Well, it's 12:20 in the A.M. and as suspected I'm at a loss for sleep. I have spent the early morning hour(s) culling through various xanga's and news sites in an attempt to get the latest information about the school arson case. I don't know this character that is suspected of torching over fifty years of books and well over five hundred feet of Category 5 cable that many of the convoginators worked oh, so hard on this past summer. I know it may come as a shock to some of you, but I'm going to have to agree with awolff on this one. Life in prison for torching a high school library is a bit excessive. That being said, some jail time is certainly in order should this individual be convicted by a jury of his peers. That is quite an interesting prospect altogether though. In order to be selected for jury duty, an individual must register to vote. Could someone that cares enough to register to vote really be considered a "peer" of an individual that would burn down a school?
Anyway, don't think I'm going soft here. After an appropriate amount of jail time (all of which should be hard labor), this individual should have a percentage of his paycheck garnished until the insurance company is fully reimbursed. Yes, I understand that it may never be paid off, but 10% of his paycheck for the rest of his life will offset some of the costs, and Acme Insurance won't be as much in the Red for this particular account. It would probably screw his credit up for the rest of his life, and he may never know the joys of home ownership, boat ownership, credit approval, or what his own new car smells like. On the other hand, he will have the satisfaction of knowing that he was working on paying his debt off to society, and the state wouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars a year to feed, clothe, and shelter him while he spent all day watching TV and lifting weights in the Big House.
I will attempt sleep now. The fact that Rob's cat is insisting on rearranging my desk is certainly not going to help matters. Why must cats be so weird?
Jeff C.
