Throw the book at them.
"I'd rather be broke and live in Ithaca than live in Los Angeles or New York [City]," he said
Not surprising, since he fits right in with the rest of Ithaca, the City of Evil.
Posted on 01/11/2006 8:38:38 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
On the night of March 12, 2003, a meeting at Catholic Charities on Buffalo Street pulsated with anxiety over the seemingly immanent invasion of Iraq.
There, Ithacan Daniel Burns suggested pouring blood at nearby Lansing's military recruitment center. Many agreed it was a good idea; fellow Ithacans Peter DeMott and sisters Clare and Teresa Grady agreed to join Burns.
On March 17, at Lansing's military recruitment center, as roughly two dozen protestors stood outdoors on a mild winter day, Burns, DeMott, Clare and Teresa entered the facility's vestibule with a cup of blood each. They poured the blood along the top of the walls, and it dripped down over recruiting posters, military cutouts and the American flag.
A recruiting officer came into the vestibule and asked them to stop; the Four said they must finish what they had started. And when the four finished, they knelt down and prayed until police came and arrested them. Days later, the group assumed the title the "St. Patrick's Four," and the War in Iraq was launched. Along with the war began the Four's legal struggles, which would culminate in the first federal conspiracy trial against war protestors since the Vietnam War.
A federal trial convicted the Four on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and damaging government property.
The Four avoided the harder felony charge of conspiring against a federal officer, which could have brought them each six years in prison. But their current convictions still carry maximum terms of 18 months in federal prison. Jan. 24 through 27, 2006, will bring four days of four sentences, and no one in the group is optimistic.
Teresa thinks her sentence, no matter what it is, will bring some kind of relief. "For almost three years," she said, "I've felt like my life was kind of on hold." Clare has been in jail and/or prison many times for her involvement in peace movements. Her longest imprisonment was a 15-month stint in the 1980s.
Like Clare, most of the Four have lost track of their number of arrests. Burns noted he was arrested protesting the day after he was married.
But DeMott holds the rights to the most interesting of all their protesting feats. "[In 1980], I commandeered a van that belonged to a shipyard and I used it as a sort of automotive battering ram," he said, "and smashed it repeatedly into the rudder of a trident submarine." A call for nuclear disarmament, DeMott's action was part of the Plowshares Movement (the title from Isaiah 2:4: "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks"). For that action, DeMott was sentenced to a year in prison.
Because such a large portion of federal income taxes go toward military spending, Burns lives below a taxable income, claiming himself a war-tax resister. Living in relative poverty seems strange for a man with a former Hollywood career, earning as much as six-figure annual salaries working (most often as a director's assistant) on films such as Ghostbusters, JFK and Carlito's Way.
"I'd rather be broke and live in Ithaca than live in Los Angeles or New York [City]," he said, noting that he returned to Ithaca in 1999 (he lived here previously), when he became an independent painter and dog-walker.
None of the Four make high enough incomes to pay federal income tax. DeMott and Clare said they do it consciously, ensuring they never make a federally taxable amount. Teresa is a massage therapist who did four years of contractual work in Cornell's Physical Education Department before this September. DeMott is a handyman, and Clare is the former kitchen coordinator of Loaves and Fishes shelter (she resigned when realizing her trial and its aftermath this fall would consume her time).
Burns and his wife do not seek federal benefits for themselves, but their two young children receive Medicaid benefits.
Burns only has one regret concerning March 17, 2003 - not bringing more people.
Throw the book at them.
"I'd rather be broke and live in Ithaca than live in Los Angeles or New York [City]," he said
Not surprising, since he fits right in with the rest of Ithaca, the City of Evil.
Isn't that special...
As a Catholic, I would throw the book at them and also would want "Catholic" Charities of Ithaca subjected to a minute investigation with an eager eye toward federal indictments of that group's leaders. Hang 'em high!
More like none of them report enough income to pay federal income tax. not only are the traitors, but anyone so willing to blatantly defy the law (especially the idiot who damaged a submarine) could easily be tax cheats.
I'd say there's an imminent danger the author will learn to use spell-check.
"[In 1980], I commandeered a van that belonged to a shipyard and I used it as a sort of automotive battering ram," he said, "and smashed it repeatedly into the rudder of a trident submarine."
He damages a Billion+ dollar, national security asset and all he got was a year in prison? No wonder our enemies think they can attack us with impunity. Our government refuses to
prosecute domestic enemies.
They still pay into Social Security. The excess funds of SS go into the genereal fund. Their money still funds the Mighty Bush War Machine.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!
The Evil Karl Rove strikes again!
Hannah Arendt discussed the banality of evil ~ here's it's face!
OKaaaaaay, so what have they accomplished so far??? This has been going on since the 80s? They've really been effective \sarc >
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.