IMF Head on Suicide Watch, Despite Ben Stein Defense
Following a mental health evaluation, accused rapist and International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss Kahn has been put on suicide watch at Rikers Island Prison. But don't worry, M. Strauss-Kahn! Hack economist/game show host Ben Stein is on your case!
Sure, Strauss-Kahn might have forced a chambermaid to perform oral sex on him, Ben Stein muses in his American Spectator column. And yet — here it's best to imagine Stein in a deerstalker and Inverness cape, addressing a small gathering in an English manor — Stein wonders: "How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife?" Good questions, indeed! And why are prosecutors overlooking this simple fact?
I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman's word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail? Putting a man in Riker's is serious business. Maybe more than a few minutes of investigation is merited before it's done.
Maybe a few hours is merited! Maybe, if the detective investigated for a few days, they might remember this key detail:
People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes?
