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With the start of his tax evasion trial three weeks away, actor Wesley Snipes just fired his high-powered legal team, a move that a federal judge yesterday blasted as a transparent ploy to secure a court continuance. Claiming that his five-lawyer team was incompetent, Snipes yesterday filed a motion to continue his trial, which is set to open October 22 in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Florida. Until Snipes fired him, William Martin--who represents Michael Vick and Senator Larry Craig--headed a five-lawyer team defending Snipes on felony tax and conspiracy charges. But Snipes's request for a trial delay was almost...

The government's case against a Plainfield couple who refused to pay income taxes for more than a decade has drawn the ire of tax protesters and militia members from around the country, including some who have pledged to defend the couple with firearms if necessary. Ed Brown has invited sympathizers, both armed and unarmed, to join him in an ongoing protest at his home in Plainfield. Brown has been holed up in the house for five days and says he has no plans to leave while his trial continues without him.

LOS ANGELES - Ronald Isley has been sentenced to three years and one month in prison for tax evasion. The 65-year-old R&B singer was also ordered to pay $3.1 million in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Conte. Isley was convicted last year of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return. During Friday's hearing, defense attorney Anthony Alexander argued that Isley should receive probation instead of prison time because of complications from a stroke and a recent bout with kidney cancer. Alexander also pleaded for...

WASHINGTON -- Sometime between now and the Fourth of July, the Senate plans to revisit what over the course of 17 years has become a seasonal rite of patriotism on Capitol Hill: a vote on whether to amend the Constitution to ban protesters from burning the American flag. Each time, the arguments on both sides are passionate. Each time, the support needed to move ahead with an amendment falls short. But this year could be different, as two important trends cross paths. For one, proponents of the amendment appear to have more support than ever in the Senate. They say...

An ABC News poll finds that most Americans oppose gay marriage but markedly fewer — especially those outside George W. Bush's core supporters — would amend the U.S. Constitution to ban it. Opponents, however, are far more likely to call it a make-or-break issue in their vote for Congress — a finding that explains Bush's renewed push for a gay marriage ban. Among all Americans, 58 percent say gay marriage should be illegal, but fewer, 42 percent, say it rises to the level of amending the U.S. Constitution. Among conservative Republicans and evangelical white Protestants, though, opposition to gay marriage...

Governor Mitt Romney has sent this letter to every member of the Senate encouraging them to Vote "Yes" on this landmark peice of legislation--the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA). A few excerpts are below: "Americans are tolerant, generous, and kind people. We all oppose bigotry and disparagement, and we all wish to avoid hurtful disregard of the feelings of others. But the debate over same-sex marriage is not a debate over tolerance. It is a debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage. Attaching the word marriage to the association of same-sex individuals mistakenly presumes that marriage is principally a...

by Mark Finkelstein June 6, 2006 While considerable attention focuses on Ann Coulter's more superficial charms, from a conservative perspective Ann's real beauty is her absolute refusal to buy into liberal logic, no matter how pervasive. That independence of mind was on display this morning during her interview with Matt Lauer. Ann was on to tout her new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, released today on . . . 6/6/6 - sign of the devil and all that. The first example came in the the context of President Bush's current push for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay...

In a year it is wrestling with an out-of-control budget, a war going badly, and one impasse on immigration and another on its own ethics, the Senate is taking time out to debate altering the U.S. Constitution by adding the Marriage Protection Amendment. The amendment is widely predicted to fall short of the needed votes to amend the Constitution for only the 23rd time in its 217-year history _ 13th if you omit the original 10, the Bill of Rights _ and well it should. At its gravest level, the amendment would make a significant incursion into federalism and state's...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush and congressional Republicans are aiming the political spotlight this week on efforts to ban gay marriage, with events at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue - all for a constitutional amendment with scant chance of passage but wide appeal among social conservatives. "Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all." The president was to make...

In 1964, just one congressman from the Deep South, Atlanta's Charles Weltner, voted for the Civil Rights Act. For all practical purposes, his righteous leadership on civil rights — he also supported the Voting Rights Act — cost him his congressional career. In 1966, he resigned his seat rather than sign an act of loyalty to the segregationist Lester Maddox, as Georgia Democrats insisted. But some analysts believe he would have lost the race for re-election. Doing the right thing is difficult because it often means losing. And the typical politician is willing to lose anything — honor, integrity, dignity...

President Bush will promote a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a cause dear to his conservative backers, at a Rose Garden event Monday, the eve of a scheduled Senate vote on the issue. The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become law, the proposal would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures. It stands little chance of passing the 100-member Senate, where proponents are struggling to get even 50 votes. Several Republicans oppose the measure, and so far only one Democrat — Sen. Ben Nelson (news,...

Ex-Atlanta Mayor Convicted in Tax Evasion Saturday March 11, 2006 2:16 AM By HARRY WEBER Associated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP) - Former Mayor Bill Campbell was acquitted Friday of lining his pockets with payoffs while guiding Atlanta through a period of explosive growth that helped secure its place during the 1990s as a world-class city. But the jury convicted him of tax evasion. Campbell, 52, could get up to nine years in prison and $300,000 in fines, but legal experts have said it's doubtful he would receive the maximum sentence. (...) But, Campbell said, he was vindicated by the ``substance''...

Jharkhand, the latest state to announce its decision to switch to the State VAT, must be commended. Despite being a BJP-ruled state at a time when the BJP leadership is preventing its states from joining the Vat regime, Jharkhand has chosen to do the sensible thing. It indicates either a change in the stance of BJP’s leaders, or some creditable independence on the part of Jharkhand’s leaders. This leaves six major states out of the system — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and UP. Talks have been taking place with political leaders to get them to join in....

KPMG avoided the fate of Arthur Andersen yesterday... over the marketing and sale of "abusive" tax shelters. But the price of survival was high. The accounting firm will pay $456 million in fines and restitution and has agreed to let a federal monitor look over its shoulder. At the same time, no fewer than eight former KPMG executives and an outside lawyer were indicted on conspiracy charges for designing and selling the shelters.... KPMG will survive this "deferred prosecution" by admitting wrongdoing. But it's easy to forget amid the righteous indignation over tax shelters with names like FLIP, BLIP, OPIS...

A driver for the Rev. Al Sharpton led Ellis County sheriff's deputies on a nine-mile chase at speeds up to 110 mph before state troopers stopped the car, authorities said. The driver was rushing Sharpton to the airport after his visit with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Sunday at her camp outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford. The car carrying Sharpton and two other passengers was clocked doing 110 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 35 in Ellis County in North Texas, said Lt. Danny Williams. The car ignored deputies' attempts to stop it and continued speeding and...

MIAMI (AP) - The family of a severely brain-damaged woman who died after her feeding tube was removed in March said Friday they still have not been told where her remains will be laid to rest. Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings, who waged a lengthy court battle over her end-of-life wishes, said on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" show that her husband is keeping her remains from them. "They were supposed to tell us, and we still have not heard from ... Michael Schiavo where Terri's been laid," said Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler. "Our family expected this. Michael has disobeyed...

Businessman Gets 6 Years for Unpaid Taxes By JIM WASSERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A businessman who refused to pay his income taxes and those of 10 employees, arguing that federal income tax laws were repealed in 1939, was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday. Walter "Al" Thompson, former owner of Cencal Aviation, a Shasta Lake manufacturer of aviation accessories and clothing, said before the sentencing that he should not have to serve any time. "I have not committed a crime and there's nothing to convict me on," he said. In January, a federal jury convicted Thompson...

Blogger Alek Boyd keeps a close eye on Venezuela's pro-Chavez propaganda groups actively operating in the U.S. He asks questions about their many claims and does his research. Today he's got a scoop on one of them, the loathesome Eva Golinger group called 'Venezuela Solidarity Committee' which, along with her 'VenezuelaFOIA' cooks up information about the CIA just doing its job into hysterical claims about its omnipotence. Naturally, the Associated Press and New York Times buy into this tabloid-quality tripe, but most responsible news organizations, including even Reuters, steer clear of this crew. Alek has learned that Eva Golinger's Venezuela...

After all this time I've finally figured out exactly what's so difficult about reading Paul Krugman. It's not just that the New York Times columns by America's most dangerous liberal pundit are a parade of lies, errors, distortions, misquotations, exaggerations, and bias. No, the problem is that Paul Krugman doesn't write in English like the rest of us. He writes in Evasion English. So if you want to figure out what Krugman's really saying, you're wasting your time with Webster's. You need The Evasion English Dictionary by Maggie Balistreri. A simple example? In Evasion English, "but" means "because," as in:...

Los Angeles Daily News Tax evasion guru claims insanity E-mail points to ruse in case of federal income levy foe By David Cay Johnston The New York Times Saturday, February 07, 2004 - Irwin Schiff, the nation's best known promoter of claims that no law requires the payment of income taxes, suffers from delusions including a fantasy that he alone can properly interpret the tax laws, according to papers that he had his lawyers file in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. The filing, made Jan. 23, is highly unusual, especially in a civil lawsuit. The document asks a judge...