June 25, 2013

By: Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services

I was recently asked to start doing a periodic radio broadcast on Radio Free Latin America (RFLA), called Offshore Re-education Camp.  It’s being piped in to the USSA from a secret location south of the border via short wave radio signals.  The aim of RFLA is to offer a ray of hope to our poor countryman still trapped behind the curtain with apparently, no way out.

The show, hosted by Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services at Global Wealth Protection, will provide the truth about offshore entities and bank accounts to those peoples who are continuously bombarded with the party line, and have no access to the truth outside of RFLA.

For those of you who are unable to catch the live broadcasts, we’ll be periodically printing a transcript of the show here at GWP.

Originally broadcast at 02:30 Tuesday, June 24, 2013, transcript follows:  Lead-in tune, in case you missed it: “For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught.  To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows, I took the blows, and did it my way.”  In one of our last face-to-face meetings before I went into economically/legally forced exile, and before he died in 2005, my Dad said this was my theme song as far as he was concerned.  He also said, in the same conversation, that I was quite eccentric… but meant it in a kind way. 

Offshore Re-education Camp Lesson 4FANTASTIC!  That’s what I be talkin’ ‘bout PEOPLE!!  After only three-and-a-half de-programming lessons, I’ve already gotten through to at least one of you.  I’d like to figuratively call up to the front of the class, Mr. Edward Snowden.  Let’s give this patriot a huge round of applause.  Take a look here to understand who he is and why we’re honoring him today, in case you’ve been asleep for the past 2 weeks.

This brave man has done us all a great service.  In so doing, he took a huge risk and probably, in many ways, destroyed the rest of his life at the hands of your tax-supported Uncle Sam.  Look at you, Johnny.  You have all the skills and abilities of Edward here, if you’d only apply yourself.  (Gimme a minute, I just cracked myself up.  You have no idea how many times I heard that as an under-achieving kid.  Well, I showed them.  Just look at me now…)

One question I have about all of this is, why do we have to rely on a foreign newspaper like the Guardian to tell Americans about what’s going on in Washington?  Didn’t our ancestors fight a war against the British in order to have freedom from tyranny?  Well, obviously the worm has turned.  The US press has become about as informative of the truth as the former TASS agency that we used to laugh at during the cold war.  If you want to hear the Central Party Central Party Logo line, just flip it to Fox or CNN.  At least the New York Times was involved with disclosing Wikileaks’ dissemination of the truth… before jumping on the sheeple band-wagon and smearing Julian Assange – as did the Guardian for that matter, unfortunately.

Let’s listen to a few words from our star pupil:

“You have to decide what’s important to you.  If living un-freely, but comfortably, is something you’re willing to accept, and I think many of us are….if you realize that that’s the world you’ve helped create, then you become willing to accept any risk.

The greatest fear I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change.  People will see in the media all of these disclosures.  They’ll know the lengths that the government is going to, to grant themselves powers, unilaterally to create greater control over American society, and global society, but they won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things, to force their representatives to actually take a stand for their interests.”

You and me both, Mr Snowden.  Let’s take a look at what’s actually happened in the two weeks since June 9, 2013, when a British newspaper revealed his statements. 

  1.  As of today the neo-fascist controlled Amerikan government has declared him a traitor, and asked for his arrest and extradition to the USSA so that he could be properly tried by a kangaroo court, disemboweled and hung.  Presumably after being duly tortured in public a la Bradley Manning, that other patriotic hero who has also sacrificed his life for his principles, and his fellow undeserving countrymen, if not his now-dead country.
  2. In their defense of basic human rights, countries like Hong Kong, Russia, Cuba and Ecuador have duly refused to comply with the US government’s request.  It’s amazing how similar this all is to the cold war days, when citizens of the USSR and China, having been refused the issuance of a travel license, used to run to the US seeking asylum from totalitarian governments, and their human rights abuses.  I haven’t heard of that happening for a very long time now.  I guess everyone is surprised at the lack of cooperation the US government can expect after a couple decades stomping around the globe saying, in the words of the smirking chimp-“you’re either with us, or you’re against us”.  If you’re against us, we’re gonna kill ya…  Not exactly classical diplomacy, and the current lack of sympathy should have been foreseen in all those what-if scenarios the taxpayers have forked out billions for.
  3. The US is “shocked” that the Hong Kong authorities have allowed Mr. Snowden to leave, even after some bureaucrat had revoked his US travel license without due process, and in direct conflict with the outcry of the US citizenry to protect his basic human rights.  See my previous article on this topic: “Subject of a Tyrannical State or Citizen of a Democratic Republic”.
  4. Predictably, the corporate-controlled US press is quick to publish such statements, as made by US Representative John Boehner, on how he thinks NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be dealt with: as an enemy of the state.  “He’s a traitor,” Boehner said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it’s a giant violation of the law.” Boehner said he believes all of the programs detailed in recent days are legal and that he has been briefed on them.  He said Americans’ privacy is “absolutely” being protected.  “Every time that I’ve been in a briefing, nine out of ten people in the room are lawyers there to protect the privacy of the American people,” Boehner said.  What a completely detached, and dangerous buffoon.
  5. Quoting the Guardian: “National Security Agency director Keith Alexander said on Sunday that whistleblower Edward Snowden betrayed the trust of Americans and defended the broad surveillance programs as necessary to prevent another terrorist attack.  He read from a 2012 intelligence committee report about a law that broadened the NSA’s authority to perform surveillance even when US communications are involved that said after “four years of oversight, the committee has not identified a single case in which a government official engaged in willful effort to circumvent or violate the law.”

