Day: April 28, 2008

Racism Best Explanation for Wesley Snipes’ Sentence

Trish
Why isn’t this tax evader in jail?

I’m no great legal scholar but come on. Prosecutors in the Wesley Snipes tax evasion case are overstepping their bounds to make an example out of the actor.

Snipes was convicted in February on three misdemeanor counts. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges handed down the maximum sentence and said he felt it was important to create a general deterrent against tax defiance…

The judge said prison officials would notify Snipes when to begin serving his sentence. Snipes said he would appeal the verdict but prosecutors vowed to oppose any request to allow him to remain free on bond while the appeal is pending.

Prosecutors said Snipes had earned more than $38 million since 1999 but still had not filed tax returns for the years 1999 through 2007 or paid any taxes prior to Thursday…

They said the notoriety of the case presented a “singular opportunity” to deter tax crimes nationwide.

If this doesn’t boil down to being about black and white, I need someone to explain it to me

But what we have here are two separate things. One is Snipes’ crimes — three misdemeanors — of which he is guilty. The other is the government’s desire to discourage us from not paying our taxes. Because Snipes is guilty as charged does not give prosecutors the right to exploit his situation for their own aims. His sentence should be about his punishment for tax evasion, not about a government marketing message.

It’s too bad Snipes is the only famous person to owe the I.R.S. — and his lawyers say he does owe them $400,000. They could have made an example out of someone else, if only there had been someone earlier in a similar situation.

Oh yeah, Willie Nelson is walking around after leaving an original upaid bill of $17 million in back taxes. The I.R.S. worked out a settlement with the red-headed stranger, selling his ranch and taking an interest in one of his albums and other assets. They also agreed to take less, $12.6 million for the nearly $17 million debt. There was never any discussion of prison.

I don’t want to see Willie locked up but I’m really struggling to understand how this is fair. If it doesn’t boil down to being about black and white, then I need someone to explain it to me.

Maybe rapper Foxy Brown could. She was sentenced to one year in jail for a parole violation after having an altercation with a manicurist. While Brown served her sentence, the world watched the spectacle of Paris Hilton, tapped with a mere 45 days for violating parole with repeated drunk driving offenses, cry her way to serving less than half of even that lightweight punishment.

Craig Ferguson’s Lines at Correspondents’ Dinner

Trish

I confess to liking Craig Ferguson. He was the best part of the Drew Carey Show, but I guess that’s not necessarily high praise.

Having him as the host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year had to beat the crap out of last year’s pick — Rich Little. At least nobody has to consult DeadorAlive to see if Ferguson is still with us.

Here are some of his lines from the dinner.

Ferguson: “I’m a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn’t true then I say it on TV. I’m like Fox News.”
  • “I spoke to a lot of journalists about how I should speak up here. And all the journalists said ‘Craig, Your duty is to speak truth to power. That’s what you do, you hold the truth up for everyone to see, that’s your job.’ I’m sorry. I don’t see it that way. That’s your job. You’re journalists. I’m a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn’t true then I say it on TV. I’m like Fox News. I’m not a journalist.”
  • “It’s your task to watch the government, to make sure they don’t exceed their power. [Stops and looks over at Dick Cheney.] And well done with that, by the way, the last eight years.”
  • “The New York Times unfortunately did not buy a table. They felt, I just want to make sure I got this right, they felt this event undercut the credibility of the press. It’s funny. You see, I thought that Jayson Blair and Judi Miller took care of that.”
  • “Listen, I don’t envy the person who wins the Democratic nomination for the presidency because they, he or she will face the full force of the Republican attack machine come the election. Bill Kristol, Bob Novack, George Stephanapoulos.”
  • [Turning to Bush] “You’re retiring as a young man. What does a president do? You could look for a job with more vacation time.”
  • “During your administration there was not one single sex scandal in the White House except the time when Barney humped the Pope’s leg.” [That one had to be repeated to Bush, who didn’t get it the first time. The second time he laughed.]
  • “Tonight we mark the end of an era. George W. Bush leaves in eight months. The vice president is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon.”

Campaign Report from North Carolina

Buck Banks

A friend in Wilmington sent this report on what’s happening in the Tarheel state as we slouch toward the primary:

O.K. newspapers in Raleigh and Wilmington have picked up on theme of Obama not being around much. Hillary and Bill energized and everywhere. Hillary’s TV ads on economy are sharper than his which are somewhat unfocused. But as the Raleigh paper said in an editorial, the truth is he’s concentrating on Indiana because it’s a closer race (mind you they are condemning him for this, saying North Carolina is a big state and shouldn’t be ignored, blah, blah).

So Obama sneaks into the state Monday night for a Chapel Hill speech before heading back to Indiana on Tuesday. Bill Clinton’s in town here again for a big military thing on the battleship in town. Essentially, Bill and Hillary are running around the mid-sized blue-collar cities; Barack shows up at various universities. Both shore up their base; she is undoubtedly cutting into his lead.

But Barack is probably doing the right thing by showing up at gas stations in Indiana. Thirty-eight percent of the registered democratic voters in Carolina are black; he ain’t going to lose that vote and he won’t lose this state even if he is the title of a Ralph Ellison book, so he may as well concentrate on Indiana. If he wins both primaries our pant-suited friend should have plenty of time on her hands to go back to her true love: duck hunting in Scranton.

Fortunately, the N.C. Republican party is making a mistake with the Wright adds. It appeals to Republicans, but gives Obama the edge in the victim outrage department that is essential to the Democrats very being.

Plus, his biggest advantage can be summed up in two words: Open Primary

Thanks to M.D. for the update.

UPDATE: Note that our friend from N.C. appears to be a little confused over the nature of the North Carolina primary, as was one of our commenters. North Carolina’s primary is closed, which means that only voters who have declared a party affiliation can vote. Independents (or fence-sitters, as Trish calls us) cannot vote in North Carolina’s primary. Oh, and they might have done away with the poll tax, but I’m not sure about that. — Buck