Is Paris Burning?

On August 23, 1944, as General Patton's Third Army was racing inexorably toward Paris, Adolph Hitler ordered the military governor, General Dietrich von Choltitz, to destroy the "City of Lights." "The city," he said, "must not fall into the enemy's hands except lying in complete ruin." Hitler's alleged enraged question to his chief of staff, asking "Is Paris burning?!" was the title of a 1966 motion picture starring Billy Frick as Hitler and Gert Frobe as the famous general.

Fortunately for the Parisians, General von Choltitz, a professional career military officer, chose to disobey the order. He and 17,000 other Germans under his command surrendered to French General Philippe Leclerc on August 25th, 1944. He died in November, 1966 due to a longstanding war illness in the city hospital of Baden-Baden, the post-WWII French headquarters in Germany, in the presence of several high-ranking French officers. He is fondly remembered by the French people as "the savior of Paris."

In a scene reminiscent of Hitler's "Is Paris burning?!" tirade, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer angrily ordered the LA County Sheriff's Department to go and pick up Paris Whitney Hilton, of "The Simple Life" fame, and bring her in handcuffs to a custody hearing on June 8, 2007. A media feeding frenzy ensued in which Miss Hilton was treated like a "football" in the words of LA County Sheriff Lee Baca.

The facts are these:

On November 21, 2006, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Paris Hilton's privilege to drive for earlier having driven a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or greater. This suspension was effective through March 29, 2007. Notice of the suspension was sent by first class mail to the address she had reported, as well as to her attorney. It was never returned as undeliverable or unclaimed. (The assumption is that she and her attorney both received the letters, although they could have been received by a maid or clerk and just thrown away.)

On January 15, 2007, Miss Hilton was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers while driving a motor vehicle. The officers notified her, both verbally and in writing, that her driving privilege was suspended, and required an unspecified passenger to drive her home because of her suspension.

On January 22, 2007, Miss Hilton pled no contest to violating Vehicle Code section 23103 pursuant to Vehicle Code section 23103.5, alcohol-related reckless driving. On the basis of that plea, Judge Sauer found her guilty, suspended the imposition of her sentence for a period of 36 months, and placed her on probation for that period under the following conditions, among others: "Enroll within 21 days and successfully complete an approved SB 1176 12-hour alcohol education program, do not drive a motor vehicle without a valid driver's license in her possession, and obey all laws and orders of the court."

On February 27, 2007, she was stopped by Los Angeles Country Sheriff's Department deputies while allegedly driving a motor vehicle 70 mph in a 35-mph zone without headlights at night with a suspended license, even though she had been reminded that her driving privilege was suspended by the DMV by California Highway Patrol officers during the January 15th incident.

On May 4th, in Case No. 6MP09160, Judge Sauer revoked Miss Hilton's probation and reinstated it on the same terms and conditions, with the modification additionally that she serve 45 days in jail. On the order were the handwritten instructions: "No work furlough," "No work release," "No electronic monitoring," "No weekends," and "No city jail." A commitment order was issued to the Sheriff of Los Angeles County ordering Miss Hilton to be committed to the county jail under the foregoing provisions.

About 11:15 p.m., Sunday, June 3rd, after she appeared on the MTV Movie Awards show, her attorney, Richard Hutton, picked her up at her parents' home and drove her, her mom Kathy, and sister Nicky to the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail. About 75 minutes later, she was transported to the Lynwood's Century Regional Detention Facility by the LA County Sheriff's Department. She was fingerprinted; photographed; medically screened; and given a booking number, wristband ID, and an orange top and pants, and "personal hygiene items.'' She was installed in a 12 foot by 8 foot by 8 foot cell in solitary confinement, where she had her choice of two bunks and the usual accouterments of a table, a sink, a toilet and a small window. A "source close to the family" said that Paris was "visibly trembling and struggling to hold back tears" before heading off with her attorney, and that "she never looked so terrified in all of her life." A statement by the Sheriff's office said that she was "was cooperative during the [booking] process."

Under the terms of her incarceration, Miss Hilton could meet with her attorney and family during visiting hours, but was not allowed to give media interviews. She could spend one hour a day outside the cell to shower, use the telephone (but not her personal cell phone) and watch TV in a small pod adjacent to the cell.

