Posted 9/20/2003 10:41:00 PM by Gene

Update: I'm now in Houston, Texas, after 1,600 miles of driving from Birmingham, Alabama to West Palm Beach, Fl and on to Houston for Monday delivery. As I work to fund the Atlanta Project (ie. TAX MARCH ON WASHINGTON) next April, etc., I am out of pocket from the internet for days at a time.

It looks like Montgomery, Alabama is the logical place for the Gentle Love Christian Fellowship Church to be built. As I crossed Alabama in the TAX MARCH, I found many black families in gross poverty. Among the black church members I visited with, I found a strong pro Socialist/ Communist bent in their thinking. I think the issue of slavery reperations is central to the strength of the Socialist/ Communist position. In order to undermine this view, I feel strongly that the church in Alabama needs to carry this burden the second mile, even if some of us feel that no reperations are needed. Jesus wants us to make peace, and anything with "reperations" on its name will work toward that end. With this in mind, I contacted Dell Computer in Round Rock, Texas yesterday, and they agreed to sell us refurbished computers for $319 each for distribution to the black families in Alabama in the "Alabama Christian Reperations Project." This will be a ministry of the Gentle Love Christian Fellowship Church. Building literacy is the fastest way to help the black community in Alabama reach economic equality, I feel. My plan is to put a computer in every home of every black family in Alabama that is not financially capable of buying one themselves. A church has many ministries, and this will be funded directly by donations given to this cause or by 10% of general donations to the church. I'll be handing out the first computer in Alabama within the month, I expect. Please pray about joining this effort to resolve a long standing conflict in Alabama with God's methods at work.

The funding for the Church is set up as follows:

10% Prison Ministry:
5% Dick Simkanin Legal Defense Fund.
5% Fans for indigent prisoners.

10% Christian School/ Home School Funding of Children

10% Feeding and Housing of Poor/ Homeless.

10% Widow and Orphan care.

10% Alabama Christian Reperations Project.

10% Gene Chapman TV/ Internet.

10% Billboard Ministry/ Advertising for the Church proper.

30% Property Purchase Account for Montgomery, Alabama Location.

We will take no public funds for any of our work. respectfully, Gene.

Posted 9/18/2003 09:51:00 PM by Gene

Dick Simkanin's Second Letter To Gene Chapman

I, Fred Smart, received this letter in the mail today addressed to Gene Chapman from Richard Simkanin:

14SEPT, 2003 A.D

To Gene Chapman, my beloved brother: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Praise be to God that I am still able to suffer as a captive for His glory at the hands of my adversaries. Col 1:24

It is nice to hear from you and of your work to wake up the sleeping saints in Montgomery. I pray that brother Smart and yourself will have a joyful tie when you meet for several days this month.

Please know that even though I am a prisoner here in Ft. Worth Texas I celebrate your 37th with you and pray that Jesus will grant you many more years to serve Him.

Your billboard project sounds good. I know a person here in Dallas that has been wanting to do the same thing but lacks the funds to accomplish same. With God's help we can accomplish much with this idea. All we have to do is plant the seed, one or two billboards in a couple of major cities, and others will follow.

Did you know on February 29, 1892 the united states Congress declared America to be a "CHRISTIAN NATION" and Public Law 97-280
declared that the Bible should be followed and used by all the people. One of the first things I'll be doing upon my release is further research into the relation of America and the Bible.

America was once the richest nation in the world with God as its King. The battle cry against the British was "NO KING BUT JESUS!" Since we have outlawed the Ten Commandments from our schools in 1964, we are now the highest debtor nation in the world. We must put 11 CHR 7:14 into action!

Stay well my brother and peace be with you.

In His Humble service,

Richard Simkanin

PS. My court trial is October 6th in Ft. Worth Texas.

