost. They will try to kill you." This man speaks from personal experience. He isn't a conspiracy theorist. Just an honest country-boy who thought the law giving US citizens the right to own gold meant what it said. Did he ever get an education. I know other honest people who have had similar experiences with federal agencies. In the name of an investigation they will lie to potential witnesses in order instill fear in them and smear the reputation of the person they are after. They will plant evidence, make up evidence, and destroy evidence in order to get the conviction they want. With few exceptions, they have no qualms about lying on the witness stand and taking advantage of the jury's trust in government officials. The IRS has become an agency that plunders its victims, with the actual agents often pocketing personal items such as jewelry, never to be seen again, as they "accidentally" don't record it on the list of items removed in the raid. IRS agents are as corrupt as third-world bureaucrats. The point of this is that rule-of-law no longer exists in the United States. If it did, then the IRS would have to list the law in the federal register requiring US citizens to file tax returns. It operates without the basis of law just fine, because the courts will demonize and destroy any fool who attempts to defend himself by pointing out that there is no such law. If you cross the path of the feds in this country, it is truly a crapshoot as to whether you will get a fair trial or not. At least, it is still possible to win sometimes, but the fact is that the cops and the courts are increasingly corrupt. The simple solution to the US control problem is for the personnel of the affected companies simply to move out of the US themselves. I am sure they will do this when it becomes an issue in the future. Regards, Ken Griffith --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
