EXTRA: Your tax dollars at work

For what it is worth, I was NOT chosen to be a juror when I served my jury duty stint Monday at the Maybrook District of Cook County Circuit Court.

It seems that all the cases that potentially could have used jurors were either civil lawsuits where the parties settled at the last minute, or criminal cases where the defendant chose a bench trial (which lets the judge decide the verdict and sentence).

SO ALL OF us potential jurors were dismissed shortly before noon. Just like everybody else, I got my check for $17.20, along with the stub that confirms I fulfilled my legal obligation to do jury duty this year.

I also got to sit in a drab jury room with the television sets tuned to WLS-TV. Which means that for the tiny portion of your tax dollars that will cover my check, I did nothing more than watch "The View." What a scintilating (heavy sarcasm most definitely intended) debate between Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck over whether the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is somehow President Barack Obama's fault.

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