Why the government "backdating" prosecutions against businesses are going so badly: There wasn't a crime in the first place.

WSJ's Holman Jenkins has been trying to explain this to readers for years. At least the federal judges involved in these cases seem to get it.

UPDATE: For an example of how badly misunderstood these cases have been, check out this blogger post from Vindu Goel. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about but just read the comments from readers who obviously understand business and the law a lot better than Vindu does.

As for the criminal conviction Vindu cheerleads, that of Brocade CEO Greg Reyes, it was overturned on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct.