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Who is Ed Brown?
By JJ MacNab | April 6, 2008
Who is the man that the three defendants (and the people commenting on this blog) support so blindly? Who is this “great man,” “hero,” “patriot,” and “true American” that the supporters all think is such a great guy?
Ed Brown was born in 1942 in Massachusetts. In 1960, he joined the military but was soon convicted of armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon and sentenced to five years in prison. Over the next two decades, he was a drifter, a hairdresser, a gun shop owner, and finally settled on a career as a cockroach exterminator. He’s been married three times and has two children, neither of whom supported him in his “stand” against the US Marshals.
In the mid 1990s, Ed retired from the cockroach business and was financially supported by his wife Elaine, a successful dentist he had married in the 1980s. Elaine also has two children from a prior marriage, neither of whom supported their stand.
Ed spent his retirement years leading a national militia called the US Constitution Rangers, a group that has since splintered and provided almost no support for Ed’s stand.
Interestingly, the only people who lasted more than a couple of weeks supporting Ed in his “you won’t take me alive” cause were complete strangers who were attracted to his mad dog rants on the internet. Constitution Ranger Bill Miller was a rare exception – he had known Ed for years prior to the stand, and he took up arms at the Brown residence, but left after a couple of weeks when he found out that part of Ed’s plan was to murder Elaine Brown and blame it on the US Marshals in hopes of inciting a bloody revolution. Mr. Miller currently resides in a mental health facility pending unrelated criminal charges.
Ed and Elaine stopped paying income taxes in 1996, stopped filing returns in 1998, were raided in 2004, were indicted in 2006, and were convicted in January 2007. Ed didn’t even bother attending the second half of the criminal trial, leaving Elaine to defend herself (they didn’t use attorneys). What a great guy.
Over the next nine months, he made some really violent and ugly threats against Marshals, Judges, a prosecutor, an IRS employee, members of the press, the Plainfield Chief of Police, and numerous others. He bragged about keeping a “hit list” of 50+ people who would be killed if he and Elaine were ever arrested, injured, or killed. What a great guy, eh?
Here are some examples of who Danny, Reno, and Jason were protecting and who Rose, Old Buck, Jose, Monty, and Donna are characterizing as a hero.
Said by Ed Brown in 2/2/07 radio interview:
Ed: This is the beginning of one very huge movement. I’m not quite sure you understand the ramifications of what’s going on right now. This is massive. This is international. We are fed up with the Zionist Illuminati. That’s what this is all about. Loud and clear. Zionist Illuminati. Lawyers, whatever they are, ok, it’s going to stop. And if the judge is a member of that, I know that McAuliffe is, I know that US Attorney Colantuono is, they’d better stop. This is a warning. You can do whatever you want to me. My job is to get the message out and I’m getting the message out, and I’m warning you guys –not you guys [referring to the show hosts]– them –to cease and desist their unlawful activity in this country and every other country because once this thing starts, we’re going to seek ‘em out and hunt them down. And we’re going to bring them to justice. So anybody wishes to join them, you go right ahead and join them. But I promise you, long after I’m gone, they’re going to seek out every one of you and your bloodline.
From a 3/21/07 radio show:
Ed: I wish everyone to understand very clearly. It doesn’t matter what they decide to do. It really really doesn’t. I don’t care if they come down here with the Blackwater Security organization, which is the president’s new security force, or they come down with Wackenhut or any of the others. It makes no difference. We will do what the Father tells us to do and they will not go away very happy and it will not be happy for them for the rest of their lives, however long or short that may be, because I guarantee you, this whole thing will escalate to a new level which they will wish they hadn’t started.
Conversation between Ed Brown and David Clarence on the 3/26/07 Ed Brown radio show:
Ed: Follow this. Here’s the bottom line to the whole thing. David knows just exactly as we know that once you’ve used the lawful word, you’ve done it the absolute proper way, and they still come at you, they are now attacking the Creator himself or itself. When that happens, you have an obligation. David, what is that obligation?
David: To stand up for the law.
Ed: To kill every one of them. You understand? Because that the words that people don’t want to talk about. When they go against everything, especially when they go against God, now they’re telling you that they absolutely could care less about you. We are here to do nothing but murder you, murder your God, murder your life, murder your planet, this is for us. These people are the most incarnate people you’re ever going to meet, if they are even people. You kill them. That is exactly what the 10 Commandments tell you to do. That’s exactly what all of God’s laws plus the Bill of Rights tells you to do. That’s exactly what the statutory laws of each state tell you to do, even if they wear uniforms. And I’m telling you right now if they go that far and cross that line, do what the law tells you to do. That’s what I finally concluded to.
