Nice, empathetic Margaret Briganti, bless her heart, is trying to save Suzanne Marie Butts from impending prison time. The aptly named Ms. Butts stole three rolls of toilet paper from the Marshall County courthouse in Florida, and is facing three years in prison because she is a repeat offender (not a serial TP burglar, but someone who has been previously apprehended stealing small amount of cash and valuables). Briganti is using her misguided website to urge Americans to flood the courthouse with toilet paper to make the point that it is unfair to send Butts to prison.

Presumably on Brigandi's list for future websites: poor Paris Hilton, having to actually serve jail time for something so trivial as speeding and driving without a license while on probation; poor Scooter Libby, who only lied to Federal investigators about a crime that couldn't be proven; and poor William Jefferson, whom that mean federal prosecutor is actually indicting for accepting a $90,000 bribe from an undercover agent on videotape (the Congressman says he was keeping it in his freezer so he could give it back.)

Place empathetic Ms. Brigandi in the large group of Americans who just don't comprehend the punishment principle. Butts was also recently caught stealing $30 from a family member. The toilet paper heist was the fourth petty theft she's been caught at; there is every reason to believe that filching things is as normal for her as breathing in and out. She is a two-bit sociopath. Butts doesn't care who is trapped in public toilet stalls without hygienic assistance; she has no respect for the County court, which is to her just another mark; to her, family members are as much fair game for petty theft as anyone else. She is exactly the type of person for whom repeat offender prison sentences were designed. She obviously thinks, as does her champion, Margaret Brigandi, that as long as she steals toilet paper, small amounts of cash and other things of similar value, she's not "really" doing anything wrong.

For example, when asked about the thirty dollars she took, Butts told reporters, "Yeah, but I didn't do no jail time. I didn't go to jail for that. I just got a ticket." Don't you see, Margaret? As long as she doesn't go to jail for stealing something, Butts thinks it's no big deal! This is the classic shoplifter's rationalization. The state needs to make Butts and people like her (and, sadly, people like you) understand that small thefts are just as dishonest as big ones. It doesn't help for honest citizens to minimize the seriousness of an anti-social lifestyle and make excuses for thieves. Butts can't be trusted in a public building or with members of her own family. Give her a chance, and she'll steal from you too.

There's plenty of injustice in the courts, but Suzanne Marie Butts isn't one of the victims of it. Just as it is important to send irresponsible celebrities like Paris Hilton the message that they have to obey the same rules like everyone else, it is fair and appropriate to show the petty crooks among us that we're on to them, and that stealing small amounts regularly is just as unacceptable as stealing a large amount once. Brigandi and her misguided website "Save Suzanne Marie Butts" have the good guys and the bad guys thoroughly mixed up.

Butts butt belongs in jail.