Note: Former IRS special agent Joe Banister was forced to resign from the
agency shortly after asking some questions that indicated he was not willing
to accept what he had formerly be told at face value. He has been a vocal
and public critic of the IRS ever since. The full story is available at
his web site http://www.freedomabovefortune.com

The email below, sent to those on his mailing list (subscriptions at
http://www.freedomabovefortune.com/mailinglist/) is presented with 
wording unchanged from the original.

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Subject: BANISTER REPORTS: “SHANGHAI ON CGI”

Dear Friends and Supporters:

My apologies for the length of this email alert, but the message is
important.

I have just learned that the IRS may try to lock out the press and public
from my hearing scheduled for December 1st. After initially being assured
of a hearing location in San Jose, the IRS, on the eve of the hearing, has
moved the hearing to a Coast Guard military base on an island in San
Francisco Bay called Coast Guard Island or “CGI”.

Conveniently for the IRS, the Coast Guard forbids the presence of the public
on the island “period” as told to us by Coast Guard security officers on
the island. Thus, even if a “public hearing” is convened on the island (and
my hearing is supposed to be a PUBLIC hearing), the Coast Guard will not
allow a member of the public or press to pass beyond the front gate of the
base to get to the “public hearing”. For all practical purposes, this
“public hearing” has been changed to a star chamber hearing held in secret,
away from public and press.

Now why do you suppose the government, in a supposed effort to protect the
public from people like ME, would not want the public to be able to view the
inquisition? 

Why does the IRS fear the physical presence of the taxpaying public at the
hearing? 

Why does the IRS fear the physical presence of even members of the press?

Unfortunately, this latest development follows the same troublesome path.
My requests for discovery (in other words, requests to obtain IRS documents
that might enable me to understand the allegations made against me) have
been DENIED. 

My request to present evidence and witnesses that would prove the
baselessness of the allegations against me have been DENIED.

As if being prevented from properly defending myself was not enough, the IRS
shockingly admitted in their own pleadings that they used their criminal
investigation component by privately conferencing with both IRS Criminal
Investigation Special Agents and Department of Justice Prosecutors to
coordinate parallel civil and criminal proceedings against me without
notice. 

The IRS admitted they conducted surveillance on my speaking engagements and
eavesdropped on my political conversations and appearances. Recently, the
IRS tapped its computer database of information from other taxpayers, prying
into private financial intimacies and private accounts with banks and
businesses, to use this information in this case. Is there anyone who still
does not understand why I confronted this agency with their wrongdoing and
resigned?

I’m reminded of a famous statement made by Rev. Martin Niemoeller, a German
Lutheran pastor, was arrested by the Nazi Gestapo and sent to Dachau in
1938:  “In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn’t
speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade
unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then
they came for the Catholics, but I didn’t speak up because I was a
protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left
to speak for me.”

I have always been mindful of the carnage that people like Hitler and Stalin
were responsible for. Foremost in my mind has always been the belief that
if people had spoken up in opposition to immoral and illegal activities,
Hitler and Stalin never would have succeeded in destroying so many lives.

I saw evidence of immoral and illegal activities going on at the IRS and
spoke out about it. It cost me my job. I have seen evidence of immoral and
illegal activities perpetrated by the IRS against not only my clients but
the general public as well. I have been speaking up about such activities
and it may cost me the ability to help those clients and the general public.

It’s about time the general public tells the IRS enough is enough. We are
not going to allow you to bully our fellow citizens and we are not going to
allow you to bully those professionals who have encountered IRS wrongdoing
and are speaking up about it.

Perhaps many Americans assume the days of using the Department of Justice,
the Internal Revenue Service, and federal grand juries to target political
dissenters was over with the departure of J. Edgar Hoover.

But, the IRS claims it can use its computer database monitoring the personal
financial information of other citizens, banks, and businesses to conduct
secret investigations of former whistleblowers like me, can, under the cloak
of a “practitioner” investigation, inquire into the purely private and
political conduct of anyone who ever “appeared” before the agency even when
the alleged conduct had nothing to do with “practicing” before the IRS, and
that these agencies can use their investigative authority to plan and
coordinate parallel civil and criminal investigations. Only the ghost of
Hoover is smiling.

Ask yourself some simple questions. Have you known of any American
(non-military) who has ever been subjected to a hearing/trial at a military
installation? 

Have you ever known any American who was accused of wrongdoing and not
allowed to have the public or press present at the proceedings?

Murderers, rapists, kidnappers, snipers, bank robbers, and drunk-drivers are
able to have the public and the press present at their hearings and trials,
but a Certified Public Accountant and former IRS Special Agent who abided by
his oath to support and defend the Constitution and did his best to protect
his clients from the big stick wielded by the IRS gets sent to a star
chamber on a military base with no jury, no press, and no public. I expect
that not even my own family will be allowed to attend the proceedings.

Is there anyone out there that finds these circumstances just a little
strange, suspicious, and downright un-American?

In keeping with Reverend Niemoeller’s chilling quote, if they can do it to
me, they can do it to anyone. And this is why I will fight this to the
highest court and every way that I can.

If the courts permit this quasi-military authority the IRS seeks, then the
Inquisition has found its inheritor.

The question in this case -- which we will take to as high an authority as
we can -- is whether the IRS has impassable limits. The Commissioner of
Stamps under the old British rule used its taxing authority to silence
political troublemakers. The IRS, intoxicated with its own power, wishes to
reclaim that mantle. But it will not do so in silent acquiescence.

I am lucky in that I am not alone and have your aid.

The IRS normally escapes scrutiny by bullying those without the resources to
challenge them. But with your help, we can remind the IRS that even they
are not above the rule of law.

Feel free to gather the addresses of the officials who are named on the
various documents in my case (posted at www.freedomabovefortune.com ) and
send them a letter telling them how you feel about this.

If you are afraid to give your name, however, I don’t blame you. Maybe you
can at least write to your Congressional Representative without fear of
retaliation, but who knows anymore?  Also, my only hope for publicity if,
indeed, the press will be forbidden from attending, is each one of you.
Please alert everyone that you can about these proceedings.

For your information, there are a number of San Francisco Bay residents who
will get as close to the base as possible to show their support. I will be
sending out more information for those who would like to join them. Maybe
the Coast Guard will let me bring some binoculars so I can see the group
from the island.

Kind Regards,

Joseph R. (Joe) Banister, C.P.A. Former IRS Criminal Investigation Division
Special Agent 
www.freedomabovefortune.com