Gotta let it Bern

In a reassuring sign that absurdly large-scale crime doesn't pay in the end, a federal jury convicted former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers today on nine counts related to an $11 billion accounting fraud at the company. Ebbers, 63, faces up to 85 years in prison and likely will spend the rest of his life behind bars even if he gets a greatly reduced sentence.

Ebbers took the stand in his own defense, a move that clearly backfired. Something tells me that the other big fish in the federal government's major corporate fraud trials, Enron's Ken Lay and HealthSouth's Richard Scrushy, will take that lesson to heart.