"...and that says exactly what about rampant mass stupidity?"

Well, we've got a lot of people in this country that have an issue with their government. I grant you a lot of people in this country don't really know how to express their dissatisfaction with things. It usually comes out in stupid phrases like:

"Fuck, the rag heads!"

"We should turn all of the fucking Middle East into a glass crater!"

"Why don't we just nuke 'em?"

"That fucker Saddam is going to pay for what he did on 9/11!"

"Al Gore said he invented the internet!"

"Fuck the poor! Those lazy useless bastards!"

"Those bums need to get a fucking job!"

"Bill Clinton did it!"

"Democrats are baby killers!"

"There's no such thing as global warming!"

and really, you know, a lot of other stupid shit. So, while what Ed and Elaine Brown are doing is very likely to attract a lot of ignorant shitheads, I don't think it would be an American thing to do to call any kind of protest mass stupidity. Really that's what he's doing is protesting something he feels is not right with our government and he's stated exactly that. We might not agree with how he decided to make his protest and we might think it seems crazy because he has put his life in jeopardy but a lot of people who changed things in this world were called crazy before they did it. Maybe he felt this was the route he had to go to get the kind of attention he thought he needed to get. It would seem, and he states, what is going on is not about taxes.

"I'm afraid I don't get, or share, your fascination with Ed Brown, Reg. He's just Paris Hilton with a knife in his belt, a gun stuck down the front of his pants, and an ax to grind."

Well, I don't think he's Paris Hilton but the last part of that statement I agree with completely and he is grinding away. I think the gun and the knife bother you and I don't have an issue with that. All the stuff about Freemasons and how he is no longer Ed Brown...that's another story but again I'm not sure how much of what he's doing is a stunt and how much is the real thing. Even his wife seems to wince when he does that and I think she understands that stuff makes it easy for people to just dismiss them as wackos. I think you should want to keep an eye on this Ed because it could go a few different ways and if it turns to all out violence that will be a bad thing for this country. I see a lot to think and worry about in this situation and the fact that it's only miles away from me probably plays a big part of that.

"In short, a pure American product..."

That's certainly true and I think it's one of the big things that grabbed me about it in the first place. Also keep in mind, Americans love underdogs and the more forces that line up against the Browns the more people will end up rooting for them. He has in some ways already won. If they kill him he really wins. If they throw him in jail he's a living martyr and the ranks will still swell behind him. It's a very strange case in that the Feds have a real dilemma on their hands and he is forcing that issue. I have this gut instinct that he won't try to kill anybody but he will force them to kill him if he has to. Something about the way he asks people if he looks dangerous, sort of like he knows he's not but wants them to think he is, and then knowing that they don't think he looks dangerous he tells them he could be. The problem is now he's already a hero to a lot of people and remember that Ruby Ridge and Waco led to Oklahoma City and there was no "hero" at the center of any of that. Ed Brown is now liked and a hero to a lot of people. Just search the internet, Ed. He's all over the place and the people you see with him all like him in pretty much every video. The storm that may follow his death if they kill him could be very ugly. You should care because who wants to see all hell break loose because they kill this guy.