And justice for all

Regular readers of my blog may remember a post I made months ago when Martha Stewart was sentenced to prison. In it, I condemned the appetite for prison sentences--even in non-violent crimes--in the American justice system. I argued that Martha might better learn her lesson if you hit her where it hurts (and where she obviously places her value), which is in her pocketbook.

Now at the risk of being a hypocrite, and at the risk of betraying my utter contempt for this woman and people of her kind, let me say that I think Paris Hilton's recent prison sentence is just. You have to tailor the punishment to fit the crime, but also to fit the personality of the person being sentenced. Paris is leading the new wave of a pervasive culture of entitlement. Famous for being famous, she's prissy, bitchy, unattractive, and contributes nothing positive to this planet, while riding on her family legacy. While that alone shouldn't land her in the pokey, driving under the influence of alcohol with a total disregard for the laws of the nation, does. Locking Paris up, even for a short time, will send a message to her and her would-be followers, that they are not above the law. And that's hot.