From the April 2001 Idaho Observer:

Confessions of an Anti-Government Terrorist

I have become an anti-government terrorist. I never meant to harm anyone, in fact, I was only attempting to right some wrongs and in my own small way make the world a better place. But now I have become a terrorist. This is my confession.

by Hari Heath

The Seeds of Terrorism

It began over 10 years ago with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). I was a logger who purchased small salvage sales. I fed my family with nature's gifts: dead wood in the forest that could be turned into marketable products. I didn't live very high on the food chain but we got by. Then, for no good reason beyond re-interpreting already existing rules, the USFS terminated the small sales program.

This was wrong. Such a wrong needed correction. I joined with a few other loggers and founded the Small Loggers Council.

We attempted to develop small-scale salvage logging programs with both state and federal timber agencies. Working with our local state legislator we were able to initiate a successful state program.

The federal timber managers, however, did not like our efficient and environmentally sensitive program. They preferred to "service" the "forest" with an onslaught of conflicting mandates that have proven to be detrimental to both the forests and the people who work in them.

After years of effort and at no small cost to our own limited resources, the Small Loggers Council failed to overturn the administrative edict that killed our program -- and our livelihoods.

In the course of pursuing our goal we discovered there were greater wrongs than the loss of our small timber salvage program. Many resource producers had come under attack and were also fighting for their livelihoods. Other groups had formed across our land to improve the fate of natural resource-dependent people.

A loose-knit umbrella of organizations had developed which was sometimes referred to as the "wise use movement." Some members of these groups were also members of other organizations seeking to right other wrongs on a myriad of issues.

One area of investigation led to another and, before long, knowledge of the multi-faceted decay of our American republic shattered my little north-Idaho-forest-world innocence.

Before I became a terrorist I was simply a person who believed that right was right and wrong was wrong and something could and should be done about things that were wrong. My little world of "wood is good" and the ability to making a living from the selective harvest of nature's gifts was suddenly terminated by a complex web of much greater wrongs.

Fertile Ground to Foment Terrorism

By the mid 1990s, many concerned Americans had researched the facts and made some rather shocking discoveries. They presented their findings in many books, magazines, newsletters, videos and seminars.

Among the many subjects they evidenced was how the income tax amendment was a fraud that was never properly ratified. Clear arguments showed umpteen provable reasons why no American had to pay income taxes -- yet many are jailed and have their property seized by courts that ignore the law and hide the truth.

Others revealed how the green paper we have come to believe is money is not really money at all, but rather a debt note created by a fraudulent conversion of our constitutional economy of substance (coin) at the whims of a private banking scheme (the Federal Reserve).

Many sources evidenced how the "war on some drugs" is really a war on the Bill of Rights and the 4th Amendment is ignored for random drug testing and no-knock Gestapo-styled searches based on any ill-formed "suspicion." Then, any drugs found or planted at the scene are used to confiscate the property through a forfeiture scheme, which violates the 5th Amendment. As some reported, 80 percent of those who have lost their property by forfeiture were never even charged with a crime.

Researchers had also waded through the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) of the Department of Justice and found it had become a self-funding agency upon the proceeds of sales from these forfeitures.

The tales of trepidation began to mount as people looked into the conduct of the chief federal judge in Idaho, Edward J. Lodge. It could be proven that he was bought by a major bank for a million dollars and then stole the property of many people for what is now US Bank. Judge Lodge also put U.S. Congressman George Hansen in prison on bogus charges to help one of his political friends get his seat in Congress. There were also hundreds of judicial misconduct complaints filed against him, yet he remained (and still remains) on the bench, unscathed.

An army nurse discovered and documented that thousands of Gulf War Veterans had died from Gulf War Illness. She had scientific evidence that it was a manufactured disease created at a Texas laboratory of which then President Bush was a stockholder.

Simple research into the Constitution made it obvious that there could only be a few federal crimes, yet there were volumes of federal laws for which one could be found guilty. Having "wetlands" on private property could render it unusable and anything property owners did to improve their "wetlands" could be punishable both civilly and criminally.

Most people have been inundated with "news" about the ill effects of marijuana since the 1930's and had grown accustomed to its illegal status. Few people realize that it was made illegal to protect the interests of Dupont chemical, the Hearst timber holdings and the petroleum industry. Hemp was demonized in the Hearst newspapers as a dangerous drug to justify criminalizing public access to quality hemp fiber, fuel and oil products that are superior to the chemical, timber and petroleum products upon which the nation's most influential empires had been built.

Another discoverer found an internal IBM memo that detailed how they were already using American prisoners as subjects in some clandestine experiments with surgically implanted microchips that could alter prisoner behavior and be used as an under-the-skin transceiver for surveillance purposes -- all without the knowledge or consent of the prisoner.

