Bill Stegemier's Motivations and Amendment E

I had been working on a hilaious commercial parody for Amendment E entitled "BrokEback Initiative" about the woman publicist who comes between two men, but it still needs some work, so I'll let that sit for a while. (It was between that and a JAIL puppet show).

While I'm on the topic of Amendment E, instead of being silly as I had planned, I'll be serious. Serious about what seems to be the motivation for this whole thing in the first place.

I've seen it in print where people question why (former) two star jailer-in-chief Bill Stegemier is involved with the Jail-4-Judges group. And tonight, I stumbled across something I think provides the answer, and what appears to be some of his first involvement with the author of the South Dakota measure, Ron Branson.

From Bill Stegmeier's personal weblog:

Posted 2:25 PM by Bill Stegmeier
February 21, 2004

To my best friend Richard Simkanin:

Hi Richard.

I pray you are in good health. You just gotta hang in there until we all figure out a way to spring ya.

I understand Rose Lear sent you her "Motion to Dismiss the Indictment for Failure to State a Crime". I hope you can use it.

I'll be meeting Rose in Duluth, MN on March 7th when she goes to pick up her husband Bill after his one year stint for failure to file (or whatever it was the morons accused him of). I pray that we can soon do the same for you.

Dick, I have to tell you, I'm excited about what's coming down the pike. I, like Larken Rose, predict the IRS will soon be "toast", as Larken likes to put it. The Tax Honesty Movement is picking up members exponentially now, due largely to the internet, but also due to the ever increasing number of activists who are doing HUGE things.

WTP is an example. Larken Rose is another.

And now, comes Bill Stegmeier!

Oh, sure. WTP can have their lawsuit and Larken can have his "Secret Weapon". But I think Bill Stegmeier is going to top 'em! (I'm just kidding folks. Everyone settle down!)

What can possibly top WTP and Larken? Well, a good old fashioned Spring Time Hog Roast, that's what!

Seriously, I'm planning on throwing the biggest free hog roast Sioux Falls, SD has ever seen. I have a Hutterite colony customer of mine who will cater the hogs and cookers. I used them last summer for my company hog roast and stuffed over 200 people. Delicious!

I'll be renting an events hall that seats 500, as well as plenty of grass area outside for the expected overflow.

Bob Schulz has agreed to attend and speak. I'll also be inviting Ron Branson from Jail4Judges and a speaker from FIJA. Also Joe Bannister and friends plus many more will be invited to speak as well as there being plenty of tables scattered around with free literature.

I'm telling you Dick, you throw a free hog roast and do plenty of advertising ahead of time, you are going to have to pack 'em in!

And the best part is that most everyone will be leaving with the that "awakened" feeling.

I'm hoping that if this thing is as successful as I think it will be, we'll be seeing "Freedom Hogs" roasting all across the country this summer!

Yes Dick, the day rapidly approaches when there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in the judges chambers and long lines at the unemployment offices with the likes of ex-IRS jerks, bewildered H&R Blockheads, and disenchanted CPA's! And every single one of them hanging their heads low with the weight of their sins and all the while scratching their behinds in total disbelief of their newfound predicament! I just can't wait I'm so excited!

The prison gates will fall off their hinges and freedom will once again ring throughout our land. Hallelujah!

So take care, Dick, and we'll all see you at the 5th Circuit!

Your Friend,
Bill Stegmeier

Cc: Everyone

Who is this Richard Simkanin whom Bill describes as his best friend? You don't have to go very far to figure it out.

Wikipedia has an entry for him which says

"Richard Michael Simkanin is a tax protester convicted in United States federal court of tax evasion in 2004. Simkanin had appeared in an advertisement in USA Today in which he announced that he had not withheld income taxes from the paychecks of his company's employees because he believed the income tax to be voluntary. Simkanin was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison."

What did he do that was so bad? Well, the U.S. Department of Justice has this so say about Bill Stegmeier's best friend:

During trial, government witnesses testified that Simkanin's bookkeeper and two members of the accounting firm who prepared company tax returns for Arrow Custom Plastics, all told Simkanin that was unlawful to refuse to collect taxes from the wages of his employees. Simkanin was also given sections of Internal Revenue Code that mandated the collection of these taxes. Simkanin told one of his accountants that as a "Free Man," he was not obligated to pay taxes or collect the taxes of his employees. In March 2000, his accounting firm quit after it was unsuccessful in persuading Simkanin to reconsider and collect the employee taxes.

