On the death penalty

Today's Supreme Court ruling on Arthur Andersen is a perfect example of why the death penalty should be used rarely, if ever.

Arthur Andersen has already received the lethal injection. It's a bit late to say, "Whoops. We made a mistake."

In this case, I'm not sad to see Andersen dead. In my opinion, Andersen was criminally complicit in the Enron fraud that destroyed so many people's life savings.

But this case shows the danger of Elliot Spitzer's methods of corporate reform. An indictment or a minor conviction could be enough to put a company out of business due to regulatory issues. Spitzer's threats of the corporate death penalty are the ultimate bullying tactic. One lone DA has the power to destroy huge companies. And as Neil Young says, "Once you're gone, you can never come back." My my, hey hey, indeed.

That sort of power shouldn't rest with one man, let alone a politically ambitious headline chaser such as Spitzer.

And by the way, the decision was not "a defeat for the Bush administration," as the AP gratuitously added.