Posted by panch from pool0086.cvx24-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.210.86) on Saturday, July 06, 2002 at 9:54AM :
In my counter-suit I'm contending that the Federation and some of its affiliates, have linked hands for the last two, now almost three, years to ruin my reputation as a sculptor, as a man, and thereby to also to wreck any chance of my making a living doing what I've done for 22 years, and the "name" and recognition that goes with it...with the hope of driving me away from our community.
They've done this in violation to the very principles laid out in their own constitutions and charters...for which they were granted tax-exempt status in the first place. Nowhere in their incorporation papers do any of them propose to dance and sing and drink as often as they can. All of them have stated to the Federal government that they require tax-exempt status in order to do important work for the Assyrian people. I want those records...I need to show just how much they've taken...what portion has been spent for Assyrians, and where the rest of it has gone to.
Under previous leadership we were able to get help and even financial support, to the tune of $20,000 for two monuments. But starting with Nimrod and Homer Simpson and the infamous "Affair of the Viking Helmet"...there has been an ongoing, concerted and deliberate attempt to discredit me and my work in a variety of ways you'll have to wait till the trial to see listed. And these attempts have been carried out in cities across the country, across state lines...ahem.
We have our noses pressed against IT so close we fail to step back and take a long, hard look at the breathtaking sweep of insanity that constitutes "love" for this Oompapatah of ours...something you have to go before a jury of sane people, completely unfamiliar with the facts, or us, to get. That's why there are trials folks.
The behavior of the Federation under Golani's misrule, coupled with the amazing things Nimrod has done for the past few years, lumped together with what Jackie brought to the mix...makes a fascinating study...and raises the big fat question..".why"?
None of these people have answered that question...they've said instead that I don't know helmets, that I sculpt my own face each time, that I put short skirts on kings who everyone can see had only one long dress...that I am out for money when an American foundry charges more than I do...and I ask for no artist's fee...these are things other people will readily understand the significance of getting an answer to.
The final idiocy, no that's not true...there's more...came when Jackie's club responded that they were under no legal obligation to answer any of my questions...in other words..."sue us" and you'll get our answer..
And now...adding even more icing to a cake that's groaning under tons of it, comes the Federation's invitation to me to come dance...but not show my sculpture...making it about as obvious as they could that everything I claim is indeed true.
In the first place there is no evidence that I was ever any kind of a trouble maker...none. The fact that I am welcome to attend this year but forbidden to show any sculpture...would seem to prove that my presence of itself is not the problem. Then what is?
What can it be except that I must be broken financially, discouraged and driven away. Why?... That's the question all of this inevitably leads to...why?
-- panch
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