Not being legally educated — not illegally either, I mean in the law — and reading over the years about money-laundering, I thought it meant sending ill-got gains to somebody overseas who used it to buy a house which you could then sell, pocketing the proceeds. Or something like it.

But ex-Rep. Tom DeLay did or initiated a series of legal deposits — from his PAC to the Republican National Committee to Texas state legislature candidates who then won office becoming part of a new Republican majority that led redistricting of Texas when DeLay as Congressional majority leader called for redistricting, which was followed in due time by election of a new batch of Republican congressmen from Texas.

And he may do 99 years.

“It will put more people on notice that something which by one perspective might be considered as legal on the other can be characterized as money laundering,” said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia University Law School.

Which strikes me as a very cautious statement. Look out, people, you may think it’s legal, but someone might not. And there you will be.