Oscar Gamble Society

…a post on Paris Hilton. I’m interested in whether people think 45 days in the custody of the state is light, heavy, or just. Inevitable schadenfreude aside, I find myself of two minds.

Given that she was plainly guilty, and seemed to go out of her way to create the impression that she felt the whole affair was beneath her (showing up 15 minutes late for court is a poor way to engender judicial sympathy), I think its a perfectly reasonable sentence. It’s not as though she lacked the resources to hire a driver to get her around town or, say, to court. And there are plenty of people with more limited resources serving harsher sentences for lesser offenses.

At the same time, I really believe the initial offense itself was not something that should be a crime - namely, driving with a blood alcohol content just over 0.08. If she blew a 0.15, shame on her. Even if she blew a 0.10 I might be on board. But criminalizing what is, in effect, a glass or two of wine with lunch, strikes me as fundamentally unjust unless one is prepared to levy the same penalties on anyone observed applying make-up, changing the radio station, or scratching an itch while driving. There is a balance to be struck between the obligation of any citizen not to unduly endanger others, and the obligation of insufferable busybodies to let people live their lives in ways that busybodies might find objectionable. A legal BAC limit of 0.08, even enacted with the best of intentions, strikes me as a very poor balance. Thoughts?

We’re all familiar with the Don Imus comments regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team, and the fact that he’s now been fired by MSNBC and CBS Radio.  He may or may not work again - though more likely, eventually, he will.  We can debate the merits of the consequences he’s faced for what he said last week while “trying to be funny” - and as importantly, what he’s (in part) built his career on, which I submit played as large a role in his dismissals.  But the point is, people are talking about it - and inevitably, we’ll hear how this incident will lead to the ubiquitous “dialogue on race in this country”.

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Not sure how many folks watch ”Boston Legal”, David E. Kelley’s follow-up to “The Practice”.  (As an aside, have you seen this guy?  And he’s got Michelle Pfeiffer… for a long time… mercy.)

With this new fandangled TiVo that me and the missus now have, we get to watch each episode at our convenience - rather than foolishly attempt to remain awake after 10pm each Tuesday evening (I might as well try to walk on water, as I’ll be about as successful).  So we were getting caught up on the past couple episodes yesterday… hilarious as usual. 

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