What had to be the most horrible of all betrayals of our rights as free Americans is how our own Congress passed Title 50, Chapter 32, Section 1520 of the U.S. Code into law. Under the authority of that law, it is "legal" for the Department of Defense to conduct unspecified biological and chemical weapons experiments on an unsuspecting and uninformed American public.

While we did get to learn about the Weaver assassinations and the Waco church burning in the news, these and other stories that were developing at the same time never saw the light of day in the dominant media.

My First Terrorist Act

After learning about these and other corrupted acts of government and finding myself surrounded by an American public that was apparently ignorant of the things going on around it, I committed my first act as an anti-government terrorist. I became a publisher.

I was inspired by the Samuel Adams' quote: "it does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen to set brushfires in the peoples' minds."

Fellow Small Logger's Council member Andy Joliff and I began to publish the news stories that the regulator press would never touch in our BRUSH FIRE News. With the donated use of a copy machine we were now in the publishing business. It wasn't a profitable or large business, but we were able to distribute hundreds of copies of the BRUSH FIRE for about two years. The BRUSH FIRE allowed us to, in our own small way, tell "the rest of the story."

A Terrorist's Own Court

Around this same time a local citizens' group formed in a self-proclaimed effort to "re-establish lawful constitutional government." Its cause seemed admirable so I joined. We formed "committees of safety" and attempted to educate ourselves and formulate a plan to effectuate our goals. Our goals were honorable yet, as it turns out, naïve. We wanted to help return truth and justice to our community.

Many of us had encountered the corruption of the judicial system. After attending some seminars on the subject, we established our own common law court based on constitutional provisions. We had discovered the servitude being imposed on all citizens under an oppressive, unconstitutional federal supremacy that had been manufactured in the legislative wake of the so-called Civil War. Some us wanted to re-establish our individual sovereignty and lawfully reverse the master/servant relationship that had been created for us. We filed "quiet title" actions on the "property" of our "persons" and invited any interested party, including government, to assert any claims that they may have against our person. No one came forward to contest my claim to my own person so, in theory at least, I became emancipated from the masters in government. I must confess, participating in the peoples' own court was another act of anti-government terrorism.

Terrorist on the Highway?

Soon after this, another subject perked my interest. I began studying how travel on the highways was a fundamental right that had been unconstitutionally converted into a government-licensed privilege. I read case law from courts that confirmed it was indeed a right that could not be abridged. There were "how to" manuals written by citizens who had fought to reclaim their right to travel. They claimed they traveled the highways without a license and "won" in court. I thought I could win, too. So, I sent my drivers license back to the Transportation Department with a notice of constructive fraud. I also bought a car and put my own cardboard "plate" on it. I traveled freely for a month or so until I had a roadside encounter with officer Hess. I must have been a real terrorist. Friends who were listening to the police scanner later told me he called his dispatch and said, "I've got a subject with no license and no plates and a three-inch stack of paperwork, what should I do?"

I informed him of my rights and his duties and gave him a notice and demand and some case law showing what the higher courts had said on the subject. After about a 30-minute roadside discussion, he gave me a ticket and left.

My reputation as an anti-government terrorist must have preceeded me. I went in for an arraignment but the magistrate wouldn't come into court. Instead, he sent in a clerk with a paper for me to sign. I had already filed an eight-page Plea in Brief along with some other documents to explain the situation so I didn't need to sign his paper. I had come all the way into town for an arraignment and now I had to make a demand for a judge to get one.

Finally the magistrate came in and began his standard form dissertation on my rights and legal options. The esquire in the black robe then asked me what my plea was. He appeared shocked and visibly shaken as I rose out of my seat in my Wallace plaid kilt and said "fictio cedit veritati; fictio juris non est ubi veritas," which I translated for him as, "fiction yields to truth; where there is truth, fiction of law exists not."

He said he would take that as a not guilty plea.

This, I must confess, began one of my larger acts of anti-government terrorism. Eventually the case file in this matter would grow to over five inches in thickness as the prosecutor and magistrate would refuse to adhere to their own rules and the law. They would ignore the rulings of the higher courts. They refused to answer the subjects in my motions. When they did I found more rules, laws and rulings. They ignored these too. I subpoenaed the proof that neither of them had the required license to practice law and moved the court to dismiss the case because they cannot prosecute me for driving without a license when they didn't have a license to operate a court. The magistrate then refused to allow me to make my motion and offer my proof.

There must be a policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists like me. They acted as if I was holding them hostage. There must also be a policy that, no matter what, the "pro se" citizen litigants must never be allowed to win. Those in government also seem to be terrorized by the law. They hide it (and from it) whenever they can.