Mr. Snowden, shamefully for the Amerikan sheeple, has had to request political asylum in Ecuador simply in order to protect his life from the US government.  You know, legally mandated extraordinary rendition to an offshore torture dungeon, which those who’ve taken an oath to protect the Constitution have made legal.  That’s why I have to laugh out loud at both Alexander’s and Boehner’s statements that what they’re doing is completely “legal”, while Mr. Snowden’s heroic and patriotic actions are hugely illegal, and somehow bad for Amerika.  Of course, when they say that our privacy is being respected, we can all take their word for it.  The same people who are trying to make us all guilty until proven innocent by burying FATCA in the HIRE Act, and targeting political groups for dissenting against the unconstitutional bastards.

These kinds of statements make a guy ponder the concept of an angry mob erecting guillotines in strategic locations around Washington, and putting them to some positive use.

According to FOX news, in a refreshingly unbiased piece:  Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino spoke to reporters while in Vietnam on Monday saying his country is analyzing Snowden’s request. (I can’t decide if it intended negative, inflammatory spin mentioning the country that defeated Amerika while defending themselves – as any true American would do – and thereby trying to invoke a negative image of the Ecuadorian Minister or not.) He was critical of the U.S., saying it’s unlikely Snowden would receive a fair trial.

He said earlier that the asylum request “has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world.”

“There are some governments that act more upon their own interests, but we do not,” Patino said when asked if he was concerned about potentially damaging Ecuador’s relationship with the United States. “We act upon our principles.”

“We take care of human rights of the people,” he added.

Ouch.  That should sting a little.  Especially since everything he said is so absolutely true.  Now freedom-loving American patriots have to run and seek shelter in Ecuador in order to be protected from the totalitarian US government.  I see very little sympathy being generated for the neo-fascists on this one.

Some would say that the only sensible course of action is to cut bait and run.  I myself, 10-15 years ago while foreseeing all of this very clearly, had to get the hell out as a matter of self-preservation.  In those days (as with today), expressing such views could put one’s life in imminent danger, and those of us with such foresight represented only about 2% of the population.  Today it’s all proven, and the questions is, what are you going to do about it?

Some incapacitated-from-thinking-clearly, collective heads-up-their-rear-ends, and fogged-over-by-the-sheeple mentality, disparagingly called me a “runner” or a “coward”.   I had to recall the adage—“Walk (or run) away, and live to fight another day”.  As a consequence, here I am.  Had I stayed, I most certainly would not be here today, I’m quite sure.  After all, George Washington is immortalized for slipping across the Delaware River in the middle of the night thereby preserving his ability to fight, and then ultimately defeat, his enemies.  Getting slaughtered by a stronger force the next morning would’ve made that a bit more difficult.

Some would say that the US government is so out of control, that physical escape is the only action that makes any sense.  That trying to make any difference is futile and demeaning.  That a single person couldn’t possibly make any difference.  That, I think, is the self-fulfilling prophecy that got us here.  If everyone takes on that attitude, then obviously there will be no progress.  It’s almost the exact philosophy which ultimately justifies the sheeple mentality, actually.

Therefore, I tend to disagree.  I have a “what if” scenario of my own.  What if 100 million or so US citizens suddenly got as disgusted as we are?  Therefore, instead of comprising only 2% of the population, you suddenly found yourself in a near majority, with political momentum, and therefore having some power behind you.  Suddenly it wouldn’t take so much courage to speak your mind.  Under those circumstances, your stay and fight vs. walk away and survive to fight another day, decision might be greatly altered. 

I have a “how” question as well.  I’d love to know how, and in what innovative ways, a 100 million angry citizens would manifest their disgust.  How would they go about restoring their broken-down, utterly corrupt government, and restore the basic human rights protecting principles of the once globally revered US Constitution?  Possibly over decades even restoring US credibility around the world.

We all know that I’m a bare, and bird-chested wimp, sitting down here in Latin America just naively crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.  Apparently, Latin America has replaced the once great USA as the last bastion of freedom and principles?  In addition to protecting yourself, and your families, from a totalitarian, out of control government, you will eventually find that you need to help stop the spread of Amerikanist, neo-fascist totalitarianism.  That would preferably be done in Washington rather than having to face the jackboots in your newly discovered refuge, wherever that may be.

Therefore I urge you to go ahead and take few seconds to make a couple of mouse clicks, and sign a petition in order to urge your congressmen to uphold their oaths.  I, just yesterday, signed this appeal sent to me by the ACLU:

We stand opposed to any attempt to treat Edward Snowden as a traitor. Our government must also not pursue the case against him outside the ordinary course of American justice. He is entitled to the rule of law and constitutional protections that so many before us died to defend.

Snowden is innocent until proven guilty before a court of law and he must be afforded all of his rights as an American citizen. If he is brought to an American court, he must be afforded every opportunity to defend himself and convince a judge that what he did was justifiable and patriotic, even if he is charged with violating laws that themselves pose a threat to our democracy.

Finally, we say as Americans that we are tired of seeing liberty sacrificed on the altar of security and having a handful of lawmakers decide what we should and should not know. We are tired of living in a nation governed by fear instead of the principles of freedom and liberty that made this nation great.

The time it took me to read it, agree with it, and make the mouse clicks necessary to submit it to fascist, enemy of the people number 1, Charles Schumer, was easily less than one minute.  I can afford to take the risk that it was time wasted.  After all, what else is a guy to do?  Nothing?  That would make me a supporter of the Central Party Central Party Logo, and I just wasn’t cut out, nor raised that way.

Hasta la próxima muchachos, y mucha suerte.

Paul is an escaped Big 4 CPA (F/S auditor), and Corporate Controller/CFO who found a natural home in the offshore industry with Bobby Casey and the gang at GWP.   Contact him at [email protected] to learn more about the realities of economical offshore asset protection.