My new plan, make stupid sales weasels sign a paper that says “Yes, I told [customer] product would do [insert lie] here.”

Wait, better yet, “Yes, I told [customer] that for [PRICE] they would get a product that would [insert lie here].” Hmmm. .. now to get a really unscrupulous and not bright weasel. ..

…Question: What’s the difference between a computer sales guy and a used car salesman. Answer: The used car salesman KNOWS that he’s lying.

I’m pretty sure that type of policy would cut down on crime…

I agree with you on the belief Madoff should be punished for what he did but I don’t believe giving him the chair serves any form of justice, only vengeance. I don’t believe the chair is appropriate and I don’t think “rehabilitation” will be effective either. So you know, I’m not thrilled with the taxpayers footing the bill for his jail time. It’s unfortunate but that’s the price our society *must* pay for locking up criminals to keep the rest of us safe.

Don’t get me wrong: I support the death penalty. To be more clear, I support it for people who are accused of murder. What Madoff did was certainly evil but I have yet to read anything that would justify giving him the death penalty. I believe his punishment will be in the form of living the remainder of his life as a diminished, pathetic little old man with no power, no control and no future. He’ll get to watch the world move on without him all the while his every move will be watched by guards and his many new “friends.”

This is, of course, my opinion. I am, after all, blogging about this, not addressing a judge and/or jury as man who went to law school.

I am a 48 year old white woman. I currently live in Olathe, Kansas. I am a Christian who struggles daily with my faith, not in God, but also in my fellow man. I have friends from all socio-economic backgrounds. I, along with my three siblings, were raised solely by our Mother who had less than a high school education. Our Father abandoned his family and took no responsibility for the lives of his children. We grew up in low income housing and received government assistance to help get us by. I have one child, a daughter, who I raised solely on my own after her Father abandoned her. I am a college graduate. I received government assistance which helped to further my own education. Along with these, there are many other facets of my personal existence which have contributed in shaping my political, religious and humanist views.

I have tried to make it a point over the course of my lifetime not to pass judgments on people in any of these areas because only that person knows why their lives are shaped the way they are. It would be ignorant and arrogant of me to assume something of which I personally know nothing about another?

I did not vote for Barack Obama because of the color of his skin, nor did I vote for him because I thought electing an African-American president would magically erase racism in this country. My reasons for voting for him were very personal and well-reasoned. I will go out on a limb here and suggest there were others out there (in all socio-economic backgrounds) who would admit to the same. I am a child of the sixties. I personally witnessed the atrocities of both racial and social segregation and prejudices. The night Barack Obama won the election on his way to becoming the 44th President of these United States I cried like a baby. Where else in the world could change of this magnitude happen in a matter of decades?

No, electing an African-American President will not end racism in this country…we and humans will have to take accountability for that. However, I am hopeful it will help shrink the chasm of racial divide in our country.