[David agrees and quote various Bible verses.]
David: What’s the commandment for a disobedient son that will not follow the law? Kill him.
Ed: The ones that are wise enough to back away are the ones you forgive. But the ones that keep on coming, you take care of their seed.
Elaine: They leave you no choice.
Ed: What we want to do now is make sure that we identify all those now who help, aid, and abet those enemies both foreign and domestic as to who the real criminals really are. We want to make sure of that.
Miscellaneous quotes from others involved in “the stand.”
Elaine: We don’t know how this will end. But there are only two ways we are coming out of here. Either as a free man or as a free woman, or in body bags. That has not changed and that’s the stand that everyone must take. Because if we come out in body bags, there’s going to be a few more too. That’s not a threat, that’s just noticing them that this is the stand that we will take. We have not changed our minds.
Bill Miller: I am going to see Judge McAuliffe, and US Attorney Colontuono and various other officials hanged for treason for these actions. It is a matter of time only.
Rob Jacobs: It’s time to shoot the bastards right fricking now!!!
Ed Brown supporters aren’t backing an American patriot who is just standing up for his anti-tax views. They’re supporting an ugly, mentally-ill, paranoid racist who made his violent desires known well before the three defendants went to his home armed to the teeth.
The three defendants didn’t leave the cause because they found out Ed was evil. Danny was still a Brown supporter when he was arrested, Reno only left because he’d been kicked out of the house by Ed Brown, and Jason had joined the army to learn how to make bombs.
And for those of you Internet supporters who are posting comments on this blog asking where is my compassion for the defendants in this case, I’ll ask you this: where is your compassion for the federal employees and other people on Ed’s revenge killing list? How would you like it if a madman and his followers said they’d kill your children out of revenge?
The defendants were big boys; no one held a gun to their heads and said, “Take up arms against the feds.” They made their decisions to capitalize on Ed’s press for their own causes, and now they’re paying the price for those decisions.
Topics: Ed Brown | 17 Comments »
April 6th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
You are CORRECT in noting the defendants all made their own decisions, and I ould think each and every one HAS choosen their level of involvement. I also believe as more details of EDs intentions became known, there was a lot of things requested and ordered that each of the defendants refused to take part in. I think ANY mutual decisions where long past by the the time the arrests happened. THEY are now fighting for their FREEDOM, and Ed did nothing to help them, but he saw fit to USE a lot of people.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
The defendants aren’t on trial for what they refused to do. Reno, according to his testimony, refused to make booby traps and pipe bombs which is why he was not indicted on the destructive charge.
They are on trial, however, for making the stand with Ed. Helping a convicted felon evade arrest is a crime. It’s a crime regardless of whether Ed was convicted of tax evasion, murder, or anything in between.
If Ed didn’t like the results of his criminal trial, the Constitution gives him the right to appeal. It doesn’t give him the right to threaten federal employees and their children with violent retaliation if they dare to arrest him.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
True enough, and ED is a USER, but the FEDS have not always used proper methods to employ their tactics, but I believe thats a subject we will have to agree to disagree on.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Ed is nothing but a redneck version of Charles Manson, only nowhere near as intelligent. He just brainwashed gullible people into doing what he didn’t have the balls to do himself; and these three played right into his hands, because they were using him as well.
I wonder if Elaine realizes that Ed planned to murder her? I wonder if she’d believe it, even if someone told her?
The sad thing is, eventually another Ed Brown will come along, and the same people will support him. They will never learn.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Don’t lump all Feds together. The Marshals seemed a lot more patient than the FBI, or ICE, or ATF would have been.
Just an impression.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
One thing for sure. While the “FEDS have not always used proper methods to employ their tactics”, they certainly cannot be faulted for how this apprehension was handled. The US Marshals learned a great deal from past stand offs. The Feds showed a great deal of restraint and this matter came to a bloodless resolution, much to the dismay of some of the internet commandos out there.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Please do not put words in my mouth. I have never said or thought of ed as a “hero”. My one and only issue is the misapplication of the tax laws. there is much you don’t know as to my efforts to bring about a peaceful solution. one day all of that information will come out.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Aside from being on surface a deceitful and nasty individual and serious waste of protoplasm, Ed’s undersurface strikes me as being totally poisonous. He is a coward and a bully, that browbeat and abused everyone around him and yet expected them to do everything up to and including die for him. What still amazes me is how someone so poisonous could have so blinded his followers, oh wait, I forgot, they have proven to be not the sharpest knives in their drawers as well, so maybe lack of character discrimination goes hand in hand with being just plain generally stupid. Who knew?
