...high-profile celebrities who have lots of money and nowhere to run if they wish to continue their careers, but genuine monsters like Osama Bin Laden are still at large!

Looks like Mr. Snipes has already surrendered to authorities on Friday as he was asked, but was subsequently released on one MILLION dollars bail. His plea of not guilty will cause this to drag on for a bit, and while I agree Wesley was probably drawn into one of the many 'cults' of tax evaders (see Irwin Schiff, etc) who claim various illegalities of the income tax, I imagine he will build his defense around the nuttiness of the people who 'advised' him. Here's hoping his defense brings up the immorality (instead of the more ambiguous 'legality') of the income tax, at *any* income level.

I'll plug away at a press release to address the topic, nonetheless, with the idea of revisiting Mr. Snipe's case as it no doubt continues into the year.

... the bit about making an example of him, sending a message not to test the government.

Why is Snipes behind bars when Osama is still free... might be in order. I think it's a good question myself.

Not to mention Obama.

is that I'm not sure that Mr Snipes actually understands what he was doing.

I have a nagging feeling that he's fallen in with the Tax-evaders equivalent of the Church of Scientology...

Perhaps the press release needs to stick to pointing out that he has every right not to pay the bastards because it's his hard earned money.

A side swipe at the justice department's efficiency at picking up tax evaders compared to their inability to curb the violence that took 30 in Chicago last month might also be in order.

Maybe something like: Why is Snipes behind bars when Osama is still free... might be in order. I think it's a good question myself.

...that Mr. Snipes plays a vampire hunter in a trilogy of movies, and ends up a real-life victim of real-life bloodsuckers? How dare the 'rich and famous' try to keep their honestly acquired money say the prosecution! As if Wesley's money is less precious than the average American struggling to get by in these difficult (and largely government-and-central-banking-induced) economic times.

When you have as much wealth as Wesley Snipes I would think you avoid paying taxes not because you can't afford them, but because you oppose them philosophically. Uncle Sam nailed Willie Nelson in a similar way a few years back.

I'll cook up a press release once Mr. Snipes surrenders himself to authorities.

According to Senator Harry Reid, taxes in America are voluntary:

There's no defence from this...

... apart from the second amendment, that is.

I just hope Snipes really does have the principled defiance claimed.

"US attorney Robert O'Neill, however, told the judge that Snipes was a "notorious" tax protestor who deliberately used bogus and discredited arguments to avoid paying.

In a lengthy memo to the court calling for the maximum 36-month sentence, prosecutors said Snipes engaged in a decade-long "campaign of criminal tax conduct combining brazen defiance with insidious concealment" that amounted to a $15 million evasion and $41 million in "intended harm" to the US Treasury.

The memo continued: "In the defendant Wesley Snipes, the court is presented with a wealthy, famous and inveterate tax scofflaw.

"If ever a tax offender was deserving of being held accountable to the maximum extent for his criminal wrongdoing, Snipes is that defendant."

Mr O'Neill said: "Snipes and his ilk nominally deny that any law makes them liable for tax, citing absurd pseudo-legal theories that self-servingly coincide with their own economic interests," he said.

Carmen Hernandez, Snipes' co-counsel, told Judge Hodges that her client would reimburse the government with interest and penalties. "He will be paying a lot more than if he had paid his taxes on time," she said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?...

Dreadful.

I watched the NZ TV1 news of the ANZAC coverage (saccharine and bungled as usual), then they covered this, then I read this link. A juxtaposition that would make you want to vomit.

Parasitical bloody governments.

Reckon I'm going to have to find another occupation soon: I've had a gutful.