Profile in courage??

Well the sentence has been handed down: Madoff was sent to jail for 150 years!!. The question for the day is was this courage or not. Did Judge Denny Chen administer justice or pass the buck because it was the political thing to do? Depends on where you sit. If you believe that this was a just sentence given all we have learned about the Ponzi scheme then you are justified in your cheering for his sentence. It is true: he did steal from a lot of people, foundations, and that is wrong and punishment must be meted out. However, when you look closer at the issues one must ask this question: were and what were they thinking in terms of these glowing reports?? It is a fact that this persons firm was beating the rate of return every year he ran this madness, yet NO ONE and I mean NO ONE said anything, they took the money. Yes I know the next statement, this is why schemes work. Of course they do...but it does not excuse people from not paying attention to reality: there are good years and bad ones. His were always good years and that is the reason I question the sentencing from the Judge. Shame on Bernie for the callous disregard he showed in stealing all of the dollars his firm misappropriated from unsuspecting persons and foundations, but a larger shame for the greed shown by those who benefited from this larceny. They had a greater responsibility to challenge the data and then blow the whistle alerting authorities to this theft for going illegal profits thereby having courage even in loss exposing this man for the thief he will always be. The judge fails twice for bending to the crowds need for blood, and for allowing integrity to escape the room. No courage today smae story same ending same stuff. Later