Wesley Snipes Sentenced to 3yrs as a Message to all of Us

Wesley Snipes has just been sentenced to 3 years in jail. Thankfully, this means we probably won't have any more Blade sequels anytime soon. But, I've always liked Wesley and hate to see him get locked up.

However, there is a much bigger issue here. He was exonerated on 5 of 8 counts including 2 felonies! According to the law and the jury he was only found guilty of the misdemeanor violations which usually gives probation and/or community service. But, the judge said he gave the maximum penalty for each count because he didn't want any other citizens to get the idea that they couldn't pay their taxes. They don't want the rest of us to get any ideas.

What happened to individual justice? Who wants to be used as an example? I thought justice was blind? I guess Snipes' point was that the government must prove its case according to the founding documents that sit to the left of this post. Technically, he may be right. But, realistically we don't pay much attention to trivial things like the Constitution anymore. Legal or not it's just not worth the fight for most of us. We simply bow down, pay our taxes and get on with our lives We all know that the folks at the IRS are the last people we want breathing down our necks.

Good news on the Peace Front!!

This is really cool. A few good articles came out today from the Middle East. Although many outlets like to publish and promote the hate and bickering that usually comes from the Middle-East, it's good to see some good news announced.

First, leaders from international Muslim and Jewish communities have agreed to hold talks to re-establish the historic ties in an attempt to gain peace and use religion as a bridge instead of a wedge. Muslim scholars reached out to the Jewish leaders and they promptly accepted.

Acknowledging that there is "a dangerous and widespread misconception that an innate hostility exists between Judaism and Islam," the Jewish leaders stressed that "it is important to affirm the dynamic history of interaction that our communities have shared with one another."

On another note. Syrian leadership have confirmed that a peace deal with Israel is being worked out. Could we be on the road to hisotoric peace in our generation? For the Syrians to settle their differences with the Israelis, is very note worthy. Maybe other countries that share borders with Israel will do the same. Maybe this will lead to peace between Israel and Palestine? One can only dream.

UPDATE

Now HAMAS is offering peace with Israel!!! I think I'm about to play the lottery! Seriously though, could all of this be from Jimmy Carter's trip? I think that all parties will be too proud to admit it if he really helped create this radical change in tone over there. But, it really doesn't matter who gets the credit as long as serious progress is made, peace is installed and lives are saved.