Jim Henley writes in No More Mister Nice Gal:
If I needed to describe the Laura Rozen Style in two words, they would be “quietly devastating.” Rozen prefers a level tone, sparse verbiage and the assembly of relevant quotes. So it tells you where we are that she writes something like the following:
There’s a solution no one has thought of here. Congress needs to come back and pass legislation to make perjury no longer a crime. If Gonzales is the example of how you are allowed to lie to Congress, just take it off the books as a crime. Did anyone ever think of that? The Judge Alberto Gonzales Lying is a Sometimes Necessary Form of Protected Free Speech Act of 2007.
Of course, my first reaction is, don’t give them ideas.
But of course the first commentator sets Jim straight:
Congress doesn’t need to legalize perjury. It’s an inherent power of the Executive. And anyway, the power to perjure was reaffirmed in the Authorization to Use Military Force.
Now, that, I can see them arguing.
Update: It has come to my attention that some people need the relevance of the above explained to them. If you are one of those people, look here.
You can add fraud to that list as well as most criminal offenses. The SEC regularly publishes press releases of fraud cases that were settled with payment of a fine and some meaningless other penalty with no jail time. For the perpetrators it is the cost of doing business. Far too many prosecutors enter into plea deals rather than pursue felony convictions. The explanations or excuses are many and varied. The cause and effect are not necessarily current but an unfortunate degradation over many years. We are all the problem.