If this person is Stegmeier's best friend, one could understand why Bill is not a big fan of judges. Because the judge in this case absolutely kicked his friend's ass for nonsense such as:

Besides calling Simkanin as a witness, the defense called Joseph Banister, a former IRS Criminal Investigator, who now claims there is no law mandating income taxes, Larkin Rose, a medical transcriber from Pennsylvania who sells video tapes stating only foreign earned income is taxable, Robert Schultz, the self-described head of the We The People organization, and Edward Rivera, an attorney from California who was recently enjoined by the Federal District Court, from selling patently false and frivolous tax advice.

As the Judge put it:

"He and those who share his views have a cultlike belief that laws that are generally accepted by citizens of the United States are not applicable to them," McBryde said. "The defendant has entrenched himself in anti-government groups."

And a few comments by Bill's best friend might have influenced a tough sentence as well:

The judge recalled that Simkanin threatened to kill federal judges and that he surrendered his Texas driver's license but continued to drive with a homemade identification card...

While under investigation, Simkanin posted a warning on his Web site that spoke of the "fury of a fire" that would consume his adversaries. He wrote to the treasury secretary that he had repatriated himself from the United States to the "Republic of Texas."

(Note to readers: If you're going to face a judge any time soon, it is NOT a good move to threaten to kill them. It tends to make them angry, to say the least. - law abiding pp)

So, Bill Stegemiers' self-described best friend goes to jail for his actions, and who is to blame? Not the defendant. It has to be the judge. So in response, Bill notes he's going to have a hog roast an invite Ron Branson and a representative of the Fully Informed Jury Act to scatter literature in South Dakota. (Remember FIJA? We smacked that one down in 2002 by a margin of 78 to 22%)

I can't fault Bill Stegemier for his loyalty to his friend and his belief in his innocence. But, I can fault him for inflicting our state with this ridiculous measure because his friend got spanked.

But going off of that theme, that when Bill get's angry, he becomes the incredible amender, what other amendments should we be looking for from Bill Stegmeier in the future? (And these are direct quotes from his blog):

The No Marriage License Amendment:

Bill Writes:

In the matter of the union of a man and a woman, may the state, in any and all forms, both locally and federal, stick it up their collective anus. Signed, Bill Stegmeier, so help me God.

(Bill also has a quote from another noting) "Christian couples should not be marrying with State marriage licenses, nor should ministers be marrying people with State marriage licenses."

The Solidarity with Lesbians Amendment:

Bill Writes:

..Further more, she is obviously in her late 40's and maybe early 50's and goes by "Ms." Just what in the hell is that all about? (Now you lesbians out there, please don't turn me in for hate crimes. I'm just like you. There is no way in hell that I'm going to sleep with a man either).

And..

No, I think instead of education she just needs a good spanking. But then, being the "Ms." that she is, and I shudder to contemplate what "that" entails (no pun intended) she would probably enjoy it.

Let's not forget The Freedom to Emote Amendment:

Bill writes:

Hey Jay, does your cowardliness have anything to do with your vested interest in the continuation of the tax fraud? Yeah, I think it does.

Slimeball Adkisson, you suck.
Bill Stegmeier

Gack! Peckerbreaths like these two just bring out my worst emotions.

How about the We Blew Up Our Own Trade Towers Resolution:

Bill Writes:

I am fed up and sick of people who know darn good and well it wasn't the evil Muslims behind 911, and who in their apparent lust for destroying Bush don't mind actually helping to keep the 911 hoax intact by posting such gibberish as in post #4.

9/11 was a Hoax
The American government killed its own people
by John Kaminski

www.serendipity.li/wot/911_a_hoax.htm

And we can count on the Freedom to Practice Xenophobia amendment:

Bill Writes:

"This morning, from a cave somewhere in Pakistan, Taliban Minister of Migration, Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that if military action against Iraq continues, Taliban authorities will cut off America's supply of convenience store managers."

And last but not least, the Marie Antoinette Amendment:

Bill Writes:

Larkin's 861 CD (www.861.info) will soon spread like wildfire. If each of us who know of the CD would order and pass out at least 100 while asking those people to do the same, it wouldn't take long before we reach the "critical mass" of people demanding the heads of their government officials. (personally, I prefer tar and feathers. It has a rich history of bringing government officials around to our way of thinking!)

And you thought JAIL could be the worst thing that Bill Stegemier could import to South Dakota!