Address:
Richard Simkanin
#30383-177 Jail
P.O. Box 15330
Ft. Worth, Texas 76119-5905

Posted 9/17/2003 10:33:00 PM by Gene

That Alabama Tax Vote

by Christopher Westley

[Posted September 16, 2003]


Last Week, voters in Alabama resoundingly rejected
Gov. Bob Riley's tax plan by a margin of more than 2
to 1. The plan would have resulted in the largest tax
increase in state history. "[The referendum's results
were] pretty resounding. There's no mistaking the
voters' message," David Lanoue, chairman of the
political science department at the University of
Alabama, told the Birmingham News. "I think the top
reason is voters simply don't trust their politicians
in Alabama."

And voters elsewhere owe voters in the Heart of Dixie
a debt of gratitude. Said Grover Norquist of
Americans for Tax Reform: "[E]very Republican governor
who thinks of raising taxes next year will walk past
Traitor's Gate and see Bob Riley's head on a pike.
The voters in Alabama have saved taxpayers from
California to Maine billions of dollars."

So you have to hand it to Alabama's electorate. When
given the chance, it makes its opinion known loud and
clear, even in the face of a massive and global
campaign by elite opinion. On the question of new
taxes, Alabama voters respond no differently than
voters anywhere else in the world when given the
chance. Their answer is now (and has always been): No.
This is why political elites try to keep tax increases
off ballots.

The results of the vote should not have surprised
anyone. In fact, In fact, they reflect a growing
anti-tax movement that public officials and the
mainstream press are trying hard to ignore. Last
November, voters in Massachusetts almost passed a
referendum that would have eliminated that state's
income tax. In 2001, anti-tax protests at the state
capitol in Tennessee grew violent, causing shaken
state legislators to reconsider new tax proposals.
Given these sentiments, even the most Herculean
efforts to increase the government's claim on private
wealth were doomed to fail.

As a result, Riley sacrificed much political capital.
Alabama voters are simply not going to support such an
expansion of state taxing authority during a
recession, not when the Feds are already taking 30
percent of their income. Not with the legislature's
Mike Tyson-like reputation for fiscal responsibility.
And certainly not on the basis of the University of
Alabama law professor Susan Pace Hamill's
agenda-tinged scholarship supporting the belief that
low taxes are sinful.

Not now. And in the Heart of Dixie, probably not ever.

Why did voters reject this plan? First, Alabama
voters are astute enough to realize that states cannot
tax themselves into prosperity. Georgia doesn't
attract more capital and have a higher per capita
income because its taxes are higher. That state is
wealthier because, over decades, it made capital
relatively more secure than other states. States that
attract capital prove that capital will flow to
wherever property rights are most protected.

Instead of addressing this difference, the Riley plan
would have aggravated it by raising taxes, thus making
capital even less secure relative to other states.
Little wonder that Suffolk University economist David
Tuerck predicted that implementing the plan in 2004
would cost Alabama 24,000 jobs and $331 million in
business investment.


Second, as a former businessman, Riley should have
remembered that capital is used more efficiently when
it is controlled by the private sector. The reason is
simple: Private owners of capital have a greater
incentive to maximize the long-term value of resources
because their waste directly impacts pocketbooks.
Public owners of capital, on the other hand, are
simply concerned about spending this year's budget to
justify an increase in next year's budget. Increasing
the public sector's claim on capital would exacerbate
this waste of resources.

Third, voters didn't believe that an extra billion
dollars a year would be used with the public interest
in mind. Alabamans have long held a jaded but honest
view of politicians. They understand that politicians
of both parties tend to direct funds toward interest
groups whose support is crucial to maintain majorities
in the next election. In this regard, the moral sense
of the Rilely administration is not relevant.
Administrations come and go. Mencken's maxim—every
election is a sort of advanced auction of stolen
goods—rings true for good reason.

So what's next? Alabamans are reasonable. They are
more than willing to consider a Plan B that reflects
the character and history of this state. Such a plan
should abolish the state income tax in exchange for
immediately discontinuing funding for all state
services that are not expressly required by the state
constitution, thus allowing the private sector to
provide such services if a demand for them actually
exists. The absence of state income taxation has much
increased the relative flow of capital to two states
that border Alabama. Proposing the same for Alabama
might even spearhead an anti-tax revolution in other
states.

