| Christmas in Prison |
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| Wednesday, 17 December 2008 19:00 | |||
(originally launched into cyberspace on 12/18/2008) As you've probably heard before, psychological depression generally tends to occur more often and more strongly around the holidays. And, as you could probably guess, being in prison over the holidays doesn't exactly improve matters. I only did it once, and it was right after I had gone in, so it wasn't too bad, but it still wasn't exactly fun. Well, Dr. Charles Thomas Clayton, whom some of us know as "Dr. Tom," is about to be spending Christmas in prison--not for the first time, and not for the last. He won't be doing any Christmas shopping, and won't be having a Christmas dinner with his family. He'll be spending Christmas in a cage, as a political prisoner, for having told the truth about the federal income tax. Now, it's very easy to feel forgotten while in prison, mainly because it's very easy to BE forgotten while in prison. The rest of us have our busy lives, and it's just not all that fun--during the holidays or at any other time--to think about the people who have been wrongfully imprisoned. Well, if you think it's frustrating and infuriating to think about such injustice, consider how it feels to be the VICTIM of such injustice. Dr. Tom selflessly sacrificed, for the cause of truth, more time, effort and money than most of you will ever know. In fact, he has done more to spread the truth about the "income tax" fraud than just about anyone I know (including myself), all without any hope of ever being repaid. For that, the American tyrants decided he should be caged for five years. Keeping that in mind, I want EACH of you to do one or more of the following: 1) Write Dr. Tom a letter, even if all it says is that you're thinking of him, and you appreciate what he did. You can't send money, or really anything else to the address, except for magazines. (Soft-cover books may or may not make it through.) But even a really short, hand-scribbled note is a lot better than nothing. (Know that all mail into and out of prisons may be read by prison staff.) Here is the address for sending Tom mail: Charles Thomas Clayton, Reg. #06269-078 FCI Bastrop Federal Correctional Institution P.O. Box 1010 Bastrop, TX 78602 2) Send a few bucks to Dr. Tom's commissary fund in prison, from which he can buy snacks, necessities, and a few other little things. Funds can be sent for that purpose via mail or Western Union, and the web page below explains how: http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/money.jsp You'll need to know the name of the recipient (Charles Thomas Clayton) and his inmate registration number (06269-078) to send money. 3) Last but not least--in fact, MOST importantly--I'll be taking a collection, from now until Christmas, for Tom's family, which I'll then send to them as one big check around New Year's. As I've said before, what any of us can "afford" depends in large part on what we decide is important. If you had a kid who needed a $10,000 operation to save his life, I bet just about all of you, one way or another, would find a way to come up with it. Well, how important do you think it is to help out those who have suffered as a result of putting their necks on the line for ALL of us? How much support do you think Dr. Tom deserves for the enormous sacrifices he has given? How much is it worth to you for it to be HIM doing the time for telling the truth, instead of you? It's hard to put a price tag on that, isn't it? So keep that in mind when deciding how much to send. These days, to a lot of people (including me) $100 seems like a lot of money. But I challenge each of you to see if you can come up with that much in the next week or so, and send it off to the address shown below. (Donation checks need to be made out in my name, and then I'll post a list of contributors--just initials and dates--when I send it all off to Tom's family in one big check.) If sending $100 is really not possible for you, then send whatever you can, even if it's only $5. Most of those who read this message won't send anything (as is the case with every plea for help), so every little bit counts--and, of course, every BIG bit counts even more. It's too much to hope that Dr. Tom will actually have a happy holidays, but we ought to be able to at least make it a little less miserable. So go to it. (And do it now, before you forget.) Sincerely, Larken Rose P.O. Box 653 Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 http://www.kickingthedragon.com P.S. In the next few days, I'll be sending to the list a "thank you" note from Colin Jackson, husband of Sherry Peel Jackson, for the help all of you provided to them. P.P.S. For those of you who know Ken Evans, drop me a quick e-mail at "cartoonlion@hushmail.com" for an update.
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