It's an addiction

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1190720&page=1

LOL.

Well, yeah. When stuck up rich white girls steal that is generally why.

Black people steal because they tend to be poor, and therefore tend to be more criminally minded.

So motivation when stealing is an issue?

So if I tell the judge I stole, but I don't need the shit I stole, he should let me off?

Bollocks.

I find your predilection for putting words in my mouth (as well as other people's) amusing.

Actually, I think it is an issue, yes. But the reverse - if you did need whatever it was you were stealing then the punishment should be less severe, if indeed there should be punishment at all.

I don't know whether to hug you for your naivete or beat you with a switch.

"Paula Paine had a golden resume: high school track star, modeling through college, even three years working at the White House. She was also addicted to shoplifting.  "

She must have done hand modeling.

>I don't know whether to hug you for your naivete or beat
>you with a switch.

How am I being naive?

Define "need", Colm.  If you do this adequately, then you are not naive.

"Need" would be if you are stealing in order to support yourself or a family.

It's a sliding scale though. You might not need to steal in order to physically stop your family from starving, but I'd be very much more sympathetic in levying punishment to any shoplifting done by somebody who lived hand to mouth.

I stole $20K from a bank to send my kid to private school because he needed to go.

Really? Why were state schools not good enough?

> She was beautiful and brilliant -- a former model who had worked three years at the White House.

Is it shallow to say I hate her already and I take glee in her misfortune, in the German sense?

Not necessarily shallow, but certainly bitter.

> bitter.

Bitter like the melon, lime, cold, or using a coupon one day too late?

"a former model who had worked three years at the White House."

Well there you go - she learned criminal behavior and rationalization from top experts in the field.

That's hilarious what she tried to get away with - see pg.2

"a former model who had worked three years at the White House."

Let me guess. In the Clinton years?

Beauty & position in society & criminal behavior are orthogonal to each other.

"Beauty queen steals" just makes her an attractive thief.

Re: the OP -

As long as you're throwing on qualifiers, don't selectively leave them out:

when rich, upper class, white people steal...

What some people need to do to feel alive.

Yeah, she's addicted to shoplifting.  Kind of like I'm addicted to cheeseburgers.

Yeah, cheeseburgers are tough to give up.