Plan B should also downsize the public school
bureaucracy to account for the mass exodus from its
classrooms. According to the U.S. Department of
Education, the number of students enrolled in Alabama
public schools has declined an incredible 14 percent
over the last 30 years. This reflects that some of the
most effective innovations in education are occurring
outside that system, especially in the form of home
and charter schools.

[In 2002, home-schooled students averaged 1,092 on the
SAT, compared with the national average of 1,020,
according to data from the Home School Legal Defense
Association. A 2001 study by the U.S. Department of
Education found that minority children educated at
home fared better on reading and math scores than
their counterparts in public schools. A 1998 study by
the Education Policy Analysis Archives found that
achievement levels of homeschoolers "are exceptional."
The peer-reviewed scholarly electronic journal
reported that by the time "home school students are in
eighth grade, they are four years ahead of their
public/private school counterparts." ]

Why not enact policies that encourage these exciting
developments, rather than prop up a bloated system
that so many flee when given the chance?

Finally, Plan B should eliminate the hated food tax
while imposing strict zero-based budgeting
requirements on state legislators. The former already
causes firms to invest in other states. The latter is
crucial for bringing about true accountability by
reigning in a legislature that has avoided the painful
steps necessary to balance the state's books.

The stakes surrounding the September 9th referendum
were much higher than anyone recognized. The global
economy is changing in ways that do not bode well for
the western corporatist state. Labor and capital are
moving overseas at faster rates than ever in response
to a relatively less onerous regulatory and tax
burden, causing factories all over the country, and
especially in Alabama, to close their doors for good.
Technology makes this movement more possible today
than at any point in the past, and it will only become
cheaper over time.

This new development has lately caught the attention
of policymakers in Washington who blame it for recent
reductions in manufacturing jobs. Their stale response
is to call for new levels of protectionism. While
quick to criticize supposedly inherent problems with
free markets for this development, these
interventionists ignore the obvious effect of their
own actions in bringing it about.

In the next century, the states that relieve the
dangerous regulatory and tax discrepancy by reducing
taxes and regulations will be the ones that maintain
their current levels of capital investment and attract
new stores of it. Low taxes are no longer an ideal
from which to gauge relative policy prescriptions.
Rather, they are an imperative.

This Plan B, or some version of it, is a step in that
direction.

It is not too late to come up with such a plan and
bring it to the voters in March 2004. I suspect that
these are the types of reforms that voters expected
when they voted for Riely last November. It would be a
mistake to assume that those who voted no on Tuesday
are pleased with the status quo. Redemption is always
possible in Dixie.


--------------------------

Christopher Westley, Ph.D., teaches economics at
Jacksonville State University. See his Mises.org
Daily Articles Archive. Send him MAIL. Read Charles
Adams' For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the
Course of Civilization. See also the Frederick L.
Maier Tax Archive.

Posted 9/17/2003 01:24:00 AM by Gene

TAX MARCH ACCOUNT: Daily Financial Report: Starting Balance: $9.01. Deposits: $10.55 less a ($0.61) paypal fee is $9.94. Expenditures: ($14.00) meal and tip for 2 meals. Ending Balance: $4.95.

ATLANTA PROJECT: Balance: $0. Goal: $3,700 minimum and $70,000 maximum.

Dick Simkanin Legal Defense Fund: Unknown. Goal: $100,000.

Simkanin Legal Defense Fund
c/o Richard E. Clark
P.O. Box 516371
Dallas, TX 75251

Or via Wire Transfer at:

Simkanin Legal Defense Fund
Bank of Texas
6701 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75205

Routing #: 111014325
Acct #: 2880556940
respectfully, Gene.

Posted 9/16/2003 10:39:00 PM by Gene

Fred and I just got off the phone with Rick Stanley a bit ago. Rick is good with everything I said to the Sheriff in Michigan. Now, Rick wants us to just sit tight and wait to see if and when we all go to Michigan. Gene.