That he could cold bloodedly even consider murdering his own so called “beloved” wife says volumes about this person and his ideology, none of it good.
His only “real” concern was his ego and himself, as he continued to prove on occasion after occasion. Far from being a hero or a revolutionary, he is just another pathetic, cowardly, vicious individual. If he had had his way about it he would have happily sacrificed everyone in the compound to his delusions of grandeur. Happily, as with the rest of his life, he was a failure here as well.
In the final analysis, he got what he deserved, and now the tard trio are going to follow him into oblivion, as I don’t see any alternative in their futures. It comes down to it that when you put the cartridges in all the cylinders, give it a spin, and then pull the trigger, you shouldn’t be really surprised when you blow a hole in your head. Playing Russian Roulette is one thing, but this was a sure thing of the worst kind.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
He also had a stint as leader of the “White Mountain Militia” in NH. They mailed numerous video tapes out with militia/conspiracy diatribes from Plainfield. I think he was intervewed on national news program around the time of Waco or Okalhoma City bombing.
I think he was pardoned for crimes that landed him in jail in the 60′s.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
The Hillsborough Troop of Dragoons, led by Fitzhugh MacCrae, has recently emerged as an active militia in New Hampshire. MacCrae told The Boston Globe that his group comprises 63 members, of whom two-thirds are allegedly combat veterans. While he emphasizes the group’s benign and civic activities, he also boasts, “We’re probably better armed than the Army.”
Elsewhere, the White Mountain Militia operates in Cornish under the leadership of N. Scott Stevens, who describes himself as director of the militia’s “Information Services.” Stevens hosted a May 14, 1995, rally in the Cornish town hall for militia members, extreme anti-gun control groups, and others hostile to the federal government.
Ed Brown, head of the Plainsfield-based Constitution Defense Militia (see Armed & Dangerous), has claimed to operate groups in seven states, but his organization has not engaged in any publicly noted activity in recent months. According to The Boston Globe, shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing. Brown said. “We think it’s an inside job…. These criminals within the U.S. Government want to make us look bad.”
ADL Fact Finding Report, “Beyond the Bombing: The Militia Menace Grows,” Anti-Defamation League, 1995.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I love this comment – “MacCrae told The Boston Globe that his group comprises 63 members, of whom two-thirds are allegedly combat veterans. While he emphasizes the group’s benign and civic activities, he also boasts, “We’re probably better armed than the Army.” ”
Just another old gasbag without a clue. I doubt he and his beer buddies have mortars, artillery, tanks, AFVs, Bradley FVs, MRLS, or Apache attack helicopters.
I would even bet that either the Crips, Bloods or MS-13 muchachos in L.A are more heavily armed than MacCrae and his fool’s “brigade.”
April 9th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I stand corrected. It was Stevens. I did remember some time ago that Brown listed himself as a militia leader. I saw the videos received (unsolicited) by a firend at his at his workplace around then.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I’ve been following the saga since the beginning, and attended most days of the Browns’ trial.
I’ve read numerous websites and blogs and this is the first I’ve heard of Ed’s plans to off Elaine.
Did this come only from Bill Miller, who is as much a fruitcake as Ed, or are there other sources?
April 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The Fed’s are owned and operated by World Bank/UN.
They are a foreign power-PLAIN AND SIMPLE!
Both lawyers and judges are part of the american bar
association, which is a franchise to the lawyers guild of
great britain-part of the rothschild dynasty. I’d support
any nutcase long before i supported anyone who was trying
to erase the US Constitution.
By the way–IRS stands for Internal Rockefeller Scam.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Now where did I put that tinfoil hat?
April 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Wow, and you didn’t even see Ed’s lips move!
Or maybe it wasn’t Ed talking – no Illuminati or Zionist plots.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Fact: The IRS is constitutional – It’s all about contract law folks!
Fact: If you have a social security card, you ARE a ‘taxpayer’!
Fact: If you are a registered voter, and vote, you are whatever they say you are! Taxpayer maybe?!
Fact: If you sign the back of a paycheck excepting private credit, instead of doing a NON-endorsement redeeming lawful money pursuant to Title 12 USC §411, yes you guessed it; you are a taxpayer!
People are sooooooo stupid! Or maybe, just brainwashed. After all the ones who control the money, do such a good job of it!
Peace