What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine too.

Sometimes, it boggles the mind. Sometimes you just have to shake your head and say WTF? I am talking about the human spirit, and the way one person can have an effect on so many others. I am not a philosopher, but a mere blogger, whose prose is more in line with The Three Stooges than The Three Wise men. But I have a weapon at my disposal, that those wisest of men from biblical times did not have. It's called the morning paper. Still flung across my driveway every morning at 6am, give or take a day or two. And yes, you guessed it, with personal inspiration fleeting as I clean up from brooding young teens bonfire last night, it's time for 5 in 5.

Seven: Every see that movie with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman? A little dark, a little gross, but highly entertaining, and disturbing. The basic premise is of a sick twisted mind that comes up with seven dead bodies killed in the name of the seven deadly sins. There is one particularly nasty scene where they find a rotting corpse that has wasted away, chained to a bed, filled with bed sores and the like, so sick that you have to say that someone in real life could not be so evil. Except it's not a corpse, the dude's still alive. Enter Joseph S. Duffy, who's wife Mary Jane Duffy weighed only 56 pounds, her body covered with bedsores more than 4 inches wide, her toenails long and dirty, her skin severely bruised, her bones fractured and teeth missing, blind, and in the last stages of dementia. The guy basically put his wife in a bed and left her to die. But she didn't. He apparently did not let her go to a facility because he "would lose money." Guess he forgot the part where he said "in sickness and in health."

No such thing as a free lunch: In Chicago, that bastion of integrity and goodwill, twenty-six Chicago Public School employees are accused of lying on federal school lunch forms, allowing their total of 45 children to receive free or reduced-price lunches at 40 schools across the district. Everyone cheats, right? Handouts everywhere, where's mine? The average CPS teacher isn't exactly getting rich in the system, so a little dipping into the pot here or there won't be missed. Except for one couple — a principal married to an assistant principal — together making more than $230,000, who also are accused of living in the suburbs in violation of the district’s city residency policy while sending their children for free to Chicago Public schools. They make nearly a quarter of a million bucks together. And they have to rip off the cash strapped CPS for $2.25 a day. $2.25? Are you kidding me? You can't even walk out of McDonald's for $2,25. Greed sometimes knows no boundries.

Charity starts at home: In a little reported side story the other day, in the south suburb of Robbins, in the middle of this nasty heat wave, a thief slipped in under the cover of night and stole their libraries AC unit. From on top of the building. With unemployment hitting the town hard, and people unable to pay the tax bill, which in part pays for the libraries existence, they had to turn to NBA star Dwayne Wade for a $25,000 cash donation just to keep the doors open. But more than just the comfort of a little cool air, they also conduct summer kids’ programs, adult literacy and computer programs, and serve as a cooling center for the elderly. But one scumbag in search of crack money put misery back on the front burner. Here's hoping that one human spirit can trump another. Here's hoping someone out there can cough up the $10,000 needed to replace the AC unit, someone who will miss the money like like a dog misses his fleas. Someone, I dunno, like maybe D Rose? After all, you can't let D Wade keep getting the better of you, on and off the court.

Greed 101: I used to work, in an affiliate group, for MF Global. I owned MF Global stock. Bought it really low in the crisis, and was hoping they would return to their former glory as one of the worlds largest holder of futures traded accounts. But then they gambled and lost on their customers accounts, and, well, the rest was history. Some of those former MF employees, the honest, hardworking ones, moved on with PFG Financial, in hopes of a company with integrity would help them move on. But, greed trumped integrity when CEO and firm founder Russell Wasendorf Sr. explained in a suicide note, from his failed attempt to take the cowards easy out of his self-created hell, that yep, his ego would not let him fail. So he stole $100 million. From his own company. As CEO of a multi-million (billion?) dollar company, the scraps you earn ain't putting food on the table? What I wouldn't give to make his salary for one year. And now the company is down in flames, along with the careers of those who have now had to withstand two separate scandals. How's that going to look on their resumes?

Bad mood: I can't let this opportunity of headline resuscitation pass me by without chiming in on Jesse Jackson Jr. He's been AWOL lately from congress, and until recently has been very coy with the media on why is is in a treatment facility outside Illinois. But we can all rest now, he has finally disclosed that he has, drum roll please....a mood disorder. Is that what you call it when you are known adulterer, you have your top fundraiser fly your illicit squeeze here with campaign funds for a quick little tryst, the very same top fundraiser sings to the feds and is now in prison for an, ahem, unrelated offense, and you're being investigated by the feds for trying to buy your way into the senate with Barack Obamas vacant seat? Is that what you call it? I rather call it what it is. A chicken shit escape from your family and responsibilities as you ponder the next 10 years of your life in prison.

Did you catch my subtle hint at today's common theme? If you haven't, it's because my Three Stooges writing style hasn't grabbed you hard enough where it hurts. It's greed. From the guy who let his wife waste away, to the CPS couple, to the A-hole who stole the AC unit, to Russell Wasendorf and Jesse Jackson, they all were greedy SOB's who didn't give a damn about who they hurt in the process. Ahh the human spirit. The good ones are out there, but unfortunately it's the bad ones who get all of the press.