Cosby’s double life finally caught up to him

To anyone who would assert that it is cruel to sentence a legally blind, sickly, elderly man to a prison term, I would contend that Bill Cosby got off easy. For most of his 81 years, he lived a life of hypocrisy, enjoying vast wealth, stardom and adulation as he engaged in a longstanding pattern of preying upon unsuspecting young women who looked up to him as a mentor, using them to satisfy his insatiable sexual desires. He had the gall to play the elder statesman in his recipes for better living for the African-American community.

He was convicted of criminal conduct involving only one woman because his other multiple accusers could not bring charges against him due to the statute of limitations.

Through it all, his adoring wife inexplicably stood literally and figuratively by his side, as she had the audacity to attack the jurist in the case and the judicial system as biased and inequitable.

Andrea Constand stated credibly that her life was taken from her. The same could be said for others who did not figure into the criminal case as prominently as she did.

If the prison time served by Bill Cosby becomes a life sentence, he will have no one but himself to blame. Perhaps he can use his time to reflect upon his stunning fall from grace.

He was able to pull the wool over our eyes for so long. His misdeeds finally caught up to him. Justice delayed is better than no justice. OREN SPIEGLER

South Strabane of people without health insurance, while the rest of the world is less than 1 percent. The failure of our system has nothing to do with being “owned” by the government vs. private industry. It has everything to do with extremely dysfunctional insurance mechanisms and the perverted incentives that deliver a lower quality outcome at twice the price. ROBERT MORRIS

Moon

I would like to remind voters that Lou Barletta, the congressman who is challenging Bob Casey for the U.S. Senate, attempted to challenge a State Supreme Court decision that finally established fair geographic boundaries for congressional districts in Pennsylvania.

I joined the League of Women Voters and 17 other Pennsylvanians in a challenge to Pennsylvania’s unfairly gerrymandered districts. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the districts based the Pennsylvania Constitution providing for “free and equal” elections. The State GOP leadership appealed to the US Supreme Court, which was rejected. As a result, the new map was adopted.

In an effort to undermine voters and defy the state’s right to create congressional districts, Mr. Barletta appealed to a federal court to force Pennsylvania to return to the same gerrymandered map the state courts had rejected. That court denied the appeal by Mr. Barletta resulting in fair district boundaries for the congressional election in November. The lawsuits by Mr. Barletta and the Republican leadership of the state Legislature cost taxpayers over $1.5 million dollars.

The lawsuit was about returning power to the voters through fairly drawn and competitive districts. Mr. Barletta’s challenge was not about serving his constituents or the citizens of Pennsylvania, but what would be best for Mr. Barletta and his party. This is not the behavior we should reward by sending him to the Senate so he can further degrade the institution through partisan stunts. BILL MARX

Delmont