Oh, that poor "deprived" and "abused" Walmart corporation!

[Saint Frankenstein]

Two wrongs dont make a right. Hes in a desperate situation, but without consequences for his theft all that will happen is more people will be encouraged to do it. And, that doesnt just hurt Walmart, it hurts Walmart employees who now have an additional loss deducting from end year profit bonuses.

Who said I excused it? I just said that that analogy Dan made doesn't work and that the punishment was greatly disproportionate to the crime.

 

[Cooky]

If a poor person stold a bag of food out of my cart, and I caught them around rye corner feeding small children, I would offer them $20.00 as well.

...I would not call the police.

However, I don’t want to promote theft.

 

[Cooky]

Judges are supposed to be better than what many of them are. There are some professions where there is zero room for 'bad apples'. Cops, surgeons and judges should be three.

 

[We Never Know]

Who said I excused it? I just said that that analogy Dan made doesn't work and that the punishment was greatly disproportionate to the crime.

IMO if those that have weren't so wasteful, the needy wouldn't be as needy.

As much as 40% of food goes uneaten in the U.S. Americans throw away $165 billion in wasted food every year, according to Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, a nonprofit environmental action group. Some 160 billion pounds of discarded food also clogs up landfills.

Food for thought this Thanksgiving 40 of groceries are thrown out every year - MarketWatch

 

[Dan From Smithville]

The law is the law. But if you're asking me to have the same sympathy for a giant corporation or a mega-billionaire that I would have for a poor or working class person or a middle class family being stolen from, you're gonna come up short. That people even feel the need to steal groceries from the store says much about our failings as a society. I'm more interested in finding out why that happens and how to prevent it in the first place by solving the causes of it than getting mad about an episode of it happening.

I am not asking you to do anything. I am sympathetic to a poor person that has become desperate enough that they choose to steal food. It is still a crime and remains a crime despite desperation, need and disparity of income and wealth.

Then do not get mad. My statements were about the actual moral of the story and that a crime is a crime regardless of who commits it or why.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Yeah, food pantry food is mostly garbage that others didn't want. Here, it's mainly bread and canned corn products along with some odds and ends. Maybe some green beans and a bit of meat. Not much and not very healthy. Lots of peanut butter, though.

I have volunteered time in a food pantry warehouse sorting food items and the stuff they got in was as good as the stuff I buy from the store. I am sure it varies from place to place, but not all of it is bad.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Who said I excused it? I just said that that analogy Dan made doesn't work and that the punishment was greatly disproportionate to the crime.

The analogy does work. The story outlines disparity in wealth and concludes that it is justifiable to steal from someone or some organization if it is rich and the thief is not. Where would it end? Would a thief whose income is different from his victim by 50% be absolved from the law?

You are arguing about punishment that you feel is unjust. I am discussing the law and how it should be applied.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It's called stealing, he got a very light sentence of five days in jail on the weekends, Jail is typically for repeat offenders.

Yeah really. A couple weekends in jail that's a slap on the wrists.

It certainly deprivation. Not that Walmart is going to go out of business over something like that, but the act of stealing itself which is what I'm thinking the judge was aiming at.

I could never figure out the Socialist left that if you're disabled or disadvantaged, then it's perfectly okay to steal from anybody as much as you wish. That's the impression I'm getting from it .

It's really not a right or left problem either given that greed is basically undifferentiated.

Besides Walmart is paying their employees a living wage now, and in fact their truck drivers are now making $90,000 a year.

 

[Stevicus]

I am just asking. I would not make a big deal about it. I found a $10 bill in a store the other day. I turned it in to the store service counter. I suppose they kept it.

Yes, the honorable thing to do would be to turn it in. But then, a lot of people would probably just pick it up and keep it. Who's gonna care? And how can anyone determine who's it was, even if it was turned in? I can just picture them on the intercom, "Would the owner of a lost $10 bill please form a line at the customer service desk?"

