Free Wesley Snipes

"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance..."

March 25, 2008

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea that America had finally taken the turn to tyranny that so many had dreaded, but had never hoped to see. Wesley Snipes, beloved star of Blade, White Men Can't Jump, Blade II, Major League, U.S. Marshals, and Blade: Trinity had been sentenced to 36 months in prison for tax evasion. Apparently, Snipes had avoided paying about $15 million in taxes over the course of a decade. He also urged his employees to avoid paying taxes as well. Now, this is obviously wrong, and, of course, against the law. After all, how are we going to defeat Terror if we don't have the Benjamins?

But still, I think that Wesley Snipes is being treated unfairly. As you can see from this quote by Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman, the deck was stacked against Snipes:

"There is no secret formula that eliminates a person's tax obligations, nor are there any special exceptions," he said. "The majority of Americans pay their taxes timely and accurately. Those who willfully violate the law must be held accountable."

I may not be reading this right, but just because Wesley Snipes doesn't know the secret formula that eliminates a person's tax obligations, he's going to have to do 3 years in the pen?! THAT'S the crime!

What makes this most unjust of all is that Wesley Snipes was obviously not qualified to stand trial. I am not a lawyer, but I have watched such programs as: L.A. Law, Law and Order, Law and Order:SVU, Law and Order: CI and Matlock for years, and I know a little something about jurisprudence, thank you very much. Snipes is obviously not qualified, based on the following quote he gave today:

"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance"

People, law and finance are not sciences!!! Obviously Wesley does not understand what is going on, and cannot be held accountable for his actions!

Another reason he can't be held accountable is that he was just following the advice of an expert: Eddie Ray Kahn, founder of American Rights Litigators and the Guiding Light of God ministries. According to the website, Taxes.com, Kahn's arguments are “so utterly juvenile and worthless as to barely worth the space I am using to type this sentence.” Kahn doesn't seem to believe in the 16th Amendment, and thinks that since the IRS is not part of the government, we don't have to pay income tax. He also thinks we can choose not to participate in Social Security.

Kahn is an idiot. But he used his Svengali-like powers of persuasion to ensnare one of the most beloved actors of our time in his downfall. This would be funny if we were talking about, say, David Hasselhoff (who is HUGE in Germany), but Wesley Snipes? Come on, people!

Snipes' attorneys had tried to persuade the judge that Snipes had been unfairly targeted, that the prosecutors were "big game hunters" who ignored Kahn's 4,000 other clients to go after Snipes. In a response that makes the Sacco and Vanzetti case look like an episode of Judge Judy, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said:

"One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is deterrence...In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution. But there's nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It's the way the system works."

Well, that may be how the "system" "works" for "Judge" Hodges, but to me that sounds plain wrong. As I said, when I read this, I was shocked, and I immediately resolved to take action, because as Founding Father Thomas Jefferson once said: "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." Well, I have a good conscience, and a website, and I will not be silent!

I urge all right-thinking Americans to write to President ~~Bush~~ Obama and demand that he commute Snipes' sentence. L. Scooter Libby (former Chief of Staff to Vice-President Cheney) outed an active CIA agent (Valerie Plame) in violation of Federal law, and President Bush commuted his sentence. All Snipes did was follow bad advice, and willfully avoid paying taxes for a decade. That's hardly as bad.

I'll leave you with the following poem, written by Pastor Martin Niemoller during World War II:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

When they came for Wesley Snipes, what did YOU do?