US Express "Dismay" at the Sentencing of a US Geologist While Making It "Class D Felony" to Film Oil Cleanup in the Gulf

Irony is sweet. The Chinese-born US geologist's sentence is eerily similar to what the federal Class D felony charges may involve.

First, the geologist:

China Court Jails U.S. Geologist for Eight Years on State Secrets Charges (7/5/2010 Bloomberg)

"A U.S. geologist was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Chinese court after being convicted of violating the state secrets law by selling a database on the country’s oil industry.

"The U.S. said it was “dismayed” by the sentence given to Xue Feng and remains concerned about his rights to due process under Chinese law. Xue was also fined 200,000 yuan ($29,550) today by a Beijing court at a hearing that was attended by U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Richard Buangan, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said. Calls to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court and the Foreign Ministry weren’t answered today." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

Now, our own Class D felony charges:

BP plc And The Administration Replace First Amendment With $40,000 Fine And Class D Felony (Tyler Durden, 7/3/2010 Zero Hedge)

"CNN's Anderson Cooper, one of the few people who apparently hasn't or isn't leaving the troubled news network (surely Ted Turner has learned by now from CNBC that his female anchors should wear transparent body suits, show belly button deep cleavage, and install a stripper pole or seventeen for those ever more elusive Nielsen points), reports some troubling developments out of New Orleans. "The coast guard today announced new rules keeping photographers, reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms, out on the water or on beaches. In order to get closer you need to get direct permission from the coast guard captain of the Port of New Orleans. Shots of oil on beaches with booms - stay 65 feet away. Pictures of oil soaked booms useless laying in the water because they haven't been collected like they should. You can't get close enough to see that. And believe me, that is out there. But you only know that if you get close to it, and now you can't without permission. Violators could face a fine of $40,000 and class D felony charges. The coast guard tried to make the exclusion zone 300 feet before scaling it down to 65 feet."" [Emphasis is mine. The article continues, and includes CNN's clip, which is linked below.]

Here's federal Class D Felony sentencing, according to Wikipedia.org:

Maximum prison term: Less than 10 years but 5 or more years
Maximum fine: $250,000
Maximum supervised release term: 3 years
Special assessment (to fund the federal Crime Victims Fund): $100

Listen particularly to the two Parish Presidents fighting against the feds to get the job done.

Tweet