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In this issue
March 16, 2010
Steven Emerson: Combating Lawfare
JWisdom.com How to perform a miracle with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair (4 minutes)
Anne Bayefsky: Behind Obama's Dangerous Overreaction on Israel
March 15, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Father's obligations toward minor children
JWisdom.com Moody, Grumpy, Irritable Children with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Judith Graham: Get the whole picture before a CT
March 12, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: You CAN have Heaven on Earth
JWisdom.com Manufacturing mediums with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The march of the Red-Green brigades
March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
Kelly Brewington: Going smoke-free may raise diabetes risk
Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
Greg Logan: 'Greatest Jewish sporting event of all time since David versus Goliath' may be postponed because of bar mitzvah
Feb. 16, 2010
Anya Martin : Boy's 'cerebral palsy' fixed with diet
JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review June 11, 2007 / 25 Sivan, 5767

Poor room service

By Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Looks like Paris Hilton, 26, will not be sporting a new accessory — an ankle bracelet with a monitoring device. Hilton is heading back to the Los Angeles County jail to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence.


On Friday, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer overruled the sheriff department's decision to allow the hotel heiress to complete a 45-day sentence in her 2,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom Spanish-style home. It seems the judge did not buy that Hilton had an undisclosed medical reason that did not keep her from driving (without a license) or perpetually partying, pouting and posing before paparazzi. Angy Angelenos were asking: If she can party so hearty, how can she be too fragile for jail?


Hilton's legal woes began on Sept. 7, when she was pulled over on alcohol-related charges and her license was suspended. Hilton pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, alcohol education and a $1,500 fine. The celebrity scofflaw later was caught twice driving without a license. Hilton's lame excuse: She said that her aides never told her she could not drive, and she never read the form an officer made her sign stipulating that she could not drive.


A clearly not amused Sauer sentenced Hilton to 45 days in jail. Mother Kathy Hilton denounced the sentence as a "waste of taxpayer money."


Funny, the Hiltons are loaded, but they never managed to hire a retainer who could convince them that it is not smart to let the world know that you think you are too rich to have to live by the rules. Judges, especially, bristle at that attitude.


And as if just to prove that the family doesn't get it, Hilton did not show enough respect to show up at court Friday morning. The judge had to send sheriffs to fetch her.


So the poor little rich girl was put in a cell.


The usual stable of cable legal experts argue that Hilton did not got a tougher sentence because she is a celebrity. They argue that it is common for illegal drivers to get the Hilton treatment. In a state where the definition of luck is getting rear-ended by a driver with a license and insurance, the Hilton defense seems to be: Many motorists get away with driving illegally — Paris was simply living like the hoi polloi.


San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said of Hilton's 45-day sentence, "That would never happen in San Francisco." In this town, Hilton likely would have been treated to "a fine, a harsh speech and a couple of weeks of community service." Not 45 days, or the 23 days Hilton was expected to serve if she won time off for good behavior in jail. Sheriffs prefer to reserve jail space for more serious criminals.


"Today, there's a lot of people in county jail for misdemeanors who are probably scratching their heads saying, 'Why not me?'" Adachi noted. As he sees it, the average person caught driving without a license would not receive such a long sentence — but also the average person would not have access to a well-heeled psychiatrist who could get that person sprung, say, because an inmate was having a nervous meltdown.


If Hilton had taken the law seriously and stopped driving when she lost her license — sheesh, cupcake, hire a chauffeur — she would have avoided discovering, up close and personal, that jail, like real life, is not a sitcom.


Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has a black eye on this one. His actions sent the message that if you're rich, you can game the system, shorten your stay and upgrade to a room with turn-down service and chocolate on the pillow.


Judge Sauer spared Baca from having to figure out what to do if Hilton again violated her probation. What would he have done then? Checked her into a Hilton?

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© 2007, Creators Syndicate

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