Swallow a frog first thing in the morning and you'll know the worst part of your day is already in the past.

But when the first story you read contains the funniest line you're likely to see all day, well, that's depressing, is what it is.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty Thursday to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million. The executives could also go to prison.

No, that's not the funny part. Sure, it's amusing when executives go to jail, and it's even more amusing when those executives in trouble for hiring illegal immigrants turn out to be executives of a company - Golden State Fence - that helped build a border fence in San Diego a few years back. But what's really funny is what Richard Hirsch, an attorney for the illegal immigrant-hiring, border fence-building Golden State Fence had to say about the matter:

"People slip through the cracks and that's what happens."