More on Madoff

A very painful experience:

Here is a Jew accused of cheating Jewish organizations trying to help other Jews, they say, and of betraying the trust of Jews and violating the basic tenets of Jewish law. A Jew, they say, who seemed to exemplify the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes of the thieving Jewish banker.
So in synagogues and community centers, on blogs and in countless conversations, many Jews are beating their chests -- not out of contrition, as they do on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, but because they say Mr. Madoff has brought shame on their people in addition to financial ruin and shaken the bonds of trust that bind
Jewish communities.

Perhaps a feeling akin to the embarassment we Southerners felt about the presidencies of Carter and Clinton, two Democrats who did more to drive decent Southerners into the GOP than anything conceived by GOP strategists.

In related news, a French hedge fund manager has committed suicide after reportedly losing $1 billion to Madoff's swindle.