THAT OTHER KIND OF BAIL (OUT)

   I believe that all societies are hypocritical, in that they do not enact perfectly their officially accepted social standards.  But the USA seems to be setting new (sub)standards.  I offer, as evidence, two recent “criminal” cases.  The first deals with the governor of Illinois (no one can spell his last name!), and the other is the Bernard Medoff fraud case. 

    When the announcement regarding the governor was made by the Federal prosecutor, he was rather “firm” in his charges.  He used extreme rhetoric, regarding the undeniable guilt of the governor.  This caused a number of the cable TV pundits to criticize him, i.e. the prosecutor.  This was NOT the role of the prosecutor, who was possibly denying the governor a fair trial, by prejudicing the jury pool, blah, blah.  As they all said, repeatedly, the governor is, and must be considered, innocent until proven guilty.  Apparently it is unethical for a prosecutor to believe that the people he charges are actually guilty. 

   Now let’s move on to Medoff.  This guy stole, by phony stock deals, about 50 (or maybe 500) billion dollars.  After his arrest, he was allowed to wait in his home, where he, apparently, managed to divest himself of some assets by giving them to family members.  The prosecutors then asked that he be put in jail, in order to stop him. 

    But wait!  Stop him from doing what?  He is, like the governor, who is running around, officially, still innocent.  As an innocent man he can do what he wants.  Why should he, or any other innocent man, be put into jail before trial?  I know, I know, this pre-conviction detention is to keep the defendant from fleeing and/or to protect the rest of us.  But, again, the guy is innocent, no?  If the judge puts the guy away, in place of 5 million dollars bail, does this not influence the jury?  The judge is saying, “Of course, he is guilty!  Otherwise I would not punishing him already!”  And yet we are all supposed to ignore the truth of the matter… in order to get to the truth of the matter.  Huh?

   Again, I know that all societies are failures in some ways.  But has there ever been a more egregious, or a more silly, example of official social stupidity?  Your suggestions for candidates are welcome. 

An antidote to stupidity, official or personal, is the A&E.  Subscribe today, or tomorrow, if you are busy.  I shall wait.