WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #118954] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 09:43 |
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Blazer
Messages: 3322 Registered: February 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ
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General (3 Stars) Administrator/General |
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http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/08/news/newsmakers/marthareport/index.htm?cnn=yes
Martha Stewart reported to prison in West Virginia early Friday morning to begin serving a five-month sentence for lying about a stock trade....the Federal Bureau of Prisons assigned Stewart to the minimum-security women's prison in Alderson, W. Va., known as "Camp Cupcake." ... It has no perimeter fence, and inmates can spend their free time playing volleyball and tennis or even doing aerobics.
Sentences like this are bullshit. The whole point of prison is that it is a punishment and is supposed to deter you from committing a crime again. Do you think that any of us would really be concerned about going to prison if it was a vacation resort like above? They might as well have just slapped her hand and told her to go to her room. Oh wait, they did that too "Stewart, 63, was sentenced in July to five months in jail and five months of home detention after being convicted in March for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in late 2001, right before the stock tumbled."
I'm not sure what is worse, bullshit sentences like this, or the fact that you can go out right now, and shoot your neighbor in the head, get convicted of murder, and I guranteee you will be released from prison within 3-5 years.
Or, an even bigger joke...the fact that you could murder a dozen people, and get the death penalty, and its pretty much a given that 10 years from now you will still be alive, relaxing on death row while you waste the taxpayers money with meaningless appeals.
To sum up my rant, my point is that these punishments are a joke and do not deter crime, especially by "rich people". If I am a celebrity, high ranking govt official, millionare, etc. Do you think I would be concerned at all about breaking the law (assuming I had no morals)? Hell no. Because I know that:
1. I can hire an expensive lawyer and probably totally get off *cough* OJ *cough*
2. Even if found guilty, I most probably will get a very light sentence and get sent to a minimum security resort.
3. Even if I commit a most terrible crime that warrants the death penalty, I can take advantage of legal loopholes and appeal until I literally die of old age.
:rolleyes:
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #118957] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 09:55 |
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cheesesoda
Messages: 6507 Registered: March 2003 Location: Jackson, Michigan
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General (5 Stars) |
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Life may be unfair, but the JUSTICE system isn't just at all. If you have money and/or power, you can get off with little or no punishment.
You didn't even compare Martha Stewart to the Enron fiasco. The executives aren't even in trouble and they stole MILLIONS versus Martha's $30,000 and she's at least being "punished". Higher up on the chain, easier life gets for you.
We always hear, "money isn't everything", but in today's world, it is. Money determines how you are treated...not just how you live or how well you live. It's bullshit, but this world is unbelievably materialistic. I don't mind being at the social status that I am, I actually enjoy it, but it makes me wonder what it'll be like in 20-30 years when I'm middle-aged.
whoa.
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #118971] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 11:02 |
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liberator
Messages: 246 Registered: May 2003 Location: Classified, Level Phi cle...
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Recruit |
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The thing of it is, she didn't actually do anything worthy of any punishment.
Last thing I heard, making money, even gigantic amounts of if from a stock sale wasn't illegal.
There was a time when people were impressed that I have the firepower to decimate a planet in under 10 minutes.
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #119003] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 13:26 |
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SuperFlyingEngi
Messages: 1756 Registered: November 2003
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General (1 Star) |
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Crimson | Need we forget Chappaquiddick?
http://www.ytedk.com/
He's blatantly responsible for a girl's death and yet he still sits in the Senate.
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He was involved in a car accident. It's not the same thing as murder.
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)
"The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect "domestic security." Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent. --U.S. Supreme Court decision (407 U.S. 297 (1972)
The Liberal Media At Work
An objective look at media partisanship
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #119018] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 14:54 |
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Crimson
Messages: 7429 Registered: February 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ
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General (5 Stars) ADMINISTRATOR |
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He was driving drunk. Furthermore, she was alive in the car for probably about 2 hours while he could have been calling for a rescue, instead of had one of his friends try and save her, then went to his hotel instead and went to bed.
I'm the bawss.
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #119051] |
Fri, 08 October 2004 17:09 |
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Blazer
Messages: 3322 Registered: February 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ
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General (3 Stars) Administrator/General |
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liberator | The thing of it is, she didn't actually do anything worthy of any punishment.
Last thing I heard, making money, even gigantic amounts of if from a stock sale wasn't illegal.
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Because she used inside information to make that decision, which is illegal. Try actually knowing the details of an issue before you make a point about it Yes, some have gotten away with worse (Enron folks), but what she did was publically exposed, and illegal so she is being punished under the law. My point was that prison sentences are a joke, and had nothing to do with whether her crime justified her going to prison or not.
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WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT [message #120635] |
Sat, 16 October 2004 19:06 |
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Blazer
Messages: 3322 Registered: February 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ
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General (3 Stars) Administrator/General |
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http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/15/news/midcaps/martha_openletter/index.htm?cnn=yes
"Stewart, like all federal prisoners, is allowed to spend a maximum of $290 a month at the prison commissary. It's basically a mini-mart that sells snacks, stamps, and some toiletries.
All inmate money is kept in separate "commissary accounts," according to Novak. Stewart will be allowed to take any leftover funds with her when she is released in March."
She still gets to go "shopping" and have a "bank account"...in prison. Rediculous.
""I have adjusted and am very busy," wrote Stewart in a posting on http://www.marthatalks.com. 'The camp is like an old-fashioned college campus...'"
Yeah she's really learning her lesson...Some R&R at camp cupcake, shopping for lipstick and snacks, and posting to her blog, and then when she gets out she will write a book about it and make $5 million. Do we really think experiences like this, or the "threat" of them are a deterrent to crime?
I predict soon there will be a reality prison show, that shows 5 people in prison and the "toils" of their daily lives. It will probably be something similar to the "Growing up Gotti" show on A&E :rolleyes:
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