Gene Chooses Running Mate

Gene has announced that, out of 300 million people in the United States, the one best qualified to be his Vice President is ..... (drumroll, please!) ..... Federal Inmate #08537-014!

Irwin Schiff is (like Gene) a diagnosed delusional. Unlike Gene, who has yet to be prosecuted for tax crimes, Schiff is currently serving his third federal prison term for tax-related crimes. He's 78 years old, and his projected release date is October 7, 2016.

Schiff has written several books on tax law, all of which he self-published. One of his books, The Federal Mafia, was effectively banned by a federal court. The court believed Schiff's book constituted commercial speech, which is not protected by the First Amendment, and the main concern is that it incited people to break the law while encouraging them to seek further "help" (at great cost) from snake-oil salesman Schiff. While I disagree with the banning of any book, for any reason, the fact remains that at least 26 people over the years have been sent to federal prison as a result of following Schiff's teachings; that's not even counting the number of people whose lives have been ruined by Schiff's teachings.

Gene is one of those people. He first stopped filing and paying income taxes after deciding to follow Schiff; his religious arguments against the income tax came later, almost as an afterthought. Despite all the problems Schiff's teachings caused in Gene's life, he refuses to believe that Schiff might be wrong.

Yet, even Schiff admits he might be wrong. He filed a brief with the court in his latest case, stating that he was diagnosed with a chronic, severe delusional disorder which caused his beliefs about income tax law. Schiff later tried to backtrack in an effort to lessen the impact of that brief, by claiming that his beliefs are true (and, by extension, that people who don't see that it's true must be delusional themselves) but still admitted that more than one psychologist believes him to be delusional. Here's what Schiff wrote in his attempt to backtrack:

In any case, Defendant does not believe he is “delusional.” However, a person who is “delusional” certainly doesn’t believe he is “delusional.” Defendant believes – with every fiber of his being – that, for a variety of reasons, (1) no law requires him nor anyone else to pay income taxes, and (2) the entire federal judiciary, along with the entire tax division of the Justice Department, are involved in a monumental, mind-boggling criminal conspiracy to collect income taxes in violation of law. This will be Defendant’s primary defense – as reflected in a number of his pre-trial motions, none of which suggest that he intends to use a “psychiatric defense.” However, maybe Defendant is “delusional” with respect to his unconventional beliefs.

Gee, I wonder why anybody would think Schiff was delusional? LOL

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Schiff used offshore accounts utilizing various tax identification numbers in an attempt to hide assets from the IRS, which is certainly not the actions of a man who believes there is no requirement to pay taxes. Not surprisingly, he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, aiding and assisting others in filing false tax returns, filing his own false tax returns, and evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes. He received a sentence of 151 months on those charges, an additional 12 months for contempt of court, and was ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Doug wrote in the comments section of Gene's blog that he thought Gene's decision to ask Schiff to be his presidential running mate was "a stroke of genius". Hmmmmm ..... well, it was a stroke of something. Or maybe, he just suffered a stroke, and this brain fart was the result of that cerebral incident.

Interestingly enough, this would not be the first time an incarcerated federal felon set their sights on the presidency. Leonard Peltier is the perpetual candidate for the "Peace and Freedom Party", and he is serving two consecutive life sentences for killing two FBI Agents. While some dispute Peltier's guilt, believing him to be a political prisoner (he was a Native American activist) the fact remains that he has been in prison since 1975, and no appellate court in over 30 years has found his arguments convincing enough to overturn his conviction, or grant him a new trial.