(I was hoping to get Sidney Wang out one more time before New Years…)

Perla Aguilar, 27, was arrested for DUI in Oklahoma, and had an excuse she apparently thought would clear everything up. Slurring her words as she spoke, Perla explained to the arresting officers that she should be in the clear because she “does this all the time.”

This is signature significance for a human being who has allowed rationalizations to cut off blood to her brain as well shattered whatever ethics alarms, if any, that had been installed by the manufacturer. For a split second I thought she had come up with a new rationalization for the list, but her delusion is really just another variation of Numero Uno, the most popular rationalization of them all, “Everybody Does It.” Like the most common variation, “It’s done all the time,” this one conveys the bizarre belief that mere repetition alone sanctifies bad conduct, something one has to be an idiot or a sociopath to believe.

In Perla’s case, I’m putting my money on “idiot.” Her justification also evokes other rationalizations, like 23 A. Woody’s Excuse: “The heart wants what the heart wants,” 25. The Coercion Myth: “I have no choice!, ”38. The Miscreant’s Mulligan or “Give him/her/them/me a break!,”41 A. Popeye’s Excuse, or “I am what I am,” 44. The Unethical Precedent, or “It’s Not The First Time,”50A.  Narcissist Ethics , or “I don’t care,” 52. The Hippie’s License, or “If it feels good, do it!” (“It’s natural”), 55. The Scooby Doo Deflection, or “I should have gotten away with it!” and 58. The Golden Rule Mutation, or “I’m all right with it!”

This woman needs a keeper. After all, she was also arrested for child neglect: her children, aged 5, 8 and 9 and a 9-month-old baby) were found alone in their mother’s house with no heat on though it was 35 degrees outside.

She had a rationalization for that, too. Guess what it was.

Yup.