Shoot me

Someone make SURE I don't do the following:

I love my hair. I adore my hair. It's longer and lusher than ever before and has lots of attitude. It's the kind of hair that Jaclyn Smith sports a lot. This is fabulous hair that should not be messed with.

Except for some reason right now I want to get a Dionne Walters (from America's Next Top Model) inspired short haircut, but edgier. But definitely with that long swoop in the front.

*headdesk*

I blame the humid weather. It's zapped my brain AND my hair, making me contemplate stupid things I shall never do. (Been there, done that with the short hair. Got accused of being a boy more times than I could count.)

2 cents on something

Paris Hilton as a Case Study on Law Enforcement and Politics

Don't shoot me for saying this (because lord knows, the world doesn't need one more person talking about Paris Hilton), but...

The whole thing with the Sheriff's Dept. putting her on house arrest after 3 days AFTER the judge had ordered no house arrest? Screams of a power struggle. It has nothing to do with Paris. At all.

From my perspective (and this is based on some info that's come out in the last little bit), the judge went harsher than normal to teach a lesson. He sentenced her to 45 days for something that is usually 4 or 5 days. Thing is, that's the discretion of the judge. If there are sentencing guidelines (I don't know what California has - many states have mandatory maximums and minimums), then the sentence still fell within the guidelines or it would have been unenforcable and easily overturned on appeal.

So taking into account that the judge was being harsher than normal (and rightly so - the Hollywood elite do need to be taught a lesson, especially when it comes to drunk driving), you can imagine what the prison officials are thinking. They've got to house someone, give extra security, go above and beyond all because the judge is setting an example with the jail being overcrowded. They have an overabundance of mail coming in to search. Extra people trying to get in to see her. Security inside the jail has to be a bitch.

So the Sheriff's Department is pissed, because they've got this elevated view of self and they're being forced to house some princess longer than normal for the crime and they don't like it. What do they do? Hey! Let's assert some control here and put her on house arrest. They didn't give a flying flip about Paris, they wanted an opportunity to really teach the judicial system a lesson in a high profile way.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending Paris here or think she got off easy.

Thing is, now, a day later, she has to go back to court because the judge is pissed. Her attorney wasn't notified she was being put on house arrest before her release. The "medical condition" excuse was thinner than water and just that, an excuse (and one she readily exploited - you know the girl was planning parties before she even got home). The jail just didn't want to deal with her and was using her to get their way. The reason I think that? Because she's on house arrest, the Sheriff's Dept. has to transport her to court. The judge, of course, ordered her to appear. What happens? The Sheriff's Dept. throws a fit because they don't want to take her to court. But if she goes without them, they'll arrest her. If she doesn't show up, the judge goes after her for contempt of court. (The judge would most likely be a bit more lenient given the nature of the power struggle and the fact that Paris' attorneys are being cooperative. He'd most likely issue a judicial order if the Sheriff's Dept. refused to comply, which they since have, although they did get Paris to court late.) She's caught in the middle of a power struggle (that she could have avoided by not being a giant douchebag and driving on a suspended license).

In a way, it's a fascinating case study of a power struggle. Judicial branch vs. corrections. Who will win? (My money is on the judicial branch. The judge lays down the sentence and there are review boards in prisons/jails to determine if the prisoner has done enough to warrant having fulfilled minimum terms of the sentence. The fact that this jail in specific went against what the judge had ordered specifically probably means that the jail was in the wrong. If her attorney is smart, she needs to go to the pay prison where oddly enough she'll get more equitable treatment and not be victimized by politicians who need their asses smacked.)

The really sucky part? The power struggle negates any example setting. It'll either come out with Paris looking like a spoiled princess who go off because she's rich and white or she'll come out smelling like a rose because she was victimized by politicians out to make a buck off her name. And she'll be able to blame it on something else instead of actually learning a lesson. They're not teaching her anything. They're just proving that the system really is that flawed when it becomes political instead of about administering the law. (What? I have Sheriff's Dept. issues. I don't like my law enforcement to have political affiliation.)