According to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore, shortly after midnight Wednesday, June 6th, after serving just three full days of the 45 days to which she was originally sentenced, Miss Hilton was "reassigned to house arrest" by the Department because of "medical issues."

He said in a news conference Thursday, June 7th, that he was prohibited by law from going into specifics about what the medical issues were, except that it was not due to a staph infection or some kind of jail outbreak.

"After extensive consultation with medical personnel, including doctors here at CRDF, it was determined that Paris Hilton would be reassigned to our community-based alternative to custody electronic-monitoring program," Whitmore said.

"She has been fitted with an ankle bracelet. And she has been sent home. And she will be confined to her home for the next 40 days. Because she has agreed to this through her attorney, her sentence is now back up to 45 days. She has already served five days, so that's 40 days."

By Whitmore's accounting, she got credit for two extra days because she surrendered before midnight on Sunday and was released after 12 a.m. Thursday. She was transferred to the custody of her attorney at 2:09 am, Whitmore said.

He described Hilton's demeanor as she left the facility as "focused."

He also said she will have to pay for her home confinement, about $100 a day, and that the ankle monitor restricts her movements to between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet.

Some members of her family and her attorney told E! Online that she was "doing well" in jail. However, others in her family admitted that Hilton was not eating, and People magazine quoted one jail source as saying that "she cries all day," She also received a two-hour visit from her psychiatrist on both Tuesday and Wednesday. She issued a statement through her attorney Thursday, expressing her gratitude to the authorities who oversaw her time in custody.

"I want to thank the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and staff of the Century Regional Detention Center for treating me fairly and professionally," she said. "I am going to serve the remaining 40 days of my sentence. I have learned a great deal from this ordeal and hope that others have learned from my mistakes. I've had a lot of time alone to think and reflect on my life and realize what's most important," she told E! News on the red carpet of the MTV Movie Awards. "Even though this is a scary thing, I'm using it in a positive way. When I come out, I can't wait to start my new life and be even stronger than I am now."

At this point, things got more than a little bizarre!

When they found out that Miss Hilton had been released, City Attorney Rockard J. Delgadillo, Supervising Assistant City Attorney Ellen A. Sarmiento, Assistant City Attorney Dan F. Jeffries, and Deputy City Attorney David A. Bozanich, together and in concert at about 4:30 p.m. June 7th, filed an "ex parte application for order shortening time, order to show cause for contempt and order to transport Paris Whitney Hilton in custody to court."

In response, Judge Sauer ordered the Sheriff's Department to bring Miss Hilton to court Friday at 9 a.m. for a hearing on the matter. After doctors were seen entering her home later Thursday, a spokesman for Judge Sauer's court announced that she would instead be testifying by phone.

Early Friday, in an apparent fit of pique, Judge Sauer instead ordered the Sheriff's Department to go and pick up Miss Hilton and bring her to the hearing. Attorneys named in the order were Dan F. Jeffries, and David A. Bozanich of the city attorney's office, Roger Granbo, Gary Gross, Roberta Fesler, Donovan Main and Elizabeth Miller of the Sheriff's office, and Richard Hutton, Robert Wilson, Steven Levine and Robert Philibosian, attorneys for Miss Hilton.

When she arrived and the hearing began, the judge said he had received a call on Wednesday from an undersheriff informing him that Miss. Hilton had a medical condition and that the sheriff's office would submit papers to the judge to consider releasing her early. The judge said the papers describing a "psychological" problem had not arrived, and he interrupted Friday's court session every few minutes to state the time and note that the papers had still not shown up. When asked about the matter, Sheriff Baca stated that he had not authorized the release of Miss Hilton's medical records to the court, and, in fact, did not have the legal authority to do so.

Finally, as photographers photographed, reporters reported, gawkers gawked and onlookers looked on, a hysterical Miss Hilton was put in a Sheriff's cruiser and taken back to durance vile. After hearing the verdict, a weeping Hilton was escorted from the courtroom by a female deputy, shrieking, "It's not right, Mom!" She was moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and returned to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13.

Finally, after serving a total of a 23-day sentence, she was released at 12:17 am on the morning of June 26th. Amid a throng of cheering fans and jostling paparazzi, she strutted across the parking area into the arms of her mother, and was promptly whisked away to her parents' home for a bath and a good breakfast.

