Thus as it ever was. All too often the papers talk of record punitive actions for guilty elites, but the sentences do not hold up on appeal.

  I want to talk about one trend, seen in two places, that has to end.  The idea is that someone does something really bad, and enough people get upset that something has to happen.  So something dramatic is done that makes the papers, people feel good about it, and then it gets quietly undone on appeal.

  Take for example Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff of Vice President Cheney, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame matter.  Basically President Bush was accused of outing an American secret agent as political revenge against her husband.  Scooter took the fall.  Bush commuted his sentence without pardoning him, because a felony conviction meant not being able to practice law was punishment enough:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18cheney.html

Yeah for justice!

Fast forward a few years, and he gets pardoned:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/03/scooter-libbys-triumphant-return-to-politics.html

His punishment was effectively 3 years off work with pay.

Or take the example of the Exxon Valdez, worst oil spill in forever.  The drunk captain gets huge fines that make all the papers:

Here you see the EPA saying Exxon will pay "One Billion Dollars" with a tone that almost sounds like Austin Powers:  http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/exxon-pay-record-one-billion-dollars-criminal-fines-and-civil-damages-connection-alaskan

Then the SCOTUS cuts it, and cuts it again, and as of 2011 Exxon is on the hook for about $400 million.

http://www.faegrebd.com/2881

So the thing is, we need some sort of calendar system to remind us to get outraged about past items we think were settled because outrage fatigue for the current crap is no enough.

Sigh.

As an aside, BP appears to have had a role in breaking the law, making the spill far worse than it would have been.  You remember good old BP, the folks who brought you the deepwater horizon?

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/25_years_after_exxon_valdez_the_hidden_culprit_was_bp_20140323

I feel for them, I really do.  I remember when their chief executive Tony Hayward issued an apology for the Deepwater Horizon.  He had to take time out from sailing to get some updates, and had this to say: "We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back."