Historical Precedents for this War to Expose Scientology My screed about the liberty tree { synopsis below } long original version HERE http://www.lermanet.com/cos/libertyl.html Best read while listening to Dire Strait's song "the telegraph road"

In pre-revolutionary days, when a fellow wanted his neighbors to know what was going on, he would tack a message to a tree at the crossroads, so all his neighbors could see.

As the revolutionary war approached, at one point, Lord Bute's majority the British Parliament passed a law called the stamp tax... this was nominally a 1% tax, a stamp had to be purchased, from the ccrown's tax collector, and affixed to all bills of lading, official decrees, various printed matter.. These stamps had different prices, and here is the clincher, there was an onerous price for the stamp for public handbills and posters...

in an effort to squelch criticism and unrest.

The minority party leader in England, the colonies' champion for reasonable and just opposition to this tax and against the resulting war was one John Wilkes, who was elected Lord Mayor of London at one time. John Wilkes previously had published a broadside that introduced the idea that "A man is a sovereign unto himself and may only be ruled by his consent" - as the King was THE SOVERIEGN, this was considered treasonous and John Wilkes was breifly imprisoned, while London crowds demonstrated by torchlite...

One man living north of London at that time read John Wilkes revolutionary thought and it deeply affected him, his name was Thomas Pain, and he later left England for the colonies and became famous as the writer of inspirational political screeds.

Mr. Pain signed his name with a flourish, and got tired of correcting people ... My name is Thoman PAIN, P A I N - that he finally gave up and surrendered to popular culture of the time, and he is now known to us as Thomas Paine.

Behind the scenes was a group of men who mostly worked with their hands, artisans, who organized using the local pubs as their meeting places. They called themselves "the Sons of Liberty".

This movement sprang up in unison in various states from Charleston S.C. , Virginia, through New York and Massachusetts.

In response to the imagery of the day, they began to dedicate these trees at the crossroads as "Liberty Trees"

A self explanitory sample dedication At a dedication of a Tree of Liberty in 1766...Silas Downer said:

"We do therefore, in the name and behalf of all the true SONS of LIBERTY in America, Great Britain, Corsica, Ireland or wheresoever they are dispersed throughout the world, dedicate and solemnly devote this tree to be a TREE of LIBERTY.----May all our councils and deliberations under its venerable branches be guided by wisdome, and directed to the support and maintenance of that liberty, which our forefathers sought out and found under trees and and in the wilderness. ---May it long flourish, and may the SONS of LIBERTY often repair hither, to confirm and strengthen each other. --When they look towards the sacred ELM, may they be penetrated with a sense of duty to themselves, their country, and their posterity:--And may they, like the house of David, grow stronger and stronger, while their enemies, like the house of Saul, grow weaker and weaker. AMEN The dedication above had particular significance to me because it taught me what the intent of our country's founders was when they used the term "LIBERTY".

Based on these and other revelations, I started calling "the internet the Liberty tree of the 90's" around the time of the Scientologists raid on my home for virtually NAILING a public court record to The Liberty Tree of the Millenium - posting it to the net.

And that is the rest of the story, long version is here http://www.lermanet.com/cos/libertyl.html (c) 2000 Arnaldo Lerma I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak.
The only thing that always works in scientology are its lawyers
Slave chains forged of lies are stronger than the finest steel
http://www.lermanet.com - mentioned 4 January 2000 in
The Washington Post's - 'Reliable Source' column re "Scientologist with no HEAD"

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