Almost immediately after it was announced, news of her home confinement sparked outrage, especially among African-American activists like the allegedly Reverend Al Sharpton, who stated, "This early release gives all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism that is constantly cited by poor people and people of color. There are any number of cases of people who handle being incarcerated badly and even have health conditions that are not released," he continued in a statement from his National Action Network. "This act smacks of the double standards that many of us raise."

In an interview on CNN, Court TV news anchor Lisa Bloom stated that it was all Miss Hilton's fault for violating the judge's order and directing her attorneys to file motions and appeals. "The Sheriff was star-struck," she maintained. "[Miss Hilton] snuck out in the middle of the night." Jay Leno suggested in his monologue that evening that she suffered from "richbitchitis."

At a Friday press conference, Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca attempted to deflect criticism by asserting that Miss Hilton was a "low-level offender" and he was under a federal mandate to reduce inmate overcrowding. He also stated that she had "severe medical problems" and her condition was "rapidly deteriorating" without proper medication. After consulting with two psychologists, he made his decision to allow her to serve her sentence under house arrest. He made the point repeatedly that each decision in the case was made in accordance with established procedure, and that his office must often operate without sufficient information about the medical conditions of an inmate, as in this case. He said: "The special treatment appears to be her celebrity status. She got more time in jail." Under the normal terms of the early release program, he said, Miss Hilton would not have served "any time in our jail." In ordering her return to jail, Judge Sauer said there were adequate medical facilities within the system to deal with Miss Hilton's problems, even though he admitted that he had no information regarding what those problems might be, having declined a briefing in chambers by Hilton's attorney about it.

California, a state noted for its large number of habitual criminals, has been struggling to comply with a federal order to ease crowding in its jails and prisons, and Sheriff Baca has carried out a program of early release. But that has frustrated prosecutors who believe that early release undermines their efforts to punish those found to have broken the law. Baca stated that Miss Hilton was medicated when she originally entered the jail system, and "I can't trust her tenuous status," referring to her mental state. "She had a severe problem," said Baca, "I need more cooperation from the courts and from the city attorney's office."

He claimed that there was simply no room at his jail for a "low-level offender" like Paris Hilton -- and her "severe" medical problems were only getting worse. In a statement to the press, Baca said, "There's 20,000 inmates -- the largest jail system in the United States. It's very overcrowded." According to Baca, 90% of the inmates in L.A. County jail (18,000 of them) are serious felons, many held on murder charges or attempted murder charges. Paris was one of the "low level" offenders who usually serve 10% of their sentences.

Now, one can perhaps empathize with Judge Sauer. His order distinctly specified "No electronic monitoring." Miss Hilton was in his court precisely because she had violated his previous order. He had every reason to believe that he was being jerked around, and one simply does not get away with jerking around a judge. One can also understand attorney Richard Hutton et al., whose sworn duty it was to do their best for their client, which any reasonable person would assume was to get her out of jail post haste. I personally also understand Mr. Sharpton's reaction. He is basically a stupid, loud-mouthed, self-centered, racist jerk, for whom everything has to do with persecution of noble, down-trodden Negroes by mean-spirited, bigoted Caucasians. And I surely sympathize with Miss Hilton, who probably didn't have the faintest idea just how much trouble ignoring a court order could cause, and for whom being stuffed into a jail cell is doubly difficult because she's morbidly claustrophobic and jail so totally contrasts with her normally pampered life.

I'm having difficulty, however, understanding public reaction from all those Ten Commandment-loving Christians and Jews. Does anybody really believe that Sheriff Baca, who deals daily with movie stars, millionaires, world-famous lawyers and thousands upon thousands of unlicensed pharmaceutical retailers, mother stabbers and father rapers, reacted with, "Oh, wow! Paris Hilton, like, in my jail! Totally radical, man! To hell with the judge! We gotta get her out of here!"

Why, in the words of CNN Headline News anchor and professional dumb broad impersonator Erica Hill, do people "love to hate" Paris Hilton? It appears to me that the motivation behind indignation over her release is the same as the motivation to destroy Paris, France. The city was of no military importance; General Eisenhower actually wanted to bypass it. Hitler was angry that the Allies were winning and the Nazis were losing, so he decided to make the French people "pay."

