Not Henry Fonda

With the high crimes in Washington and the gut-wrenching quagmire in Iraq (and Afghanistan. And Israel. And The Sudan and Congo. . . ) it is easy to forget about domestic issues like the Tyco case. What bugs me so much about Ruth Jordan’s interview on 60 Minutes II isn’t the Holy Shit aspect of how juries work. I had that frightening wake-up call when I read D. Graham Burnett’s brilliant book “A Trial By Jury.” What drives me bananas is that I know women like Ruth Jordan. Living in New York we all do. These women — and it’s men, too — aged 79 and living in rent stable apartments on the Upper East Side DON’T LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD. They’re world is stuck in a perpetual 1965. To them Greenwich Village is filled with poets and artists and the Upper West Side is full of dope fiends and hoods. They listen to AM radio and don’t use microwaves. They’re like walking Lenny Bruce bits. Anyway, my point is that they have zero understanding of what the work atmosphere of a corporation in 2004 is. They only know the typing pool. Jordan’s major point was that the Tyco boys were greedy, but it was all above board. That anyone THAT lavish couldn’t be hiding anything and, thus, no criminal intent. This is beyond asinine. Anyone who works today knows that A) The boss’ are always out to fuck you and B) No one is going to say anything. Why? BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO GET FIRED!!!!! You play along, take one for the team, hope for some perks like a party with open bar. This is, essentially, what Richard Clarke admitted to when he talked about his deep background memo that was unscrupulously presented as horse’s mouth gospel by the gestapo at Fox News.
Anyway, I digress. Fuck Ruth Jordan. And fuck our jury system which puts too much power in the hands of idiots.