How did former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson end up getting 13 years in prison for accepting bribes totaling $500,000. Remember Jefferson's freezer was found to contain $90,000 which allegedly he was going to use to bribe Nigerian officials, specifically former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar. But the FBI seized the money, but throughout the trial Atiku Abubakar seemed not to have been featured at all. He says he is thankful that the jury did the right thing in convicting Jefferson, that he on his part will continue to fight against corruption. Wow!!

But really, doesn't this sentence seem excessive? Okay, it was said if he had succeeded he would ended up reaping almost a billion from the deal. This brings me to the case of former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, of California who was accused of taking $2.4 million in bribes and was sentenced to 8 years. Another Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to only 2 1/2 years, while ex-Rep. James Traficant, a Democrat from Ohio, served only 7 years.

I am not advocating that we should condone Jefferson's corruption, but what should be done is apply the law equally. Why should Jefferson, who is black, be given such a long sentence, while his white counterparts were given less sentences.

Let's apply the law equally to everybody. Jefferson should be punished to the fullest of the law, but he should be punished commensurate with the same kind of sentence meted out to his colleagues. Why should his be different? I don't understand that. Corruption is corruption, and why should somebody who received $2.4 million in bribes, get less sentence than someone who received $500,000?