The apologies have been flying fast and furious these days. I know swimming star Michael Phelps is very sorry about the marijuana incident. I'm convinced Timothy Geithner is very, very sorry about those income taxes he failed to pay. Geithner is an acclaimed economic genius - President Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary and I join him in feeling sorry that even he can't figure out our vexing tax code.

Former Senator Tom Daschle has convinced me that he's awfully darn sorry about his whopping back tax omission and sorry, too, it's delaying his appointment as head of the nation's complex health system.

Sorry they are, darn sorry.

And most of us will be fine with these apologies.

The Obama administration has all but said that Geithner is the only man for the job - a take him or leave him standoff. OK, apology accepted Mr. Geithner, now go save the economy.

Daschle is a member of the Senate Club, and that club protects its own. We just all have to accept Daschle's apology and let him get on with saving the broken health care system.

Please pass the aspirin.

Almost immediately after the Phelps revelation opinion polls showed 79% of Americans were ok with Phelps' "misstep." More importantly, his endorsement deals seem to be ok. Look, we're talking millions here.

Americans like their sports heroes from hometown to national and it seems to me that more often than not they get the benefit of the doubt, the pass, the special consideration. If not, who will win the game for the hometown team Friday night?

But if 79% of Americans are ok with Michael Phelps' error in judgment - then 79% better be ok with giving every goof a pass for a similar error - because in the United States we're supposed to be guaranteed equal treatment under the law.

Given the equal treatment argument, what do the Geithner and Daschle cases mean for IRS enforcement of the tax code? Does equal treatment apply if my tax calculations don't match that of Uncle Sam's? Does saying I'm sorry help my case?

The greed and the looting that have taken place in the financial industry of late make me think back to the trial of homemaker maven Martha Stewart. If I recall her case, Martha didn't say she was sorry for her stock trade aided by insider knowledge. The government came at her with guns blazing. If the intention was to make an example of her, to "throw the book at her," the prosecution got it very, very wrong. The folks writing this year's Wall Street bonus checks - checks written after record losses, and in some cases using government bail-out funds- they didn't seem scared to loot - post Martha. Wall Street had insider knowledge that made Martha look just plain dumb.

I don't believe any apologies from Wall Street have yet been duly noted.

But if the apology is "in" and both Washington and Americans are ok with that, then I'm looking for some change from the new administration that came to town promising change.

We need to change the legal system that has left the United States with the highest documented incarceration rate and largest prison population in the world.

"The home of the free, the land of the brave"... and the country where 2.3 million citizens are behind bars. Something's wrong here, folks. The fact that this situation was hardly addressed in the presidential race makes me scratch my head and wonder aloud.

Too many youths are incarcerated, too many elderly die in prison. There are too many private "for profit" prisons and not enough reporting of this underground growth industry. As a nation we cannot afford the financial cost of locking so many folks up.

I'm ok with apologies and I'm ready to embrace change. And I'm ready for the new guys in town to attack the scandal that represents incarceration in these United States.