ABSTRACT: Today, we take a look at Erin Kenny’s moral gymnastics, as well as dish about Barbara Cegavske’s new opponent and the release of kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll.

Former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny has done may evil things in her public life in Las Vegas, and on Thursday, she sought to explain how.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Kenny said of taking hundreds of thousands in bribes from strip club mogul Mike Galardi and, later, Triple 5 Development Corp. (The developer, through attorney Dominic Gentile, denied the allegation.)

“I had no emotion on the issue, on what I was doing. It was my way of coping with it. It was inherently wrong and against everything I believed in.”

So she took huge cash payments, and in turn voted in favor of her benefactors, and she “coped” by simply not thinking about it? Could a person really live with themselves with such a bifurcated moral code?

Kenny certainly did think about the money. We know that from wiretaps, in which she said she was literally down on her knees, begging for money. We know she sought to use that money not only to defray her household expenses, but also to advance her political career. And we know she was the most aggressive commissioner in driving through certain initiatives, to the detriment of her constituents. Kenny is undoubtedly one of the most ruthless, calculating politicians we have ever seen.

But she simply put those bribes out of her mind? Just continued to do her job, without regard to the fact that she was a bought-and-paid for political whore who deceived her constituents, colleagues and even some of us in the media? (We at Various Things & Stuff cop to not getting wise to Kenny’s schemes.)

If taking bribes really was inherently wrong and against everything she believed in, Kenny would simply never have done it. She wouldn’t have taken money, and would have been offended by the mere suggestion. The fact is, she did take the money, and while she may have maintained an idealized moral code in her mind, she had no problem violating that code in the real world.

You can argue that Kenny found herself in a bad spot. She claims to suffer from vertigo, and a resulting memory loss. You can argue she needed money to help support her large family. You can argue that Galardi found her in a particularly vulnerable time, and she did something she wouldn’t normally do.

But character is not forged in easy times, when you’ve got a fat bank account and the wind in your sails. Character is forged in the tough times, when you have to make tough choices in the real world, cast against the backdrop of your true moral beliefs. Plenty of elected officials who are worse off than Kenny and don’t sell their votes. They are the ones — not Kenny — who truly believe that taking bribes stands against everything they believe in.

Socrates said the unexamined life isn’t worth living, but Kenny had no problem living hers until the FBI came calling. But her willful ignorance is no excuse: She deserves no sympathy, and very little mercy, for what she’s done. And the worst thing about it — especially for accused ex-Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid Chauncey — is not that Kenny has finally been forced to face her unexamined life, but that the details of it were so goddamn accurate.

We suppose in a time when the Kathy Augustines, Frances Deanes and Tom DeLays of the world maintain they’ve done nothing wrong, it should be refreshing to find someone like Kenny, who owns up to guilt. But it’s a hollow, unsatisfying comfort. Which is to say, it’s no comfort at all.

We’ve got to wash this nasty taste out of our mouths. Anybody for the best rhetorical comfort food around, Quick Hits? Here we go:

• So Tim Cory, who gets in and out of political races like the rest of us get in and out of our cars, is throwing his hat into the ring against state Sen. Barbara Cegavske. Cory, who serves as a federal bankruptcy trustee, says he’ll emphasize ethics in his bid.

Good move. Remember that Cegavske had a no-bid, no-work contract with KVBC Channel 3 to serve as a “consultant,” while at the same time serving as vice-chairwoman of the Human Resources and Education Committee that oversees higher education, which is headed up by Chancellor Jim Rogers, who coincidentally owns Channel 3. How convenient.

The deal was cancelled once it came to light, as if further proof was needed that the arrangement was totally, unambiguously unethical. Let’s see if Cory a.) stays in the race and b.) can make use of Cegavske’s little problem.

As always, we at Various Things & Stuff enjoy watching Republicans in disarray. And this seems to be the year for that, doesn’t it?

• Jill Carroll, the freelance writer for the Christian Science Monitor who was captured by a shadowy group in Iraq and held for three months, was freed. Her captivity demonstrated the risks that journalists take to cover the war in a country that is still torn asunder by ethnic, religious and political strife.

We should be grateful to Carroll, and to all the other reporters whose bylines appear above Iraqi datelines, for bringing us the real story of what’s happening in that country. May those who are putting their lives on the line to do their jobs — and that includes every U.S. soldier, sailor, airman and Marine — come home soon.

For more in journalists in hotspots, visit the website of the group Reporters Without Borders.