Posted 9/16/2003 08:32:00 PM by Gene

I just got off the phone with the Sheriff in Michigan. I explained that I am part of the Mutual Defense Pact and that my role is to be the voice of nonviolence in the matter in order to keep Truth honored and cool heads prevailing. He is glad to hear I'm involved. He is not underestimating the resolve of the pact. I explained that the pact members feel that America is in a culture war between Judeo-Christian Presuppositions (ie. The Constitution) and Socialist-Communist ideology that seeks to remove 'property in land rights' (ie. 1st Plank of The Communist Manifesto).He understands our concerns and wants to act with patience, as do we. His primary concern is to resolve this problem without anyone getting hurt. I explained that the pact seeks a nonviolent solution but that we have pledged our lives and fortunes to one another. We stand or fall as one unit, even me in the nonviolent role with my job as a mediation voice between the two feuding groups. He understands and appreciates our concerns and our position. We are gonna try to see if we can fix up the trailers and satisfy the city leadership. I need to be able to fly to Michigan to speak face-to-face on a moment's notice. Gene.

Posted 9/16/2003 08:30:00 PM by Gene

An Open Letter To Pastor Joel At Lakewood Church

I, Fred Smart, just received this email:

Subj: Re: Lakewood Letter to Gene
Date: 9/16/03 9:18:21 AM Central Daylight Time
From: j.paulson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com
To: FKSmart@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Dear Fred,

Not that you necessarily want to know but I sent the following to Pastor
Joel at Lakewood Church (via the website http://www.lakewood.cc) in
response to the letter received by Gene Chapman from their counsel. The
pettiness and corporate stance just sickens me. Jim Paulson


I cannot believe that a real man of the cloth and a real church of God would
have a problem with their names being used by a fellow Christian in mere
conversation. And I didn't know that God required a business license and
corporate profit center for His houses of worship. YOU OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED
PASTOR JOEL FOR YOUR INDECENT, CORPORATE CORPORAL TREATMENT OF MR. CHAPMAN!

Posted 9/16/2003 06:54:00 PM by Gene

If the problem with the man in Michigan is that his trailers need to be placed inside a home or it's some cosmetic thing, I'll give $1,000 to the cause to help fix up his home for the ordinaces. We can get people to come out to the home and help drive nails this week. I need someone to explain the problem to me. Gene.

Posted 9/16/2003 05:17:00 PM by Gene

I read today that Rick Stanley's Mutual Defense Pact, of which I am part (leading the nonviolent force side of the pact), is getting ready for confrontation in Michigan over a fellow who is being told to remove a couple of trailers off his land. Please keep me posted, yall. I don't want to miss this. I need to be there, if it breaks loose. Gene.

Posted 9/16/2003 04:11:00 PM by Gene

Judge Moore, here in Alabama, just offered the 10 Commandments Monument to the U S Capitol for display in a letter to Tom Delay. This has not been reported in the press yet. Gene.

Posted 9/15/2003 09:39:00 PM by Gene

TAX MARCH ACCOUNT: Daily Financial Report: Starting Balance: $37.96. Expenditures: ($15.00) 1 pizza and tip for 2 meals, ($4.07) Peanuts and a coke, ($1.46) 1 tube of Chapstick, ($4.99) 1 meal, ($3.43) 1 meal. Total Expenditures: ($28.95). Ending Balance: $9.01.

ATLANTA PROJECT: Balance: $0. Goal: $3,700 minimum and $70,000 maximum.

Dick Simkanin Legal Defense Fund: Unknown. Goal: $100,000.

Simkanin Legal Defense Fund
c/o Richard E. Clark
P.O. Box 516371
Dallas, TX 75251

Or via Wire Transfer at:

Simkanin Legal Defense Fund
Bank of Texas
6701 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75205

Routing #: 111014325
Acct #: 2880556940
respectfully, Gene.

