Soda dumping could mean six months in jail

A woman takes her father to the local VA Medical Hospital for an appointment. While waiting, she goes to the cafeteria to get a soda and discovers that she is being charged $3.80 for a soda that was only $1.50 the last time she was there. She decides she doesn't want to pay that much and tried to give the soda back, but the cashier refuses to take it. In anger, she dumps the soda on the cashier's counter.

Not very polite, and not very smart, right? But does she deserve six months in jail for it?

The VA contacted the local U.S. District Attorney, who decided to file federal charges against the woman that could lead to six months in jail.

"Remember, this is the same Bush Justice Department which has advised Congress that it “lacks the resources” to investigate or prosecute more than 30 rape cases involving contractors in Iraq, and which recently decided that senior Republican appointees caught in a massive corruption, cocaine and illicit sex scandal at the Interior Department weren’t worth going after. The Justice Department knows, however, just where its priorities lie."
Read more at Harper's.

Graphic from the Observation Deck.