Judge Sentences Criminal To TM™

File under: Gurus Clockin' Dollars and Backroom Gurudom

A circuit judge in St. Louis has sentenced a crack-smoking vote defrauder to a course in Transcendental Meditation:

Judge David Mason of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri sentenced her to four years of probation on both the drug and election charges, but she could face three years in jail if she violates her probation.

She also must get training in transcendental meditation and perform 180 hours of community service.

Why would a circuit judge in the U.S. insist on a TM™ course as rehabilitation you ask?

Mason is an advocate of transcendental meditation, a practice led by a Hindu holy man named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which the judge believes is an effective relaxation and stress-management program.

Besides being a clear government endorsement of religion and thus a violation of the constitution, it's also a clear conflict of interest for the judge. TM™ costs the big bucks. Who is going to pay for it? If the state does, it's definitely an endorsement of religion. If the defendant is required to pay for it, Mason may as well be a fee collector for the Madharishi, and that's a violation of the constitution as well.

It looks like the Madharishi's tendencies have rubbed off on a devotee who is in a position of power with the state. That's not good given the old man's penchant for throwing mountains of money at impossible dreams in a rush to see them manifest before he dies.

We hope this one is developing. We'd hate to the think that the government will develop a preference for TM™, especially given the fact that it's an exceedingly simple technique that is thousands of years old. This makes the buying of it no different than paying for salt water by the ocean. But we suppose it's not that much different from $10,000 toilet seats and free golf trips to Scotland by the Republican friends of notorious lobbyists, anyway.