Say no to two-tier justice!

Cheney shot a man while hunting. Now, it seems, that the man suffered a heart attack.

The government prosecutor should sic the extremely harsh laws on Cheney and stick him in jail for the mandatory minimum sentence.

Why don't they?

Well for one, the laws are stupid. Clearly harsh punishments don't work at preventing criminal behaviour or rehabilitating offenders; they merely seek vengeance to satisfy our sadistic society.

So why should he be jailed anyway?

Because stupid as they are, they laws are still there! And they're still used, but they're used to oppress those who threaten the ruling class, not society's upper-crust!

It's precisely like when that Canadian diplomat's car in Baghdad was shot at recently: fine when it happens to locals or unimportant people, but all hell breaks loose if we try to apply the same standards to the social elite.

The media keep us blind by not reminding us that the rhetoric used to justify laws is that they are supposed to be applied equally. Because if the media did force the government to apply the law equally, it would mean Cheney going to jail for many years because of a hunting "accident".

That would lead to people realizing that the entire justice system is fucked up and doesn't work. Ninety-five percent of people are in jail for drug offenses. In Canada, only 2% of prisoners are classified as "dangerous". The other 98% are in jail because the media has made crime all fun and glitzy to report, thereby spreading fear, and pandering to poiticians who say they'll be tough on crime. Being tough is all fine and dandy if that's what you want to vote for, but it doesn't actually prevent crime, it just wastes our tax dollars and strips people of their rights!

Incarceration rates in the US are highest in the Western world. They're five times higher than Canada and Mexico, and higher than Russia (though just by a bit). And they're going up FAST.

Media should treat Cheney's shooting as an opportunity to show the way that lower-class people are marginalized by the system, while upper-class people get off scott-free for the exact same things, and while running on "tough on crime" platforms that increase the penalties for the very things they do, because they know that they'll never get charged!

- RG>