But that's getting off the subject. I don't think the issue here is whether it's legal or illegal, since no one is really disputing that a crime was committed. But to use words like "deprived" when referring to a petty theft from a Walmart.

And there are some extenuating circumstances in this case. I know some people just say "the law is the law" and expect us to accept it blindly and mindlessly on that basis, but I think the law also allows for some leeway depending on the circumstances of a given case. If they seem excessively harsh or punitive, then I see no reason they can't be called out on it - since they could have just as easily gone the other way.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yeah, food pantry food is mostly garbage that others didn't want. Here, it's mainly bread and canned corn products along with some odds and ends. Maybe some green beans and a bit of meat. Not much and not very healthy. Lots of peanut butter, though.

It depends, really. Rural Indiana youre gambling with your health. But as I was getting started in California, it wasnt all good but at least a good part of what I got from food banks was nutritional and healthful.

 

[columbus]

It depends, really. Rural Indiana youre gambling with your health. But as I was getting started in California, it wasnt all good but at least a good part of what I got from food banks was nutritional and healthful.

Living in rural Indiana, that's not what I see.

We had a whole lot of fresh asparagus, locally grown, donated about 2 months ago.
Could hardly give it away.
Tom

 

[Revoltingest]

It's a question of priorities. Technically, if you drop a penny on the ground and someone picks it up the next day, they're guilty of theft.

That's absurd.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Living in rural Indiana, that's not what I see.

We had a whole lot of fresh asparagus, locally grown, donated about 2 months ago.
Could hardly give it away.
Tom

Didnt have that up in Peru.

 

[Revoltingest]

If a poor person stold a bag of food out of my cart, and I caught them around rye corner feeding small children, I would offer them $20.00 as well.
...I would not call the police.

However, I don’t want to promote theft.

But your plan would promote theft.

 

[Stevicus]

That's absurd.

Isn't it?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Yes, the honorable thing to do would be to turn it in. But then, a lot of people would probably just pick it up and keep it. Who's gonna care? And how can anyone determine who's it was, even if it was turned in? I can just picture them on the intercom, "Would the owner of a lost $10 bill please form a line at the customer service desk?"

But that's getting off the subject. I don't think the issue here is whether it's legal or illegal, since no one is really disputing that a crime was committed. But to use words like "deprived" when referring to a petty theft from a Walmart.

And there are some extenuating circumstances in this case. I know some people just say "the law is the law" and expect us to accept it blindly and mindlessly on that basis, but I think the law also allows for some leeway depending on the circumstances of a given case. If they seem excessively harsh or punitive, then I see no reason they can't be called out on it - since they could have just as easily gone the other way.

If I were to become so desperate and my condition so deplorable that I would turn to theft to feed myself or my family, it would still be theft. It would still be a crime. I would be casting my lot on the mercy of law enforcement and ultimately the courts in hopes that they would put more weight on my circumstances that inspired the crime and not on the crime itself.

My concern is not in seeing some hungry poor person incarcerated, but where ignoring some crimes over the feelings of some would end. People are outraged when the wealthy are able to use their money and influence to avoid the law. Why should the lack of wealth offer the same outcome without any concern over what it all means and where we would be headed as a result.

To me, this all speaks of larger issues and the solutions that I see some demand, while well meaning, are wrong-headed for the future of equality. We should keep the laws and enforce them equitably, while finding ways to keep people from having to make such risky and illegal means to provide basic needs.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Isn't it?

So you were not referring to some specific law regarding lost cash?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Living in rural Indiana, that's not what I see.

We had a whole lot of fresh asparagus, locally grown, donated about 2 months ago.
Could hardly give it away.
Tom

Asparagus. I would have cleaned you all out and taken all I could carry.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

If we were under Shariah law things would be much different for the culprit. Maybe we should submit to Allah and adopt Shariah law and all the thieves would think twice before they steal

 

[Stevicus]

So you were not referring to some specific law regarding lost cash?

I was referring to theft, without consideration for the amount involved.