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Jury sends the right message

That's the unsavory fare of fraud, extortion and bribery served up by impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- a man so thoroughly corrupt and arrogant that it's possible he really is delusional enough to be "stunned" by the jury's 17 guilty verdicts Monday. Few sovereigns ever entertain the least notion that anything they do could be wrong.

Even in Illinois -- where four governors since 1973, and two consecutive ones, have put "felon" on their résumés -- Blagojevich's vulgar malfeasance stands apart, mostly for its nakedness and bald-faced shamelessness: They caught him on tape repeatedly attempting to sell Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat for political and financial gain. His reaction: So?

The answer to that question, mercifully delivered by a jury that sniffed his nonsense, should be put in memo form to every American politician who considers himself to be above both the law and the people they serve.

This was a crucially important test of America's increasingly frayed sense of ethics. If someone like Blagojevich had been able to skate after crudely marketing a coveted seat in the august American Senate, then the only remaining question would've been the closing price of our souls.

Deliciously, in the end it may have been Blagojevich's own alternate-world brazenness that did him in.

"He proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty," said one juror.

Pitifully, this country may have helped convince his eager ego of his own virtue -- by having fêted him as simply an amusing, lovable celebrity during the pendency of this case -- recruiting him to appear as a sympathetic figure on supposedly harmless reality shows.

That he was accused of even trying to shake down the head of a children's hospital made no difference. The celebrity-worshipping culture warmly embraced him.

To paraphrase an iconic American phrase, have we no sense of decency?

With the nation sending him that kind of misguided message -- that it doesn't matter what you do, we love you and your goofy hair -- no wonder he was stunned when 12 Americans sent him a different message altogether.

And no wonder we get the kinds of leaders we get today.

The only place such an openly arrogant person could be elected to political office would be in the part of the country with the openly arrogant unions. There is no way that egotistical creature would have gotten elected in places like Georgia or SC or Fla! To me it shows the liberal mindset in one of the most liberal states in the union. That is just my opinion. I lean towards agreeing with Riverman1 too. I hope they shave that head when he gets to the Fed pen! To be fair I do not think liberals in the states I mentioned would elect such an openly arrogant soul to office. Once again, just my opinion which I am entitled to.

How to Hug a Porcupine

Sign, part of me cringed. The other part of me wanted to run bawling into this stranger’s arms.

Have you seen these people? They’re part of the Free Hugs Campaign , a group that travels round the world dispensing affection… to complete strangers. I’m not sure what compels these folks to do this, but I know this — they didn’t grow up in my house . Sure, the absence of attaboys and weepy parental pep talks did not enhance my people skills. But durability is now a specialty of mine.