There seem to be an awful lot of people who think that Paris Hilton should be made to "pay" for something. Even after she was released, Joey Bartolomeo, Senior Editor for US Weekly, in an interview with Erica Hill, said "Here's her chance! Everyone is looking at her right now, and here's her chance to prove herself and show that she really is a different person and do some good with her fame!"

What??? Miss Hilton has already proven herself. She's much more of a success than Ms. Bartolomeo. Why should she be a "different person?" What, exactly is so wrong with the "old" one? She's already done some good with her fame. She's made money at it, and paid taxes, and provided jobs for countless paparazzi and magazine editors, including Ms. Bartolomeo and, come to think of it, Ms. Hill. It's called "capitalism." It's a good thing!

The consensus seems to be that she received favorable treatment because she is famous, white and rich. The sheriff, who does not appear to have any reason to lie, claimed that the opposite was true, and so far no one has been able to provide any substantive evidence that he's wrong. Subsequent discussion by news interviewees maintained that people in the LA County jail have to sleep on the floor, wait weeks to get medical treatment, and get squeezed into inadequate facilities like sardines. Seems to me that these deplorable conditions ought to be alleviated by releasing early those not considered to be a public menace. Given that most of these people are, or are believed to be, murderers and rapists, the idea that there is something essentially un-American about not treating them all equally just doesn't hold up. Anyone who believes that suspended license drivers should be treated the same as murder suspects needs to have his head examined, preferably in a secure facility, under heavy guard.

OK, so Paris Hilton was born rich. So what? It's not her fault that she's the great granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, who made his money by intelligence and hard work. Being born into a rich family is not a crime! She is often condemned for being frivolous, but that's not a crime, either. Of course, driving drunk or while one's license is suspended is a crime, but the usual punishment for those crimes in LA County is a fine, house arrest and/or community service, and unusual punishment in the United States is unconstitutional. Were her civil rights violated? Can she sue the county for unlawfully confining her and letting worse offenders go free? Probably, but it's a moot point. She personally probably doesn't need the money, and the LA County jail system does. She will be performing a valuable public good deed for her fellow Angelinos if she lets the whole thing blow over and sleeping sons of bitches lie (as they seem to be doing).

She has also reportedly been offered a million dollars and a job on TV for her story about her experiences in jail. That works out to a little over $40,000 a day! Will she get even richer out of all this? (That ought to teach the bitch a lesson!) Watch this space!

As far as I know, she hasn't murdered anybody, or held up a liquor store or been involved in a gangland shooting or beaten homeless people to death for the fun of it or mugged little old ladies in walkers for pocket change or beat up somebody because he was white or organized illegal dog fights or assassinated a cop! She hasn't been convicted of felony aggravated child molestation with a 15-year-old like black Genarlo Wilson, who was set free by the Georgia Supreme Court because he was just a little black boy. She hasn't received any Medicaid payments or food stamps or sucked up other limited community resources by having illegitimate children one after the other while subsisting on welfare and ADC. She dresses nicely and bathes regularly. She pays more than her share of city, county, state and federal taxes. She's a reasonably successful actress, singer, recording producer, handbag and jewelry designer and perfume promoter. People currently pay her over $7,000,000 a year doing whatever it is she does. She makes her money the old fashioned way nowadays; she earns it! She has created a whole new interpretation of car washing and hamburger eating. Not bad for a high school dropout.

Nobody seems to be complaining that Michelle Delgadillo, the wife of Rockard J. Delgadillo, one of the city attorney's who prosecuted Miss Hilton, was also arrested for driving with a suspended license back in 2004. Unlike Miss Hilton, Mrs. Delgadillo's unlawful driving of a city-owned GMC Yukon resulted in an accident! Did she go to jail? (The answer is left an an exercise for the student!)

Among the rich, Paris Hilton is at the very worst innocuous. Imagine, for instance, a similar situation involving, say, Rosie O'Donnell. If Rosie were thrown in jail to serve a full sentence while other people who did the exact same thing were released early, would the newscasters and nighttime comedians be saying things like, "Sure, Rosie belongs in jail. She's a rich, fat, ugly, ignorant, obnoxious, loudmouthed, opinionated lesbian bitch! She needs to be taught a lesson!" Yeah, right!

