Bernie Ebbers is going to jail....

[catnhatnh]

...and one of the cable 24/7s mentioned that this was "a death sentence"....because of his age and health,I guess...anyone here remember a few months back when 3 Katrina survivors were sentenced to 15 years EACH for looting about 4-500 dollars worth of booze post-Katrina??? Will the media gnash it's teeth and wail if any of them dies in prison??? This was under "enhanced" penalties passed less than a week before Katrina hit....SO, for poor people the theft penalty is a year in jail for each $10 stolen??? OK, fine by me, but by that standard, old Bernie's rotting corpse will need to be held in a cell for 1.1 BILLION years and we should demand this-remember "equal justice under the law"....However as a "bleeding heart liberal" and "weak on law enforcement" type, I am ready to have his corpse released after a mere 366 million years...

[kurth]

1. Let him rot

[brokensymmetry]

2. Oh, let him out at 85...with no money...

and no story anyone will pay to hear anymore.

Let him live another 10 years, with no money, depending
on Medicare (whatever is left) and Social Security
(again, whatever is left).

Can anyone say "Karma"?

[catnhatnh]

4. Nope-for every poor slob on a lower socio-economic position...

....that served 6 months on a one year sentence, I demand his corpse be held like the radioactive waste he truly is....my way of saying "Republican's-set my people FREE!!!"....

[AndyA]

3. Ebbers is scum. He hurt a lot of people because of his greed.

He's lived high on the hog for a long time now. To say he's lived the good life is an understatement. I hope he has fond memories of those days, because that's all he has left now.

[CBHagman]

5. What I'd like to focus on is the debt to society.

The problem I have with this whole question is the sense that we're so focused on the supposed deterrent effect of punishment that we get a pass on really improving society. Ebbers may die in a prison cell, but members of our society are dying due to lack of health care or botched health care, and while there's political motivation for the one (i.e., the prison sentence), there is little motivation, at least for some, to make society more just.

Yes, I know I'm mixing apples and oranges here. But bear with me. I want a system that actually produces a result we need.

Ebbers caused a particular sort of damage to society, but not the kind that endangers our physical safety. Yet people who have committed heinous violent acts are sometimes paroled and back out on the street -- to do the same thing again. It's a safe bet Ebbers will not offend in the same way again, yet we are putting him away for life.

I guess it reminds me a bit of the harsh sentences meted out to people peripherally involved in the drug trade (You know the stories about drug dealers' wives or girlfriends getting put away for decades for non-violent offenses).

I don't feel reassured that the Ebbers sentence will bring any good, especially when those ruthless bastards Cheney and Bush are still in power.

[raccoon]

7. Ebbers going to jail probably won't deter other white collar criminals.

But white collar criminals can--and do--cause as much, probably a lot more, misery than average, garden-variety crooks.

Let a guy rob a convenience store at gunpoint and we lock him up and throw away the key. White collar criminals usually get a light slap on the wrist. If that much.

But I'm not at all sorry to see him go to jail.

[durrrty libby]

6. Wow ...Bernard......who knew there would be some justice?

If only all gluttons of power would get the same.

:hurts:

[lpbk2713]

8. So Bernie got a 25 year sentence for stealing billions.

Lucky for him he didn't get caught with porn on his hard drive. They would have given him 125 years.




:sarcasm: