It all came to a peaceful end -- but these were clearly dangerous folks.

The fugitive couple had been waiting on their porch for nearly eight months for law enforcement officials to make their move. "The word is 'poised,' " Ed Brown said recently, handgun wedged in his jeans, AK-47 assault rifle behind the door, as he stared at a yard of cut grass and bags of explosives hanging from trees. His wife, Elaine, kept her pistol inside a pouch with her reading glasses.

Ed Brown, 65, a retired exterminator who was involved in the "patriot" militia in the 1990s, and Elaine, 67, a dentist, do not believe that the federal government has the authority to tax income. In January, after a decade of not paying tax on nearly $1.9 million in earnings, a judge found them guilty of tax evasion and, four months later, they were sentenced in absentia to 63 months in prison.

Refusing to "surrender," in February they barricaded themselves in their estate in this New Hampshire town of 2,200, warning that any attempts to arrest them would end in bloodshed. They said they could sustain themselves "indefinitely" with solar and wind electricity generators, after federal agents cut their power and phone lines.

But, in the end the authorities got them, not by a full frontal assault but by trickery.

Late Thursday, U.S. marshals posing as supporters entered the Browns' property and arrested them on their porch without incident. "They invited us in, and we escorted them out," U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier told the Associated Press.

Just remember what the lunatic fringe think about these folks.

One more reason that Ron Paul is unfit for any office.

Posted by: Greg at 02:57 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Hmmm.. sorry I can't totally agree with you here.. I guess you'd also consider our Founder's the lunatic fringe too.. they also disobeyed "the law" and were considered "trouble makers" who were "treasonous". But honestly - Ron Paul is absolutely correct in what he says regarding the Constitutionality of these issues, and the fact is that there are people who are willing to stand up against the government to make the point. I don't see them as the lunatic fringe...these people just do not wish to be sheeple. Why couldn't the government just show them the law they requested? Why because there is none. Doesn't it bother you that the government had to resort to trickery to apprehend these people who were just exercising their rights to protest what they see as unconstitutional actions by the government? You ought to see the video http://youtube.com/watch?v=xuxc2rl38rg Please don't just write these folks off as whackos - please research the issue a bit. The 16th amendment states "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

Posted by: J Aron at Sat Oct 6 15:23:17 2007 (my1Q8)

2 Where is the law? Code is not Law/Statute and The Supreme Court defines "income" as corporate profit. http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Xb3pKzWikk The income tax is not an "apportioned tax" (therefore it is illegal under the constitution) and it represents only 30% of the federal tax income.

Posted by: J Aron at Sat Oct 6 15:40:32 2007 (my1Q8)

3 But I still really enjoy your blog and I do pay my taxes...

Posted by: J Aron at Sat Oct 6 15:49:10 2007 (my1Q8)

4 And the 16th Amendment states that such taxes do not need to be apportioned -- and since an amendment trumps the original language of the Constitution, it is explicitly constitutional. And the Internal Revenue Code IS law -- Title 26 of the United States Code. That makes it statutory law, my friend.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sat Oct 6 15:54:55 2007 (9KKVZ)

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