The idea that rich and poor should be treated alike is as dangerous and illogical a fantasy as the idea that suspended license drivers should be treated the same as vagrant killers and schoolyard crack sellers. Being treated differently is what being rich is all about; it has very little to do with money, which is, after all, simply a way of measuring "rich." Rich people get treated the way they want; poor people get treated the way other people want to treat them. That's the way it works. The only way to treat everyone alike is to make sure that everyone is abysmally poor. That's called communism, and it simply doesn't work, as Michail Gorbachev pointed out, and Obama supporters are learning the hard way. The reason it doesn't work is because it takes away everyone's incentive to excel at anything. You show me a person who believes he can't ever get treated like he wants and I'll show you a sociopathic, lazy, ignorant, maladjusted deadbeat!

Of course, Paris Hilton isn't only rich, she's thin, pretty, sexy, clean, well-groomed, soft spoken, fashionable, and famous, too. Why should anybody be jealous of her for that? Take a look around, people! Paris Hilton is the personification of the truth that American women don't have to be fat, rude, ugly, unattractive, filthy, unkempt, boorish and loud, or desecrate themselves with smutty tattoos or cheap hardware or dress like Bangladeshi whores. I can take a lot of Paris Hiltons in exchange for getting rid of one unemployable whinybaby dumbass with a ghetto blaster and four inches of exposed butt crack, or one quarter ton sweaty matron in pajamas and shower shoes stomping around in public like the Tyrannosaurus Rex in "Jurassic Park," or some uppity judge who abuses his authority and power by suing an immigrant mom and pop dry cleaner shop for $54,000,000 over a lost pair of pants. There are millions and millions of people in this world that I personally could do much better without. Paris Hilton isn't one of them! If nothing else, she's decorative, which is no bad thing, especially given how rare it is nowadays, especially among American women. According to Wikipedia, she's listed on the "First Families" of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which means she has donated US$100,000 or more to the hospital. In 2008, a room at the CHLA was named in her honor. I invite anyone to email me if there is a hospital room anywhere named "Sharpton."

I find it incongruous and hypocritical that in a society that places so much radical emphasis on a "woman's right to choose," Paris Hilton is condemned, vilified and persecuted for choosing to be an attractive, popular, successful, famous young fashion model. Would the average American woman like her better if she quit work, gained 150 pounds, whacked off her hair, had a couple of illegitimate children, and got a bunch of vulgar skin pics?

And speaking of incongruous and hypocritical, Black boxer Mike Tyson recently spent 24 hours in jail for DUI and crack cocaine possession, during which the news media reported only that he wore pink underwear. Not, presumably, unlike Ms. Hilton. Did either Mr. or Ms. Delgadillo complain that the sentence was too lenient? Did Mr. Sharpton? Did Ms. Hill or Ms. Bloom or Ms. Bartolomeo? The answer is left as another exercise for the student. Maybe all the hysteria isn't about "rich." Maybe it's really about "white."

I'll have to admit, I didn't even know who Miss Hilton was until I started getting all that spam about her porno film. I haven't ever seen it, because I'm not really into pornography. I can avoid a heck of a lot of pornography without discomfort, thank you very much! It's the child molesters I'm worried about! Where I come from, nobody can have consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl unless he's married to her, regardless of how great a black high school athlete he is! I do watch the news, though, and you can't do that nowadays without hearing about the adventures of Paris Hilton. Does anyone besides me think that she's basically the victim of ignorant, mean-spirited, petty, jealous, overweight underachievers? Whatever happened to "love thy neighbor" anyway?

There is something very wrong with a society that thinks that a person convicted of driving on a suspended license belongs in jail and someone convicted by a jury of his peers of felony aggravated child molestation doesn't.

I'm glad that Miss Hilton was able to serve her time without getting into any more trouble or getting poisoned or stabbed or raped for being a "rich white bitch." I also hope that this is a learning experience for her. There are unpleasant consequences for violating the law, regardless of who you are, or what the law is, and criminal courts dispense retribution, not justice.

She may also find out that there are an awful lot of people in our society whose pathetic, unproductive lives are so devoid of meaning that they find pleasure in seeing socially privileged people suffer. Faced with their own overwhelming inadequacies, they want to bring everybody else down to their level.

And that level is incredibly low!

John Lindorfer