True story from my state of Florida: A mentally-challengedsixteen year-old boy of a modest income family swipes a six-pack from a neighbor's garage. The neighbor advises that, had she known first, she would not even have called the police, but would have given the kid a "tongue-lashing" and then sent him home.
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Undeterred by that persuasion, local Judge Ric -- some call him Sick -- Howard gave the kid 10 years in an adult "correction" facility, where he rots away yet today, Judge Howard having disallowed a subsequent appeal to transfer the boy to a juvenile facility.
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Another true story: Several days ago in the same Florida area, a down-and-out insignificant pipsqueak of a local amateur scam artist (perhaps several thousand dollars worth) represented by a public defender, was sentenced to 24 years in the big house.
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Third true story: Thisweek mynewspaper reveals that a "financial broker" from tony Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, who defrauded"two-dozen people, half of them over 70" years old of $3.5 million (with an "m") was sentenced to 8 years.
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Doing the math: The broker got $437,500 for each year of his prison sentence.
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The dummy, publicly defended con man got perhaps $500 for each year he will spend in prison.
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The retarded sixteen year-old got 50CENTS worth of merchandise for each year he will be in prison.
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The morals reflected by these facts are two:
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(1) All citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, except that rich crooks are more equal than poor crooks.
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(2) Prison sentences for poor crooks are geometrically disproportionately more severe than sentences gifted to rich crooks.
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And the questions this prompts are also two:
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(1) How do you like your red, white and blue republic now, Mr. Jefferson?
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(2) Why and how can decent citizens -- as with the atrocious slaughter in the Middle East -- continue to allow such conduct in the name of America?
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......Beyond dismay and disgust...Rafe Pilgrim