Posted 9/15/2003 09:00:00 PM by Gene

Open Letter to Pastor Joel Osteen:

As I read the letter sent by the Lakewood Church lawyer, I can only assume that you are aware of its contents. You do realize that by your letter from the lawyer you have intimated legal action against a brother in Christ, I presume. You appear to be moving toward a violation of I Corinthians 6:1.

My answer to your letter is found in Matthew 5:39. When someone threatens a Christian with legal action, they are to turn the other cheek to invite another slap, as a public display to defy such a threat. Christians are not threatened by anything, especially threats of legal action, covert or overt.

Joel, I've made no effort to profit from Lakewood Church in any way, as I related in my blog posting last evening. If you care to talk with a brother, I'm happy to hear from you and explore any concerns you have in private at: 888-606-9379.

I have lived my life in study of God's Holy Word, for ten years as a ministerial student at the university level and another nine in a monastic setting. Under God's hand, I led to a Scriptural defeat of a visit of Pope John Paul II to South Carolina in 1987 at age 20. They called this young preacher, "a revisitation of Martin Luther," as 600,000 people followed my theological lead. In 1993, I hammered on the Mormon Church in Utah with my billboard concept, based on Martin Luther's thinking of how to build a Reformation. The 12 Apostles of the Mormon Church have my name in a cave that is supposed to be opened by God in the end time for me to be judged for my campaign there, they tell me. The loud speakers the FBI used at Waco with the Branch Davidians was my idea, but they took it and ran in a different direction than I suggested. People died in that compound because I failed to properly communicate the way out of the theological knot Koresh was in to the FBI Negotiators. I've taken a vow of simplicity and contemplate vows of utter poverty and celibacy in time to come to empower me further in my fight to free my people from Socialist/ Communist ideology. I like you, Joel, but don't send a lawyer to do the work of God with me, anymore than you would send a lawyer to threaten Martin Luther or Mahatma Gandhi. You're not in my league, son. Let's be friendly and resolve our problems biblically. Most respectfully, Gene Chapman, Minister of Christ.

Posted 9/15/2003 08:00:00 PM by Gene

Letter From Lakewood Church

This is Fred Smart reporting.

I received the following letter addressed to Gene Chapman c/o my address. I just got off the phone with Gene who asked that I post the letter in it's entirety as follows:

August 29, 2003

Gene Chapman
c/0 Fred Smart
3242 Harrison Street
Evanston, Illinois 60201

Dear Mr. Chapman:

I recently visited your website located at http://genechapman.blogspot.com. Under your Monday, August 25, 2003 entry, you have reference to Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church.

Both Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church are trademarked name that cannot be used without permission from the trademark holder. We have no record of your request for permission to use such names, nor have we granted you such permission.

Therefore, we ask that you cease and desist from using the name Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church on your website and remove any existing references to these names immediately.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

LAKEWOOD CHURCH


Regan Van Steenis
Attorney-at-law

--------------------

Note:

Lakewood Church's address is as follows:

P.O. Box 23297
Houston, Texas 77228-3297
Ph: 713-635-4154
Fx: 713-635-4753
www.lakewood.cc

Joel Osteen, Pastor

Posted 9/15/2003 07:31:00 PM by Gene

Letter From The Road: Well, they tell me in orientation that they like to see their trucks get 3,000 miles a week average, so that puts my expected gross pay at around $1,080 a week. That puts me in a position to pay off all my personal debts ($13,000) and give some to the Dick Simkanin Legal Defense Fund along the way, even with the billboard project in Atlanta on April 2nd. My personal expenditures in a truck usually hit about $300 a week, as I take care of myself on the road when I'm paying for it, with good motel rooms and high quality foods. So, I'm making a positive projection at this point to have about $500 to $700 per average week to hit this or that bill. Once my personal bills are paid off, I'll be "Nine Feet Tall and Bulletproof" to the IRS, as they say.

The strength of Gandhi was that he had nothing left to be abused but his life. The vow of poverty is powerful stuff, and I still pray about such a vow at some point.

The vow of personal celibacy may be a bit much, should I marry, but we'll talk it over in time ahead to honor God in our love before anything went that extreme in marriage. I do see the value of celibacy in this kind of struggle, but it is alot to ask in a marriage. Gene.

Posted 9/14/2003 11:48:00 PM by Gene

Stated Goals for April 2nd:

1) TAX MARCH ACCOUNT BALANCE GOAL: $800.00 (1 week supply).

2) PERSONAL BILLS ACCOUNT GOAL: $1,800.00 (6 month supply).

3) ATLANTA PROJECT GOAL: $70,000 Maximum (100% Billboard Coverage of Atlanta's 3 million population for 30 days) or $3,700 Minumum (1 Billboard infront of the fasting location). Gene.

Posted 9/14/2003 09:23:00 PM by Gene

This evening, Fred told me we got a letter from a lawyer claiming to represent Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas, where I go to church. It seems that Joel Osteen's name and Lakewood Church's name is something I'm supposed to get written permission to use. Well, this is all new stuff to me, and we'll be checking on it with the leadership of the church over the next few days to explore any possible stresses placed upon them by the TAX HONESTY MOVEMENT. We keep casual conversations going on my blogs for transparancy and for historical record. There is no attempt to profit off anyone else or their work. I was unaware that I am becoming such a public figure that a church I attend would feel the need to sick a lawyer on me. I hope this is just some confusion that will be quickly resolved in a private phone call. The only things I've written have to do with reporting Joel's normal use of Deut. 15:6 when preaching against the use of debt and that I felt the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church men's choir might be a nice visiting choir to the church at some point. I've never claimed any special relationship with anyone at the church, nor have I sought to build my reputation on where I go to church.

Like The New York Times, I write about my experiences. And like any member of a church, I brag on my pastor's preaching and invite others to hear him too. I don't understand where the crime is in that. Perhaps we will be better informed tomorrow. respectfully, Gene Chapman.

Posted 9/14/2003 06:51:00 PM by Gene

Pictures From The Montgomery Fast



Jessica Pours Afternoon Tea (Our hostess is from the UK where tea time is
expected everyday).



Jessica.



My hands have limited movement for several days after the Montgomery Fast. I
am pictured opening both hands as much as I can on yesterday.



Jessica and me on an island Saturday at a lake in Alabama.

Posted 9/14/2003 04:05:00 PM by Gene

This incudes 5 days of activity (Wednesday, Sept. 10 thru Sunday, Sept. 14, 2003), as I healed up from the Montgomery Fast Against Gov. Riley's TAX PLAN. WE WON THE VOTE, 70% to 23% I HEAR. Gene.

TAX MARCH ACCOUNT. Daily Financial Report: Starting Balance: $196.78. Donations: $100.00 (Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Carden). Expenditures: ($9.29) 1 meal, ($16.72) 2 meals and tip, ($17.00) 2 meals and tip, ($2.70) Dr. Pepper, ($4.99) 1 meal, ($20.75) fuel and chips, ($3.56) 1 meal, ($22.00) fuel, ($79.05) 1 tire, ($56.86) street clothes, ($1.40) ATM Fee ($0.92) 2 money order fees, ($23.58) street clothes. Total Expenditures: ($258.82). Ending Balance: $37.96. respectfully, Gene.



PERSONAL BILLS ACCOUNT. Daily Financial Report: Starting Balance: $131.80. No Donations. Expenditures: ($74.00) personal loan payment, ($60) personal loan payment. Total Expenditures: ($134.00). Ending Balance: -$2.20. respectfully, Gene.

Posted 9/14/2003 03:46:00 PM by Gene

Letters From the TAX MARCH ON WASHINGTON: I'm now in Birmingham, Alabama getting ready to do fund raising for the next 6 months for the Atlanta Project and pay down my personal bills. Yesterday and the day before, my arms and legs went through a series of losses of motor control that I gather came from my loss of salts during the 93 days of fasting I did this past year. I'm feeling fine now, and I do appreciate the patience you, my friends, have had during my episodes of healing after this or that fast. I'm learning along with the rest of you about the dangers and the benefits and uses of fasting in struggles for freedom. Gene.