What a cool word, with two very powerful, yet seemingly unrelated definitions:

     1.  a formal declaration that someone is guilty of a criminal offense, made by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law.

      2.  a firmly held belief or opinion. 

Yet, the second definition, without the benefit of conscience, common sense, or responsibility for destructive consequence, should, more often, lead to the first.

The latest evaluation of the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, indicates that damages to the surrounding, (by at least fifty miles in every direction), ecosystem and native wild life, even discounting the images of the apparent horror of death and destruction, will need upwards of one hundred years to regenerate.  This week, the Obama administration announced that it will approve drilling in the pristine Alaskan Arctic shelf.  Suspending the sci-fi disbelief in how irrational and immoral this decision may be, and using Monopoly® as a metaphor, the lack of a No. 2 should lead directly to a No. 1, and these decision makers, (along with the plethora of uncharged BP perps), should go directly to Jail.

There are multiple train wrecks, (really), every day in the United States.  Most could be prevented if available safety systems were in place and if maintenance of tracks and equipment was conducted to a reasonably minimum standard.  The very newsworthy crash in Philadelphia this week has, at least temporarily, heightened public concern, but, since Congress has repeatedly shown how little they value public concern, (or safety), it voted, the day after the crash, to significantly slash AmTrak’s budget.  Would those members of Congress who voted ‘yea’ please raise your hands…jail?

Tom Brady blatantly cheated, (although for the life of me I can’t see how squishy footballs give anybody an edge), aided if not abetted by his team.  The penalty, a four-game suspension and a $1M fine, would barely register on a relativity scale of even the most lenient disciplinarian.  If cheating does not stir a moral No. 2 in the players, the league or the fans, perhaps they all deserve to be No. 1ed.  Or, as the Queen of Hearts might say…