When my right to travel case finally went to a jury trial they sent the jury out of the courtroom several times when I mentioned the law. The magistrate told me that if I mentioned the law one more time he would put me in shackles and send me to jail. It's kind of hard to defend yourself in court when you can't mention the law.

Question Authority?

I didn't mean to at the time, but I apparently terrorized a USFS officer by questioning his authority. Thinking I had a right to speak freely I asked him rather persistently how he came to have federal law enforcement authority in light of certain constitutional facts that would seem to prevent his law enforcement authority (The Idaho Observer, March, 2001). These same facts also raise serious questions about the presumed ownership of federal forest lands in Idaho. These questions apparently so terrified this forest service officer that he fabricated a story and acted in concert with the U.S. attorneys and federal judges to manufacture a conviction to silence me from asking such questions. Even simple questioning of authority can turn one into an anti-government terrorist.

Constitutionalist?

An interesting thing happened on the way to becoming an anti-government terrorist. I became labeled a "constitutionalist." The Transportation Department put it on my driving record. The pre-trial report to the judge in the federal case also labeled me as a constitutionalist. In a front-page article the Spokesman-Review wrote a tall tale about our local political movement. The Spokesman-Review published a story that was far from the reality of the situation. They also called me a "constitutionalist."

If one is an advocate and supporter of the Constitution that creates government, how, then, can one also be construed as being against government? The government created by the Constitution is also founded on the rule of law and a civil society. Why is an advocate of such things cast into the role of terrorist? How can I be both a constitutionalist and an anti-government terrorist?

The Anti-Government

By now you are probably wondering when I'll get to the part about the bombs, machine guns, bank robberies and kidnappings. After all, I am supposed to be a terrorist. But remember, I am only confessing to being an anti-government terrorist. Why would I confess? Because it's true. Let me explain.

Most people don't read very far into the real meanings of words anymore. And fewer still are actually able to think for themselves. Most people would think anti-government means someone who is against the government. But government itself has already labeled me a "constitutionalist." I can't be both against government and a supporter of the document which forms government. There must be a better explanation.

In biblical prophecy a false messiah will come near the end times. This false messiah is often referred to as the anti-Christ. This anti-Christ will gather many of the flock into his fold through healing miracles and great works. He will build a temple on the mound. Many will follow him. He will appear to be the return of the messiah, but as prophesied, he will eventually be shown as a great deceiver. Perhaps the anti-Christ prophesy can shed some light on how a constitutionalist can also be an anti-government terrorist.

If Americans would bother to look and compare the nature of the government proscribed in the Constitution with that which is actually operating today, the answer would be clear. Just like the biblical anti-Christ, what we have operating for a government today is really an anti-government. It bears nothing more than a theatrical resemblance to constitutional government to keep the masses fooled. It gathers the flock of the citizenry into its fold. It performs great works and builds temples to itself. It deceives many into believing in its greatness, yet everywhere one looks its fraud and falsity can be found. The anti-government is a government of men, not laws -- men who abhor being governed by law.

Instead of being governed by a three-branch constitutional republic, swarms of agencies now rule us with a myriad of administrative regulations. Presidents ignore Congress and make law with thousands of executive orders and presidential decision directives. Our courts are corrupted by a now independent third branch which has evolved into a state of judicial anarchy. And Congress, granted a few and limited constitutional powers, now pumps out volumes of laws based on its unbridled whims. Can you see how our modern day governing power is best described as an anti-government?

Although someone else has labeled me a "constitutionalist," I do admire what could be if government functioned in keeping with the guiding principles of the Constitution. In my efforts to compel this anti-government to adhere to constitutional principles, I have terrorized them. And this explains how I have become an anti-government terrorist. I, and many others like me, have been terrorizing the anti-government by challenging and exposing it. You can join us, and in your own small way, seek the return of your country from the grip of the anti-government. By terrorizing the anti-government with the truth of its fraudulent existence, we can expose this holographic apparition until it shrinks back into the darkness from which it came. Fight for your country. Become an anti-government terrorist.

For a free copy of the state and federal Constitutions call the Idaho Secretary of State at 208-334-2300 and request them. They will send up to 10 of them for free or a box of 80 for the nominal cost of shipping. Give them to your friends.

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Mr. Heath is not just an anti-government terrorist. Because he simply asked the federal government to prove its authority to give he and his friends a ticket for skinny dipping in a river situated on federally administrated lands within the state of Idaho, he was sentenced, without trial, by Federal Judge Edward Lodge to serve six months in jail and endure two years of probation. Rather than submit to Judge Lodge's anti-government authority by going to jail, our terrorist has become a federal fugitive who can no longer be at home providing for his family. An abbreviated version of the story as well as the long version can be found at The IO website.