Like most people today I was incredibly disappointed at the American justice system. Paris Hilton, lawfully sentenced to 23 days in jail, was set free after 73 hours. [story]

I say “free”, because that’s pretty much what it is. Instead of serving the rest of her time in prison (which is supposed to be a bad place), she is allowed to go to her multi-million dollar Sunset Strip home under “house-arrest”. Sounds really heart-breaking, right? That will teach her! Instead of 20 days in a small cell… 40 days in a beach party palace. She went from not having even a cellphone back to her full-blown life, merely limited to the boundaries of her personal resort castle.

Everything about this is fishy. This was supposedly for medical reasons? Then why didn’t she go to the hospital? Sounds like she merely cried her way out of it… greased the palm of some prison official… and got herself a psychiatric get-out-of-jail-free card. And to add insult to judicial injury, her actual 73 hours in jail somehow miraculously counts as 5 days?!

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not getting on her because she’s a spoiled brat and I want to see her suffer (although I kinda do). I know that back when Martha Stewart received jail time it became frightening fashionable to bash her and question whether or not she was getting special treatment. I was not one of those people. I don’t think celebrities should be treated any different… and that’s why this Paris thing burns me. All she had to so was cry and they let her have her party life back. There is NO WAY that 20 days in jail equals 40 days of “mansion-arrest”. That doesn’t scan at all. The sheriff should probably be fired.

This reminds me a little bit when I was mobilized to go to Iraq and one of my soldiers decided she didn’t want to go (she only wanted the college money). We went to Fort Drum to get ready for Iraq and all she did was cry and cry and disobey orders and throw fits. And what did the Army do? They let her go home. That sent a terrible message to the rest of my troops who were bustin’ their butts. They weren’t all thrilled with going, but it was their job and part of their lawful agreement with the government. There was a day when honor and keeping one’s word meant something.

Anyways… there does appear to be a glimmer of hope here – the judge, apparently peaved at the spineless Sheriff, wants Hilton back in court. [story] We shall see.

UPDATE:

[story] Ok, I feel better now.

It was dry… twelve percent humidity is only good if you have lunger. There are many perverts who are rich and like to gamble… they were stumbling around drunk almost everywhere. If you want the proverbial $4.99 lobster dinner you have to wander into very “shady” areas… because on the classier portions of The Strip the idea of cheap food (or cheap anything) is a farce.

I’ll have to post on exhorbitance soon, because it was everywhere and it needs to be analyzed. What is too much? Vegas prides itself on excess… on being the fastest, glitziest, gawdiest, hottest place around. I saw a lady while in line at the café (in the Bellagio) who wore a nine carat diamond ring!? It was ginormous and looked so ridiculously big that in any other venue I’d peg it as fake without another thought. Another woman (working as hostess of the café) casually remarked how she had lost her 4-carat stone on her ring. There was enough bling to rebuild Solomon’s Temple a few hundred times over.

And not to be outdone… the silicone was abundant. Dare I say there were more plastic breasts than at a mannequin factory. And the outfits were meant to display the goods… but much good would it do them with all the attention-snatching skin ads found in nearly every degree of a full geometric arc. I couldn’t imagine being a woman trying to maintain some sense of self-esteem about my body in Vegas. I couldn’t imagine bringing kids to Vegas, either.

Now, for a place sure to be hit with fire and brimstone I have to say it was beautiful. The massive money machine can buy lush gardens, groundskeeping, and landscaping like nowhere else. I could have spent the whole time taking pictures if I wanted. Speaking of… here are a few shots from my Vegas 06 photoset:

Primary places visited (there were many more we minorly visited): The Paris, The Venetian, The Bellagio (our favorite), Mandalay Bay and its Shark Reef, and the Las Vegas Hilton and its Star Trek: The Experience.