| Dear Readers:
In February Justin and I journeyed to
Eugene, Oregon on business. It is beautiful.
Oregon’s state motto is, "We know
what’s best for you." Their old state motto was, "We never met a
rule we didn’t like." I almost got thrown out of the Oregon Coast
Aquarium for absent-mindedly chewing gum. As it was explained to me,
it might strangle the birds [sic].
As far as I know, Oregon is the only
state where you can be arrested for pumping your own
gasoline! Eugene serves as the retirement haven for an entire
generation of hippies. Odd, isn’t it -- the apostles of license
become the apostles of control in their dotage? "Yeah, man,
cool, smoke all the dope you want, just don’t throw the butt
on the ground. That’s like, you know, littering.
Bummer."
But we didn’t even notice all that,
thanks to superb graciousness of our host and Oregon’s breathtaking
scenery. One day our host drove us up the McKenzie River for a taste
of the Cascade Mountains. Justin and I sneaked away two days and
drove over the Coastal Range to the coast. A landslide had closed
Highway 101 just on the other side of Sea Lion Caves, but we got to
see the Caves and then drove south past the Oregon Dunes to Coos
Bay. Another day we drove up the Willamette Valley to Corvallis,
then across to Newport.
On the way at a tiny village called
Eddyville I almost ran off the road. Somebody was flying a
Confederate flag right on the road. (Apparently that isn’t yet
against the law.)
Like other Oregon coast cities,
Newport has a splendid huge arched bridge in the High Thirties style
(American Fascist Massif).
I wholeheartedly recommend you take
your family for a vacation in Oregon. The people are hospitable and
the scenery extraordinary. Just don’t break the rules.
ONE DAY
The first thing I’m going to do after
I am elected Dictator of the World is to outlaw upon pain of
death those marquee signs in front of churches. You know, the
ones where they post snippety Do-Good phrases. The very worst
I have ever seen appeared last summer in Mayfield, Kentucky on a
United Methodist Church: "Religious regularity makes for moral
fiber."
Should we execute offenders by
hanging, shooting, or 3,000 hours of listening to scatological
puns?
IN CINCINNATI
On 3/7/2000 the US 6th Circuit Court
of Appeals heard oral arguments in my appeal from my Tennessee
conviction for refusing to collect sales tax on exchanges of gold
and silver money for paper money (For the whole story, see "The Most
Dangerous Man in the Mid-South" at http://208.55.3.192/cgi-local/shoptmc.pl/SID=022422/page=http://www.the-moneychanger.com./).
When we met my attorney, Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., he asked how long it
had taken us to get there. "Fifteen years," I replied. That’s how
long I’ve been fighting this.
No one in the country knows more about
US monetary law than Edwin. In oral argument each side gets 15
minutes to present its case, but can reserve three minutes of that
for rebuttal. Edwin began like a Browning .50 calibre machine gun,
mowing down everything in front of him, answering the most detailed
questions without a blink. He reserved three minutes for
rebuttal.
The woman lawyer for the state stood
up and argued for only six minutes. Basically her argument was,
"Franklin Sanders is a bad person. He was a bad person in Arkansas,
and he skipped across the river to Tennessee and he was a bad person
there." I expected this, but was astonished when the judge asked her
if it was the state of Tennessee’s position that when gold and
silver coin are used as money they are not subject to the sales tax.
She answered, "Yes."
Hmm, I thought, If that’s the
case, what in the world are we doing here? That’s what I’ve
been arguing for fifteen years!
The presiding judge asked some very
good questions, but that doesn’t mean a thing. They can ask
questions that sound like they understand and favour your arguments,
only to rule against you in the end.
We should have a decision in 60 to 120
days. They could just cut me personally loose, overturning my
conviction because the state could not bring a pioneering
interpretation of tax law in a criminal forum. However, that would
leave the money issue up in the air, and leave gold and silver money
at a disadvantage to unconstitutional fiat money. That’s the
issue I’ve been fighting for all these years. Pray with me, please,
that God would grant us a complete victory.
TUCKER
My grandson, Tucker Bain (29 months),
was walking up the driveway in the sun with his Daddy. Suddenly he
closed his eyes, threw up his arms, and shouted, "Hey, God! Hey,
God! Hey, God!"
Enjoy the spring,
Franklin
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