Blog

The Snowden Model and Finding Our Power

I finally watched the film Citizenfour, about the release of the NSA documents by Edward Snowden. The whole film is impressive, but I was struck by this section where journalist Glenn Greenwald is asking Snowden about whether to release his name and ID him as the source of the documents. Greenwald wanted to make sure… Continue reading

After Roseburg: On guns big and bigger

To the Editor: There has been another mass murder shooting in Roseburg, Oregon. A question stares us in the face. Can we expect to endorse mass homicide on the wholesale level and successfully forbid or prevent it on the retail level? As a thought experiment or moral reflection consider this. Since World War II our… Continue reading

Driving Ms. Frances

By Ralph Dolan I runs this high-end chauffeur service, see, and gets this call. Lady on the other end of the line wants a ride across the border into Vermont. Can’t get much of an idea what kind of meeting she could possibly be attending up there in the back woods. I pick her up… Continue reading

Another Look: The Film “Death and Taxes”

Even 5 years after its initial release, Death & Taxes is still relevant to anyone trying to become more involved in the peace movement. The film is a wonderful, light-hearted telling of the lives many war tax resisters have lived and how it doesn’t take much more than a belief to start protesting for peace…. Continue reading

Longest Jail Time for a War Tax Resister

People unfamiliar with war tax resistance assume that if you do it, you go straight to jail, or at least wind up there eventually. “Why aren’t you in jail?” Years ago when I was in the ready-room before appearing on a TV interview program, the host asked me “Why aren’t you in jail?” Similarly, a… Continue reading

Professor Yang Yoon-Mo on Taxes and Jeju Naval Base

At one time, Professor Yang Yoon-Mo was the most influential film critic in Korea. His influence was felt in film festivals, academia, and media spanning the political spectrum. Since that time, he has changed course and devoted his life to the struggle against the nominally Korean naval base being constructed in Gangjeong village on the… Continue reading

Greetings from Jeju Island, South Korea

The Korean Navy is destroying Gangjeong Village  (current population around 2,000) and the surrounding area by building a base here. In terms of population, 7-8,000 soldiers and their families are expected in the community. Additionally, bartenders, tattoo artists, prostitutes, and others will be drawn to the area The base itself will accommodate U.S. warships such… Continue reading

Inspired / Inspiring: Julian Bond

Julian Bond speaking at lectern

On hearing of Julian Bond’s death, I remembered we ran something in the NWTRCC newsletter ages ago where he mentioned a memory of tax resistance. So I looked it up: “Rick Gaumer of WRL New England receives the alumni magazine from the University of Virginia. The Spring 2007 issue surprised him with this story from… Continue reading

Does the Hobby Lobby decision matter to war tax resisters?

photo of four conference attendees, including Peter Goldberger and Brad Lyttle

As we’ve mentioned before, we got a recording of Peter Goldberger’s talk on the Hobby Lobby decision from our November 2014 meeting. Now we also have a transcript, which I found absolutely necessary for following the course of Peter’s argument. It’s not an overly complex argument, but seeing it in writing helped me a lot…. Continue reading

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Fukushima, and war taxes

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the US military’s nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, which killed as many as 150,000 people. On August 9, we recognize the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, which killed as many as 70,000 people. Nuclear bombs were funded by US war taxes, coming from US taxpayers, and dropped by… Continue reading

Health Care, Inheritance, and Miscellaneous Questions

Recent questions to the war tax resistance hotline (aka, the NWTRCC office, 800-269-7464) have been about inheritance and health care. It just so happens that we have updated the booklet in our Practical War Tax Resistance Series that deals with these topics. Look for #7, Health Care and Income Security for War Tax Resisters. As… Continue reading

A Success Story: Combining War Tax Resistance Tactics

I came across this story in the NWTRCC newsletter archives and was reminded of the conversations we had at the May 2015 conference in Milwaukee, where many of Anonymous’ war tax resistance tactics were discussed. I’ve added links to updated NWTRCC resources. -Erica from the February 1998 issue of More Than a Paycheck A Success… Continue reading