terabient

the first story i heard driving home today was this:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/07/hometown_corruption.html

the summary: 40+ public officials in New Jersey - including mayors, state assembly men AND 5 rabbis - were arrested on money laundering/bribery charges today. aside from the sheer number of people involved, the case also sports the following absurdities:

-There were so many arrests the police needed two buses to transport everyone to the FBI office.
-It took over an hour for the prosecutor to list all of the charges brought against every individual.
-One of the mayors took office less than a month ago - in an election so close it was decided by 161 votes.

seriously: holy fucking shit.

i mention this only because about halfway through the NPR broadcast - when they started talking about busloads of arrested officials - i had to pull over because i lost it and started laughing hysterically. i shouldn't, of course, but this went from 'tragic failure of US government system' to 'high comedy' really fast.

then again i don't live in New Jersey, so it doesn't really affect me. one of my college roommates *does*, but i also hated her, so i guess this is a win-win for me?

...i am a horrible person. :)